Two former foreign secretaries have been secretly filmed apparently offering their services to a private company for thousands of pounds.
Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind are the subject of the allegations, arising from a joint investigation by the Daily Telegraph and Channel 4’s Dispatches…
…Sir Malcolm is reported to have claimed he could arrange “useful access” to every British ambassador in the world.
The Conservative MP for Kensington and chairman of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee was recorded saying: “I am self-employed – so nobody pays me a salary. I have to earn my income.”
He said his usual fee for half a day’s work was “somewhere in the region of £5,000 to £8,000”.
Self-employed ? No salary?
Rifkind must have temporarily forgotten about the salary that the British taxpayer foot the bill for…
How much do Select Committee Chair get paid?
The salary entitlement of a Select Committee Chair is £81,936 (this figure comprises of MP’s salary of £67,060 and additional salary for Select Committee Chairs of £14,876) from 1 April 2014.
My guess is that both Jack Straw and Malcolm Rifkind will be shuffled off to the House of Lords where this kind of fiddling is par for the course and where they will both fit right in.
theneedleblog 
Sunday he sat upon his Wall
Of bloated self-conceit
Proud, sour and grumpy
Monday he fell in shattered shards,
For our relief,
Like Humpty Dumpty.
it seemed close to the whiskey and pistol exit for selling the regimental silver.
Must write to Rifkind to thank him for the immense pleasure that was to be found in the manner of his going, on Monday, after the nauseating hubris of his attempted self-vindications on Sunday.
In fairness to Anne & Gojam, there was a post from Brian earlier which has since been deleted. In my view it was anti Semitic due to the wording – I can’t recall it all but it included the word ‘Jewboys’. That said, if Jews are up to anything suspect, they are as fair game for criticism as anyone else for criticism & Israel has much to account for.
The post which Gojam rightfully deleted contained wording which was quite pointed & I assume it’s that than Anne was referring to.
Bloggers must have much sent to them which is opinionated, for right, or wrong & it must be a hard balance to accomodate free speech with abuse.
In my view, if we read a website such as The Needle, as I do frequently, we must trust the editorial judgment of the owner.
I’m sure many comments submitted are disputable or opinionated but if we are to trust the owner of a blog, we must respect & challenge (if need be) another’s comments.
I’m up for criticism on anything I’ve said & don’t claim to be 100% correct all of the time. I’d be a fool if I did.
Surely the point of a website such as this is to get one thinking & it’s ok to disagree on the finer points.
Actually Rifkind – I pay your salary & it’s several tens of thousands more than mine so if you have a problem with that, you can go and shaft yourself rather than shafting the electorate. Maggie’s copped it & won’t look after you now.
I would genuinely like to know what the basis for the allegation made above about the comments feed here being ‘infested by anti-semitism’ stems from. IIRC in the comments on another recent blog post on this blog, one anti-semitic comment was allowed but Gojam said it was only let through to show the types of comments he usually filters out.
I have seen comment streams on other blogs focusing on CSA issues that are unfortunately brimfull of anti-semitic filth (in some cases, encouraged by the blog-owners) but not this one.
In fact though I would differ with Gojam on some issues I think it is a most unfair insinuation that has been made.
So his father was a Coward, not sure if i am right on this? was his Brother a peadophille? and he is a Con Man? What a Family
Surprise Surprise, Leon’s gone and now his cousin may lose his post as Chairman of the Security & Intelligence committee. The James Bonds are at it again.
Actually, I had no idea Jack Straw was a Jew. If you don’t believe me that is completely none of my business. My contempt for the ” political establishment” is beyond race. I am against their outrageous contempt for the people who put them in the position there in. My father ( tank commander -desert -North Africa WW2 ) taught me to have complete contempt for people like him. Jack Straws farther was a coward who spent WW2 in prison because he was too spineless to fight Nazis! His farther left the fighting to normal blokes like my dad and all his courageous mates.
Your just a sanctimonious has been on the make…..
[gojam edited this]
Straw isn’t Jewish, he identifies as Christian and does not qualify as Jewish under halachical law. Mind you, that hasn’t stopped the anti-semitic nutters running riot on Twitter going on about MUNEY GRABBING JOOS.
http://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/how-jewish-is/how-jewish-jack-straw
Didn’t Rifkind run MI5?
He’s related to Leon Brittan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Rifkind#Personal_life
he did not run 5 ,5 sometimes used him as a point of contact with westminster when he was chair of the intel/security commission.
a civilian chairing meetings and being told what they are told is not the same as being dg 5 even if the brief of those meetings is to “control”the security and intel services(some politicians have thought they were in control but they were all wrong ).
It would not have been good to have a Chairman of a UK Security Committee in the pay of the Chinese.
maybe straw’s interpretations of the values of the labour party is a long term plan for a diminished responsibility plea .
http://www.labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/1924/1924-labour-manifesto.shtml
his wiki entry seemed lost to uk google so here it is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Straw
he has caused a few raised “socialist”eyebrows during his career but he has found support in many places .
“….These policies won praise from Margaret Thatcher who once declared “I would trust Jack Straw’s judgement. He is a very fair man.” ….”
No salary ?? Maybe Rifkind is laying the groundwork for a ‘dementia’ plea ?
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Why is your comments feed infested with anti-semitism?
“Infested” ??
This blog has criticised Catholics, Muslims, Anglicans, Jehovah Witnesses and Methodists and yet when someone critises a Jew it is anti-semitic.
If you don’t agree then reply to the person you disagree with.
Several of your most regular commenters routinely drop anti-semitic remarks or language into their posts. You don’t seem to notice the disproportionality.
How do you know ? You don’t see what I trash.
Excellent point.
These two are troughers (oink oink) … and whether both Jewish or not is entirely irrelevant. My reference to Pigs is coincidental. Why is it that certain sections of society wring the victim status out of every perceived slight?
I wouldn’t know what you filter out, I was referring to your suggestion that what you allow through targets all religions equally and similarly.
I try to but you’re not in a position to judge given that you don’t know what I trash.
I abhor all racism. I try to find the correct balance between freedom of expression and insults.
Wherever I draw that line I’m going to be criticised and I can assure you I get more hassle from people upset that I’ve not allowed a comment up than for the comments that make it through.
i have had a pop at members of all those faiths and several others,i have had a pop at members of many ethnic /cultural backgrounds.
anyway back to the plot ,cash for influence is a very old trade.i expect those with political influence to charge for it in some way (often by selling themselves to the highest bidder)and im surprised by those who act according to good sense and in the interests of the greatest good to the best of their abilities and knowledge .these two have got stung by their enemies(via the press)but i suspect it is very common for “consultancies” to be quite expensive.
Yeah, sorry – the post I had in mind seems to be no longer there, but I have noticed others on other threads. I’m all for criticising anyone of whatever stripe but get twitchy around the ‘joos are sekritly running the world’ conspiraloons. I guess you must trash a lot. Anyway, I don’t want to derail further. I appreciate this blog, so thanks.
I read it and decided it crossed the line.
Given that we have one Labour chancer and one Conservative chancer we can’t even play party politics with this one, both chancers in this case happen to be Jewish we are left with the choice of endorsing their enterprising endeavours or criticising them and being labelled anti Semitic.
You are entitled to your opinion Anne, I have considered the pros and cons, weighed it in the balance, mulled it over and ………………………………..
You’re wrong! so is Owen.
Jack Straw has on occasion criticised Zionist influence in the US and his ancestry isn’t directly through the female line, I believe that he regards himself as a Christian.
Given the above Anne I assume that we are free to castigate Jack as long as we behave regarding Malcolm?
Well said Brian…..
The one thing I despise most in all the world is our political establishment and the hideous sods who infest it. These two are conceited , arrogant, smug , corrupt hypocrites and I wish them both a slow painful death.
I was listening to Jack Straw today on radio 4 I’ve never heard such bull-shit in all my life.
Like father like son…………………
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