Yes, they are all corrupt:
The culture of self-interested denial is rooted in Labour\’s success in characterising John Major\’s government as being sleazy. New Labour\’s victory, leading ultimately to a third term, was not just associating all Conservatives with the dishonesty of Neil Hamilton (linked to the "cash for questions" affair in 1994) and Jonathan Aitken (imprisoned for perjury in 1999), but also in exploiting Lord Scott\’s critical inquiry into the government\’s approval of sales of weapons to Iraq as a manifestation of Tory deceit.
Drawing lessons from that success, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown decided that they would never repeat John Major\’s mistake of appointing an intelligent, independent-minded lawyer like Scott to investigate their own conduct. Since 1997 every official inquiry into alleged government misconduct has been entrusted to loyalists, patsies and payroll wallahs. The parallel success has been to silence Tory criticism about Labour sleaze.
As the Devil says, Hang Them All.
“Tony Blair and Gordon Brown decided that they would never repeat John Major’s mistake of appointing an intelligent, independent-minded lawyer like Scott to investigate their own conduct.”
Quite. Another crucial lesson for New Labour was learned from Harold Wilson:
“The Labour Party is like a stage-coach. If you rattle along at great speed everybody inside is too exhilarated or too seasick to cause any trouble. But if you stop everybody gets out and argues about where to go next.”
http://creativequotations.com/one/480.htm
Which is why Blunders Blunkett would go on to say: “A day without an initiative is a day wasted.”
And absolutely nothing has changed since El Gordo conspicuously failed to offer him a cabinet post as Secretary of State for Ministerial Affairs.
In today’s news:
“A new health watchdog is to be set up by the government with wide-ranging powers to tackle hospital bugs.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7060348.stm
The comment of Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association: “While we recognise some of the arguments for rationalising the process of regulation, the BMA is concerned that, only a few years after the Healthcare Commission was set up, it is about to be abolished to make way for yet another, new regulatory body.
“The NHS has been suffering from too much reorganisation and, it appears that, as soon as doctors and managers start getting used to one system, it’s all change.”