Saturday, July 04, 2009
Osborne to be investigated
Journalists love to use the phrase 'to be investigated' because it gives the impression of wrong-doing without saying it and because it gives the other parties a convenient hook to latch onto to call for the person's resignation, suspension or general immolation.
When at the end of a long process that often takes months, even years the person concerned is declared innocent, it is too late, the damage has been done. The accused person's reputation and career has been damaged and he or she is often exhausted both physically and financially through defending his or her reputation.
The damage can be so severe that often those who bear ill-will to a particular politician use the process of complaint as a weapon against them, constantly alleging wrong-doing even when there is no palpable evidence just so that they can then go to the press and onto phone-ins to imply that the politician concerned is guilty by the fact that he or she is associated with an on-going investigation. It takes considerable durability to survive a major allegation of impropriety.
As far as the person being hunted is concerned the principle of innocent until proven guilty goes by the board. It is the media and the reaction to their stories that determine guilt not the process of the law or of regulation. It is the act of complaining and the subsequent and necessary investigation that determines the politician's future, no matter how absurd the allegation.
I am therefore reserving judgement on George Osborne's mortgage until it is properly investigated and a considered verdict has been reached. Mr. Osborne himself is now fighting a battle on two fronts: public perception and the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. He needs to win the latter to survive the rigours of the first, but he needs to fight hardest on the first if the verdict of the second is to matter at all.
When at the end of a long process that often takes months, even years the person concerned is declared innocent, it is too late, the damage has been done. The accused person's reputation and career has been damaged and he or she is often exhausted both physically and financially through defending his or her reputation.
The damage can be so severe that often those who bear ill-will to a particular politician use the process of complaint as a weapon against them, constantly alleging wrong-doing even when there is no palpable evidence just so that they can then go to the press and onto phone-ins to imply that the politician concerned is guilty by the fact that he or she is associated with an on-going investigation. It takes considerable durability to survive a major allegation of impropriety.
As far as the person being hunted is concerned the principle of innocent until proven guilty goes by the board. It is the media and the reaction to their stories that determine guilt not the process of the law or of regulation. It is the act of complaining and the subsequent and necessary investigation that determines the politician's future, no matter how absurd the allegation.
I am therefore reserving judgement on George Osborne's mortgage until it is properly investigated and a considered verdict has been reached. Mr. Osborne himself is now fighting a battle on two fronts: public perception and the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. He needs to win the latter to survive the rigours of the first, but he needs to fight hardest on the first if the verdict of the second is to matter at all.
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Very interesting comments. I can't help but compare you enlightened approach with the attitude of Lib Dem councillors in Swansea who still blame Labour over the leisure centre situation in 2003 even though an investigation (conducted by the subsequent administration)later showed that the they had no knowledge of the maintenance issues and had been kept in the dark by senior officers about probelms until it was too late to do anything than agree to closure.
# posted by 
: 12:39 PM
: 12:39 PM
I thought that Mike German was very unfairly treated by the use of unproven allegations a few years ago, and I always refused to join in - though disagreeing with him for all sorts of other reasons.
You can make that comparison if you like but they are completely different. In Osborne's case we are referring to an investigation into alleged personal wrong-doing. In the case of the Leisure Centre we are talking about political accountability. I am not aware of the investigation you refer to (and it sounds incomplete anyway) but irrespective of it the responsibility for what happened to the Leisure Centre rests squarely with the Labour Cabinet members at the time.
Guido Fawkes, who, to be fair to the high Tory, is as hard on Conservative troughers as Labour ones, is in no doubt about Osborne's sins.
Otherwise, I agree with you, Peter, about the misuse of "under investigation".
Otherwise, I agree with you, Peter, about the misuse of "under investigation".
The usual mud slinging, its a grass roots pastime in the Labour Party, and it rises to the top!
Seem to remember John Bunker in Porthcawl calling for people to contact the ombudsmans' office via the letters page in the Glamorgan Gazette.
Seem to remember John Bunker in Porthcawl calling for people to contact the ombudsmans' office via the letters page in the Glamorgan Gazette.
# posted by : 1:25 PM
: 1:25 PM
If a member of the public is being investigated for a crime they can be remanded in custody even though they are "innocent until proven guilty". Innocent...but in jail.
If an employee is accused of a disciplinary offence...they may well be suspended and in cases involving teachers or doctors the subject of adverse publicity "innocent until proven guilty". Innocent... yet suspended and maligned.
George Osbourne is neither in jail nor suspended.
Less of the special pleading for pols, please Peter. A groundless accustation can be traumatic and damaging for anyone not just the delicate flowers in westminster.
If an employee is accused of a disciplinary offence...they may well be suspended and in cases involving teachers or doctors the subject of adverse publicity "innocent until proven guilty". Innocent... yet suspended and maligned.
George Osbourne is neither in jail nor suspended.
Less of the special pleading for pols, please Peter. A groundless accustation can be traumatic and damaging for anyone not just the delicate flowers in westminster.
# posted by : 3:08 PM
: 3:08 PM
There is no special pleading here. I am just describing a situation I have experience of. I am sure that it is far more traumatic for somebody wrongly accused of a crime but then I was not making a comparison. David, I have no idea what you are alluding too.
I was alluding, Peter, to my growing conviction that your claim that 'the vast majority of politicians are not on the make' is innacurate.
I simply can't see how you can make that assessment; and the evidence I see points to rather more than a small or tiny minority being very clearly money-grubbing, corrupt, self-interested...um...don't know a polite word to describe them that'll pass muster on your blog.
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I simply can't see how you can make that assessment; and the evidence I see points to rather more than a small or tiny minority being very clearly money-grubbing, corrupt, self-interested...um...don't know a polite word to describe them that'll pass muster on your blog.
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