A few days ago, and amid much publicity, George Galloway was suspended from the House of Commons for 18 days.
I am actually an admirer of Galloway's. Politics needs people like him, controversial, and always willing to speak his mind. He is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining speakers in House of Commons. I listened to his speech protesting about the decision, by the Parliament and Standards Committee. It was classic Galloway. Quite rightly, he lambasted New Labour for not disclosing loans, and for exposing, if that's the right phrase!, donors to them such as Porn Baron, Richard Desmond.
I do however not feel sorry for him in being suspended for 18 days.
The reason for this is the comparison between Galloway, and Councillor John Mason. A couple of months ago, John was suspended for 9 months by Scotland's Local Authorities Standards Committee for the heinous crime of sitting in the Lord Provosts chair in protest at changes to the democratic structure of Glasgow City Council.
The decision to suspend Councillor Mason was so outrageous that even the New Labour administration felt that it went too far.
It would appear that any standards commission wish to make a name for themselves, but more importantly in Local Governments case there is no appeal mechanism, which I believe would counter some of the more extreme verdicts which this body makes on a regular basis.
18 days for an MP against 9 months for a Councillor - To quote Galloway "that's the real double standard!"
No comments:
Post a Comment