Why would Lord Levy give Lord Goldsmith a free holiday to Israel and how much did it cost? I think that this is a pertinent question given that Lord Goldsmith is now in a position to decide whether Lord Levy should be prosecuted over the cash for honours affair. It discloses a conflict of interest and any reasonable man who has to reach a reasonable decision cannot reasonably do this. That is why there are now renewed calls for Lord Goldsmith to stand aside from this process.
It is not clear why Lord Levy paid this bribe to Lord Goldsmith, in October 2004, which Lord Goldsmith has not made a secret of this holiday, because it came about before the cash for honours scandal broke. There must have been another reason why Lord Levy would seek to find favour with Lord Goldsmith who is a Law Officer. It's a bit like the motorist being pulled over by the police for speeding and the police officer finding a £50 folded up inside the driving licence!
I would have thought that Lord Goldsmith could have afforded to buy his own holiday on his salary. There does not appear to be any genuine need for him to be accepting charity. It could be that Lord Levy was simply being nice for the sake of being nice and that there was nothing underhanded about the transaction. Was that a pig I just saw flying past my window?
UPDATE: The Telegraph apologises for getting it wrong.
Over egging the pudding again. The "gift" is a rather tenuous connection AFAIK. Not from Levy. And not unusual when most MPs etc do some trips even Mimicsters from third parties.
ReplyDeleteMy POV this is only normal level wide-boy fundraising which all parties do. Tory and LD activities (e.g. money laundering on Smith SQ, Lord Laidlaw, AShcroft etc, and LD Michael Brown) are at least in the same ball park if not worse than flattering donors that they might be listened to on policy or might be needed as working lords at some point.
Someone I know well was a Lottery Assessor for a while. The first gig they did the principal (not principle) offered them a tantalising prospect of work as a visiting staffer. Which they were not in the slightest interested in. The assessment was reasonable and the subjects thought it was mean. At least one of those who wrote the bid exited sharply as a result. No work was ever offered or taken. I'd predict that the person offering is far more likely to be a lord one day than the one sent to assess the organisation scrupulously.