Last of the Family Silver

It appears that the Vicar of Downing Street and those extra-special best chums of his who knew about the matter are in for some small embarrassment over the Lordships for loans enterprise. The health secretary has said that the secrecy surrounding the business was "unwise", since, as usual, New Labour has nothing to hide. Ms Hewitt "denied the party had been selling seats in the Lords or acting illegally". Technically, of course, if you exchange a seat in the Lords for the loan of some money, that is not a sale. New Labour has promised to reveal the identities of future lenders, but refuses to disclose the identities of those already in the Lords because the loans were "given on the basis of confidentiality". Those nice money people must certainly be proud to do business with Tony and his chums, especially if they have not done anything illegal.

Personally, I find it difficult to see what the fuss is about. If the parliamentary Labour party has not realised yet that the business of democracy is best left to Tony and his very best chums, it seems doubtful that anything short of a surgical operation will get the message in. The Reverend is in the process of handing over Britain's education system to priests and salesmen; he has sold its workers to the CBI, its soldiers to George W Bush and its National Health Service for scrap. Why does the deregulation of democracy come as such a shock? There is, after all, precious little else left to profit from.