Sustaining a fairly active monarchy with all its inherent pomp and show, the British system of “democracy” is a contradiction to the theoretical concept of one man-one vote where all power belongs to the people. Democracy without good governance is a farce, adherence to the concepts of governance and the rule of law in the UK can be selective. The perception of honesty, integrity and fairplay is only a smokescreen circumvented at will “on as required” basis. The ongoing Enquiry being conducted by Justice Leveson focussing on the cosy relationship between David Cameron’s government and the Murdoch media empire’s bid for the Satellite Broadcasting Company SkyB exposes this blatant hypocrisy at the very heart of the British system.
The super-regulator created by the British Parliament in 2001, the Office of Communications (commonly known as OFCOM), was meant to ensure that no single entity dominated the media and thus inordinately influence public opinion. With the NEWS INTERNATIONAL phone hacking scandal surfacing in July 2011, OFCOM came under pressure to launch an enquiry whether the parent company NEWS CORPORATION, with its own political extremist agenda, could be the “fit and proper” owner of the controlling shares in BskyB.
The Leveson Enquiry illustrates how governments can lie through their teeth persuading a gullible public to believe their deliberate falsehood to be the truth. With the British Minister for Culture, Liberal MP Vince Cable in the Cameron-led Conservative-Liberal coalition very much against Murdoch’s takeover of BskyB, Cameron shifted him to Business Secretary, replacing him with the staunchly pro-Murdoch bid Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt who maintained close liaison with the Murdoch family, their close aides and lobbyists pushing the Murdoch bid. With the Minister most enthusiastic overseeing the transaction, the E Mail and SMS text messages exchanged between Hunt and Murdoch lobbyists leaves nothing to the imagination about the transparency of the process.
OFCOM’s cautionary reservations drove James Murdoch to absolute fury according to Jeremy Hunt, the new Culture Secretary engaged “friendly” Consultants to nullify these and justify the handing over BskyB’s controlling shares to Murdoch’s media empire. The unfolding of the phone hacking scandal brought down powerful Murdoch aides and Rupert Murdoch was forced to withdraw his bid for BskyB. This strategic retreat was cynical and only meant to protect FOX TV and Wall Street Journal in the US by forestalling any enquiry, the authorities there being more thorough in their due diligence and far more severe on any transgressions. The Leveson Enquiry will this week examine David Cameron as to why Jeremy Hunt was appointed to oversee a process in which he was clearly partial, very much committed to supporting the Murdoch bid. Given Murdoch domination of both electronic and print media in the UK had only one motive for David Cameron, full support in return for what? The British PM not only has the gall to deny this blatant falsehood, he expects us to believe this outright deception.
Baroness Warsi’s present predicament is more of a shock. Sitting next to this well-spoken lady of Pakistani origin at a breakfast meeting in the British Deputy High Commission in Karachi a few months earlier one was very favourably impressed. Elected Member of UK’s Parliament she was picked to succeed Eric Pickles as the Chairman of the Conservative Party. Her sins of omissions, rather than of pocketing commissions were negligible by Pakistani standards, viz, (1) collecting Parliamentarian daily allowance of £150 plus while staying rent-free at a friend’s apartment and (2) failing to declare income on an apartment rented out by her. Given the financial shenanigans during the previous Gordon Brown regime, one expected her to be more circumspect. Her case may have been highlighted to divert public attention to take heat off the Cameron-Hunt BskyB affair, could this British Punjabi be the proverbial sacrificial lamb?
During the Police Reform Task Force deliberations in 2000 one heard ad nauseam about Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), ultimately set up in 2004 replacing the Police Complaints Authority to handle complaints against police forces in England and Wales. IPCC was meant to manage or supervise investigation into particular complaints and to independently investigate the most serious cases. There is widespread public dissatisfaction about a vast majority of the cases being dealt with by the Professional Standards Department of the Police. In 2008 nearly a hundred lawyers who specialise in handling such cases against the police resigned from the advisory body citing a pattern of favouritism from the police, studied indifference and/or rudeness towards complainants and complaints being rejected despite concrete evidence in their support. The statistics are telling, more than 8000 complaints against the police have been registered over the past 8 years, only 12 British policemen have been convicted. That truly damning statistic says a lot about the ineffectiveness of accountability. The world never forgets to tell us hometruth about a very corrupt police force, surprisingly they are far more accountable.
When Yusuf Raza Gilani visited UK officially recently why were the British, who pride themselves on probity, willing to receive someone sentenced for contempt of court unanimously by a 7-member Bench of the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan with open arms? The subject of morality in politics is usually handled with care, so what were the British upto giving someone convicted by the most Superior Bench of the country an invitation to hear the Queen’s speech to Parliament, the only Head of State and/or Government so invited this year? The British profess themselves quite sensitive in matters concerning the Courts of Law, on May 28 the Chief Justice of the same Supreme Court, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, was honoured in London as the “Jurist of the Year”. Talk about double standards and playing both sides!
One does not doubt the effectiveness of the British justice system and/or adherence to the rule of law by the common man. Consider the motorists stopping and allowing pedestrians to cross the road instead of deliberately trying to run them over, giving up seats for the elderly on buses and trains, etc. This morality is found more at the grassroots level, at the leadership level a culture of dishonesty, deception and hypocrisy is endemic. While there is accountability in the UK, former PM Tony Blair’s testimony before the Leveson Enquiry made it clear it was only for those who cannot afford money and influence in the media. Parliamentarians having the gift of the gab like Blair, can easily talk their way out of it. There is no morality in the culture of deception and hypocrisy that prevails, the leaders mostly talk the good talk about honesty and integrity.
Walking around Central London one notes that alongwith wealthy Arabs, Chinese, Indians, etc most of whom have made their money legally, a whole lot of nouveau-rich Pakistanis are matching the Russians pound for pound sweeping up expensive property. Ask yourself this question, why do the most corrupt people on this Earth, having blatantly looted their country’s wealth head like homing pigeons to the twelve golden square miles of Central London surrounding Hyde Park to live in a safe haven in luxurious comfort ever after, having mostly acquired British nationalities no questions asked?.
Courtesy: The News
