Lord Luvaduck! It’s Sir Grasper

While the USA wallow in presidential misdeeds and Australian political leaders are being called to account for their roles in ripping off the UN’s Oil for Food Program, the troubles in the third arm of the ‘coalition of the willing’ are passing us by.

But they shouldn’t be ignored, our British allies. Taken together, the three governments create a compelling picture of moral and ethical failure.
It must be more than coincidental that all three administrations who have banded together as our ‘world police’, the arbiters of what is good for our world, should be under increasing scrutiny for ethical breaches.

There is little need to revisit Bush’s litany of alleged misdeeds. Australia’s Prime Minister Howard still manages to stay a step ahead of serious trouble, unlike his senior ministers, caught up in the Oil for Food saga. But Howard still has many other issues to fend off.

In Britain Prime Minister Blair and his government are under police investigation, for among other things the cynical act of raising party funds by selling the countries peerages.
Well we all know that the Brits are a stuffy lot, well those who inhabit the social heights in that country. The ordinary Brit has about the same regard for knighthoods and peerages as their colonial kin.

The last Australian knighthood was awarded back in the early 1970s, and then a few inopportune words by a newly elected Labor Party convinced the Queen of England, Australia’s head of state, that her honours might no longer be appropriate for the rough colonials. Canada was withdrawn from the honours roll shortly thereafter.

Dog of a title
Tony Blair “Denies accusations of offering peerages for cash after four people he nominated for honours were found to have made substantial loans to the party ahead of the last election without the knowledge of Labour's treasurer and other elected officials.” BBC
Note there is no mention of a blanket denial, just that he apparently forgot to advise some key colleagues. But the affair brings something to light that has been long suspected.

For the ordinary Australian, and no doubt Brit, sir could just as easily be rendered cur! It was well understood then that these ‘honours’ and entitlements were for the most part bought, not earned.
I his defence the PM’s ‘ex-spin’ chief Alastair Campbell has come out of the woodwork. Campbell was a notable figure in Blair’s push for involvement in the Iraq adventure.
He wrote in a newspaper column, "I can't help wondering why there was never a police inquiry in the Thatcher years into the link between peerages and donations, not to mention the corrupt practice of knighting serving editors and ennobling proprietors who sucked up to Thatcher in print.”

Hey, that sounds familiar. That’s the US Republican’s mantra – “they did it too” – they “were more corrupt than us!” Some spin, sounds like a qualified admission.
We can thank Campbell for adding another gem to Blair’s dubious crown:
Referring to the investigation into Blair allegedly using the phrase "fucking Welsh", Campbell said: "What both the Welsh nonsense and loans situation have in common is that they were the subject of media and political frenzy."
Great spin Alastair, that should be worth at least a dukedom, if Tony is still allowed to toss his titles of privilege around.

So there you have it, the ‘Sheriff of the Free World’ and his two deputies are a real inspiration. Yes sir, George, Tony, Johnny, we can see now where we have erred. Give us another chance and we’ll become good grasping corrupt citizens of the world too.