Word: labouring
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...face of it, this is a simple story. Last year political opponents of the government asked the police to investigate reports that Labour Party sources might be offering honors such as knighthoods and peerages in return for donations to the party. That would contravene a 1925 law drawn up to ban the peddling of titles after Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George, a venal realpolitiker, exploited his powers of patronage for the benefit of party coffers. Four wealthy businessmen--all recommended by Labour for peerages, although their names were later withdrawn from contention--admit that they secretly made loans...
...running dogs of capitalism. "In 1983 we still had a manifesto committed to nationalizing key parts of industry, promoting an agenda that was set against every interest of British business," says Ed Owen, a former government adviser. After being crushed by Margaret Thatcher in that election, says Owen, Labour decided that it had to prove it was "now the party that would provide the means by which industry and business could flourish." But Labour lost elections in 1987 and again in 1992, when it was defeated by the unpopular Tory government of John Major, itself mired in accusations of sleaze...
...Labour needed that cash. At the beginning of the 1990s, the party was close to bankruptcy. Most of its income came from labor unions, but union membership had dwindled, and party membership, another source of funds, had more than halved from a high in the 1950s of 1 million. (It is now less than 200,000.) Blair took over the helm of the party in 1994 and with the help of Levy, a self-made multimillionaire who started his fortune managing middle-of-the-road rock bands, began romancing the business community. The strategy paid off handsomely; business rushed...
Early on, there were hints that this new friendship did not always smell as fresh as it might have. Just six months into Blair's premiership, Labour was forced to return a $1.7 million donation from Bernie Ecclestone, boss of Formula One motor racing, after suggestions, denied by both sides, that his largesse might have influenced the government's decision to exempt the sport from a ban on tobacco sponsorship. But back then, Blair was untouchable. "I'm a pretty straight sort of guy," he told the BBC's Humphrys in an early encounter. Today that sort of charm doesn...
...similar disaffection greets Labour's protestations that it has already introduced reforms to the funding of politics and is considering more of them. "We dined out on this legislation to make the system more transparent. We quite rightly took credit for being the first government to do so after the years of John Major's sleaze," says a Labour insider. "So even the perception that we are seeking to evade our own legislation is terribly damaging." Proposals to restructure the House of Lords and tighten procedures for appointing peers, arrived on Feb. 7, clanging like a door on an empty...