Friday 22 February 2013

What About Lord Rennard's Other Jobs?

You'll have read the news by now, I expect, about Lord Rennard.
Channel 4 News aired allegations by a number of women of sexual impropriety over several years by Lord Rennard, the party's former chief executive. 
The women told the news programme he abused his position for years by inappropriately touching and propositioning them.
Channel 4's report can be viewed here.
[A statement issued on behalf of Lord Rennard] said he would "stand aside" from the Lib Dem group in the House of Lords "to seek to avoid any embarrassment to the party" and withdraw from the Liberal Democrats' federal policy committee, which is responsible for producing policies to be debated at the party conference.
One wonders if he will similarly "seek to avoid embarrassment" to ASH by stepping down from their Board of Trustees? Or, indeed, if he will also be looking to spare the blushes of the APPG on Smoking and Health by removing himself from his role as Vice-Chair?

Just sayin'.


8 comments:

jaycas said...

Do hope that they mention his other interests in the expectation that ASH will be judged by the compnay it keeps

Lou said...

Madam, you have a way with words... that's just cracked me up for a good five minutes. Brilliant... TVM!!!

Lysistrata Eleftheria said...

Why, thank you ma'am! Only thing is I'm a bit elderly and not sure what 'TVM' means, but I guess it's positive.

Lysistrata Eleftheria said...

Well quite. I'm less worried by ASH itself - which is quite tiny to be honest - than by the Byzantine and nepotistic machinations of the APPGs. ASH is just the handle to get the antis' claws into Westminster and now local authority legislature. You don't
know the meaning of lobbying until they've got a whole APPG to themselves. And the secretariat to an APPG can be and often is provided by a particular lobbying group. Like ASH...

Look, DP. I'm from the charity sector. I know how they work at the big posh national level (the local ones where I worked are fine and mainly innocent). I've been to receptions in the Speaker' s House (the Betty Boothroyd one was best - a fine woman and ashtrays everywhere), and to the Chancellor's apartments (where we sneaked off to admire the expensive flock wallpaper which made it look like a cheap Indian restaurant), and to St. James' Palace (in my experience, HRH Prince Charles is a gas and very very funny and witty and seriously self-deprecating in real life, more like his Dad than his Mum), on far more than one occasion. These are the places that deals are done and decisions are made. Oh, and special-invite restaurant meals and private launches sailing to Greenwich and back with gourmet meals and onboard live chamber music.

Increases in fuel taxes (as you happened to mention it), smoking bans, non-care financial NHS quality standards measures and targets which ignore the whole point of actually keeping people alive by tending their wounds and feeding and watering them, the enormous increase in regulatory requirements and the shift of responsibility for policing and financing these from the state to the individual (that'll get to you as you run a business, like Mr L and I do): all these and many more measures have been snook in slimily by a mixture of unaccountable but publicly-funded APPGs and special interest group lobbying. Lubricated by the odd YouGov survey (don't get me started on how flawed they are) in order to market the stuff they've already decided on to the public.

The odd slimy groper amongst them doesn't surprise me one jot. They're all slimy gropers.

Mark..S said...

Well big tabacco must be to blame, if it had not been for those shiny tempting women...

barnacle bill said...

Yes I'm wondering how many young ladies at ASH have been invited to smoke Lord Rennard's cigarillo?

I was going to say King Edward but like Lord Melton of Mowbray-Pie, Chipolata Prescott, he's probably a bit of a disappointment in that department as well.

Lou said...

Ta Very Much

Dick_Puddlecote said...

I reckon you have some stories to tell. Fancy writing some up as guest posts? ;)