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2009 Cash For Influence Scandal
The 2009 cash for influence scandal (also cash for amendments or cash for laws) was a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2009 concerning four Labour Party Life Peers offering to help make amendments to legislation for up to £120,000. The Lords Privileges Committee recommended the two men be suspended from the House for up to six months after an investigation into allegations made against four Labour peers. Lord Taylor of Blackburn was suspended as a Labour Party member pending the investigation while Lord Truscott quit the party. On 20 May, the House of Lords considered the report of the Privileges Committee and voted to suspend Lord Taylor and Lord Truscott for six months. The suspensions were the first since Oliver Cromwell’s era in the 1640s. The previous member to be suspended from the House of Lords is believed to have been Thomas Savile, who was barred in 1642 for siding with King Charles I. Allegations The allegations were made by ''The Sunday Times'' In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which housed the Roman Empire, Imperial residences. Most European languages have a version of the term (''palais'', ''palazzo'', ''palacio'', etc.), and many use it for a wider range of buildings than English. In many parts of Europe, the equivalent term is also applied to large private houses in cities, especially of the aristocracy; often the term for a large country house is different. Many historic palaces are now put to other uses such as parliaments, museums, hotels, or office buildings. The word is also sometimes used to describe a lavishly ornate building used for public entertainment or exhibitions such as a movie palace. A palace is distinguished from a castle while the latter clearly is fortified or has the style of a fortification ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Committee For Privileges
The Committee for Privileges and Conduct was a select committee of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom which considered issues relating to the privileges of the House of Lords and its members, as well as having oversight for its members' conduct. The committee and its membership was divided into the Conduct Committee and the Procedure and Privileges Committee in 2019. See also *List of Committees of the United Kingdom Parliament The parliamentary committees of the United Kingdom are committees of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Each consists of a small number of Members of Parliament from the House of Commons, or peers from the House of Lords, or a mix of both, ap ... External links UK Parliament (old) - Committee for Privileges and Conduct {{DEFAULTSORT:Committee For Privileges Privileges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cash-for-questions Affair
The "cash-for-questions affair" was a political scandal of the 1990s in the United Kingdom. It began in October 1994 when ''The Guardian'' newspaper alleged that London's most successful parliamentary lobbyist, Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates, had bribed two Conservative Members of Parliament to ask parliamentary questions and perform other tasks on behalf of the Egyptian owner of Harrods department store, Mohamed Al-Fayed. Overview ''The Guardians report alleged that Al-Fayed had approached the paper and accused Ian Greer of paying then-MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith to table parliamentary questions on his behalf at £2,000 a time. Smith resigned immediately after admitting to accepting payments from Al-Fayed himself, but not from Greer as ''The Guardian'' had alleged. Hamilton and Greer immediately issued libel writs in the High Court against ''The Guardian'' to clear their names. The furore prompted the then-prime minister John Major to instigate the Nolan Committe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lords Reform
Certain governments in the United Kingdom have, for more than a century, attempted to find a way to reform the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This process was started by the Parliament Act 1911 introduced by the then Liberal Government which stated: ...whereas it is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be immediately brought into operation When the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party came to power in the 1997 United Kingdom general election, 1997 general election, it had in its manifesto the promise to reform the House of Lords: The House of Lords must be reformed. As an initial, self-contained reform, not dependent on further reform in the future, the right of hereditary Peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords will be ended by statute... The Blair government subsequently passed the House of Lords Act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliamentary Privilege
Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties. It is common in countries whose constitutions are based on the Westminster system. Origins In the United Kingdom, it allows members of the House of Lords and House of Commons to speak freely during ordinary parliamentary proceedings without fear of legal action on the grounds of slander, contempt of court or breaching the Official Secrets Act. It also means that members of Parliament cannot be arrested on civil matters for statements made or acts undertaken as an MP within the grounds of the Palace of Westminster, on the condition that such statements or acts occur as part of a ''proceeding in Parliament''—for example, as a question to the Prime Minister in the House of Commons. This allows Members to raise questions or debate issue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cash For Honours
The Cash-for-Honours scandal (also known as Cash for Peerages, Loans for Lordships, Loans for Honours or Loans for Peerages) was a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations and the award of life peerages. A loophole in electoral law in the United Kingdom means that although anyone donating even small sums of money to a political party has to declare this as a matter of public record, those loaning money at commercial rates of interest did not have to make a public declaration. In March 2006, several men nominated for life peerages by then Prime Minister Tony Blair were rejected by the House of Lords Appointments Commission. It was later revealed they had loaned large amounts of money to the governing Labour Party, at the suggestion of Labour fundraiser Lord Levy. Suspicion was aroused by some that the peerages were a ''quid pro quo'' for the loans. This resulted in three complaints to the Metropolitan Police by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angus MacNeil
Angus Brendan MacNeil ( gd, Aonghas Brianan MacNèill; born 21 July 1970) is the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for covering the Outer Hebrides. Background MacNeil was educated at Castlebay Secondary School on the island of Barra and the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis before attending Strathclyde University where he played shinty and in 1992 gained a degree in civil engineering. After graduation he worked as a civil engineer for Morrison Construction and as a student reporter for the Gaelic section of BBC Radio Scotland. After qualifying as a teacher at Jordanhill College in 1996 , he then taught the first Gaelic Medium Class at Salen and Acharacle Primary Schools in Argyll on the Scottish mainland. Unusually, MacNeil is a Roman Catholic representing a strongly Presbyterian parliamentary constituency. House of Commons After being defeated by the Labour Party's David Stewart in Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber at the 2001 gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Stephenson (police Officer)
Sir Paul Robert Stephenson (born 26 September 1953) is a British retired police officer who was the Metropolitan Police Commissioner from 2009 to 2011. Stephenson joined the Lancashire police in 1975 and attended the Bramshill staff training course. As a superintendent, he was closely involved in the inquiry into the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster. After serving as chief constable of Lancashire, he was promoted deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in 2005, acting commissioner in 2008, and finally commissioner in January 2009. In July 2011, Stephenson resigned over speculation regarding his connection with Neil Wallis, suspected of involvement in the News International phone hacking scandal. Biography Stephenson grew up in Bacup in the Rossendale district of east Lancashire, the son of a butcher."Profile: Sir Paul Stephe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commissioner Of Police Of The Metropolis
The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the head of London's Metropolitan Police Service. Sir Mark Rowley was appointed to the post on 8 July 2022 after Dame Cressida Dick announced her resignation in February. The rank of Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police is regarded as the highest in United Kingdom policing, although the incumbent's authority is generally confined to the Metropolitan Police Service's area of operation: the Metropolitan Police District. However, unlike other territorial police forces, the Metropolitan Police has certain national responsibilities such as leading counter-terrorism policing and the protection of the Royal Family and senior members of His Majesty's Government. Furthermore, the Commissioner is directly accountable to the Home Secretary, the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, and the Mayor of London, and must answer to Londoners and the public nationally. By contrast, all other UK forces (except the City of London Police) are h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liberal Democrats (UK)
The Liberal Democrats (commonly referred to as the Lib Dems) are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election, they have been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast. They have 14 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 83 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party has over 2,500 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated, with all party members eligible to vote, under a one member, one vote system. The party served as the junior party in a coalition government with the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2015; with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007, and with Welsh Labour in the Welsh Government from 2000 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2021. In 1981, an electoral alliance was established b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
