• Question de « Jon Snow, broadcaster » à David Cameron. Des fois que quelqu’un comprenne la réponse…
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/nov/25/david-cameron-answers-questions

    Given Britain’s historic links with Israel, is it not time the UK took a more assertive role in bringing about a two-state solution. Why did you abstain in the vote to give the Palestinian state status at Unesco?

    “The reason for the abstention is that I don’t believe you create a state by making declarations. I believe you create a state by bringing together the two relevant parties – Israel and Palestine, and hammering out an agreement. Britain is doing everything it can to put the pressure on. The problem is, we can’t want this more than they want it, and the frustration I have is that it’s so clearly in Israel’s interest to reach an agreement and we need to persuade them of that.”

  • One in five staff passholders in the House of Lords linked to lobbying
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/nov/08/house-of-lords-passholders-lobbying

    Peers have given parliamentary passes, allowing the wearer to walk the corridors of Westminster, to 125 individuals who are paid to promote outside organisations. Companies represented in peers’ offices include BP, the National Farmers’ Union and at least eight lobbying organisations.

  • 100 leading economists tell George Osborne: we must turn to Plan B | Politics | The Observer
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/29/george-osborne-plan-b-economy

    – An immediate halt to cuts, to protect jobs in the public sector.
    – A new round of quantitative easing to finance a “Green New Deal” to create thousands of new jobs.
    – Benefit increases to put money into the pockets of those on lower and middle incomes and give a boost to spending.
    – A financial transaction tax to raise funds from the City to pay for investment in transport, energy and house building.

  • Où l’on (ne) reparle (pas) du Mossad

    Depuis trois jours, l’enquête des journaux anglais sur la démission du ministre britannique de la défense Liam Fox prend une tournure explosive, tournure que les médias français évitent de rapporter avec un professionnalisme qui force le respect.

    Le 14 octobre, Patrick Wintour, Rupert Neate et Richard Norton-Taylor évoquent dans le Guardian les craintes d’« officiels » britanniques, qui seraient préoccupés par le fait que Fox et Werrity puissent avoir eu des liens avec les services de renseignement israéliens ;
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/13/rightwing-tories-rally-liam-fox

    Officials expressed concern that Fox and Werritty might even have been in freelance discussions with Israeli intelligence agencies.

    Le 16 octobre, toujours dans le Guardian, Jamie Doward détaille les liens de l’organisation « Atlantic Bridge » avec le big business américain, les néoconservateurs et le « tea party » :
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/15/liam-fox-atlantic-bridge

    The huge rise in income, which dwarfed that of its UK sister organisation, coincided with a significant expansion in the charity’s advisers and directors. By 2009 Werritty, whom the US accounts list as the (unpaid) UK executive director of the Atlantic Bridge, found himself reporting to a new chief executive officer, Amanda Bowman, the former New York director for the Centre for Security Policy, the neocon think-tank that opposed the planned Park 51 Muslim community centre close to the site of Ground Zero.

    L’article rappelle les liens entre Werritty et Israël :

    By 2009 a powerful lobby group, Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (Bicom), was covering the cost of Werritty’s trip to an important security seminar in Israel. The trip was arranged by Bicom’s former deputy chairman, Michael Lewis, who donated to Atlantic Bridge and to Fox’s Tory leadership campaign in 2005. Bicom’s former communications director, Lee Petar, who runs a lobbying firm, Tetra Strategy, put Werritty in touch with the Dubai businessman, Harvey Boulter, whose meeting with Fox triggered the initial furore that triggered his demise.

    Jane Merrick and James Hanning, dans The Independant ce dimanche, vont plus loin, et affirment qu’Adam Werrity a été « débriefé » par le contre-espionnage anglais spécifiquement au sujet de ses liens supposés avec le Mossad :
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-foxs-best-man-and-his-ties-to-irans-opposition-2371352.html

    Adam Werritty, the man at the centre of the Liam Fox cash-for-access scandal, has been involved in an audacious plot to topple Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it was claimed last night.

    [...]

    Mr Werritty, 33, has been debriefed by MI6 about his travels and is so highly regarded by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad – who thought he was Mr Fox’s chief of staff – that he was able to arrange meetings at the highest levels of the Israeli government, multiple sources have told The IoS.

    Le quotidien fait carrément sa Une avec ce titre :

    Le même jour, l’ancien diplomate Craig Murray va plus loin dans le Daily Mail :
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2049642/Was-Mossad-using-Fox-Werritty-useful-idiots-Ex-Ambassador-reveals-links

    But my source told me that what really was worrying senior officials in the MOD, FCO and Cabinet Office was the possibility that Fox could be being used as a ‘useful idiot’ by Mossad, Israel’s far-reaching and extremely effective intelligence service. 

    Key funding sources for Werritty were from the Israeli lobby and a rather obscure commercial intelligence agency. 

    Might Mossad be pulling Werritty’s strings, with or without his knowledge? 

    On Friday, two senior Fleet Street journalists also reported hearing similar concerns from other Whitehall officials about possible Israeli intelligence service involvement with Fox and Werritty.  

    By working closely with an unofficial aide with extraordinary access but no security vetting and murky funding sources, Fox had potentially compromised national security. That is the real story here.

    L’information du Independent est reprise par Haaretz :
    http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/report-ex-u-k-defense-secretary-adviser-involved-in-plot-to-topple-iran-pre

    Adam Werritty, the adviser and close friend of Britain’s recently resigned Defense Secretary Liam Fox, was accused Sunday of involvement in a plot to bring down Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and of having links to the Mossad.

    À connaissance, aucun média français n’a repris aujourd’hui ces informations, alors qu’il existe déjà une dépêche AFP datée de hier après-midi :
    http://www.romandie.com/news/n/_GBex_ministre_de_la_Defense_l_opposition_reclame_une_enquete_plus_large16

    Les médias, loin de s’arrêter avec la démission vendredi du ministre, ont continué dimanche de publier des révélations, remontant le fil des dons et spéculant sur l’influence des deux hommes sur la politique étrangère britannique.

    [...]

    The Independent croit savoir que M. Werritty complotait pour renverser le régime iranien et était si bien considéré par le Mossad qu’il avait pu arranger des rencontres avec de hauts responsables israéliens.

  • Libya conflict may cost UK £1.75bn | Politics | The Guardian
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/25/libya-conflict-uk-defence-bill?CMP=twt_gu

    The true cost of the UK’s involvement in the Libya conflict could be as high as £1.75bn – almost seven times more than government estimates, according to a new study. Research by a respected defence analyst suggests that the government has given a misleading picture of the costs of supporting the military operation, now in its seventh month, leading to demands for a proper spending breakdown.

  • Ed Miliband links riots to banking and expenses scandals | guardian.co.uk #ukriots
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/aug/12/ed-miliband-links-riots-scandals?CMP=twt_gu

    Ed Miliband has said Labour failed to “rebuild the ethic of our country” in its 13 years in government as he linked the looting and rioting of recent days to the “irresponsibility” of MPs’ expenses, the banking crisis and phone hacking.

    Attacking a “me-first” culture in which people had lost their sense of right and wrong, the Labour leader said: "There is an issue which went to all our souls – this is an issue not just about the responsibility and irresponsibility we saw on the streets of Tottenham. It’s about irresponsibility wherever we find it in our society.

    “We’ve seen in the past few years MPs’ expenses, what happened in the banks, what happened with phone hacking.”