Events | 2010.02.16
Hugh Muir's diary
Slush fund or no, BAE tries to be nice to people, and no mistake
• Nothing tangible yet from BAE\'s attempt to offer its military-style spy planes to the Kent police force – which considered they might be useful, not least for patrolling the Channel. But that\'s not for the want of trying by Britain\'s favourite arms manufacturer. Through the wonder of freedom of information, we see that BAE did what it could to smooth the deal. After obtaining, for one top cop, tickets for a gala dinner at an aviation conference in Holland, BAE sought to have an officer watch a drone fly in Oman, courtesy of the Sultan\'s Royal Air Force. In emails, Kent\'s assistant chief constable, Allyn Thomas, said he was "not averse" to the initiative but he was, in the end, too busy. He promised to "go into bat" to get his superintendent, Richard Watson, on the plane. But it wasn\'t much of an innings because, attractive as BAE\'s offer was, no one went with them. Still, as ever with BAE, it\'s the thought that counts, don\'t you think?
• While Gordon was showing his emotional side to Piers Morgan (That\'s right, Piers Morgan), who was that being immensely jolly in the audience for the semi-final of the BBC\'s hoofing talent show So You Think You Can Dance on Saturday? Yes, there was Harriet and her sister, in the swing and chatting during a break in recording to Arlene Phillips, a judge on the show and the government\'s official "dance champion". Asked who she was backing to win in the final, next week, Harriet said "Charlie", a female competitor. Insert your own "Harriet Harman: \'I love Charlie\'" joke, advises our man in the stalls. But we\'ll leave that to the Mail.
• No hiding place for public officials guilty of wrongdoing, says David Cameron . And thus he must be exercised about events in Kent where Graham Rumsey, a Conservative councillor, was jailed last week by Sevenoaks magistrates for his continued failure to pay more than £13,000 of council tax and business rates. Justice has been done, it is true, but some Tories in the area don\'t seem to be on the same wavelength as Dave, for they choose not to condemn. Instead they insist that Rumsey is a decent chap, and he really doesn\'t need to stand down. We\'ll discuss it when he comes out. But surely, Dave will say he has to stand down because Britain is broken, that\'s a given – and God knows, we can\'t go on like this. Perhaps won\'t be able to go on at all.
• They are having a bumpy ride at the White House just now. The enemies – the Palin-tologists – are massing, sensitivities are high and the details matter. Which might explain this little disagreement between the forces of Obama and a small newspaper in Nashua, New Hampshire. "A story on Page 1 of Tuesday\'s Telegraph quoted a White House official explaining that a Q&A session with dozens of teenagers in Nashua High School North on Monday was \'off the record\'," it said. "However, the explanation about the talk being \'off the record\' was, it turns out, also \'off the record\', and should not have been quoted." We have that on the record. We think.
• Finally, with Commander Ali Dizaei sent directly to jail (do not pass go, do not collect £200), we see again that a policeman\'s lot is not always a completely happy one. Blameless former policemen can have a rough time, too. Witness the plight of former Met deputy assistant commissioner Brian Paddick , freed from the pressures of high office but ill at ease in the knowledge that, as he told listeners to digital station Colourful, he is the only person to reach the rank of deputy assistant commissioner never to be given the Queen\'s Medal for Outstanding Service, or any other award. And what of life since his appearance alongside Esther Rantzen et al on I\'m a Celebrity? Well there was that invitation from Ant & Dec\'s Saturday Night Takeaway . Paddick (pictured) was sought out to perform as one of their "dancing mushrooms". He declined.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/feb/09/hugh-muirs-diary-bae-systems
