John Major’s extraordinary hypocrisy today

Today John Major slated the current Conservative government, for the second time, for its lies and hypocrisy. He is probably correct in what he said but…

Have the journalists who televised this man’s words forgotten what he did whilst Prime Minister between 1990 and 1997?

Back to basics

In 1993 he introduced a policy called Back To Basics. He intended this to be a nostalgic appeal to traditional values such as “neighbourliness, decency and courtesy.

Just prior to his appointment as PM he had been having sex with Edwina Curry, a junior health minister. His wife was not amused.

He also presided over one of the most corrupt and scandal ridden governments ever. I remember it well, the scandals just went on and on.

His government and and that of Boris Johnson both have their pathetic hypocritical issues but Major’s wins by a mile, read on.

The scandals over which John Major presided

I list eight below but there are many more between 1991 and 1997 read the complete list here.  The list includes corruption  and incompetence of almost every imaginable type.

1. Major had an affair with Edwina Curry for four years prior to becoming Prime Minister. She is famous for appointing Jimmy Savile to head up a task force to run Broadmoor psychiatric hospital. This was where the TV presenter and prolific sex offender subjected patients to repeated attacks. She also, as Junior Minister for health, had to resign for her comments on salmonella in eggs.
2. In April 1991 Chancellor Norman Lamont was embarrassed when it was revealed a ‘sex-therapist’ lived in his rented-out London flat, and that his credit cards were frequently in arrears.
3. In 1992 MP Alan Amos received a police caution for indecency after being found cruising for gay sex on Hampstead Heath.
4. Between September and November 1993, newspapers revealed that junior transport minister Steven Norris had separated from his wife and was conducting simultaneous affairs with three different women (who were not all aware of each other’s existence). Two further mistresses from his past were also exposed in the media.
5. On 7 February 1994, Conservative MP Stephen Milligan was found dead on his kitchen table. This was as a result of auto-erotic asphyxiation, wearing only a pair of women’s stockings and suspenders. His head covered and an orange segment in his mouth.

A few more scandals

1. On 10 April 1995, Jonathan Aitken resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in order to sue The Guardian and the ITV investigative journalism series World in Action, after they alleged that Saudi businessmen had paid for his stay at the Paris Ritz hotel, that he had enjoyed inappropriate commercial relations with two British-Lebanese arms dealers while minister for defence procurement, and that he had also procured prostitutes for a Saudi prince and his entourage while they stayed at a British health farm.^[70][71] Aitken denied all accusations and promised to wield “the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play” in libel proceedings which he brought against The Guardian and the producers of World in Action (Granada Television). At an early stage in the trial, it became apparent that he had lied under oath, and he was subsequently convicted of perjury (after the Major government had fallen from power) and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Aitken had formerly been a Church of England parish priest.!
2. In 1996 a long-running investigation into the ‘Homes for votes scandal‘ found that the Conservative-controlled Westminster City Council had conducted an unofficial policy of removing homeless people from the borough and replacing them with likely Conservative voters.
3. On 8 January 1994, millionaire MP Alan Duncan resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary after it was revealed that he had acquired a house in Westminster (which had been designated as a council house) adjoining his own 18th century townhouse, at a reduced price, by exploiting a government program to increase home ownership for the underprivileged. The house had been occupied for decades by an elderly next-door neighbour, and Duncan gave him the money to purchase the house at a huge discount under the “Right to Buy” scheme, on condition that Duncan would take over the house on the neighbor’s death.

Back to basics?

John Major should never be allowed to comment on anything ever again.

His greatest crime was signing the Maastricht agreement without reading the damn thing!

PS: Perhaps his greatest crime was signing the Maastricht agreement.

This was 3 years after Margaret Thatcher had famously said, quite rightly for once, “No, No No” to the EU president Jacques Delors. Well worth watching on Youtube – just 1 minute of your time.

Oh, and I nearly forget his best idea – the Cone Hotline.

John Major’s “cones hotline” was the most ridiculed policy ever to be introduced by a British government. How the critics hooted at its apparent pettiness and lack of ambition. Could the party that gave us Churchill and Thatcher really have come to this? A telephone line for motorists to moan about road works? The hotline lasted two years and was quietly forgotten having take just a few thousand calls.

I thank Philip Allfrey for allowing this image to be used freely – link to licence.