Stung
Quite agree. It sniffs badly, but there’s nothing new in it.
I admit to being slightly underwhelmed by reports in recent days of Parliamentarians and their ‘availability’ to lobbyists. This is old news, and not worth the fuss that’s being made. While it’s all a bit seedy, nobody died, and nobody appears to be lying. Apart from . . .
These stories have been generated by deliberate acts of deception by a couple of broadsheet newspapers and by the BBC’s vicious, morally questionable, Panorama programme. Their reporters posed as lobbyists and lured their targets into setting themselves up. That’s entrapment, pure and simple. How could it be legitimate reporting? The story didn’t exist until they set it up.
How were these people targeted? Is it a mere coincidence that Patrick Mercer MP is one of Dave Cameron’s fiercest critics within his own party? I think we should be told.
The sooner the proposed register of lobbyists is set up the better…
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writerlywitterings 
I still think using your parliamentary access for personal monetary gain is wrong. It’s not what I sent my MP to Parliament to do. I know it has always been thus, but then all the more reason it was stopped – not merely by having a register, but by actually making it illegal.
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I agree. A register will only prevent journalists from stinging them and bringing the crooks to our attention.
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