Misuse of language

I'm in a little bit of a ranty mood at the moment, and it's because of the total misue of the word hypocrisy by some Labour backbenchers. The spent yesterday accusing the tories of it, because George Osborne hadn't correctly accounted for donations to his office. Donations that HAD been declared to the Electoral Commission, unlike Peter Hain's, and from an office that does come up up with policies and has staff, unlike the donations from Hain's think tank.

With George Osborne's case the money to CCHQ was declared, but the tories didn't know if then had to be re-declared on the register of members interest. So they were really corrupt and asked the Electoral Commission advice on what they should do (note the sarcasm in that last sentence). The advice was about as useful, clear and about as helpful as the "how to fill in your tax credits form" notes, something even the biased BBC has had to admit. Hence the confusion, and the incorrect declaration of the funds.

Now, "IF" George Osborne had set up a think tank that did no work and had no staff, and then channelled money away from it for personal use, without a single penny being declared to anybody, then yes you can make the accusation of hypocrisy. But he didn't, which just makes the whole march of the backbenchers actually look like the smoke screen that they are trying to create.

The fact is there in no hypocrisy, as the cases are completely different.

As for Peter Hain, he is now on borrowed time, as he awaits the verdict of the Electoral Commission, as his future is now out of his and Gordon Brown's hands. But, I'm not holding my breath. Hain's conduct in this whole issue stinks, as none of the other deputy leadership candidates financed their campaigns from think tank funds, and made sure that donations to their camps were accounted for. As John Cruddas put it, the first thing he did was hire a lawyer and an accountant. Which would seem the most sensible thing to do. Although, Harman's donations are a different matter, these may be deemed to be illegal at some point in the future (or not) but at least she declared them.

Hain, however, has got any honour about him, so he won't quit, and Brown hasn't got the bottle to sack him. Something else that will damage Brown in the polls.