How sweet it is

I think I just heard the sound of the Blairgacy crashing to rubble at the feet of St. Tony just days before he is due to leave Number 10 for a lucrative career on the rubber chicken circuit. What may have caused this great monument to collapse under its own wake you ask? I think it may be the news, reported in this morning's Guardian newspaper, that BAE Systems paid out £1 billion (nearly 2 billion USD) to a Saudi Prince over ten years at the rate of £30 million a quarter. The payments, approved by the British Ministry of Defence, were made to ensure the £43bn Al-Yamamah deal between BAE Systems and the Saudi government. Why would this affect St. Tony? Because not so long ago the Blair government squashed an investigation into corrupt dealings between BAE and the Saudis in the "interests of the nation". An MOD spokesman said:"

The MoD is unable to respond to the points made ... since to do so would involve disclosing confidential information about Al-Yamamah, and that would cause the damage [to us] that ending the investigation was designed to prevent."

But wait, it gets even better. Just who is this mysterious Saudi Prince who received the £1 billion, a material amount of money even in Saudi royal family terms? It is none other than the man who the Decider(TM) prefers to hold hands with over all others, former Saudi ambassador to the US Prince Bandar.

The Guardian web site has an entire section devoted to the investigation. Go on over and enjoy yourself!