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Tony Blair |
BBC Gagged Over Tony Blair’s
Knighthoods-For-Sale Scandal
Saturday, March 3, 2007
A British court ordered the British Broadcasting Corporation not to air news about the ‘Knighthood for Cash’ scandal Friday (March 2, 2007).
The BBC complied with the ban, but did report its broadcast had been censored, British newspapers reported Saturday (March 3, 2007).
Scotland Yard has been investigating allegations that Labor Party financial
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supporters were given titles in exchange for financial contributions, according to the Financial Times of London. It is illegal in England to sell honorary titles such as knight or lord.
Two of Tony Blair’s confidants, Ruth Turner and Lord Michael Levy, have been arrested in connection with the scandal, but so far neither have been officially charged, the Financial Times reported. Levy was given the title of Lord immediately after the U.K.’s 1997 election, according to www.red-star-research.org.uk (see Levy article here). Blair has also been questioned by police in connection with the ‘cash
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Lord Goldsmith, U.K. attorney general |
for honors’ investigation.
On Friday night, Lord Peter Goldsmith, U.K.’s attorney general and a high-ranking official at No. 10 Downing Street, obtained a court injunction prohibiting the BBC from running a report about the scandal, according to The Independent Newspaper of London.
"The application for an injunction was made by the Attorney General this afternoon at the specific request, and in co-operation with, the police because of their concerns that disclosure of certain information at this stage would impede their inquiries," said a spokesman Goldsmith.
The BBC, in a mild rebuke, disputed Goldsmith's censorship.
"The BBC said its report on cash for honours was a legitimate matter of public interest," a BBC Spokeswoman said.
