What exactly was Jacqui Smith's crime?

[SpeedyGonzalez]

She gave a charity contribution and helped a bit with rehabilitation of some convicts at the end of their prison sentence. And...now it's apparently a scandal.

Is it really worth the big hoo-ha? She could, I'm sure, have paid top dollar for some excellent quality work, but instead she helped out some folks who needed it. The attempt to link it to her expenses fiddling is a weak effort at trying to slander her. Or am I missing something here?

Maybe the story being published right now is just a pathetic attempt to deflect attention from Andy Coulson being paid by news international whilst working for the Tories.

Daily Mail doesn't like those stories because it's too close to the bone - up to their necks and all that.

"But it's not exactly Watergate is it."

Maybe not...

But we do have a former home secretary who should know the law claiming that she doesn't.

She also has a reputation for chiselling money out of the tax payer to line her own pockets, and now she's been caught abusing a charity in order to save herself money. She could have paid the charity the going rate, that would have helped the charity help someone else out who couldn't afford to pay and also to help the prisoners gain experience.

But no, she thought something along the lines of "screw the charity, screw helping someone else, I'm going to save myself some money here" and just gave them some plants.

And then she lies about it. In the same way that she's lied before when it comes to helping herself to other people's money.

Awful person.

Well spotted re teen son. I hadn't got that before. JS did do the expenses scam with her dsis spare room, I think? So no clean hands. But she and Harriet Harman get slaughtered because they are feminists and had the power to try to do something about it, eg revising rape law, challenging prostitution, pushing equal opps, pay gap audits etc. For this they will be hated no matter what they do. (Not saying their attempts were successful, btw)

"But she and Harriet Harman get slaughtered because they are feminists"

No, they get slaughtered because they (especially Jacqui Smith) were caught with their fingers in the till helping themselves to our money.

JS has blamed sexism in the past for how she is treated by the press, this is very illustrative of her nature. There are women, and men, in the world fighting against real injustice and prejudice on a daily basis and JS attempting to use them to defend herself is just an affront to their dignity, bravery and suffering.

Instead of facing up up to her behaviour and admiting that she was engaged in "near fraudulent" (so said the head of the standards committee) behaviour she would rather throw those involved in the fight against prejudice under the bus, anything to save her own skin.

And now with this prisoner situation she was willing to abuse a charity to save herself a few hundred pounds in decorating fees, then when caught she lied about it, and then when she couldn't lie the squeaks about sexism appear once again.

JS could have played a massive part in the fight against prejudice. Instead she choose to fill her pockets and to try and use those who do fight to get away with it.

Utterly disgusting.

It's not because she's a woman and it's not because the press are sexist.

It's because she's a chiselling little crook who will steal money from us and, as it now transpires, charities.

Normally the press are sexist but on this occasion they are right to highlight the shocking behaviour of Ms Smith.

Apart from abusing her position has it not crossed her tiny mind that in the midst of a dpression (credit crunch, my arse) it might have been the decent thing to have paid a trade person the going rate for the job? What does she think her actual wages are for? She certainly doesn't seem to think they are for mundane things like paying her mortgage or doing up her own home. She is clearly in politics for herself.

Whereyouleftit and Ponders, thanks for producing actual evidence. That clears things up a lot - I didn't know about the charity's rules wrt paying market rates, nor that JS had only donated plants! That is pretty shameless IMO. Appalling behaviour.

Blueberties, why don't you try the evidence-based approach rather than vitriol and insults next time you want to convince someone of your viewpoint?

I did say they don't have clean hands; I made no judgement on the success or otherwise of their attempts to introduce feminist policies (mixed imo); I think their class politics (oops, c-word) are NuLabour, therefore shite. The corruption/expenses/donating plants stuff is dreadful. But I still maintain they are resented and loathed for their feminism. Like Bob Crow gets slated for having a council house and money, but actually they hate him because he's a socialist. Anything they do wrong will get more attention.

"But I still maintain they are resented and loathed for their feminism"

Forget all her other misdeeds, the money she stole from us, the lies she told about and the way she was more than happy to throw real feminism under the bus to try and protect herself while she filled her pockets.

Look at this one thing alone.

We have a person who was caught abusing the good work of a charity and reducing that charities abilities to help others in genuine need in order to help her turn a profit by renting out a house. And when caught she lied about it, which further risked the good name of the charity involved in the work.

Isn't stealing from and blackening the name of a charity alone enough to cause someone to be resented and loathed?

I just said, more than once, that I do not support JS in all the financial corruption she has perpetrated. But there are some figures, JS being one, who are going to be watched like hawks watch sparrows. And that is because some of their political views are actually quite threatening to the status quo. There are other, far more corrupt, MPs who don't get the same attention (more's the pity)

SG, doesn't matter, I was right.