Money will do anything

Traditional British Values: the first in an occasional series

1. Bribery and Corruption

In the last year or two we have been hearing a lot from members of our government about Britishness. This is typically in the context of urging, even compelling immigrants to ‘integrate’, a splendidly vague word, such a useful item in the political lexicon. One of the things this means, apparently, is subscribing to what our politicians like to call ‘British values’, or sometimes, more emphatically, ‘traditional British values’.

The most recent bout of tub-thumping on this topic came earlier this week, from Ruth Kelly, the communities secretary, and Liam Byrne, the immigration minister. Kelly is an Irish Catholic, and Byrne’s name indicates that he is at least partly of Irish origin. I find this ironic, and also rather saddening. Do they know much at all about the long and often difficult history of their own community in mainland Britain? No, probably they do not.

Meanwhile, this week the BAE bribery scandal, which has been rumbling along for several years, has hit the news again in a big way: the Guardian is coming up with evidence of high-level government complicity. Not that this surprises much: the moment Blair and Goldsmith stopped the investigation by the Serious Fraud Office last December it became clear to anyone with half a brain that something had been going on that was hugely discreditable to Blair and his government. More discreditable, even, than publicly terminating a criminal investigation for political reasons. Whew!

Bribery and corruption – it’s just a traditional part of the British Way of Life:

Of all the Arguments in the way of Business, the Perquisite is the most prevailing ... Money well tim'd, and properly apply’d, will do any
thing.

Macheath, in The Beggar’s Opera (1728) by John Gay


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