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It's no surprise Rifkind and Straw don't get it. Westminster's swimming in corporate influence

Jack Straw and Malcolm Rifkind can't see what they have done wrong because they swim in a sea of corporate influence.

Published:
David_Miliband,_Davos_2010.jpg
David_Miliband,_Davos_2010.jpg

David Miliband, Wikimedia

For the right fee David Miliband will have dinner with you. A couple of years ago, that fee seems to have been around £20,000 + (substantial) expenses. These days, it seems he only asks for £10,000 to £15,000.

I raise this because two of the elder Miliband's predecessors at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have got themselves into a bit of bother, having been caught red handed offering to use the influence bestowed on them by the British electorate to advance the interests of a fictional Chinese firm in exchange for a significant sum of money.