View from City Road: 'Dirty tricks' explained away
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Political dirty tricks or something else? Something else, the Department of Trade and Industry was insisting yesterday as suspicion mounted that someone somewhere had deliberately made public Jeffrey Archer's link with the Anglia TV insider dealing inquiry. Certainly it looks suspect. Michael Heseltine, President of the Board of Trade, is known to dislike Lord Archer, and with a cabinet reshuffle only days way, he has an obvious motive.
That's not actually what happened, the DTI insists. Faced with Anglia TV's statement that it was aware of the investigation, the DTI had no option but to confirm, officials explained yesterday. If it did not, Mr Heseltine would have been accused of trying to protect his friends in the party.
Believe it if you will. Certainly, if the motive was political skullduggery, it has been highly effective. Guilty or innocent, Lord Archer's chances of getting the party's chairmanship are now zero. Most insider dealing inquiries come to nothing and even those that do get to court are usually thrown out. All seven people tried for insider dealing last year were acquitted. Mr Heseltine might think that finishing off Lord Archer's political ambitions is a rather more effective use of taxpayers' money.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments