David Morton
Lifetime Supporter
The Daily Noose. Pun intended.
Baroness Scotland - she might as well take a job being fired out of a circus cannon
as she is just cannon fodder now. Her previous Tongan domestic aid has hired Max Clifford - quite a famous publicist though sometimes also a disreputable editor of one of the less creditable Sunday newspapers " The News of the World". He is also famous for dishing the dirt and Baroness Scotland is in his firing line.
That an Attorney General has been reduced to this sort of rubbish is just staggering.
From the Telegraph today:
Baroness Scotland faces new inquiry
Baroness Scotland faces further pressure to quit after her former housekeeper claimed that she was not asked to show the government minister a passport.
By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent
Published: 11:26PM BST 26 Sep 2009
Baroness Scotland's account has been contradicted by her former housekeeper
Tongan Loloahi Tapui-Zivancevic has also claimed she was not asked to produce any immigration documents and that her passport contained a forged visa which was out of date.
Baroness Scotland, however, has insisted that Ms Tapui had shown her a passport, and suggested that there was a mystery "second passport" involved in the scandal.
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But the Cabinet Minister was adamant that the passport she saw was not that document, but another – the details of which she could not recall.
Mrs Tapui-Zivancevic insists, however, the passport found in her flat is the only one she possesses and she claimed that she was prepared to take a lie detector test to prove that she is telling the truth.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Mrs Tapui-Zivancevic revealed that she was paid just £6 and hour by Lady Scotland – just 27 p above the minimum wage and about £3 an hour below the going rate for housekeeping work in London.
Mrs Tapui-Zivancevic says that she was put to work cleaning Lady Scotland's £2 million home after an interview lasting just 10 minutes and including no questions about her family background.
"She just said to me 'do you want to start work now', and I said yes", the housekeeper revealed.
Mrs Tapui-Zivancevic also disclosed that she was sacked by a terse text message once the scandal of her immigration status was exposed, following a series of phone calls from her aides, belatedly trying to determine exactly what documents the housekeeper had produced at the job interview.
The latest revelations come as her professional body was urged to launch a highly embarrassing investigation into her conduct.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that the Bar Standards Board has received a number of complaints about the beleaguered Cabinet minister, who was fined £5,000 for employing an illegal immigrant.
The development further intensifies pressure on Lady Scotland to step down amid growing concern within Labour that the affair will dominate this week's party conference.
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, has been accused of showing weakness by failing to sack Lady Scotland, who said in interviews last week that her breach of immigration law could be compared with failing to pay London's congestion charge.
The most senior law officer in England and Wales avoided the sack despite becoming the first individual in the country to be sanctioned for breaching immigration rules that she helped frame as a Home Office minister. All other prosecutions have covered companies.
The Bar Standards Board does not normally investigate complaints about a lawyer's private life, but its own guidelines acknowledge that such an inquiry may be launched in "exceptional circumstances".
A spokeswoman for the board declined to comment about Lady Scotland's case and refused to disclose how many complaints had been received.
Senior legal sources have told this newspaper that the Bar Standards Board would have no alternative but to carry out an inquiry into whether the QC breached the barristers' code of conduct and brought the legal profession into disrepute.
The board was created just three years ago as part of the Bar's attempt to retain its self-regulating role, and failing to act could leave the organisation open to criticism, said lawyers.
"I have no doubt that the Bar Standards Board will deal with this properly and take appropriate action," said one QC.
Members of the disciplinary panel may now have to consider whether Lady Scotland's activities have been "dishonest or otherwise discreditable to a barrister".
The board has the power to disbar a lawyer who is found to have committed a serious breach of the code. Even if a lesser punishment is imposed – such as a fine, suspension or reprimand – it could be fatal to Lady Scotland's political career.
Any inquiry is likely to focus on whether the legal profession has been tarnished by Lady Scotland's breach of immigration laws and the imposition of a £5,000 fine, but Lady Scotland could face even more difficult questions if her version of events differs from the account given by Ms Tapui.
David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth, was among those who asked the Bar Standards Board to examine the case.
Mr Davies said: "If Gordon Brown cannot bring himself to discipline her then the Bar Standards Board should look into whether she has breached her professional code.
"I would have thought that Lady Scotland has obviously brought discredit on to barristers through all this."
Mrs Tapui-ZivancevicTapui married Alexander Zivancevic in May 2007 at a church in west London. Immigration rules require non-EU citizens to obtain Home Office permission before marrying in Britain, but Church of England weddings are exempt from the rules.
The couple were detained by immigration officials last week and released on bail until next month.
Baroness Scotland - she might as well take a job being fired out of a circus cannon
as she is just cannon fodder now. Her previous Tongan domestic aid has hired Max Clifford - quite a famous publicist though sometimes also a disreputable editor of one of the less creditable Sunday newspapers " The News of the World". He is also famous for dishing the dirt and Baroness Scotland is in his firing line.
That an Attorney General has been reduced to this sort of rubbish is just staggering.
From the Telegraph today:
Baroness Scotland faces new inquiry
Baroness Scotland faces further pressure to quit after her former housekeeper claimed that she was not asked to show the government minister a passport.
By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent
Published: 11:26PM BST 26 Sep 2009
Tongan Loloahi Tapui-Zivancevic has also claimed she was not asked to produce any immigration documents and that her passport contained a forged visa which was out of date.
Baroness Scotland, however, has insisted that Ms Tapui had shown her a passport, and suggested that there was a mystery "second passport" involved in the scandal.
Related Articles
- <LI class=bullet sizcache="23" sizset="47">Baroness Scotland under pressure
<LI class=bullet sizcache="23" sizset="48">Labour's problem isn't just the election - it's what comes next
<LI class=bullet sizcache="23" sizset="49">Baroness Scotland's housekeeper prepares to sell story
- Attorney General Baroness Scotland duped by 'forged Home Office letter' over housekeeper
But the Cabinet Minister was adamant that the passport she saw was not that document, but another – the details of which she could not recall.
Mrs Tapui-Zivancevic insists, however, the passport found in her flat is the only one she possesses and she claimed that she was prepared to take a lie detector test to prove that she is telling the truth.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Mrs Tapui-Zivancevic revealed that she was paid just £6 and hour by Lady Scotland – just 27 p above the minimum wage and about £3 an hour below the going rate for housekeeping work in London.
Mrs Tapui-Zivancevic says that she was put to work cleaning Lady Scotland's £2 million home after an interview lasting just 10 minutes and including no questions about her family background.
"She just said to me 'do you want to start work now', and I said yes", the housekeeper revealed.
Mrs Tapui-Zivancevic also disclosed that she was sacked by a terse text message once the scandal of her immigration status was exposed, following a series of phone calls from her aides, belatedly trying to determine exactly what documents the housekeeper had produced at the job interview.
The latest revelations come as her professional body was urged to launch a highly embarrassing investigation into her conduct.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that the Bar Standards Board has received a number of complaints about the beleaguered Cabinet minister, who was fined £5,000 for employing an illegal immigrant.
The development further intensifies pressure on Lady Scotland to step down amid growing concern within Labour that the affair will dominate this week's party conference.
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, has been accused of showing weakness by failing to sack Lady Scotland, who said in interviews last week that her breach of immigration law could be compared with failing to pay London's congestion charge.
The most senior law officer in England and Wales avoided the sack despite becoming the first individual in the country to be sanctioned for breaching immigration rules that she helped frame as a Home Office minister. All other prosecutions have covered companies.
The Bar Standards Board does not normally investigate complaints about a lawyer's private life, but its own guidelines acknowledge that such an inquiry may be launched in "exceptional circumstances".
A spokeswoman for the board declined to comment about Lady Scotland's case and refused to disclose how many complaints had been received.
Senior legal sources have told this newspaper that the Bar Standards Board would have no alternative but to carry out an inquiry into whether the QC breached the barristers' code of conduct and brought the legal profession into disrepute.
The board was created just three years ago as part of the Bar's attempt to retain its self-regulating role, and failing to act could leave the organisation open to criticism, said lawyers.
"I have no doubt that the Bar Standards Board will deal with this properly and take appropriate action," said one QC.
Members of the disciplinary panel may now have to consider whether Lady Scotland's activities have been "dishonest or otherwise discreditable to a barrister".
The board has the power to disbar a lawyer who is found to have committed a serious breach of the code. Even if a lesser punishment is imposed – such as a fine, suspension or reprimand – it could be fatal to Lady Scotland's political career.
Any inquiry is likely to focus on whether the legal profession has been tarnished by Lady Scotland's breach of immigration laws and the imposition of a £5,000 fine, but Lady Scotland could face even more difficult questions if her version of events differs from the account given by Ms Tapui.
David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth, was among those who asked the Bar Standards Board to examine the case.
Mr Davies said: "If Gordon Brown cannot bring himself to discipline her then the Bar Standards Board should look into whether she has breached her professional code.
"I would have thought that Lady Scotland has obviously brought discredit on to barristers through all this."
Mrs Tapui-ZivancevicTapui married Alexander Zivancevic in May 2007 at a church in west London. Immigration rules require non-EU citizens to obtain Home Office permission before marrying in Britain, but Church of England weddings are exempt from the rules.
The couple were detained by immigration officials last week and released on bail until next month.
