conservatives have been on the back foot over lobbying scandals the opposition labour party has been gaining ground in recent polls. labour today set out to seize the initiative on that issue, of mps standards whilst, at the same time its leader, sir keir starmer, also embarked on a reshuffle of his top team. it didn t go entirely to plan. the labour party chose this week to announce its plan to clean up politics . and its deputy leader angela rayner who would deliver the plan in a speech. it was a chance to apply pressure on borisjohnson. but labour s leader had other plans too. here s the times telling us: emboldened sir keir starmer plots labour shadow cabinet reshuffle . the story went on. starmer may seek to get angela rayner on board before making any changes . bear in mind earlier in the year angela rayner refused to be moved in a reshuffle after labour lost a by election in hartlepool. and angela rayner was asked about this new reshuffle on times radio s breakfast show.
chief rallying cries along with lock her up. 19 months into the trump administration, things seem swampier than ever. the president s former campaign chairman paul manafort and his personal lawyer michael cohen both convicted. his first national security adviser michael flynn pled guilty to lying to the fbi. so did foreign policy adviser george papadopoulos whose bragging about dirt on hillary clinton kicked off the investigation and rick gates. with that crew, trump is on a path of being a class of his own potentially rivaling richard nixon. let me explain. only one person in the obama administration pled guilty to a crime and it was a misdemeanor. then-cia director david petraeus who pled guilty to removing classified information in connection with an affair. george w. bush, eight members of his administration got caught up in the jack abramoff lobbying scandals. there were 21 guilty pleas and ten prison sentences including scooter libby who was later pardoned by president trump.
office of congressional ethics. now that s an independent watchdog group that was created after multiple lobbying scandals. republicans want to take away its independence, and they argue the group has falsely accused members of congress of wrongdoing. so is this needed reform? or does this just take away the watchdog s snooet what ateeth? what are we to make of this. obviously members of the house in the republican majority have taken this opportunity, film filled with news and information so much that those who follow the news can t even follow it. they ve taken this opportunity to do away with an institution they detest. it was established by former democratic house speaker nancy pelosi when she was in that high office. and republicans believe that it is being used to percent cute thi think their move to abolish it
becoming more and more important with the rise of super pacs and dark money. they have on cater to these people. even more so than they ever had to in the past. new numbers i am hearing, there is more money coming in. somebody runs for the u.s. senate. they ll get more money in that campaign from super pacs than from dialing for dollars. they. in other words, the money they raise in $2,700 allotments. it is lower when they add it up. so the big money guys have more clout than all the little people. they can give $2,700 a year. until there is a scandal that blows up the system i don t think you ll get the voter involvement. they would push their lawmakers to change things. the gyrocopter guy drew more attention to terrorism than did he to campaign finance. and then before that all the money was in peel s rain coats. no control. and the lobbying scandals.