Sami Chakrabarti is like a 29 bus..

Just when you mentin how few Sami Chakrbatis there are about - up pops Ken Linvingstone sasyin gthe demure doe eyed, ex Home Offic lawyre should exaine the case of Ian Tomlinson etc.,

Then like the 29 bus, several Chakrabartis appear.

Apparently Plod seized an obscure Tory MP's computers and set about searching for evidence of the telegenic scarf adjusting,bright eyed feminist who leads Liberty in his e -mails.

No - show.

Which may be of course because Bob Quick (now Ex - terrist in Chief) was typing in the query list and got his vowels in a twist.

Cue : Sami thinks all this raises some "important questions".

Of course it does chuck, but tell us what you think the important questions are.

Hands up those who see the "crumple zone" of dissent adroitly shroudng public dissent and argument about waht Craig Murray calls Ian Tomlinso'smrder.Stepforward the Lady Dame Jane Pauline Baroness Neville Jones, David Davis, and all the the appalling people (Andrew McKinley) in the pay of Lord Ashcroft who support both "Total Politics" the removal of habeus corpus and locking people up without charge for 29 days whist you hunt for evidence.

Modest 42% profit on Lloyds Bank shares in just over one week

Those readers who followed Lord Patel on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Repairing the old wallet. into Lloyds bank after a quick in and out into Barclays will be gratified that since buying at 57 pence the shares in Lloyds trade, as we write, up 6p today at 76.9 p a modest 42% rise in a week.

Credit crunch ? Crisis ? What crisis ... those bankers are still reeling in the profits.

Want to join in the fun ? Royal Bank of Scotland have started to move. Last price 27.40 pence (174.00% above the 52 week low of 10.00 set on January 20, 2009) up +2.30pence up 9.16%. (Closed 4.30 28.2 p up 12.35%)

Just to recap : Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS:LSE) was acquired by HM Treasury for $26.06bn on 08 October 2008, the share price has decreased -69.56% since acquisition by you and me. They are in fact up 18% ish ove the whole of March - but 9%+ today alone.

Dip yer bread, Fill ya boots!

Black man speak with fork tongue

This is a quote that passed us by - President O'Bomber on March 14th said when he met Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ,,,,who has said recently "This crisis was caused by the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes, who thought they knew everything and now show they know nothing"

"I think that not just the Chinese government, but every investor can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States, and that it is not just in U.S.-issued Treasury notes but also in the private sector and the commerce and the industry that has made this the most dynamic economy in the world."

So there you have it ...buy T Bills and ..

1 You can "every confidence "
2 The US has the most dynamic economy in the world...

So slaps a 56 cents a litre on Brazilian ethanol into the US.

PS : Air Force Link News March 29th Bombing by US and allies - "In total, 76 close-air-support missions were flown in support of ISAF and Afghan security forces...Coalition aircraft flew 30 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom."

Home Secretary's husband is a secret wanker ...

Outrageous !The only word for it. Scandalous ! That's another word for it.

What better on a Friday night after being a consituency secretay to kick back, light a spliff , grab the Kleenex and watch a mucky movie (or two).

Killjoys ! That's the only word for the critics of his inoccent pastime ... so we all pay for it .. well we pay fo everything else .. why not Letitia Learns a Lesson.
or Debbie and her Dogs ?

What is Scandalous, outrageous (even) is the news that Jacquie went ballistic on hearing the news.

Don't these people go on Anger Management courses ?

Book her in for one right away ..... happy to pay for it.

The Government are doing a splendid job .....

Gordon or someone at the Cabinet Office has just sent a Press Release.

Cabinet Office
10/03/2009 08:45
Cabinet Office (National)
(Cab Office) Working Together - Public Services On Your Side

The Government will today set out its vision for the future shape of public services, building on a decade of unprecedented investment and rising standards.

There follows a list of previusly announced things on which the Government is spending our money on ....

It ends

* Across government delivering £35bn of value for money savings, equivalent to £1,400 per household that will be allocated to front line services and further savings to come in 2009 Budget.

Notes to editors

The document Working Together - Public Services On Your Side can be viewed at http://www.hmg.gov.uk/workingtogether.aspx from 00:01 on Tuesday 10 March.

Cabinet Office Press Office 22 Whitehall LONDON SW1A 2WH
Tel: 020 7276 2533
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk

" ....delivering £35bn of value for money savings, equivalent to £1,400 per household ".

Well they have been delivering savings of £35N (that's about 10% of Central Government Expenditure) for years so they should be spending nothing by now.

Setting the Agenda for the tame lickspittle press ? Diverting attention from the Armageddon of Global Financial Meltdown ?

No. Apparently we should be rejoicing because one of these great cost savings is "Giving Jobcentre Plus advisers greater discretion to personalise support, benefiting up to 80,000 jobseekers." There are of course 3 Mn Jobseekers at the moment .. and rising.

Economic gloom descends on town
by Pete Bainbridge Macclesfield Express March 11, 2009

"FURTHER economic gloom has descended on Macclesfield as new figures reveal the highest number of jobseekers in a decade coupled with a huge leap in home repossessions." read on

...... "Melanie, who wants to be a countryside ranger, said: "There used to be a job club in Macclesfield where they would help you with CVs and help you apply for jobs, but it’s not there anymore. I think it lost funding."

Texted to death by Nu Labour

Lifted entirely from Craig Murray's site + Alaric

Texting death crash peer jailed for 12 weeks and banned for one yearhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/7909510.stm
Texting death crash woman jailed for 21 months and banned for three years
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7865114.stm

Note that in neither case is it true - contrary to propaganda - that the texting was several minutes before the crash. In the case of the woman, the prosecution is appealing because the sentence was too lenient!

--------------

Lord Ahmed will serve half of his sentence ( 6 weeks) in jail and half on licence (his wife and mother were passengers in his X Type Jaguar) . He was also banned from driving for a year and ordered to pay £500 prosecution costs. His solicitor, Steve Smith, said he was launching an immediate appeal against the sentence.

The 21 year old Philippa Curtis exchanged more than 20 text messages as she travelled at 70 mph in wet weatherd riving in stockinged feet.

The Times (Feb 2nd 209) quoted Jo Stagg, spokeswoman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents : “Sentencing guide-lines were recently strengthened to encourage the courts to be stricter on this type of deliberate and persistent dangerous driving but in our view this sentence is light.”

Prior to bcoming the first Muslim life peer in 1998, when he famously swore on the Koran, Lord Ahmed was notoriusly the Chairman of the South Yorkshire Labour Party for some years.

Lord Ashcroft and more of his dodgy dosh helps fund the Conservative Party local constituencies - Electoral Commission sniffing about.

Bearwood Corporate Services -- Hmmm curious how we were just posting about these fascinating noble Lords who own Banks in Belize. BCS is the Conservatives’ biggest corporate donor and has given £4.74m to the party since February 2003, (at least) and heads the BBC4 midnight news.

The Times reveals today the Electoral Commission (EC) is looking at donations by the delightful and genial , fun loving, Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative party’s deputy chairman via BCS because UK electoral law may have been breached.

The EC started truffling around six months ago when it was found £4.79m has been transferred via a chain of companies controlled by the secretive fun loving, Lord Ashcroft from Belize, the Central American tax haven, to Bearwood Corporate Services (BCS).

The Tories might have to return the money if the EC finds they have breached electoral law by accepting the donations.

Not the first time that this sleepy, Wokingham, Berkshire money shifting outfit (founder and managing director, Lyn Austen) has been in the public eye .. The Tories, managed to fail to declare on time a number of Lord Ashcroft’s previous very generous pre-election donations: £5,000 to the Harlow Association, donated in January 2005; £5,000 to Brighton Kemptown; £2,145 to the Hastings & Rye Association... and also £7,993 donation to North Norfolk Conservative Association .. the seat of wannabe MP and amateur blogiste Iain Dale.

Or, how about Flowidea, a mysterious, a City-based investment company, has given at least £484,981 to the Conservatives since early 2001. No address, no phone , no website and they used to help fund William Hague's office.

Flowidea Ltd we can reveal, is a subsidiary of the investment bank Secure Trust Banking Group of personal and investment bankers ( website) owned by Arbuthnot Securities, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

An executive directors of Flowidea is Henry Angest, one of 11 businessmen who supported Michael Portillo's pointless bid for the Conservative leadership - who sits on Arbuthnot's remuneration Committee with BBC economics rentagob Director Ruth Lea.

Henry Angest is a wll known and vocifrous Eurosceptic, is a member of the Congress for Democracy steering committee and the National Council member of Business for Sterling.

Let's hope no-one starts asking about Lord Laidlaw, where he lives , eats , sleeps, fornicates and in general leads the low life whilst heavily funding the Conservative Party.

Lord Truscott - friends in low places

Much in demand business advisor, cheap crook , fixer, cheat, liar and fellow Lord Truscott was appointed Non-Executive Director African Minerals Ltd., ( AKA Sierra Leone Diamond Co) on 8th April 2008. The shares stood at 154p that day, today they are 27p) See Interim report 2008 first-half pretax loss widened to US$11.36 million from US$8 million, while revenue fell to US$2.21 million from US$7.49 million.

Timis Diamond Corporation Limited (via wholly owned by CA Fiduciary Services Limited as sole trustee of the Timis Trust) own 22.06% of the company.

Those further interested in ex heroin dealer Mr Frank Timis and his exciting and varied international career can usefully look at his Wiki entry and read all about Regal Petroleum AIM listed company with no royals aboard and very little petrol.

Just as well Lord Truscott has something to fall back on as the Guradian report that smart meter manufactureres the highly respectable and venerable Lantis+Gyr had a chat last Sunday with him. "After a difficult conversation he resigned ... as a consultant."

The shit stirring Chris Huhne has also written to Sir Paul Stephenson, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, asking for an investigation into allegations of bribery offences committed by Lord Taylor of Blackburn and Lord Truscott of St James’s.


The law (says Chris) must apply to everybody regardless of whether they are within the political system or outside it, and this is a particularly crucial allegation as it touches on the honesty and integrity of the parliamentary process.

Any news of the return of the donation to the Lib Dems of £2.4 Mn. from Michael Brown, 42, of Templewood Avenue, Hampstead, to help fund their 2005 election campaign , who was alleged to have stolen a total of $11,348,003 (£7,092,501) from Charles Martin Edwards and three of transferring criminal property in the same overall amount.

Blagojevich / Obama / Emanuel and the murky world of Chicago mob politics

On Tuesday 9th December President Elect Obama denied that he, or any of his staff, had conversations with Governor Blagojevich (or Blago's staff) over his successor for his Senate seat - which is (was) in the gift of the Governor .

Thursday Dec 12th President Elect Obama said he had never spoken to Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy and was "confident that no representatives" of his had engaged in any dealmaking over the seat with the governor or his team. He also pledged Thursday that in the "next few days" he would explain what contacts his staff may have had with the governor's office about the Senate vacancy.

On Friday Dec 13th Rahm Emanuel wasn't present at President Elect Obama's press conference and when seen later in the day refused to answer questions about any contacts he had with Balgojevich.

Today's (Monday 15th December) Chicago Herald Tribune reports from unnamed and unidentified sources ;

1. Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be White House chief of staff, had conversations with Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration about who would replace Obama in the U.S. Senate.

2. They claim that communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps.

Also that contact between the Obama camp and the governor's administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris (who resigned Friday). The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win.

5. Emanuel delivered a list of Democratic candidates who would be "acceptable" to Obama- the list included Obama adviser and very close friend Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Janice Schakowsky of Chicago.The JTA 9/12/08 (the trusted global source of news, opinion and features for the Jewish people) points out that Schakowsky, is the only Jewish contender to replace Obama.

6. Sometime after the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Attorney Gen. Lisa Madigan to the approved list.

7. Janice Schakowsky (co-founder of the House Out of Iraq Caucus) said she spoke to Emanuel on Thursday 11th December and he seemed unfazed by the controversy.

Schakowsky also spoke of a conversation she had with Emanuel shortly after he was named chief of staff. She said she called Emanuel "to get some intelligence" on whether Obama might approve of her selection as senator.

On Tuesday 9th December Schakowsky called for Blagojevich to resign from office immediately, failing that the state legislature should begin impeachment proceedings.

It is worth recalling that Janice's husband Robert Creamer, in 2005 got 5 months and was placed on house arrest for 11 months after he finishes his prison term for check kiting and money laundering and was accused of swindling nine financial institutions of at least US$2.3 million while he ran a public interest group in the 1990s. .

On his release he became the highly paid political consultant for Democrats such as Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Congressman Lane Evans, and Chicago Alderman Joe Moore

Arianna Huffington calls his recent book, Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, (Amazon) a master’s class in electoral politics and he is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post .... To Vilify Obama for his Ability to Inspire is to Ignore the Principal Lesson of the Last Three Decades of American Politics osted February 19, 2008

He is also a consultant on political campaigns through his company Strategic Consulting Group. .... "Whether it's fighting to end the War in Iraq, stopping the privatization of Social Security, passing universal health care, or electing a Democratic Congress, SCG has worked at the center of America's most important political struggles." Listed clients include ; ACORN ,
Americans Against Escalation in Iraq , Blagojevich for Governor (D-IL) , Jan Schakowsky for Congress (D-IL) etc., etc.,

Meanwhile Governor Blagojvich has called in the services of a top defence attorney ... see pic

All aboard my hearties and fill yer swag bags in the sun on the good ship Venus

Andrew Simon Feldman,(b 25th/2//66) (Haberdashers' Aske's,Elstree, ) a university chum (Brasenose - they jointly organised the May Ball in their year ) of Bullingdonite David Cameron , lawyer (of sorts - Lord Patel's sources say Ed Vaizey says he could be heavyweight commercial QC) but something to do with family rag traders Jayroma T/O in £40 Mn region , gross Trading Profit £7Mn. which magically became trading profit of £300K.m. 2 offspring.

Visitor with Conservative Party Shadow Boxing Chancellor of the Exchequer on board the modest runabout of RUsAL owner, Mr Oleg Deripaska this summer off Corfu .....who was NOT asked for any money for Conservative Party funds, nor were any offered, given, discussed , thought about, mentioned, directly or indirectly or scribbled on a stray paper serviette, supplied in a Waitrose shopping bag in the form of US$100 bills. ....

In September 2003, Orka Holdings arranged for Mr Feldman (the newConservative party bagman (AKA CEO) at the time) and David Cameron, to attend the England-Macedonia football international in Skopje. Orka picked up the tab for a four-day stay at the Aleksandar Palace hotel, where the England team were staying, and also for the match itself. Mr Cameron declared this hospitality in the register of members' interests

Surprisingly rag trader Orka, suppliers to Jayroma is owned / run by "colourful " Macedonian businessman 40 yr old Jordan "Orce" Aged 35, m. twice and divorced twice - father in law mayor of Earthquaked victim toewn Skopje.(see pic)

Orka holdings, founded by his dad , Ilija, after the "privatisation" in the 1990s of a former state sports clothing company. The Macedonian prime minister opened the business's new Skopje factory in 2002; it was said to have cost €10m in investment, some €500,000 from Mr Feldman's Jayroma by all accounts locally.

Jordan Kamcev has been under criminal investigation for tax evasion and VAT fraud. Forced to spend a brief spell outwith Macedonia in 2003 he returned to spend 12 hours in a Skopje prison before being bailed for €70,000.

Jordan recently (March '08) became chairman of Football Club FK Vardar after fans ousted president Braco Vujčić and the complete leadership of FK Vardar .

PS : Andrew Feldman helped fund the Cameron leadership bid or at least Jayroma provided 10,000 roubles Pounds - but then like Lord Levy he is also a tennis Party of the Dear leader.

Foreign Company funds re-routed through UK branches to Conservative Party

CVS Management, the management consultancy that is a subsidiary of a British Virgin Islands-registered, Swiss-based investment company. Who should mastermind this but Corvus Capital home of the eye line wearing "colourful" business man Andrew Regan, he who was narrowly cleared of stealing £2.4 million from a food company where he was chief executive in a complicated swindle to buy the Co-op.

Now, like so many fugitive financiers a denizen of the land of cuckoo clocks.

Markland Holdings (UK) is a small chunk of Sean Mulyan and Paddy Kelly's widespread property ventures based in sunny Dublin who gave £100,000 to the Conservatives this year .

Venson Automotive Solutions, is a bit of Dermot Desmond's empire, the squillionaire Irish owner of Celtic FC so soundlty beaten last week whilst John Reid AKA Ex Cabinet Minister and now Chairman watched at Old Trafford.

Loss making Star Reefers UK, (- £400K last year) the British wing of a family shipping business whose parent company is chaired by Norwegian, Kristian Siem another habitue of cuckoo clock land. Coppered up enough to send dear david £50,000 to the Tories.

Sleepwell Hotels UK owned by a tree legged trust in Douglas IOM (MD Denholm Eke) sent £50,000 in June '08 although Companies House show they failed to trade.

Inconveniently UK law states that a company must be “carrying on business” for a political donation to be eligible. Denholm Eke, said the corporate donor was part of a business running hotels in Blackpool and the Isle of Man. A restructuring meant that Sleepwell Hotels UK was now clearly trading and this would be reflected in future accounts.

Mr Eke apparently told the Times “It’s because we are very interested in Blackpool ,the Conservative Party would provide the most obvious political impetus for a Blackpool regeneration. It [Blackpool] is very sad and run down.”

BSN Capital Partners, is a fascinating bijouette London-based hedge fund advisory business run by two Americans and a Briton. Ultimate ownership is on a sandbar off a remote Cayman island partly owned by Icap, the Conservative Party treasurer Michael Spencer they stumped up £100,000 in these distressed times for hedge funds = 25% of profits.

Their gift of £100,000 amounted to nearly a quarter of last year’s profits.

There have been 23 corporate donations of exactly £50,000 and five of £100,000 during the Cameron era. Michael Spencer explained that this figure was first suggested by Sir Hayden Phillips during his official review of party funding.

'Twas on the good ship Venus,
By Christ you should have seen us,
The figurehead
Was a whore in bed, ....etc.,

McCain - memory fails him over Katrina - is Al Zheimer making a house call , or is he just lying his way out of trouble ?

Senator McCain on the stump in Baton Rouge last week ..

Transcript
REPORTER: Senator, Maya Rodriguez at the CBS station out of New Orleans. My understanding is you have voted twice against the creation of a commission to investigate the levee failures in New Orleans. And my question is, why have you voted against that?

McCAIN: I’ve supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy. I’ve been here to New Orleans (once) . I’ve met with people on the ground. I’ve met with the governor. I’m not familiar with exactly what you said, but I’ve been as active as anybody in efforts to restore the city.

I also voted against one of the bills that came down that was loaded with pork barrel projects that had nothing to do with New Orleans too. It had billions for projects and programs that had nothing to do with the recovery of the city of New Orleans.

McCain has actually bragged about opposing the levee commission. Los Angeles Times “[T]here have been many investigations taking place – ” he said on a visit in in April accompanied by dozens of soldiers from the Louisiana National Guard and his beautiful young wife Cindy,that he thought most people in America know “what caused that mismanagement.”

“Never again will a disaster of this nature be handled in the terrible and disgraceful way it’s been handled,” McCain said in remarks addressed to the people of New Orleans and Louisiana.

“History will judge this president,” he said in answer to a question about President Bush’s legacy. “But it will never, ever again happen.”

McCain opposed a 2006 spending bill “that would have provided $28 billion in hurricane relief, and legislation that would have extended unemployment and Medicaid benefits to hurricane victims for several months.”

“Touring the 9th Ward with reporters (film crews not allowed) can’t hide the fact that John McCain voted against billions of dollars in Katrina recovery efforts, emergency healthcare for survivors, unemployment assistance for displaced workers, and even the creation of a commission to find out what went wrong,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean who came out for Obama.
More White House pics of the fun

Courtney Coventry Where are they Now ? Pt 433 Amazing Pictures

Sources close to David Cameron have revealed today that an American porn star has been flown to Britain by detectives investigating the sleazy honours sold for cash injections to the New labour party by Lord Levy and his team of influence peddlars.

Glamorous, small, but perfectly formed and pertly pouting porn actress Courtney Coventry, 25, unlike fellow Hollywood hero Arnie hit town , not to meet Tony Blair, but to spill the beans to PC Plod about how sleaze ball, midget Karaoke King, ex personal Envoy for Tony to the Middle East and peddler of honours who funded New Labour at the 2005 election took £1,000 off them at a Hilton Hotel fund raising bash.... and how Jane Hogarth , Lord L's chief assistant chased them for a contribution. (Jane Hogarth was head of corporate relations and fundraising, took voluntary redundancy in June 2006. Darren Milner, the corporate relations manager, (now working for Public Affairs News) and Sairina Ramakrishnan, whose responsibilities include helping to organise gala dinners, are also understood to have left).

After enjoying the company of the charming thespian Lord Patel wrote about her closeness to Tony and Lord Levy, ("My midget gem", she called him) on Sunday, March 25, 2007 Tony Blair - Guilty by Association ..she was even kind enough to add a very interesting and revealing comment to the post.

Slim , self confident Mrs Coventry was delighted to be introduced to Tony Blair by Lord Levy along with her husband who were masquerading (in the way porn stars do) as a real life Count and Countess of Rozel - see above post for all the seamy details.. Jack Straw and her ...well...large chest...etc.,

Yesterday, suntanned and looking fabulous, she was flown into Heathrow from Nice, the sunny home of the Hollywood celebrities and starlets by the Metropolitan Police sleuths hot on the trail of the "Cash for Coronets" gang as Assistant Chief Constable Yates calls them.

Plod apparently dismissed her incriminating information as "valueless". Ho.Ho.Ho.

Curiously (and simultaneously) Newsnight and other sources revealed that the Met super sleuths received a stark warning from Number 10 in January as they were preparing to grill the Prime Minister under caution that Tony Blair would quit earlier if he had been quizzed as a suspect.

The result was , they were warned off and he was dealt with simply as a witness.... so far.

Whew what a relief ... unless of course lovely Courtney (videos of her fillums here) had an interesting tale to tell that the denizens of Fleet Street might possibly have a modest interest in. An ancient story also here.

Update.

Yates's supersleuths have kept the retired PM busy today (Thursday) having a leisurely chat with him at a solicitors well appointed officers near Red Lion square where they have previously met him - so convenient.

The CPS have the files of course but there are apparently one or two odds and ends, loose dangly bits to .. just well ...clear up.

One wonders now what GB is doing about Ruth and the other collaboraters in the criminal sale of honours will be doing round the office now.

Wolfowitz goes and it's the US's greatest Ally that does the dirty on him

Poor old Wolfy, not even mentioned on Madame Palfrey's list !.. he get's the bum's rush, and quelle horreur only gets US$400,000 pay off - Geez ! Not enough for a dog kennel in Georgetown.

That nice man Mr Boulton had to leave the UN, even after George couldn't sneak him past the Senate, now the sniffer out of corruption in the third world is the biter bit.

In a curious and sutly ironic twist, just as Tony and George are having their Definitely Last Show it is the true Brit and member of the World Bank’s board, Thomas Scholar, who took the lead in negotiating with Mr. Wolfowitz’s lawyer,Robert S Bennett over the president’s exit.

Thomas Scholar ? - Who He ? Well he was private secretaryand apparently close friend of ...er.. Gordon Brown .. the .. er ... new UK Prime Minister.

"I regret that it's come to this," said President George Bush at a morning news conference with departing British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "I admire Paul Wolfowitz." - maybe poor old Wolfy didn't use Colgate toothpaste - looks like his teeth could do with some attention - not to mention his distinctive lickspittle coiffeur.

However WaPo reported that ..."The German executive director on the board, Eckhard Deutscher, and the British representative, Thomas Scholar, were both under strong pressure from their governments to resolve the leadership crisis swiftly, and both were authorized to pursue a vote to fire Wolfowitz"