We elect politicians to protect our interests, supposedly. But we don't actually pay them that well, so when bankers and billionaires start throwing money at them, whose interests are they going to protect?
True story from my short stint as a cab driver for Addison Lee; I picked a bunch of traders up from some building in the City, and drove them to their Christmas shindig at the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair. Earwigged their conversation, as you do. At one point they were talking about an African country which had just elected a principled left wing leader, who might make life difficult for the oil companies. One of these guys, with a Saffer accent, said "Don't worry, we're going to stuff his pockets with so much money, he won't be able to pull his trousers up".
Not all politicians are for sale btw, some do have principles. I still believe Starmer does; Mandelson clearly has none, and Starmer should have seen that.
