Thursday, 24 Thursday, 2008
- 24 Jan 08, 04:21 PM
Gordon Brown eventually called his behaviour over campaign donations "incompetence" but if Peter Hain didn't think that was enough to warrant his resignation, the decision of the Electoral Commission to hand his files to the police, has forced him to .
A little matter of a failure to account for £103,000 has ended his unbroken run since 1997 as a minister in Her Majesty's Government. But is the man most damaged by the dither and delay the Prime Minister himself?
Should he have acted as soon as Peter Hain announced he had not met his obligations over declarations of donations because he was too busy being a minister? Gordon Brown vacillated over calling a General Election, was panicked over inheritance tax, hesitated over Northern Rock, and today came the news that the much vaunted new CGT would be modified after all. Is the Great Helmsman having trouble at the wheel?
Tonight we'll be examining the fall of Peter Hain, and asking whether Gordon Brown has a grip on Government.
One rogue trader and France's second biggest bank, is down at least £3.5 billion. And this was purportedly a junior banker. Given this and the ongoing credit crunch which has rocked the world economy do these so-called "Masters of the Universe" have far too much power?
Also tonight, time is fast running out for War Crimes investigators who are still hunting .
Brian Barron reports on the last ditch efforts all around the globe to bring these old men and women to justice, and the mindset of both the hunters and the hunted.
He speaks to 92-year-old Vladas Zajanckauskas, the alleged Nazi war criminal who could soon be the oldest man to be deported for trial from the US. As a young soldier in Europe he was, according to the US Justice Department, part of the Nazi extermination squads. The Lithuanian grandfather claims he was a POW who was brutalised by the Germans. Should justice be done - no matter how old the defendant?
