High-flyers don't end up in places like that."Mr Drace-Francis, in a wonderful piece of sneering diplomat-speak, described how Mr Ashcroft arrived for a breakfast meeting looking "hung-over" and took him to a "lower dive than usual."Mr Ashcroft's friends said yesterday that he had been tired after an overnight flight and that the meeting in fact took place at the Lanesborough, one of London's top hotels.They denied that the businessman had threatened to cause trouble if he was not allowed to open his bank in the Turks and Caicos, and added that he was approached about the Caritag job but "did not give it a second thought" when it went to someone else.They also claimed that Mr Drace-Francis had been wined and dined by Mr Ashcroft on a number of occasions. Charles Drace-Francis, now High Commissioner of Papua New Guinea, said Mr Ashcroft had threatened to get politicians in the Turks and Caicos Islands to cause trouble for the British government if he was not allowed to open a bank there.One friend of Mr Ashcroft's said: "When you come to the peak of your career and you are High Commissioner of Belize or Papua New Guinea, you haven't been staggeringly successful and your grey matter can't be too high. Gordon Baker, the High Commissioner, wrote of rumours about Mr Ashcroft's business dealings which "cast a shadow over his reputation which ought not to be ignored". The first helped to block suggestions that the businessman should chair Caritag, a British-West Indian trade quango. There's never been a time in his career when there hasn't been some rumour or other," one source close to Mr Ashcroft said.Friends of the businessman poured scorn on the Foreign Office officials whose deeply critical memorandums hit the headlines this week.The leaked documents, deeply critical of Mr Ashcroft, came from the Belize High Commissioner and the head of the Foreign Office West India desk at the time.
Other businessmen confronted by his supremely complex dealings have merely been baffled, they say."There's nothing he can do that will not be deemed controversial, because he is an innovator. He thinks of new techniques and different ways of doing things. Sources close to Mr Ashcroft suggest that his methods are novel, but in no way questionable. MICHAEL ASHCROFT, the billionaire treasurer of the Conservative Party, has one major problem - the British Establishment does not trust him.
The publication this week of two deeply critical Foreign Office memorandums, from 1996 and 1997, on Mr Ashcroft will merely serve to reinforce his conviction that he has been the victim of snobbery perpetrated by those whose intellectual powers are inferior to his own. As long ago as 1984, Mr Ashcroft moved his main business interests to the Bahamas after suffering suspicious comment from others in the City of London. Tony Blair is expected to create a "beefed-up" transport portfolio in the looming reshuffle.Mr Livingstone transformed himself from little-known left-winger to popular GLC leader when he promoted cheap Tube and bus travel in the early 80s The council was abolished by Margaret Thatcher in 1986.. The revenue raised from the charges should be used to run more trains and buses, put in bus lanes and get conductors back on the buses, he says.Mr Livingstone's proposals come amid increasing government concern over public dissatisfaction with its efforts to improve public transport. Rather than setting congestion charges at a punitive level, "enough motorists" would be encouraged to switch to public transport if fares were frozen, he believes. "Since we would be increasing the cost of motoring in central London, we must encourage motorists to switch back to public transport by giving a guarantee of a four-year fares freeze," Mr Livingstone says. Mr Livingstone, writing in The Independent today, pledges to return to the "fares fair" policy that he promoted as leader of the Greater London Council to try to attract more people to use public transport.
Stone had been repeatedly released from mental health units because doctors said his personality disorder was untreatable.Paul Cavadino, of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders said: "Locking people up who have not offended would be a bridge too far ... There is a real risk of detaining indefinitely people who would not have gone on to commit serious crimes."Leading article, Review, page 3. KEN LIVINGSTONE will boost his campaign for London mayor by reviving his popular measure of freezing fares for public transport. The Government ordered the consultation and reform of the Mental Health Act after Michael Stone was convicted last year of murdering Lin Russell and her daughter Megan, and attempting to murder Dr Russell's other daughter, Josie, in a hammer attack. Around 2,000 people in England and Wales are thought to suffer from severe personality disorders. Those detained would have their case regularly reviewed and could appeal against their detention.The move is designed to close a legal loophole which states that people can only be detained if doctors believe they will respond to treatment. If legislation is passed, England and Wales will be the first countries in the world to lock up so-called untreatable people before they have committed crimes.Under the plan, a Medical Legal Panel would be given powers forcibly to detain people without limit of time.Current prisoners deemed to pose a risk and known psychopaths in the community would be assessed by a team of probation, health, prison and social services staff.
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