Sir Malcolm Rifkind has faced up to the inevitable and stood down as chair of parliament’s intelligence and security committee. To seasoned Westminster watchers, the circumstances appear wearily familiar: a hidden camera, a bogus foreign company, an MP (and former foreign secretary) boasting of services he can provide for money. Before this particular sting, which also ensnared former Labour cabinet minister Jack Straw, there have been many others, catching parliamentarians of every stripe appearing to trade influence for cash.
馬爾科姆?里夫金德爵士(Sir Malcolm Rifkind)已經(jīng)正視了不可避免的后果，卸下了英國(guó)議會(huì)情報(bào)與安全委員會(huì)(ISC)主席職位。在經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的英國(guó)政壇觀察家看來(lái)，這種場(chǎng)景似乎熟悉得令人感到厭倦：一臺(tái)隱藏的攝像機(jī)，一家虛構(gòu)的外國(guó)企業(yè)，一名吹噓對(duì)方交錢后自己能提供服務(wù)的國(guó)會(huì)議員（也是前外交大臣）。這次“釣魚”行動(dòng)還“釣”出了前工黨內(nèi)閣大臣杰克?斯特勞(Jack Straw)，而此前的多次類似行動(dòng)則“釣”出了似乎在用影響力交換金錢的形形色色的國(guó)會(huì)議員。