Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

We cannot recall anything quite like the astonishing situation surrounding Dominique Strauss-Kahn since the arrest  of Jeremy Thorpe, the then leader of the Liberal Party in the UK, for conspiracy to murder.  Thorpe was tried and acquitted. The court scenes were dramatic as his defence counsel (George Carmen) undermined the prosecution case, but the Not Guilty verdict was not enough to restore Thorpe’s reputation, nor allow him back into public life. He was a national personality, but with modest political clout, leading just a handful of Liberal MPs, who had turned down Heath’s offer of coalition, following the indecisive first election of 1974. The drama which unfolded around him was personally tragic, rather than politically significant.

This cannot be said of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Not only is this his personal tragedy, whether self inflicted or not, it is a calamity for the Socialist party in France, an upheaval for the IMF and a potential disaster for the Euro. The left has lost its only credible candidate to challenge for the French Presidency next year and the IMF has lost its charismatic and gifted leader at a very critical time indeed. His replacement may well be a candidate, not from Europe, but from the rising economies which hold the cash the IMF needs for its growing list of bailouts. Leadership provided from the Far East may be a lot less focused on Europe. That could be very difficult for the Euro.

For the moment all we have is a brief description of the alleged incident from the DA, which if true, must have been an horrific experience for the unfortunate maid, whose trauma can only be imagined. The list of charges makes grim reading. However we must remember these are accusations; we do not yet know the evidence. Conspiracy theories notwithstanding, we do not know for sure how the accused will plead. We can be sure that if this gets to full trial it will have media coverage wall to wall, coast to coast, night and day, worldwide. It will be a courtroom drama to challenge even the imagination of John Grisham. Unlike a novel, which comes to an ending, this event, whatever the outcome, will rumble on and on. It has the potential to change the course of history. It may already have done so. To begin with, the humiliated France’s attitude to America, always rather lukewarm, has taken a nasty chill.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 at 11:20 am and is filed under Malcolm Blair Robinson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.