The Politics of Gazumping
The antics of our politicians never cease to amaze.
While they all claim to be acting in the national interest - we can see with our own eyes that many MPs would sell their grannies to win the prize of power - and the keys to 10 Downing Street.
In years gone by, the housing market was rife with a scurrilous practice - known as 'gazumping'.
More prevalent in England than Scotland - it involved a house owner negotiating with a single buyer over a property purchase.
The seller having negotiated in 'good faith' and reaching agreement on price with the buyer - would then put things on hold and allow time for the legal niceties to be sorted out.
But in the 1980's - famous for Gordon Gecko and his leitmotif 'greed is good' - gazumping was seen as fair game to many house owners.
A product of its times - gazumping involved secret, duplicitous and parallel negotiations with another potential buyer - unbeknown, of course, to the original buyer.
The purpose of gazumping was to pull the rug from under the agreed deal - at the very last minute - for the sole purpose of achieving a better financial outcome for the house owner - nothing else mattered.
Gazumping bedevilled the housing market for many years - and it will do the same for politics at Westminster.
Whatever the Liberal Democrats are up to - it is laughable to claim that they are acting selflessly in the 'national interest'.
The voters are not stupid.
While they all claim to be acting in the national interest - we can see with our own eyes that many MPs would sell their grannies to win the prize of power - and the keys to 10 Downing Street.
In years gone by, the housing market was rife with a scurrilous practice - known as 'gazumping'.
More prevalent in England than Scotland - it involved a house owner negotiating with a single buyer over a property purchase.
The seller having negotiated in 'good faith' and reaching agreement on price with the buyer - would then put things on hold and allow time for the legal niceties to be sorted out.
But in the 1980's - famous for Gordon Gecko and his leitmotif 'greed is good' - gazumping was seen as fair game to many house owners.
A product of its times - gazumping involved secret, duplicitous and parallel negotiations with another potential buyer - unbeknown, of course, to the original buyer.
The purpose of gazumping was to pull the rug from under the agreed deal - at the very last minute - for the sole purpose of achieving a better financial outcome for the house owner - nothing else mattered.
Gazumping bedevilled the housing market for many years - and it will do the same for politics at Westminster.
Whatever the Liberal Democrats are up to - it is laughable to claim that they are acting selflessly in the 'national interest'.
The voters are not stupid.
