The Israeli boycott blunder threatens to spiral out of control
• When political trouble strikes, the thing to do is cap the problem before it causes too many difficulties. And that is what they did at City Hall in London on learning that transport chiefs two years ago signed a contract with Emirates Airlines, sponsor of the showy but little-used cable car over the Thames, which arguably banned the capital's government and the mayor Boris Johnson from involving any Israelis or Israeli companies in the project. Officials acted fast, with good reason. It has been put to them that the contract might have broken European law, the Equalities Act, the Competition Act, the Race Relations Act, and several articles of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. I knew nothing about this, said Mayor Boris, and both City Hall and Emirates hastily announced that the contract would be rewritten. And then public attention wandered, so few noticed last week when Howard Carter, general counsel for Transport for London, told London assembly members what would happen next. The "inappropriate" clause has gone, he said, but "the Emirates do want to have a discussion about whether something else replaces it". Can that happen without the whole issue blowing up again?
• For the process is being monitored by the assembly member and former Labour MP Andrew Dismore. He has been shaking a few trees. What is falling to Earth is interesting. First, Emirates have many high-profile sponsorships, involving football, golf, cricket, tennis and motor racing. Dismore last week wrote letters asking those involved if their contracts follow a discriminatory pattern. Thus far, only Arsenal and Durham County Cricket Club have replied, saying theirs are above reproach. Emirates, which says it wouldn't and hasn't sought to discriminate, today assured us that none of the other contracts yields similar problems. But even that might not stop Dismore. He asserts that under the US Export Administration Act of 1979, it can be a criminal offence for any company doing business in the US to make nice with entities involved in Israeli boycotts. Does this apply to Emirates? Does this touch Boris's GLA? Does it suck in firms that have traded with either? Dismore is now writing to the chairman of the US foreign affairs committee, the US department of commerce, and the EU trade commissioner. Quite the can of worms.
• Leg irons beckon, meanwhile, for Aberdeenshire councillor Martin Ford. His offence? He gave an interview to Panorama and its always troublesome reporter, John Sweeney, about the local business affairs of Donald Trump – and did so on council premises. Ford says he has given many interviews on council premises, "but this is the first time I have had a threatening letter from the chief executive the day after broadcast". Those who tangle with the Donald and his supporters usually rue the day.
• Lord Selsdon is a curious egg. Just the other day he revealed his talent for unearthing illegal immigrants on the street. And now one struggles to make sense of the apology he framed, having boasted that he has in the past traced and chided British drivers who drop litter. "I unintentionally suggested that I might have been provided with the personal data of motorists by the DVLA," he said. "I should like to confirm that I have not at any time asked for, or been given, from the DVLA any information which is not in the public domain. In particular, I have not been given the names of keepers of vehicles." But then we look at what he originally said. "I have followed them occasionally and, for a bit of fun, have taken a note of their vehicle registration numbers. Occasionally, because I have friends in the DVLA, I manage to find their telephone number and I give them a ring." Should he be behind the wheel at all?
• Finally a welcome return to these pages for Taki, scourge of the left, sage of the Spectator. "A fascist takeover of Greece?" he scoffs. "We should be so lucky." Golden Dawn members, he says, are mostly "labourers, martial artists, cops, security personnel – good old-fashioned patriotic Greeks". And the reason for its rise: political correctness. Who needs John Simpson when we have Taki, telling it like it is.
Twitter: @hugh_muir
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