While MPs in one house of the British parliament are wracked by budget woes, the apparent solution popped up Monday in the other.
Lord James of Blackheath, a member of Britain’s House of Lords, curiously told his colleagues that he has been asked to act as the go-between in an international intrigue that involves a shadowy organization he called “Foundation X.”
Lord James, a 72-year-old financier formerly known as David James, says he’s been approached and asked to help inject billions of interest-free dollars into the British economy by the organization – all of it backed by a vast trove of gold bullion.
“For the past 20 weeks I have been engaged in a very strange dialogue with the two noble Lords, in the course of which I have been trying to bring to their attention the willing availability of a strange organization which wishes to make a great deal of money available to assist the recovery of the economy in this country,” Lord James told the room.
Gaping maws and wide eyes are not recorded in Hansard, the official record of the House of Lords, but it’s probably safe to assume there were a few of those as Lord James continued.
It’s a circuitous tale. And it doesn’t make a great deal of sense. But Lord James claimed that this group was willing to give Britain $5 billion for various projects, and more besides, and expects nothing in return.
“If the British Government would like it as well, if it will help, it will be prepared to put up money for funding hospitals, schools, the building of Crossrail immediately with £17 billion transfer by Christmas,” Lord James continued.
He suggested that all this could be done if only Prime Minister David Cameron or someone of his stature would just get on the phone to the chief of Foundation X, whom he could not name.
Answering his own question about why Foundation X came to him, Lord James said it was down to his own “experience in the laundering of terrorist money and funny money.”
This probably set more than a few alarm bells ringing inside the chamber.
“Where did (that money) go?” Baroness Hollis of Heigham reasonably wondered.
“Not into my pocket,” Lord James said, to presumable sighs of relief. “My biggest terrorist client was the IRA and I am pleased to say that I managed to write off more than £1 billion of its money.”
Danger, Lord Will Robinson. Danger.
After landing that haymaker, James manages to string in National Geographic, the Vatican Bank (though they are apparently not connected to Foundation X), and to also talk about the unnamed “top six people in the world.”
How seriously was this offer taken?
Immediately upon ending his remarks, the room was opened up to Lord Shipley.
“My Lords, back to the spending review. . .” Shipley began.
However, at least one peer, Lord Sassoon, confirmed that he has had “detailed discussions” with Lord James on the topic over recent weeks. He does not say whether discussions centred on the theme of “Why won’t you stop bothering me?”
As the Guardian later noted, the truth is out there. Possibly staggering along with a great, big bag of money.
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