ABSTRACT
Commander Crane was investigating the scandal surrounding architect John Paulson. The country had been rocked by the evidence of corruption disclosed at Paulson’s bankruptcy proceedings. The Yorkshire architect had been active in precisely the same territory as the protagonists in the present scandals. In the place of financial corruption new ethical issues arose. Some of them stemmed from the hostility between the government of the day and local government. The 1973 refusal of the Clay Cross councillors to implement Conservative government policy on housing rents was followed by the refusal of South Yorkshire County Council to obey the Labour government’s instruction to cut public transport. The climate of hostility and partisanship prompted a scandal rivalling Paulson in news value. It surrounded council housing, that perennial bone of contention between the parties. Conventional thinking used to be that council tenants voted Labour and owner-occupiers Conservative.
