The British are showing the Canadians how to deal with druggies in power.
Whilst the mayor of Toronto is still in his job after his drugs scandal, in Britain the Reverend Paul Flowers has been immediately suspended as a Labour Party councillor and by his church after allegations came to light over his use of illegal drugs and rent boys and his alcohol abuse.
The irony is that Reverend Flowers is a Methodist minister, and Methodism preaches against taking alcohol and drugs.
Flowers, who used to head the Co-operative Bank, was covertly filmed counting off £20 notes to buy hard drugs.
He bragged of getting ‘wasted’ following his grilling by MPs over the near-collapse of the bank, which threatens the retirement income of thousands of pensioners.
Paul Flowers arrested over drugs scandal
The allegations that he was buying cocaine and crystal meth have led to questions over how the Reverend Paul Flowers came to run the Co-op bank
Paul Flowers was arrested by officers from West Yorkshire Police last night Photo: PA
By Hayley Dixon
22 Nov 2013
The Telegraph
Paul Flowers, the former chairman of the Co-op Bank, has been arrested in connection with allegations that he bought and used Class-A Drugs.
The Methodist minister, 63, was filmed handing over £300 apparently for crystal meth and cocaine and is said to have boasted about taking ketamine.
He was suspended by his church and the Labour Party following the revelations last weekend.
He has since been engulfed in allegations of illegal drug use, gay sex, questions over his expenses claims at a drug charity and drink-driving.
Caught on camera: The Rev Paul Flowers was filmed counting money for drugs
Having parked up, Paul Flowers counts out £300 in £20 notes before handing the cash over for a drugs deal
The video and a series of damning text messages were handed to The Mail on Sunday by acquaintance Stuart Davies, who was 'disgusted by his hypocrisy'
The bank is looking to recoup money from Mr Flowers
It also emerged he had resigned as a Labour councillor after adult material was discovered on his computer.
Officers from West Yorkshire Police searched his home in Bradford earlier this week and he was arrested last night.
A spokesperson said: "Officers from West Yorkshire Police have arrested a 63-year-old man in the Merseyside area in connection with an ongoing drugs supply investigation.
"He has been taken to a police station in West Yorkshire where detectives will continue their enquiries."
Mr Flowers stepped down from his role as Co-op bank chairman in June and questions have since been asked about his competence in the role.
It is believed that he was presented with a dossier of his "lavish" expenses claims before he resigned.
Mr Flowers was suspended as minister at Wibsey Methodist Church, Bradford, West Yorkshire after the allegations
Co-op bank is seeking to recover contractual payments made to Mr Flowers, and he has been told to hand back £31,000.
"When Paul Flowers relinquished his responsibilities in June, it was agreed, as per his contractual obligations, that his fees for the rest of his period of office would be paid," the bank said in a statement.
"Following recent revelations, the board stopped all payments with immediate effect and no further payments will be made."
An "internal fact-finding review" - looking at emails and other evidence - is being carried out by the bank.
Co-operative Group chairman Len Wardle has already quit amid the deepening scandal.
Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, is facing growing questions over his party's links to Mr Flowers.
The Methodist Church, where Mr Flowers has been a minister for over 40 years, announced on Wednesday that he would be suspended indefinitely whilst any police investigation took place.
Grilling by MPs: The Rev Flowers during the Treasury Select Committee hearing
Ethical? Reverend Paul Flowers has been a minister for 40 years
Whilst the mayor of Toronto is still in his job after his drugs scandal, in Britain the Reverend Paul Flowers has been immediately suspended as a Labour Party councillor and by his church after allegations came to light over his use of illegal drugs and rent boys and his alcohol abuse.
The irony is that Reverend Flowers is a Methodist minister, and Methodism preaches against taking alcohol and drugs.
Flowers, who used to head the Co-operative Bank, was covertly filmed counting off £20 notes to buy hard drugs.
He bragged of getting ‘wasted’ following his grilling by MPs over the near-collapse of the bank, which threatens the retirement income of thousands of pensioners.
His woeful testimony to MPs earlier this month about the bank’s disastrous performance can now be seen in the context of his enthusiasm for crack cocaine, the powerful tranquilliser ketamine and the ‘club drug’ GHB.
He boasted in a text message of ‘snorting some good stuff’ on the day he was due to appear before the Commons Treasury Select Committee, October 29, although in the end he was not called until a week later.
In another text, he wrote how his plans for a party were ‘turning into a two-day, drug fuelled gay orgy!!!’.
Yesterday, Flowers was arrested over the allegations that he bought and sold Class-A drugs.
Ironically, he used to chair the drug charity Lifeline.
And Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, is facing growing questions over his party's links to Mr Flowers.
And Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, is facing growing questions over his party's links to Mr Flowers.
Paul Flowers arrested over drugs scandal
The allegations that he was buying cocaine and crystal meth have led to questions over how the Reverend Paul Flowers came to run the Co-op bank
Paul Flowers was arrested by officers from West Yorkshire Police last night Photo: PA
By Hayley Dixon
22 Nov 2013
The Telegraph
Paul Flowers, the former chairman of the Co-op Bank, has been arrested in connection with allegations that he bought and used Class-A Drugs.
The Methodist minister, 63, was filmed handing over £300 apparently for crystal meth and cocaine and is said to have boasted about taking ketamine.
He was suspended by his church and the Labour Party following the revelations last weekend.
He has since been engulfed in allegations of illegal drug use, gay sex, questions over his expenses claims at a drug charity and drink-driving.
Caught on camera: The Rev Paul Flowers was filmed counting money for drugs
Having parked up, Paul Flowers counts out £300 in £20 notes before handing the cash over for a drugs deal
The video and a series of damning text messages were handed to The Mail on Sunday by acquaintance Stuart Davies, who was 'disgusted by his hypocrisy'
The bank is looking to recoup money from Mr Flowers
It also emerged he had resigned as a Labour councillor after adult material was discovered on his computer.
Officers from West Yorkshire Police searched his home in Bradford earlier this week and he was arrested last night.
A spokesperson said: "Officers from West Yorkshire Police have arrested a 63-year-old man in the Merseyside area in connection with an ongoing drugs supply investigation.
"He has been taken to a police station in West Yorkshire where detectives will continue their enquiries."
Mr Flowers stepped down from his role as Co-op bank chairman in June and questions have since been asked about his competence in the role.
It is believed that he was presented with a dossier of his "lavish" expenses claims before he resigned.
Mr Flowers was suspended as minister at Wibsey Methodist Church, Bradford, West Yorkshire after the allegations
Co-op bank is seeking to recover contractual payments made to Mr Flowers, and he has been told to hand back £31,000.
"When Paul Flowers relinquished his responsibilities in June, it was agreed, as per his contractual obligations, that his fees for the rest of his period of office would be paid," the bank said in a statement.
"Following recent revelations, the board stopped all payments with immediate effect and no further payments will be made."
An "internal fact-finding review" - looking at emails and other evidence - is being carried out by the bank.
Co-operative Group chairman Len Wardle has already quit amid the deepening scandal.
Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, is facing growing questions over his party's links to Mr Flowers.
The Methodist Church, where Mr Flowers has been a minister for over 40 years, announced on Wednesday that he would be suspended indefinitely whilst any police investigation took place.
Reverend Paul Flowers was caught buying crystal meth and cocaine
The Reverend Paul Flowers, a Methodist minister who used to head the Co-operative Bank, was covertly filmed counting off £20 notes to buy hard drugs.
He bragged of getting ‘wasted’ following his grilling by MPs over the near-collapse of the bank, which threatens the retirement income of thousands of pensioners.
His woeful testimony to MPs earlier this month about the bank’s disastrous performance can now be seen in the context of his enthusiasm for crack cocaine, the powerful tranquilliser ketamine and the ‘club drug’ GHB.
Grilling by MPs: The Rev Flowers during the Treasury Select Committee hearing
He boasted in a text message of ‘snorting some good stuff’ on the day he was due to appear before the Commons Treasury Select Committee, October 29, although in the end he was not called until a week later.
In another text, he wrote how his plans for a party were ‘turning into a two-day, drug fuelled gay orgy!!!’.
Ethical? Reverend Paul Flowers has been a minister for 40 years
Flowers, 63, who is openly gay, lives in a modest detached house in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He has apologised to ‘all those I have hurt or failed’ after his double life was exposed.
In a video obtained by the Mail on Sunday, he was seen in his car discussing the cocaine and crystal meth he wanted from a dealer in Leeds. He then counted out £300 in £20 notes and sent a friend to make the deal.
West Yorkshire Police last night confirmed they had begun an inquiry into possible criminal charges against Flowers, who has gone into hiding.
The scandal is an acute embarrassment for Labour and its 32 MPs who are sponsored by the Co-op Group. Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has received £50,000 in donations from the Co-op, which prides itself on its ethical stance.
MPs on the Treasury committee have now demanded that Flowers, a former Labour councillor, appear before them again.
Flowers used to chair the drugs charity Lifeline, whose motto is ‘telling the truth about drugs’. He was exposed by an acquaintance called Stuart Davies, who was ‘disgusted by his hypocrisy’ and secretly filmed him on an iPhone buying drugs a week ago.
Mr Davies, 26, met Flowers in October through Grindr, a gay dating mobile phone app. He said: ‘After hearing him bragging about his life, about his connections in Parliament, his 40 years in the church and his all-round good works, it just felt wrong. He seemed to be using his status to get young men off their heads for sex.’
Mr Davies claimed that when they got back to Flowers’ house last weekend, ‘there was the biggest rock of cocaine I have ever seen in my life... Paul got a tumbler and began crushing it’.
He added that the minister ‘was drinking pink champagne and dropping GHB into it’.
He said Flowers held another party at which he produced ‘a metal tray which had cocaine on one side and ketamine on the other’.
Mr Davies said: ‘We asked him about how he kept his drug taking secret and he laughed and said that a Labour MP had passed him in the corridors and said, “Have you got a touch of the old Colombian flu?”.
'He laughed. He also told us he knew Tony Blair, especially back in 1997. He just seemed to know everybody.’
Read more: Police probe into the Co-op bank chief caught buying crystal meth and cocaine | Mail Online
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