In the old days the excuse used to be 'I was on holiday at the time'. Now we have mobile phones this doesn't work. The current favourite seems to be the 'administrative error'. This is the defence used by Zac Goldsmith in Unicorn Gate. The mainstream media seem to be buying the line that the cheques from Unicorn had 'From Zac Goldsmith' written on them. This seems totally implausible as (i) there's no obvious place on a cheque to write messages like this and (ii) nobody under 70 makes payment by cheque any more, certainly in London where the post is so unbelievably unreliable.
Of course, administrative errors are not restricted to the Conservatives. In the Cleanergate scandal the argument was that Lady Scotland had examined Loloahi Tapui's passport and satisfied that her work permit was in order but that she failed to make and file photocopies, that being simply an administrative error. This sounds forgivable enough until you realize that Ms Tapui's passport has never had a valid work permit and that for Lady Scotland's story to be true it is necessary to believe that Ms Tapui went to the effort to have a fake passport produced, with the permit, simply for the purpose of getting a six-pounds and hour job legally, as opposed to working as a cash-in-hand cleaner of the sort that regularly advertise in post offices and newsagents in most suburban areas.
I spend a lot of time keeping records in order to complete my various tax returns (personal and a couple of small company returns). I am pretty sure I don't miss much, but I doubt if the tax inspector would accept a plea of "it's only an administrative error" if I left out any income. But I guess the tax inspector will guess that I will not put in a call to the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he gives me any grief.
