Grafter.

[Mark Odegard]

>M-W Third Intl. shows "graft" = "work" ("British"). RH shows it ("British
>slang").
>
>Partridge shows "graft" = "work" as colloquial from ca. 1870.
>
>This seems to be from "graft" = "dig", < "graff" < "grave", pretty much
>obsolete now except in the "engrave" sense.
>
>OED shows "graft" = "work" (slang) from 1878.
>
>Several current examples were found by Google search for <<grafter
>political .uk>>.
>
>-- Doug Wilson

A BrE speaker said it meant 'hard worker' and was reasonably common.

My sense of the word, however, is 'one who engages in graft', and calling a
politician a grafter would be very strong language.

It's one of those items like knocking up your overnight female guests at
your country house, I guess.
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com