Your comment about CR being political is valid and I suspect the whole pilot community is aware of that. I'm afraid given the long history of "the BA way" when it comes to various employee groups at BA looking over the fence and seeing how other groups are treated I can see why it has happened but yes it sucks.
I think your Q4 is valid one, I've not seen anything to prevent somebody behaving in the way you describe but I may have missed it in all the "traffic" on this whole subject.