Stop voting for fucking Tories

[Hal Jordan]

Hunt giving a speech, on Holocaust Memorial Day, in front of five economic pledges, the fifth of which is "Stop The Boats". Braverman throwing out a Tweet showing solidarity with Holocaust victims. The Tory Party is just a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

And they are going nowhere, no matter how many scandals, how much public money is looted, no matter what shite they do, until their goals of selling the NHS and burning regulations to the ground are achieved, even if they have to have three more leadership campaigns to do it in the next two years.

[Glaston]

HMRC boss tells MPs ‘innocent errors’ are not penalised amid Zahawi tax row

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... wi-tax-row

And of course the hmrc CEO has never lied?????

Something like 400k people a year are penalised even when they OWE NO TAX at all.


I know the tax man lies from personal experience.

[Sandstorm]

OMG how horrific for the Tories, us oldies not falling for the guff they spew out...

My parents (in their 60s) are definitely less conservative now than they were 20 years ago, partly because my brother and I have challenged them on many of their views. They're very Christian by modern standards and are clearly a bit uncomfortable about LGBT stuff, but they're miles from where they used to be saying stuff like "It's just not natural is it?"

The Tories have done a very good job over the last 12 of backing up everything disparaging we ever said about them while also creating whole new reasons to despise them.

The crazy thing is that the average age of a Tory MP has remained around 50 years old! They're not Boomers.

[C69]

Zahawi sacked.
Raab next?

[fishfoodie]

Zahawi sacked.
Raab next?

It’s impressive how incredibly badly Rishi has handled it.

Held out for long enough to be accused of shielding him, then sacked him, so he now can be accused of not being loyal to a fellow Tory, & all the while being a total hypocrite, because of his wife’s own tax affairs.

[tabascoboy]

Probably quite a shock that an "Ethics Advisor" actually does the job for once...

Nadhim Zahawi sacked as Tory party chair over tax affairs

Rishi Sunak has sacked the Conservative party chair, Nadhim Zahawi, after he was found to have breached the ministerial code over his tax affairs.

The former chancellor has faced extensive questions in parliament and the media after it emerged he agreed to pay millions to HMRC following a settlement with the tax department.

In a letter to the Tory party chair, Sunak said the ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, had concluded there was a “serious breach” of the ministerial code. “As a result, I have informed you of my decision to remove you from your position in His Majesty’s Government,” he said.

The prime minister, who had promised “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level” of his government had been under growing pressure to sack Zahawi from the cabinet, with his judgment coming under question from Tory MPs for reappointing him.

The HMRC investigation into Zahawi began in April 2021, including a meeting with the minister and his advisers in June 2021. Zahawi told the ethics adviser he had “formed the impression” he was simply being asked questions over his tax affairs. But Magnus said Zahawi should have understood he was under serious investigation.

The minister failed to declare the HMRC investigation to the Treasury’s permanent secretary after his appointment as chancellor by Boris Johnson on 5 July 2022. By that stage the investigation had been ongoing for more than a year; however, Zahawi only updated his declaration on 15 July 2022.

Zahawi committed a second breach of the ministerial code by failing to disclose the fact he had paid a penalty for tax avoidance when he was first appointed to Liz Truss’s cabinet last September, and then to Sunak’s in October.

He had reached a settlement with HMRC in August 2022, but it was not until 20 January this year that the details came to light, after the Guardian was told he had paid a penalty imposed by HMRC. He issued a statement the following day, saying the tax office had concluded that he had made a “careless but not deliberate” error.

In his letter to Sunak, the ethics adviser said: “Taken together, I consider that these omissions constitute a serious failure to meet the standards set out in the ministerial code.”

[C69]

i wonder if Rishi will be called to discuss his FPN when the Johnson inquiry starts up again and witnesses are called.
I wonder if some of those who destroyed information and notes etc are still in Govt or working at Downing Streets.
Rishing is going to be ripped aparted and smears galore dripping out

The Party is broken and it's going to get worse much worse.
It's truly heartwarming

[Hal Jordan]

So, Zahawi to be the next Home Secretary, then?

[GogLais]

So, Zahawi to be the next Home Secretary, then?

Ha. I was willing to give Sunak half a chance but he did it for me after he reappointed Braverman straight away.

[C69]

Zahawi sacked for breaking the Ministerial Code
Sunak appoints Braverman who was err sacked for breaking the Ministerial Code
Hmmm

[SaintK]

No apology or admission to breaking the Ministerial Code by Zahawi in his resignation letter despite having broken it on no less 7 different occassions!
Does have a pop at the press even though he instructed his lawyers to send threatening "cease and desist" letters to a number of journalists and publications
Raab up next and hopefully fairly soon!

[SaintK]

Where will see the first building collapse?

Ministers sparked a furious row over the safety of thousands of dilapidated school buildings in England on Saturday night by abandoning the imminent publication of data showing those judged to be most at risk of collapse.
Labour responded to the U-turn by saying it would use a rare parliamentary device to force publication of the documents about the perilous state of many schools across England, so that parents can judge whether it is safe to send their children to classes.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... al-data

[tabascoboy]

No apology or admission to breaking the Ministerial Code by Zahawi in his resignation letter despite having broken it on no less 7 different occassions!
Does have a pop at the press even though he instructed his lawyers to send threatening "cease and desist" letters to a number of journalists and publications
Raab up next and hopefully fairly soon!

Well great, loves this country so much yet was happy to unlawfully deprive the Treasury of millions of pounds of CGT at the same time. Presumably enriching yourself by any means necessary as long as you can afford afford the best legal advice to protect yourself is no problem - only getting caught is...

[fishfoodie]

I wonder if Sunak suddenly deciding to not wait for the inquiry to be completed was anything to do with a whistleblower reporting that he lied to Parliament, when he stated that he had no knowledge of the investigations in Zahawi's tax scam ?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ay-sources

[Chilli]

What has happened to the plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda?
Is it going to happen?

[_Os_]

A short profile on Nick Timothy and what he's currently getting up to.

Timothy was an advisor to Theresa May (special advisor to May when she was Home Office Minister 2010-2015, joint chief of staff to the PM 2016-2017). He's uniquely responsible for the policies cooked up by May, namely the hostile environment, as well as the consequences of those policies: the Windrush Scandal, "go home!" vans, historic record breaking immigration levels.

In other words Timothy is another incompetent Tory, that somehow manages to so badly fuck everything up that he simultaneously makes everything substantially worse, whilst not even fixing the original "problem" he himself defined. Everything just balloons more out of control.

He's now having another go at the immigration issue, authoring a long policy position here. Interestingly the Home Secretary Suella Braverman has contributed the foreword to this document. By doing this Braverman has put her name to an extensive policy document that isn't government policy whilst being in the cabinet, this is a sackable offence but it seems she's bomb proof.

I've skimmed the document (115 pages) and read some sections more closely. Timothy's method of "fixing" immigration:
1. Ignore the Windrush Scandal, which he doesn't say much about nor is his central role mentioned, basically says it was a one off accident and should not stop harsh measures (nowhere is it mentioned there were warnings in the early 2010s of what would happen and who would be impacted, which were all ignored by May's team because they decided it wouldn't harm many people and they wanted harsh measures regardless, it wasn't an accident and was instead entirely deliberate).
2. Indefinite detention for illegal immigrants under a guilty until proved innocent basis, to be housed in upgraded military bases (when the UK immigration system can/has arbitrarily turned law abiding legal immigrants into illegal immigrants, see 1).
3. Scrap the modern slavery act 2015 (his argument seems to be too many successful asylum claims are made under this basis, he doesn't say all overwhelmingly by trafficked women).
4. Scrap the Human rights Act and/or pull out of the ECHR (would conflict with/break the GFA, the same GFA the EU has spent years negotiating with the UK to uphold).
5. Selectively apply the UN's 1951 Refugee Convention.
6. Expand the Rwanda Scheme to more third countries.
7. A biometric identity database, where everyone legally resident in the UK including British citizens, will be required to have an ID card and comply with the system. Private entities (eg employers, landlords, banks) and public entities (eg schools, NHS, councils) will be compelled to share data. Timothy wants all data on each person pooled in a single location, from which access to resources will be controlled. (not hard to see where this evolves, given new Tory laws on protest)
8. Scrapping/ending GDPR to make the database envisioned in 7 possible (another potential conflict with the EU).

The cost of his latest plans on immigration, are easily into the tens of billions: a network of new detention centres, conflict with the EU, paying more third countries like Rwanda is paid, a new invasive UK national ID database.
Hilariously Timothy says all this represents a cost saving.

Even more hilariously none of this will actually lower immigration levels (as Timothy basically says himself). It'll just maybe end the boat people. All for the small cost of tens of billions and nuking rights from orbit.

Braverman has now brought Timothy back into the Home Office and he's conducting an extensive "review" apparently.

To be clear what is happening here. Timothy is an incompetent moron. His grand scheme to reduce immigration was/is to strip people of rights, last time this was focused on Windrush scandal victims, this time his plan is broader in focus. This has proven to be a total failure, the UK has the highest inward migration in it's entire history (measured both ways, on its own or net/minus those who leave). Timothy is at the centre of both the harassment of legal migrants and historically high immigration levels, and his solution is massive expansion of all his past failings at huge cost.

Braverman is impressed though, and Sunak lacks the power to tell her "these aren't our policies".

[Lobby]

I wonder if Sunak suddenly deciding to not wait for the inquiry to be completed was anything to do with a whistleblower reporting that he lied to Parliament, when he stated that he had no knowledge of the investigations in Zahawi's tax scam ?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ay-sources

The enquiry was completed. Sunak got the report yesterday morning and sacked Zahawi two hours later.

I see that the mendacious tax avoider and his chums are still refusing to accept that he did anything wrong, and are claiming that he hasn't had a 'fair hearing'.

[tabascoboy]

Maybe it's just unjustified cynicism but I do wonder of cabals of the super rich Tory Party have been talking to each other for many years discussing investments and how to get around paying UK taxes using avoidance/evasion schemes all while stressing "austerity" for most of us.

[Sandstorm]

Maybe it's just unjustified cynicism but I do wonder of cabals of the super rich Tory Party have been talking to each other for many years discussing investments and how to get around paying UK taxes using avoidance/evasion schemes all while stressing "austerity" for most of us.

The UK economy is built on two things: 1) house prices going up and 2) helping rich people avoid tax.

[tc27]

Maybe it's just unjustified cynicism but I do wonder of cabals of the super rich Tory Party have been talking to each other for many years discussing investments and how to get around paying UK taxes using avoidance/evasion schemes all while stressing "austerity" for most of us.

The UK economy is built on two things: 1) house prices going up and 2) helping rich people avoid tax.

Kinda is mostly built on saving anyone over 60 from having to dispose of any assets and ensuring that asset goes up and value...ohh and stopping anyone building anything anywhere (overs 60s generally don't need to commute and already have a house).

[tabascoboy]

Maybe it's just unjustified cynicism but I do wonder of cabals of the super rich Tory Party have been talking to each other for many years discussing investments and how to get around paying UK taxes using avoidance/evasion schemes all while stressing "austerity" for most of us.

The UK economy is built on two things: 1) house prices going up and 2) helping rich people avoid tax.

Kinda is mostly built on saving anyone over 60 from having to dispose of any assets and ensuring that asset goes up and value...ohh and stopping anyone building anything anywhere (overs 60s generally don't need to commute and already have a house).

That is actually me, but nonetheless feels like a poor plan to base an economy upon.

[dpedin]

I wonder if Sunak suddenly deciding to not wait for the inquiry to be completed was anything to do with a whistleblower reporting that he lied to Parliament, when he stated that he had no knowledge of the investigations in Zahawi's tax scam ?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ay-sources

The enquiry was completed. Sunak got the report yesterday morning and sacked Zahawi two hours later.

I see that the mendacious tax avoider and his chums are still refusing to accept that he did anything wrong, and are claiming that he hasn't had a 'fair hearing'.

I used to work for a CEO who was like Sunak, always needed at least one layer of protection around him in order to come to a decision so he had someone to blame if it went tits up. Sunak comes from a banking background and this is typical behaviour. He needs to have someone else tell/advise him what to do as a protective layer - if more info comes to light about Zahawi that gets him off the hook (very unlikely) then Sunak will blame his Ethics Advisor and reinstate. Sunak is not a leader, he has no ideas, no vision or ability to motivate, he is more of a middle manager, a technocrat/administrator who got lucky and got the top job by default, he couldn't lead his team out of a wet paper bag.

[I like neeps]

Maybe it's just unjustified cynicism but I do wonder of cabals of the super rich Tory Party have been talking to each other for many years discussing investments and how to get around paying UK taxes using avoidance/evasion schemes all while stressing "austerity" for most of us.

The UK economy is built on two things: 1) house prices going up and 2) helping rich people avoid tax.

Yeah, the UK legal system is basically a load of lawyers telling you in which paradise Island to base your company and what trust to use to avoid the most tax.

The reason klepocrats globally use the UK courts for their disputes is because our legal framework is set up to evade the most tax.

Unless you're poor, obviously.

[fishfoodie]

Maybe it's just unjustified cynicism but I do wonder of cabals of the super rich Tory Party have been talking to each other for many years discussing investments and how to get around paying UK taxes using avoidance/evasion schemes all while stressing "austerity" for most of us.

The UK economy is built on two things: 1) house prices going up and 2) helping rich people avoid tax.

Yeah, the UK legal system is basically a load of lawyers telling you in which paradise Island to base your company and what trust to use to avoid the most tax.

The reason klepocrats globally use the UK courts for their disputes is because our legal framework is set up to evade the most tax.

Unless you're poor, obviously.

Luckily you have top class, well funded, public services, & a growing economy, so you have no need of all those billions in taxes.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

I see that the mendacious tax avoider and his chums are still refusing to accept that he did anything wrong, and are claiming that he hasn't had a 'fair hearing'.

Is this still Zahawi or have you moved back to Sunak? Rather depressing it could be read either way, but I guess at least they're stopping some of the pretence they care about the country and others

[C69]

Does anyone believe Boris has a call from Putin?

What bullshit from a man finding something to make Boris look good

[fishfoodie]

Does anyone believe Boris has a call from Putin?

What bullshit from a man finding something to make Boris look good

No.

The blonde slug is trying desperately to pretend he's still relevant, with his trip to Ukraine, & pretending the vlad gives a fuck about him.

After Sunak grew a pair this weekend, & set the bar for grounds for being sacked, he's now shitting himself, because he knows he probably isn't going to get any support from No. 10, when MPs get to vote on sanctions against him !

He's doing well feathering his own nest though. In addition to the £800k, for heading the BBC, he's also got a £500k advance for a fantasy novel .... sorry, his, memoirs ... & this is when the lazy prick still hasn't written a previous book he was paid a substancial advance for, before he became PM.

At what point does getting paid huge advances for books that never get written, or are complete rushed garbage, become just simple bribes ?

[C69]

Sorry but how did Sunak grow a pair.
After it was proved The tax cheater broke the Ministerial Code 7 times he had to sack him
No ifs or buts he had to sack him
It didn't take balls it was process
Balls or normal professional practice as most would frame it is to suspend someone under investigation for such matters.
Sunak went into default mode of claiming nothing to be seen.
It's all ok

[Sandstorm]

You guys surely aren’t expecting the 5th choice Tory PM to actually be good at the job??

[fishfoodie]

Sorry but how did Sunak grow a pair.
After it was proved The tax cheater broke the Ministerial Code 7 times he had to sack him
No ifs or buts he had to sack him
It didn't take balls it was process
Balls or normal professional practice as most would frame it is to suspend someone under investigation for such matters.
Sunak went into default mode of claiming nothing to be seen.
It's all ok

All things are relative !

The pair might need a microscope to be seen, but at least it isn't an electron one.

He actually sacked a Minister !!!!

You & I are used to PMs being strong enough to sack Ministers, if they didn't have the wit, or morality to resign, but those days are long since gone, & this is the new reality.

What matters is that he took the evidence of his tame ethics advisor, & when told that the Minister had lied on multiple occassions, that was sufficient to sack him. That means as if the same summary comes from the committee investigating the slug, he has to adopt the same position.

[C69]

Sorry but how did Sunak grow a pair.
After it was proved The tax cheater broke the Ministerial Code 7 times he had to sack him
No ifs or buts he had to sack him
It didn't take balls it was process
Balls or normal professional practice as most would frame it is to suspend someone under investigation for such matters.
Sunak went into default mode of claiming nothing to be seen.
It's all ok

All things are relative !

The pair might need a microscope to be seen, but at least it isn't an electron one.

He actually sacked a Minister !!!!

You & I are used to PMs being strong enough to sack Ministers, if they didn't have the wit, or morality to resign, but those days are long since gone, & this is the new reality.

What matters is that he took the evidence of his tame ethics advisor, & when told that the Minister had lied on multiple occassions, that was sufficient to sack him. That means as if the same summary comes from the committee investigating the slug, he has to adopt the same position.

He had no choice other than to sack him.
The Ministerial Code was broken 7 times.

[C T]

Does anyone believe Boris has a call from Putin?

What bullshit from a man finding something to make Boris look good

No.

The blonde slug is trying desperately to pretend he's still relevant, with his trip to Ukraine, & pretending the vlad gives a fuck about him.

After Sunak grew a pair this weekend, & set the bar for grounds for being sacked, he's now shitting himself, because he knows he probably isn't going to get any support from No. 10, when MPs get to vote on sanctions against him !

He's doing well feathering his own nest though. In addition to the £800k, for heading the BBC, he's also got a £500k advance for a fantasy novel .... sorry, his, memoirs ... & this is when the lazy prick still hasn't written a previous book he was paid a substancial advance for, before he became PM.

At what point does getting paid huge advances for books that never get written, or are complete rushed garbage, become just simple bribes ?

It is really quite shocking when you're watching a clip that cuts between a very recent UK PM and Putin and you end up wondering who the worst lying narcissist is.

[C T]

Sorry but how did Sunak grow a pair.
After it was proved The tax cheater broke the Ministerial Code 7 times he had to sack him
No ifs or buts he had to sack him
It didn't take balls it was process
Balls or normal professional practice as most would frame it is to suspend someone under investigation for such matters.
Sunak went into default mode of claiming nothing to be seen.
It's all ok

All things are relative !

The pair might need a microscope to be seen, but at least it isn't an electron one.

He actually sacked a Minister !!!!

You & I are used to PMs being strong enough to sack Ministers, if they didn't have the wit, or morality to resign, but those days are long since gone, & this is the new reality.

What matters is that he took the evidence of his tame ethics advisor, & when told that the Minister had lied on multiple occassions, that was sufficient to sack him. That means as if the same summary comes from the committee investigating the slug, he has to adopt the same position.

He had no choice other than to sack him.
The Ministerial Code was broken 7 times.

Got to imagine Boris would have found a way to not sack him. Not suggesting that is a good bar to use.

[SaintK]

In delusion land as stated by the Head Prefect on the Today programme this morning

In the three years since leaving the EU, we’ve made huge strides in harnessing the freedoms unlocked by Brexit to tackle generational challenges. Whether leading Europe’s fastest vaccine rollout, striking trade deals with over 70 countries or taking back control of our borders, we’ve forged a path as an independent nation with confidence.

In reality from Guy Hands a former major Tory donor

It’s been a complete disaster. The reality is it’s been a lose-lose situation for us and Europe. Europe has lost more [in financial services] but we’ve lost as well. And the reality of Brexit was, it was just was a bunch of complete and total lies.

...and the IMF

Britain is expected to be the only major industrialised country to see its economy shrink this year after the impact of Liz Truss’s brief premiership prompted a sharp growth downgrade from the International Monetary Fund.

[SaintK]

Excrutiating! Why on earth does he think he needs to do these programmes?

Though at least he's given some money to charity. I'm sure that makes him feel so much better aboput himself!

Matt Hancock has said he did not “primarily” go on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! for his £320,000 fee, adding that his £10,000 charitable donation was a “decent sum” after his appearance on the reality show.
He said of the reality show: “I didn’t primarily do it for the money, I primarily did it to try to show who I am … I think £10,000 is actually a decent sum.” He added that his salary was about £7,000 a month. He was still paid for being an MP during his time away on the show.

[tabascoboy]

What a bawbag this man is. Glad that he's moving ever towards non-entity status and hopefully the good voters of North Somerset will give the last push at the next election

[Slick]

What a bawbag this man is. Glad that he's moving ever towards non-entity status and hopefully the good voters of North Somerset will give the last push at the next election

To be perfectly honest I think he makes a good point, albeit “snowflakey” is a stupid way to put it

[Tichtheid]

To be perfectly honest I think he makes a good point, albeit “snowflakey” is a stupid way to put it

I know someone who is a 40 year career civil servant who reports directly to ministers. I'm told that what is happing it is nothing short of bullying and many good, very highly experienced and capable people are leaving or preparing to leave public service as a result of the atmosphere at work. This is not wrt to Raab, btw, it was before that.
Senior civil servants are used to working 60,70+ hour weeks, delivering complicated projects on time and they've done this for Labour governments as well. They work under a lot of pressure at that level, but there is a way to treat work colleagues and there is a way which is just not acceptable and is actually illegal.

It's hardly surprising this fucker depicts bullying as being actually in the perception of the snowflakes, he was caught grabbing and pushing MPs through the lobby quite recently iirc.

[tabascoboy]

To be perfectly honest I think he makes a good point, albeit “snowflakey” is a stupid way to put it

I know someone who is a 40 year career civil servant who reports directly to ministers. I'm told that what is happing it is nothing short of bullying and many good, very highly experienced and capable people are leaving or preparing to leave public service as a result of the atmosphere at work. This is not wrt to Raab, btw, it was before that.
Senior civil servants are used to working 60,70+ hour weeks, delivering complicated projects on time and they've done this for Labour governments as well. They work under a lot of pressure at that level, but there is a way to treat work colleagues and there is a way which is just not acceptable and is actually illegal.

It's hardly surprising this fucker depicts bullying as being actually in the perception of the snowflakes, he was caught grabbing and pushing MPs through the lobby quite recently iirc.

This. There is a way to phrase things such as "...we do need to address and manage genuine performance issues effectively..." without implying that the issue is imaginary, lies exclusively with staff "feelings" and resorting to strawman argument adding an insult du jour.

[Slick]

To be perfectly honest I think he makes a good point, albeit “snowflakey” is a stupid way to put it

I know someone who is a 40 year career civil servant who reports directly to ministers. I'm told that what is happing it is nothing short of bullying and many good, very highly experienced and capable people are leaving or preparing to leave public service as a result of the atmosphere at work. This is not wrt to Raab, btw, it was before that.
Senior civil servants are used to working 60,70+ hour weeks, delivering complicated projects on time and they've done this for Labour governments as well. They work under a lot of pressure at that level, but there is a way to treat work colleagues and there is a way which is just not acceptable and is actually illegal.

It's hardly surprising this fucker depicts bullying as being actually in the perception of the snowflakes, he was caught grabbing and pushing MPs through the lobby quite recently iirc.

I agree that there a lot of very good and very committed civil servants at that level, but there are also a lot of crap ones and a huge amount or terrible ones at junior level which I know frustrates a lot of people in both government and the CS. I think a major issue is all the politically appointed SPADS who undermine the senior civil service and are pretty much accountable to no one. That's what I would like to see stopped.