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It's a good time to conduct a 'see no evil hear no evil' light touch enquiry.
The gammons are still weeping into their tea about Prince Philip and the ultras don't give a shit about corruption so long as you tell them someone who doesn't have english as their first language is claiming £x in benefits and 'taking the piss'.
The greased piglet will be happy to keep it isolated to Cameron (remainer, elitist type) but hopefully Cameron will fire a few shots in return. This issue really needs linking to the far bigger scandals of PPE and Track & Trace.
You're forgetting that this lot in charge, from the top down, think they're invincible. They're confident they've got the majority of the press on their side, they're seeding the BBC and C4 boards and directors in their favour, they know how to dupe the general public as a whole into believing they are doing the best job possible and they think they have the ace cards of having 'Got Brexit Done' and the vaccine success (so far) to fall back on.
They are playing the game behind the main game to ensure they cling onto power for the long-term regardless of what they do in the short-term. Sadly it is working so far.
Looking at the broader picture it is a very opportune time to 'get sleaze done'.
Welcome to the past,1984 is where it’s unfortunately at.
Tories vote to not look into Tory sleaze. Now there's a surprise!!
If you can be bothered to sit through this, it’s a real eye opener.
Interviews with the blokes that broke the story: Financial Times' Robert Smith, the Sunday Times' Gabriel Pogrund and Riley Quinn from Trashfuture Podcast. The Riley Quinn bit at the end is particularly interesting.
"Watch out mate, Boris is coming"
- one of group of "lads" on cycle path, Red-wall county, 2021
“Watch out mate, Boris is coming”
– one of group of “lads” on cycle path, Red-wall county, 2021
Silly little chumps think they're 'part of something'.
🤣
Good grief Charlie Brown this Greensills things vile...
It seems they were intent on getting earnd(a payday loan type app) into the nhs during covid.
Cameron rode the wave of covid
(Sunday Times)Sorry it’s behind a paywall but this is wow.
The Times gives you a few articles weekly if you register for free
Surely some big questions for Hancock there about the sell off of NHS staff records
Clapping for carers whilst simultaneously selling of their private data is so Tory
Clapping for carers whilst simultaneously selling of their private data is so Tory
See also plantation owners in the nineteenth century patting a slave boy on the head.
Or giving a teddy bear to a kid in a refugee camp whilst arming the forces that put them there.
DrJ
Free MemberTories vote to not look into Tory sleaze. Now there’s a surprise!!
No, it's a great idea this. Just imagine how it'd revolutionise the court system if we put criminals in charge of that too? Prison populations would be slashed, cases would be fast and efficient... It's the way forward.
Cash for curtains
Looking at the broader picture it is a very opportune time to ‘get sleaze done’.
You should work for Labour PR.
I'd like this to be John Major moment but let's face it this sort of news disappears after a few days now.
Yep vaccine bounce & pubs opening inoculates Johnson from pretty much any bad news you can imagine
Only once economic cosi of covid really hits home and furlough ends will it start to matter
A covid inquiry that isn't a complete whitewash in the autumn for example....
A brave move putting olympic level dimwit Liz Truss up for the press this morning
She simply repeated the same line 'Boris Johnson met the full cost of the Downing Street refurbishment' while refusing to elaborate on where he actually got that money from.
https://twitter.com/CarolineLucas/status/1386237540735332352?s=20
I'm sure Dom'll let us know in due course.
The final line on the beeb report sums up UK politics at the moment...
"I think this a complete load of Westminster tittle tattle that people simply don't care about."
Cash for curtains
Deserved some credit 👏
Cash for curtains
It's an open and shut case.
The public is blind to this kind of corruption. Time to draw it to a close.
I wonder if this will cut through with the ‘but he’s doing his best’ brigade
https://twitter.com/dailymailuk/status/1386562761031827456?s=21
I wonder if this will cut through with the ‘but he’s doing his best’ brigade
Possibly. Until it reaches the 'Labour wouldn't have done any better' brigade.
Bellends are nothing if not predictable.
Ah the Brexit free pass...
That’ll do nicely sir.
I can totally see Boris saying something like that. If he said it do I think he meant it no... well i hope not anyway. But when he goes off on those classic Johnson waffle rants im pretty sure he has no clue what hes said.
Well you could always txt him and check 🙂
He will sleaze his way out of it
Got to hand it to the tories. They aren’t shy of stabbing each other in the face.
Boris has served his purpose, Gove for PM by the summer?
looks like he's still got the Dirty Diggers support
Possibly. Until it reaches the ‘Labour wouldn’t have done any better’ brigade.
They couldn't really have done any worse, let's be honest.
I'm a bit confused now - I thought it was Cummings who was anti lockdown/pro herd immunity?
I don't know which leak to believe...
I’ll just leave this here
I’m a bit confused now – I thought it was Cummings who was anti lockdown/pro herd immunity?
In March definitely, but they are talking about September and Cummings wants to deflect blame - remember he's the guy who edited his own blog the day after his Durham holiday & whilst his boys was in ITU, to say he predicted the pandemic
Boris has served his purpose, Gove for PM by the summer?
Is Gove actually electable he looks like an absolute weasel. Both him and Johnson are awful but at least Johnson has some sort of charisma that people some how find appealing.
Remember the people we're dealing with... getting to, or revealing, "the truth" is irrelevant to either of them. Getting a "feeling" to stick to someone they want to undo or damage is all that matters... you have to wonder if either really has an internal concept of what the truth is at all.
Gove is an odious little shit and his problem is he does not realise this is how he is seen.
Many Tory MPs sacrificed quite a bit of their reputation and integrity* supporting Cummings during the Barnard Castle nonsense, presumably at the behest of Johnson, some have now clearly reached a point where they're not prepared to do that much longer for Johnson...You can see them; having to stand in front of cameras defending him again, avoiding the question and looking stupid while doing so, again...
The Tories aren't ever shy of getting rid of leaders they think are labilities.
*as far as that goes if you're a Tory MP, obvs
In March definitely, but they are talking about September
Ah, now I understand!
Boris has served his purpose, Gove for PM by the summer?
More redecorating?
There’s only one thing that matters here:
The results of next months elections.
If the Tory’s do ok and maybe win Hartlepool, then Boris is safe as houses.
There’s no sentimentality in the Tory party. They couldn’t give a toss about morality or ethics, only attaining and holding on to power.
Boris will be tolerated by them all and left to do whatever the hell he likes so long as the electoral maths are still in his favour
The day they aren’t, he’s toast. Gone in 60 seconds, but until that day...
Boris has served his purpose, Gove for PM by the summer?
More redecorating?
Nah,Bojo has already been given borrowed funds to spruce up the place,he is even leaving the torture chair.
It won't be Gove, it'll be Rishi.
He's got good PR from the furlough scheme and, worryingly, some will still like they he gave them a cheap trip out with Eat Out To Help Out. He's also very, very well connected in the right places. He may be of Asian descent, but I think all but the most racist of Tory members will overlook that.
I still think Hunt would be the least bad option. I mean yes, still terrible, but not as bad as the other options.
I still think Hunt would be the least bad option. I mean yes, still terrible, but not as bad as the other options.
Remainer. No chance.
Remainer. No chance.
I agree and I don't think he will get the job, but I do wonder now that Brexit is done, if being a remainer is as big a deal as it was a year or 3 ago. In some ways, having a remainer in to oversee the mess it'll make will suit leavers as it gives them someone to blame.
Binners is about right I reckon. Johnson's safe for the short term if elections in May goes well, and as the Tories are in power they'll be content with some gains some losses, and if Hartlepool goes their way (and there's quite a few local reasons as to why that might happen, Labour's choice of candidate being one of them) Then all this is just so much Westminster gossip, I think many "Tory Grandees" priced in this sort of shit when they signed up with Johnson.
I think the problem is Johnson's standing with his cabinet and Tory MPs. How long they'll put up with his shit is another matter entirely.
A brave move putting olympic level dimwit Liz Truss up for the press this morning
Less brave move as opposed to only move. I would expect many ministers would have loved to be on but just happened to have phone and internet issues and so werent available.
It won’t be Gove, it’ll be Rishi.
Yeah. Even the set of leaks about Dyson was designed to help him out putting all the blame on Johnson and putting the treasury in the best possible light.
He is definitely gearing up for the top job.
I still think Hunt would be the least bad option. I mean yes, still terrible, but not as bad as the other options.
Agreed. And for that reason alone, he has no chance of leading the modern day Conservative Party. Sticking it to the ________* is what the rank and file membership, and much of the Tory voter base, like to see in their leader. One who'll be derogatory towards climate scientists and campaigners, and the "political correct brigade", even when making a positive announcement about emission targets.
*insert anything you want here.
It's all gone very Malcolm Tucker
https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1386632981360562176?s=19
Remainer. No chance.
The intake of new Tory MPs who've blundered in post December 2019 have been mostly pulled from the ranks of local councils with the relevant experience (including one Lee Anderson, formerly a Labour councillor) because by and large they've settled on a fanatical devotion to Brexit as being more important than competence.
It's fairly evident that as a country, we've painted ourselves into a corner - we've burned bridges with the EU and Biden led America isn't coming to our aid any time soon. The scramble for a trade agreement with Australia that in best case scenario is projected to deliver a £12.58 bonus per employee (not per annum, forever) minus the hit on our economy from our loss of access to markets 26 miles away is indicative of the Tories' quandary. We're going to quickly reach a realisation that no amount of jingoistic headlines from the loonier elements of the national press are going to mask job losses, extra costs of trade and that competence is going to become a valued commodity in government. The paradox is of course that as soon as we have a competent Tory leader candidate, even Dorries/Jenkyns grade dense party rank and file will realise that their days might be numbered with someone who isn't as thick as a submarine door in charge and will do their utmost to prevent that from happening.
Sunak does at least avoid too many gaffes, but his hand in postponing the Autumn's lockdown will have tarnished his brand. Gove is really only popular with Mrs Gove and Rupert Murdoch, Raab, Truss, Patel etc are varying degrees incompetent/disgusting. They're going to want to tread water until such time as a libertarian loony is back in the White House.
It won’t be Gove, it’ll be Rishi.
He’s got good PR from the furlough scheme
For now.
I always get the feeling that he may have been set up, a patsy sent in to shake the money tree.
When the scheme ends and the financial reality bites, who will be the scapegoat, and will that let slippery Gove slither in?
No chance it will be Sunak unless he is the only candidate. Far too "tanned" to be acceptable to the tory party members who decide the leader.
Slithey Gove is probably the brightest and will argue anything but lately he looks a bit done in, not on top form sort of thing.
At the end of the day it’ll be the usual motley assortment of nasty, petty, blue-rinsed racists who’ll elect the next leader.
They want to see themselves (or their pre-retirement selves) reflected back at them. So Sunak has no chance, for obvious reasons. Priti Patel causes immense confusion because she ticks all their boxes, but... well... you know...
So given the particular electorate and the ‘qualities’ they value, Raab is a shoe-in
Raab is a shoe-in
Ironic, because Raab can't spell "shoe" without help.
Ironic, because Raab can’t spell “shoe” without help.
Certainly not if it came into the country through Dover.
Raab needs
isa shoe-ing
FTFY
https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1386722490550980611
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1386739011776090114
Oddly enough I wouldn't be surprised if he was bankrupt, he has a lot to cough up for his serial trouser misdemeanors.
Oddly enough I wouldn’t be surprised if he was bankrupt, he has a lot to cough up for his serial trouser misdemeanors.
Why do you think he jumped onboard the Brexit Bullshit Bus? He's on a retainer with some big players who are making a killing.
There's only so many 'Fat ****s fundraising dinners' a year to speak at and his 'And then.....I really did er um have to make the quickest er um withdrawal since Dunkirk ha ha' panto act will have a pretty limited shelf life.
He's a serial shambling conman. He's like the upper class version of Arthur Daley or Boycie.
Charles Walker on Newsnight… Boris Johnson nearly killed himself last year to save our lives… oh my.
He failed at that too
Boris not going anywhere soon- he is a very big "flack sponge" the Tories will start pinning all sorts of shit on him.
Masterminded by the "Govester" his departure will be timed to perfection.
Next leader not Gove, Patel, Hunt or Rishi (although he is trying)
It will be Rab... not sure where they go after that? I think the barrel has been scraped.
Basically Money laundering....
https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1386814934252666885?s=19
Johnson & CCHQ now have to produce a loan agreement
But they are making this up as they go along, so they'll have to forge one
Which is shaky ground even for these scammers
The loan agreement will be as easy to get as Trump's tax returns
Of by some miracle this does end Johnsons PMship (I still think he'll sleaze out of it) I really do hope it tarnishes CCHQ too
All over a few 10s of k, which is pocket change compared to what he gave to crony PPE suppliers or even Accuri 🙄
Looking at the BBC website this morning, he certainly does like a dead man walking. Just wondering how long he can bat all this **** off before it starts sticking and the party dumps him.
All over a few 10s of k,
200 000 spent on redoing the flat I read.
"Reports have claimed that Johnson and his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, have spent as much as £200,000 on renovations in their flat above No 11 Downing Street. Each prime minister receives £30,000 of taxpayers’ money to alter their new home.
........................
The Spectator magazine reported that Conservative campaign headquarters had footed some of the bill – charged by the Cabinet Office – and Johnson was in the process of repaying his party."
He failed at that too
Sorry, but I laughed....
Charles Walker on Newsnight… Boris Johnson nearly killed himself last year to save our lives… oh my.
The rats will do what they always do. Stay 'loyal' until the last minute (only publicly obviously) and then get rid when the time is right. They'll publicly profess loyalty whilst the intentional leaking apparatus let's out more and more stuff. In this case the code phrase will be "And he ****ed Brexit up too". As soon as that is openly stated it is over and a candidate who 'can deliver' cake and unicorns is in. And the full dismemberment of the postwar consensus is on.
Jophnson has forgot a couple of basic rules of politics
1) its not the event that does for you but the cover up - and boy is he attempting to cover up the redecoration and
2) keep your friends close and your enemies closer
Jophnson [sic] has forgot a couple of basic rules of politics
I think those have long fled the scene haven't they? the new normal appears to be that Johnson will make some shit up, and that will be the end of it. Johnson lies about everything, and it's always worked out just fine for him, I can't see that this is any different. He'll pull some whopper out of the blue, and while some of the media will call it out, the vast swathes of light blue voters will move on...I think it's easier for them (Tory voters) to project onto Starmer and Labour rather than admit to themselves that they voted in a charlatan like Johnson.
It does feel to me like things have changed with the tory press going for him and the confirmation that he did say pile the bodies up from tories who heard him is unusual
It does feel to me like things have changed with the tory press going for him and the confirmation that he did say pile the bodies up from tories who heard him is unusual
As with most politicians though, he's only useful while he's "on brand" and currently, he's so far off the brand that the media want him to portray that he's become a liability.
The Tories aren't really "in charge" - the country is controlled by a cabal of billionaire media owners; the Tories are just the useful idiots that deliver the policies that the papers have told the public are required.
The media will do some dead cat stuff, some distraction work, they can focus on Meghan or something for a bit but that's not going to work forever and currently we're getting scandal on sleaze on incompetence, all piling up together. Something has to stick at some point and none of the previous supporters want to be there when it does.
I love the defence they're presently trotting out:
This has all come from Dominic Cummings who is inherently untrustworthy. Just look at all that bullshit he came out with about Barnard Castle. You can't believe a word he says.
Well that funny, because you all backed him up at the time and told us about his honesty and integrity
It should get very spicy when the evil Mekon has to give evidence to a parliamentary committee. Given his self of both drama and self-importance, I wonder what particular bombshell he's saving for then?
Rumours are that he routinely recorded his conversations with Johnson, obviously envisaging something like this.
I bet they're bricking it in Number 10
Then theres this...
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1386969773800628225?s=20
They wheeled out Mrs Doubtfire lookalike Theresa Coffey to do the media rounds this morning, so it hardly seems like cabinet members are queuing up to offer their full support to Boris. Probably all busy preparing for the leadership election
Is the 'pile up the bodies' quote equivalent to incitement to violence/encouragement to terrorism? Could we get the Tory party banned please?
Well that funny, because you all backed him up at the time and told us about his honesty and integrity
That was last year and this is now. Plus it does have the novelty of actually being true which must be a special treat for a tory politican under Johnson.
I wouldnt trust him as far as I could throw him its just I trust Johnson probably even less.
It is entertaining watching the infighting. I wonder who leaked the initial info that Cummings got blamed for and kicked off the whole game.
In this case I reckon his denial is honest and Johnson accidently kicked off a fight he didnt need to. I am assuming it was really someone in the treasury given how it was slanted to help them out.
Don’t forget we have a Secretary of State for Education who fancies the top job, and has been fired as a minister once before in connection with leaks.
They all fancy the job and they'd all happily kick each other to death to get it.
It's not a case of who initially leaked it, it's more 'who definitely didn't?'
I doubt there will be many contenders
I doubt there will be many contenders
I would rule out Shapps. Rather than being anonymous that idiot would give one of his alternate names.
Whoever it is must be pissing themselves though at having kicked off this fight. Unless they are suddenly going "now what does Cummings have on me?".
@kelvin - I'm looking forward to watching him ride down a steep hill carrying some ladders on his shoulder whilst wearing a natty tank top.
He's just so funny