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So far, it’s looking pretty similar to the first Mandleson scandal.
Yes it is.
Now you've made that link, could you please stop trying to bore us into accepting that it doesn't matter, and that everyone should look away? Thanks.
https://twitter.com/barneyfarmer/status/1387379935791222786?s=19
I missed PMQs, did BJ get in a "snipin from the sidelines"?
I ll have to find his meltdown sounds v enjoyable
Do I indeed? Well it seems like they’re going to an awful lot of trouble to try and make sure the identity of the benefactor doesn’t become public knowledge
Yes they are but if you had paid attention to the story over the last few months it doesnt need any Russian skulduggery.
It looks like he overspent massively probably assuming the taxpayer would pay for it anyway.
When that didnt happen he has been trying to get various others to pick up the bill including his attempt to set up a charitable trust to handle it for him.
None of them have worked but whilst doing so various rules appear to have been breached.
You dont need the Russians involved for this kind of screw up indeed if they had been they would have probably been able to funnel him money in a less traceable way.
Now you’ve made that link, could you please stop trying to bore us into accepting that it doesn’t matter, and that everyone should look away? Thanks.
Please stop attributing opinions to me that I do not hold and have not expressed. Thanks.
Can we slip another Cold War Steve in at this point...?
You dont need the Russians involved for this kind of screw up indeed if they had been they would have probably been able to funnel him money in a less traceable way.
This is very true. Or alternatively they could just help him out and declare it, if it was someone like Lebedev. Johnson hasn't been exactly shy of him in the past. Although I suppose elevating someone to the House of Lords, while arranging for them to pay for your expensive pointless baubles isn't the best look for a PM.
Does the killfile still work?
but that doesn’t seem to be relevant to what I said.
Because you seem to want to infer that it's dull and therefore shouldn't be something that people should be worried about or interested in. Our Prime minister, according to the Electoral Commission, may have committed an offence or offences.
that's not "nothing"
So far, it’s looking pretty similar to the first Mandleson scandal.
Thats the first time they got him to resign, right? Sounds good so far (minus the comebacks but then Johnson has already burnt through a few of those in previous careers so we could hope he has used up the equivalent comebacks).
Speaking of the first Mandelson scandal that was the one Johnson wrote a homophobic column about celebrating his resignation wasnt it?
Because you seem to want to infer that it’s dull and therefore shouldn’t be something that people should be worried about or interested in.
You are mistaken.
Our Prime minister, according to the Electoral Commission, may have committed an offence or offences.
that’s not “nothing”
I haven't said otherwise.
I haven’t said otherwise.
Thats the first time they got him to resign, right? Sounds good so far (minus the comebacks but then Johnson has already burnt through a few of those in previous careers so we could hope he has used up the equivalent comebacks).
Speaking of the first Mandelson scandal that was the one Johnson wrote a homophobic column about celebrating his resignation wasnt it?
Right - a party colleague lent him money to buy a house and he didn't declare it. So this is looking similar, and definitely a resignation issue for me if true. But suggestions of foreign skulduggery seem like the product of febrile imagination.
I don't remember the column but wouldn't be at all surprised.
Everybody is referring to it as his home. It’s not, he doesn’t own it, it’s a residence while he’s in office. It’s been renovated for free by a Tory donor apparently. Why would an average Joe in the street really give a monkeys. As long as it hasn’t cost me personally a penny from my taxes why would I care.
I reckon that I could be this and decorate it for his budget.
perhaps a free yacht or a new rolls from saudi prince, whats the harm in that eh? as long as it doesn't come out of my taxes
if it needs explaining to you then its obviously above your pay grade
As long as it hasn’t cost me personally a penny from my taxes why would I care.
This the cut and paste line that ministers have been sent out to deliver in the past 24 hours. I suspect the ones who agreed to do so (all no marks really, none of the big guns) will be feeling used and abused soon enough, if the bullshit fails to stick. Of course you should care where our PM is getting his personal funds from, especially if he is trying to keep them secret. Who he works for may be on a need to know basis… but every voter has the right to know, and there are rules underpinning that right. It should be published transparently.
Everybody is referring to it as his home. It’s not, he doesn’t own it, it’s a residence while he’s in office.
Wonder if they’ll be steaming the wallpaper off to take with them when they leave 🙂
I think the eye opener is the amount of (other peoples)money they were spaffing on somewhere they don’t own.
There was a lot of tv coverage in London recently over the state of some of the housing people were living in.
Being upset about his curtains isn't a worry for the man in the street
But, we don't know what the donor got in return
Brownlow, if it was him, has companies that have had millions from the taxpayer including covid contracts
It's why there are rules in place and they broke lots to make this happen
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1387439773946613760?s=20
Ultimately I reckon it will be the Tory party that Johnson pins the blame on
But the taxpayer also directly conned if he was using it as a tax dodge
https://twitter.com/marty_mcd/status/1386810376143130629?s=20
This the cut and paste line that ministers have been sent out to deliver in the past 24 hours.
Its almost certainly false as well. It seems a bit odd that when faced with the bill over and above the allowance he would have decided sod it I will pay the lot.
Watched HIGABMNFY the other night. Ian Hislop was spot on.
When is the revolution starting or is the country happy to be led by a lying, blustering prick?
Unfortunately, it appears the country is happy with that...
Johnson wrote a homophobic column about celebrating his resignation wasnt it?
"Bum boys crying into their beer" wasn't it?
Full Telegraph quote can be found here:
It’s not a gift though is it. He’s not getting a freebie to keep. It’s been refurbished and it hasn’t cost us a penny. That’s why nobody is going to really care about this, especially when there is so much other stuff to deal with. Who paid for the curtains that don’t belong to him isn’t going to ruffle any feathers with the voters. Making a big thing of this is the wrong tact for Labour. By all means push for who was awarded what and if the taxpayer got value for their money but this just feels a bit desperate.
It’s been refurbished and it hasn’t cost us a penny.
Oooo… aren’t we lucky! Have you fallen for this line, or just dissembling?
it hasn’t cost us a penny
Quid pro quo innit.
You don’t know what the real cost was/will be 🙂
It’s not a gift though is it. He’s not getting a freebie to keep.
so to be a gift it needs to be a keepable tangible object.... 3 weeks at the Ritz with coke and hookers on 24hr call please.
Anyone gifting anything to anyone in power are not doing so purely out of good will and kindness.
The *expletive* is bent.
Same goes for Dyson..... We'll make you machines, but we want a tax break first.
Philanthropy at its finest.
It’s not a gift though is it.
Its a benefit & a taxable one
tax he's trying to avoid
And if someone came in & redecorated my house id consider it a gift
I think whilst many of his more populist supporters won't care too much about where the money came from (wrongly) they will be pretty horrified at how he's spent on curtains compared to what they can afford, doesn't do his man of the people persona any good.
That’s why nobody is going to really care about this, especially when there is so much other stuff to deal with
In spite of the best efforts of the Tories to tell us why we don't (or shouldn't) care, it absolutely does matter.
It’s not his property is it. It doesn’t belong to him. Why would you get taxed on something that doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to the taxpayer. Am I missing something here? It’s not his house. If you need something refurbished by your employer so you can do your job is that a benefit in kind? If your company cars needs repairing is that classed as a taxable benefit?
It belongs to the taxpayer
Try popping along to visit "our" property and see how you get on...
It’s not his property is it. It doesn’t belong to him. Why would you get taxed on something that doesn’t belong to you.
like company cars?
So if my office at work gets redecorated, that’s a benefit that I should pay tax on? I need that office to do my job, I take it he needs that flat to do his.
So if my office at work gets redecorated, that’s a benefit that I should pay tax on? I
If you live in it, yes
All I’m saying is there are bigger fish to fry.
Everybody I’ve spoken to at work when this has come up in conversation has rolled their eyes and said surely there are more important things to crack on with.
All I’m saying is there are bigger fish to fry.
You think the donations are done just because people thing BoJo is a good egg? Or if I give a few £k I'll get that back many times over. Its corruption
From Kimbers post earlier
https://twitter.com/mi6rogue/status/1387267953985458176
All I’m saying is there are bigger fish to fry.
Apply this attitude to other 'minor' acts of corruption....
Policeman taking a £100 instead of handing out a speeding ticket?
All I’m saying is there are bigger fish to fry.
Headteacher taking a £1000 to admit a pupil into a popular school....
All I’m saying is there are bigger fish to fry.
surely there are more important things to crack on with
There are. And corruption stops them being dealt with as well. Shrug off the back handers, and it’s a steady decline in all areas of the affairs of state. A corrupt government will not ‘crack on’ with the important things, it will instead seek to use them as an excuse to funnel government funds to those who will in return look after their personal financial interests, both now and when they have left government further down the road.
Shrug off the back handers, and it’s a steady decline in all areas of the affairs of state. A corrupt government will not ‘crack on’ with the important things, it will instead seek to use them as an excuse to funnel government funds to those who will in return look after their personal finical interests, both now and when they have left government further down the road.
This. This is why it's important. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile.
What you are missing inbred is that he broke the rules. Maybe, like you Boris felt it unfair that he had to pay for his home to be decorated although he didn't own it but even though you may be Prime minister you don't get to make up laws for yourself and yourself alone.
I don't own my flat but I still have to pay for it to be decorated, I even pay rent FFS!
Life's so unfair....
do love a good "no point prosecuting shoplifters until all the murders have been caught" argument.
All I’m saying is there are bigger fish to fry.
The issue for the taxpayer is that if you give your mate a big government contract, then chances are they wouldn't have won the work without the backhander. This means that their involvement will either waste millions in taxpayer money or screw the whole thing up and deliver a worse service to the public, or both.
Just because the sum 'gifted' to Johnson is relatively small could still mean a big loss to the public purse. It's just harder to see.
As for ignoring all this stuff because pandemic crisis etc, the kind of man who is venal enough to accept these practices will probably also accept the 'bodies piling up' to save his popularity. It's a question of integrity, competence and honesty not just when he's scanning the wallpaper catalogue, but also in his day job, which is a matter of life and death for a lot of people right now.
Maybe, like you Boris felt it unfair that he had to pay for his home to be decorated
Just a reminder that he didnt have to pay for it.
There is a 30k a year allowance. Its just his tastes are that expensive that 30k wouldnt cover it.
And it looks as though the collapse of Greensill is going to cost taxpayers another £5bn.
Tories - privatizing profit and nationalising loss since whenever.
If advertising didn’t work, there would be no advertising companies.
If lobbying didn’t work, there would be no political Lobbyists.
If political donating didn’t work...
Basic economics says that there is no free lunch. It smells. And what’s wrong with John Lewis anyway? Could have upgraded to Heals and stayed in budget.
PJM1974,
Corporate Socialism.
Inbred (sorry mate) giving us a really good demonstration of why Boris (and many more like him) think they can get away with blatant corruption. Why aren't the opposition/press really spelling out for the British public what exactly the problem is? That seems to be what's required.
Ie: the problem is not that somebody gave Boris the money for some curtains, the problem is WHY they did that.... what did Boris do (or promise to do) for them in return?
Meet Lord Brownlow, the bloke that gave #BentBoris £58,000 for his wallpaper plus £3 million in total donations to the Cons partie/MPs. On a side note, he has received £120 million in public contracts since 2017.
aaaaaaaand there we go.
I agree that there are far more important issues right now than 60K for some curtains - if you allow yourself to be tricked into thinking that this is what this is actually about.
This is about the endemic corruption and cronyism in the Tory party (and in politics in general) becoming increasingly visible/normalised, and whether the British public are going to accept/excuse it, and allow it to continue.
Maybe Irke Armrest also feels a bit vulnerable to questions about his financial backers, so lies low.
Why aren’t the opposition/press really spelling out for the British public what exactly the problem is?
I suspect this may lead to the old "well they are all at it" defence, but this is what the story should be.
Unless Peston can finally get one of his sources for the "bodies piled high" comments to go public. Maybe they thought the flat would distract from that, but would be unlikely to topple Boris.
All I’m saying is there are bigger fish to fry.
- Missed 5 COBRA meetings
- Downplayed pandemic
- Late to lockdown x 3
- Openly excused Cummings' lockdown breach, critical of others who broke same rules
- "Operation Last Gasp" jibe
- Broke ministerial code and offered tax breaks to procure ventilators
- Corrupt PPE procurement process
- Paid over the odds for excessive, sub-standard PPE from party donors and MPs' mates
- Backed Home Secretary over bullying
- Appointed the unqualified and inept Dido Harding (wife of Tory anti-corruption minister) to head track and trace programme
- Paid 37 billion for track and trace
- Headed global death rates for some time - still have the most Covid deaths in Europe
In the last year, not one Tory MP has been sacked, resigned* or, I think, even apologised for the shitshow they're overseeing. There's more but I'm fed up of typing on the phone and it all makes me too angry - point is, Johnson's some Teflon'd his way through stuff that should have brought him down a hundred times, I don't care if he falls for over-priced wallpaper. He has to go.
* Mercer did both simultaneously, but not for Covid, I don't think?
Seeing Inbred456 defend Boris is actually laughable. Its nice to see your moral compass means its ok for a PM to take backhanders.
How dare you all go after the man who got Brexit done 🙂
I mean it’s terrible how little they give him for his curtains that he should be forced to take ‘charity’ to get his gaff up to a liveable condition.
Like I’ve mentioned the local London news were showing how bad some of the housing group properties were with damp etc and how bad the tenants were being treated.
(I suppose thats their fault for being poor thou)
I think orwell(not Orville)once said even if he was poor he’d still be middle class and be treated better.
This is about the endemic corruption and cronyism in the Tory party (and in politics in general) becoming increasingly visible/normalised, and whether the British public are going to accept/excuse it, and allow it to continue.
Well put...
Where is jivehoneyjive when we need him... or does he only do child abuse?
Where is jivehoneyjive when we need him… or does he only do child abuse?
Bit of a harsh accusation so early in the morning.
In the last year, not one Tory MP has been sacked, resigned
'Honest Bob' Jenrick admitted breaking the law trying to help Dirty Desmond evade millions in tax then just carried on as before. He barely broke stride.
And it is supposedly ok because it got 'sorted' in the end. If they hadn't got caught with their trotters in the till do we think it would have got 'sorted'?
It doesn't matter how these scumbags are brought down, just so long as they are.
They are laughing their arses off as they rob the country blind and then wrap it in a union jack and call anyone who dares question them unpatriotic.
Scumbags.
It's BJ's Al Capone moment. What brings him down and ruins his legacy forever will not be his lies regarding Brexit, his incompetence over Covid, his failures as Foreign Secretary, his affairs and various children but his desire to avoid paying for some (actually hideously bad) decor and furniture.
Says a lot about our glorious Man of the People leader that he was far more interested in removing his old (actually still fine) decor from his flat than he was about removing Grenfell-style cladding from poor people's flats.
* Mercer did both simultaneously, but not for Covid, I don’t think?
& ironically he resigned/was sacked as he was pissed off soldiers might get prosecuted for war crimes. So hardly a beacon of good.
£30K A YEAR for redecorating and furnishings.
It's apparently not even a very big flat, what are they doing in there to need that level of work? I mean, overexuberant wiffwaff and a few replacement mattresses for alcoholic bed pissing maybe, but £30K a year?
This. This is why it’s important. Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile.
Unfortunately, as evidenced historically (e.g. MP expenses; contracts for the chums etc. plus many many more), I fear this is no longer measured accurately in miles but more like light years. Do I believe, 100%, that any other government, regardless of political ideology, would behave differently? Not hugely so, no. History tells us that it is power that corrupts. I think we will just revisit this same sort of scenario ad-infinitum unless fundamental changes are made to system of politics & government in this country. I shall not hold my breath.
£30K A YEAR
I could do my entire house for that... & then re-do it every single year.
Do I believe, 100%, that any other government, regardless of political ideology, would behave differently? Not hugely so, no. History tells us that it is power that corrupts.
+1.
The expenses scandal was a great leveller as there were a number of p*sstakers on both sides of the house.
As you say - power corrupts.
Every paper, except the Express (obvs), seems to be running this in a negative context this morning. Maybe Starmer did I better job yesterday than I was initially giving him credit for.
Maybe Irke Armrest also feels a bit vulnerable to questions about his financial backers, so lies low.
“Lies low”… did you miss PMQs yesterday?
Johnson’s some Teflon’d his way through stuff that should have brought him down a hundred times, I don’t care if he falls for over-priced wallpaper. He has to go.
Exactly where I’m at. He’s successfully used the “doing anything and everything possible to get Brexit done / save lives” line to defend the big indefensible corruption, but he can’t use that line when it comes to taking a bribe gift to upgrade his flat from middle class decor to dictator level conspicuous consumption decor.
What I can't get my head round is how you can spend such an inordinate amount of money (wherever it came from) on this:
It's absolutely ****ing hideous!!
Definitely proving the old adage that you can't buy taste. It definitely fits the post-Brexit, colonial, Empire 2.0 mindset. Perhaps they'll start keeping an elephant in the garden for use in ferrying them around London?
Here is a good video that helps spell out why it is necessary to be transparent about where cash came from for the flat makeover
A good article by John Crace on Boris's rant yesterday as the mask slipped
https://twitter.com/JohnJCrace/status/1387453194322710528?s=20
£30K A YEAR for redecorating and furnishings.
And then shelled out twice that in his own* money as well...Apparently it was a "John Lewis nightmare" ...****! These people are ****ing arseholes. I keep coming back though to "How bad must the truth actually be, if they're willing to put up with this crap everyday?
*Eventually, and not without a fight. obvs.
For me it’s about honesty. He is a liar, and always has been.
I'm quite disappointed in the Mail for 'wallpapergate'. Surely they can do better than that?
Nadahim Zahawi is on the radio now, dancing on the head of a pin to refuse to answer the question about who paid for the decorations. They really don't want us to know who paid that initial invoice, do they? We know that Bozza has had to shell out in the end, because he's very disgruntled about it, but he didn't pay that bill until he was forced to, so who did?
Shall we all start wildly speculating on who it is? Given that Downing Street seems to now look like one of his establishments, I'm going with his old Brexit Buddy....
It’s absolutely ****ing hideous!!
That isnt the No 11 flat though. As far as I am aware there are no photos in the public domain for it. Thats either the designers own house or their showcase example.
I cant disagree on the assessment though and can only say if I saw that as a showcase example I would be asking "so who is next on the short list?".
Although in fairness some of their other stuff looks a tad better than that although not quite the level of wow I would be wanting for the spend.
I'd love for this corrupted weasel to lose his PM post before 24th July, so that he hasn't been PM for two years and so doesn't qualify for the ~£150k annual pension awarded to PMs.
On what grounds? Take your pick, the list is almost endless, the worst PM we've had in at least the last ~50 years.
I can't stand Johnson.
He's a corrupt, lazy and a liar.
However, I don't understand why he, or any PM, would have to pay for the refurb of Downing STreet property? Surely they should be maintained by the state?