MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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If the tax not paid was in the thousands, a degree of carelessness could be believable, but omitting to declare a few million stinks of intention.
if being correctly reported as 30% then that is definitely at the heavier end of Careless behaviour
Mrs Sandwich has said he got off lightly as there is an extra tariff for using off-shore as part of the fiddle either that or someone at HMRC has his back.
Sunak will be under huge pressure assuming the local elections go as badly as it looks.
A cunning plan is afoot.
The Coronation of Charlie Windsor will occur on Saturday 6th May followed by two days of joyous national celebrations.
No doubt for several days before the actual day of the Coronation all the preparations for it will be major news items.
The local elections in England will be held on Thursday 4th May when all the focus will be on the impending Coronation two days later. The full results of the local elections will likely not be known until the Saturday - the day of the Coronation.
I am sure that the Prime Minister will be far too busy celebrating with the Nation this great historical and happy event to respond to the local election results with much more than describing them as "disappointing" before quickly reminding everyone of the momentous national occasion to be treasured by everyone.
If you are expecting front pages declaring Tory local election meltdown you might be disappointed. Charlie Windsor will totally dominate the front pages.
I also expect the next election to be in August 2024 when everyone is a typically a bit happier, on holiday etc,. and not so likely to go and vote. Combined with beating the years very bad NHS crisis news that would hit them if they held election at latest possible time in Jan 2025.
Be interesting to see what the media come up with in the time before that to try and get more votes for the Tories.
By August 2024 no one will have any money to go on holiday.
I agree that next summer is the most likely time the general election will be held, because of the long sunny days feel good factor.
Especially as it will be daylight throughout the time the polling stations are open.
Leaving it until the cold dark days of January 25 also smacks of desperation, lacking confidence, and attempting to put off the inevitable. Not a great image.
I thought the tories rarely went for elections during school holidays as it was worse for them. Am I misremembering?
Shortly after the Coronation is my guess, if they go early, for the flag shagging bounce.
Or if they think they can squeeze a bit more profit out the nation, they'll leave it till winter and hope poor turnout reduces the size of the defeat or can be used as a stick to beat Labour with (assuming a Labour victory)
Shortly after the Coronation is my guess, if they go early, for the flag shagging bounce.
An election this September, no way will they do that. They will wait until 2024 when inflation has calmed down and they can claim they "got inflation done"
It appears the human shield Cleverly" has been sent out to defend Zahawi and Johnson but he knows nothing about any of it. Farcical
James Cleverly has said he does not know whether Nadhim Zahawi was investigated over his taxes when chancellor, or when Rishi Sunak knew about the issue, as the government attempted to defend the embattled Tory party chair.
In an interview with Sky News, Cleverly, the foreign secretary, also said he had no idea whether Richard Sharp, the BBC chair, helped Boris Johnson arrange a guarantee on a loan of up to £800,000, weeks before the then PM recommended Sharp for the BBC role.
How many more hits can he take?
Standing by my Sept /Oct 24 prediction
And they'll max out the cronyism & funneling £ offshore, in the meantime
Rolling scandals & own goals atm: leveling up fund lottery, seatbelt silliness, Johnson once again popping up scrounging cash in exchange for dodgy favours, missing child asylum seekers, zahawi still thinks he can bluff it out, still got the rohipnol MP investigation to finish, who knows what new revelations will come out this week.
A lot of this is a legacy of johnson/truss etc but sunak is desperately showing his inexperience and there's a feeling of top of the iceberg about all these scandals.
They should have asked Cleveley about his Hamster
I would agree with your guess about the timing.
I find the use of Cleverly as a human shield very funny. Has the man no self respect?
Standing by my Sept /Oct 24 prediction
I agree. With a tax cut in the spring to “help the hard working majority” and a challenge to Labour to cancel the tax cut. Pair with a challenge to Labour on restoring our asylum rules/laws to the minimum international standards. And something about Labour loving foreigners more than our own. Oh, and strike laws.
It’s pretty apparent that the team of advisors supporting Rishi and this government aren’t doing a good job - the fact that you have Boris and Truss still hanging around like a bad smell just to make things worse. I expect they’ll hang on for an election as long as possible, in the vain expectation that the economy will have recovered, inflation pressures will have subsided and that they continue to plunder public finances for the benefits of their mates and sponsors.
I think Sunak has very little freedom of movement and its hard to see what other course he can take due to the influence of the brexiteer ultras in the party.
He has a really weak hand to play - yes he is playing it badly but he cannot change the cards he has
Election timing is very much dependent on who the leader is. If Boris somehow makes a return I reckon it'll be this autumn. That's unlikely to happen though as the Sunak camp will ensure he's too damaged from the partygate enquiries so it'll be May/June 24. Whatever happens I fully expect the civil war between the Sunak and Johnson factions will finally finish the tories off. As long as Starmer doesn't do something stupid (like start talking about brexit) the tories could be looking at a Canadian scenario.
May and June appear to be popular months for general elections, but May/June '24 might be a little too early for Sunak.
September 24 at the latest then. There's no way they'll have an election in the school holidays. Think they'll prefer may/june though just so tory MPs can have a long, leisurely summer off after their losing their jobs. 😀
If Boris somehow makes a return I reckon it’ll be this autumn.
I agree with that as well.
I find the use of Cleverly as a human shield very funny. Has the man no self respect?
He's not very good at it is he? Failing to do even basic research on the ex-chancellor before being dissected by the interviewers.
I think Sunak has very little freedom of movement
The fact of the matter is that the Tory party is now an ungovernable rabble of Brexiteer extremists (both MP's and the membership), who can never, ever be pacified. They're high on the power they've wielded through years of the tail wagging the dog, post-referendum. All 'reasonable' (everything's relative) or moderate voices have been silenced or driven out of the party altogether
Any Tory leader must genuflect before these absolute headbangers. Remember it was only a matter of months ago that they all voted for Liz Truss and cheered her to the rafters as she set about an economic policy that was the utterly unhinged fever-dream of far-right, ultra-libertarian thinktanks.
Those MPs and members are still calling the shots. Sunak is just their latest hostage
I think the main infighting right now is between Team Sunak and Team Johnson. The Zahawi stuff is briefed/corroborated to hurt Sunak, who then allows the Sharp/BBC stuff to come out.
Boris has the problem that there is no way that he will get a safe seat while Sunak runs the show, and I can't see the tories holding Uxbridge any time soon. So he needs to get back in well before the election so he can arrange himself something safer.
I'm enjoying the blue on blue action though, because it hopefully distracts them from their central aim of selling everything to the highest bidder and putting a scythe through our laws and protections.
Thats why its funny Sandwhich. You know its indefensible when Cleverly is the only person they can find to defend whatever the scandal of the day is
I think Johnson has already been locked in to Uxbridge now.
Okay, “locked in” is overstating it, sorry…
…asked if he could offer Mr Johnson a new, safer Tory seat, Mr Sunak told broadcasters: “I think the former Prime Minister has declared his intention to stand in his current seat, in Uxbridge.”
Probably plenty of wiggle room there. Who thinks what? Who said what? Intentions can change if there’s a new PM. Etc.
If he somehow became PM again, some Bufton-Tufton MP would be retired and Johnson parachuted into his seat in time for any election. He won't get a sniff of one while Sunak is PM.
In other news, statesman Boris is back in Ukraine:
https://twitter.com/JamWaterhouse/status/1617131457784193025
It's just too funny to watch the infighting (Except Zelensky must know that the suffering of his people in Bucha is being exploited for political grandstanding, and is unable to say so because he desperately needs our help, in case Johnson rises to the top again. Which is ****ed up.)
From Zelensky‘s position, Johnson can possibly influence both Sunak and Starmer’s policy on Ukraine, even without ever becoming PM again.
Failing to do even basic research on the ex-chancellor before being dissected by the interviewers.
Given how bad the facts look to be he probably concluded not knowing was his best option.
Probably third best option after resigning rather than defend the indefensible or phoning in sick.
Say what you like about Cleverly, when most of his colleagues are interviewed you know they're lying, but when he says "I don't know anything" it's definitely true.
🙂
I think Labour should stop calling for resignations when all these abuses come to light. A simple shrug of the shoulders and a "well what else do you expect from this bunch of crooks?" would be more effective.
And back to the seatbelt thing, wasn't there a bit of a hoo-hah a few years back when the King's first wife wasn't wearing her belt in the back of the car?
Zahawi still clinging on, Sunak now launched an investigation to hide behind.... now its 'no comment while investigation underway'
BBC chairman has launched an investigation into himself, Johnson has release a tupically nonsensical statement....
I dont see how zahawi can last much longer as party chair (Im not even sure what that role is, hosting fundraisers? - i suppose he seems well suited to hooking up donors with jobs)
anyway gone by the weekend?
'Chair' is a bit like 'Minister without Portfolio'.
Get paid some extra slush for doing very little other than be seen at events and functions.
The pressure is ratcheting up..
i suspect labour have more info than is public right now given the way they are going after Zahawi. Damn fine work on this
Sunak is expending political capital he does not have on this and its only going to end one way
BBC chairman has launched an investigation into himself, Johnson has release a typically nonsensical statement….
I heard the BBC bods statement too. You know when the police say that you can tell someone is lying because they include lots of unnecessary and superfluous detail in their statement?
Well... that
As for Zahawi, doesn't it suit Labour to have figures like 5 million quid in unpaid tax being bandied around while the multimillionaire PM defends that? Just hammers it home how rarified the air is that these people breath.
A lot of people are presently grudgingly doing their tax returns and the idea that you could be sort of 'careless' with 5 million quids worth of tax is absolutely ridiculous
You can tell by the carefully coached language being used that Zahawi's story is total bollocks anyway, so we'll just wait for the truth to inevitably tumble out
Raynor does make a good attack dog. I'm beginning to warm to her. she obviously relishes the task of sticking the boot in
I know a GE is a long way off & a lot can change, middle of winter & cossie livs etc, etc
But blimey
Local elections will be interesting in a few months time
I could see Sunak out swiftly afterwards, another summer spent with tories autofelating themselves in a leadership contest, followed by the return of the World King.... and all the scandals he brings with him seeing him booted out again by February , we get Raab in as caretaker until September GE
Raynor does make a good attack dog. I’m beginning to warm to her.
So now would be a good time to start spelling her name correctly?
Oops 🙂
Todays headlines show the pressure mounting further on Zahawi. How much longer can he cling on? I just don't get it. Surely by now the Tories have learnt that hanging on in an indefensible position just creates more damage and makes the story last longer? Hubris?
If he had resigned a few days ago this would be a non story by now.
Surely by now the Tories have learnt that hanging on in an indefensible position just creates more damage and makes the story last longer?
Well it worked out fine for Suella Braverman. By sticking to an indefensible position Rishi Sunak was able to keep Braverman in her reinstated role as Home Secretary, only days after she had been forced to resign.
What good it does the Tory Party is another issue. I think their arrogance, detachment, and entitlement, blinds them to the consequences of their actions.
Didn't do Gavin Williamson much harm either. Or Priti Patel. The cabinet is full of retreads, reinstated by whoever the PM is this week.
Get sacked for something indefensible, serve some nominal time on the backbenches, then back you are in the cabinet like nothing ever happened.
Until next time....
They think a resignation would be an admission of guilt and corruption is so widespread that could lead to a deleterious domino effect. Who hasn't fiddled their taxes, expenses, sniffed charlie, given the ferret a run? It's the tory normal.
Those folk all resigned or were sacked, the fuss died down then reappointed. Zahawi seems to be trying to brazen it out which I think causes more long term damage to their and the parties reputation.
Still - its a fun spectacle to watch
Those folk all resigned or were sacked, the fuss died down then reappointed.
Suella Braverman ceased to be Home Secretary for 6 days, I am not sure that the fuss had died down by the time Rishi Sunak decided to reappoint her.
I was going to post some stuff about the BBC Chair doing what we all suspect he was put in place to do… but as I was copying some links from Twitter, this popped up…
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/prigozhin-government-russia-ukraine-hack-libel-slapp/
UK Treasury, then under Rishi Sunak’s control, let Yevgeny Prigozhin circumvent sanctions to target Eliot Higgins
The notorious libel suit against Eliot Higgins personally followed revelations by his website Bellingcat about Wagner’s shadowy operations, and was part of Prigozhin’s strategy to undermine the sanctions against him.
[ hacking details ]
It lays bare the incredible ease with which one of the world’s most notorious warmongers was able to use the UK legal system to try and further his aims, even while sanctioned.
Overriding sanctions can only be approved by a little-known department within the Treasury, called the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), so that people can have the right to legal representation where necessary.
WTAF ?!?
Surely by now the Tories have learnt that hanging on in an indefensible position just creates more damage and makes the story last longer?
Brazening it out can and does work for long periods. Recent history examples being Cummings and the master of the art Johnson.
So its not inevitable although I think there is some truth in the if you are the story for a week then its probably temporary game over in most cases.
Damage to the party is a different story though although even there it can be somewhat balanced by trying to turn it into a all politicians are as bad as each other so everyone gets dragged down to their shitty level.
WTAF ?!?
This really needs more of a headline.
How the hell did someone get an exemption from sanctions just to carry out lawfare.
As for the lawyers. With the Zahawis ones as well there seems to be a real need for reform to prevent them using legal threats to silence people for the temerity of reporting about dodgy practices.
This Zahawi stuff just shows how weak Sunak is within the party. Under any normal circumstances Zahawi would be gone but Sunak doesn't even have the authority to sack a proven tax dodger. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Johnson has cooked this up deliberately to destabilise Sunak, which could explain the reluctance to sack him.
You lose track of who's in who's faction though, don't you? I'm sure there are plenty of the duplicitous bastards who are committed members of each, or maybe they don't even know themselves
or maybe they don’t even know themselves
Yeah, but only cause they're too ****ing stupid to remember, not because of some 4D political chess strategy.
In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Johnson has cooked this up deliberately to destabilise Sunak
Thats giving Johnson way to much credit. Its been the best part of a years work by an independent researcher which finally bubbled over into front page news.
the best part of a years work by an independent researcher
And the link between the Wagner and YouGov stories... using the law to (try to) silence the truth. In one case millions of pounds of tax dodging truth, in the other case murderous and internationally destabilising truth of the worst kind imaginable. What kind of government have our most recent PMs given us?!? What kind of country?
What kind of government have our most recent PMs given us?!? What kind of country?
Normal for tory governments in terms of the corruption and money grabbing - just with less competence and with the internet allowing easier dissemination of the truth
Thats giving Johnson way to much credit. Its been the best part of a years work by an independent researcher which finally bubbled over into front page news.
Yes all the work was done by the person investigating, but the reason it 'bubbles up' into the headlines is probably due to backroom briefings to journalists by people who know what's going on. Johnson will know exactly what Zahawi has or hasn't done and his lackeys will be leaking that to journalists and probably also the labour party to give them the ammunition to go after Zahawi. At the same time they're probably briefing that Sunak also knows all this which is why he can't sack him because it would reflect badly on him.
Johnson made Zahawi Chancellor. The rise of this story won't be his doing, his judgement is at much under scrutiny because of it as Sunak's. The BBC (pulling in one of the other stories) only started talking about this once Zahawi was pushed into responding officially to the claims that were by then public knowledge and which he'd tried to suppress. Johnson's fat fingers are in the making of this mess, not the uncovering of it.
It doesn't mean he won't stab him in the back
Johnson made Zahawi Chancellor.
And Zahawi then turned against him in the Truss coup. In any case Zahawi is just a pawn, the real game is undermining Sunak, and they're playing it very well so far.
his judgement is at much under scrutiny because of it as Sunak’s
Yes but we all know that Johnson is teflon coated (laregly due to his influence over key journalists) and much more able to avoid any shit sticking to him.
If only they would put the same amount effort into running the country (not into the ground) as they do into lying, cheating and plotting against each other and the populace then we might actually see some governance rather than a bunch of crooks with the pretence of governing.
A journalist/researcher has worked his arse off for a year, and batted away legal threats, to uncover this story and bring it to the public's attention. Papers like the Independent have been covering it for six months now (guess who was PM back then?) Don't you dare give credit to Johnson for them being successful in making the wider world aware of all this. It's got sod all to do with him.
This Zahawi stuff just shows how weak Sunak is within the party. Under any normal circumstances Zahawi would be gone but Sunak doesn’t even have the authority to sack a proven tax dodger.
I'm confused about Zahawi.
As I understand it, he set up a business presence in Gibraltar and used that to avoid Capital Gains Tax. But, well, isn't that just what everyone does from Starbucks to Amazon to probably everyone else in government? It's immoral, sure, but not illegal. The problem is our laws which allow this sort of thing.
Or have I completely misunderstood? I know very little about this stuff and only caught a snippet on the news last night.
It’s got sod all to do with him.
Yup. Its the same sort of playing 4d chess bullshit that the trump and musk fans come out with.
Its not.
Its pigeon chess.
Don’t you dare give credit to Johnson for them being successful in making the wider world aware of all this.
All they've done is jumped on the bandwagon and given it legs. Funny how it has only gained traction now? Johnson's grubby paw prints are all over this. If you want any proof why do you think the BBC chairman helping Johnson with a load stuff has come out at the same time? That's Sunak's lot retaliating.
And now the plot thickens evern further..
It’s immoral, sure, but not illegal.
The CEO of Starbucks wasn't also the Chancellor of the Exchequer (and the boss of HMRC) and isn't the Tory party chairman (who is in charge of party fundraising).
I know very little about this stuff and only caught a snippet on the news last night.
This is the summary from the site who has been doing most of the digging.
Its still somewhat vague since he has lots of unanswered questions.
When Zahawi set up the yougov he handed over shares to a offshore trust for free. The question is about who is in charge of that trust and the excuses vary.
So whilst as you say there are various ways to cut tax he doesnt seem to have used any of the legal ones but instead used a dodgy approach which folded under investigation.
The problem is our laws which allow this sort of thing.
What he did financially wasn't allowed by "our laws", which is why he has had to pay tax owing and a penalty after being investigated. What was allowed by "our laws" was to threaten someone who was making all that known to the public, while he was in position of power. Tax dodger and using the law to suppress the truth... and a Chancellor at that.
Now, another former Chancellor (now PM) enabled Wagner to escape sanctions and use the law to try and gag another journalist telling the truth. Where are all the "free speech" warriors on all this? Allowing mercenary groups and government ministers to try and silence people uncovering their wrong doings?
Has he fired zahawi yet?
Has he fired zahawi yet?
Nope. They're currently trying to distance themselves from Zahawi and trying to persuade him to resign (see link above) of his own accord. TBH I wouldn't be at all surprised if Zahawi is taking one for the team, hence his resistance to resigning and forcing Sunak to sack him. If he's going to go down they might as well weaponise it against Sunak, and then Johnson can repay his sacrifice later with a peerage. 🤷♂️
A journalist/researcher has worked his arse off for a year, and batted away legal threats, to uncover this story and bring it to the public’s attention.
Anmd yet the Beeb continue to cast doubt on his work by introducing him as "Labour supporter".
It’s immoral, sure, but not illegal.
Most people would like sound moral judgement from politicians who pass and alter laws. They are generally a bit more relaxed about the moral integrity of those who make them a cup of coffee.
No idea which thread I should put this in, but as Sunak is currently PM I’m going with this one…
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-loan-probe-bbc-29033019
Boris Johnson loan probe into BBC chair to be run by father of Rishi Sunak's policy chief
William Shawcross, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, will lead a probe into Richard Sharp’s appointment as BBC chair. But Mr Shawcross’s daughter, Eleanor, is head of No10’s policy unit
"Nothing to see here" meme. :rolleyes:
I’m confused about Zahawi.
Zahawi claimed that the shares in YouGov were set up and owned in trust by his Father (the financial backer) through a Gibraltar Trust, and that he did not personally benefit from this trust. Subsequently a journalist showed that he'd received a personal payment from that trust when he claimed not to have ever done so, and hence he owned some of the shares. This payment will have sparked an interest (rad investigation) from HMRC. When the trust sold the shares Zahawi became eligible to pay capital gains tax on the profits from these shares (which he had previously claimed he did not own).
He was lying about having a personal interest in the trust and took out a super-injunction to avoid its reporting. Should be sacked without hesitation for attempted tax evasion. Paying a fine on top of the tax is an admission of guilt. Which is why the fine aspect is so important.
Radio4 covering the story I posted this morning right now.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, while under sanctions because of his links to Wagner, had permission from Sunak's department to allow him to circumvent those sanctions in order to legally pursue a journalist that was pointing out his links to Wagner.
Utterly insane. Sunak can not stay. Journalists need more protection. The exceptions around sanctions rely on the probity of the politicians that oversee them. Sunak is clearly not to be trusted, and needs to out of government, if not parliament. Unfit to be PM or a minister, for sure. They might as well make Hunt the visible PM, not just leave him beavering around in the background... and call an election for May. Get it over and done with.
He was lying about having a personal interest in the trust and took out a super-injunction to avoid its reporting. Should be sacked without hesitation for attempted tax evasion. Paying a fine on top of the tax is an admission of guilt. Which is why the fine aspect is so important.
It is the lying that elevates it to tax evasion rather than avoidance. I suspect it was only his position in the government, and more particularly his job title briefly last year which put him in a position to negotiate it down to a mere penalty.
Here's the rub. What if he asked for the Chancellor job to help prop up Boris Johnson mainly because as incoming or sitting chancellor it would put him in an advantageous position for concluding his negotiations with HMRC? Once that was done, knifes Boris and heads off the sinking ship quickly to be ready for the next PM.
Re: Prigozhin. I'm sure they will be looking for some civil servant fall guy. Hopefully that person has kept the receipts if they got the OK from Sunak or any other senior minister. Otherwise, it would be a resigning matter, not that that exists any more.
Kelvin - the problem is that there is no mechanism for getting rid of Sunak and calling an election other that the tory MPs wanting to - and they are not going to force an election
The best we can get is they continue to tear themselves apart and get (even more) unelectable
Paying a fine on top of the tax is an admission of guilt. Which is why the fine aspect is so important.
Also that the fine was for being 'careless' in his tax dealings; apparently that has a specific meaning in tax circles, broadly equivalent to being negligent in other legal matters.
As they said on R4 this morning - tax is difficult and people make mistakes, both individuals and HMRC. Where they are then identified, then back tax and small penalties can be levied.
But when the mistake is avoidable - and one assumes that when dealing with share ownership and liabilities relating to a large company you can arrange proper advice if you don't know yourself - then the penalties get bigger. That's the definition - avoidable by somebody taking proper care.
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/compliance-handbook/ch53400
I also think (but who can ever really know) that Zahawi initially tried to brush this off when he said his error was 'careless not deliberate' in the hope that no-one would notice that 'careless' has a specific meaning in taxation, and we'd just assume it was an honest mistake. I wonder yet further whether it really was deliberate but careless has been accepted as an easier option.