Owen Paterson #Torysleaze

Edited to add What was Jeremy Corbyn’s excuse for not turning up ?

He was taking TOIL

Matt does indeed make good points, but the fact of the matter is that the tories have been getting steadily more evil for years and yet ‘we’ have continued to vote for them as they have done so. Thus encouraging and enabling their next escalation in scuminess.

Except “we” haven’t.

They had a minority of voters support them, yet have the power to change any rule regarding their own conduct and future elections that they want. Blame “some of the voters”, but most see this government for what they are, and did so in 2019. Johnson is changing things so that the executive can do anything they want, despite the majority of “us” not supporting or electing that executive.

Are you proposing that perhaps we should have the party with the second most votes in power instead?

Good article by Starmer

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/03/call-out-tories-corruption-conservative-owen-paterson-keir-starmer

Tories are in a right mess on this, even as Patersons mates were pretending, that he would still face a some sort of investigation by the new tribunal
Paterson & his allies in rw press doing all they can to undermine that by claiming his innocence

“My arguments and witnesses are not properly represented in the report. My lawyers are astounded by the procedure and said if Parliamentary privilege were surrendered and we had open access to a judge in court, the whole process would be chucked out.”
My @Daily_Express interview. pic.twitter.com/CUeGn4bBCf

— Owen Paterson (@OwenPaterson) November 1, 2021

and yet ‘we’ have continued to vote for them

I did not. And many of my friends did not.

Are you proposing that perhaps we should have the party with the second most votes in power instead?

I’m saying that one party should not have full control of the executive on a minority of the vote, and then be able to change anything they want as regards oversight without any cross-party cooperation.

I did not. And many of my friends did not.

Oh FFS, I know that. I didn’t vote for them either. In fact I’d go so far as to say I don’t even know anyone who did vote for them, but the fact remains that shit loads of people did vote for them despite their execrable record.

Paterson & his allies in rw press doing all they can to undermine that by claiming his innocence

They aren’t going to do anything else, they have gone all in on this. It was the same in the cash for questions scandal.

The sensible MPs especially the ones getting the hard questions on telly/radio over the coming weeks/months are going to be very angry at having to burn political credibility for this.

It also arguably shows how weak a part of Boris’s support is in the party if he needs to defend this to shore it up

the fail aren’t pulling any punches so not all the rw press are behind him

@kelvin Again why didn’t Corbyn vote ?

That might be the first ever Mail headline that has made me happy. There is some hope.

Edited to add What was Jeremy Corbyn’s excuse for not turning up ?

Given how much he’s been paid over the years for his rent-a-gob performances on Russia Today and Iranian state TV, he was probably thinking of pots and kettles

Anyway… I think that of our elected representatives are insistent on their right to be openly corrupt, they should have the decency to publish league tables

The going rate for an Owen Paterson, not even a junior minister, is 3 grand an hour.

I wonder what the going rate for a Kwasi Kwartang or a Gove is?

Are you proposing that perhaps we should have the party with the second most votes in power instead?

PR would solve this, and you know it.

@kelvin Again why didn’t Corbyn vote ?

Does he pair with an opposition MP who had said he wouldn’t be there?

Not much to add really, other than:

1. Absolutely no surprise in the accusations and the handling
2. There will be more of this that will come to light
3. They are corrupt to the core
4. They have no interest in looking after the general public, they are just keeping their noses in the trough and are securing that position.
5. They need to go

Again why didn’t Corbyn vote ?

I neither know nor care. He isn’t even a Labour MP anyway. Johnson is embedding corruption in parliament and government, and with his thumping majority he can. Going ‘ooo look at the opposition’ when every opposition MP present (except a DUP one) voted against this incredibly cheeky circumventing/removal of rules put in place to put MPs off being corrupt, is pointing the wrong way. This corrupt government must go, and we need to all work towards that end.

Time to march?

This is the week to talk to Tory voting friends and family.

That might be the first ever Mail headline that has made me happy. There is some hope.

playing to the crowd, at the first sniff of a GE it’ll be back to business as usual.

This is the week to talk to Tory voting friends and family.

Heh! They don’t talk about politics… :)

Does he pair with an opposition MP who had said he wouldn’t be there?

There’s no pairing for three line whips.

I’m finding the opposition abstentions inexplicable, too. No explanation in the media. I do have one theory but it’s probably wrong and I’m not sharing…

List here:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/03/how-mps-voted-on-standards-reform-and-let-owen-paterson-off-the-hook

with his thumping majority he can

He didn’t have a majority yesterday, not even close.

PR would solve this, and you know it.

Totally agree 👍

I’m finding the opposition abstentions inexplicable, too. No explanation in the media. I do have one theory but it’s probably wrong and I’m not sharing…

that allowing this vote to pass was a trap for Johnson & Starmer was happy to help with it?

especially as Labour had attack ads based on this ready to go?

Labour attack ads after the Owen Paterson vote. I expect they will be on social media everywhere. pic.twitter.com/xcmvnPQHAI

— Rachel Wearmouth (@REWearmouth) November 3, 2021

cummings is loving this too

Yesterday was a preemptive strike by PM on EC & Stone. Tory MPs are just expendable cannon fodder. This is about trying to keep secret the coverup earlier this year on his illegal donations & lies to Geidt and the Cabinet Secretary about it all #FOLLOWTHEMONEY

— Dominic Cummings (@Dominic2306) November 4, 2021

Why do some people have an obsession with Corbyn? It just plays to distraction tactics.

It is entirely proper that anyone subject to a quasi judicial process has some right of appeal.

However, is that not what Paterson had by the House of Commons having to actually consider and agree (or otherwise) the committee’s recommendations? Those determined to save him knew that they would really struggle to get the house to find him not at fault and it would be easier to sell it as we need a proper appeals process.

It’s difficult to know if it’s just my bubble / echo chamber but there’s strong public opinion on this and I suspect they have misjudged what they will get away with.

Ironically had he gone quietly he might have stood a chance of being re-elected himself at the by election. Having created the Kerfuffle someone is bound to field a right leaning anti sleeve candidate and they will lose the seat – because it’s almost inevitable that whatever appeal process is put in, will still support the gist of the committees findings. Unless they can stall it until after the next election – and he sneaks out quietly?

I’d be very surprised if the two companies involved are not Tory party donors. That may be where the even bigger sleaze lies… because nobody is risking this mess to save one man when you have an 80 seat majority.

I neither know nor care. He isn’t even a Labour MP anyway. Johnson is embedding corruption in parliament and government, and with his thumping majority he can. Going ‘ooo look at the opposition’ when every opposition MP present (except a DUP one) voted against this incredibly cheeky circumventing/removal of rules put in place to put MPs off being corrupt, is pointing the wrong way.

If there was a genuine reason why the ones who didn’t vote, didn’t turn up I am all ears. At the moment as a tax payer who pays MP’s wages I feel a little bit let down that they were not there to stop something as important as this.

It was an easy win for the opposition, all they needed to do was turn up.

If you want to defend the Labour party in this instance then you are going to have to tell me why they didn’t vote against it. If not I can only assume they didn’t deem it important enough.

Does he pair with an opposition MP who had said he wouldn’t be there?

As far as I am aware pairing goes out the window with a 3 line whip.

that this allowing this vote to pass was a trap for Johnson & Starmer was happy to help with it?

Damn you, Kimbers.🤣

I’m sure it’s wrong though. If that was the case the commentators would be talking about it, and they’re not.

Why do some people have an obsession with Corbyn? It just plays to distraction tactics.

I think he was chosen as an example in answer to Kelvin’s request for someone who absolutely *could* have voted but chose not to.

…but Kelvin seemed to lose interest in that once it was provided. 🤣

If there was a genuine reason why the ones who didn’t vote, didn’t turn up I am all ears.

I quite like the theory above that they were giving the government enough rope to hang themselves in the court of public opinion, and had their attack ads ready.

Risky, but they were never going to defeat the government.

That might be the first ever Mail headline that has made me happy. There is some hope.

For them it’s simply a useful distraction from having to pretend that the ongoing car crash of Brexit is anything other than sov’rinty and control.

In an interview with Times Radio this morning Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party chair, said that all the MPs who did not vote had been paired, meaning that by agreement their non-vote would be matched by a Tory non-vote. She said the system is used for MPs who are unable to attend votes because they are either ill, self-isolating or have a family emergency. She went on:

That’s what happened with those Labour MPs. There’s not a single Labour MP who agrees with the course of action that this government is taking. Every single Labour MP voted against who was able to, and it was only those who were unable to vote who didn’t vote.

There’s some muppet of a Tory MP – Peter Lilly – on 5 Live saying that the previous independent system was ‘indefensible’ and ‘totally unacceptable’ whereas the system where they act as judge and jury on themselves represents ‘natural justice’

Meanwhile, back on planet earth…

In an interview with Times Radio this morning Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party chair, said that all the MPs who did not vote had been paired, meaning that by agreement their non-vote would be matched by a Tory non-vote. She said the system is used for MPs who are unable to attend votes because they are either ill, self-isolating or have a family emergency. She went on:

That’s what happened with those Labour MPs. There’s not a single Labour MP who agrees with the course of action that this government is taking. Every single Labour MP voted against who was able to, and it was only those who were unable to vote who didn’t vote.

Have you got a link to source of that quote? It was a three line whip so I don’t see how there could have been pairing and if there *was* pairing why did so many people bother to turn up?

“either ill, self-isolating or have a family emergency” – by definition those people won’t be paired because to pair them could just be needlessly handing the opposition votes. Unless they paired those people with similar people on the Tory benches in which case that’s not pairing – that’s just coincidental people not turning up.

screeching u-turn incoming

BREAKING:

Government u-turn over Paterson vote

Jacob Rees-Mogg says that link between Paterson case and need for reform needs to be broken

Sounds like new committee is dead in the water

— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) November 4, 2021

So here we have the biggest open goal the government have provided yet, the press, the BBC, social media are all highlighting the self serving sleaze. Heck, even Starmer had a piece prepared and attack ads ready.

But no, we’re going to get distracted by a few MPs who didn’t vote and who wouldn’t have overturned the government majority anyway.

This is why the bastards think they can get away with it. Fixated on winning a battle and nor a war.

It is basically the dom cum method but rather than trial the ideas by a newspaper leak they are doing it by voting in Parliament.
Interesting though that all they are doing is giving the impression that public action can have an effect, which hopefully will inspire more

Not much to add really, other than:

1. Absolutely no surprise in the accusations and the handling
2. There will be more of this that will come to light
3. They are corrupt to the core
4. They have no interest in looking after the general public, they are just keeping their noses in the trough and are securing that position.
5. They need to go

this

I wonder if Owen will spend the suspension stunning up new lobbying opportunities for himself

(minor) U turn coming.

screeching u-turn incoming

Hmmmm

Did someone mention Boris not liking the optics…

But no, we’re going to get distracted by a few MPs who didn’t vote and who wouldn’t have overturned the government majority anyway.

The left love self immolation, it keeps them out of power. It’s all about the virtue signaling.