Speculation that the lack of mask was a dead cat/"I make buses out of boxes" distraction from the standards' debate

Interesting that only 46 out of 365 Tory MPs have turned up for the debate on the standards to be followed by MPs and how they are enforced.
By contrast the opposition benches are full.

It's strange because a few days ago 250 Tory MPs voted to let a corrupt friend off the hook simply because they wanted a debate on standards.

They wouldn't have been lying about that would they?

^ At the top of Northumbria Healthcare's website is a banner stating that visitors will be required to show a negative lateral flow test and will have to wear "a face covering", which makes No 10's claims about following local guidelines an utter lie. Especially as all pix of clinical and managerial staff show them wearing masks (there's a great one of him with Marion Dickson, director of nursing etc, who is wearing a mask, while he does an impression of a basking shark feeding).

Mind, pix on the Chronicle show Twatface Mackey, the eejit Chief Exec, walking along a lot less than 2m from BlowJob...

On the one hand we have a former attorney general advising on dodging taxes - https://www.theguardian.com/politics...an-in-lockdown - and on the other we have a Tory MP under threat of being made bankrupt over non-payment of a very large amount of tax and other debts - https://www.theguardian.com/politics...n-adam-afriyie

In other news mere wage slaves (and others) on PAYE carry on paying all their taxes...

It is up to voters to decide whether MPs with second jobs have "the right priorities", Dominic Raab has said.

The work MPs do outside Westminster is under the spotlight, after ex-Tory MP Owen Paterson broke lobbying rules when working as a consultant.

Now MP Geoffrey Cox is facing questions about his work for a legal firm advising the British Virgin Islands.

The former Attorney General has earned hundreds of thousands of pounds working with an international law firm, where he was sent to advise the BVI over an inquiry into government corruption.
The Daily Mail revealed the role saw him travel to the British Overseas Territory in April to work on the investigation - which was launched by the UK Foreign Office, and the then-Foreign Secretary, Mr Raab, in January.

Sir Geoffrey was there for a number of weeks, meaning he was carrying out his work as an MP - including voting - from the Caribbean.
He has declared the number of hours and the amount he has been paid to Parliament, meaning he did not break any rules.

Now Labour Party chair Ms Dodds has demanded the prime minister decides if the former minister is a "Caribbean-based barrister or a Conservative MP", calling it a "question of leadership" for Mr Johnson.

Asked about Sir Geoffrey's jobs, Mr Raab - who is now both deputy prime minister and justice secretary - said it was "perfectly reasonable" to ask questions about whether that amount of work is acceptable on top of being an MP.
But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Ultimately, it is for voters of any MP, myself included, to decide whether the people representing them have got the right priorities.
"I don't think it's for me to start making or prejudicing or second guessing the judgements that they make."

When asked about his colleague on Times Radio, Mr Raab also said it was "legitimate" for the British Virgin Islands to hire Sir Geoffrey, "as long as it's properly declared".
He added: "And of course, it's quite important that Parliament which is responsible residually for some areas of our relationship with the Overseas Territories has got some knowledge of what's going on in those territories."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59218438

I am staggered that anyone can suffer scurvy in this day and age. I guess it is to do with living on a Pot Noodle-style diet? Before I went on holiday to Plague Island, I thought I had better stock up on some non-perishable dry foods in case I came back with the Kent Variant and needed to quarantine, should supplies in the freezer run dry. I had not bought this stuff for years, so I was quite shocked how expensive they are, as compared to buy fresh food from scratch and eating healthily. You can buy a whole string bag of satsumas/clementines for about the same price that'll last all week, not just for one meal. Even Vit-C tablets are ultra cheap. Maybe people need to be educated in nutrition better as it is not difficult or expensive to ensure adequate Vit-C.

And we thought Benny Hill was hilarious.

You are not understanding. Being voted an MP is rather like being on the school's board of governors. You just need to show up to vote now and then.

Honestly!

OK, sorry, Cox isn't/wasn't directly doing anything concerning tax dodging, but is acting for the PM of the BVI, accused of corruption and more, who doesn't want the UK gubbmint to change the rules concerning beneficial share ownership, i.e. revealing who is hiding behind tax dodging shell companies and accomodation addresses and the rest.

Tax dodge adjacent...And definitely not anything to do with stopping it.

'Fog-horn' Cox isn't just there for the Sun, Sea and...er... Sangria, you know.

Boris whips his backbenchers to legalise the dumping of sewage into England's rivers.

283 MPs voted for governemnt's amendment 163 against.

How can anybody be expected to survive on three time the average income, a massively generous expenses package and a hugely subsidised deluxe canteen?

It’s just inhuman.

Iain Duncan Smith is facing questions over his £25,000-a-year second job advising a multimillion-pound hand sanitiser company after he chaired a government taskforce that recommended new rules benefiting the firm.

The MP and former Conservative party leader chaired the Task Force on Innovation, Growth, and Regulatory Reform, which reported back in May after he and two other MPs were asked by Boris Johnson to recommend ways of cutting supposed EU red-tape.

However, the fresh spotlight on moonlighting by MPs has now prompted questions about the taskforce’s recommendations that alcohol-free hand sanitisers should be formally recognised as suitable for use in the UK.

The report made no reference to Duncan Smith’s relationship with Byotrol, which provides the NHS with 92% of its non-alcohol sanitiser. It retains the former Tory leader as an adviser for £25,000 a year, according to his declaration in parliament’s register of members’ interests.

In a message to investors after the recommendations of Duncan Smith and his fellow former ministers George Freeman and Theresa Villiers, Byotrol welcomed how an “influential UK government-sponsored taskforce has recommended a regulatory ‘green light’ for alcohol-free hand sanitisers”. Its directors were also quoted in a report as saying that it delivered a “powerful boost” to the firm.

Duncan Smith was a director of Byotrol between June 2009 and May 2010 and has previously declared share options. Both have been approached for comment.

Byotrol, which is based in Cheshire, said in August that its revenue almost doubled and its pre-tax profits rocketed by more than 600% following “exceptional demand” for its sanitising technologies due to the pandemic. It reported a revenue of £11.2m for the 12 months to 31 March, up from £6m the previous year.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...over-25000-job

I'm pretty sure that there are more than 163 opposition MPs. Where the **** were they ? :confused:

It may not have been enough to overturn the government's majority but a full turnout would have at least shown that Labour, the SNP and other parties are willing to take the environment seriously. :mad:

I was out walking on Sunday and saw buzzards, a red kit and even a goshawk. How soon before we return to the '70s when our rivers were too poisoned to sustain life and you didn't see a raptor from one month to the next ?

...and yet, as the polls you link to show, public support for the government isn't shrinking despite:

• Tens of thousands of unnecessary Covid deaths
• Shortages left, right and centre
• Brexit being a fiasco
• Tens of billions of pounds being pocketed by mates for doing nothing
• Our rivers being poisoned
• The NHS being strained to breaking
• The usual Tory sleaze

They must feel invincible :(

That could change, it looks like Boris has lost the Daily Mail for the Tories.

Something unthinkable just a short while ago, He turns everything he touches to ****, Just like Trump.

It's not like the Daily Mail will come out for Labour. Instead they'll get bent out of shape about the current sleaze for a week or so until the government can some up with some anti-EU bluster to fire up the Daily Mail's core demographic. :mad:

I just hooe he uses their product thoroughly after he finishes 'digging for gold' while he's sat on the back benches... :boggled:

Or they change leader & the press pretends that they're a completely different party. Again.

Listening to LBC today and it amazes me that after a decade plus of a government by a party pretty much defined by personal wealth, incompetence and self benefiting corruption so many people think the answer is to make being an MP even more attractive to really rich people.

Cox says Leaving aside the fact that he's doing too much extra-curricular work to do his constituents justice, hewas working as a lawyer against the UK government in a case for the British Virgin Islands government, while a sitting MP on the UK government benches.

That's almost being a double-agent isn't it? Not to mention the fact that he was until quite recently an actual cabinet member in the government run by the same party. There is no way this can be defended.

If the voters of Torridge and West Devon don't vote him out they're fools.

Here's another one

A Conservative MP who is paid £200 an hour by the betting industry has used questions in parliament to warn ministers not to introduce tough new laws on gambling.

Laurence Robertson is paid £24,000 a year by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), an industry body that lobbies on behalf of bookmakers.

Over the past year, the MP for Tewkesbury, who is 63, has warned ministers that there is a “great danger” that stronger gambling laws could lead to more players using the black market and suggested that there is not enough evidence to warrant greater regulation of the industry. He denies any conflict of interest.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/l...orms-8rftm7hlz

Two other MPs paid by the gambling industry.

Philip Davies MP paid £16,660 advising Entain, which owns Ladbrokes.

Rob Butler MP paid £68,640 a year providing media training to lottery firm Camelot.

It's OK Mr Harding, the corruption czar, probably has it under scrutiny, his wife wife Dido is on the Board of the Jockey Club.

Boris Johnson has hit back at sleaze allegations, insisting the UK is not "remotely a corrupt country".

The prime minister said MPs faced "tough" scrutiny - and those who broke the rules should be punished.
He was speaking to the world's media at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

Asked if he had a message to voters concerned by headlines about the return of Tory sleaze, Mr Johnson said: "I genuinely believe that the UK is not remotely a corrupt country and I genuinely think that our institutions are not corrupt.
"We have a very, very tough system of parliamentary democracy and scrutiny, not least by the media.
"I think what you have got is cases where, sadly, MPs have broken the rules in the past, may be guilty of breaking the rules today. What I want to see is them facing appropriate sanctions."

But he added that MPs had been allowed to do other jobs, such as lawyers and doctors, for "hundreds of years", and "on the whole" this had strengthened British democracy by giving them "some experience of the world".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59238464

Yeah earning 900,000 really helps gain them “experience of the world”!

If someone claiming universal credit earns a few quid it is deducted from their UC.
Should MPs have their extra money deducted from their salary?

My new manifesto pledge is that politicians will be able to have a second job if it's one where you need to have a shower at the end of your shift

Well, in the financial sector you probably would feel the need for immediate cleansing...

Oil or talc sir ?

Another embarrassing failure.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59243086

Looks like the government simply didn't do the necessary background work to be sure that the deportations could go ahead if they were challenged so successfully.

Just the usual incompetence and corner-cutting from the UK Government. :(

It is a success for brexit and sovereignty that the enemies of the people UK Court's rulings have been recognised and we no longer have to follow those terrible ECHR rules.

Me, yes, but They know no shame

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Boris couldn’t get back in time for the standards debate bacausd he was travelling back to London by train. If it had been dinner at the Garrick Club, of course…

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-attend-dinner

The UK's best political commentator, Susie Dent on twitter.

"Word of the day is ‘stiffrump’ (18th century): an obstinate, disdainful individual who refuses to budge when action is needed."

It's his "I am not a crook" moment.

The trouble is that the world has changed considerably in the last 50 years and something which would have earned criticism across the board now is perfectly fine as long as it's done by your side. :mad:

Look at the way that the Conservative Party rallied round to change the rules to prevent Boris Johnson being subject to scrutiny. They would have got away with it were it not from criticism from the right wing press. That criticism will not be forthcoming when they successfully change the rules in a few weeks time and we're all distracted by something else.

Never mind the corruption, something is fundamentally broken when an MP can earn £6m on the side while supporting a £20 a week cut for some of the poorest in the country.

from the guardian
Geoffrey Cox accrued at least £6m from second job while a parliamentarian
Former Tory attorney general also skipped 12 Commons' votes on days when he was also engaged in paid legal work

A statement said: “As for the allegation that he breached the parliamentary code of conduct on one occasion, on 14 September 2021, by being in his office while participating in an online hearing in the public inquiry and voting in the House of Commons, he understands that the matter has been referred to the parliamentary commissioner and he will fully cooperate with her investigation. He does not believe that he breached the rules, but will of course accept the judgment of the parliamentary commissioner or of the committee on the matter.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...arliamentarian

MP who told footballer Marcus Rashford to stick to his day job and not challenge the govt on food poverty in fact has a second job of her own which pays £36,000 a year for 8 hours a week on top of her £81,932 MP’s salary.

Natalie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, sparked public outrage in July after she reprimanded the Manchester United player for missing a penalty in the Euro 2020 final, suggesting he should have stuck to his day job and spent less time trying to sway the Government over its position on free school meals.

In a private message to colleagues following England’s defeat, Ms Elphicke said: “They lost — would it be ungenerous to say Rashford should have spent more time perfecting his game and less time playing politics.”

However, the MP herself has spent substantial time away from her day job. The Conservative backbencher earns £36,000 on top of her £82,000 MP’s salary in her role as chair of the New Homes Quality Board (NHQB), an independent watchdog for new-build houses.

Yep - the answer now for a Tory to the accusation of "You are a crook" is "So what."

The luxury villa where Boris Johnson stayed on holiday last month is linked to Costa del Sol property businesses owned by Zac Goldsmith’s family that engaged in a multimillion-pound tax evasion scheme, according to Spanish courts.

Court papers obtained by the Guardian show tax inspectors ordered two property companies owned by the Goldsmith family to pay €24m (£20m) in unpaid taxes and fines after investigating what they said was a suspicious property deal.
The tax authority’s findings have been upheld by one of Spain’s highest courts, with judges agreeing the companies effectively engaged in a deliberate effort to evade tax and committed “serious” violations of the law.

Documents indicate Spanish authorities are still seeking to recover the funds and could even seize parts of the family’s land, which is spread across more than 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of private woodland about 10 miles from the Marbella coastline.

A Swiss lawyer for one of the companies denied the case amounted to a “tax evasion” issue, describing it as a dispute that resulted from a mistaken land valuation by Spanish tax authorities. She said the finding against her client was “extremely hard to understand, to put it mildly”. Court papers indicate there will be a further appeal.

However, the revelation raises difficult questions for the prime minister, who has already faced criticism for refusing to declare his use of the luxury property in the MPs’ register of interests, which would require him to disclose the monetary value of the gift from the Goldsmith family.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...of-tax-evasion