He'd have my vote if I was still in London.

According to Steven Swinford
Political Editor at The Times

Boris Johnson believes Dominic Cummings is behind a series of damaging leaks including disclosure of his text messages

No 10 source on Cummings:
'Dominic is engaged in systematic leaking. We are very disappointed.
The PM is saddened about what Dom is doing. It's undermining the govt and party.
It might be that Dom feels bitter about what's happened since he's left - but it's a great shame'

Allies of Cummings deny he was behind Dyson text message leaks

Dyson's company said to have sent copies of texts to around 30 officials in Treasury & No 10
They're likely to be interviewed as part of leak inquiry
No 10 accusations follow string of high-profile leaks:

PM texts to Dyson offering to 'fix' tax status of employees
MBS lobbying PM over takeover of Newcastle
Evidence £58k refurb of No 11 flat was paid for by Tory donor

We had to fiddle the rules for Dyson.. we had a National Emergency and needed his stuff.

OK that sounds ..actually ... fine. It saved lives. How many lives were saved by his stuff?

Oh..we never actually had Dyson produce anything for us.

Go **** yourself.

Yep as ever their focus is on the leaker rather than dealing with the reason there was a leaker.

No, not the case. He wanted to stop malicious persecution (i.e. repeated attempts at prosecution without significant new evidence) of veterans. If there is significant new evidence, by all means prosecute. But repeated attempts over the years have been made, there are presently six veterans due trial with no new evidence. Most are in their late 70s. Another has committed suicide due to the pressure. One at least, Dennis Hutchins, is terminally ill. It's a politically motivated witch-hunt, not justice.

In the meantime we saw terrorists from both sides of the divide getting early release and 'letters of comfort' to say that they wouldn't be pursued. The hypocrisy is stunning but, hey-ho, NI now has such a weak police force leadership that they won't enforce Covid restrictions at an ex-terrorists funeral but will repeatedly hound severely ill pensioners.

I don't understand what Dyson wanted and whether it is a story.

As I understand it Dyson already has his design business in the UK. The production and head office are in the far east. That works well for Hoovers, hand and hair dryers as well as cars. Why does it not work for ventilators?

Who were the people in the far east that wanted to live in the UK without paying tax here?

Is the real story that in 'moving' himself and his head office to Singapore, Dyson and his senior management found out that this couldn't just be a brass plate move. They couldn't continue to live and work in the UK and escape UK taxes just because the head office address had moved. They actually had to be outside the UK for most of the time to escape UK tax.

Was the exemption actually for Dyson himself? I note he has now 'moved' back to the UK. Did he ever leave?

Trouble is, this is about individuals tax issues so the government is highly unlikely to reveal what the issue was and who the exemption was actually for.

Bring back the bombings and summery executions I say.

Johnny Mercer calls the government a “cesspit” and “the most distrustful, awful environment I’ve ever worked in”.

Dominic Cummings calls the PM’s behaviour “mad and totally unethical”.

Considering both were friends of Boris Johnson he's not had a great week.

Cummings' attack is actually pretty dramatic -

"Dominic Cummings has launched an unprecedented and extraordinary attack on Boris Johnson, alleging that the prime minister tried to quash a leak inquiry as it implicated an ally, and hatched a “possibly illegal” plan for donors to pay to renovate his flat."

The 'ally' is a close friend of Carrie Symonds, to boot. Cummings reckons his phone record shows he wasn't leaking about the Dyson affair and that other phone records will confirm that. etc etc etc

full story

Trouble is, you wouldn’t trust either of them a bloody inch, so where the truth lies, god alone knows!

http://www.internationalskeptics.com...325be52fc6.jpg

Stealing that

Dyson's car (he built one) has been scrapped

Yes, but in this case I'm hoping that Cummings is telling the truth and goes on to prove it. He's out, but Johnson is still in.

Don't forget "lessons have been learned". No need to specify what lessons or their relevance.

And if you're in trouble for calling your partner-in-life an ugly lardarse, just say "I misspoke".

This is extraordinary.
Sam Coates Deputy Political Editor at Sky News says Boris Johnson personally phoned newspaper and TV news editors to brief that Cummings had leaked his messages.

The Daily Mail says the flat refurbishment was nearer £200,000.
The £58,000 was just Lord Brownlow's donation, they approached several other donors to make up the shortfall, including Zac Goldsmith & Lord Bamford.

So, Cummings thinks we are all so stupid that we don't know about burner phones or have never, ever bought a PAYG SIM from Tesco using cash? And that we've forgotten that he tried to edit his own blog to try to show that he'd said something well before anyone knew it was A Thing to say?

Man's an eejit.

None of it will make any difference, the Tories have a big lead in the poles and Boris' own popularity is holding solid.

True enough, but does Johnson know about those things? Is he bright enough to realise the importance of anonymity sometimes?

Anyway, I'm not too bothered about the origin of the mud or who's throwing it, as long as plenty sticks to Johnson

Slow down.

He got people to vote for Brexit and Boris. Either we are all stupid or he is very bright.

"No 10 refurb row: Grieve calls Boris Johnson ‘vacuum of integrity’

Former Tory attorney general piles pressure on PM demanding to know how residence revamp was funded" link

Hopefully this is the start of a tidal wave.

Would that be a 'dyson' of integrity?

"We are briefly interrupting the stories about sleaze to bring you stories about lies."

No stories about sexual misconduct today?

Sexual misconduct is Tuesday.

Was listening to Any Answers and caught a bloke who was blaming the problems of the pandemic on the “fact” that both Labour and Conservatives had both been cutting the funding for the NHS (presumably he only meant NHS England) over the past 10 years…..

I despair.

^ It is a sad, but true, fact of UK-ian life that most folk (this includes journalists, such as health correspondents who should know better) have not a clue about NHS funding and how spending decisions are made.

The number of times I've heard/read folk blaming clinicians for spending decisions and then they look blank when I suggest they might like to re-direct those criticisms to commissioners and their political bosses in the DoH...And that's before you get the confusion about who's actually in power...

Boris Johnson urged to explain funding of flat refurbishment

Boris Johnson is being urged to explain how the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat was paid for, following allegations from his ex-chief advisor.

The government said "costs of wider refurbishment in this year have been met by the prime minister personally".

But Labour said Mr Johnson needed to fully disclose where the money came from and whether it was a loan.

Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "It matters. It is about integrity, it is about taxpayers' money. Every day there is more evidence of this sleaze. Frankly, it stinks.

"Publish the details, have the full inquiry. If there is nothing to see here - whether it is the refurb of No 10, whether it is the dodgy contracts, whether it is the privileged access - if there is nothing to see, publish everything, have a full inquiry.

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant," Sir Keir said.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve said the "constant wriggling" over payment for the flat refurbishment was "just one illustration of the chaos Mr Johnson seems to bring in his wake", describing the prime minister as "a vacuum of integrity".

The former Conservative MP, who was expelled from the parliamentary party by Mr Johnson in 2019 after rebelling against him in a Brexit vote, also described his government as "a cronyistic cabal".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56870370

Given that Johnson has pleaded lack of money (how the **** he'd have survived on my nursing salary...) how has he managed to come up with the dosh?

FFS, the man has no clue about money.

Count Binface is facing ridicule in the political community after the latest opinion polls show he is neck and neck with comedy candidate Laurence Fox.

Binface, who is standing to be London Mayor on the back of a wildly ambitious and popular manifesto, is said to be distraught at news that the latest polls show his support is the same as that for the plonker who used to be married to Billie Piper.

https://newsthump.com/2021/04/21/lon...-laurence-fox/

...one of the plonkers....

The point was made over at the Grauniad, that the vast majority of people don't bother with politics unless they're hurting. As long as the monthly pay arrives on time, Eastenders is on, and the local team is doing alright, they don't give a toss as to who is Secretary of this or First Lord of that.

Liz Truss interview with Jayne Secker on Sky News
She won't deny claims that a Tory donor gave the PM a loan to pay for his flat refurbishments.

Truss on #Marr again avoids questions over whether the PM received a loan from a Tory donor for flat refurbishments:

"I’ve never been in the No 10 flat... the PM has now met the costs."

Truss doesn’t know when register of ministers’ financial interests will be published.

Argues govt lockdown leak inquiry is ongoing but "It’s a completely Westminster tittle-tattle that people don’t care about".

Truss also won’t deny that PM phoned newspaper editors to vent about Cummings.

The claim is that a donor paid the contractors directly for the makeover.

Now, many months later Boris Johnson met the costs after pressure.

This means there should be a loan declared to the Electoral Commission but there isn’t.

Yeah - she doesn’t have a good track record! :)

I just had a look at who is running for London Mayor.

Jesus Christ!

Honestly Count Binface really is one of the least loony of them all.

Obviously there is Lawrence "These days if you say you're English you get arrested and thrown in jail" Fox, there is loony anti-lockdown and 5G conpiracy theorist, Piers Corbyn, then splitting the loony anti-lockdown and 5G conpiracy theorist vote is loony anti-lockdown and 5G conpiracy theorist London Real podcast/You Tube guy, Brian Rose, and then there is the UKIP candidate with the I-can't-believe-this-is-not-satire name Peter Gammons!

Indeed, Count Binface For Mayor!.
It's the sensible option.

Meanwhile in the Cummings and Johnson car crash.

Apparently from the Sunday Times

Attachment 44610

Apparently Boris has been refusing to use the encrypted phone that a PM is normally given and has insisted on using his own phone for all his calls.
He's used the same mobile number for ten years.

I'd guess that there's so much **** hitting the fan at #10 right now that you wouldn't even want to be a fly on the wall.

I don't think they care, the Tory lead in the polls is still solid and Boris' popularity isn't being reduced by any of it.

Well, strikes me that there's nothing the UK gutter press likes more than some exposing of scandal and general destruction. I think the Mail/Express/Sun/Telegraph could get into a feeding frenzy soon. We can but hope ...

eta: I got a sick bag ready and checked, *gag*, The Mail on Sunday's headline. Found this :

Boris Johnson: 'Let the bodies pile high in their thousands'. PM's incendiary remark during fight over lockdowns is latest claim in No10 drama

Well, what do you expect with Corbyn and Starmer cutting the NHS for the last ten years?

I wish I could think that you were being ridiculous rather than just pointing out the view of a significant proportion of the electorate

It’s the strange thing that anyone would think “sleaze” would have any negative effect on Johnson’s popularity, he has been embroiled in sleaze all his “career”.

This is an interesting flex

Attachment 44613

I presume you are highlighting a quote about Johnson’s opinion on which of the sisters has had 2 face lifts?








:boxedin:

Is it one of those trick questions?