Apparently, Boris attempted to expand British territory by purchasing areas of the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic sea.

It was part of Boris Johnson’s post Brexit assertive Britain plan to acquire additional fishing waters & strategic area power.

It was put forward in his time while foreign minister which suggests that perhaps Trumps later move for Greenland may have been part of a reaction to increased jockeying for land & power in the Arctic that Trump wanted to win.

I’d take that with a pinch of salt, that would mean he actually did something* as foreign minister and I think that sort of extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence!


*Beyond of course ensuring Ratcliffe wasn’t released by the Iranians.

Certainly is former deputy thinks, and though, him an narcissistic idiot. His new book (The Thick of It) describes him as an "embarrassing buffoon", in fact that'sone of the more charitable terms amongst "a clown", "a self-centred ego", "an embarrassing buffoon, with an untidy mind and sub-zero diplomatic judgment" and "an international stain on our reputation"
and that Johnson needed publicity like a drug addict needs cocaine.

Tom Hunt MP for Ipswich (Tory) tweeted

@tomhunt1988
The flying of the Union flag should be compulsory for all schools. If any pupils and teachers have concerns about this then surely they can be “educated” about what the flag actually represents. Flag of United Kingdom belongs to every single British person.

Let's build Re-education and Training Camps where they can learn to “concentrate“ on their appreciation of the flag.
Some nice countries have blueprints we can copy.

Do you have a reference for this? It's the first time I've heard of it.

This tweet from the same MP:

https://twitter.com/tomhunt1988/stat...99147767173121

Always nice to get a new bit of Cockney rhyming slang.

I see from Wikipedia he’s also a Covid downplayer, wants to address problems with “individuals from certain communities”, thinks the National Trust is Marxist, Historic England is Maoist, and refuses to meet representatives of NHS staff.

Rather neatly, the last couple of lines of the entry say: "It was unclear what Hunt meant by "educated" or why he had put it in scare quotes. Hunt does not display the Union Jack on his website, nor was it on his election address.”

Yes, I think he’s probably a proper Tom Hunt.

(He also seems to have been a contemporary of my brother at 6th form college)

General UK politics
 

May be, it seems interesting. Someone can tell if this is true?

Probably needs gypsyjackson to check with their brother to confirm it.

I’ll ask. If only because I’m intrigued by this new poster.

Sadly I can’t edit - bro doesn’t remember him, and gently pointed out that his class year had 1000 students, not 90 like mine, so even if they had done the same subjects they could have had different classes. Surie from Eurovision was another from the same time he didn’t remember. Perhaps my brother just has a bad memory.

Corbynites are demanding Starmer’s resignation if Labour loses Hartlepool in the upcoming election.
I would take them a bit more seriously if they hadn’t claimed a man who lost Leigh, Rother Valley, Sedgefield, Bolsover, Bassetlaw, Blythe Valley, Darlington, Bishop Auckland, Workington, etc etc had “won the argument”.

Sir John Major, educated Rutlish grammar in Wimbledon, saying when he left No 10 he got a lot of highly remunerative job offers he felt it would be inappropriate for a former PM to consider.

If only David Cameron, educated Eton, had such class.

Yes, the Major years are looking now like a silver era at worst.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-experts-claim

Aren't there rules against that kind of thing?

No. It was simply a report someone was commissioned to make. Many reports I’ve been paid for are then edited by the commissioner, I have to admit I’m not very happy when my name is left on heavily edited reports but hey they’ve bought it.

Not heard any of the authors decrying the editing so I would assume nothing egregious in their opinion happened in the editing.

"Call me Dave" is being investigated.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56720141

Perhaps they’ll get Cameron’s fag to conduct it?

Interesting article about Slough grammar and how it infects and pollutes our political environment.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...hey-perfect-it

"The UK Government has referred two Bills passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament to the Supreme Court over concerns it is outwith Holyrood’s powers.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill and the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill were passed in the weeks leading up to the parliamentary recess.

Edited by zooterkin:

<SNIP> Edited for rule 4

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/sturgeon-a...165043612.html

"Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
It isn't fit for humans now"

That little rhyme was written in 1937. .....Just something about Sloush, I guess.

Now with the Welsh talking about Indepedence i think the UK might well be a thing of the past.

Letter from Eric Pickles, chair of Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, reveals that Bill Crothers, the senior civil servant who became a director at Greensill, joined the company as an advisor while he was still a civil servant and the Cabinet Office approved it.

Met Police Federation tweeted

@MPFed
Metropolitan Police Federation calls on government and force leaders to tackle social media firms that enable footage of officers dealing with incidents to be shared.
https://policeoracle.com/news/local_...ct_107056.html

Greensill must just be an isolated incident, because the UK government is rejecting a wider investigation into lobbying :rolleyes:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56743426

Tories and sleaze and dodgy deals - how entirely unexpected….


What’s the point of the old boys network if it doesn’t let you feather your bed?

Things the Tories have closed.
1,189 Sure Start Centres
100 NHS Walk In centres
600 Police Stations
675 Libraries
760 Youth Centres
470 Schools
50 Fire Stations
433 HMRC Tax Offices
100 Job Centres

Is that this week? :D

Cameron probably has enough dirt on Johnson to make the outcome a foregone conclusion.

They both wear the same old school tie' of course Johnson isn't going to push it.

Odd how when politicians "need" second (not to mention third and fourth...) jobs in order to "keep in touch with the real world" (or whatever excuse they give) or ex-politicians "need a new career" it's never as a bin man or a healthcare assistant or behind a checkout at Tesco or as an Uber driver or working for Hermes or any of those other things they are all too happy for normal folk to do...

Strange how in all my years in the NHS the only time I saw any class of a politician was during a visit from some junior health minister, who at least had the good grace to look embarrassed about showing up on our ward: no-one ever applied for an HCA job to see how the NHS really worked on the shop floor.

The man investigating the Greensill scandal works for the law firm that advised the Treasury on the Covid loan scheme Cameron lobbied for Greensill to have access to.

The government has vetoed the reappointment of two women to Channel 4’s board of directors, including one of only two women of colour, in a sign ministers are continuing to assert their authority over senior media appointments.

The decision not to renew the boardroom positions of Uzma Hasan and Fru Hazlitt at the state-owned but privately funded broadcaster was made against the advice of both the Channel 4 board and the media regulator, Ofcom.

Both women were recommended for another three-year term on the broadcaster’s board, sources told the Guardian, with such reappointments usually waved through by the government. However, ministers have instead decided to seek new candidates, as part of a wider push that has led to the appointment of Conservative allies to leading media roles.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...hannel-4-board

Telegraph are saying that it's been discovered that former Met Police chief Lord Hogan-Howe was a paid adviser to Greensill Capital while sitting on advisory board at the Cabinet Office.


A financial link between the Tories and the Met Police who keep on not investigating them?
Remember when all that evidence was given to the Met Police showing that the Leave Campaign had cheated?
Do you remember when they refused to investigate it because it was "too politically sensitive"?

Jesus

So he’s got the right experience, great!

Is anyone at all surprised? In a way you can’t blame the Tories - they are interleaved throughout the power structures of the UK regardless as to them being in power or not.

Whilst there has been some loosening of the tight grip the “old boys network” holds onto power in the UK it isn’t significant.

Michael Gove, 2 weeks ago, “Transparency drives everything this government does”

In unrelated news, Rishi Sunak decided not to show up to answer questions on the Greensill lobbying scandal.

Maybe Michael Gove's words were misinterpreted. Transparency does indeed drive everything this government does, but not in the way you'd think. The government is aware that transparency makes it look bad and so it does everything it can to obfuscate. ;)

Hard to disagree - even though Gove being honest must have been an accident

Perhaps the shock to his system explains why he's been laying so low since?

Wow - what a coincidence:

Matt Hancock Holds Shares In Sister's Firm Who Won NHS Contracts

It's completely fine and above board. He's declared his shareholding in the directory of members' interests so he couldn't possibly have any conflict of interest. :rolleyes:

edited to add....

Interestingly, he was given the shares. That's perfectly normal and happens all the time, a company will give 15% of its shares to the sibling of a director and major shareholder and expect nothing in return.

I never did thank you for spontaneously sending me 15% of the shares in your company.

Obviously, that's why they're called 'shares'. If they sell them they'd be 'sells'.

No, no, we don't have any sort of corruption here...

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-civil-service

Anyone saying otherwise is severely mistaken, yes, indeedy.

Westminster voting intention:

CON: 43% (+2)
LAB: 29% (-5)
GRN: 8% (+2)
LDEM: 8% (+2)
REFUK: 3% (-)

via @YouGov, 12 - 13 Apr
Chgs. w/ 08 Apr

And talking of daft decisions...

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...n-estate-again

Why the buggery bollocks are MPs (in this instance, but elected politicians generally) held to such different standards than yer average public sector employee? Either of the 2 ex-public sector bods in this house would have been sacked for drinking at work or being at work under the influence. But it is OK for MPs to have bars in their place of work and to be allowed to consume alcohol during work hours...Explains how some laws get through the House of Commons.