Boris has been fined - Part 2

[cakeorwine]

Because this is going to go on and on.....
With more fines

Part 1 here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4528104-boris-has-been-fined-tory-voters-should-he-go

@Notonthestairs

Desperate measures from Dowden.

And then some

@DuncinToffee thanks for that link. That letter is desperate.

Certainly. Hope Starmer treats it with the withering contempt it deserves.

That letter’s hilarious. This is descending into farce.

I can visualise a furious spluttering Johnson dictating it to Dowden after PMQs.

And we are back to waiting for Sue Gray

NEW: Government publishes amendment to block Labour’s plan to refer Boris Johnson for probe into whether he misled Parliament over Partygate row.
Spox: “The Govt has tabled an amendment to Labour’s motion which says that consideration of this matter should take place after the conclusion of the police investigation, and the publication of the Cabinet Office report, allowing MPs to have all the facts at their disposal.”
Tory MPs will be on three line whip to kill the vote tomorrow. But it wasn’t going to pass anyway. Welcome to Westminster, folks.
twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1516855159187550214?t=4ExwCutA-TVneivdlN-FGw&s=19

"So why might this amendment have bought off some Tory rebels?

Because it appears rebels have been told that when finally there is a vote on referring Boris Johnson to the privileges committee, this will be a free vote

So the rebels think the probe WILL happen - eventually"

twitter.com/samcoatessky/status/1516871176957665281?s=21&t=eccmjdsopRYJASZGyGj2QQ

Why would they trust a word that comes out of Johnson's mouth? Zero integrity.

He is off to India tonight, no doubt enjoying the free booze. I wonder if he brought a spare suitcase.

I suspect Starmer is having a very enjoyable evening drafting an icily polite response to Dowden that effectively tells him to fuck right off, he's not convincing anyone that Johnson has ever been a champion of the free press.

Accompanied by a beer

I mean they obviously know that the conclusion of police investigations and Sue Gray’s report (which led to the police investigating) isn’t going to turn out to cast them in a flattering light don’t they?

They’re buying time for us all to get bored and fuck off then they can breathe a sigh of relief and pat themselves on the back.

They’ve got a long wait. This isn’t going anywhere.

I've written to my mp asking her to ensure she attends tomorrow's vote. I told her that if she has full confidence in BJ then there is nothing to fear from voting for him to be scrutinised.
I think any conservative MP who votes to kick this down the road, or to prevent it is showing that they have no confidence in him and so should write to the chairman and tell them that.

It's a catch 22. Vote to have him scrutinised, you are showing confidence (even though it will open the closet showing the skeletons), vote against and you look as though you are showing no confidence, then you have to either do the right thing or not.

Well played Mr Starmer, well played.

I think you are mistaking Tory MPs with people who are capable of this level of rational thought. At least on the evidence of mine, it is a forlorn hope.

Handy thread outlining what is happening today in Parliament (updated to reflect Con manoeuvres)

twitter.com/aliceolilly/status/1516866781322878985?s=21&t=GYfmNhxVlbqlH-WPtSMnpg

LittledrummerGirl I’ll borrow your points in my letter if that’s OK. Definitely worth writing to your MP. Always! We should all do it and a lot more often.
MPs can’t do their job properly if they don’t know what we’re concerned about. If they don’t do their representative job properly despite being communicated with clearly and politely by constituents that’s a clear point to raise with them and other candidates next time we get a chance. An email takes minutes so if you can spare the time to write, MP’s offices do read them and a lot of the time the MP reads them themselves on their phones too.

No 10 parties: PM's lockdown fine constitutional crisis, says historian
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61134002

Definitely worth writing to your MP. Always! We should all do it and a lot more often

Totally agree. I wrote to mine a month or so ago, when news of the 18 parties broke.
No reply.
I wrote to him when the FPN for BJ was announced.
No reply.

He's been on TV defending BJ though.

Mine replied when I first wrote about Paterson, since then he seems to have gone into hiding, perhaps in a fridge.

Or he is trying to work out why as a Pole one of his main sources of income is Putin.

Absolutely pointless writing to mine. I’m not wasting my time.

I may also be wasting my time, but if enough individuals write expressing their disgust, perhaps there will be some impact. Certainly the government were too scared of something to whip their MPs into voting today to stop the privileges committee investigate, which is a significant change from the Paterson affair.

'I may also be wasting my time, but if enough individuals write expressing their disgust, perhaps there will be some impact'

Tbh I think it's an even split. Those who want BJ out, hope to reverse Brexit and daydream about Starmer being pm will be busy banging away angrily on their keyboards. Those who can clearly see that these were workplace interactions and they weren't visiting dying relatives when others couldn't will be voicing their support.

The polls suggest many people are the former but then I've never participated in a poll nor have any of my family and friends so you do wonder how representative they are.

Respectfully I’d have to disagree, they may not read or respond but simply adding to the number of those reacting negatively does have an impact.

Filling up their inboxes/in trays is a voice speaking even if they’re not listening. It’s hard to keep sticking your fingers in your ears when the numbers are high.

I fit into neither of those categories @JaniieJones. I’m bloody furious about the hypocrisy, corruption and dishonesty of this government but I’m in no hurry to see Johnson go because the longer he stays the more likely the Tories are to be ejected in the next general election. I hope he hangs on, getting worse and worse so the bastards are out of power for a generation.

My MP is completely awol. He's a minister but I haven't seen him in parliament for months. His second job must be keeping him too busy.

I agree it’s really worth writing to your MP, probably most especially when it feels like it’s just shouting into the void. Emails do get read. Pressure builds up. Courteous and evidenced letters can’t be ignored forever.