Boris Johnson, parties and the loss of the Ethics Adviser, part 7

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4560961-boris-johnson-parties-and-the-sue-gray-report-fall-out-thread-6?page=40&reply=117920731

From Twitter (Kevin Schofield ) Andrew Bridgen says: "I don’t mind if the PM stays till 2030, he can resign at 9pm if he wants."😂

He’s in my top five list of suspects. I’m afraid I have no exciting intel.

Where is Clav anyway - on holiday having a lie down?

Boris Johnson 'actively thinking about' third term as PM - to mid 2030s:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61939938

Just fuck off johnson

When Thatcher made similar noises the Party got rid of her.

Please let this be the same here @ilovesooty

It is the will of the people who pay for Boris in the Kremlin

Absolutely this.

How bloody dare he? He is so bloody entitled.

The country will be utterly broken if he lasts that long. The Union will be split, we will be back to having workhouses, the NHS will be a distant memory and schools will be limping along with 90 in a class all copying from a blackboard.

Unless @Cheguevarahamster has it right.

Amendment to PM job description. Only deluded narcissists may apply.

What, Bridgen shows intelligence and wit? <faints>

I know! First time Bridgen has ever said anything that raised a genuine laugh from me rather than a sarcastic one.

Have I strayed into conspiracy territory or is the Prince Charles cash in a suitcase story this morning distinctly in response to him straying out of his lane with his Rwanda comment?

Yeah I see it certainly as Charles being given a pointed warning about something, and a reminder of the power of the press.

Timing is suspect as are these suitcases of cash, above board or not, it looks dodgy.

Major Tory party donor Sir Michael Hintze is to be given a peerage, more dodgy stuff.

I agree it looks dodgy but then I consider these cash ‘donations’ were made between 2011 and 2015, a member of staff was exposed as offering privileges in return for cash to Russians and that in the article the questions are more about questioning PC’s wisdom at accepting cash donations rather that allegations of what’s was being bought. It feels like a story that was downplayed at the time and is being rehashed for other purposes.

From a diplomatic pov I can see why cash wouldn’t be outright refused due to offence/customs and there’s a whole other debate on whether accepting any kind of money from a county such as Qatari is ethical at all but that’s not what the media offering space to this story seem to be focussing on.

Mail Online: "Charles reportedly received €3 million in cash for the Prince of Wales Charity Foundation from Sheik Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar, in payments made between 2011 and 2015."

Whenever I think of Qatar around that time my mind drifts to the awarding of the World Cup in 2010, and the allegations of supposed 'thank you payments' that were meant to be floating around.

I don't for a minute imagine that Charles was involved in any of this, at all. But it was incredibly fucking naive of Charles and his advisers to accept millions in cash from a Qatari source, knowing the contoversies around the World Cup selection that were still ongoing including allegations of corruption.

So I agree with pp that his shows his judgement is appalling - and that someone's been sitting on this story for a long time, for a time like this.

Yes to appalling judgement. How on God's earth would he think it was acceptable to take suitcases and duffel bags bursting with cash, Fortnum & Mason carrier bags stuffed with notes?
Qatar isn't a backward country, they do have bank accounts over there! I read somewhere he didn't want to offend the Sheikh, he thought it as a custom. Bollocks to that.
It happened three times. Honestly, I despair. I thought he had advisers, obviously not
It's all over the US News... the world must think we're stupid, Sheikh Hamad is as dodgy as fuck.

Well yes, sheikh Hamad is dodgy as fuck but it’s also not beyond the realms of possibility that it was a show of wealth to present cash, is it that different from accepting a prize winning racehorse, artwork or jewels? From what I can gather it’s not unusual to deal in cash with sheikhs in general (the Tory party should know).

If PC’s charity accounts tally then it’s not a secret and he’s done nothing wrong technically. Nobody seems to be suggesting that they’ve tied a particular privilege granted to shiekh hamad as a result of this money. They’ve got at least six years worth of evidence to look for that in and have scrutinised a lot due to the member of staff caught selling off privileges to Russians.

is it badly judged and open to speculation? yes. Is it almost a decade old and without any tangible evidence that there were unscrupulous deals made? Also yes.

The whole story reeks of ‘mud sticks’ tactics.

I'm listening to exMP for Tiverton, Neil Parish, Tractor Man, expounding on LBC. I shouldn't be finding him hilarious but he's unintentionally very funny. He's been very nice about his wife which makes a nice change and sounds half reasonable, also a nice change from the frothers who live in Bozo's half-life. As for the porn, 'I was only watching it in the corner, not on the benches'. Somehow, that sounds worse😀

To be clear, I believe that PC firmly belongs in the category of ‘they’re all at it’ because, well, they are.

I’m just pointing out how this story has been weaponised and used to provoke outrage possibly quite likely actually as a warning to PC. A warning from the media and PR people actually controlling what information is available to us.

I agree Cornetto - I read it as a warning from Tory leaning newspaper owners if not explicitly from CCHQ.

Th other thing about the Prince Charles story is that his private secretary at the time resigned over another potential scandal, so given the cash was recorded correctly, potentially this has already been dealt with.

I think I'll give this the benefit of the doubt pending new information. It smacks of desperation.

What was Charles even doing in Qatar anyway in 2011? He should have stayed well out of it.

Then he wouldn't have put himself three times over 4-5 years in the situation where he was the star turn in such ostentatious gift giving. Does he often receive tribute? I thought that died out around the mediaeval period. A nice 'proxy' has also been the modern compromise - a nice picture or something.

And yes to the Tory press and/or CCHQ wanting to have him by the balls. One more useful idiot.

I agree with what you say Cornetto, this is a 'warning' story. Dodgy gifts to the royal family would be a thread by itself,