Thread 24, Sunak and the local elections aftermath

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4793978-thread-23-sunak-unicorn-kingdom?page=1

I only had a crumb of cake

This feeling will last until the first story breaks about something that’s mysteriously not in the ‘complete and unredacted’ documents that Boris has given the CO.

This was not supposed to be this difficult, was it? The parliamentary standards inquiry is specifically aimed at wrongdoing. But the covid inquiry will obviously flag up some of the suspected wrongdoing in contracts while having a much wider remit in terms of learning from this pandemic for the next one and looking at what went wrong and what worked. I don’t thing it was supposed to catch them out doing something hugely illegal. Although it is investigating the most corrupt government in living history so it would be quite difficult to find nothing illegal.

Is the problem perhaps that one inquiry asks for some whatsapps, and a subset of those are handed over, but another has asked a slightly different question, which means some others are handed over, that might have been quite damning in the first inquiry, and they are all confused as to who they have lied to about what?

It isn’t @DuncinToffee‘s fault if her work meetings have cake and tables full of booze. It makes it very difficult to tell the difference between a party and a work meeting.

Well its not really work if there isn't cake.

I'm sure I'm being very (tech) naive here, but if I were handing in my WhatsApp messages and I'd done something naughty that was recorded there and thought "haha! I just need to delete the evidence!" wouldn't there be loads of "this message has been deleted" all over the chat thread? Or does it not work like that?

I presume the whatsapps have been downloaded into a text document of some kind, which could then be edited, which would not immediately be obvious to a casual reader, that much is straight forward. Whether the deletion or any other editing is obvious if you look into the properties of the doc more I'm not sure.

Isabel Oakeshott is saying Boris had at least two phones during this period, which would complicate matters.

https://twitter.com/IsabelOakeshott/status/1663938946420572161

Obviously she's got her own agenda, but no more so than any of the individuals being investigated do.

I’m wondering whether it’s more of an issue of the Parliamentary standards asking a very narrow question e.g. did Boris mislead parliament and they can get away with just handing over the non incriminating stuff so if a few bits go missing or accidentally not sent it it isn’t a big deal. And it specifically focuses on Boris not everybody working in the CO/ no 10. Also he’s no longer PM, is barely in the country let alone Westminster and lying to parliament is now a fairly accepted weekly event.

Covid inquiry has a huge remit. It’s going to need everything that’s official. Which presumably is big problem if you are daft enough to use personal WhatsApp accounts to have official policy discussions and are also stupid enough to use that same account to have all the discussions about dodgy illegal dealings and organise your illegal lockdown work parties. It’s also led by a judge who it seems does not want her legacy being the head of a dodgy covid inquiry. Nor, I’d imagine, would she ignore anything illegal but not to do with covid that landed in front of her as part of official government records.

I see Theresa May's book is coming out in September. It's called The Abuse of Power and has a big photo of Mrs May on the front. Anyone else think that's a rather confusing juxtaposition of title and photo?

The Home Secretary that brought us the hostile environment and Windrush scandals is writing about injustice.

My mind is boggled.

Can’t wait for Suella’s book on kindness, tolerance and understanding.

Good article from the Institute for Government on the Government's efforts to control flow of information.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/government-covid-inquiry-row

Thread from Jonathan Jones KC (ex head of Government legal service) outlining possible outcomes in the Inquiry v Cabinet Office standoff.

Covid inquiry WhatsAppGate standoff. What might happen today?
1 Cabinet Office caves & hands over the docs. More likely now Johnson says he wants it to happen. But CO might continue to argue irrelevance as a matter of principle; & other people’s privacy is at stake, not just BJ’s

twitter.com/sirjjkc/status/1664203325758140416?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

"BLOGPOST

How the intervention of Boris Johnson has affected the stand-off between the Cabinet Office and the Covid Inquiry

davidallengreen.com/2023/06/how-th…

https://twitter.com/lawandd_policy/status/1664190340352409601?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/feminism/4812272-would-you-vote-for-anyone-stupid-enough-to

I love the phrase 'greased piglet' - it describes Boris Johnson perfectly!

I see the adulation of the alarming Miriam Cates continues rafa...

That is ridiculous. People won't vote because of one issue, ignoring the hundreds of other issues which affect them more. Does it really matter if a woman can have a penis if your children are cold and hungry or you mum is dying on the floor while waiting for an ambulance?

I fear it went downhill sharply with the adulation of Braverman.

There are a few of those. Fortunately probably not enough to have any real effect when we next go to the polls.

Translates as : I've paid someone a bomb to redact the messages and ensure they don't leave a trace.

Small increase in predicted Labour majority compared to last month.

https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction_main.html

Long may it stay that way. The blinkered GC extremists on two threads scare me, I really do hope they are small in numbers but loud of voice. As the parent of a disabled young person, the trans issue is way down my list of important things.