Thread 25, Sunak - Peerages, Privileges & the Covid Inquiry

[Notonthestairs]

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4806467-thread-24-sunak-and-the-local-elections-aftermath?page=1

More detail here. Very very odd. Appears to be:

1. poor mp is a sex god, irresistible to female workers and The Russians knew that and honey trapped him or

2. mp is a sex pest with a wife who has been taken in by his claims of 1.

Wonder which is more credible

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12206501/amp/Yes-did-cocaine-Tory-sex-drugs-scandal-David-Warburton-comes-clean.html

I see he's putting party interests first there.

I laughed out loud at that article. Very funny. I suspect the Daily Mail writer had a lot of fun putting that together.

"In his defence, Mrs Warburton insists the behaviour of her husband – who denies the bottom grabbing – was due in large part to 'financial worries', and claims the aide was jealous of another in his circle."

It's like a 1980s throwback - very David Mellor.

I've just realised how flippant I sounded. But that article is gobsmackingly unaware. Warburton as a victim of female desire and a threat to Putin.

That said I have a few older male relatives that believe MeToo has "gone too far" so it will chime with some readers.

So I think I have understood the story correctly.

Late one night the hero of our story was a bit the worse for wear and so decided to go to the flat of someone he had only met twice before who may or may not be Russian. But couldn't go straightaway as he had to vote in parliament.

When he arrived he drank more, flirted with the Russian speaker, but definetly nothing more, and at some point some cocaine emerged and so drunk and not really remembering he partook of some.

Prior to this our hero had accidentally taken a big loan from a Russian businessman and inexplicably failed to declare it in the proper way.

Logically it is all the fault of #metoo.

Fair summary jgw. Although I think there seems to have been some friction between an ex girlfriend and an aide too. Or was the aide the Russian honey trap?

True, I got a bit confused with that part.

It wasn't clear to me whether the aide was his mistress or not, and why he was in a whatsapp group with the aide (mistress?) and a Russian speaker he had only met a couple of times discussing their sex lives.

But certainly our hero has been most hard done by.

Gabriel Pogrund from the Times exposed him last April. Article is behind paywall but here is his thread from then

https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Pogrund/status/1510301596609130498?s=20

That thread puts a very different angle on events.

Amazing that the Daily Mail was prepared to skirt around such serious questions. There is obviously a right to reply and then there must be a right to tell a quarter of the story with an incredibly misleading slant.

being honey trapped 3 times might be a bit harder to believe for Tory voters

In all seriousness, that thread is why I was also surprised to see his story on the BBC. It is not credible that his suspension is "me too" gone too far. It's very disappointing that it's being given any serious reporting at all, especially when it doesn't include the allegations. It makes it come across as if he is the victim, could happen to anyone.

That actually sounds like Profumo!

BBC panorama pulled a story investigating a MPs sexual comduct just before airing. I'll see if I can find it as I don't remember the details.

Here it is

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/18/bbc-drops-panorama-inquiry-into-claims-of-sexual-harassment-by-mps

The Mail article is dated 17th June.

The Guardian story of the BBC pulling the programme is dated 18th June.

Very strange.

I suspect the Daily Mail writer had a lot of fun putting that together.

Yes. Loved the deadpan reportage.

“To step into one honey trap, Mr. Warburton, may be regarded as a misfortune; to step into two or three looks like carelessness.”

Other than being an MP and a fairly dense one by the sounds of it, is there any reason for all these honey traps?

Whilst claiming Metoo has "gone too far" - I see he was interviewed on BBC Radio Somerset this morning - David Warburton is facing three allegations of financial misconduct.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/david-warburton-first-it-was-sex-and-drugs-now-mp-faces-financial-allegations-9x2nb6k52

Forging bank statements, secret donations, concealed interests.

Steve Brine stepping down - tiny majority - shame as I thought he seemed pretty decent.

He got the whip removed around the time Johnson illegally prorogued Parliament, so potentially he has a bit more of a spine than some of the others. But yeah, there's no way they're holding that seat next time. If it was a shrinking majority in 2019 they'll be completely fucked now.

Particularly fond of the reference to warburton’s ‘very loyal wife’ in the headline.

Are women also responsible for him taking a dodgy £150K loan from a Russian businessman and forgetting to declare it? No doubt some scheming floozie distracted him whilst all that was going on. There is clearly no way it could be his fault.

The artificial orange tan tells its own story about Warburton's vanity.

Is he the MP that was banned from the Parliamentary estate or is that another one?