Thread 7 Starmer : Cats and Conferences

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5145757-thread-6-starmer-were-going-to-need-a-bigger-skip?page=40&reply=138030825

There are many unsavoury stories about Johnson; this one can just be added to the mountain of other gossip about him. Since he’s no longer in politics I don’t know how fair it is to keep digging, there is something tragic about him. All that imperialistic bombast and yet…. A legacy that will regarded as incompetent.

To be fair, Carmen Smith’s peerage is equally inexplicable.

It's not exactly a trick question to ask 'who are you and why did you receive a peerage'

C4 news skirted around it by asking 'where you surprised'

After Lebedev nobody should have been surprised.

I've just read that the original budget for Scrampton was £5 million - a far distance from the £60 million already spent and the £200 million anticipated.
Who was writing these budgets?

Who was writing these budgets?

Schrödinger?

Just trying to get cats back in the thread

https://ifs.org.uk/articles/home-office-budgeting-and-asylum-overspends

Seems like a pattern of "burying bad news" around ideological decisions.

Now of course the accusation is Labour are making it up.

Tangentially related to Owen, anyone else see the shaved Afghan yesterday?

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/tory-frontbencher-chris-philp-mocked-114926927.html

It's like some weird DARVO going on

😂

I've gone down a charlotte owen rabbit hole.

On the register of interests she's listed as VP of better earth limited

Oh, and there's this
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/johnson-boris-secretary-of-state-foreign-and-commonwealth-office-acoba/advice-letter-boris-johnson-co-chair-better-earth-ltd

My interest is piqued now

I would prefer him to be made accountable for unlawfully suspending Parliament (treason in my view) and for all the avoidable deaths and corruption in 2020.

Justice for the families of Covid victims just as there should be for Grenfell and the sub-postmasters.

Looks like he is free to take a more active role in Better Earth now the two years has elapsed (as of today!)

Plaid Cymru had two names in the frame and intentionally chose a woman, that's why.

The mystery to me is why her name was in the frame in the first place. She’s done nothing.

As a general principle yes, I know that principles were/are in short supply , if we're going to have an unelected second house in the HoL (with or without hereditary peers), then the minimum that we, the electorate and taxpayers who fund the institution, should expect is the nomination document/justification for new peers to be published.

Ie, why are they being made a peer.

I'd accept that that nominations that don't pass the vetting committee don't need to be made public so we can't find out about Nadine Dorries supposedly failed elevation, much as we'd like to

Better Earth? As before, expertise in her field.

Having looked at her Wikipedia page I’m not buying it. I think it’s as ridiculous an appointment as Owen’s. Handing people under 30 unelected power annd influence and a meal ticket for life feels very wrong to me.

I agree completely Blossomtoes, it's absolutely farcical and a blatant farewell 'spaff' to all of us from BJ.

They really are in trouble 😁

Only the German Ambassador calling out the DM

https://x.com/GermanAmbUK/status/1831955784818979100

Let’s be clear, there is no plan of the German Government to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. The discussion is about processing asylum applications in third countries under international humanitarian law and with support of the United Nations.

Her experiences make interesting reading........

https://members.parliament.uk/member/4990/experience

😆

Even if the Germans were bonkers enough to pursue the Rwanda scheme letter by letter (they aren't) then they would face the exact same obstacles the UK did under the ECHR. It is mildly surprising that for a paper that hates the ECHR as much as the mail, no mention is made of this.

Fun break: who remembers John Cooper Clarke and "The Bronze Adonis" ?

TBF, she has made contributions in the HoL though - through written and spoken questions. So she has at least turned up, got involved and voted.

As per Clav, Private Eye did indeed write about her

"TBF, she has made contributions in the HoL though - through written and spoken questions. So she has at least turned up, got involved and voted."

True. There are plenty of Lords that dont involve themselves in business - although that might be because they recognise that they dont have the necessary skills or experience to contribute. When the Illegal Migration Bill was going through the HoL I seem to remember Lords turning up to vote that hadnt been involved in months/years but had, as Jenny Jones described it, crawled out of the cupboard to vote when whipped.