Ed Sec 'Sir' Gav threatened MP with school loss if he voted to feed poor kids

[noblegiraffe]

The former education secretary and, if reports are to be believed, future knight Gavin Williamson has been named as the person who threatened Christian Wakeford, recently defecting MP, with withdrawal of funding for a new school in his constituency if he voted that disadvantaged children should continue to receive free school meals during the holidays in a pandemic.

The at the time EDUCATION SECRETARY threatened to withdraw funding for a much-needed SCHOOL if an MP voted to feed disadvantaged CHILDREN.

And Johnson wants to give this guy a knighthood.

It's generally accepted in parliament that the whips will blackmail you into voting with the government if they have any compromising material on you, and that this happens under any flavour of government.

This seems to be a new low though. The taxpayers in that constituency possibly losing out on funding for critical public services dependent on whether their MP toes the line? That's withdrawal of OUR money they're using as a threat.

And for the Education Secretary to have no qualms about dangling a school as a carrot/stick? What does that say about the quality of leadership in that particular cabinet that someone wholly unsuited to the role was kept in post so long? Oh yes, it's because, rumours have it, that Gavin Williamson has a notebook of kompromat on Boris himself.

This incident needs to be properly and independently investigated, and the whole system of whips bullying MPs into voting in a particular way needs to be binned. It's not how things should be done in a democratic society. If you can't persuade your own MPs vote for a piece of legislation then it doesn't deserve to go through.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/51970b6c-7ba9-11ec-846f-fcbd721f9c02?shareToken=3eac611e72e4e4bed53c76f36da9d326

YABU: it is fine to use taxpayers' money to make MPs vote for abhorrent legislation.

YANBU: What the hell?

I don’t understand all the faux outrage. This is what vast swathes of MN voted for and are now shocked.

Anyone with half a brain could see this abhorrent behaviour a fucking mile off but we were the idiots because ‘who else can we vote for?’

Makes me fucking sick.

I think I’m more shocked at the idea of Gavin Williamson, yes GAVIN WILLIAMSON getting a knighthood.

Faux outrage? Faux?

@AntAndDecking

I think I’m more shocked at the idea of Gavin Williamson, yes GAVIN WILLIAMSON getting a knighthood.

Yeah

How he survived the exam results debacle is beyond me

(Obviously cos he was a whip and was blackmailing every fucker)

Not for you @noblegiraffe

It’s just it feels like 5 mins ago anyone who said BJ et al were corrupt scumbags was cried down. Now the shit that should’ve been obvious is hitting the fan suddenly it’s a volte face.

It just pisses me off.

@Yubaba

Radcliffe had 2 high schools and the labour council merged them in 2004 and then closed them permanently in 2014 leaving the town with no high school at all so they’ve not come out of it smelling of roses either.

Oh, not this tedious "look aver there" tactic that Conservative supporters keep using. This is utterly irrelevant. There is a difference between closing a school for economic reasons and threatening not to allow one to open to blackmail an MP into toeing the line.

@AntAndDecking

I think I’m more shocked at the idea of Gavin Williamson, yes GAVIN WILLIAMSON getting a knighthood.

Apparently he knows where an awful lot of Johnson's bodies are buried. Plus he's obviously his obedient little puppy dog when it comes to doing any necessary dirty work.

It's all a game to them. No thought to the little people just a game. Wankers.

Trilley As I said I’m not a conservative supporter, I am a constituent of Christian Wakeford however and No I didn’t vote for him either.
Bury council are an absolute shower of shite, they robbed our town of everything, we’ve lost 2 high schools, the town Center is a ghost town and they closed the local market. I have no time for the Labour Party either.

@Yubaba I live in the neighbouring constituency. I agree that labour councils have not been particularly proactive, even complacent but equally hamstrung by cuts to central funding by huge amounts. In our town the council has to make £40 million in cuts to services this year, £150 million in total between 2010 and 2018 whereas places like luton and oxford have seen rises in spending. This corruption is not new that's for sure.

It is funny that people and the government keep blaming Labour for everything when Labour has not been in power for so many years… a what time the tories are going to own up, take responsibility and start dealing with their own mess rather than pin it on a party who is not even in power?

I don’t know why ordinary people think the Tories care about them or their interests.

They literally do not give a single solitary fuck about you, your children, your lives, your jobs. All they care about is feeding you enough shit to vote for them.

I was born and brought up in a “red wall” town and I weep for the people who thought the Conservative Party were the answer to their grievances.

Gavin’s seat in South Staffordshire is extremely safe. They’d vote for Jimmy Saville if they pinned a blue rosette on him. His voting record is vile but he is still very popular because of the party.

I would say they don’t care about their own interests either, many just follow the tories to the slaughterhouse because they are feeding their fears and I hate and don’t understand a iota about how their decisions are impacting their finances.

It is easier to grasp the line “we are getting foreigners out” than see how a tax they are hardly aware of is going to screw them up while benefitting the rich.

@KloppsTeeth

Gavin’s seat in South Staffordshire is extremely safe. They’d vote for Jimmy Saville if they pinned a blue rosette on him. His voting record is vile but he is still very popular because of the party.

So was North Shropshire...

[quote shergarsrevenge]**@Yubaba* I live in the neighbouring constituency. I agree that labour councils have not been particularly proactive, even complacent but equally hamstrung by cuts to central funding by huge amounts. In our town the council has to make £40 million in cuts to services this year, £150 million* in total between 2010 and 2018 whereas places like luton and oxford have seen rises in spending. This corruption is not new that's for sure.[/quote]
Luton? Are you sure? If you are implying Luton is Tory because it isn't! And, anyway, it desperately needs a rise in spending so may not be your best example. It is vvvvv deprived.

@RufustheFloralmissingreindeer

I'm sure Labour whips also use or have used coercive methods to get their MPs to vote in line with expectations. The whole system stinks

Of course they have…and i have no doubt that it happens whatever government is in power

Except I think it would affect different people. I am not sure Labour Whips would have ever found themselves whipping over a vote to provide meals to hungry children, must be honest.

This is what vast swathes of MN voted for and are now shocked

The user base of MN is vast. It's not the same people voting Tory and then being shocked.

13.9 million people voted Conservative at the last election out of a possible 47 million voters. Vast swathes of people voted for other parties or not at all.

Apparently he knows where an awful lot of Johnson's bodies are buried.

What kind of thing do we think this is? Covid rules related, or more general? Surely if it’s more affairs etc no-one will be bothered? It wouldn’t exactly be a surprise.

Probably more corruption.

The two main parties have mp's in them who are pretty much diametrically opposed - it had just swallowed them up under the guise of being a "broad church" in reality we need a much better amount of choice when voting and the mps should honestly lay out their individual stance on issues.

Politics means exactly what it says - tricks and power struggles by any means to get what you want.

Argument and debate are the ideals we never had, all we ever have is people who think they know what's better for the plebs and will use any means to make sure they fall in line.

"Whipping" votes should be done in a transparent and recorded way - I don't want to hear the usual bollox about letting representatives have frank conversations.

@Piggywaspushed

As you frequently tell us Noble, the Tories don't give a shit about our children, their education, or their welfare.

They still don't ; they never have ; they never will.

What is happening right now is corruption. It's malfeasance in a public office. It's not normal, even for Conservatives.

Please don't say 'they're all the same'. They aren't. Johnson and his crew are bullies and crooks.

Bury council are an absolute shower of shite, they robbed our town of everything, we’ve lost 2 high schools, the town Center is a ghost town and they closed the local market

I'd say this is the case for most, if not all, north and Midlands market towns. I'm no fan of my local council, but knowing the cuts they've had in funding I can't blame them.

It's going to get worse too. Sunak promised councils he'd stand by them, strongly implying their additional covid spending would be covered. While they have received additional funding, it doesn't nearly cover the costs they've incurred.

This is the latest on the Tory chief whip. Are we surprised that they've been accused of Islamophobia? Not one bit.

www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/chief-whip-mark-spencer-denies-6536315

tom, I agree. I still have my moral compass. In no way would I suggest we should have to put up with this.