To ask who is the biggest grifter you've seen?

[2025ohdear]

I remember Anthea Turner punting flakes at her wedding. Carol Vorderman was always quick to front a financial product. Just seen Carole Malone on my timeline oiling on about weight loss jabs.

Any others spring to mind?

I thought of her too but couldn't remember her name. Dreadful grifter.

I think Boris Johnson is actually incredibly smart
He's rich, posh and well-connected but he couldn't find his own arse with both hands.

In this country, Boris Johnson must be near the top of the list - supported brexit purely to enhance his career, to the impoverishment of all of us. Shamelessly plugged everything that would make him a quick buck, from his shitty books to his latest wheeze which is £121 to have a selfie taken with him.
He has no shame and there is nothing he will not stoop to.

Mind you, I have to say I have been thoroughly disappointed with Rachel Reeves - both the lies and embellishments on the CV, and the thousands in freebies she accepted. I'll be paying thousand more in tax which I have no confidence will go where it's needed. So Grifter seems a fair enough description.

Going back a fair bit admittedly, but I raise you Dundee's very own William McGonagall, famed as the world's worst poet and "so giftedly bad he backed unwittingly into genius." Supposedly it was all a ruse to make money.

"Beautiful railway bridge of the silv'ry Tay
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away"

Kellie Jay Keen Minshall AKA Posie Parker.

The GC version of Nigel Farage.

And, her fundraising is dodgy as fuck, she's blatantly spending the money on funding her lifestyle, but she manages to garner such loyalty in her fanbase they seem to think it's absolutely fine to spend donations raised for a cause on your mortgage / business class / personalised number plates / whatever the fuck she pleases.

She raised thousands for a new refuge, never happened, the last I heard she'd still not accounted for a significant chunk of the money.

I could go on....

Total grifter, always had been, I think people are starting to see it though.

Boris is playing a double bluff.
He's an idiot, pretending to be a smart guy, pretending to be an idiot.
Unfortunately peppering your speeches with a few latin or greek phrases is what used to pass for sophistication in this country and is therefore taken as evidence that he's actually a smart guy.
You only have to read the COVID enquiries evidence and in particular Patrick Vallance's description of what it was like to try to explain epidemiology and vaccination science to a thick toff who had last studied science aged 15 to know how well that equips someone to make critical decisions in the modern world.

The master of free handouts is Starmer. He got £13,000 of freebies. Football hospitality tickets at Arsenal and other clubs, clothes, glasses, clothes for his wife, a penthouse break and let's not forget the tickets to Taylor Swift.

Oh yes, definitely her.

Liz Truss
Kwasi Kwarteng
How much damage did they do to the economy in their illustrious partnership which lasted, what, about a fortnight?

Agree with this

The Royal family.

Yes. Now I see why no self-respecting academic publisher will touch Taylor, albeit she framed that as an ethical stance borne of her disgust at their paywalls and large library-monograph costs.

It's more likely because her 'professional' ethics are so dubious as to be non-existent and no university ethics committee would clear them past first base.

The lying and doubling down afterwards was something to behold. I've witnessed some shoddy conduct in my time but this was the pits.

Word from the top suggested it was widely known that they were having an affair at the time of Truss's leadership.

Oh dear lord 😲, no!
Pass me the brain bleach!

Another one - Michelle Mone

The Royals.

Trump, by a country mile. President of the most powerful country on the planet and spends his time hawking tat on Truth Social and to his subscribers list. From Bibles, Guitars, Crypto, Assassination Attempt Cologne, trainers to places on his "special council of advisors" for 40 dollars. He's a compulsive grifter.

Aww I've got a massive soft spot for Stacey Solomon, ever since IACGMOOH. I think she's funny and likeable. I like Joe Swash too.

Omg I forgot about the depher stuff. He was a bad one. I think some people still give the idiot money.

I see your lovely and raise you ... Nicola Sturgeon.

That Matt Haig dude.

Let's not forget the justification for use of the penthouse was so that his son's GCSE's would not be disrupted. However:
a) the dates don't match - he used it for weeks afterwards
b) he then stiffed tens of thousands of parents of children with SEN in private schools with a VAT bill for thousands each, meaning many of them will have to move schools.
The hypocrite.

Ooh, I didn’t know about any of this! Not surprised though. I don’t know if I’m horrible but I’m so cynical that I never donate to anyone or anything because of things like this.

She performs well for her management company who make all the decisions for her and arrange all the contracts. All she has to do is turn and grin like the Cheshire Cat and kee-ching the money comes rolling in.

Well, until someone new comes along.

Who can blame her for doing ao?

Personally, I wouldn't buy any product related to her promoting or advertising it.

The Greens who formed part of the Scottish government under the BHA - absolute plonkers who about 4 people voted for supposed Republican haters of the establishment happy to fill their wallets with HMG cash for doing fuck all except instal ludicrous fringe policies eg gender self IDs whilst voting for the rest of us with less income than them to pay more tax

Eg Patrick Harvie
Lorna Slater
Maggie Chapman
Ross Greer