Westministenders: The Return of Parliamentary Sleaze?

[RedToothBrush]

Brexit is quietly going round and round in ever decreasing circles.

The story is that the European parliament will not agree to a transition period beyond 1st January 2020.

The third minister responsible for getting the Repel Bill through the Lords has quit. There are now nearly 400 amendments. It is scheduled for 6 days parliamentary time in the Commons from this coming week. With another 2 possible the following week. Rather bravely AFTER the budget. Bored with May, CVs are being submitted for the position of Chancellor.

Interest Rates are looking likely to rise next week too with the message being 'this is as good as it gets'.

Another team of MPs has gone to the EU to see if they can check up on May and her team. This is unlikely to work as Nicola Sturgeon came across a brick wall.

And then there are the many many distractions from it all.

Catalonia has declared independence, which will consume EU time and energy.

There are rumours that the first prosecution in Trump Russia will be Monday (Guess who is currently in the US. Yep, the gurning one). And there are increasing muttering about Russia over here, with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg being called to respond to a Select Committee investigation into Fake News.

And then there's the sleaze. Jared O'Mara seems to be the first in the queue. There are rumours more will be outed in several parties. Suggestions include May's right hand man Damien Green who was previously named in 2008. And the Tory Whips have a 'sleaze list' which suggests they know whats going on, but have done nothing.

This morning we have Gove making ill advised jokes about Weinstein in this political climate. With Neil Kinnock laughing heartily in response.

Anything that happens will be political to discredit opponents not because there is a change of attitude towards the treatment of women. We know this, because of who is leading the charge on this. The skeletons are being dusted off out the cupboard rather than exposed for the first time in dramatic fashion.

Things, could take a very unexpected turn against this background.

Don't bet against it.

Do you think a Justice Minister can approve his own injunction ? Just asking.

Well I think the only conclusion we can come to, is that they have probably managed to discredit every allegation that has merit in one fell swoop. No one will take the list seriously. Nothing will be done. No action will be taken.

Sucks for those who have been harassed.

But none of this helps to give the MPs in question any gravitas does it? Even with more tolerant standards than say 40 years ago, which would have probably led to immediate resignations, it makes some of them look ridiculous.

It makes them look grossly unprofessional

This is what fed a lot of the UKIP vote. Because 'everyone knows' that they are corrupt and have no morals or professionalism.

It does not bode well for the future.

Its one thing to talk about what you have done BEFORE being elected, and its another AFTER you were elected and what standards you think are appropriate.

Who remembers that Jared O'Mara fella?

I'm not seeing the list on social media...can someone post it?

The Sun is saying that after the initial dossier was circulated, five additional MPs have been added, including one from the 2017 intake

A woman who fornicated with males

fornicated

Who wrote this list ? Jacob Rees Mogg ? Certainly seems to have the language and the attitude of the Minister for the 18th century.

Don't want to post the list, but #TorySleaze36 on Twitter looks interesting.

See I don't care if someone has an affair as long as they're not lecturing the rest of the country on fidelity. I do care if they are sexually harassing people or coercing women into having abortions. I also care that they are putting themselves at risk of blackmail and coercion when they are meant to be making decisions on what is best for the country, not trying to keep themselves out of the paper or in a job.

"Fornicated" has a touch of the Ian Paisleys about it, doesn't it? I don't suppose this is revenge for the £1 billion it looks as if the DUP aren't going to get .

Thanks to whoever posted that BJ/Guppy link. I'd half forgotten about that episode, it is truly astonishing that he was ever considered fit to stand for MP much less Foreign Secretary.

I wonder how long it took for Theresa May to believe this story, compared to Macmillans refusal to believe anything bad about Profumo, ? Profumo had personally assured Macmillan the stories were lies, and ... well, after all, chaps don't lie to other chaps.

Speaking for myself, I was believing the stories before there was any proof. Which says as much about UK politics 2017, as it does my filthy cesspool of a mind.

I know Lurking, they may as well have just written SINNER.

OK, found the list.

No fall-of-the-chair surprises

Ridiculously puritan descriptions in some cases

Meanwhile, a Labour party member has come forward to say that when she reported being raped at a party event, she was encouraged to forget about it as "no good" would come of pursuing a complaint

See I don't care if someone has an affair as long as they're not lecturing the rest of the country on fidelity.

Ditto

I do care if they are sexually harassing people or coercing women into having abortions.

Both criminal acts

I also care that they are putting themselves at risk of blackmail and coercion when they are meant to be making decisions on what is best for the country, not trying to keep themselves out of the paper or in a job.

We return to the spectre of foreign involvement in Brexit. I refer readers to the architects of the Profumo scandal in the 1960s.

It's almost like the dial on our Brexit-powered time machine has reached 1962 ? Cuban North Korean missile crisis. British sex scandal (apologies to Billy Joel )

I now think England has gone completely and utterly bonkers. If it were a person it would be sectioned by now.

I can't find that twitter account

I've long thought brexit is basically the UK having a nervous breakdown

More like a mid life crisis

The tone of it is something else.

Q: Do you think the three women mentioned are treated equally to the men on the list?

Faisal Islam‏*@faisalislam*

Chief exec of one of Britain’s biggest banks was spotted meeting shadow Chancellor John Mcdonnell today...

mrsreynolds - Google #torysleaze36 rather than looking for a specific account

Red - no, not at all. But plus ca change, eh

I wonder whether the Tory HQers who decided it was a good idea to compile this dossier have been given their P45s

rufus yes!!

Esther Webber‏ @estwebber
David Davis says whatever happens "we will have a basic deal - I think of it as a deal without the bits we want"
Davis: Even if we didn't get a full deal some areas eg security both our interests are so great we would get some kind of fundamental deal

Ian Dunt‏*@IanDunt*
DD ruling out no-deal again, while pretending he isn't.
And again, same conclusion applies: If we can't walk away from table and they can, the dynamics of negotiation are against us.

mrsreynolds if you type that hashtag in the search on Twitter it should come up with all the posts where that hashtag has been included. Scroll down them until you find a post which includes the list. Sorry if I am explaining what you already know.

Agree with others on here there is a huge difference between consenting adults having an affair and a person using their power to sexually harrass others.

I think at the very least all of them on the list have lost some of the authority they thought they had. Or are they arrogant enough to brazen it out, I would have though some must be mortified.

I wonder whether the Tory HQers who decided it was a good idea to compile this dossier have been given their P45s

The problem is without a list like this, they risk being blindsided. Which in todays "instant comment around the world" environment isn't a great look.

Remember the entire Watergate pullover - which deposed a President fgs - was unravelled after a security guard noticed a door had been "left" ajar.