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.

Data protection laws going through Parliament this week propose to exempt individuals' data privacy rights for the 'maintenance of effective immigration control' or 'the investigation or detection of activities that would interfere with effective immigration control'. What is meant by 'effective immigration control' and 'interference' are undefined and therefore open ended

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/diane-abbott/migrants-rights_b_18429082.html?1509466763

Diane Abbott

At last year's Midnight Mass at a well known English cathedral the person who was holding the service (vicar? bishop? don't remember ) talked about the unexpected and worrying turn the country had taken during that year (the year of the referendum). It sounded to me like he was annoyed about Brexit.

LH Some CCGs obviously feel they have nothing left to lose by taking on big pharma:

Drug giants threaten NHS with legal action over cheaper drug that could save £84m a year
www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/01/drug-giants-threaten-nhs-with-legal-action-over-cheaper-drug-that-could-save-84m-a-year?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Our CofE church is very liberal. Women and gay vicars are completely accepted. Majority must have voted remain.

Evangelical church next door is totally homophobic and women are expected to know their place. Hard to believe.

Brexit impact assessment report from the European Parliament
www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2017/595374/IPOL_STU(2017)595374_EN.pdf

Labour still pushing for Brexit impact papers here.

@Channel4News
Instead of stating their body measurements, contestants in this beauty pageant listed statistics about violence against women in Peru.

Be nice if baking programmes did the same here?
Or religious organisations committed to egality?
Or both?

Jim Pickard‏*@PickardJE*
Electoral Commission has opened investigation into "Better for the Country Limited (BFTCL) and/or Mr Arron Banks" re EU referendum donations

Arron Banks‏*@Arron*_banks
Gosh I'm terrified

www.independent.co.uk/voices/bex-bailey-rape-labour-party-sexual-harassment-westminster-truly-believes-in-values-a8030971.html
If men in the Labour Party truly believe in its values, they’ll support female members like Bex Bailey

This wasn’t just a one-off incident: that much is clear. A friend told me recently that she’d been groped by a male MP as he greeted her at Labour conference this year

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/11/how-party-loyalty-used-silence-victims-sexual-harassment-parliament
How party loyalty is used to silence victims of sexual harassment in parliament
Those who want to report abuse and bullying are often warned that it will damage "our side".

Its not just sexual harassment. Its also whistleblowing about corruption. (sigh)

It not just a woman v man thing. Its often a young v old thing too, because its about concentrations of power.

www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2017/11/01/this-isn-t-a-witch-hunt-it-s-a-rebalancing-of-power-between
This isn't a witch hunt - it's a rebalancing of power between men and women

Faisal Islam‏*@faisalislam*

Brokenshire announces that Westminster legislation will be introduced to make legal a NI Budget, after talks failing to proceed...
.. he says it is not direct rule
From his description of the legislation it does not seem that the DUP £1 billion deal won’t be included in this Budget Bill - but clarifying

Peter Geoghegan‏*@PeterKGeoghegan*
Electoral Commission has announced it is investigating whether "Arron Banks breached campaign finance rules in relation to donations at the 2016 EU referendum.' (1/x)
Investigation says will focus on Better for the Country Limited and Banks, asking following questions: 1. Whether or not Better for the Country Limited was the true source of donations made to referendum campaigners in its name, or if it was acting as an agent.

1. Whether the recipients of its donations were given the information required by PPERA in respect of the donor.
2. What steps the recipients took to verify the identity and permissibility of Better for the Country Limited as a donor.
3. Whether or not Mr Banks was the true source of loans reported by a referendum campaigner in his name.
4. Whether those individuals and entities involved in that arrangement acted in accordance with PPERA.
5. Whether any individual facilitated a transaction with a non-qualifying person.

So who/what are Better for the Country Limited? Well, Banks is a director, and was incorporated on 27 May 2015 and is registered at Companies House. BFTCL was not registered as a permitted participant in the EU referendum. But five registered campaigners reported donations from BFTCL during the referendum campaign period. These donations total £2,359,842.76 9 officers have been associated w/BTFCL, mostly well connected to Banks companies beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09609018/officers Andy Wigmore, Banks, Elizabeth Bilney and Alison Marshall all officer holders at BFTCL and also trustees of Banks' charity, which has just wound up after a regulator probe Here's all the donations made by BFTCL here Dozens of donations to Ukip, Veterans for Leave etc. Big q now - where did that £2.3m come from? There is already a separate investigation from Elec Comm into LEave.EU, which Banks' funded, but key q in this one is - Whether or not Better for the Country Limited was the true source of donations made to referendum campaigners in its name, or if it was acting as an agent? If it was an agent, who was it an agent for? Who gave an astro turf group £2.3m? And why didn't they declare it publicly? These are huge integrity questions about the most important democratic moment in recent British history. They need to be answered, and politicians need to ask them more This isn't about Remoaning or not believing in Brexit, this is about fundamental qs about who is pumping dark money into our democracy. I've been asking these qs for months. More need to now

[rtb: needs more than the EC to look at, but this is a start]

Personally I do think that the EC lack the powers to look at this to the depth that may be required. Who has the ability to look at potential cases of money being moved in this way?

btw look at who Better for the Country Ltd donated to:
UKIP, Trade Unionists Against The European Union, Veterans for Britain, WAGTV Ltd and Grassroots Out Ltd

Just had my regular eye check, and the head consultant chose to see me this time (usually it's a member of the team). Apparently the medicine he'd like to prescribe is no longer manufactured for the UK market as - his words "there's not enough money in it anymore; they're making more money selling it abroad." ... then "I can't say why that is though. There must be some reason."

(He was impressed I had contacted the manufacturer, but very dismissive of the role of the MHRA ... as he pointed out, it had failed to source alternatives which is one of it's raisons d'etre. )

Expect a lot more of this, as those multi-year budgets are being signed off.

We parted with his warning me not to try and source the medicine outside the UK, as that's a scamsters market. Apparently some of his other patients have tried already.

We'll see in a few months if the substitute is working as effectively.

Con MP on Daily Politics lied about the EU not publishing Brexit Impact Assessment papers. She said in reply to gov't not publishing the 58 papers that the EU don't publish theirs either. They do.

www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2017/595374/IPOL_STU(2017)595374_EN.pdf

The bar seems to be very low at the mo. Bit of barney about had she read the impact assessment papers as she had energy in her title. Said she didn't have it in her title . Her title was Climate Change and Industry. Begging the question about why she hadn't read them as energy might have some effect on both those. Neil said he would see if he could get access to them for her. She retorted she could read them without any help. So she just couldn't be arsed then.

Claire Perry is the Con MP on DP.

Interesting little exploration on Irish situation, below. GFA obligations in mix, too.

www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2017/09/24/is-no-deal-better-than-a-bad-deal-irish-edition/

Another Con MP who just lied on TV, that is.

Nothing like this ever happens in the EU parliament

Perry is in a BBC studio, not the EP. Domestic politician lying to her domestic audience.

As for the EP. I'm sure UKIP's grouping are keen on the odd porker. Otherwise why are being investigated for corruption; UKIP as well. And I think they found some other serious stuff on their computers, too. Not sure if the Kippers were involved in that.

Laura Kuenssberg‏***@bbclaurak*

Corbyn going on leak of papers from Bermuda that suggest tax avoidance loopholes involving Isle of Mann

I could learn more about this by watching a documentary on tv. Oh wait I did. Over a year ago.

Laura Kuenssberg‏ @bbclaurak
Lisa Nandy says she raised allegations of harassment and how whips used them with May on 3 separate occasions

Kate Langston‏*@Kate*_Langston

Nandy appeals to PM 'for the fourth time' to take concrete action to address this #PMQs

Steve Henderson‏*@scoutsteve1*

PM wants people to have confidence to come forward. She was approached 3 times and nothing happened. Why would they have confidence now?

Laura Kuenssberg‏***@bbclaurak*
This is what Lisa Nandy referring to

Lisa Nandy‏ @lisanandy
3 yrs ago, I asked Theresa May to act on evidence that Whips had covered up sexual misconduct. Today at #PMQs I asked her again to act.

Yes, Nandy floored her. She didn't address the fact that Whips were the problem. What good is it going to the Whip's office if they are part of the problem?

And quicker than you can say 'Rochdale' political correctness doesn't seem to be the only obstacle to stopping sexual abuse and harassment

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/westminster-sexual-assault-allegations-harassment-latest-updates-tory-aide-drink-spike-commons-bar-a8031311.html
More Westminister sexual assault allegations emerge as Tory aide says her drink was spiked with a 'date rape drug' in Commons bar

Damien McCabe.‏@_DamienMcCabe
@Anna_Soubry why should @DamianGreen stand aside? Innocent until proven guilty in the UK. I’m sure he’ll prove his innocence.

Anna Soubry MP‏**@Anna**_Soubry

Because that is the procedure in any other organisation or business. Of course innocent until proved otherwise. I’m an ex criminal barrister

@TomLondon6
Party whips do not report serious criminal allegations to police but use them to control their MPs
They think this is OK?
MSM r OK with it?

Party whips do not report serious criminal allegations to police

Yet us poor plebs are required by law to report suspicions of terrorism, or risk jail.

I'm pretty certain that in certain circumstances, it is an offence to fail to report a criminal offence.

The phrase "accessory after the fact" (although US based) rings a bell.

Let's see if the full power of RIPA is rained down upon the whips, to get a shufty at anything they are hiding.

(if only they had put their bins out on the wrong day ...)