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.

I heard that story about the drop in EU nurses on the radio today, Red. When I went online to read about it in more detail, at that point all the top links were from June this year with a similar story

Not exactly surprising, though it would be useful to have some inkling of what the Dept of Health has done since then to make up the shortfall

Robert Peston

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Shortly after the general election that cost Theresa May her parliamentary majority, I wrote and broadcast that Gavin Williamson had become the most powerful man in government - because the PM needed his skills to get Brexit and any kind of legislative programme through a truculent parliament
.
Today he became even more powerful - as defence secretary, and with his deputy now his successor as chief whip. He occupies a hugely and strategically important ministerial post. And it is believed - rightly or wrongly - that the Whip's Office will remain under his sway
.
^His cabinet colleagues and backbench MPs view him, with a mixture of resentment and awe, as far and away the most influential member of the government - on whom Theresa May will rely more than any other.
In his short parliamentary career (he has been an MP since 2010) he has never spoken at the despatch box as a minister. So his astonishingly rapid rise has caused enormous anger and resentment among MPs and junior ministers^
.
This was the reaction to his appointment of one formerly loyal MP: "she had a golden opportunity to do the right thing and appoint the right people to the right jobs. She’s just blown it and exposed herself as weaker than any of us thought. She’s being controlled by young men in suits. I now despair
”.
^What for many MPs would have been the "right" appointment would have been to replace Williamson as chief whip with Anne Milton - who seems to be liked and respected by almost every woman Tory MP.
That appointment would - they say - have shown that May was now set, beyond any shadow of doubt, on changing the boys' culture in her party .
So not a good day for May. Any silver lining^?

Well one minister told me: "There's no appetite to replace her, because that way lies chaos. We prefer a powerless PM to self-destruction".

We should protect unaccompanied child refugees, not abandon them.

The Dubs Amendment, tabled by former child refugee Lord Alf Dubs, was passed in April 2016 with the intention of bringing vulnerable unaccompanied children in Europe to safety in the UK. The Government identified, assessed and transferred 200 children under the scheme during the demolition of the Calais ‘Jungle’ last year. But since then, progress has come to a complete standstill.

act.helprefugees.org/help-refugees/dubsnow/dubsnow/

Very funny and apposite piece by John Crace in today's Grauniad regarding withheld sectoral analyses on Brexit impact. Can't link- or rather have not worked out how to from iPad.

Of course all this partly-manufactured sleaze furore, well timed with Goldstein and in parts no doubt undeniably valid- has distracted from Brexit - meantime the disaster continues to unfold. Very clever. And yes Williamson is a remanier, I know that...

Labour brexiter kicked out the party.
@bbclaurak

Kelvin Hopkins, Labour MP , chucked out of the party after allegations of bad behaviour

That name rings a bell woman - off to google

"chucked out" is a bit strong: KH has been suspended and had the Labour whip withdrawn pending an investigation.

KH is ex-army, MP for Luton North for 20 years.

Sorry, no, he's not ex army. He's a trade unionist through and through

Laura Kuenssberg‏*@bbclaurak*

It seems Hopkins was promoted to Shadow Cabinet AFTER being reprimanded for inappropriate behaviour - no comment from him tonight yet

What does withdrawing the whip actually mean/entail?

steve hawkes‏ @steve_hawkes
Telegraph reveals Labour leader's office was told about Kelvin Hopkins allegations a year ago - one year ago

withdrawing the whip means expelling from the parliamentary party,
i.e. the MP becomes an independent MP, without call on the resources of the party, but also without the requirement to toe their line.

Withdrawing the whip can be temporary or permanent

If it lasts until a GE, then the the situation is serious:
the MP would have to organise reelection themselves, without any party machine (unless they join another party) and would usually face an official candidate of their party, as well as their usual opponents.

MPs may also resign the whip if they disagree with their own party on important issues,
e.g. the late Robin Cook and Clare Short resigned the Labour whip because they wee opposed to British participation on the Iraq War

Thanks BigChoc!

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-davis-british-eu-citizenship-keep-post-brexit-leave-european-union-plans-proposals-a8033686.html
David Davis says he will consider plans for Brits to keep opt-in EU citizenship after Brexit
Brexit Secretary says he has spoken to the European Parliament's Brexit chief about the idea

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/westminster-sex-bad-news_uk_59fb80b7e4b0b0c7fa390bad?ncid=tweetlnkukhpmg00000001
3 Bits Of Bad News Ministers Buried During The Westminster Sex Pest Scandal
On any other day, this would on the front page.

1, Thousands Of Foreign Criminals Are On The Run
2, A National Insurance Tax Hike For The Self-Employed
3, Ministers Have Been Forced To Backtrack On PIP Payments

"LEWD SEX TALK Sir Michael Fallon forced to resign his position after Andrea Leadsom accused him of inappropriate sexual comments
Former Defence Secretary allegedly told the Commons Leader, who was complaining about cold hands, 'I know where you can put them to warm them up'"

Won't link but it's in the S*n.

That's grim, but surely there is more than a knee grab and a dirty comment that fuelled MF's resignation?

Got to be, surely?

Tom Newton Dunn @ tnewtondunn
So why did Leadsom force Fallon’s resignation? His ally’s view: “Nobody’s going to sack a whistleblower are they?”

In other ways to be dismissive of women

Christopher Hope @ Christopherhope
EXC Damian Green's friends try to save his career by claiming woman 'may have mistaken his hand for a table cloth'
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/02/damian-greens-friends-try-save-career-claiming-woman-may-have/amp/
Damian Green's friends try to save his career by claiming woman 'may have mistaken his hand for a table cloth'

Sam Coates Times @ samcoatestimes
The Stephen Crabb case is important. In any other field of employment it would be a firing offence. He has admitted it. But no action so far

But the seat is a marginal so he can do anything.

Also May wanted another story about Fallon to stop it looking like Williamson advised her there was more to come. Yet she had already let him resign rather than be fired so the deal is for something not too embarrassing.

Hand / table cloth - easy to confuse them

(paywall) Lisa Nandy MP and warnings ignored by May

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/tory-whips-used-files-on-scandals-with-small-boys-to-demand-loyalty-jwgxrs5gk

Three years ago I asked Theresa May to act on evidence that Tory whips had used information about serious sexual abuse, including scandals “with small boys”, to demand loyalty from their MPs.

The claims were made by a former Tory whip, Tim Fortescue, in a BBC documentary and backed up by the former home secretary Willie Whitelaw
who said the whips held “little black books” where this information was recorded.

I asked Mrs May to ensure this was investigated as part of the inquiry she had just established, as home secretary, into child sexual abuse.
I warned her that sexual abuse thrives in an environment where secrecy is the norm and an imbalance of power exists.

I asked her to consider the very real possibility that these practices could persist in the present day, and to ensure that all documents still held by the whips were made available to the child abuse inquiry.

Over the coming weeks I followed this up again in the House of Commons and later in a letter asking Mrs May to act.
She never did.

I was not alone in raising these concerns with her.
The Tory MP Peter Bone echoed my concerns in the House of Commons,
while the Tory MP Mark Reckless expressed fears that many of the files may have been shredded and urged Mrs May and David Cameron to ensure any remaining documents were retrieved.

1 in 10 of the E27 nurses left UK jobs last year, a rise of 67%

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/staffing-alarm-as-tenth-of-eu-nurses-leave-3gq9qsnj6