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.

PBS is fabtastic. Love it. Particularly like that women over 50 are allowed on PBS too, as they're banned in england. I listen to NY PBS radio here in england, as a relief from shouty Lord haw haw bbc.

Olennas I think Charles Moore belongs back in the late 70s early 80s where The Worm That Turned came from....

Sam Coates Times‏ @SamCoatesTimes
From today’s Times. Just going to leave this here

Amber Rudd has been deployed.

She is on the Sunday shows tomorrow.
Seems to happen every time May is performing badly and has a bunch of bad pr.

A grant-distributing model (which seems to be what PBS does) that is accountable to the people is the kind of thing that I had in mind as an alternative to a statutory licence fee that avoids some of the problems associated with the latter whilst not throwing out the baby with the bath water.

The poor would benefit from not having to pay a licence fee to watch live TV
from not having an aggressive bastard threaten and force their way in, looking for a TV that might be watched without a licence

Many who are skint resent having to pay for the bbc - seen as an elite mc boondoggle
They just want free TV, for free entertainment, because they can't afford much else.

If the BBC has to be publicly funded, then at least do so via income tax only.

That won't solve the problem of it being the state broadcaster, sucking up to its paymasters
but it would at least end the burden of the poor paying for stuff the mc want.

The PBS looks a good model, which seems to avoid being a govt suckup

Funny how often Boris' name turns up on that list. And Phillip Hammond. No wonder Amber Rudd has to sit between them at PMQs.

We need to get away from saying the poor should be forced to pay for something,
when the motivation is that otherwise they would watch more of what the mc disapprove of.

A major reason why some of the poorest voted for Brexit was because they were fed up with the mc ramming things down their throat that they don't consider to be of benefit to them.

I would have been astonished if Bojo's name wasn't on the list

afaik, the whole scandal was originally started by some Brexiters in the media & MPs trying to get rid of Fallon and others who they thought were trying for an EEA / EFTA type of Leave.

It got out of hand
Like launching a nuke - once one side does it, there are dozens of the buggers going off everywhere, poisoning swathes of the political landscape

They never realised that the hidden victims would start to speak out too
ruining all the political games

Wonder what May said about Leadsom in private?

I think the idea that Brexit was a vote for change is laughable tbh. If that's the case then why do we still have a conservative, austerity pushing government? The people that voted for Brexit were happy to maintain the status quo in government, by and large. May only lost her majority because she ran a disastrous campaign. [Bolshy]

It's possible that a different cohort came out to vote on the two separate occasions.

The result was pretty close in the referendum, and while the majority of Brexit voters might have voted Tory afterwards there may have been a significant group that stayed home on GE day after coming out to vote in the Referendum.

The election result represented far more support for Labour than anyone anticipated too.

And Labour has distanced itself from the champagne socialism of Blair - all in all I get a sense of people supporting a change.

Math I gather the anti-fascist movement has not started a violent insurrection today, which many of the alt-right were warning about

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/01/far-right-conspiracy-theory-us-civil-war

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/04/brexit-ministers-spy-russia-uk-brexit?CMP=share_btn_tw
Brexit, the ministers, the professor and the spy: how Russia pulls strings in UK
The charges filed against a Trump aide shocked the US – but also shed new light on the complex connections that link Russia to Brexit and the Foreign Office

Carole Cadwalladr

But what the document does not spell out – and what the Observer has learned – is that both Mifsud and Papadopoulos also had links into the heart of the British government.

We publish evidence today of several confirmed meetings between Mifsud and Alok Sharma, the MP for Reading West and a Foreign Office minister until June this year. It was this relationship between Mifsud and Sharma that put the “London professor” directly into the orbit of the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, two weeks ago – at a fundraising dinner attended by both Johnson and Mifsud, with Mifsud telling a colleague he was returning to London from Rome to “have dinner with Boris Johnson … re Brexit”.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that a third minister, Tobias Ellwood, met Papadopoulos at the UN general assembly in September 2016. Ellwood ignored multiple attempts by the Observer to contact him and has refused to comment on how the contact was made or what was discussed.

Three Foreign Office ministers approached in three different ways. Yet when asked last week if there was any evidence of Russian interference in British politics, Johnson said: “I haven’t seen a sausage.”

Is this the story that Tim Walker was tweeting about (splendid work by Carole Cadwalladr again)

Boris Johnsonamong three ministers targeted by people linked to FBI investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Moscow

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/04/bermuda-hack-tory-donor-billionaire-leave-campaigner-braced/
Bermuda hack: Tory donor and billionaire Leave campaigner braced for revelations over financial affairs

(About Robert Mercer and Lord Ashcroft).

lalalonglegs, I'm getting the impression there is A LOT in this week's Sundays.

Bermuda hack, also relevant.

And I've also seen this:

Neil Henderson‏*@hendopolis*
Do please join me for what I suspect may be a quite interesting #tomorrowspaperstoday

Observer front page about Fallon:

The dramatic circumstance of Sir Michael Fallon's sudden resignation as defence secretary last week can be revealed today by the Observer.

The cabinet heavyweight's shock departure on Wednesday followed a phone call from the journalist, Jane Merrick, who informed Downing Street that he hand lunged at her and attempted to kiss her on the lips in 2003 after they had lunched together.

Merrick has done a piece for the Observer about it, but she has actually tweeted earlier this week about an unnamed minister.

The article continues.

A friend of Fallon confirmed the incident took place. "Michael realises this kind of incident was unacceptable which is why he had to resign," they said.

Jane Merrick‏*@janemerrick23* (Oct 30)
I just want to respond to this piece, which mentions me:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5030061/This-harassment-hysteria-proportion.html
The author is, like Anne Robinson, of the school which feels women who are groped/lunged at etc should just give the man a slap.

The way any woman responds to harassment is up to her. It doesn’t make her any less strong if she shrinks away in fear/humiliation, as I did

Often she/you are taken off guard. THAT’S THE POINT. You go over in your head what you could’ve done. You might blame yourself, as I did, for having a drink with that man beforehand. Please don’t tell a woman how she should respond when there are often many factors at play.

In my case, I was much younger, newish in my job (for the Mail, as it happens!) and fearful of being blacklisted by all Tories if I spoke out. Yes, I was “traumatised” in the sense I felt belittled and humiliated.

That’s my experience, and it is my right to tell it.

I am not “only telling it now” - in fact I wrote about it a few years ago, and have done since.

I am talking about it now because I think it helps the debate about Westminster harassment. I am giving my experience. I want to help other women, who I know have experienced far worse than I have by different MPs, and hope that by talking about my experience this will give some the confidence to come forward. But that’s their choice. My incident was a long time ago and on less serious end of spectrum. I know that.

But it’s because it was a long time ago and not v serious that I feel able/happy to discuss it. Women in more serious/recent situations feel like they cannot. They do not lack courage. Far from it. I have been asked several times to name this MP. People want scalps. It is right that people are acccountable for their actions, but if I named him it would be easily dismissed as long ago/not serious. This story should not be about “Who’s the next scalp” but what is going to change? Are women going to feel confident if they complain?

Will the MPs involved change their behaviour? That’s what matters, even if that doesn’t make the splash the Mail really wants. So while I feel annoyed by this piece, it has been far outweighed by the many messages of support I’ve had over the last few days. Now other women in similar/worse situations need support. Thread ends.

attempted to kiss her on the lips
Don't believe that's the real one at all red. My money's on the 2014 DM story with the Russian blonde and the obvious intimations.

Boris was apparently conflicted between supporting Remain or Leave. So what changed his mind?

So what changed his mind Probably the same sort of thing that made Fallon resign.

Sunday Mail front cover:

Top Tory's Bathrobe Pass at a male Aide
Whip made unwanted advances to activist 'like a pound shop Weinstein

Tory whip Chris Pincher is said to have attempted to untuck the shirt of former Olympic rower and Conservative activist Alex Story after persuading him to come back to his London home.

Tim Shipman‏*@ShippersUnbound*
SUNDAY TIMES: Bob Quick of the Met wrote memo for Leveson inquiry detailing how his officers found porn on Damian Green's computer

Uh Oh.