Westministenders: A week in politics is a long time....

[RedToothBrush]

Lost track of politics in the last week or so?

Someone asked how do I keep on top of this? I’ve struggled this week there is so much going on.

Brexit seems to be on a bit of a back burner and we have become utterly swamped in mud and sleaze and corruption allegations

So here is a summary of the last week:

1. Government defeated over the impact reports due to an ancient parliamentary protocol. They must release papers to the public though this is likely to be heavily redacted.
2. Currently we are holding talks about talks with the EU. Instead of speeding up talks. They are annoyed at us for this.
3. Baroness Anelay, the minister responsible for getting the Repel Bill through the Lords, quit citing an injury caused by jumping out of a helicopter several years ago. She was the second person to quit this role. Lord Bridges quit saying it was impossible task.
4. Michael Gove has joined the Brexit Cabinet, which now has a majority of Leavers.
5. There is currently no one employed at the Brexit department for strategic planning.
6. Brexit Bill likely to face even more opposition in the face of Williamson’s self promotion. More Remainers who have been loyal to May talking of joining the Rebel Forces.
7. The has been a threat to rig the Lords to pass the Repel Bill according to Lord Adonis
8. Clegg, Adonis and Clarke went to see Barnier. Farage got jealous.
9. Talks for Stormont broke down. No direct rule but not home rule. Who is ruling is a mystery, but the same can be said in England at present. DUP are not getting their dosh.
10. FTA may not be possible on lines UK want as it would be better than Canada and South Korea and that’s not legally allowed. The real problem for the UK is services.
11. EHCR related issues – prisoner voting rights and letter to Romanian which brings into question whether the EHCR is deliberately being flouted.
12. Clause in the data protection bill which allows it to be ignored ‘cos immigration’.
13. The Electoral Commission are being sued for allowing over spending by Vote Leave
14. Arron Banks is being investigated by the Electoral Commission over how he donated to political causes
15. UKIP whistleblowers reported donations they thought were odd and not declared but only just has come to light
16. Arron Banks is winding up a charity under investigation by the Charities Commission
17. Arron Banks paid for Kate Hoey to go to Washington DC.
18. Lord Ashcroft apparently exposed by the Bermuda hack, like Robert Mercer
19. Steve Baker reported for taking money from the mysterious donor to the DUP
20. Priti Patel breaks ministerial code with an undisclosed trip to Israel with lobbyist. May says she has done nothing wrong, despite it being clear breech of the rules.
21. Michael Fallon quit over multiple incidents
22. Damien Green embroiled in accusation over Kate Maltby. Also having a fight with former counter terrorism copper who he has history with over ‘extreme porn’ found on his computer during a raid. Copper previously said he had been set up in the paper but dropped the accusation. Green is denying everything
23. Charlie Elphicke has had the whip removed and case has been referred to police. Says he has done nothing wrong and isn’t even aware of what he has been accused of.
24. Steven Crabb under investigation for sexting. Has apologised.
25. Michael Garnier under investigation for dildo buying. Has apologised
26. Daniel Kawcyznski allegedly tried to set up dates with aides and wealthy friends
27. Dan Poulter reported by fellow tory MP Andrew Bridgen for allegedly putting hands up skirts. Whips told in 2010.
28. Chris Pincher alleged pound shop Weinstein who attempted to untuck the shirt of former Olympic rower and tory activist Alex Story.
29. Gavin Barwell former whip and May’s special adviser. Broke special advisor code by tweeting politically controversial things. Is accused of being complicit in hiding the bodies and not taking action.
30. Gavin Williamson gave himself a promotion and pissed everyone off. As former whip knows all the dirt but is vulnerable as a result of that, as he didn’t report or discipline offenders.
31. ‘The Lift Lunger’ – as yet unnamed Tory MP said to have ‘attacked’ Labour MP in taxi. Date rape drugs possibly involved.
32. Boris Johnson, Alok Sharma and Tobias Ellwood all named as having contact with the mysterious Maltese professor named in the Papadopoulos indictment.
33. Farage makes anti-Semitic remarks on LBC. That’s Farage, a person of interest to the FBI.
34. Three indictments in USA for Trump Russia. Which implicate a whole load of people by association.
35. Some stuff is going on in Saudi Arabia which should have half an eye kept on it.
36. Jared O’Mara, Clive Lewis, Ivan Lewis and Kelvin Hopkins on the Labour Shit List. Also a rape allegation against a Labour activist which was shut down by a senior Labour figure

This week the Repel Bill and the Budget. Plus no doubt, lots more scandal.

Also democratic donor in the USA spending a fortune in advertising to try to get the democrats to
Impeach trump.

It’s all happening at the moment isn’t it! Thanks for the list Red.

Borderlex
@BorderlexEditor
EU Globalisation Adjustment Fund: France gets most help, Britain never asked for any
< >

And there's the crisis in Catalonia - Carles Puigdemont has handed himself into the Belgian police today, eight of his colleagues are already behind bars in Spain.

Thanks, as ever, for keeping on top of events RTB - and everyone else.

Wasn't the last sleaze scandal in 2007, just before the financial crash ?
I wondered then if noone in govt was paying attention to their day jobs until too late.

Brexit was in chaos even before this.
Now ..... ? < mind collapses under boggling overload >

I think at least Barnier & co are properly focused, as they have been all along
< hoping for a lifebelt to be thrown by a kindly hand >

The only people who should be able to "sack" an MP are their constituents - the people who put them there. Anything else is a direct attack on parliamentary democracy - not even a veiled one.

This is from the last thread. I don't agree. Many constituents vote by party in the GE so won't get rid of their MP even if they've been a total cockwomble, and we end up with a situation where MPs feel more answerable to their party, so they get into a safe seat, than their constituents.
They should be sacked triggering a by election imo.
Otherwise there is no incentive to change - these people spend a couple of years in the dog house then they are back (see Peter Mandelson, Keith Vaz, Liam Fox, Nadine Dorries, Boris Johnson etc).
It annoys me that an MP having the whip withdrawn doesn't trigger a bye election too.
This FPTP system is not accountable to the electorate properly and to pretend it is is disingenuous and ignore the evidence.

.

Gosh, it's tiring trying to keep up with everything!

Thanks again Red

Many thanks Red. I'm really not sure how to keep up. All news sources have a lot of distracting sugar sprinkled on them but I can't blame them for my sweet tooth. I feel like the Trump stuff is the most distraction of all, as it feels important and endlessly interesting but there is literally nothing that I can or should do about it.

Will try to stay UK focused for a week.

Thanks Red. I’m struggling to keep up.

tonite:
bsbi.org/wildflower-hour
Twitter flood of fantastic wildflower pictures from the weekend and

Carried over from the previous thread:
Theresa May drafts Michael Gove into Brexit war cabinet
Can anyone else see what it is yet ? Brexit will fail.

I hope it does, but what do you mean by Fail? Stay in the EU is what I want it to mean, but crashing out with no deal would be a Brexit failure on a grand scale also.

Anyone watching Panorama - LOTS about Lord Ashcroft. They are alleging that he is ignoring the Trust and if he is taking decisions without the sign off of Trustees he is abusing the system which would open him up to £10s of millions of pounds of tax.

Lord Ashcroft's true domicile is....

...... Belize....

And there's the crisis in Catalonia - Carles Puigdemont has handed himself into the Belgian police today, eight of his colleagues are already behind bars in Spain

I did have a mischievous "what if" moment when I heard that earlier, wondering ...

"What if he'd fled to Britain ?" Would there have been scenes of rabid Brexiteers lining up to protect him from the EU arrest warrant ? (In reality, not at all. Apart from the brave undergraduate Brexiteers whose plight the BBC highlighted last week, one characteristic that's unlikely to appear in the "Brexiteers are ...?" quiz answers is "brave").

woman I do like Bresistance
Have you got one of these ? I must see where I can order them for my cuppa !

I’ve just been watching Panorama. Gosh lord Ashcroft looked a tit! So now we have sex and money dodginess - with the conservatives particularly in the frame and while it isn’t s surprise, it’s another very long nail....

I have a badge bigchoc! Nice cup though!
I don't like union jacks, but we had them on the wee Remain stall, people like that and a local image on EU T shirts.

And Brenda and Phil:
@BBCBreaking
Huge new leak reveals how wealthy & powerful, including Queen's private estate, invest offshore bbc.in/2zz1UBV #ParadisePapers

• And Brenda and Phil: @BBCBreaking Huge new leak reveals how wealthy & powerful, including Queen's private estate, invest offshore <a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=bbc.in/2zz1UBV" target="_blank">http://bbc.in/2zz1UBV #ParadisePapers*

Trying to decide if the noise outside is fireworks or the crashing of the collective pennies dropping throughout the land...

I was the poster championing the constituency side of MPs election.

However:

This FPTP system is not accountable to the electorate properly and to pretend it is is disingenuous and ignore the evidence.

Totally agree. What's more, I suggest not only a "none of the above" option, but a requirement for a candidate to obtain 50% of the possible vote to be returned. And yes, it might mean some seats go empty. But it might shake things up a bit.

(Also the second chamber should be taken from the runners up in the election for the primary chamber. Less direct power, but ability to delay, refer, and suggest ... like the Lords at present).

(paywall) Andrew Bridgen: I’m doing what the whips wouldn’t

< well done, that man. Duty before party >

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/andrew-bridgen-im-doing-what-the-whips-wouldnt-sxhwfjh30

When you become an MP you don’t stop being a member of the human race.
We have all the failings and frailties of those we represent.

It is my belief that many of the claims made on the now notorious “spreadsheet of shame” are nothing more than examples of those frailties — but there are some claims that are much darker and warrant further investigation.
As MPs, we must all be equal with our electorate under the law.

It is for this reason, among others, that I have decided to call out the alleged inappropriate behaviour of my fellow Conservative MP Daniel Poulter.

I made a word-of-mouth complaint about him to the whips’ office in 2010, after complaints from three female MPs.

They said they were reluctant to go into the lift with him after he reportedly put his hand up their skirts.
I felt that was more appropriate than confronting Poulter about the allegations.
.....
While I appreciate that speaking out about an MP in my own party will not make me particularly popular and could damage my own career prospects,
I have chosen to do so in the hope that it will encourage others,
especially those who have been victims of sexual harassment,
to come forward.

It is very important that they do speak out.
Only by bringing these allegations into the public domain and having them properly investigated will those responsible for wrongdoing be stopped,
so they cannot cause harm to others or bring parliament into further disrepute.

Those of us who are told things must speak out, or else we become complicit in a conspiracy of silence.

I have now submitted my complaint about Poulter’s alleged behaviour to the party’s new regulatory body, set up to investigate alleged breaches of the code of conduct.

Hes my MP

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/05/damien-green-denies-pornographic-material-found-one-computers/

Damian Green’s political future is hanging in the balance
after Amber Rudd said claims that pornographic material was found on the First Secretary of State’s computer will be investigated.

Mr Green, the First Secretary of State, will meet with Sue Gray, the head of propriety and ethics at the Cabinet Office, tomorrow morning.
....
Pressure is already mounting on Mr Green after a second Tory MP – Heidi Allen – joined Anna Soubry in saying that the minister should stand aside while he is being investigated.

In an interview on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC 1, Ms Rudd refused to deny that Mr Green might have to resign
< she's not that daft >

Ms Rudd was asked by BBC presenter Andrew Marr
“are you quite close to a complete collapse – if he goes then it will seem that the whole centre of government has just imploded”.

Ms Rudd replied: “
Absolutely not – I think it is something that will take place in terms of clearing out Westminster
and I think Westminster afterwards including the government will be a better place for it.”

The Sunday Times reported that Mr Quick’s draft statement to the Leveson inquiry
< that'll be a sworn statement, subject to perjury rules ? >

states that material of “an extreme pornographic nature” was found on the files seized from Mr Green’s office.

It is understood that he intended to report the discovery of the material to the parliamentary authorities, but was forced to quit his job before the leaks inquiry was finished.

In his draft statement, Mr Quick said:
“No criminal offences were involved, but it was recognised that if similar circumstances pertained to a public servant,
such as a member of a police force, this could result in gross misconduct proceedings and dismissal.”

< I'm curious as to what porn would be legal, but grounds to dismiss a cop.
Gross humiliation of the women ? Suggestions, anyone ? >

MrsR - you mean Bridgen is your MP ?

NYT article on young tories rebelling against the party.

“We’ve had enough of this generation,” one furious young Conservative member of Parliament told me. “They’re frankly embarrassing. What have they ever given us? Brexit, austerity, Theresa May, the threat of Boris Johnson, and now sex and sleaze. Last week, the mood of my generation changed from quietly planning for the future to ‘This can’t go on.’ ”

www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/opinion/fallon-brexit-sex-scandal.html?smid=tw-share

NYT seems to have joined the Remain campaign.

I would've though if a public sector worker (or any worker really) was found to have used a work computer to view porn in the office, then it would be gross misconduct. If it was porn involving depictions of rape, then i would hope the police would take an extremely dim view of one of their officers watching it. Totally speculating though.