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.

www.pureemploymentlaw.co.uk/showing-very-poor-judgement-misuse-of-employers-it-equipment/

@JasminMuj

Serving Serbian govt minister also implicated in #ParadisePapers. Going after illicit funds/money laundering by elites key to Balkan reform.

This is something worth keeping an eye on. There are links in place between far right and some Serbs, this guy is good to follow.

This series very good on background to the war there.
It's very interesting to spot similarities with Brexit, separatism, nationalism etc.

.

More on the Paradise Papers (The Bermuda Papers)

www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/paradise-papers-leak-reveals-secrets-of-world-elites-hidden-wealth?CMP=twt_gu
Paradise Papers leak reveals secrets of world elite's hidden wealth

The material, which has come from two offshore service providers and the company registries of 19 tax havens, was obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with partners including the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times.

Most relevant to this thread at the moment is probably the stuff relating to Lord Ashcroft. There is a separate story here:
www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/lord-ashcroft-offshore-trust-wealth-tory-peer-paradise-papers
Lord Ashcroft used offshore trust to shelter wealth while Tory peer
Brexiter caught up in 2010 row over ‘non-dom’ status has trust in Bermuda, putting Theresa May in awkward position

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICJI) also have a website for the papers with further details:

www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/

AB is my MP too, and I don't trust him as far as I could throw him. Ultra extreme Brexiteer. Never known him champion women's rights before, there will be a reason why he's speaking out.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41879422
Papers: Lord Ashcroft stayed non-dom despite pledges

Lord Ashcroft remained a non-dom, and continued to avoid tax despite attempts by Parliament to make peers pay their full share, leaked documents reveal.

The peer was domiciled for tax purposes in Belize at a time when it was widely believed he had given up the status, the Paradise Papers show.

and

The tax was never paid because Lord Ashcroft, who was once Belize's ambassador to the United Nations and maintains links to the central American country, persuaded officials that he should be allowed to become a long term resident of the UK rather than a permanent one. A distinction that allowed him to retain his non-dom status.

They could make a simple rule that all MPs and Lords have to be domiciled in the UK.

Jo Maugham QC‏ @JolyonMaugham
THREAD on the Paradise Papers. /1
This week you will hear it said that there are 'good' reasons why people might put money into tax havens. /2
What are those reasons? I can only think of four - and they often or usually apply in combination. /3
For secrecy: to put assets where (usually) states or (less frequently) private parties can't see them. /4
For tax: to improve your tax position. Either lawfully or unlawfully. /5
For regulatory avoidance: to dodge laws other than tax laws which would otherwise apply. /6
For asset protection: to put money where those you owe it to can't reach it. /7
Unpacking the reality of which applies is usually (for journalists) complex or impossible. /8
It's very hard to reverse engineer from a picture of part of someone's affairs their reason for doing it. /9
This means you won't see journalists firmly pointing the finger at wrongdoers. In practical terms they can't. /10
But my basic point is, none of those reasons are laudable. They're generally all 'bad', the real question is 'how' bad. /11
You will hear it said in response that the behaviour in question is 'lawful'. /12
The truth is, journalists have no way of knowing if this is so. They don't have sufficient visibility of what the individual has done. /13
So the fact journalists report without demur that an individual says something is lawful doesn't mean it is actually lawful. /14
But the key point is, it's not enough to say something is 'lawful'. That's an answer to the wrong question. /15
If you're accused of doing something morally wrong, it's no response to say the law permits it. /16
The present allegations of sexual misconduct concern behaviour that is 'lawful'. But that's not a sufficient answer to the allegations. /17
Behaviour can be lawful and still wrong. That statement is as true of financial affairs as any other type of affair. /18
So what should you do if your name appears in the Paradise Papers and you want a clean bill of moral health? /19
You should work with journalists to help them understand your reasons for doing what you did./20
If you're not prepared to do that you'll need to swallow the moral criticisms that come your way. /ENDS

twitter.com/StevePeers/status/927230939633201152
Two linked threads on Legatum, how they are wrong and how they have conflicts of interest that should bother us greatly.

"shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with partners including the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times."

I wonder if the BBC will have the bottle to pursue this investigation
as all the "quality" UK media should be doing.

Will they even cover it properly in the news, or bury it ?

Peregrina - I can't how that would work with the Lords, especially those who inherit the titles

BigChoc - far right stuff is legal but not allowed in the police force. Could be racist, so again in breach of the policing code of ethics but not illegal. There's also a catch all in the code about not bringing policing into disrepute, which might be the case here.

Re domicile - this is where the person has their permanent home or connection with it. Doing some research, I find that Lords are not allowed to be non-domiciled under a law introduced in 2010. So it obviously wasn't thought to be a barrier to those who inherit titles. As for Ashcroft - well, where is his permanent home? It sounds as though he's just another greedy so and so. I get tired of the wealthy whining about not doing anything illegal when they shelter their money in tax havens. Where did these laws come from? Were they handed down on tablets of stone to Moses? No, they made them so that they could continue to line their pockets.

Ah, "bringing policing into disrepute"
You're right, that could cover a multitude of sins - legal sins though
"extreme porn" that is legal excludes child abuse, of course, but could be violent rape, extreme humiliation , even murder (non-snuff) of adult women

I feel like I'm talking to myself :(
Just because porn is legal doesn't mean it's allowed at work

I'd ban pornography, bigchoc. It is slavery. I can't find much that the great Andrea Dworkin said about it that I can disagree with.

Did you see the coarse response from Andy Wigmore to Maugham's thread?

He and Banks appear to be having a jolly good chortle at the chaos they've produced. Which may be the point.

Thread:
@JasminMuj
My point: we are consumed by the day-to-day drama of Trump & Brexit. But the broader dynamic viz. RUS adventurism is still worse. /x

I’m worried both the Kremlin and Western analysts think themselves far too clever. RUS is lighting brushfires, we should fear an inferno.

And soon, forces are unleashed which even the architects (RUS) cannot truly control, predict, or direct. The spoilers become crises.

They all intersect and affect each other and even if each was intended as mere needling by RUS, compound effect is entirely more chaotic.

RUS assists Brexit, helps elect Trump, encourages low-level violence & authoritarianism in SEE. These are not isolated events.

I get why some analysts believe Russia’s activities in US, EU, the Balkans only “spoiler effect.” My problem is w unintended consequences.

Eurosluggard@eurosluggard
“MPs warn of ‘Soviet-style campaign’ to weaken Brexit resolve in UK. Tories allege EU trying to manipulate public opinion with false claims”

Place marking

Place marking

I'm not sure the eu need do anything, surely silence whilst the Tory shit show is going is enough

Al Arabiya English @ Alarabiya_english
#BREAKING: #Saudi Prince Mansour bin Muqrin dies in helicopter crash

Yeah ok. If you say so. There were right very wealthy and influential Saudis on the plane. All dead.

Andrew Beatty @ andrewbeatty
In the last 48 hours - Lebanese PM flees to Saudi, ballistic missile ‘shot down’ near Riyadh, princes arrested, more princes in air crash.

Among those detained was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, whose investments in Citigroup, Twitter and other firms make him the most recognizable Saudi on Wall Street

Not sure if it's him but one of those arrested apparently a big Clinton donor.

Eight Saudis not right Saudis.

Btw did everyone hear the one about the fire at the cladding factory for the firm who supplied Grenfell?

The situation in Saudi Arabia seems extraordinary.

Among those detained was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal

Prince Al-Waleed was an early advocate of women’s employment in Saudi Arabia – hiring a female pilot for his jets, at a time when there was no prospect of women driving on the ground, and speaking out against the driving ban before the regime agreed this year to lift it.

On Twitter in 2015 he called Donald Trump a “disgrace to America” after the Republican candidate floated the idea of a ban on Muslims, and he urged Trump to quit the campaign

www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/05/alwaleed-bin-talal-billionaire-saudi-prince-at-centre-of-corruption-purge