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.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-41896756
PM plans new ministerial code after Priti Patel apology

The BBC understands Ms Patel suggested some of Britain's aid budget go to the Israeli army, after the visit.

She asked her officials to see if Britain could support humanitarian operations conducted by the Israeli army in the occupied Golan Heights area.

The BBC understands the Foreign Office advised that since Britain did not officially recognise Israel's annexation of the area, it would be hard for the Department for International Development to work there.

Wtf.

Downing Street said the ministerial code was "not explicit" and Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heyward had been asked to see if it could be made clearer.

Political translation: This is the excuse I'm giving for doing fuck all about a serious and obvious breach but I'll say I'm changing it so I don't look completely like I'm doing fuck all except that's exactly what I'm doing.

My suspicion about the media emphasis on the legality of these affairs is to avoid the possibility of the wealthy individuals and companies named taking legal action against them. It’s not just the bbc doing this.

It would help a lot of we had any journalists with numeracy skills that are more developed than that of a typical 8-year old. It takes about two minutes of googling to ascertain that one of the companies under the spotlight would have contributed an estimated £400m in one year to the exchequer if they had excercised the equally legal arrangement of declaring their U.K. derived profits in the U.K. This would fund around 1 in 4 secondary school places in England. Makes you wonder if our schools need to be under quite so much pressure.

The argument that is sometimes made by some companies is that they would leave the country with a more oppressive tax regime. I think given the choice between keeping 80% of the profit and none of the profit, most companies would plump for the former, so this threat rings hollow to me. Again, this is simply reported without challenge.

Governments of all colours won’t do anything about this while they remain in the pocket of wealthy donors and big business.

(I’m all for Corporation Tax Relief for small businesses, by the way)

Jim Waterson @ Jim Waterson
1) Erp, British aid money to the Golan Heights.
2) Who at the foreign office is briefing this out to get rid of Priti Patel?

To be fair probably the entire department given the suggestion by Patel.

Jessica Elgot @ JessicaEglot
Fox on Johnson's error which may lead to a woman spending years longer in prison: "We all make slips of the tongue."

So it's also a slip of the tongue that he has not managed to issue a proper retraction after the initial slip of the tongue?

Norman Smith @ BBCnormans
"We must be careful not to be over-reacting" says Liam Fox re Boris Johnson error over Zaghari-Ratcliffe. @BBCr4today

!!!!!!!

www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/politico-london-playbook-cabinet-in-crisis-dd-in-rome-talking-trade/?utm_content=buffer28a20&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
POLITICO London Playbook: Cabinet in crisis — DD in Rome — Talking trade

Politico on the sheer awfulness of the entire cabinet.

The Priti Patel affair must be a nadir. It was interesting to hear on the R4 news just now that the revised code of conduct will clarify the behaviour expected of ministers on official visits.

Except Patel has said it was a "holiday" - so presumably still not covered by any "clarification".

In the same way the one person that the (now) DBS scheme would not have caught was Ian Huntley.

The whole paradise episode demonstrates the paucity of imagination at the top of politics. The word moribund seems appropriate. Along with the old adage about if the only tool you have is a hammer every problem looks like a nail.

Maybe the time has come to devise new ways of taxing business - especially ones dealing in information. Even a simple 2-speed tax system: small businesses like Tesco and British Airways continue to pay tax on profit. But the bigger tech business (Google) pay tax on turnover ?

You'd think with all this - alleged - artificial intelligence, someone would have set up some simulations to see how you could structure a better tax system ? Well, you'd think. The only reason to do that would be if the present system wasn't working. Something deep inside of me can't help but feel that despite all the faux outrage on the front pages our leaders think the tax system is working very well indeed.

This actually says “ we’d prefer to benefit from the EMA”

But. We . can’t. because we are exiting. Do any of the ruling Tories get it.

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-06/u-k-may-seek-closer-ties-with-u-s-drug-overseer-after-brexit

“The U.K. wants to continue to benefit from its relationship with the European Medicines Agency”

Ending up with drugs regulated by US standards is really worrying.

You'd think with all this - alleged - artificial intelligence, someone would have set up some simulations to see how you could structure a better tax system ? Well, you'd think.

This isn't the problem. It's actually about getting support for the idea politically. Without the political will for change, and institutionalised crushing of new ideas (which tend to come from the young) then it won't happen.

This isn't the problem. It's actually about getting support for the idea politically. Without the political will for change, and institutionalised crushing of new ideas (which tend to come from the young) then it won't happen.

Arthur C. Clarke (who knew a thing or two) was once asked how new scientific ideas spread, and new thinking emerged ...

Great answer: Old people die

Sorry I wasn’t following the tax theme of the thread just having a quick vent about the EMA before work.

Listening to the radio just now, I was intrigued to hear that until 2013, it was possible to have stateless money in Irish law.

Perhaps a start would be a UN move to declare that all money must belong to a jurisdiction ?

If nothing else, the Paradise Papers are an irrefutable demonstration of the Them and Us that's alive and well in Western democracy today.

The most interesting dynamic about politics at the moment is just how top heavy our demographic is. Its not something that has happened before. It is unsurprising we are seeing such a generational divide. Older people don't want to give up money or power.

The infantalisation of people in their thirties and forties by their parents generation is particularly bad when it comes to politics for this reason. And when that's not being done, bullying comes into play to enforce it.

I've found myself treated WORSE in the last 5 years than when I was in my early twenties for this reason, as its the point at which the next generation naturally steps up. Its creating a conflict.

@ariehkovler
Replying to @ariehkovler @DPJHodges
Israeli army runs field hospitals to care for Syrians wounded in the civil war. From context, seems like she wanted to support that project

For the record too, I think Israel has taken in more Syrian refugees that Britain.

My kibbutz a few miles from the Golan ( walked and camped in the Golan as a kid) was regularly bombed by Syria. We had bomb shelters.

Now, those in the north of Israel are taking in refugees from the country which bombed them.

Peston on FB

The rational position of Boris Johnson and the Foreign Office is that there is no read for him to apologise for and correct his error in saying Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran to train journalists - in that Johnson is quite clear it is outrageous that she has been jailed there, and it would be even more outrageous to extend her sentence even if she had been training journalists (which she wasn’t, according to her spouse and the Reuters Foundation).

But this is to confuse what is rational with basic human kindness. Johnson has plainly deeply upset her husband - who believes that the foreign secretary has put his wife at great risk of having her prison sentence extended by another five years.

Even if Richard Ratcliffe is wrong - and since he has lived and breathed the case, there is no reason to assume he is wrong - it is weird that Johnson has not put his hands up, admitted his mistake and said sorry.

It is almost as though Johnson sees himself as the victim here, of misrepresentation, by the Labour Party, the British media, and the Iranian authorities.

But that cannot be true, can it? The foreign secretary cannot be letting his wounded pride get in the way of providing small comfort to a young mother deprived of liberty and contact with her despairing family.

Johnson is like Trump: Its nothing but "me, me, me, me, me, me, me"

Interestingly (my friends know me too well ) I've just had a Facebook invitation to a page devoted to UK Republicanism.

www.republic.org.uk/

I've nothing against the Queen personally. But the principle that I have a liege lord in 2017 seems odd to say the least.

I am so worried for Nazanin. She could get another 5 years for this, and is in a very fragile state reportedly.

Israeli army runs field hospitals to care for Syrians wounded in the civil war. From context, seems like she [Priti Patel] wanted to support that project

Which sounds noble. Except why do it so secretly that even her own boss didn't know - disguising it as a "holiday" ???

And more importantly, what gave her the brass neck to discuss such a potentially explosive subject ? The UK currently doesn't acknowledge the Israeli occupation there, which is an important stance when dealing with regimes like Saudi Arabia. To have some dumbwitted junior minister with more letters in her name than brain cells in her head blundering into that speaks volumes about the current state of lack of government in the UK.

And that's before you start to ask what her UK constituents might have made of such a visit.

www.buzzfeed.com/rosebuchanan/mps-are-disappointed-about-the-new-cross-party-plan-to?utm_term=.chG1ONkplR#.rxkEZW6RdB
MPs Are Disappointed About The New Cross-party Plan To Tackle Sexual Harassment
The PM called the grievance procedure to tackle sexual harassment in Westminster an "important step forward" – but critics say it doesn't go far enough.

It only covers MP's staff.

Jess Phillips‏*@jessphillips*
So if you don’t work in Parliament and an MP assaults you, or MPs staff does. How will this help?

Given that its been journalists who have exposed this, and it hasn't been on parliamentary grounds there does seem to be an issue here.

Jo Swinson did reply:

Jo Swinson‏*@joswinson*

This point was raised by myself & others at meeting - detail will be down to working group. Remit of grievance process must be widely drawn.

But I can't help but feel this will be overlooked deliberately in the end.

Incidentially, the lengths to which Weinstein went to cover his tracks are being reported in the New Yorker. Its a piece definitely worth a read. Its shocking.

www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies
Harvey Weinstein’s Army of Spies
The film executive hired private investigators, including ex-Mossad agents, to track actresses and journalists.

Two private investigators from Black Cube, using false identities, met with the actress Rose McGowan, who eventually publicly accused Weinstein of rape, to extract information from her. One of the investigators pretended to be a women’s-rights advocate and secretly recorded at least four meetings with McGowan. The same operative, using a different false identity and implying that she had an allegation against Weinstein, met twice with a journalist to find out which women were talking to the press. In other cases, journalists directed by Weinstein or the private investigators interviewed women and reported back the details.

Lurking, I'm fully expecting it to be the next EU referendum type thing which divides the country.

I have been for some time.

In 2015 YouGov found 68% of the public supported the Monarchy. Notably, this dipped to 57% for Labour voters though. The generational divide was 79% in the 60+ age group versus 61% in the 18 to 25 year old group.

I do wonder if there will be another poll in the near future. It would be interesting for comparison. I suspect it will have changed.

prettybird, its fine. Its here publically with the intention of people seeing it and making it easier for people to get their heads around what is going on.

So it turns out I was wrong about the origins of the poppy. This is an interesting thread. twitter.com/AdamRamsay/status/927834344827310080

If anyone after reading that, if anyone is interested in a white poppy, here is the list of outlets.
www.ppu.org.uk/whitepoppy/outlets2017.html

I'm planning to bag myself one today now...