Westminstenders: Operation Shock and Awe

[RedToothBrush]

The government is launching its get ready for the end of transition campaign which has been dubbed a 'shock and awe' campaign.

In this campaign we will learn all about what Brexit means and what amazing opportunities lie for having increased customs and borders, beaucracy and increased costs. Bet you are all really excited and looking forward to this.

We will also get a 'Farage Garage' in Kent to cope with these wonderful opportunities in traffic jams. This will be something that businesses throughout the country will be super excited to plan for in their socially distanced Zoom meetings or across warehouses with their face masks on. And banks will be delighted to see an uptick in applications in CCJs and debt reconstruction plans.

It will be a super fun time for the under 30s who have zero hours contracts, worked in retail or hospitality. Or should I say 'worked'.

Meanwhile the right to a jury trial has been binned due to 'long covid delays' which are shorter than they were several years ago. The NHS isn't getting the funding it expected, and waiting lists are longer than ever with no way to clear them. The plan to build more hospitals seems to have disappeared with the Nightingales. Many councils are about to go into insolvency and be taken over by accountancy firms. The civil service is being dismantled and conservative loyalists with no experience being put in charge of important functions of state. Communications with the press are being 'streamlined' to make them incredible of holding power to account and only able to repeat government public announcements.

Anyone looking forward to Christmas? When you write a letter to Santa remember to add 'visa application form', 'a sleeping bag for use at Dover', 'tinned tomatoes' and 'packets of seeds to grow your own' to the list.

Did I hear on the news yesterday that Amazon had asked all its employees to remove the TikTok app ?

Love the pupster @Sostenueto

They did - and then they backtracked frumpety

DH - won't allow the kids to have tik tok because of risks of Chinese spying/stealing info off your phone. My objections to it are entirely different

I'm late to tic tok - ex of mine on FB was on about learning how to use it so that his kids wouldn't have a non-tech savvy dad and thus be bullied online etc. His kids are 4 and 6. I pointed out there will be another app next year, one after that. Am I missing something or is it just full of 30 something parents flossing?

Re : Relocating Parliament
Surely the best thing would be for the UKG to take over the whole Campus of one of the failing Universities
and relocate there

• lots of conference / meeting rooms
• lots of office spaces
• cracking wifi
• decent public transport links
• suitable accommodation for MPs in all the overpriced new flats

Kids 4-6 of tik tok😱
Yes there are middle aged people flossing.... but my objection to it is it's the perfect grooming environment for pedo's.

Nick Boles pointing out that it’s perfect to have a truly independent Chair of that Committee and now Lewis can be truly independent.

maybe it should be suggested as an ongoing development ? The chair of all parliamentary committees temporarily resigns the whip whilst serving - cf the Speaker ?

Oh but LQ - that would require them to be sensible..... and actually care about the amount of public money they spaff

Of course it was TikTok users that really fucked Trumps rally up ...

#justsayin'

MrsL
TBH its not even particularly the money
its the efficiency and security and multiple other things
Taking into account the needs of all of the staff of the HoC
rather than the primadonna MPs
a University Campus would allow them to work well

I wonder if the vacancy left by Carrie is currently being filled in York?

If they go to York they should take over Hes East and the Retail Park
no room for them in the City Centre

@SabrinaThwaite

I wonder if the vacancy left by Carrie is currently being filled in York?

It did cross my mind too.

Have I missed news about Johnson and he's in York? I note that although weddings are now allowed, he hasn't rushed to get married. I thought his divorce had come through, so what is the impediment?

I understand the attraction of putting them in Stoke, quite like the idea myself but York would also work and it’s further from London. Need to secure a couple of Travel Inn/Ibis type places for the duration of relocation and job done.

John Crace nailed BJ's failings

• not reading that winter Covid report is only one example:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/15/borderline-sociopath-boris-johnson-misjudges-mood-chamber-pmqs

At this point, it dawned on Starmer that Boris almost certainly hadn’t read the report to which he had referred – a little slow on the uptake from the Labourr^ leader as the prime minister never reads any reports of more than two paragraphs – ^
^
so he asked him outright if he had. ^
^
“Um ... er ...,” Boris hesitated. He was aware of the report. In the same way he is aware that he has children, but is unable to say exactly how many

Statement from Intelligence Committee:

“The Committee has unanimously agreed this morning that it will publish the Report on Russia prepared by its predecessor before the house rises for the summer recess.”

“There will be no further comment.”

Plus statement from Julian Lewis:

The 2013 Justice and Security Act explicitly removed the right of the Prime Minister to choose the ISC chairman and gave it to the committee members. I remember this well, as I served on the committee from 2010 to 2015 and took part of the legislation through the Commons myself on behalf of the committee. There is no other Conservative MP in the House of Commons with any past experience of working on the ISC.

It was only yesterday afternoon that I received a text asking me to confirm that I would be voting for the Prime Minister's preferred candidate for the ISC chair. I did not reply as I considered it an improper request. At no earlier stage did I give any undertaking to vote for any particular candidate.

In recent days, the official No 10 spokesman explicitly denied that the Government was seeking to 'parachute' a preferred candidate in to the chair, stating that it was a matter for the senior parliamentarians on the committee to decide.

It is therefore strange to have the whip removed for failing to vote for the Government's preferred candidate.

@LouiseCollins28

I understand the attraction of putting them in Stoke, quite like the idea myself but York would also work and it’s further from London. Need to secure a couple of Travel Inn/Ibis type places for the duration of relocation and job done.

It would need more than a couple of chain hotels.

There are 650 MPs + around 2,050 Commons staff and 3,150 MPs' staff, then around 835 Lords + 420 House of Lords staff and 560 Lords' own staff.

Even if all the MPs and Lords are not there every day, a proportion will be. And some of the 6,180 staff might be able to stay in London and work remotely but again, a proportion would have to relocate temporarily.

It is therefore strange to have the whip removed for failing to vote for the Government's preferred candidate.

I'll start by saying I haven't read the "news" on this beyond a few tweets (say what you will about a shit media, it don't half save time). However wasn't the whip withdrawn because he voted with the Labour MPs on this ?

Either way, his statement thus far is cheering. While there will always be a fucking place in politics for sweary cunts, there's a slight frisson reading "go fuck yourself" in between decent English.

It would need more than a couple of chain hotels. [] There are 650 MPs + around 2,050 Commons staff and 3,150 MPs' staff, then around 835 Lords + 420 House of Lords staff and 560 Lords' own staff.

It's a fucking Royal Progress, isn't it ?

My Goodness, an honest Tory. I am amazed. Sadly I fear that just as inAmerica, scandals and evidence of corruption will continue to pile up, but nothing will change.

Interesting on staff numbers, can’t see why it’s necessary to relocate the whole lot though?

The role of the current staff is to serve parliament at Westminster. If you are moving the entire thing to Yorkshire (or anywhere else for that matter) for several years, then hire a new staff! Some good “no nonsense” folk from Yorkshire would do a fine job, I’m sure.

...or if you must relocate existing folks then they can rent flats or houses like everybody else does when they relocate. Why couldnt the Lords stay in London, surely they’re only going to do one chamber/part of WM at a time?

The HoP revamp isn't until 2024 /25 so no rush

My Goodness, an honest Tory.

Well don't go overboard ...

I have to say, watching the last "QI" with Gyles "it's not so much a family tree as a fucking family forest" Brandreth, I was impressed that he'd gone to Paris in '68 to help the protesters and that he had actively campaigned against the death penalty. (I also recall he was a Europhile ?). Makes you wonder why he was a Tory at all ?

Louise
Ah yes, sack all the experts
those with decades of relevant legal experience
and hire cheap apprentices

do you have ANY IDEA how the Parliamentary system actually works ?

In a local council the elected members are the icing on the cake
the actual cake is the paid officers

Hence my idea of taking over a Campus - designed to house and employ several thousand people