Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

He's doesn't own virgin trains, he's a partner in it, wonder if stagecoach are happy with him running roughshod over company policy and possibly breaking the law in the process, seems no one is coming out of this smelling particularly good

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

It seems to me that the Graun is just very, very sore that they were the ones who swallowed Jezza's fake tape in the first place and they're now frantically trying to turn the story into something else (but why bother? The news cycle has moved on, nobody else is talking about it now).

Company policy is not law, and Branson's personal licence to interfere in any business carrying his name, regardless of the size of his actual shareholding, is legendary. I doubt very much whether Brian Souter or anyone else at Stagecaoch is going to raise an eyebrow over this, not least because Souter is a major SNP donor and really doesn't like the Labour Party very much.

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

Policies are guidelines - a senior manager can over-ride policies and procedures, as long as it is signed off by Governance and Audit (for instance, protecting the company's reputation against false claims...).

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

Rumour has it that the Corbynistas have just placed a large order for more straws to clutch at... :D

More seriously this does betray, just how pathetic these people are. They get caught out, again, and instead at looking at themselves and their own behaviour, they resort to nastiness and intimidation. They've been doing it for decades and have evidently learned nothing about how to conduct themselves with some dignity in the process. Either Corbyn's being dragged along by the rent a mob crew who're propping him up or he's happy for his party to conduct itself in this unpleasant manner. Either way it doesn't say much for him, his leadership qualities or his new brand of politics...

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

absolutely they will ,after all as you point out it's half their company that has been dragged through the mud .


I have no problem at all with Branson exposing the official opposition to HMG for the liars they are .

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

You're right, if they have no respect for the actual law then a little thing like company policy isn't going to get in the way.

Wonder if richard has any cctv of the guy who had to stand by the bog for an hour and a half

---------- Post added at 17:35 ---------- Previous post was at 17:32 ----------

Dragged through the mud by Richard, this story would never have been more than a byline without his interference and the old adage about all publicity is good publicity isn't true in the modern age. I have no problem with people being exposed as liars either, just as long as the person exposing them isn't behaving just as bad.

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

All that Branson has done is release evidence that casts Corbyns claim into doubt ,if it was my company being lied about i would do the same as anyone would ,your going on as if Branson has made up some footage to screw Corbyn

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

I very much doubt that Branson would have had access to that CCTV without having had it all signed off by Virgin East Coast at a high level and, unike Corbyn, Branson has the sense to have (probably) run it past his legal team to cross the Ts and dot the Is. Personally I think the CCTV legwork was done by Virgin East Coast, and then they simply got Branson (or an aide) to tweet it on his account as it would be more effective than coming from the Virgin EC account.

As for it being "right" for Virgin East Coast or Branson to release the footage, a claim was made against them that at best could be considered mistaken, or at worst considered libellous/defamatory. They're perfectly within their rights to put their side of the story out and cast whatever doubts they wish on the sainted Jez.

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

Well I guess it's hard for some people to accept the unpalatable truth about their Messiah...

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

The simple fact is that Corbyn made a complete bodge of the entire publicity stunt. He'd got a few things right, in that he actually was on a train (rather than a bus) and had brought a freelance film maker with him, but he cocked up good and proper in a few more ways:

1: He picked the wrong line to make the point. Anyone with half a brain would have done this stunt on a Southern rail morning commuter service in to London. They're always rammed, Southern are currently in industrial dispute with their unions (making the situation worse) and he couldn't have got a seat if he'd tried.

2: He decided to do the stunt on the train he was taking to a well publicised hustings event in Newcastle. This had been planned many weeks in advance. Claiming he couldn't get a seat on that train makes him and his team look like some kind of ramshackle outfit who can't even pre-book a railway ticket with seat reservations. Either that, or they care so little about campaign/party funds they're buying short notice tickets without seat reservations.

3: When the CCTV came to light, the hilarious ways the Corbyn camp tried to tell everyone that they weren't seeing what they they were seeing were manifold and easily disproved. The story went from

Corbyn couldn't get a seat and sat on the floor all the way to the toon

to

Corbyn was helped to a seat 40 mins in to the journey by train staff

to

Corbyn had seen empty seats, but wanted two seats together so he and his wife could sit together

In the space of about 24 hours. They'd gambled that Virgin East Coast wouldn't comment on the claims, but they lost big time

and

4: They let John McDonnell sound off like a spoilt six year old about stripping knighthoods because Richard Branson is sensible enough to minimise his tax bills.

Face it, it was a plan that could have gone well, if it hadn't been organised by a bunch of political half-wits who make the Chuckle Brothers look like the Kennedy clan.

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

He only needed to try a train to Victoria on the Southern coastline in rush hour. Sardines were never packed this tight.

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

Exposing full trains at peak times isn't exactly a revelation is it. During the years my wife and I spent suffering at the hands of BR, the trains and the service in general was far, far worse, as was the attitude of an awful lot of the staff we came across who were rude and unhelpful.

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

Nationalised railways were simply appalling. How anybody could think that they would be a better proposition to what we have now shows the shocking level of their ignorance

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

Yup bizarre. Can anyone seriously imagine the mess Corbyn and Co. would make of running the railways or the NHS? They can't even run their own party... :D

Re: Corbyn's kerfuffle
 

Nationalised industry (with added Tony Benn!) gave us the Austin Allegro and Morris Marina

Private enterprise gave us the Vauxhall Astra.