Here comes the tax rises

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Thes "donations" have not been "exposed", they were freely available on the HoC Register of Members Interests, unlike Johnson’s redecoration and Caribbean holiday (until he was caught)…

Peer gave Keir Starmer more clothes worth £16,000, declared as money for private office


Exclusive: Donations worth £10,000 in October 2023 and £6,000 in February 2024 bring gifted clothes total to £32,000

Keir Starmer was given a further £16,000 worth of clothes by the Labour peer Waheed Alli, which was declared as money for his private office, the Guardian can reveal.

The donations, comprising £10,000 in October 2023 and £6,000 in February 2024, bring the total amount in gifted clothes to £32,000.

These latest gifts were not previously known about as they were described as being “for the private office of the leader of the opposition”.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...private-office

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Peer gave Keir Starmer more clothes worth £16,000, declared as money for private office


Exclusive: Donations worth £10,000 in October 2023 and £6,000 in February 2024 bring gifted clothes total to £32,000

Keir Starmer was given a further £16,000 worth of clothes by the Labour peer Waheed Alli, which was declared as money for his private office, the Guardian can reveal.

The donations, comprising £10,000 in October 2023 and £6,000 in February 2024, bring the total amount in gifted clothes to £32,000.

These latest gifts were not previously known about as they were described as being “for the private office of the leader of the opposition”.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...private-office

Remember the fuss Labour made about the wallpaper, which I think cost a few grand. At least the wallpaper would have remained on the wall of number 10 as it was not a personal item.

Declaring a second lot of clothing as office expenses but not the first lot stinks of a deliberate act of deception. Would a second lot of clothing look bad? I expect them to trot out an excuse that it was what they were advised to declare it as.

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Escapee

Remember the fuss Labour made about the wallpaper, which I think cost a few grand. At least the wallpaper would have remained on the wall of number 10 as it was not a personal item.

Declaring a second lot of clothing as office expenses but not the first lot stinks of a deliberate act of deception. Would a second lot of clothing look bad? I expect them to trot out an excuse that it was what they were advised to declare it as.

i read that reeves and rayner also declared clothing as office expenses




https://www.ft.com/content/2a218255-...a-f51dd46795be

£32,000 worth of clothes

I'd need a warehouse to store that much clothing, what on earth did he get.

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Paul

£32,000 worth of clothes

I'd need a warehouse to store that much clothing, what on earth did he get.

This isn't M&S clothing it's rich numpty clothing and specs for £1500

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Escapee

Remember the fuss Labour made about the wallpaper, which I think cost a few grand. At least the wallpaper would have remained on the wall of number 10 as it was not a personal item.

IIRC that “fuss” wasn’t so much the cost, it was about how it was funded by fellow crony Brownlow, then how Boris hastily retreated and repaid it himself when it went public.

And let’s not forget how each time a Tory MP was asked if Brownlow paid anything towards the renovation, all the response we would get was (and Hancock was a favourite for saying this) “the Prime Minister has met the cost of renovating Downing Street”.

“Did Boris repay Lord Brownlow the money he gave for doing up Downing Street?”

“The Prime Minister has met the cost of renovating Downing Street”.



If Starmer reaches and maintains Bullshitting Boris’ level of corruption and cronyism then I’ll see them as equals in terms of politically lining their own pockets and **** the common man.

[papa smurf]

make sure no one trips over that dead cat

[Russ]

I think we need to give Starmer at least the same amount of time Boris had before killing any cats.

Unless of course Kier gives away £32bn to his mates, in which I’ll happily state how much he’s overtaken Boris.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Russ

IIRC that “fuss” wasn’t so much the cost, it was about how it was funded by fellow crony Brownlow, then how Boris hastily retreated and repaid it himself when it went public.

And let’s not forget how each time a Tory MP was asked if Brownlow paid anything towards the renovation, all the response we would get was (and Hancock was a favourite for saying this) “the Prime Minister has met the cost of renovating Downing Street”.

“Did Boris repay Lord Brownlow the money he gave for doing up Downing Street?”

“The Prime Minister has met the cost of renovating Downing Street”.



If Starmer reaches and maintains Bullshitting Boris’ level of corruption and cronyism then I’ll see them as equals in terms of politically lining their own pockets and **** the common man.

I saw an interview around the time of the election, which I think was with David Starkey. When discussing Starmer being a liar, the presenter said "What, worse than Boris" and the response was "Worse than Blair".

Boris didn't attract this level of scrutiny less than 3 months into his leadership, maybe the bar has been set higher, but if so it's Labour that has set the bar higher with their claim to the moral high ground at every opportunity when they were in opposition.

Starmer is not going to get away with things now he's in power like he did with Beergate.

Labour have been hoisted by their own petard.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Escapee

I saw an interview around the time of the election, which I think was with David Starkey. When discussing Starmer being a liar, the presenter said "What, worse than Boris" and the response was "Worse than Blair".

That may well have happened but that's one person's opinion, maybe plenty of others would agree (if roles were reversed, they were talking about a Tory and I was a Tory fanboy this is where I'd say "well all politicians are liars" or something similar) however I'm sure you'd equally find many who would disagree.

Originally Posted by Escapee

Boris didn't attract this level of scrutiny less than 3 months into his leadership,

I think that would be more about how much was going on hidden in the background. Boris has always loved his "bumbling Mr Bean" gimmick so I don't think we were specifically looking for his corruption to show itself so soon.

Originally Posted by Escapee

maybe the bar has been set higher, but if so it's Labour that has set the bar higher with their claim to the moral high ground at every opportunity when they were in opposition.

In fairness, almost any party could claim the moral high ground when the previous shower of shit was in power but let's face it, that is the job of the Opposition.

Originally Posted by Escapee

Starmer is not going to get away with things now he's in power like he did with Beergate.

I think I can agree with that. 14 years of Tory corruption and mishandling of almost everything made it very easy to criticise them and as you say, Labour will be held to account and so far they're not doing a very good job of it. However, I'll reserve full judgment on Starmer (if he's still PM) by the end of his first term. If Labour matches (or if it can be imagined, exceeds) the Tories for corruption, lies and cronyism etc then I'll equally want them out of power, although perhaps not as strongly as I did for the Tories, they had 14 years to perfect the art (and super-charge my contempt for them).

[papa smurf]

Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield quits Labour Party - criticising Sir Keir Starmer in resignation letter
Ms Duffield accuses government of pursuing "cruel and unnecessary" policies and attacks prime minister for "hypocrisy" over free gifts row.

https://news.sky.com/story/rosie-duf...ur-mp-13224014


hypocrisy -isn't that a lovely word to use about your own leader

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Russ

However, I'll reserve full judgment on Starmer (if he's still PM) by the end of his first term.

I'm wondering if he will last to see their first budget.

At least Truss managed that!

Originally Posted by Escapee

At least Truss managed that!

... and what a fine job she made of it.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Escapee

I'm wondering if he will last to see their first budget.

At least Truss managed that!

Yeah using Truss’ tenure to discuss Budgets may not be all that productive. I mean, almost bankrupting the economy in the space of a few days takes some real beating.

Originally Posted by Escapee

I'm wondering if he will last to see their first budget.

At least Truss managed that!

"mini-budget"…

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66897881

The term "mini budget" will be forever toxic in British politics.

So disastrous was then-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's September 2022 statement - which included £45bn of unfunded tax cuts - that its long shadow still stretches over our economics and politics…

… In the immediate aftermath, top officials were being asked by astounded counterparts how Britain had singlehandedly shifted one of the key indicators of the world economy in the financial markets, known as the Fed Fund futures curve. It was not a proud moment, they tell me…

… It was the equivalent of trying to pay a restaurant bill with an Instagram photo of some gold bars.

Probably not the best example of a target to reach…

---------- Post added at 21:44 ---------- Previous post was at 21:06 ----------

Originally Posted by Escapee

I saw an interview around the time of the election, which I think was with David Starkey. When discussing Starmer being a liar, the presenter said "What, worse than Boris" and the response was "Worse than Blair".

Boris didn't attract this level of scrutiny less than 3 months into his leadership, maybe the bar has been set higher, but if so it's Labour that has set the bar higher with their claim to the moral high ground at every opportunity when they were in opposition.

Starmer is not going to get away with things now he's in power like he did with Beergate.

Labour have been hoisted by their own petard.

Could be worse…

Boris Johnson: I planned to invade the Netherlands during Covid

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics...e-netherlands/

https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...Covid-vaccines