Updated: Boris resigns as party leader

[Dave42]

Boris Johnson: Tories who want PM to go 'facing intimidation and blackmail' from party and should contact police, MP says

https://news.sky.com/story/tories-wh...warns-12520768

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Damien

Poor Boris. Imagine being let down by this staff like that! Looks like some more firings amongst his staff!

I think the Tories are spinning the report to be worse than it is as they know they've been referring it so much that everyone and their dog thinks it's rigged to clear him.

Clearly the staff are to blame but i think Boris should forgive them, they were working through difficult times with lots of unfathomable rules as has been proven by labours indiscretions which are going unpunished.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Clearly the staff are to blame but i think Boris should forgive them, they were working through difficult times with lots of unfathomable rules as has been proven by labours indiscretions which are going unpunished.

Originally Posted by Dave42

https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1484109819183255552

well well OB know your still gonna defend the undefendable

I’m not defending anything. I am saying we should read the report first. Not exactly a revolutionary stance for me to take.

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

I’m not defending anything. I am saying we should read the report first. Not exactly a revolutionary stance for me to take.

But yet you have no issues with the limited scope of the report*, or that Sue Gray cannot make a determination as to whether there is criminal liability, as she is not a court, and she cannot make an independent assessment of the application of non-legal guidance to her colleagues as she is not independent. The only things to be published are the ‘findings’ and not the report itself.

Most importantly, she can’t determine whether the PM or another Minister is in breach of the Ministerial Code, as she is not the PM.

So, the person who will decide if anything is done with the report is the person who would be most affected by the report…

It is an internal investigation by a civil servant, who reports to ministers, of other civil servants and various advisors/3rd parties. It is not a quasi-judicial process, and it has no independent standing. It is almost as if this investigation was structured to enable Ministers/Press Officers to leak to the press that they have been ‘cleared’.

You were in HR - if there were complaints about your HR Director, would it have been accepted practice for him to write the terms of reference for the investigation, and then be the only one who could agree if the complaints had any merit?

You may wish to Google "independent" and "conflict of interest".

*as previously highlighted by Sephiroth

https://assets.publishing.service.go..._2021.docx.pdf

[1andrew1]

Desperate and illegal or just sharp politics?

Tory defector says whips told him to back PM or lose school funds

The former Conservative MP Christian Wakeford has alleged that party whips told him he would lose funding for a new high school in his constituency if he did not vote with the government.

The claim came as the senior Conservative William Wragg urged MPs to report government ministers, whips and advisers to the Speaker – and even the police – for what he claimed was attempted blackmail of some colleagues suspected of possibly opposing Boris Johnson.

Anger among Johnson critics escalated again on Thursday after sources briefed that rebels were losing their nerve. Another MP opposing Johnson denied that letters of no confidence had been withdrawn after Wakeford defected to Labour.

“These briefings of withdrawals are pure invention from No 10,” one said. “Wakeford may have stayed some people’s hands yesterday but this isn’t going into reverse.”

Speaking at a Labour event on Thursday, Wakeford backed up the claims by Wragg that threats involving public money were made by the whips.

“I was threatened that I would not get a school for Radcliffe if I did not vote in one particular way,” he said. “This is a town that has not had a high school for the best part of 10 years.

“How would you feel when they hold back the regeneration of a town for a vote. It didn’t sit comfortably. That was the start of me questioning my place, where I was and ultimately to where I am now.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknew...cid=entnewsntp

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Desperate and illegal or just sharp politics?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknew...cid=entnewsntp

Shows the state of politics and journalism in this country when we're banging on about bloody parties, whilst the fact that a Chinese spy infiltrated parliament and had a Labour MP in their pocket by paying him near half million quid..... is just forgotten.

But let's concentrate on the important stuff.......how much booze did they fit in that suitcase?

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Shows the state of politics and journalism in this country when we're banging on about bloody parties, whilst the fact that a Chinese spy infiltrated parliament and had a Labour MP in their pocket by paying him near half million quid..... is just forgotten.

But let's concentrate on the important stuff.......how much booze did they fit in that suitcase?

Exactly.

[Dave42]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Shows the state of politics and journalism in this country when we're banging on about bloody parties, whilst the fact that a Chinese spy infiltrated parliament and had a Labour MP in their pocket by paying him near half million quid..... is just forgotten.

But let's concentrate on the important stuff.......how much booze did they fit in that suitcase?

it about them thinking there above the law as in one rule for us and no rules for them

cant get how people don't understand they broke the rules they made

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by Dave42

it about them thinking there above the law as in one rule for us and no rules for them

cant get how people don't understand they broke the rules they made

That should also apply to captain hindsight, even though he didn't make the rules.

[1andrew1]

I like to hold government of all colours to account for their actions and inactions.

However, credit where it's due, the current regime could certainly organise a piss up in a brewery!

---------- Post added at 17:20 ---------- Previous post was at 17:20 ----------

Originally Posted by Mad Max

That should also apply to captain hindsight, even though he didn't make the rules.

Boris made the rules.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

I like to hold government of all colours to account for their actions and inactions.

However, credit where it's due, the current regime could certainly organise a piss up in a brewery!

---------- Post added at 17:20 ---------- Previous post was at 17:20 ----------


Boris made the rules.

I was referring to Starmer, I know Boris made the rules, but Starmer shouldn't have broken them either.

Originally Posted by Pierre

Shows the state of politics and journalism in this country when we're banging on about bloody parties, whilst the fact that a Chinese spy infiltrated parliament and had a Labour MP in their pocket by paying him near half million quid..... is just forgotten.

But let's concentrate on the important stuff.......how much booze did they fit in that suitcase?

But even the Tories aren't saying the Labour MP was in their pocket, they were arguing why he wasn't warned. Partly because they were involved too but also because there isn't any accusation or implication he knew she was a spy from MI5.

The media aren't going to make such an accusation themselves without either the evidence or getting to report on someone else's accusation. Obviously, if that was the story then it would be huge.

[Dave42]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

I was referring to Starmer, I know Boris made the rules, but Starmer shouldn't have broken them either.

true but it dont give Johnson a free pass for rule breaking

Originally Posted by Mad Max

That should also apply to captain hindsight, even though he didn't make the rules.

I thought Johnson had taken over that role?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60014813

On Wednesday, Mr Johnson told MPs he had "believed implicitly" it was a work event, but admitted: "With hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside".

Even Rees-Mogg agrees

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ore-thumb.html

I think the Prime Minister has got things right again and again and again," he said.

"But like us all, he accepts that during a two-and-a-half-year period, there will be things that with hindsight would have been done differently."

Originally Posted by Dave42

true but it dont give Johnson a free pass for rule breaking

Neither of them get a free pass - they both broke the rules, doesn't matter how many times one side did over the other, rule breaking is rule breaking.