General UK politics VIII - The Last Tory

[Wudang]

Please see post #2757 in this thread.


ETA: linking to a previous post appears to impossible on a tablet after the update. Boo!

No it's not

I clicked the share icon and copied the URL then put that in a URL tag

 

[junkshop]

No it's not

I clicked the share icon and copied the URL then put that in a URL tag

That's what I tried to do. I think the problem may be my ancient tablet: it keeps doing weird things / refusing to do normal things.

Oh well, cyber monday tomorrow!

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

It's a shock to see it happening though. Perhaps whipping (in the parliamentary sense) should be banned?

Whipping was invented (by Parnell's IPP) because it was too easy to bribe MPs to go against party lines, often with positions nominally in Ireland which were avenues for graft.

 

[Norman Alexander]

Elon says he has the "blueprint to a Reform government in 2029."

Plans are being made to save Britain.

He's talking about a country that had zero problems purloining and dressing up a dead body and floated it ashore in a foreign country in order to fool a foreign power. Elon better be careful. He might become the next "volunteer" for such a dangerous mission.

 

[Mojo]

He's talking about a country that had zero problems purloining and dressing up a dead body and floated it ashore in a foreign country in order to fool a foreign power.

The Goon Show - Series 8 - The Man Who Never Was - BBC Sounds

A 1958 remake of the 1956 spoof of the war film based on the 1953 book.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Andy_Ross]

A piece in the Times speculating that Elon could bung Reform a £100 million and focus his X fanboys on the UK.

Now he has the US government he will be after a new acquisition and he's already said he is going to 'save' the UK.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

A piece in the Times speculating that Elon could bung Reform a £100 million and focus his X fanboys on the UK.

Now he has the US government he will be after a new acquisition and he's already said he is going to 'save' the UK.

Reform won't accept it, they've already come out against foreign interference in elections & they're all men of principal. /s

 

[catsmate]

Whipping was invented (by Parnell's IPP) because it was too easy to bribe MPs to go against party lines, often with positions nominally in Ireland which were avenues for graft.

Parnell did not invent the parliamentary 'whipper in', it predates him by at least a century. Burke mentions the practice.
Parnell used it, seasoned with threats, to deliver a cohesive voting block to whomever gave him what he wanted.

 

[steenkh]

Could somebody explain what this whipping strategy really is? I have never understood what penalties could be imposed MPs that vote against their party - except kicking them out from the next election.

 

[Wudang]

Could somebody explain what this whipping strategy really is? I have never understood what penalties could be imposed MPs that vote against their party - except kicking them out from the next election.

A bit of dark art (in more than one sense) https://www.theguardian.com/politic...what-are-the-limits-for-parliaments-enforcers

In a 1995 BBC documentary, Westminster’s Secret Service, Tim Fortescue, a whip under Ted Heath between 1970 and 1973, explained: “Anyone with any sense who was in trouble would come to the whips and tell them the truth, and say now, I’m in a jam, can you help? It might be debt, it might be … a scandal involving small boys, or any kind of scandal.

“And we would do everything we can because we would store up brownie points … and if I mean, that sounds a pretty, pretty nasty reason, but it’s one of the reasons because if we could get a chap out of trouble then he will do as we ask forever more.”

 

[Carrot Flower King]

Could somebody explain what this whipping strategy really is? I have never understood what penalties could be imposed MPs that vote against their party - except kicking them out from the next election.

A combination of blackmail - per Wudang's post - threats of being over-looked for advancement, promises of possible advancement, sometimes physical intimidation (some of The Thick of It is not far from reality), threats of de-selection, promises of a move to a safer seat.

Really, you name it - anything to give the whips an edge or a lever to enforce "party discipline".

This is why we mockingly call our MPs "lobby fodder".

 

[Andy_Ross]

Covid corruption commissioner starts fraud probe

The new Covid corruption commissioner has started an investigation into personal protective equipment (PPE) fraud.
Tom Hayhoe's first task will be reviewing the £8.7bn of PPE bought during the pandemic that then had to be written off the government's books.
Mr Hayhoe is also likely to review the previous government's abandoning of attempts to reclaim money from deals worth £674m.
The National Crime Agency is separately investigating possible criminal offences committed in the PPE procurement system.

Covid corruption commissioner gets to work

Tom Hayhoe's first task will be reviewing the £8.7bn of pandemic PPE that had to be written off.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Andy_Ross]

Accountants Mazars acting as auditors refuse to sign off Tees Valley regeneration project’s accounts

Auditors have refused to sign off two years of accounts at Lord Ben Houchen’s Teesside regeneration body, while also pointing to “significant weaknesses” in its value for money arrangements.

As part of the audit process, Mazars was required to provide a view on whether the body was delivering value for money during the period.

It relied on the findings of an independent Tees Valley review into the STDC published earlier this year, and concluded there were “significant weaknesses in the corporation’s arrangements for financial sustainability, governance and improving efficiency, economy and effectiveness”.

Time for the NAO investigation.

Client Challenge

 

[Andy_Ross]

South Western Railway to be renationalised by Labour

Labour has pledged to renationalise rail services as operator franchises come to an end, and South Western's contract finishes in May 2025.

The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, which passed last week, allows the government to take rail contracts back into public ownership.

The government plans to set up a new arms length body, Great British Railways (GBR), which will take over service contracts currently held by private firms as they expire in the coming years.

South Western, C2C, and Greater Anglia to be renationalised

The rail operators will be renationalised in May, as part of the government's manifesto promise.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Andy_Ross]

Accountants Mazars acting as auditors refuse to sign off Tees Valley regeneration project’s accounts



Time for the NAO investigation.

Client Challenge

Still, great news about Houchen's letter to Donald Trump inviting him to visit.

 

[Andy_Ross]

To add to the post above, the Government say C2C and Greater Anglia railways will also be re-nationalised next year.

South Western, C2C, and Greater Anglia to be renationalised

The rail operators will be renationalised in May, as part of the government's manifesto promise.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Andy_Ross]

Conservative Party tweeted

First he gave away the Chagos Islands, now he’s eyeing up the Elgin Marbles.

Keir Starmer loves giving away British assets.

That's funny, I thought it was some guy at the British Museum called George Osborne that was arranging it?

 

[jeremyp]

That may be your definition of "smashing it up". Mine would be PFI contracts and ever more outsourcing to the private sector. Also, see my last post in this thread re: Alan Milburn.

That's not smashing it up. It might be making it worse but "smashing up" implies wholesale destruction

 

[Andy_Ross]

When the Tories took over, how long did you wait for an appointment for a GP or specialist? or cancer diagnosis?
How long for an operation?
How long for an ambulance?
How many hours in A&E before treatment?

Smashing it up?

 

[jimbob]

A combination of blackmail - per Wudang's post - threats of being over-looked for advancement, promises of possible advancement, sometimes physical intimidation (some of The Thick of It is not far from reality), threats of de-selection, promises of a move to a safer seat.

Really, you name it - anything to give the whips an edge or a lever to enforce "party discipline".

This is why we mockingly call our MPs "lobby fodder".