Is this another Tory scandal brewing? (Part 2)

[Redflag]

Maybe Goves wife will provide the job seekers with the money to buy her expensive facial creams, and maybe while she is at it she could take them out and buy them a new outfit to attend there interview with  so they can get a zero hour contract job.  

[boatlady]

No, he's definitely a Sontaran

[bobby]

Sorry but that can not be Mr Erick Pickles MP, as The real Mr Pickles doesn't have a dimple in his chin, any of them.

[Phil Hornby]

" I'll have you all know that when I stood on the bathroom scales , they only showed 20 stone. And so did the one my left foot was on..."

[Ivan]

How Tory MP James Gray is funnelling two lots of taxpayers’ cash to a party donor:-

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/love-rat-conservative-mp-james-3030395

[boatlady]

Could do without all the judgemental language (love rat etc) which doesn't add to the story and rather makes the whole thing look like an example of the kind of approximate and biased reporting we all rightly deplore - however, a nice illustration of how these people (the Tories) all seem to live in each other's pockets and live by taking in each others' laundry, as I believe the expression is.

 

[Dan Fante]

It's the Mirror, so the tabloid language is to be expected, although I tend to agree with you.

[Redflag]

Justice minister stripped of powers

Ken Clarke to take charge after Djanogly failed to declare family interest in claims management companies

The justice minister, Jonathan Djanogly, has been stripped of his responsibility to regulate firms that "ambulance chase" the public following a Guardian investigation that revealed how he and his family could profit from controversial changes to legal aid he was piloting in parliament.

Djanogly, the heir to a £300m family business, had failed to declare that his teenage children were minority shareholders in his brother-in-law's businesses – two firms that advertise claims and are part of an industry that Djanogly regulated in government.

Do you get the feeling that after each Revelation about members of this government you just have to shout NEXT

After living through the Thatchers years my answer to you OW is Yes, the scandals that came out of that gov't both sexual and political the only thing you queried in those years why is there no scandal this week :yeahthat: 

[Phil Hornby]

I understand the point about the 'language and tone', but I imagine that the Mirror feels it has to compete with the style of The Sun and the level of spite of the Daily Mail.

Without such a strategy it must feel like fighting a couple of vicious thugs by  means of a stern message on a postcard...and with the same likely outcome...

[Bellatori]

Could do without all the judgemental language (love rat etc) which doesn't add to the story and rather makes the whole thing look like an example of the kind of approximate and biased reporting we all rightly deplore - however, a nice illustration of how these people (the Tories) all seem to live in each other's pockets and live by taking in each others' laundry, as I believe the expression is.

 

You are absolutely right about the 'Love Rat' comment but I have to hold my hand up and admit that I read Hello and Closer when I go round to my daughters and see them on the coffee table. Don't we just love a bit of gossip   We all have a prurient interest in our neighbours business.    I did do a bit of research to find out why they used that epithet on him. I think they wished to paint him as an all round bad egg   . Not difficult when you find out apart from fiddling his expenses he also dumps his wife whilst she is being treated for breast cancer and marries his mistress. Anyway I suppose 'Love Rat' is printable as a headline when 'Total Sh*t' is probably not.

For no reason other than nosiness I wonder what he could have done if the Mirror had put a full front page head and shoulders of him with a headline saying "Is this man a total sh*t... or what?". Could he sue? I rather doubt it. Even by Tory standards he is not one of the finer examples of humanity in Parliament.

[Ivan]

boatlady wrote:-
Could do without all the judgemental language (love rat etc) which doesn't add to the story

I agree, which is why I left the ‘love rat’ reference to James Gray out of the title when I posted the message. Personally, I couldn’t care less about people’s private arrangements, as long as we don’t have to pay for them!

This topic came up on ‘Question Time’ last night with regard to Francois Hollande, who is not married but does have a partner. I didn’t watch the programme, but I did follow it on ‘Twitter’, and apparently Tim Farron was arguing that you can’t separate a politician’s private and public life. In defence of ‘The Daily Mirror’, you could say that a man who cheats on his wife when she has cancer is a rat, especially as at the time he was promoting Cameron’s so-called family-based policies, which also makes him a hypocrite.

I note that Gray has since married his mistress, and although she stays at home in Wiltshire, she’s paid up to £35,000-a-year of taxpayers’ cash to be his ‘diary secretary’. In common with Boris Johnson, he tried to claim for a Remembrance Day wreath, and Gray also claimed £2,000 decorating fees for a second home on the day he moved out. He’s not a very nice bloke – but then he’s a Tory, so that goes without saying.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gray_(British_politician)

"When a man marries his mistress, he creates a vacancy." (Jimmy Goldsmith)

[oftenwrong]

When the gravy train pulls into your Station with such regularity, it takes a special kind of politician to wait for the one-class standing-room-only commuter special.

[Phil Hornby]

Love that analogy...!      

[oftenwrong]

In financially bipolar Britain, there is always an antidote to the places described in TV programmes like Benefits Street.

The late Baroness Thatcher's London house in Belgravia was bought by a development company and after refurbishment is about to be placed on the open market.  According to Land Registry records, 73 Chester Square was acquired by Bakeland Property Company Ltd. incorporated in the British Virgin Islands but with a Liechtenstein address on 29 March 2006 for £2.4million.

So you see, there IS a parallel universe.

[oftenwrong]

So here it is, boys and girls.  You can vote for real people - or you can return the smoothy-chops Bullingdon bloodsuckers one more time.  What's so hard to decide?

[Redflag]

Your question OW is a easy peasy for me "VOTE LABOUR GET A REAL FAIR GOV'T" for all not just for the chosen elite in the Bullingdon club  

[boatlady]

I've been reading about this today
No-one seems to be saying anything about the poor cleaner who has (presumably) lost her job
Can't say I'm that bothered about a Tory minister - someone on a marginal income who has lost employment is, however, I wouold imagine severely at risk.

[Redflag]

Yet Mark Harper is expecting Landlords and employers to do the job that HE HIMSELF cannot do as this announcement has proved, but he is not the only one that has not got a clue on how to do his job this gov't is full of Ministers that do no "Know their Arse from there Elbow"
 
I think all this talk on immigration is down to two things Davy boy's back benchers and Nigel Farage, the Tories are worried that Ukip will take some of their voters, when all Ukip are is a second hand Tory party if people take a good hard look at Ukip policies you cannot get a cigarette paper in between them. 

[oftenwrong]

Cameron knows that UKIP is effectively the rebellious right-wing of the Tory party, so any votes for them open the door wide for a Miliband government.

The potential danger for Labour supporters is a Scottish "YES" vote to separation, which would remove that important element of the Labour party from Westminster, resulting in a permanent Tory majority.

I think I'll just check to make sure my passport is still valid.

[Ivan]

The potential danger for Labour supporters is a Scottish "YES" vote to separation, which would remove that important element of the Labour party from Westminster, resulting in a permanent Tory majority.

It would be more difficult for Labour to get an overall majority without Scottish MPs, but they would still have done so in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Taking the closest of those elections - 2005 - without Scottish MPs the result would have been Labour 315, Tories 197, Lib Dems 51, Others 24. That would have meant a Labour majority of 43 (instead of 66).
 
Fortunately, I can't see much likelihood of the Scots opting for independence. The only real threat to the unity of the UK is if Cameron keeps opening his big trap and telling the Scots to vote to stay!   

[Redflag]

IVAN This has worried me for months now and the more cuts the Tories bring in the more easier it will be for normal NO voters to vote Yes, for them it just will be a leap in the dark with Salmond and since its always England that vote Tories in and it does P**S the Scots off, the way they are looking at it is NO MORE NASTY TORY GOV'T   I hope we do vote NO I would hate to leave my friends and family in the hands of the Tories because I know what they're capable of, but then again it could make the English get off their butts and stand up to the Tory party. 

[oftenwrong]

REM: The Law of Unintended Consequences

Matt Wrack, leader of the Fire Brigades Union, who is visiting flood-hit areas in the South West, said firefighters were reporting shortages of manpower and equipment because of spending cuts.

He said: "Wherever there's a flood firefighters are doing a fantastic job helping to keep people safe and reduce the damage done to local communities.

"But our members are reporting that cuts to fire and rescue services are making it very difficult to cope with the demands of such extreme weather.

"Shortages of both people and equipment are proving real problems, with some fire services refusing requests to send equipment elsewhere in case it is needed in their own areas.

"Despite incredible claims that money is no object, fire and rescue services urgently need more resources to cope with such challenging conditions."

[Redflag]

It is a pity our brave firemen/women where as cold hearted as Davy boy, then they could turn up in the flood areas and apologize for not having enough equipment to help out the victims of the floods, explaining the Fire Brigade has had its budget cut by Davy boy and his cronies. 

[oftenwrong]

Redflag, "Davy boy" is now turning on a spit in front of the blazing fire of Tory-imposed cuts on essential services.  He is criticised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, supported by his Catholic counterpart,  for undermining benefits to the least fortunate - and now getting flak from his very own most reliable supporters whose expensive riverside homes are now IN the bloody Thames, whilst Defra staff who should have been dealing with flood defences are under notice because of Gideon's AUSTERITY.  You can bet there will be no mention of that nonsense in the Tory Manifesto.

[Redflag]

That is something that I am pondering OW, will Davy boy go ahead with the cuts in the Environment Agency? Or will he by magic find the money to pay for better flood defences he could if he wanted too by cutting the money he gives in contracts and tax cuts to friends and donors too the Tory party. 

[Ivan]

Richest MP in Britain slams welfare state but makes £625k a year in housing benefit
 
Adapted from an article by Nick Sommerlad:-
 
Just last month Tory MP Richard Benyon said: “The average household spends £3,000 per year on the welfare state. This figure had been rising inexorably and unaffordably. Labour wants benefits to go up more than the earnings of people in work. It isn’t fair and we will not let them bring back their 'something for nothing' culture.”
 
Benyon is Britain’s richest MP (he’s worth £110 million), and he runs his vast property empire from a mansion on his sprawling country pile. He rakes in £625,000 a year from the housing benefit of his tenants. On top of Mr Benyon’s haul from tenants, his family farms have also received more than £2 million in EU subsidies since 2000. Something for nothing?   
 
A number of other Tories and donors who also bagged cash through housing benefit tenants last year. Baron Iliffe’s firm got £195,072 from West Berkshire Council. His estate is worth an estimated £245 million. He and his wife have donated £50,000 to the Tories. Lord Cavendish benefitted from £106,938 in housing welfare last year from Barrow Council through his shareholding in Holker Estates. The Earl of Cadogan, who has given £23,000 to the Tories, has received £116,400 in benefits from Kensington and Chelsea. MP Richard Drax’s 7,000-acre Morden Estate got £13,830 from Purbeck Council last year.
 
Meanwhile, UKIP’s housing spokesman Andrew Charalambous was making a fortune off migrant tenants on welfare – despite leader Nigel Farage calling for a ban on foreigners claiming the cash. The millionaire pocketed £745,351 in housing benefit from occupants, who he admitted included immigrants.
 
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/richest-mp-britain-slams-welfare-3178089

[Phil Hornby]

Nah. They're all innocent and certainly don't warrant any investigations or comment by the Daily Mail...      

[oftenwrong]

People who read The Daily Mail do so because it reflects their personally-held prejudices. The content preaches to the converted, who would never think of voting for the commie pinko Party. Nothing lost, in reality.

[Phil Hornby]

..except the very appearance of such sensationalist 'journalism' spills over into comment etc by the BBC and other news outlets...

[Redflag]

..except the very appearance of such sensationalist 'journalism' spills over into comment etc by the BBC and other news outlets...

 
I would not say the Daily Fail could be said to be sensationalist PH, more like the reporters let their imagination run riot then print it  

[Ivan]

The plot thickens! Is this why ‘The Daily Mail’ has recently tried to smear three Labour politicians, so that the Tories can negate this story by saying there are paedophile sympathisers in all parties?
 
Patrick Rock, one of Cameron's closest aides, has resigned after being arrested on child pornography allegations last month, but the story has only just come into the public domain. Detectives from the National Crime Agency have searched 10 Downing Street and examined IT systems and offices used by Rock, who was a protege of Thatcher and has held a series of senior posts in the Tory Party. Here’s the joke – Rock has been involved in drawing up government policy on internet porn filters.
 
Rock has been close to Cameron for many years, once again bringing into question our great leader's judgement. And this has surfaced on a day when another Murdoch stooge, Richard Caseby, started work at the DWP.
 
I apologise for the source, but it appears to have the ‘exclusive’ on this story:-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572495/No-10-aide-arrested-child-porn-Police-quiz-man-advised-Cameron-web-filters.html

[boatlady]

I don't know what to make of that - would feel more comfortable if it was being reported in a proper newspaper

[Redflag]

The plot thickens! Is this why ‘The Daily Mail’ has recently tried to smear three Labour politicians, so that the Tories can negate this story by saying there are paedophile sympathisers in all parties?
 
Patrick Rock, one of Cameron's closest aides, has resigned after being arrested on child pornography allegations last month, but the story has only just come into the public domain. Detectives from the National Crime Agency have searched 10 Downing Street and examined IT systems and offices used by Rock, who was a protege of Thatcher and has held a series of senior posts in the Tory Party. Here’s the joke – Rock has been involved in drawing up government policy on internet porn filters.
 
Rock has been close to Cameron for many years, once again bringing into question our great leader's judgement. And this has surfaced on a day when another Murdoch stooge, Richard Caseby, started work at the DWP.
 
I apologise for the source, but it appears to have the ‘exclusive’ on this story:-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572495/No-10-aide-arrested-child-porn-Police-quiz-man-advised-Cameron-web-filters.html

I do not know if you remember Ivan around about 18 months ago a man came out and said that while he was in a childrens home in North Wales he was sexually abused by a Tory MP, every Friday a mini van would call to collect them from the home and take them to a posh flat in London that was full of antique furniture then they would be brought back on the Sunday.

[oftenwrong]

Read all about it ....

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/patrick-rock-arrested-over-child-abuse-imagery-allegations-9167395.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/?q=Patrick%20Rock

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/368120/Prime-Minister-s-aide-Patrick-Rock-quits-over-child-abuse-images-probe

Ivan is doubtless correct in linking recent attacks on individual Labour Party members with this revelation. It's called getting your retaliation in first - possibly not the ideal defence, since outside the Westminster hothouse, most people only remember the last thing they read about a story.

[boatlady]

looking at the time elapsed since his arrest, I do wonder what all the proper newspapers can have been doing - surely, this should have been front page news on 14/2/14 at the latest?

[Ivan]

this should have been front page news on 14/2/14 at the latest?

It should have been - but Crosby and his cronies have managed to suppress the story for three weeks, giving 'The Daily Mail' time to stir up a load of froth about nothing over Harriet Harman. Presumably the deal was that 'The Daily Mail' would then get the exclusive on the Rock saga.
 
Hard to believe that Cameron promised us "the most transparent government ever", isn't it?  

[Phil Hornby]

Newspaper Articles We'd Love to See No. 245

Iain Duncan Smith - dressed as German Stormtrooper - caught in brothel with 12 year-old illegal immigrant :

 " I was just checking for Bedroom Tax infringements" says Minister.

 Boy claims : "Herr Schmidt offered me sweets and a place in the Cabinet innit..."

• ( Note to the Editor - Daily Mirror : I am free on Wednesday afternoons on a consultancy basis)
  

[oftenwrong]

Almost a pity we no longer have the Screws of the World.

[Redflag]

Almost a pity we no longer have the Screws of the World.

It would have done no good OW, Murdoch would never have reported on the Tory scandals since the NOW turned its colour to BLUE   

[astradt1]

It is also interesting that it was No10 that released the information not the police, as has happened when it was a Celeb...And what about the timing.......Headline News Trouble in Ukraine.....Great days to bury bad news......

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