# Establishment networking, sleaze and corruption. A handy compendium.



## teqniq (Aug 15, 2020)

I thought it might be an idea to have a thread where people could post links and their thoughts on those who consider themselves our rightful betters and rulers. I think it may be useful to have it all 'under one roof'. Predictably perhaps it will most likely but not soley focus on the vermin. The article below explores in detail Michael Gove and his many contacts. Initially I thought of posting it in The Michael Gove file but it is more far-reaching in exploring his connections and associates than just the man himself:









						Michael Gove- The Privileged In Public Service
					

Michael Gove recently gave the Ditchley Annual Lecture. He opened with a quote from the Marxist intellectual Gramsci and spoke of “The Privilege of Public Service.” Gramsci is famous for his writin…




					the-free-press.co.uk


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## teqniq (Oct 26, 2020)

Well nobody else bit but I'll add this to the above, concerning PPE-related corruption being investigated by The Good Law Project:









						Thread by @JolyonMaugham on Thread Reader App
					

Thread by @JolyonMaugham: We need to talk about isolation suits - also known as "coveralls". THREAD Experimental data shows that during the pandemic we have used 533,000 coveralls using the emergency procurement pr...…




					threadreaderapp.com
				




and an all too predictable response from the BBC:


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## teqniq (Oct 29, 2020)

People should do jail time for this, but unfortunately I find it unlikely.:









						Exposed: Special procurement channels for 'VIPs' and Cabinet contacts - Good Law Project
					

Leaked documents seen by Good Law Project set out special pathways by which “VIP” and “Cabinet Office” contacts could be awarded lucrative PPE contracts at the height of the pandemic – and at inflated prices. Lord Bethell, a junior Health Minister, promised that “suppliers will be evaluated by...




					goodlawproject.org


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## two sheds (Oct 29, 2020)

Good idea for thread, I think Badgers (others?) gets Good Law Project updates, too. We could update them here.


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## Badgers (Oct 29, 2020)

two sheds said:


> Good idea for thread, I think Badgers (others?) gets Good Law Project updates, too. We could update them here.


Yes yes yes


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## Gasmantell (Oct 29, 2020)

V. good idea.  
Just to show that the Good Law Project can get results  


			Good Law Project Ltd v HM Revenue and Customs & Anor [2019] EWHC 3125 (Admin) (19 November 2019)
		

This case was begun by GLP in 2017. As you can read in the summary, GLP got a result late last year. 
This resulted in Uber having to pay HMRC (i.e. the public purse, i.e. *us*) the sum of £1.5bn in owed VAT.

You'll hardly be surprised to know (and, if you ever get in a black cab in London again it's worth asking the cabbie who will probably know as his job goes out of the window) that there is a connection between UBER and the Tories.
This is from the Daily Mail (of all places) about links between UBER and the then govt....


> Specifically, it would appear to revolve around a woman called Rachel Whetstone.
> 
> A 49-year-old PR executive, she worked with Cameron at Carlton, and also with him and Osborne at Conservative HQ in the Nineties. Subsequently, she became an adviser to former party leader Michael Howard. She is also the wife of Steve Hilton, the flip-flop-wearing Downing Street Director of Strategy during the early Cameron years in office.
> 
> ...


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## Badgers (Oct 29, 2020)

There is so much corruption and also outsourcing of public services going on it is hard to find the right threads. 

The Good Law Project mentioned above is an excellent source and better for news that political or media sources. There are others and when I get five minutes will post some up. 

The sheer scale of it and brazen way it has/is being done and under reported is sickening.


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## two sheds (Oct 29, 2020)

Leaked documents seen by Good Law Project set out special pathways by which “VIP” and “Cabinet Office” contacts could be awarded lucrative PPE contracts at the height of the pandemic – and at inflated 

Lord Bethell, a junior Health Minister, promised that “suppliers will be evaluated by Departmental officials on their financial standing.” But there are serious questions over how enormous contracts came to be awarded to dormant or new entities and those of dubious financial standing including:


 Medpro won two contracts worth over £200m to supply PPE to the NHS. The £100 company, set up by the former business associate of Conservative peer Baroness Mone, won the contract just seven weeks after it was set up.
SG Recruitment UK Limited, a staffing agency, won two PPE contracts worth over £50m, despite auditors raising concerns about its solvency. Tory Peer Lord Chadlington sits on the Board of its parent company, Sumner Group Holdings Limited.
P14 Medical Limited, controlled by former Conservative Councillor Steve Dechan, who stood down in August this year, was awarded three contracts worth over £276m despite having negative £485,000 in net assets.
 
The leaked documents disclose that special procurement channels – outside the normal process – were set up for VIPs.

They also show that Cabinet Office was feeding its contacts into the procurement process, outside the normal public 

Good Law Project is also aware that successful contractors – like Ayanda which received a £252m contract for supplying facemasks most of which were unusable – were guided through the process by the Cabinet Office. You can read the documents in relation to Ayanda here and here. 

Good Law Project understands that most suppliers were operating on 10-20% margin. The leaked documents reveal that Cabinet Office contacts and others were helping ‘VIPs’ sell PPE to Government outside normal procurement channels. The information that Government would buy at 25% above the price paid to ‘regular’ suppliers was a licence to make enormous margins – 35% – 45% – on contracts sometimes worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Although Government has tried to cover up the per unit prices it paid to connected suppliers, we know that Ayanda enjoyed staggering margins above the prices paid to others. So there are certainly questions to be asked about whether other politically connected ‘VIPs’ benefited from lucrative inside information about pricing.


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## teqniq (Oct 30, 2020)

Deleting the evidence:









						Rightwing thinktank deletes offer of access to ministers for donors
					

Adam Smith Institute offered £1,000 donors invites to ‘power lunches and patrons dinners’




					www.theguardian.com
				






> One of the UK’s most influential rightwing thinktanks has deleted passages from its website promising access to government ministers in exchange for donations after the Guardian began making inquiries about its funding.....



Doesn't mean money for access is no longer available. Just not advertised anymore.

e2a from 2018


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## teqniq (Oct 30, 2020)

More on think tanks:









						Dark money think tank’s own advisor accuses it of ‘hiding’ behind charity law to lobby
					

‘Disillusioned’ Institute of Economic Affairs advisor criticises hard Brexit think tank – while new documents show it privately benefited from furlough scheme it publicly attacked.




					www.opendemocracy.net


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## Badgers (Oct 30, 2020)

Link from the BMJ









						Covid-19: Leaked documents suggest that VIPs and government contacts won PPE deals after special treatment
					

Documents leaked to the Good Law Project appear to show special pathways through which “VIPs” and Cabinet Office contacts were able to win contracts to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) at the height of the covid-19 pandemic.  The non-profit organisation, along with the campaign group...




					www.bmj.com


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## teqniq (Oct 30, 2020)




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## Pickman's model (Oct 30, 2020)

I hope lampposts have been supplied by reputable contractors because it would be a pain if they collapse when the weight of a corrupt toff is suspended from them


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## teqniq (Oct 31, 2020)

Thread by @Gabriel_Pogrund on Thread Reader App
					

Thread by @Gabriel_Pogrund: EXC: The chair of the UK's vaccine task force showed “official sensitive” government documents to a $200-a-head event for elite US venture capitalists last week Kate Bingham, a Boris Joh...…




					threadreaderapp.com


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## two sheds (Oct 31, 2020)

> EXC: The chair of the UK's vaccine task force showed “official sensitive” government documents to a $200-a-head event for elite US venture capitalists last week
> 
> Kate Bingham, a Boris Johnson appointee, showed guests a list of products which the government is set to invest in



Good investment for $200


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## teqniq (Nov 1, 2020)

Good Law Project bringing an action against Johnson and Hancock over appointments wrt test and trace:



> Hi Teqniq
> 
> In August, the Conservative Peer Dido Harding was appointed as Head of the National Institute for Health Protection. The wife of a Conservative MP and friend of former Prime Minister David Cameron, Dido Harding didn’t pip other candidates to the post at the interview. There weren’t any other candidates. She was just handed the job.
> 
> ...



this is getting coverage in the Mirror:









						Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock 'could face court' over test and trace shambles
					

The PM faces questions over making Tory peer Dido Harding, who is head of the programme, boss of the new National Institute of Health Protection




					www.mirror.co.uk


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## two sheds (Nov 1, 2020)

In August, the Conservative Peer Dido Harding was appointed as Head of the National Institute for Health Protection. The wife of a Conservative MP and friend of former Prime Minister David Cameron, Dido Harding didn’t pip other candidates to the post at the interview. There weren’t any other candidates. She was just handed the job. 

She’s not the only one to land a top job this way. Each week it seems another individual secures a role of vital public importance without any advertisement or fair process - and very often that individual has personal and political connections to Government. 

Our public bodies perform vital functions. Effective Test and Trace is absolutely key to tackling the pandemic. And we need to have those bodies run by people who are the best placed to do the job at hand, who were recruited through open competition and appointed because of what they know, not who they know. 

Appointing your mates to top jobs isn’t new or the preserve of the Conservative Party: we all remember “Tony’s Cronies” too. But it’s high time we put a stop to it. That’s why, along with the Runnymede Trust, Good Law Project is challenging the appointment of Dido Harding, as well as a string of other appointments which were made with seemingly no advertisement or fair recruitment process. You can see our Pre Action Protocol letter. If you are in a position to do so, you can donate to the crowdfunded legal challenge. 

This Government's approach discriminates against those born without a silver spoon in their mouth. It’s unfair to those who don’t rub shoulders with high-ranking Ministers. And it’s unfair to groups who the data shows are shut out of public life. We intend to change it.


Thank you, 


Jolyon Maugham QC
                       Director of Good Law Project


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## Badgers (Nov 1, 2020)

Beat me to it


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## two sheds (Nov 1, 2020)

I knew the clock was ticking 

your turn next time


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## teqniq (Nov 3, 2020)

Nothing to see here, move along....









						£45m deal for NHS masks collapses amid fraud claims
					

Exclusive: millions of respirators missing as medical company sues its supplier in US




					www.theguardian.com
				






> Millions of medical masks purchased by the British government for £45m are missing after a major PPE deal collapsed amid accusations of fraud, the Guardian can reveal.
> 
> The Department of Health and Social Care paid its supplier Purple Surgical upfront for 5m FFP3 respirator masks, which were supposed to have been flown into Birmingham international airport by June.
> 
> ...


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## teqniq (Nov 3, 2020)

Thread here with more backgrond:


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## Sasaferrato (Nov 3, 2020)

I was going to ask whether anyone believes that this sort of shit wasn't happening under Labour, but then, we haven't had a Labour government for a while.

The evidence is no doubt still there if anyone cares to dig deeply enough. Blair's colossal enrichment post his period in office has never really been explained. Payment for favours done seems the most likely scenario.


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## teqniq (Nov 3, 2020)

Well yes of course. Iraq being the main thing there.


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## Pickman's model (Nov 3, 2020)

Sasaferrato said:


> I was going to ask whether anyone believes that this sort of shit wasn't happening under Labour, but then, we haven't had a Labour government for a while.
> 
> The evidence is no doubt still there if anyone cares to dig deeply enough. Blair's colossal enrichment post his period in office has never really been explained. Payment for favours done seems the most likely scenario.


thisismoney 2010 How rich is Tony Blair?
telegraph 2015 Revealed: Tony Blair worth a staggering £60m
guardian 2016 Tony Blair has turned profiting from others’ misery into an art form
mail 2019 Tony Blair builds a £35million property empire


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## teqniq (Nov 4, 2020)

More blatant cronyism:









						Tory-linked firm involved in testing failure given new £347m Covid contract
					

Exclusive: Hancock has backed transfer of nearly £500m to Randox during pandemic




					www.theguardian.com


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## planetgeli (Nov 4, 2020)

teqniq said:


> More blatant cronyism:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Supine post over in the corona thread belongs with this.



> Randox has been given a further £346.5m contract
> 
> 
> from Department for Health for Covid testing, a programme headed by Dido Harding. And Aintree Racecourse, owned by the Jockey Club which Dido Harding sits on the Board of, has also received sponsorship money from Randox.


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## Pickman's model (Nov 4, 2020)

Badgers how can we get our hands on some of this largesse?


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## teqniq (Nov 4, 2020)

planetgeli said:


> Supine post over in the corona thread belongs with this.


Hancock has connections to the Jockey Club as well:









						Horse racing, Tory donations and a swift return from lockdown
					

Matt Hancock called the sport ‘wonderful’. He was funded by some of its leading figures




					www.theguardian.com


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Nov 4, 2020)

teqniq said:


> More blatant cronyism:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Calls for an independent enquiry?

Fucking criminal enquiry is what is needed. This isn’t just snouts in troughs, it’s blatant corruption, the upshot of which is more people dying from Covid.


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## nogojones (Nov 4, 2020)

Pickman's model said:


> I hope lampposts have been supplied by reputable contractors because it would be a pain if they collapse when the weight of a corrupt toff is suspended from them


You'll be sorry to hear then, that the ones round here seem to come from Serco


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## teqniq (Nov 7, 2020)

More revelations regarding Kate Bingham









						Thread by @Gabriel_Pogrund on Thread Reader App
					

Thread by @Gabriel_Pogrund: EXCLUSIVE: Kate Bingham, chair of Boris Johnson's vaccine taskforce, has charged taxpayers £670,000 for her own team of boutique PR consultants According to leaked docs, eight full-time ...…




					threadreaderapp.com


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## two sheds (Nov 7, 2020)

Good law project today: 

One of the ways we believe Good Law Project can hold Government to account is by fighting for transparency. Litigation is a powerful tool for bringing information into the light and keeping those in power honest. It’s why we publish our legal correspondence.

Last month, we shared the Government’s response to our legal challenge over its outdated energy policy that promotes the development of fossil fuel projects. That response showed how even Government now accepted its policy on climate change needed review. We posted the documents on our website and sent them to you in an email. We believe that you have a right to know what Government is doing - or not doing - to tackle this existential crisis.

The Government disagreed. Their lawyers wrote to us claiming it was a ‘misuse of the documents’ and threatening sanctions over our preference for transparency. However, legal advice commissioned by Good Law Project shows we were entirely right to share this important information with you and we have told the Government just that. We will not be bullied into silence.

This Government is bent on keeping us in the dark, whether on timely information on who is winning Covid-19 contracts, the prices they are paying to their friends, or how much they are spending on ‘Operation Moonshot’. This latest attempt to keep us silent on important litigation addressing the climate emergency shows the lengths they will go to in order to dodge scrutiny.


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## teqniq (Nov 9, 2020)

Hi Teqniq

Our challenge to Government’s decision to hide COVID-19 spending has led it to disclose that the Department of Health has handed £17 billion worth of COVID-19 contracts to private companies since April. Fresh analysis by Tussell reveals Government has failed to publish details of £4.4billion of these contracts.

In October we revealed £3 billion of spending was unaccounted for. A month on, this figure has jumped.

Moreover, although Government is required by law to publish contract details within 30 days of the award, the average length of time taken to come clean about COVID-19 contracts now stands at a remarkable 78 days. These persistent failures to adhere to the law make it hard for MPs and journalists to perform their vital scrutiny function and harder still for lawyers to challenge procurement choices.

The contracts we _do_ know about are alarming. Take Ayanda Capital, a politically connected firm given a £252 million contract to supply facemasks, the majority of which could not be used by the NHS. Ayanda was guided through the process by the Cabinet Office and enjoyed staggering margins compared to the prices paid to others. 

Or PPE Medpro – the £100 company, set up by a former business associate of Conservative peer Baroness Mone, which was awarded contracts worth £200 million, just seven weeks after it was set up. 

According to Government our claim for transparency in accordance with UK law_ “should not be used for the transparent purpose of trying to use the judicial process to embarrass the government at a time of national crisis“. _

That this Government views transparency law as something which “embarrasses” them tells you everything you need to know about their disastrous COVID-19 response. 

We are left with no choice but to seek answers through the courts. That’s why we – along with cross-party MPs Debbie Abrahams, Caroline Lucas and Layla Moran – are suing Government for their persistent failure to publish contracts. We await permission to proceed from the court.

Thank you, 

Jolyon Maugham QC
Director of Good Law Project


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## teqniq (Nov 10, 2020)

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

Covid vaccine PR executive linked to Dominic Cummings’ father-in-law



Spoiler: article



A director of the public relations firm paid £670,000 to advise the head of the UK government’s coronavirus vaccine taskforce is a longstanding business associate of Dominic Cummings’ father-in-law. On Sunday it was reported that Kate Bingham, chair of the task force, billed taxpayers £670,000 for a team of boutique public relations consultants called Admiral Public Relations. Since June, she has used eight full-time consultants from Admiral to run the vaccine taskforce’s media strategy — equivalent to an annual £167,000 salary for each consultant. The disclosure in the Sunday Times prompted questions over the generous payments, given that the government has hundreds of civil service press officers it can call upon. According to Companies House filings, Admiral Public Relations has two directors: managing director Georgina Collingwood Cameron and her husband Angus Collingwood Cameron, who is also park manager for Chillingham Castle Wild Cattle Association. Mr Collingwood Cameron has since 2004 been a director of the association along with Humphry Wakefield, who also owns the castle. Sir Humphry is the father-in-law of Mr Cummings, who is prime minister Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser and one of the most powerful figures in government. The 84-year-old baronet caused trouble for Mr Cummings this summer when he speculated that the prime minister would quit within six months, comparing him to an injured horse. An ally of Ms Bingham said that Admiral had been recommended by a “senior medic”. She then passed the suggestion to civil servants who negotiated and agreed terms. “They were recruited to do strategic communications, not personal or other PR,” the ally said. “The [vaccine taskforce] has dozens of other specialist contractors as well.” One government figure admitted that there had not been an open procurement process but said this was usual practice for Whitehall in some circumstances. Neither the government nor Admiral had provided a response by noon on Tuesday. A recent LinkedIn advert shows Admiral seeking to recruit several new employees to support the UK pandemic response, for roles ranging from six month contracts to full time positions. The advert stated that experience of working within healthcare or research settings and in a government department was “an advantage” but that skills in crisis management were “essential”. Pay would be “excellent for the right candidate”. Rachel Reeves, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, said Downing Street needed to be more transparent about its procurement processes. “These revelations raise yet more serious questions about how taxpayer money is being spent during the pandemic and how the government is being run,” she said. “The public deserve urgent answers as to how a small PR agency with close links to the PM’s closest adviser was simply gifted such a large contract — and what exactly was delivered for such a price tag.” Another public relations professional questioned why the government had not gone through a competitive tender process and the size of the fees paid to Admiral. Ms Bingham, a 55-year-old venture capitalist, was hired in the summer as head of the government’s vaccines task force but her contract will not be renewed after December, government officials confirmed on Monday. She was recently criticised for giving an hour-long talk to financiers at a $200-a-head event for US venture capitalists — in which she outlined the government’s investment priorities in potential vaccines. Matt Hancock, health secretary, on Tuesday thanked Ms Bingham for her “incredibly important” work in putting the UK at the “forefront” in vaccine procurement. “It was always a six-month job and she was always clear she couldn’t do it for longer than that,” he said. “The vaccines taskforce has done a great job.” Recommended UK politics & policy UK vaccine tsar to step down at end of year Ms Bingham has led the taskforce in securing access to six coronavirus vaccines out of 240 under development worldwide. This includes a contract for 40m doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which got a big huge boost on Monday when an independent analysis found it was more than 90 per cent effective. Admiral PR relocated from Newcastle to London several years ago and has also recently opened a new office in Manchester as part of its expansion plan. Mr Collingwood Cameron is a descendant of Lord Admiral Collingwood, according to one profile of the couple. His other directorships include a group called Caspian Caviar.


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## kenny g (Nov 10, 2020)

Hi fuckers! LRB link! 









						Peter Geoghegan · Cronyism and Clientelism · LRB 5 November 2020
					

Kleptocracies are bad places to live. People die poorer, younger. The trains do not run on time. In Britain, a culture...




					lrb.co.uk


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## teqniq (Nov 10, 2020)




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## Badgers (Nov 11, 2020)




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## two sheds (Nov 12, 2020)

Leaked emails seen by Good Law Project reveal that the Government suppressed an official report showing that one million rapid antibody tests it purchased from Abingdon Health were not fit for 

The purchase of these tests has been shrouded in mystery, but what we’ve uncovered from the leaked emails lays bare serious failings in Government 

The Government supported the creation of the UK Rapid Test Consortium (UK-RTC) back in April. The idea was that the companies and institutions involved, including Abingdon Health, would create a rapid antibody test. On 2nd June, Government awarded a contract worth £10million to Abingdon Health for the materials needed to produce the test. On 14th August, they handed Abingdon another contract worth a staggering £

But in choosing to spend these vast sums, Government seems to have ignored widely held concerns that these tests were not fit for purpose. The £75million contract was awarded without competition and on the basis of profoundly flawed 

When confronted with evidence of the flaws, the Government blocked Public Health England from publishing the findings until after they could make the announcement that they had purchased one million antibody 

These are serious charges, so we have set out the publicly available evidence in this chronology, which we will update as more evidence is 


To protect public money and to encourage Government towards honesty, we have issued judicial review proceedings in respect of the Abingdon Health contract awards. Our case rests on the following 

Government’s apparent failure to conduct any lawful or sufficient inquiry or evaluation of the accuracy of the rapid antibody tests.
The award of these contracts seemingly without any advertisement or competition between 
 
We have instructed Joseph Barrett of 11KBW Chambers and Rook Irwin Sweeney and will crowdfund the case. If you’re in a position to do so, you can donate here.


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## Badgers (Nov 13, 2020)

Feldman health advisory role with government questioned
					

Ex-Tory party chairman held unpaid position with ministry despite potential conflicts of interest over lobbying clients




					amp.ft.com
				






> Former Conservative party chairman Andrew Feldman was quietly given a job advising a health minister in the spring despite potential conflicts of interest with clients of the lobbying firm that he runs.


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## Badgers (Nov 14, 2020)

Thread below well worth reading...


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## teqniq (Nov 15, 2020)

Good article here:









						Covid-19: politicisation, “corruption,” and suppression of science
					

When good science is suppressed by the medical-political complex, people die  Politicians and governments are suppressing science. They do so in the public interest, they say, to accelerate availability of diagnostics and treatments. They do so to support innovation, to bring products to market...




					www.bmj.com


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## Badgers (Nov 15, 2020)

Saw that from the BMJ 

Pretty damning. Not that the disgraced government listen to experts  

Good to see and even the Daily Wail have made accusations of corruption this week. 

Hope (faint) that some of this shit sticks.


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## teqniq (Nov 15, 2020)

This is disgraceful wrt to the BBC:


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## Badgers (Nov 15, 2020)

teqniq said:


> This is disgraceful wrt to the BBC:
> 
> View attachment 238918


Disgusting. Hope everyone has cancelled their licenses. They have been shit for too long to have any credibility


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## teqniq (Nov 15, 2020)

Not much chance of that, and I wouldn't even necessarily advocate it even though it is little more than a government mouthpiece these days. There is always a chance it may change for the better. As for myself I haven't had a tv (or a license) for years.


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## Badgers (Nov 15, 2020)




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## two sheds (Nov 15, 2020)

This was mentioned by an MP, showing links between tories and their pet companies. I don't fully understand it myself but the idea is interesting. Any thoughts?









						My Little Crony
					

An interactive visualization of Tory cronyism during the pandemic



					sophieehill.shinyapps.io


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## Badgers (Nov 17, 2020)

Any info on the jewellery company in Miami who got a £200m PPE contract and £21 million consultant fees?


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## Pickman's model (Nov 17, 2020)

two sheds said:


> This was mentioned by an MP, showing links between tories and their pet companies. I don't fully understand it myself but the idea is interesting. Any thoughts?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


tbh it would be a lot more useful if it wasn't some bastard social network analysis thing and organised more like this

because as it is the associations don't make the contexts clear - there should be a box for the tory party, in which are other icons for eg boris johnson, making their corrupt relationships with others more obvious


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## Pickman's model (Nov 17, 2020)

two sheds said:


> This was mentioned by an MP, showing links between tories and their pet companies. I don't fully understand it myself but the idea is interesting. Any thoughts?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


this maybe makes it clearer:

you start by finding out who knows who, move on to who does what and then show the activities, organizations and individuals in context


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## not-bono-ever (Nov 17, 2020)

This isn’t just corruption and a bit of jobs for mates, this is corruption that is leading directly or indirectly to death. This is murder. Tory filth are mass murderers.


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## not-bono-ever (Nov 17, 2020)

Sorry but am in Scotland for a COVID funeral so feeling rather angry


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## teqniq (Nov 17, 2020)

teqniq said:


> This is disgraceful wrt to the BBC:
> 
> View attachment 238918


The BBC have now run a piece on this but interestingly it focusses on an American individual and entirely fails to mention connections with companies that either donated to the vermin or have connections to those actually in the government. Why is that I wonder?









						Go-between paid £21m in taxpayer funds for NHS PPE
					

A US jewellery designer struck "lucrative" deals with the Department of Health at the start of the pandemic.



					www.bbc.com


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## Badgers (Nov 17, 2020)

The BBC seem to be using a lot of Good Law Project but not inviting them or or giving credit 









						The US jeweller, the middleman, and the UK Government - Good Law Project
					

Almost $50 million to one man. Not to supply PPE, but to act as a middleman to sort the logistics for the jeweller from Florida whom the UK Government selected to supply PPE.




					goodlawproject.org


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## teqniq (Nov 17, 2020)

To be fair they mention them and the director in the article:


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## Badgers (Nov 17, 2020)

teqniq said:


> To be fair they mention them and the director in the article:
> 
> View attachment 239296


I think the GLP said they had a token mention but no contact made at all.


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## Badgers (Nov 17, 2020)

Sorry, I worded that wrong ^


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## Badgers (Nov 18, 2020)

Nothing will happen for years if ever but... 



> You recently signed the petition “Hold a public inquiry into Government contracts granted during Covid-19”:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## teqniq (Nov 18, 2020)

Every day something else really putrid floats to the surface:


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## teqniq (Nov 18, 2020)

Getting more coverage from the BBC



Screenshot of the statement from the National Audit Office:


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## teqniq (Nov 18, 2020)

Operation Moonshot: We’re suing - Good Law Project


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## two sheds (Nov 18, 2020)

> Today, the National Audit Office has released a damning report into Government procurement practices. It confirms what we have been saying for months. Government failed to manage conflicts of interest, dished out public money to deeply unsuitable companies, and has improperly shied away from proper scrutiny.
> 
> A number of contracts that Good Law Project and EveryDoctor are challenging in court feature heavily, from the lobbying by a Government advisor to secure a huge PPE contract for Ayanda Capital, to the pest control specialist which was placed in a ‘VIP lane’ supposedly by mistake. Good Law Project first revealed the existence of VIP lanes last month, and the report confirms companies placed in the lane, often by ‘the private offices of ministers’, were more than ten times as likely to win a contract than other suppliers.
> 
> ...



And because I'm not supposed to just quote something without comment, 

I win another one


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## two sheds (Nov 18, 2020)

Have we had this by the way? I opened a tab and am not sure where the link came from - it may even be from this thread 









						How we uncovered the UK businesses entangled in major corruption and money laundering cases
					

From suspicious spending splurges to London kleptocracy bus tours, the UK’s dirty money problem has caught the public eye in recent years. Much of this attention has focussed on the palatial properties and outrageous opulence enjoyed by those who have abused the power entrusted in them by their...




					www.transparency.org.uk


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## teqniq (Nov 20, 2020)

The BBC have essentially packacked all the info that has been lying around for quite some time in one long article. Dido Harding in an almost footnote at the end gets a bit of the ''it's not really her fault' treatment.











						Coronavirus: Inside NHS Test and Trace - how the 'world beater' went wrong
					

BBC News spoke to key government figures, scientists and health officials involved from the start.



					www.bbc.com


----------



## two sheds (Nov 20, 2020)

Good they've done it, although doesn't mention Good Law Project again.


----------



## teqniq (Nov 20, 2020)

two sheds said:


> Good they've done it, although doesn't mention Good Law Project again.


Yes indeed and like the last BBC article I linked to it completly fails to mention the connections between the private contractors and people in government.


----------



## GarveyLives (Nov 20, 2020)

(Source:  Daily Mail online)​


----------



## teqniq (Nov 21, 2020)

Merseyside staff laid off as PPE deals went to Tory linked firms


----------



## Dogsauce (Nov 21, 2020)

That’s my pay rise for next year spunked all over Tory acquaintances. I might have to go and reclaim it by sawing a bit off one of their yachts, maybe a nice bit below the waterline.


----------



## two sheds (Nov 21, 2020)

Boris Johnson ‘acted illegally’ over jobs for top anti-Covid staff
					

Legal action targets appointments of Dido Harding, Kate Bingham and Mike Coupe




					www.theguardian.com
				




Goodoh


----------



## Badgers (Nov 22, 2020)

Latest from the GLP 



> Kate Bingham heads up Britain’s vaccine task force. She’s a venture capitalist with no public health experience, married to a Conservative minister. Dido Harding leads the Test and Trace system. She has no public health experience and is the wife of a Conservative MP. Mike Coupe, is head of COVID-19 testing, and has - you guessed it - no public health experience. The list goes on.
> 
> Why - when facing the single greatest threat to public health this country has ever seen - would the Government of the day not want the best-qualified people to lead the response?
> 
> ...


----------



## teqniq (Nov 22, 2020)

Matt Hancock gave key Covid role to lobbyist pal
					

Matt Hancock has failed to declare that he appointed his closest friend from university, who is the director of a lobbying firm, as an adviser — and later gave




					www.thetimes.co.uk
				






Spoiler: article



Matt Hancock has failed to declare that he appointed his closest friend from university, who is the director of a lobbying firm, as an adviser — and later gave her a £15,000-a-year role on the board of his department.

Gina Coladangelo, 42, is a director and major shareholder at Luther Pendragon, a lobbying firm based in central London that offers clients a “deep understanding of the mechanics of government”. She is also communications director at Oliver Bonas, a fashion and lifestyle store founded by her husband.

Hancock, the health secretary, first met Coladangelo, a public relations consultant, while involved with radio at Oxford University and the pair remain close friends.

In March, he secretly appointed her as an unpaid adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on a six-month contract.


She has since accompanied Hancock, 42, to confidential meetings with civil servants and visited No 10 Downing Street.

One source said: “Before Matt does anything big, he’ll speak to Gina. She knows everything.” Another added: “She has access to lots of confidential information.”
In September, Hancock appointed Coladangelo as a non-executive director at DHSC, meaning that she is a member of the board that scrutinises the department. There is no public record of the appointment, which will see her earn at least £15,000 of taxpayers’ money and could rise by a further £5,000.

March 23: Matt Hancock in Victoria Tower Gardens, Westminster, with Gina Colandangelo, days before the national lockdown
Since April, Coladangelo has had a parliamentary pass, giving her unregulated access to the Palace of Westminster. It bears her husband’s surname, which she does not use professionally, and is sponsored by Lord Bethell, the hereditary peer, health minister and former lobbyist.
However, Coladangelo is understood to play no role in Bethell’s team.
Yesterday, the DHSC could not explain why he had sponsored her pass and had to ask this newspaper for help in finding the documents showing that he had done so.
The disclosures come as the government faces allegations of “chumocracy” and a lack of transparency in appointing friends from the private sector to key roles.
Lord Evans, the ex-MI5 boss, has warned that a “perception is taking root” that “some in our political leadership, are choosing to disregard the norms of ethics and propriety that have explicitly governed public life for the last 25 years”.
Last week, The Sunday Times also revealed that George Pascoe-Watson, chairman of Portland Communications, another lobbying firm, had advised a minister in Hancock’s department for most of the pandemic.
Shortly after leaving his role, he passed sensitive information about lockdown policy to paying clients. They include McDonald’s, which says that it has ceased all work with the firm and placed their relationship under review. Pascoe-Watson has insisted he did not gain the information through his role.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, responded by calling for an inquiry into how lobbyists are able to serve as government advisers, saying: “The public need answers now.”

May 15: The pair arriving at No 10 for the daily press conference
She redoubled those calls last night as the government declined to dispute any aspect of the latest “chumocracy” story.
Instead, a government source said that Coladangelo — who studied economics at Oxford and is not known to have a health background — worked to “support DHSC in connection with its response to the current coronavirus global health emergency”.
Hancock and Coladangelo were pictured together as recently as last Monday. However, the source said that she had “previously” worked for Hancock, implying that her advisory role had come to an end. They added that she had signed a “volunteer’s agreement”, meaning that she is bound by the Official Secrets Act.

Left, June 7: Heading for The Andrew Marr Show at the BBC. Right, July 5: Arriving at BBC HQ again
The DHSC did not respond to questions about a number of possible conflicts of interest arising from her role.
Luther Pendragon, the lobbying firm in which she is a director, boasts clients who have secured lucrative contracts during the pandemic, including British Airways (£70m) and Accenture, which received £2.5m to help build the NHS Covid-19 app.
Trade publications have described Oliver Bonas, for whom she works as communications and marketing director, as something of a “poster boy” for the government of late.
In June, for example, a blog was published on the government website entitled: “Oliver Bonas: Fashion and homeware store reopens safely.”
Then there is Coladangelo’s appointment as a non-executive director of DHSC, which appears in just one place publicly: her LinkedIn page. The role makes her responsible for “overseeing and monitoring performance” — in effect, scrutinising matters of concern to Hancock, with whom she attends Christmas drinks, birthday parties and family dinners.

Left, September 20: Using a socially distanced greeting at the BBC. Right, September 24: Returning to parliament on the day Rishi Sunak presented his winter economy plan
Coladangelo’s role does not break any rules — because there are none. As Peter Riddell, the commissioner for public appointments, noted recently, such appointments are “not regulated at all” and increasingly take place “without competition and without any form of regulatory oversight”.
Ministers, in other words, are free to create a process or, as Hancock has apparently done, reward their closest friends with roles.
MPs also do not have to declare such advisers on the register of MPs’ staff and secretaries, which is designed to ensure transparency. On Hancock’s register, the West Suffolk MP lists three people. Coladangelo is not one of them.
Alex Thomas, who was right-hand man to Jeremy Heywood, the former cabinet secretary, and is a programme director at the Institute for Government, said: “It’s reasonable for ministers to take advice from a range of sources, but advisers should be transparent, accountable and appointed on merit.”
The former senior civil servant added: “Non-executive directors are appointed to bring in commercial and other expertise to departments, and to help ministers and civil servants deliver high priority projects. That’s where they add most value.”
During his time as a student journalist at Oxford, Hancock overslept on the day he was supposed to cover a rugby match at Twickenham. Instead of making it to the stadium, he got off the train early, found a nearby pub and watched the match on television, before writing the match report as planned.
In an interview on the BBC in April, in which she did not disclose her role, Coladangelo, a colleague of his at Oxygen FM, recalled: “He told a white lie, pretended he was at Twickenham watching the rugby, when in fact he was in a pub in Reading.” She added: “Successfully. Nobody ever found out.”
More than two decades later, Hancock is one of the most powerful officials in government and a member of the “quad” of cabinet ministers who determine Covid-19 policy. Some even credit him with persuading the PM to return to a second lockdown.
Coladangelo is now a successful businesswoman. And yet she finds herself facing questions, again, over what Hancock has and has not disclosed.


----------



## teqniq (Nov 22, 2020)

Well it's made it to Marr asking questions of Sunak, Marr gives him a fairly easy ride and Sunak is as slippery as an eel.


----------



## brogdale (Nov 23, 2020)

Triples, all round!


----------



## teqniq (Nov 24, 2020)

Good news on our procurement judicial reviews - Good Law Project
					

To bring judicial review proceedings you have to establish you have an arguable case. Courts have, in recent times, interpreted this as imposing a relatively high bar for judicial review proceedings; think of it as being shortlisted for a job. And if they think you cross that bar they give you...




					goodlawproject.org
				






> We have now heard – in relation to two different sets of claims – that the High Court thinks our claims are arguable. Some weeks back we heard the Court had given us permission to bring our systemic challenge to the Government’s continuing breach of its transparency obligations. And last week we heard that it had also given Good Law Project and EveryDoctor permission to bring our challenge against its decision to award contracts to Pestfix, Ayanda, and Clandeboye.
> 
> This means that we are also very likely to be given permission to bring our challenges to the decision to award lucrative contracts without any tendering to long-time associates of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings. And to the decision to award contracts to Abingdon Health and Saiger. ...


----------



## teqniq (Nov 25, 2020)

Exclusive: A Scottish Property Developer Who Said He Knew 'Nothing At All' About PPE Was Handed £9.6m To Supply Surgical Gowns To The NHS
					

A Scottish property firm whose director admitted he knew “nothing at all” about PPE before the pandemic, and who says he managed a deal with Chines...




					www.politicshome.com
				




and this from Sunday:









						Tory Steve Dechan’s £276m in PPE contracts lands him a place in the country
					

A former Conservative councillor, who was awarded £276m in government contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE), has traded his modest home for a £1.5m,




					www.thetimes.co.uk
				






Spoiler: article



A former Conservative councillor, who was awarded £276m in government contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE), has traded his modest home for a £1.5m, 17th-century Cotswolds mansion with 100 acres of land.

Steve Dechan is the owner of Platform-14, a Gloucestershire firm that specialises in medical devices for people with chronic pain. It recorded a loss of almost £500,000 last year.

In April, Dechan, 52, was awarded a £120m contract to supply masks. At the time it was the third largest order that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) had placed for protective gear. He later received a further £156m to provide gowns and masks.

Neither contract went through a competitive tender process. Instead, Dechan established direct contact with the DHSC at the start of the first wave, offering the equipment via a British contact in Hong Kong, who, in turn, used a company in southern China.


In June, Dechan spent £1.5m on a grade II listed home in Painswick Valley, an area of outstanding natural beauty known as the “Queen of the Cotswolds”.

According to an estate agent’s brochure, Dell Farm House, a former dairy built in 1611, includes five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a rear wing that “could easily be used as a staff flat if needed”.
Speaking outside the house last week, Dechan confirmed he and his wife Kate, 42, who helps to run the company, had bought it. They have also retained their original home in Stroud, a 20-minute drive away, which is valued at about £350,000, but plan to sell it.


Dechan, who was raised in the Scottish Borders, said that since receiving the contracts he had taken a salary of “round about £400,000”, adding: “My wife has taken about £150,000.”
He said some of the money was “back pay” after five years when Platform-14 had struggled financially. During that period he had paid himself about £25,000 a year, below the average annual full-time salary.
Dechan said he was now able to pay himself a substantial salary because of the PPE contracts and also the growth in his company’s core business of devices that alleviate pain by sending electronic pulses through the skin. Reflecting on his recent success, he said: “We’re chuffed to bits.”
Dechan resigned as a Tory councillor in August amid scrutiny of the contracts, but defended the work he had done, saying: “We’ve absolutely done this on merit. We’ve sent things by plane, by train, by ship. We’re delivered everything we were asked to deliver.”
He also said he had used the profit to expand his business, hiring 25 people, buying a warehouse and purchasing a controlling stake in BioWave USA, a medical company based in Connecticut.
“We’re investing, building, manufacturing. We’re exporting as a British firm to the US. You don’t hear that very often. I’m sticking my neck out,” he said.
His comments come days after a damning report by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that ministers had set up a VIP fast-track to buy billions of pounds of PPE from companies that had political contacts with MPs.
It also found that £10.5bn (58%) of all Covid-19 contracts were awarded without a competitive tender process and that the government had not been transparent about suppliers and services.

During last year’s general election campaign, Dechan was pictured with Sajid Javid, the Tory chancellor at the time, and Siobhan Baillie, who defeated the incumbent Labour MP to win the marginal seat. However, Dechan insisted that he did not receive his contracts through the VIP route and provided evidence to corroborate the assertion.
Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, a not-for-profit organisation which is challenging the government over its awarding of contracts, said: “For millions of families the pandemic has been pure misery. But for hundreds, many connected to the Conservative Party, the government’s procurement choices meant National Lottery-style winnings.
“The government needs to come clean about how this happened — and now.”
Last week Boris Johnson said he was “proud” of the way the government had secured supplies of PPE.


----------



## teqniq (Nov 26, 2020)

Hancock's former neighbour won Covid test kit work after WhatsApp message


----------



## teqniq (Nov 26, 2020)

The good news keeps coming on our procurement judicial review - Good Law Project 



> Following permission being granted in our PPE cases earlier this week, we’ve now heard that we’ve also been granted permission to bring our challenge against the lucrative public affairs contract given to long-time associates of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings at Public First.
> 
> In the Government’s summary grounds of defence, they do not even bother to contest that their decision to award the contract without competition was lawful. And their conduct does not seem to have thrilled the Court:
> 
> _“The Defendant has provided no substantive response to the Claimant’s challenges, whether by way of pre-action correspondence or his Acknowledgement of Service, other than to state his intention to challenge the Claimant’s standing…The Defendant ought to have been able to indicate the general nature of his grounds of resistance in the Acknowledgment of Service...._


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## ska invita (Nov 26, 2020)

If GLPs court cases win Im curious what possible "punishment" might result from it - obviously it depends on the case, but what kind of thing, anyone know?


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## brogdale (Nov 26, 2020)

ska invita said:


> If GLPs court cases win Im curious what possible "punishment" might result from it - obviously it depends on the case, but what kind of thing, anyone know?


_Lessons learnt ?_


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## teqniq (Nov 26, 2020)

A great deal more than that I would hope.

E2a it's always an issue though, when bringing cases against large organisations how to hold actual individuals to account for wrongdoing. Practically I imagine a much harder task.


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## bimble (Nov 26, 2020)

teqniq said:


> Hancock's former neighbour won Covid test kit work after WhatsApp message


This story is just so wtf. I don’t understand how this is even possible .


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## teqniq (Nov 26, 2020)

An 80 seat majority helps somewhat. They consider themselves to be untouchable.


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## two sheds (Nov 26, 2020)

Do we still have the Death penalty for treason? Slight rewording of the Plaint and name them all


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## prunus (Nov 26, 2020)

two sheds said:


> Do we still have the Death penalty for treason? Slight rewording of the Plaint and name them all



We do not, since 1998. Life imprisonment only. But that’ll do.


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## two sheds (Nov 26, 2020)

prunus said:


> We do not, since 1998. Life imprisonment only. But that’ll do.


Curses  . And no it won't.


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## Badgers (Nov 26, 2020)

The good news keeps coming on our procurement judicial review - Good Law Project
					

Following permission being granted in our PPE cases earlier this week, we’ve now heard that we’ve also been granted permission to bring our challenge against the lucrative public affairs contract given to long-time associates of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings at Public First.  In the...




					goodlawproject.org


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## teqniq (Dec 2, 2020)

We’re in court tomorrow - Good Law Project
					

Last week we were pleased to be granted permission from the court to bring our challenge with EveryDoctor against the Government’s decision to award PPE contracts to Pestfix (a pest control company), Ayanda (an opaque private fund owned through a tax haven) and Clandeboye (a confectionery...




					goodlawproject.org
				




potentially pretty damning stuff:



> Last week we were pleased to be granted permission from the court to bring our challenge with EveryDoctor against the Government’s decision to award PPE contracts to Pestfix (a pest control company), Ayanda (an opaque private fund owned through a tax haven) and Clandeboye (a confectionery wholesaler).
> 
> The Court gave us permission on some – but not all – of our grounds of complaint. However, extraordinary new evidence has emerged since we issued proceedings in both the NAO investigation into procurement and a trove of emails uncovered between Government and the Health and Safety Executive. And for these, amongst other reasons, we asked for a short oral hearing to make a renewed case on the rejected grounds. The hearing takes place tomorrow....





> The leaked correspondence between HSE and Government on the Pestfix contract is particularly troubling. It shows that the HSE was placed under enormous pressure by Government to authorise the use of Pestfix PPE which the HSE had decided should not be released into the supply chain. It shows that HSE had grave concerns about the authenticity of the documents Pestfix had supplied. It shows that Government was “bombarding [it] with calls on this issue” and “requesting statements to the effect that HSE assessed the products and they were compliant – not factually correct.” And it shows that Pestfix was writing saying that “we do not want it to be made public-knowledge that PPE from PestFix has not passed HSE inspection.”...


----------



## teqniq (Dec 17, 2020)

Government in a terribly unsurprising move seeking to make it prohibitively expensive to bring legal challenges such as the Good Law Project is currently doing:









						Why you should be worried about the Government’s Green Paper on Public Procurement - Good Law Project
					

“The end of the (Brexit) Transition Period provides an historic opportunity to overhaul our outdated public procurement regime,“ writes Lord Agnew in the Ministerial foreword to the Government’s Green Paper: Transforming Public Procurement, published yesterday.  If these words don’t strike...




					goodlawproject.org
				




Meanwhile in-depth piece on the PPE scandal in the NYT (paywall)









						Waste, Negligence and Cronyism: Inside Britain’s Pandemic Spending (Published 2020)
					

In the desperate scramble for protective gear and other equipment, political insiders reaped billions.



					www.nytimes.com


----------



## bimble (Dec 17, 2020)

just saw that New York Times report,  it is really good. What a shower of shameless shitheads rule over us, that reporters for NYT take time off from writing about their own kleptocracy to cover ours.


----------



## Lurdan (Dec 17, 2020)

The New York Times paywall seems to be hit and miss - here's an archived copy of that article.


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## MrSki (Dec 17, 2020)

bimble said:


> just saw that New York Times report,  it is really good. What a shower of shameless shitheads rule over us, that reporters for NYT take time off from writing about their own kleptocracy to cover ours.
> View attachment 243864


Full article. Waste, Negligence and Cronyism: Inside Britain’s Pandemic Spending


----------



## Badgers (Dec 17, 2020)

Serco: Test-and-trace firm hands £5m bonus to workers
					

The company will award £100 each to 50,000 worldwide staff and plans to return UK furlough payments.



					www.bbc.co.uk


----------



## Badgers (Dec 19, 2020)




----------



## brogdale (Dec 19, 2020)

Badgers said:


>



So _Scarface, _done the corruption, not those they killed.


----------



## teqniq (Dec 21, 2020)

Is that the stench of more corruption?









						Controversial ‘spy tech’ firm Palantir lands £23m NHS data deal
					

Exclusive: UK government sneaks through new COVID data contract, despite legal challenges.




					www.opendemocracy.net


----------



## teqniq (Dec 22, 2020)

Update on Abingdon Health: A cover-up


----------



## teqniq (Dec 23, 2020)

Bizarre. I had to screenshot it, the tweet's still there though:


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 23, 2020)

Pickman's model said:


> I hope lampposts have been supplied by reputable contractors because it would be a pain if they collapse when the weight of a corrupt toff is suspended from them


When post-Brexit cheese shortages kick in we'll need something to roll down Cooper's Hill.


----------



## Saul Goodman (Dec 23, 2020)

teqniq said:


> They consider themselves to be untouchable.


They _know_ they're untouchable.


----------



## Badgers (Dec 23, 2020)




----------



## Badgers (Jan 3, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Jan 4, 2021)

Will they misuse these powers?
		





> Under cover of Christmas, with less than a day for scrutiny, and with No Deal as the only alternative, Parliament passed the _European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020_. The process was described by the venerable Hansard Society as “an abdication of Parliament’s constitutional responsibilities to deliver proper scrutiny of the executive and the law” and a “farce”.
> 
> Worse even than the absence of scrutiny – of legislation published less than a day before Parliament voted on it – is what that legislation does. It gives incredibly broad powers to Ministers to make laws and override Acts of Parliament. It has been described by the doyen of academic public lawyers, Professor Mark Elliott, as “the hoarding of power by the Government at the expense of respect for any part of the constitution that threatens its hegemony.”
> 
> Section 31 of the Act gives a Minister power to “make such provision as [he] considers appropriate to implement… or otherwise *for the purposes of dealing with matters arising out of, or related to,* the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.” These are incredibly broad powers – given to a Minister not Parliament – to reshape every aspect of national life the EU previously touched on.


----------



## existentialist (Jan 4, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Will they misuse these powers?


It all sounds a little too reminiscent of something you'd have found in the (German) Enabling Act of 1933...


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 4, 2021)

existentialist said:


> It all sounds a little too reminiscent of something you'd have found in the (German) Enabling Act of 1933...


Priti Patel doubtless thinks Henry VIII powers will allow her to execute opponents at the tower


----------



## MrSki (Jan 4, 2021)

Have we had the Nadhim Zahawi changing the name of a family company that his wife & sons are directors of? He is in charge of the vaccine distribution.







Watch out for Warren Medical getting contracts.


----------



## two sheds (Jan 4, 2021)

Pickman's model said:


> Priti Patel doubtless thinks Henry VIII powers will allow her to execute opponents at the tower



I thought the "Henry VIII powers" bit was a windup


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 4, 2021)

two sheds said:


> I thought the "Henry VIII powers" bit was a windup


priti patel has removed the tudor executioner's axe from the tower and is reported to be practising with it at home


----------



## existentialist (Jan 4, 2021)

Pickman's model said:


> priti patel has removed the tudor executioner's axe from the tower and is reported to be practising with it at home


Well, given her propensity for fucking it up, with any luck she'll decapitate herself. Although I am doubtful as to whether that will have any profound effect on her thinking skills.

ETA: the prospect of that razor-honed smirk operating from ground level is quite an attractive one, though


----------



## two sheds (Jan 4, 2021)

They'll be quoting Article 61 of the Magna Carta next


----------



## Pickman's model (Jan 4, 2021)

existentialist said:


> Well, given her propensity for fucking it up, with any luck she'll decapitate herself. Although I am doubtful as to whether that will have any profound effect on her thinking skills.
> 
> ETA: the prospect of that razor-honed smirk operating from ground level is quite an attractive one, though


i wonder whether the description of pp as footloose by one of her civil servants this afternoon suggests an unintended amputation


----------



## Buddy Bradley (Jan 4, 2021)

MrSki said:


> Have we had the Nadhim Zahawi changing the name of a family company that his wife & soons are directors of? He is in charge of the vaccine distribution.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Source (copied from the Covid thread): Vaccine Minister’s Family Sets Up Medical Company – Byline Times


----------



## MrSki (Jan 5, 2021)




----------



## two sheds (Jan 11, 2021)

And along a similar line: 



> We know that poorer and BAME families are exposed to higher Covid-19 risks. But now, because of Government’s continuing failure to arrange for the children of those families to be educated online, they will be exposed to further health risks. Their children will have to attend school but wealthier families, who can afford devices and broadband access for their children, can remain at home.
> 
> Back in April last year, we launched legal action to force Government to ensure all children could learn online. We pulled that litigation because Government gave us assurances it would provide laptops and wireless routers to disadvantaged children. However, 10 months later, hundreds of thousands of children are still without. The Education Secretary says he’s ordered a million laptops - of which only 560,000 have been delivered. And even when the remainder are delivered, there will still be a significant shortfall - Ofcom estimates there are 1.7m children without devices and 880,000 of them live in a home with only a mobile internet connection.
> 
> ...


----------



## Badgers (Jan 13, 2021)

A current news issue but this is not new 









						Private companies maximise profits as the young and the vulnerable suffer - Good Law Project
					

You will have seen the shocking photos of the food being provided to children on free school meals who are stuck at home during the current lockdown. The provision of these meals was contracted out – in this case to Chartwells, a company owned by the catering giant Compass Group. They, as you...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## tufty79 (Jan 13, 2021)

Badgers said:


> A current news issue but this is not new
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Holy moly - re the shielding boxes..
"And worst of all, Government paid £44 per box – which we calculate as being nearly double the retail value – to private contractors"


----------



## Badgers (Jan 17, 2021)

New £2 Million School Laptop Deal Awarded to Firm That Gave £105,000 to Tory Party – Byline Times
					

Sam Bright reports on the latest Government contract awarded to a firm that has funded the Conservative Party




					bylinetimes.com


----------



## two sheds (Jan 17, 2021)

Badgers said:


> New £2 Million School Laptop Deal Awarded to Firm That Gave £105,000 to Tory Party – Byline Times
> 
> 
> Sam Bright reports on the latest Government contract awarded to a firm that has funded the Conservative Party
> ...


Here we go again - if we're going to suggest corruption if there's _any _connection to a conservative 




(I'm sure I've seen this argument somewhere )


----------



## existentialist (Jan 17, 2021)

two sheds said:


> Here we go again - if we're going to suggest corruption if there's _any _connection to a conservative
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, to me it's not quite so much *who* the contract ended up with, as *how* they ended up with it.


----------



## Badgers (Jan 17, 2021)

existentialist said:


> Yeah, to me it's not quite so much *who* the contract ended up with, as *how* they ended up with it.


Let's see the tenders


----------



## two sheds (Jan 17, 2021)

Although the *who *is important too. From one of the documents referred to at the beginning of the thread:

PPE Medpro won two contracts worth over £200m to supply PPE to the NHS. The £100 company, set up by the former business associate of Conservative peer Baroness Mone, *won the contract just seven weeks after it was set up.*
SG Recruitment UK Limited, a staffing agency, won two PPE contracts worth over £50m, *despite auditors raising concerns about its solvency*. Tory Peer Lord Chadlington sits on the Board of its parent company, Sumner Group Holdings Limited.
P14 Medical Limited, controlled by former Conservative Councillor Steve Dechan, who stood down in August this year, was awarded three contracts worth over £276m *despite having negative £485,000 in net assets.*
Companies seemingly totally unsuitable to receive major contracts with (as I recall) no competitive bidding process. But if we're going to suggest corruption for _any _company linked to a Conservative


----------



## existentialist (Jan 17, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Let's see the tenders


Quite.


----------



## existentialist (Jan 17, 2021)

two sheds said:


> Although the *who *is important too. From one of the documents referred to at the beginning of the thread:
> 
> PPE Medpro won two contracts worth over £200m to supply PPE to the NHS. The £100 company, set up by the former business associate of Conservative peer Baroness Mone, *won the contract just seven weeks after it was set up.*
> SG Recruitment UK Limited, a staffing agency, won two PPE contracts worth over £50m, *despite auditors raising concerns about its solvency*. Tory Peer Lord Chadlington sits on the Board of its parent company, Sumner Group Holdings Limited.
> ...


I guess my point is that if there is a bidding process which is at least notionally transparent, then we're a step closer to making sure these contracts go to companies who stand a chance of fulfilling them at a reasonable cost. But yes - it's no guarantee that it's not corrupt. I mean, in theory, the Government could ensure that only favoured companies were shortlisted...and, given that they're pretty brazen about what they're doing now, it's probably almost inevitable that something like that will be going on for those rare contracts that might actually be subject to tender, rather than the mate network...


----------



## teqniq (Jan 20, 2021)

Tory donor Lord Ashcroft’s outsourcing firm lands £350m vaccination contract


----------



## Badgers (Jan 24, 2021)

Substandard laptops
		




> The COVID-19 goldrush continues for those fortunate enough to have links to the Conservative Party. Sadly this time it’s the most vulnerable families picking up the pieces, and fighting for the most basic provisions to continue their child’s education


----------



## MrSki (Jan 24, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Jan 24, 2021)

i think this ^^ has been posted before but worth watching again to clock the disinterested cunt who is looking at his phone rather than paying any attention to Ms. Sultana.


----------



## MrSki (Jan 24, 2021)

teqniq said:


> i think this ^^ has been posted before but worth watching again to clock the disinterested cunt who is looking at his phone rather than paying any attention to Ms. Sultana.


I expect it was me who posted it before.   I am a fan of Ms Sultana & am seriously impressed by her impact since being elected. Hope she becomes leader one day & PM too.


----------



## Badgers (Jan 24, 2021)

MrSki said:


> I expect it was me who posted it before.   I am a fan of Ms Sultana & am seriously impressed by her impact since being elected. Hope she becomes leader one day & PM too.


Oh indeed


----------



## teqniq (Jan 27, 2021)

Hmmm are the government a bit concerned? Possibliy.

from the Good Law Project



> *Update on Abingdon Health: A cover-up*
> 
> On 21st January, Government wrote to our lawyers to say that they had cancelled, with immediate effect, all outstanding orders placed with Abingdon Health for antibody lateral flow tests, because they had failed to gain approval from the MHRA for home use of those tests.
> Government also confirmed that they won’t be placing any more orders under their existing contract with Abingdon Health.
> ...


----------



## Badgers (Jan 28, 2021)

Recover the money wasted on duff PPE
					

I just signed a petition asking Government to conduct a full review of the companies who did not deliver adequate PPE and recover the profits from those who benefitted. Will you add your name?



					actionnetwork.org
				






> It’s time to put an end to the COVID-19 goldrush. Government must conduct a full review of the companies who did not deliver adequate PPE and recover the profits from those who benefitted.
> 
> Will you sign the petition and demand the money wasted on duff PPE is recovered?


----------



## Badgers (Jan 28, 2021)

> A new proposed law that would hold the Government to account for awarding contracts to its chums, has passed its first House of Commons hurdle.
> 
> Presented to the Commons by Scottish National Party MP Owen Thompson this afternoon, the Bill received the assent of MPs in the chamber – which means it will now be the subject of a formal parliamentary debate and vote.
> 
> The Ministerial Interests (Emergency Powers) Bill would ensure that MPs can interrogate ministers in the House of Commons about any personal, political or financial connections they may have to a company that is awarded a Government contract.











						‘Crony Bill’ To Tackle Procurement Scandal Passes First Commons Hurdle After Government ‘Handed Out Public Contracts Like Sweeties to Friends’ – Byline Times
					

The proposed law would ensure that ministers cannot get away with awarding contracts to friends of the Government without facing scrutiny, reports Sam Bright




					bylinetimes.com


----------



## MrSki (Jan 28, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Jan 28, 2021)

Absolute cunts, not only are they attempting to drown GLP in paperwork but now this:



> Correspondence with Government has revealed they expect to spend a staggering £1 million defending our judicial review of their decisions to award contracts criticised by the NAO. This is a sum unprecedented in our lawyers’ experience of judicial review proceedings. We can’t but wonder whether they are trying to scare us off – using the bottomless public purse to avoid accountability to the public.
> 
> Government also says, remarkably, that finding out whether they acted lawfully in channelling hundreds of millions or billions to their VIP associates, is not in the public interest.
> 
> ...


----------



## Badgers (Jan 29, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Jan 29, 2021)

So which tory do you reckon has shares or is on the board of the hotels gonna be used for quarantine?


----------



## teqniq (Feb 3, 2021)

The Good Law Project is tweeting from the judicial review proceedings into PPE procurement by the government today. You can followe it here if you're interested:



			https://twitter.com/GoodLawProject
		


e2a specific thread here:


----------



## Badgers (Feb 6, 2021)

Not read much about this latest case 









						Another extraordinary revelation in our Abingdon case - Good Law Project
					

Last week we revealed Government had cancelled all orders with Abingdon Health for antibody lateral flow tests because it had failed to gain approval from the MHRA for home use of those tests.  Today, an explosive...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Badgers (Feb 6, 2021)

Bit more here about the £87m cost to taxpayer 



Shame it is a Daily Wail link


----------



## MrSki (Feb 6, 2021)

Hundred quid for every pound donated.   Fucking stinks.


----------



## teqniq (Feb 8, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Feb 8, 2021)

'Developments'



Unroll here









						Thread by @JolyonMaugham on Thread Reader App
					

Thread by @JolyonMaugham: Remember the Florida jeweller (Saiger), the Spanish intermediary (Mr Andersson), and the vast profits (from your taxes)? Because there have been Developments. THREAD crowdjustice.com/case/...…




					threadreaderapp.com


----------



## Badgers (Feb 10, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Feb 10, 2021)

More dirty tricks:









						Spending public money for political advantage - Good Law Project
					

Correspondence from Government shows it plans to claim a staggering £500k-600k in costs for a one day hearing of a judicial review challenge to a contract awarded by Dominic Cummings to his friends at Public...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## MrSki (Feb 11, 2021)

Badgers said:


>


----------



## teqniq (Feb 12, 2021)

teqniq said:


> More dirty tricks:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Mirror piece on this:









						High Court 'set to hear from Dominic Cummings' over controversial Covid contract
					

The Good Law Project say the PM's former aide has given a witness statement in a challenge against a £564,000 contract awarded to a former associate's firm




					www.mirror.co.uk
				




but apparently Lee Swain's witness statement has been withdrawn because it wasn't signed.


----------



## MrSki (Feb 13, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (Feb 14, 2021)

We shall see what doesn't come of this. 

Country is fucked for what the Government have been allowed to get away with. Where are the journalists? No-one is holding them to account.


----------



## teqniq (Feb 14, 2021)

Deloitte - Good Law Project


----------



## Badgers (Feb 14, 2021)

Yup 









						Lawyer says £145m test and trace contract given to private company 'not lawful'
					

EXCLUSIVE: The huge bill paid to Big Four accountancy firm Deloitte accounts for nearly a third of the Government’s total spend on consultants hired to combat the Covid pandemic



					www.mirror.co.uk


----------



## Badgers (Feb 15, 2021)

__





						Government to spend up to £600,000 defending Covid contract | Coronavirus | The Guardian
					

Good Law Project is challenging award of contract to firm run by associates of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings




					amp.theguardian.com
				




Another £600k spaffed up the wall to try hide the £billions of dodgy contracts handed to their mates.


----------



## Badgers (Feb 15, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Feb 15, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Feb 15, 2021)

5 billion, just for running focus groups:

Aaaand, oh what a surprise! (second tweet)


----------



## two sheds (Feb 16, 2021)

Good Law Project: "Yesterday in court"



> "_This agency_ _is the one who are Dom Cummings / Lee Cain's mates, and hence getting all our work with no contract BUT are also spending much money on doing all our ridiculous groups"._
> 
> These are the words of the Head of Insight and Evaluation for the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office, describing a Government contract handed to friends of Dominic Cummings. It’s just one of several explosive emails revealed in yesterday’s hearing of our judicial review of the decision to award the contract without tender.
> 
> Documents disclosed to the court revealed that civil servants queried Public First’s costs and asked whether the contract was going to tender (it wasn’t). In one candid exchange a civil servant describes the deal as_ "tory party research agency tests tory party narrative on public purse"_.


----------



## Badgers (Feb 16, 2021)

More from the Good Law Project: 





__





						Consultancy gravy train
					





					action.goodlawproject.org


----------



## two sheds (Feb 16, 2021)

One of the crimes of this shitshow is that a lot of this money could have gone to pay nurses - the people doing the actual work - a proper wage


----------



## Pickman's model (Feb 16, 2021)

two sheds said:


> One of the crimes of this shitshow is that a lot of this money could have gone to pay nurses - the people doing the actual work - a proper wage


or dare i say to the eu


----------



## Badgers (Feb 18, 2021)

Will have a read up on this


----------



## teqniq (Feb 18, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Will have a read up on this



Graun article here:









						Defence research agency for 'high-risk' projects on cards for UK
					

Laws to pave way for ‘brainchild’ project of Dominic Cummings – exempt from FoI law and allotted £800m funding




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## MrSki (Feb 18, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Feb 19, 2021)

> Private firms handed contracts to run the UK’s hotels quarantine programme have links to the Conservative Party and have already benefited from a series of government deals during the coronavirus pandemic.











						Revealed: Tory-Linked Private Firm Awarded Government Hotel Quarantine Contract
					

Other businesses who won contracts have already benefited from a series of government deals during the pandemic.



					m.huffingtonpost.co.uk


----------



## Badgers (Feb 19, 2021)

The judgment is in - Good Law Project
					

The High Court has ruled “The Secretary of State acted unlawfully by failing to comply with the Transparency Policy” and that “there is now no dispute that, in a substantial number of cases, the Secretary...




					goodlawproject.org
				








> The High Court has ruled “The Secretary of State acted unlawfully by failing to comply with the Transparency Policy” and that “there is now no dispute that, in a substantial number of cases, the Secretary of State breached his legal obligation to publish Contract Award Notices within 30 days of the award of contracts.” We have won the judicial review we brought alongside Debbie Abrahams MP, Caroline Lucas MP, and Layla Moran MP.
> 
> In handing down the judgment, Judge Chamberlain brought into sharp focus why this case was so important. “The Secretary of State spent vast quantities of public money on pandemic-related procurements during 2020. The public were entitled to see who this money was going to, what it was being spent on and how the relevant contracts were awarded.”


----------



## two sheds (Feb 19, 2021)

Lock him up! Lock him up!


----------



## Badgers (Feb 19, 2021)

two sheds said:


> Lock him up! Lock him up!


Will be amazed if he resigned, let alone face any actual punishment. Fucking cabal of crooks.


----------



## two sheds (Feb 19, 2021)

Promotion beckons


----------



## Badgers (Feb 20, 2021)

Won't link to a *un article 

Not really 'corruption' but a greedy, self indulgent waste of more taxpayer money by Disgraced Prime Minister Johnson.


----------



## MrSki (Feb 20, 2021)

Not sure what time it is on 5Live am listening but not heard it yet but might have been on a fag break.


----------



## MrSki (Feb 21, 2021)

So how come there is no front page coverage in the UK but in the USA...


----------



## Badgers (Feb 21, 2021)

__





						Matt Hancock's ex-neighbour under investigation by UK's medicine agency | Matt Hancock | The Guardian
					

Exclusive: MHRA investigating former publican Alex Bourne who won £30m of work producing Covid test vials




					amp.theguardian.com


----------



## MrSki (Feb 21, 2021)

Badgers said:


> __
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Serge Forward (Feb 21, 2021)

MrSki said:


> So how come there is no front page coverage in the UK but in the USA...


It's because we have a Free Press, free not to print stuff that makes the current government look really bad.


----------



## teqniq (Feb 21, 2021)

Interview hosted by Owen Jones featuring Jolyon Maugham of GLP and Open Democracy's Peter Geoghegan:


----------



## MrSki (Feb 22, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (Feb 22, 2021)




----------



## two sheds (Feb 22, 2021)

Good rates of return for the donations though - over 1000x some of them. Must email him and offer a tenner see what I can get


----------



## MrSki (Feb 22, 2021)




----------



## Rimbaud (Feb 22, 2021)

MrSki said:


> So how come there is no front page coverage in the UK but in the USA...



It really is a fucking disgrace and our journalists ought to be ashamed of themselves. 

Also, I think people are really underestimating the extent to which this government are eroding basic democratic institutions and separation of powers. Political appointments at the BBC are part of this. 

Human Rights Watch has a good article on it:

Britain’s Democratic Fabric is Being Eroded by Boris Johnson’s Government


----------



## teqniq (Feb 22, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (Feb 22, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Feb 23, 2021)

Badgers said:


> __
> 
> 
> 
> ...




meanwhile the worm continues to brazen it out on GMB:


----------



## teqniq (Feb 23, 2021)

Proper sulky face and complete non-answer. No apology and lies again.


----------



## two sheds (Feb 23, 2021)

What a slimy shit


----------



## eatmorecheese (Feb 23, 2021)

Scrutiny is just something that applies to other people. Oleaginous turd.


----------



## existentialist (Feb 23, 2021)

If this continues to build momentum, someone's going to have to take a fall. Probably won't be everybody's best friend Hancock, though.


----------



## brogdale (Feb 23, 2021)

two sheds said:


> What a slimy shit


And Hancock is no better.


----------



## brogdale (Feb 23, 2021)

Pretty much encapsulates what's wrong with the LP; offers faux outrage at psychopathic tory corruption then smiles and caves when reminded that he's been made a privy councillor; warwick hunt.


----------



## teqniq (Feb 23, 2021)

Capped at £250,000. Still a lot if GLP and Every Doctor lose









						We will keep fighting - Good Law Project
					

We are pleased to be able to tell you that the Court has granted a cost-capping order in our judicial review over the award of huge PPE contracts, without advertisement or competition, to Pestfix (a...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## two sheds (Feb 23, 2021)

oh dear he was lying, now there's a surprise









						Hancock criticised for claim there was never a national PPE shortage
					

Doctors and MPs say health secretary’s comment about supply to NHS staff on Covid frontline is ‘deeply insulting’




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## MrSki (Feb 24, 2021)

At it again.


----------



## teqniq (Feb 25, 2021)

Mogg resorting to personal attacks wrt to Jolyon Maugham today in parliament:



The fox murderer reference is in relation to this:









						Fox-killing lawyer Jolyon Maugham will not be charged, says RSPCA
					

Jolyon Maugham apologises for the "tone" of his tweets that said he killed a fox with a baseball bat.



					www.bbc.com
				




And it's somewhat hypocritical of Mogg when you take this into consideration:









						Jacob Rees-Mogg branded 'dinosaur' after his country estate hosts hunt meeting
					

The Mendip Farmers Hunt met at Gournay Court in West Harptree, Somerset - a country pile owned by the Brexit-backing Tory millionaire




					www.mirror.co.uk
				




Mogg must be a little rattled. Good.


----------



## Badgers (Feb 27, 2021)

Australian travel firm handed controversial Covid contract following call from person “close to” Boris Johnson - Good Law Project
					

Brisbane-based firm Corporate Travel Management (CTM) has been awarded at least two lucrative Covid-related contracts by the UK Government.  The first, awarded in March 2020, was to provide support repatriating UK citizens stranded around the globe,...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## MrSki (Feb 28, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Mar 2, 2021)

And another....









						Tory-linked PR firm hired to provide test and trace 'reputation management'
					

Exclusive: firm owned by Matthew Freud won ‘strategic communications’ Covid contract without tender




					www.theguardian.com
				




'Reputation management' for test and trace.


----------



## Badgers (Mar 2, 2021)

Propaganda now eh?


----------



## Badgers (Mar 4, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Mar 4, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Propaganda now eh?


----------



## teqniq (Mar 5, 2021)

More bullshit from Johnson:









						BREAKING: Court Order shows Boris Johnson misled Parliament over Covid contracts - Good Law Project
					

3 days after the High Court ruled Government had acted unlawfully by failing to publish Covid contracts, Boris Johnson stood up in the House of Commons and reassured MPs and the public that all Covid-related...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## teqniq (Mar 5, 2021)

With regard the the 'Levelling up fund' announced by Sunak which seems to disproportionately favour towns with vermin MPs or towns that the vermin would like to gain, GLP have served the government with a letter via Bindimans asking for amongst other things an explanation of their methodology:


----------



## Badgers (Mar 10, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Mar 10, 2021)

Almost impossible to keep up with the endless corruption coming out.


----------



## brogdale (Mar 10, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Almost impossible to keep up with the endless corruption coming out.


They're dancing like nobody's watching.


----------



## brogdale (Mar 11, 2021)

Have we had this yet?



For fans of tory kleptocracy and corruption the tale is something of a gift that keeps on giving with a gem at the end:


----------



## two sheds (Mar 11, 2021)

Which he removed after it was pointed out


----------



## brogdale (Mar 12, 2021)

two sheds said:


> Which he removed after it was pointed out


piano wire for this cunt...


----------



## brogdale (Mar 12, 2021)

Incidentally, how does this happen if the exchange was private?
(Not very up on this sort of stuff)


----------



## teqniq (Mar 12, 2021)

brogdale said:


> Incidentally, how does this happen if the exchange was private?
> (Not very up on this sort of stuff)
> 
> View attachment 258372


I am guessing that one of them has shared the conversation with someone else who has chosen to leak it.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Mar 12, 2021)

I still cannot get my head around people using Influence to personally profit like this, especially in light of the pandemic . I know I might come across as a bit simple sometimes but like yeah, morality.


----------



## teqniq (Mar 15, 2021)

Reportage from the BBC no less:


----------



## Pickman's model (Mar 15, 2021)

so remember - write to all the tory mps you can and drop the magic letters ppe into your correspondence and who knows? you may end up with a lottery jackpot


----------



## MrSki (Mar 15, 2021)

Panorama on in 15 minutes. Titled 'Cashing in on Covid'



> *SUMMARY*
> As the government faces mounting criticism that well-connected people made millions out of Britain's PPE crisis, Panorama investigates who won out. More than £12 billion was spent in the first six months of the pandemic on contracts to provide personal protective equipment. Reporter Richard Bilton meets one man who made £40 million on a deal and speaks to others who felt ignored in favour of less-experienced suppliers. As the government refuses to reveal the full details of all its so-called VIP deals, the programme reveals the high-profile connections to one lucrative contract.


Might be worth a watch but it is on the BBC.

ETA I expect this might have been mentioned on this thread before.


----------



## teqniq (Mar 15, 2021)

Anyone watches it, I'll be interested to hear their thoughts on it. Can't watch here as no licence.


----------



## yield (Mar 15, 2021)

German regulator takes oversight of Greensill Capital as crisis deepens
Tue 2 Mar 2021


> The crisis engulfing Greensill Capital, a controversial bank that employs former UK prime minister David Cameron, mounted on Tuesday night when it emerged that Germany’s financial watchdog has taken direct oversight of operations at a local subsidiary of the London-based lender.
> 
> The bank, which specialises in supply-chain finance where businesses borrow money to pay bills, was plunged into crisis on Monday when Credit Suisse suspended $10bn (£7.2bn) of funds linked to Greensill, warning that there were “considerable uncertainties” about the true value of the assets.


Greensill Crisis Forces NHS to Pay Pharmacies for Prescriptions
3 March 2021


> Beleaguered lender runs early payment scheme for chemists
> Scheme was introduced by ex-U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron


----------



## gentlegreen (Mar 21, 2021)

Any idea about these people ?
Seems a bit bizarre to put up posters in BS5 ...
I bet very few people would bother to look them up ...









						Home - NEC Healthcare
					

NEC Healthcare has been working with many of the UK’s NHS Trusts and UK Care Homes manufacturing and supplying face protection visors and other core medical devices to assist with Covid-19 pandemic.




					www.nec-healthcare.com


----------



## teqniq (Mar 22, 2021)

This looks to say the least, to be dodgy:


----------



## Badgers (Mar 23, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (Mar 26, 2021)

Worth the read.


----------



## MrSki (Mar 26, 2021)

Priti Patel's Home Office seem to spend a hell of a lot on eyebrows.


----------



## Badgers (Mar 28, 2021)

__





						High court to rule on legality of Covid contracts for PM's 'chums' | Boris Johnson | The Guardian
					

Campaigners claim Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock acted unlawfully




					amp.theguardian.com


----------



## MrSki (Mar 29, 2021)

Not wanting to be left out.


----------



## Badgers (Mar 30, 2021)

> Up to 60 million doses of COVID vaccine will be manufactured at *Barnard Castle* in the North East, Boris Johnson has announced.













						COVID-19: Up to 60m vaccine doses to be manufactured at Barnard Castle, Boris Johnson says
					

The GSK facility is in the same town notably visited by the prime minister's former chief aide Dominic Cummings last year.




					news.sky.com
				





Nothing to see here...


----------



## MrSki (Mar 30, 2021)

Badgers said:


> COVID-19: Up to 60m vaccine doses to be manufactured at Barnard Castle, Boris Johnson says
> 
> 
> The GSK facility is in the same town notably visited by the prime minister's former chief aide Dominic Cummings last year.
> ...


----------



## MrSki (Mar 30, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (Mar 30, 2021)

It just keeps coming.


----------



## teqniq (Mar 30, 2021)

Some good news at least:









						We’ve won our lawsuit over Matt Hancock’s £23m NHS data deal with Palantir
					

And here’s what needs to happen now




					www.opendemocracy.net


----------



## Badgers (Mar 30, 2021)

Thread...


----------



## MrSki (Mar 30, 2021)




----------



## not-bono-ever (Mar 31, 2021)

.   



Deller


----------



## MrSki (Apr 4, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Apr 4, 2021)

That is staggering greed and obscene wealth


----------



## yield (Apr 6, 2021)

yield said:


> German regulator takes oversight of Greensill Capital as crisis deepens
> Tue 2 Mar 2021
> 
> Greensill Crisis Forces NHS to Pay Pharmacies for Prescriptions
> 3 March 2021







__





						Fallout from Greensill Collapse Splatters British Government, As Taxpayers Face Big Losses | naked capitalism Downing Street's dodgy dealings with Citi and Greensill show just how far the British government is willing to go to line the pockets of ban
					

Downing Street's dodgy dealings with Citi and Greensill show just how far the British government is willing to go to line the pockets of banks and other financial firms while bleeding taxpayers dry.




					www.nakedcapitalism.com
				



April 6, 2021


> The collapse of UK-based supply chain finance firm Greensill Capital continues to reverberate. In Germany the private banking association has paid out around €2.7 billion to more than 20,500 Greensill Bank customers as part of its deposit guarantee scheme after the bank collapsed in early March. But the deposits of institutional investors such as other financial institutions, investment firms, and local authorities are not covered. Fifty municipalities are believed to be nursing losses of at least €500 million.
> 
> Greensill’s biggest source of funds, Credit Suisse, has seen its share price plunge by almost a quarter. This is due not only to the fallout from Greensill’s collapse but also the impact of losses at its prime brokerage division caused by the stricken U.S. hedge fund Archegos, which are expected to reach €4 billion. The lender has warned of “considerable uncertainty” regarding the valuation of its supply chain finance fund. More than $5 billion of the roughly $10 billion invested in the fund remains outstanding.
> 
> Credit Suisse had assured clients in marketing documents that the debt in the supply chain fund was “low risk”. In one factsheet, it also said: “The underlying credit risk of the notes is fully insured by highly rated insurance companies.” At the beginning of March, that turned out not to be true. Some clients whose money remains trapped in the fund have threatened to sue.





> Greensill’s biggest client, Anglo-Indian steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta, is on the verge of bankruptcy. Gupta’s GFG Alliance reportedly owes Greensill more than €3 billion. It began defaulting on its obligations after Greensill stopped lending to the group at the beginning of March. At the end of March Gupta requested a £170 million emergency loan from the UK government, which was duly rejected. Greensill’s administrator, Grant Thornton, has been unable to verify invoices underpinning some of the loans to Gupta. Companies listed on the documents denied ever having done business with the metals magnate.
> 
> Now the fallout is beginning to splatter the British government, which invited Greensill to participate in its Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS). This is despite the fact the company: a) wasn’t a bank; and b) was quite clearly already in deep financial trouble. Greensill’s participation in CLBILS allowed it to extend even more loans, this time government backed, to Gupta’s empire. Taxpayers will now probably end up holding the bag for those loans.


----------



## MrSki (Apr 7, 2021)




----------



## two sheds (Apr 7, 2021)

ROI of 1,000 to 1, that seems to be quite the going rate nothing to see here


----------



## stdP (Apr 7, 2021)

two sheds said:


> ROI of 1,000 to 1, that seems to be quite the going rate nothing to see here



Hmm, I wonder if "donating to the Tory party" should be listed as a valid investment strategy in this suburban thread. This way we can all be shareholders in United Kingdom Plc™®©!


----------



## stdP (Apr 8, 2021)

Being an ex-PM is also not without its perks:








						‘Revolving door’ watchdog has met only once since Johnson’s election win
					

Exclusive: UK government accused of transparency failings amid growing concerns over ties between business and Westminster after David Cameron lobbying scandal




					www.opendemocracy.net
				











						Rishi Sunak told David Cameron he had ‘pushed the team’ over Greensill
					

Treasury releases messages sent by chancellor to former PM and says Cameron phoned junior ministers




					www.theguardian.com
				




Is there anyone on urban I can text who can lend me a few billion quid to fill the hole in my pocket?


----------



## teqniq (Apr 9, 2021)

More on the Greensill affair. Sunak's hands are definitely not clean:

 (thread)









						Greensill lobbying row: Rishi Sunak texts to David Cameron released
					

Labour calls for an inquiry into "lucrative contracts" awarded to an employer of the former PM.



					www.bbc.com


----------



## Badgers (Apr 10, 2021)

Let's keep an eye on this one


----------



## Badgers (Apr 10, 2021)

Company registered in the last month. 

Allegedly in talks with two UK ministries seeking (taxpayer) funding for 'science projects'


----------



## teqniq (Apr 10, 2021)

Set up back in February according to this:









						Dominic Cummings Sets Up New Tech Consultancy Company
					

Dominic Cummings, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former special adviser, has set up a new advisory firm.




					www.bloomberg.com


----------



## Badgers (Apr 10, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Set up back in February according to this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


So just over a month


----------



## brogdale (Apr 10, 2021)

_Triples all round!

_


----------



## Pickman's model (Apr 10, 2021)

brogdale said:


> _Triples all round!
> 
> View attachment 262696_


if anyone should lost £21.8m it's someone like david cameron, although there are perhaps 168 pounds i would particularly like him to lose.


----------



## teqniq (Apr 10, 2021)

The death of Phil the Greek is rather opportune for the vermin as it means they may avoid answering awkward questions such as Greesill. If not avoid then the media will not give it adequate, if any coverage.


----------



## teqniq (Apr 10, 2021)

Not so with the Times it would seem:









						David Cameron lobbied No 10 and Hancock for Greensill
					

Downing Street today became embroiled in the “biggest lobbying scandal in a generation” after new evidence emerged of attempts by David Cameron to influence the




					www.thetimes.co.uk
				






Spoiler: Article



Downing Street today became embroiled in the “biggest lobbying scandal in a generation” after new evidence emerged of attempts by David Cameron to influence the Government.

The former prime minister intervened on two fronts to promote the company run by disgraced financier Lex Greensill. The Sunday Times can disclose:

• Cameron emailed Boris Johnson’s senior special adviser at No 10 last year within hours of the Treasury rejecting an application from Greensill to access a Covid emergency loan scheme

•He said it was “nuts” to exclude Greensill’s company from a multibillion-pound Covid loan scheme and demanded the government reconsider

•Cameron wrote: “What we need is for Rishi [Sunak] to have a good look at this and ask officials to find a way of making it work”



•His lobbying led the Treasury to reconsider its decision rejecting Greensill’s application
•In a separate development, it can be revealed that Cameron brought Greensill to a “private drink” with the health secretary in October 2019
•Cameron and Greensill lobbied Matt Hancock to introduce a payment scheme that was later rolled out within the NHS.
•With the help of one of Cameron’s former ministers, Greensill, 44, also met with Dido Harding, the then head of NHS Improvement, and Sir Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the NHS, to pitch his ideas.



•Greensill later launched a partnership with NHS Shared Business Services, jointly run by Hancock’s department allowing up to 400,000 NHS to be paid daily
•The Australian banker planned to make money from the scheme, which was awarded without tender or an open process.
The former prime minister is at the centre of a lobbying scandal after it emerged he contacted ministers on behalf of Greensill Capital, a financial services company he advised and held tens of millions of pounds of share options in. It has since gone bust, threatening 55,000 jobs.
In October 2019, Cameron, 54, arranged and attended a “private drink” with Hancock, and Greensill, an Australian banker whose eponymous firm wanted to introduce a scheme to pay doctors and nurses either daily or weekly, ahead of their usual payday.
They were joined by Bill Crothers, the former head of government procurement who became a director at Greensill Capital. He joined a year after leaving the civil service, where he first met Greensill.
The meeting with Hancock came two months after Greensill had personally sent a letter to the minister proposing a collaboration and claiming senior NHS officials were “overwhelmingly positive” about it. Off the back of that email, Hancock commissioned advice from civil servants about the idea.
One of those copied into the correspondence was Lord Prior, the chairman of NHS England and a minister under Cameron.
Prior, 66, who was awarded a peerage under Cameron, arranged meetings between Greensill and Stevens and Harding, two of the NHS’s most powerful officials. It is understood that Stevens met Greensill briefly at Prior’s behest.
The disclosure means Hancock, the health secretary, is the fourth minister to become embroiled in the biggest lobbying scandal in a generation: the others are Rishi Sunak, who told Cameron he “pushed” officials to consider changing a government scheme, and two other Treasury ministers.
There are no minutes of Hancock’s meeting with Cameron and Greensill. It is not logged in transparency releases and civil servants did not attend.
Allies of Hancock insist he fed relevant information back to officials at the Department of Health. They say that, while generally supportive of Greensill’s ideas, he encouraged him to work directly with NHS trusts on the basis that it was at no extra cost to staff or the taxpayer — and that other suppliers were free to offer the service.
However, months after the encounter, in April last year, NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS), a joint vehicle owned by Hancock’s department and a French IT firm, announced a pilot with Earnd — a payment start-up then owned by Greensill. It later said it was being rolled out to “all” NHS organisations.
In practice, it meant 400,000 employees who use NHS SBS for their payroll services became entitled to use Earnd and download it onto their payroll app. Private firms cannot automatically house their services on such platforms and are typically required to bid to get potentially lucrative access to the health service’s vast workforce. In this instance, there was no procurement process or open competition.
Greensill Capital’s subsidiary, Earnd, offered the scheme for free to workers, who could opt to receive their wages daily or weekly. The organisation actually providing the immediate payment in such instances was Earnd, who would later recoup staff salaries from the NHS.
Greensill framed the scheme as benevolent, saying the aim was to help alleviate stress facing NHS workers during the pandemic. But two senior former employees say the plan was to convert the NHS’s future payments into bonds and sell them internationally. They also used the credibility of working with the NHS via the service, and a separate pharmacy scheme signed off by Cameron during his time in office, to demonstrate their credibility with investors.
The partnership still required individual trusts to opt-in to take part: in the end, some of the country’s biggest trusts, such as the Royal Free in London signed up 10,000 employees, and Earnd claimed that 22 trusts were taking part or in the process of doing so. But the disruption of the pandemic slowed progress and, last month, Earnd filed for administration.
The company’s collapse poses questions as to the circumstances in which NHS SBS entered the partnership. The entity is not a public body and there was no transparency surrounding the agreement.
Hancock, Harding and Prior will all face questions about what they knew and whether they granted Greensill special treatment or access to officials.
Following her meeting with Greensill, Harding is understood to have introduced Greensill to Sir James Mackey, who was chief executive of NHS Improvement. He now runs a trust where he tried to introduce the scheme.
Last night, the NHS said: “The NHS has a duty to support staff while using taxpayers’ money wisely and so officials do meet organisations who may be able to provide good value services which are effective, and when ideas are taken forward, contracts are put through the appropriate and transparent tendering processes.”
A Department of Health spokesman said: “The well-being of NHS staff is the top priority of the department and health secretary. Our approach was and is that local NHS employers are best placed to decide how different pay flexibilities fit with their overall pay and reward offer for their staff. “


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## MrSki (Apr 10, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Not so with the Times it would seem:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




But of course he has done nothing wrong.


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## Humberto (Apr 10, 2021)

Doesn't look good this. Must be properly looked at. He of all people should know the rules after previously stating his commitment to deal with ex-ministers lobbying for private gain after leaving office:









						David Cameron promises two-year lobbying ban and pension penalties for former ministers
					

Tory leader said a Conservative government would amend the guidelines to limit the ability of retired ministers to influence government policy




					www.theguardian.com


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## MrSki (Apr 10, 2021)

Looks like Rishi Sunak could be in for a hard time too.


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## stdP (Apr 10, 2021)

Pickman's model said:


> there are perhaps 168 pounds i would particularly like him to lose.



I doubt his head is really that heavy.


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## Badgers (Apr 11, 2021)

David Cameron lobbied No 10 and Hancock for Greensill
					

Downing Street today became embroiled in the “biggest lobbying scandal in a generation” after new evidence emerged of attempts by David Cameron to influence the




					www.thetimes.co.uk


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## Badgers (Apr 11, 2021)

__





						The Tories' 'chumocracy' over Covid contracts is destroying public trust | Conservatives | The Guardian
					

You could be forgiven for thinking the government has treated the pandemic as an opportunity to reward its friends, says researcher Sophie Hill




					amp.theguardian.com


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## Badgers (Apr 11, 2021)

David Cameron spent two months browbeating Rishi Sunak’s officials
					

David Cameron resigned as prime minister and left No 10 in July 2016. But when the pandemic tore through Downing Street almost four years later, it was as if he




					www.thetimes.co.uk


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## teqniq (Apr 11, 2021)

teqniq said:


> The death of Phil the Greek is rather opportune for the vermin as it means they may avoid answering awkward questions such as Greesill. If not avoid then the media will not give it adequate, if any coverage.


Glad to be proved wrong here. this story seems to have legs. Even the BBC are giving it coverage:









						Matt Hancock 'had private drink' with David Cameron and Lex Greensill
					

An ally of Matt Hancock tells the BBC he "acted in entirely the correct way" after the 2019 meeting.



					www.bbc.com


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## teqniq (Apr 11, 2021)

It is worth remembering this whilst seeing articles in The Times:


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## not-bono-ever (Apr 11, 2021)

They don’t give a shit any more. Utterly shameless.


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## existentialist (Apr 11, 2021)

Downing Street rewrote the racism report. It doesn't get much sleazier than that.









						Downing Street rewrote ‘independent’ report on race, experts claim
					

Commissioners allege No 10 distorted their work on inequality, after conclusions played down institutional racism




					www.theguardian.com


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## MrSki (Apr 11, 2021)




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## Badgers (Apr 12, 2021)

__





						Tory MPs claim almost £3m in housing rent on expenses | MPs' expenses | The Guardian
					

Revelation comes at same time as government freezes housing allowance, which could drive many tenants into debt




					amp.theguardian.com


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## Badgers (Apr 12, 2021)




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## MrSki (Apr 12, 2021)




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## MrSki (Apr 12, 2021)

Does he think no-one would have recorded it? Cunt.


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## Badgers (Apr 12, 2021)




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## quiet guy (Apr 12, 2021)

So the cons appoint a chum to look into Dodgy Dave's dealings. Nothing to see here, full whitewash on the way.


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## Badgers (Apr 12, 2021)




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## Badgers (Apr 12, 2021)




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## Saul Goodman (Apr 12, 2021)

Badgers said:


>



The epitome of impartiality.


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## Badgers (Apr 12, 2021)

Saul Goodman said:


> The epitome of impartiality.


I am disgusted at our cuntry


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## Saul Goodman (Apr 12, 2021)

Badgers said:


> I am disgusted at our cuntry


Most countries are the same. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.


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## Badgers (Apr 13, 2021)




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## Badgers (Apr 13, 2021)




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## MrSki (Apr 13, 2021)

So Sunak won't face the music himself.


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## Badgers (Apr 13, 2021)

Tories accused of corruption and NHS privatisation by former chief scientist
					

Exclusive: Boris Johnson’s ‘chumocracy’ is using Covid crisis to sell off health service by stealth, says Sir David King




					www.theguardian.com


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## Badgers (Apr 13, 2021)

They are coming in hourly instead of daily or weekly now. 

#inplainsight


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## Badgers (Apr 14, 2021)

Nigel Boardman: from GQ list to chairing Greensill lobbying inquiry | Lobbying | The Guardian
					

Corporate lawyer is supremely qualified, say friends, but his close connections are set to be scrutinised<br>




					amp.theguardian.com
				







> Nigel Boardman was a long-term partner at the international law firm Slaughter and May, a role he left in 2019, though he continues to be a senior consultant at the firm. Slaughter and May is deeply connected to the coronavirus loan scheme that David Cameron sought to access on behalf of Greensill Capital – repeatedly texting the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, on its behalf.
> 
> Lawyers from the firm were “working as an integrated team with Treasury legal advisers” as the Treasury set up the Covid corporate financing facility (CCFF), announced by Sunak on 17 March 2020, according to a release on the firm’s website.


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## existentialist (Apr 14, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Nigel Boardman: from GQ list to chairing Greensill lobbying inquiry | Lobbying | The Guardian
> 
> 
> Corporate lawyer is supremely qualified, say friends, but his close connections are set to be scrutinised<br>
> ...


A place I worked at had them as our house solicitors. Sometimes a fax would come through a bit kift, and would appear to be from "LAUGHTER & MAY". Oh, how we slaughtered


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## elbows (Apr 14, 2021)

For some reason I am reminded of Camerons claim to be 'the greenest government ever'. I cant help but think there were some letters missing from greenest.

Speaking of which, I am reminded of the character Sil, excellently brought to life by the acting talents of Nabil Shaban, in the original phase of Doctor Who.


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## brogdale (Apr 14, 2021)

CWS on it...


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## eatmorecheese (Apr 14, 2021)

Remember the 'sleaze' scandals in the Major administration. Seems like a more innocent time. Those twats would chance their arm for a kickback here or a directorship there, plus 'family values, back to basics' hypocrisy.

Now, they are all carpet-bagging mendacious cunts who carry on because they can and don't feel any consequences. They laugh at us, laugh at the saps that elected them. Make a pile of money and cache it elsewhere before the net closes.

Dismal. And little fucking opposition beyond liberal hand-wringing unctiousness.

We are a teat to be milked.


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## elbows (Apr 14, 2021)

Might be time for me to rewatch The New Statesman. 

Make cheques payable to the Covid Antibody Support Hospital, or CASH for short.


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## MrSki (Apr 15, 2021)




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## MrSki (Apr 15, 2021)




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## ruffneck23 (Apr 15, 2021)




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## teqniq (Apr 16, 2021)

MrSki said:


>



Even the BBC has this now. Surely there will come a point where people say 'enough is enough'? I would like to think so anyway.









						Matt Hancock owns shares in NHS-approved firm
					

The health secretary is accused of "cronyism" but the government says he acted "entirely properly".



					www.bbc.com


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Apr 16, 2021)

Why are these people not doing porridge?


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## two sheds (Apr 16, 2021)

It does show what tories are actually like given a huge majority and so no chance of being stopped.


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## teqniq (Apr 16, 2021)

Fingers crossed on this:


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## MrSki (Apr 17, 2021)




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## MrSki (Apr 17, 2021)




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## existentialist (Apr 17, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Fingers crossed on this:



It really has come to something when the nearest thing we've got to oversight and accountability of our government is a series of crowd-funded legal challenges, to which the government's response is pretty consistently to evade, attempt to outspend, and use every technicality they can find to stop the process. It's almost as if they know they have no leg to stand on.

I will give GLP some money again when I have a little spare...


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## extra dry (Apr 17, 2021)

They need to be sacked


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## Serge Forward (Apr 17, 2021)

From the ACG Corruption, cronyism and sleaze – oh my!


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## Badgers (Apr 18, 2021)




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## existentialist (Apr 18, 2021)

The trouble with this creeping tide of sleaze is that I think a lot of people have normalised it in their heads, and are not much bothered. Which is pretty sickening.


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Apr 18, 2021)

It's a fucking cesspit of corruption.


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## existentialist (Apr 18, 2021)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> It's a fucking cesspit of corruption.


But...you know. It's like when people get cats, and keep the litter tray indoors. You go to visit them, and there is this faint miasma of cat shit as you go in, but they're all blithely like "oh, the cat litter's great, it absorbs ALL the smells!". And then, when you've been there a couple of hours, the omnipresent fug of excrement fades into the background.

Spend enough time smelling cat shit, and you stop noticing.


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## Badgers (Apr 18, 2021)

The cheeky cunts


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## DotCommunist (Apr 18, 2021)

it might be mote n beam stuff but Evans is a cunt, labour is just as rotten at a local level. Fuck him. This shit is why people are so cynical about corruption in public office or out of it, because 'they're all at it'.


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## not-bono-ever (Apr 18, 2021)

we have another decade of this at least. The big issue is that this there is no benefit to the UK population to this - its just another middle man taking a slice of UKG funds- these people produce nothing.


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## Badgers (Apr 18, 2021)

DotCommunist said:


> it might be mote n beam stuff but Evans is a cunt, labour is just as rotten at a local level. Fuck him. This shit is why people are so cynical about corruption in public office or out of it, because 'they're all at it'.


There are levels though ffs


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## teqniq (Apr 19, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Fingers crossed on this:



Cost cap win:









						Government struck down by the Court - Good Law Project
					

We are pleased to say that the Court has granted a Cost Capping Order in our judicial review of Government’s decision to hand a contract to Cummings’ pals at Hanbury without any competition. We will now be able to fight this case to its conclusion. Crucially, the Judge agreed with us that...




					goodlawproject.org


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## Badgers (Apr 19, 2021)

A rare bit of justice and fairness? 

#daretodream


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## Saul Goodman (Apr 19, 2021)

Badgers said:


> A rare bit of justice and fairness?
> 
> #daretodream


Or the judge trying to appear impartial, before meeting up with Johnson and his cronies later in the day, and pissing it up whilst laughing at the absurdity that anything will come of it?


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## existentialist (Apr 19, 2021)

Saul Goodman said:


> Or the judge trying to appear impartial, before meeting up with Johnson and his cronies later in the day, and pissing it up whilst laughing at the absurdity that anything will come of it?


I can't see it myself. But of course, an unprincipled government with an 80 seat majority is in a position to disregard pretty much anything the courts might say. As I believe they already have done (DWP?) several times.


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## Saul Goodman (Apr 19, 2021)

existentialist said:


> I can't see it myself. But of course, an unprincipled government with an 80 seat majority is in a position to disregard pretty much anything the courts might say. As I believe they already have done (DWP?) several times.


What'll likely happen, if anything, is a slap on the wrist and a small fine, which will, of course, be paid for by the taxpayer, but it would be nice to see some of them do a few year porridge. (wishful thinking).
On the subject, why are these fuckers allowed to use taxpayer money to defend their illegal actions?


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## Badgers (Apr 20, 2021)




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## existentialist (Apr 20, 2021)

Saul Goodman said:


> What'll likely happen, if anything, is a slap on the wrist and a small fine, which will, of course, be paid for by the taxpayer, but it would be nice to see some of them do a few year porridge. (wishful thinking).
> On the subject, why are these fuckers allowed to use taxpayer money to defend their illegal actions?


At the very least, they should be forced to pay the costs personally, if they are found personally culpable, no matter how light the sentence.


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## teqniq (Apr 20, 2021)

Saul Goodman said:


> ....On the subject, why are these fuckers allowed to use taxpayer money to defend their illegal actions?





existentialist said:


> At the very least, they should be forced to pay the costs personally, if they are found personally culpable, no matter how light the sentence.


I've thought for a long time that in situations such as this that they should be held personally responsible, using our money to defend things like this is just adding insult to injury, but how in reality could this be made to work?


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## teqniq (Apr 20, 2021)

two sheds said:


> This was mentioned by an MP, showing links between tories and their pet companies. I don't fully understand it myself but the idea is interesting. Any thoughts?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This has been updated, explanations of updates below first tweet:


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## Badgers (Apr 21, 2021)

Boris Johnson told Sir James Dyson by text he would 'fix' tax issue
					

The prime minister and businessman sent text messages over plans for ventilators during the pandemic.



					www.bbc.co.uk
				






> Boris Johnson assured Sir James Dyson his employees would not have to pay extra tax if they came to the UK to make ventilators during the pandemic.
> 
> Sir James, whose firm is now based in Singapore, wrote to the Treasury to ask for no change in tax status for staff.
> 
> But in text messages sent in March 2020 - seen by the BBC - Sir James then went directly to the PM, with Mr Johnson replying: "I will fix it."


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## Badgers (Apr 21, 2021)

Subscribe to read | Financial Times
					

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication




					amp.ft.com
				






> Boris Johnson’s government is facing a fresh legal battle over its procurement processes during the Covid-19 pandemic, following claims it awarded a £102.6m contract for protective face masks without competition or contract details being published in line with official guidance.


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Apr 21, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Boris Johnson told Sir James Dyson by text he would 'fix' tax issue
> 
> 
> The prime minister and businessman sent text messages over plans for ventilators during the pandemic.
> ...



This is one that sounds worse than it is, Dyson offered to make ventilators when everyone was scrabbling around for the things and thinking that we'd need 1000's more of them, he asked that British people based in Singapore (lower personal tax, natch) would not have their non-dom status affected if they came over to help with the ventilator thing. Of course the whole non-dom thing is shady as fuck to start with and practiced by utter scumbags, but if you have that system in place and you're the kind of scummer who used it, then it is reasonable to ask that your status is not affected if you come to the UK to help in a national emergency. On the scale of other shit that is going on with this kleptocratic government, this is nothing. Still need Dyson's smug, grinning head on a spike though.


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## ska invita (Apr 21, 2021)

Lets check out the BBC's *ANALYSIS *of it





Nothing to see here then


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## MrSki (Apr 21, 2021)

The last gasp effort?


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## Pickman's model (Apr 21, 2021)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> This is one that sounds worse than it is, Dyson offered to make ventilators when everyone was scrabbling around for the things and thinking that we'd need 1000's more of them, he asked that British people based in Singapore (lower personal tax, natch) would not have their non-dom status affected if they came over to help with the ventilator thing. Of course the whole non-dom thing is shady as fuck to start with and practiced by utter scumbags, but if you have that system in place and you're the kind of scummer who used it, then it is reasonable to ask that your status is not affected if you come to the UK to help in a national emergency. On the scale of other shit that is going on with this kleptocratic government, this is nothing. Still need Dyson's smug, grinning head on a spike though.


The rest of him to the penguins


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## eatmorecheese (Apr 21, 2021)

So was there civil service oversight or not? Love Kuenssberg trying to be u_nderstanding _


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## teqniq (Apr 22, 2021)

Happening today. More revelations in the thread:


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## elbows (Apr 22, 2021)

eatmorecheese said:


> So was there civil service oversight or not? Love Kuenssberg trying to be u_nderstanding _



Welby even more understanding, the prick.









						Justin Welby: Archbishop urges forgiveness amid political lobbying row
					

The Archbishop of Canterbury says 19th Century politicians would not "survive" today's standards.



					www.bbc.co.uk
				






> If you're going to raise standards, you need to have a strong ethic of forgiveness and compassion and understanding,
> 
> "We have raised our standards and raised our standards and of course it's not right to help out your chums or lobby inappropriately or whatever it happens to be."
> 
> ...



Hes got form for this sort of shit, eg this from his wikipedia entry:



> In July 2013, following the report of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards Commission, Welby explained that senior bank executives avoided being given information about difficult issues to allow them to "plead ignorance".[22] He also said he would possibly have behaved in the same way and warned against punishing by naming and shaming individual bankers which he compared to the behaviour of a lynch mob.











						Justin Welby - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## ViolentPanda (Apr 22, 2021)

eatmorecheese said:


> Remember the 'sleaze' scandals in the Major administration. Seems like a more innocent time. Those twats would chance their arm for a kickback here or a directorship there, plus 'family values, back to basics' hypocrisy.
> 
> Now, they are all carpet-bagging mendacious cunts who carry on because they can and don't feel any consequences. They laugh at us, laugh at the saps that elected them. Make a pile of money and cache it elsewhere before the net closes.
> 
> ...



You gotta think the likes of Neil Hamilton are well pissed off that they only got bungs in brown envelopes from shady characters, not buckets of govt moulah!


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## ViolentPanda (Apr 22, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Cost cap win:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Headline would be better if it were "Government struck down by necrotising fasciitis".


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## ViolentPanda (Apr 22, 2021)

existentialist said:


> At the very least, they should be forced to pay the costs personally, if they are found personally culpable, no matter how light the sentence.



A surcharge similar to the one their Tory forebears inflicted on councillors in the 80s.


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## ViolentPanda (Apr 22, 2021)

elbows said:


> Welby even more understanding, the prick.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



He's a former oil exec, so hardly surprising he'd want people to be more "understanding" toward corruption.


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## MrSki (Apr 23, 2021)

So is it Gove or Cummings who leaked the texts?


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## Badgers (Apr 23, 2021)

Explosive emails show how the Government’s VIP lane caused chaos in PPE procurement - Good Law Project
					

Explosive emails reveal politically-connected companies were allowed to jump the queue for PPE contracts.




					goodlawproject.org
				






> Remember Ayanda, the company linked to Liz Truss, fast-tracked through the VIP Lane – who supplied £155m worth of unusable face masks to the NHS frontline? This email shows Ayanda threatening to escalate their bid to ministerial level and another includes a civil servant warning of the Ayanda deal “the bar seems to have been lowered on this one.”


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## Badgers (Apr 23, 2021)




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## teqniq (Apr 23, 2021)

MrSki said:


> So is it Gove or Cummings who leaked the texts?



This may well be a distraction, I'm inclined to think so....


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## MrSki (Apr 24, 2021)

Do people care? What a fucking stupid question from a BBC News presenter. Try playing the fucking clip & see if they do.


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## MrSki (Apr 24, 2021)




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## MrSki (Apr 25, 2021)




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## yield (Apr 25, 2021)

Peter Geoghegan · Short Cuts: On Greensill · LRB 23 April 2021


> When Cameron left Downing Street in 2016, he walked through the revolving door he had once promised to close. He became chairman of the advisory board to Afiniti, a US data firm, and a consultant for the biotech company Illumina. He also registered with Washington Speakers Bureau (through which Theresa May has received more than £600,000 in speaking fees since the pandemic began).
> 
> In August 2018, Cameron was hired by Greensill as a ‘part-time adviser’ and given share options worth as much as $70 million. Because it was more than two years since he had left ministerial office, Cameron didn’t have to notify the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba). It would in any case only have been a notification: the supposed watchdog doesn’t have the power to block appointments.


Good long piece in the LRB


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## teqniq (Apr 26, 2021)

Cost cap win:

'We are pleased to say that the Court has granted a Cost Capping Order in our judicial review of Government’s decision to hand a contract to Cummings’ pals at Hanbury without any competition. We will now be able to fight this case to its conclusion.

Crucially, the Judge agreed with us that Government’s estimated costs bill of £450k (almost as much as the contract itself) is_ ‘disproportionate to a one day hearing’_ – and set a cap at £120k for both parties.

Government’s decision not to consent to a cost cap is bizarre and  – many of the same arguments were determined by the Court weeks ago in relation to our PPE challenges. It has now tried and failed twice to argue that these are not public interest proceedings. And it has now twice had to bear from the public purse our costs of seeking a cap. This is a phenomenal – and avoidable – further waste of taxpayers’ money.

Here’s what the Judge had to say on Hanbury:

_“I start by considering whether or not there is a matter of genuine public interest raised by these proceedings. *I am satisfied that there is*. This matter concerns the direct award of a public contract without publicity or competition, and the issue is whether it was unlawful to award a contract in that way.” _

The Judge went on to say she is _“satisfied that there is a part for the courts to play in determining the legality of the procedures”_ and “_it is appropriate that there should be a public hearing that the Court will consider the evidence and make a decision on the lawfulness of this particular procurement”. _


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## teqniq (Apr 26, 2021)

Why does she not make any direct mention of the corruption such as the PPE scandal? Something which has cost us the taxpayers a great deal more.


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## existentialist (Apr 27, 2021)

The very definition of "defending the indefensible".









						Minister seeks to play down growing accusations of Tory sleaze
					

Thérèse Coffey says public does not care about makeover of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat




					www.theguardian.com
				




Mind you, it's got to be bad if they're rolling out Therese Coffey.


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## two sheds (Apr 27, 2021)

I think this belongs here because the government's known about it for years and has done fuck all. They actually made it easier with the Limited Liability Partnerships as detailed in many Private Eye issues.









						UK to come under scrutiny in Italy’s largest mafia trial in decades
					

Witnesses will be asked to respond to claims the ’Ndrangheta has laundered billions of euros in City of London




					www.theguardian.com


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## Badgers (Apr 28, 2021)

Feathering the Party nest with public money - Good Law Project
					

This month brought us the alarming sight of Boris Johnson hijacking a taxpayer-funded Downing Street press conference – intended to provide the public with a vital COVID-19 update – to attack one of his political...




					goodlawproject.org
				






> It is a legal requirement for Government to have a published policy for how it maintains a clear dividing line between informative communications, which can be properly funded by taxpayers, and electoral material, which is governed by strict campaign finance rules. Otherwise, those in power could simply divert the resources of the state to hold onto power.


----------



## MrSki (Apr 28, 2021)

Well this might make some stop & think.


----------



## MrSki (Apr 28, 2021)

The Russia report has not been followed up but really is where it all started.


----------



## elbows (Apr 28, 2021)

MrSki said:


> Well this might make some stop & think.




Yeah they are probably anxiously signing new contracts for Political Protective Equipment as a result. The Pandemic Profiteering Entrepreneurs are on a come-down after the Party Political Endorphins started to wear off. And all because someone misheard banana republic as big pharma republic.


----------



## Dystopiary (Apr 28, 2021)

"Is the government about to _renew_ Serco & Sitels Test and Trace contracts, awarded without competition a year ago? They’ve already had up to £3/4bn, but have made no “measurable difference” to infection." 

Government faces ‘urgent’ calls to scrap England's Test and Trace scheme


----------



## not-bono-ever (Apr 28, 2021)

Greensill collapse could cost UK taxpayer up to £5bn, MPs told.  

poor Cameron, he looks to have chummed up with shysters. He was out of his depth with Greensil


----------



## stdP (Apr 28, 2021)

not-bono-ever said:


> He was out of his depth with Greensil



He was out of his depth in a puddle.


----------



## mx wcfc (Apr 28, 2021)

not-bono-ever said:


> Greensill collapse could cost UK taxpayer up to £5bn, MPs told.
> 
> poor Cameron, he looks to have chummed up with shysters. He was out of his depth with Greensil


I think that's it - I'm prepared to accept that Cameron didn't have a Scooby what was going on. 
He just saw the big bucks from share options and swung into gear.

Greed clearly.  
Error of judgement?  Let's face it he's got form when it comes to that.

Out of his depth?  Absolutely.


----------



## elbows (Apr 28, 2021)

I suspec that if you are involved with desperately lobbying government for lifelines that you may have some awareness that lifelines were urgently required.


----------



## teqniq (Apr 29, 2021)

Aaaaand another one:


----------



## teqniq (Apr 29, 2021)

Another hearing today:


----------



## Badgers (Apr 29, 2021)

__





						Greensill collapse could cost UK taxpayer up to £5bn, MPs told | Greensill | The Guardian
					

One expert tells Treasury committee firm’s business model ‘was as close to fraud as you could imagine’




					amp.theguardian.com
				






> The failure of Greensill Capital will cost UK taxpayers up to £5bn, a parliamentary inquiry has heard, as one expert said the lender’s business model was “as close to fraud as you could imagine”.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Apr 29, 2021)

It is likely that cos if the structure of this sham outfit the UKG may be liable for covering some of the Gupta outstandings. Win win if you are on that side


----------



## Badgers (Apr 29, 2021)

True to form...


----------



## teqniq (Apr 29, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Apr 29, 2021)

__





						The Judgment is in
					





					action.goodlawproject.org
				




Link here


----------



## Badgers (Apr 30, 2021)

More from the courts


----------



## Bahnhof Strasse (Apr 30, 2021)

Ignore that shit and look at the wallpaper ffs.


----------



## MrSki (Apr 30, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (May 3, 2021)

Tory donor 'asked to fund Boris Johnson's nanny' as PM 'needs £300k to get by'
					

The benefactor is said to have moaned "I resent being asked to pay to literally wipe the Prime Minister's baby's bottom" amid claims the PM needs double his £157,000 salary just to survive



					www.mirror.co.uk
				






> A Tory donor was asked to fund a nanny for Boris Johnson's baby because the Prime Minister can't survive on his £157,372-a-year salary, bombshell reports say today.
> 
> The 'cash for curtains' saga has deepened after the claims in the Sunday Times - which reported the twice-divorced PM needs £300,000 a year to pay his astronomical living costs.


----------



## Badgers (May 4, 2021)

Bailout too late for Rishi Sunak's wife
					

David Cameron's mates at Greensill Capital may not have been eligible for any of Rishi Sunak’s emergency Covid bailouts, but it turns...




					www.theneweuropean.co.uk
				






> Rishi Sunak’s wife invested in a publishing firm. In 2020, Rishi Sunak launched the Future Fund Covid-19 loan scheme. 4 months later the firm received a £1.3 million cash investment from the scheme; up to £50,000 a month. Last month it went into administration owing £16 million.


----------



## Badgers (May 4, 2021)

Johnson aide 'advised on planning law shake-up' while employed by property firms
					

EXCLUSIVE: Industry insiders claim that Boris Johnson's former top aide Eddie Lister advised on radical planning reforms and 'it was a wholly untenable position in light of the conflicts of interest' - he denies he was a key architect of the plans



					www.mirror.co.uk
				






> Industry insiders claim that Boris Johnson's former top aide Eddie Lister advised on radical planning reforms and 'it was a wholly untenable position in light of the conflicts of interest'


----------



## Saul Goodman (May 4, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Bailout too late for Rishi Sunak's wife
> 
> 
> David Cameron's mates at Greensill Capital may not have been eligible for any of Rishi Sunak’s emergency Covid bailouts, but it turns...
> ...


There's no end to it, is there. And fuck all will be done about it. They're pissing their sides laughing at everybody who isn't them.


----------



## Badgers (May 4, 2021)

Saul Goodman said:


> There's no end to it, is there. And fuck all will be done about it. They're pissing their sides laughing at everybody who isn't them.


A handful of lawyers and doctors trying to at least hold them to account but they are stealing with impunity. 

This thread has been good for exposing what is known but I fear there is much more already done and on the way. 

The US NHS takeover is gathering pace.


----------



## Saul Goodman (May 4, 2021)

Badgers said:


> they are stealing with impunity.


This is exactly it. They're acting like a bunch of asset-stripping cunts, treating the country like it's one of their failing businesses, that's there to be a exploited for every penny they can pillage from it. It's fucking sickening.


----------



## two sheds (May 4, 2021)

And they'll get the funding for the next election from their mates who've had all the billions of handouts.


----------



## not-bono-ever (May 4, 2021)

Yeh but Corbyn


----------



## Badgers (May 4, 2021)

not-bono-ever said:


> Yeh but Corbyn


It would have been worse under that monster.


----------



## fucthest8 (May 4, 2021)

Badgers said:


> It would have been worse under that monster.



TERRORIST SYMPATHISER


Anyway, I do wonder whether anything tangible will really come of it in the end, but without the Good Law project would there even be the level of scrutiny they are driving?
Has to be in the courts to have any hope of an effect. Even if per the post up thread it "just" drives behaviour change (which, of course, will just mean they'll be more careful when being corrupt)


----------



## Badgers (May 4, 2021)

fucthest8 said:


> TERRORIST SYMPATHISER
> 
> 
> Anyway, I do wonder whether anything tangible will really come of it in the end, but without the Good Law project would there even be the level of scrutiny they are driving?
> Has to be in the courts to have any hope of an effect. Even if per the post up thread it "just" drives behaviour change (which, of course, will just mean they'll be more careful when being corrupt)


Corbyns lies about the NHS being up for sale ruined this country


----------



## not-bono-ever (May 4, 2021)

It’s non stop. It’s mentally hard to contribute to this thread as it’s a cavalcade of corruption and carpetbaggers


----------



## Badgers (May 5, 2021)

According to Companies House, Boris Johnson’s brother Joe has just been appointed a director of Dyson.


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 5, 2021)

Badgers said:


> According to Companies House, Boris Johnson’s brother Joe has just been appointed a director of Dyson.
> 
> View attachment 266581


not at all surprised


----------



## two sheds (May 5, 2021)

Time to pay up for mumsie.


----------



## MrSki (May 5, 2021)

Badgers said:


> According to Companies House, Boris Johnson’s brother Joe has just been appointed a director of Dyson.
> 
> View attachment 266581


----------



## killer b (May 5, 2021)

I'm fairly sure that Prince Snuggler Honeybugger #FBPE has, in fact, made this up.


----------



## killer b (May 5, 2021)

actually no, it's really there. I wonder why it's just being talked about by random twitter accounts?


----------



## William of Walworth (May 5, 2021)

killer b said:


> actually no, it's really there. I wonder why it's just being talked about by random twitter accounts?



I had to check as well -- here's the actual Companies House link

I even checked Wiki for the date of birth ....


----------



## William of Walworth (May 5, 2021)

<belated deletion of double post ...  >


----------



## killer b (May 5, 2021)

Had a little dig and it looks like Jo Johnson's association with this Dyson technical training institute goes back to 2017 when he was a minister for education - there's loads of publicity about it over the last few years. So it's not really a smoking gun for some kind of quid pro quo corrupt arrangement, just background noise for a generally corrupt (but somehow accepted) revolving door between government and industry. I guess that's why it's only got random twitterers and The Canary excited.


----------



## not-bono-ever (May 5, 2021)

I thought wormwold was up for this gig


----------



## not-bono-ever (May 5, 2021)

.


----------



## Badgers (May 6, 2021)

Will dig a bit on this


----------



## Badgers (May 6, 2021)

> Property developers responsible for flats covered in dangerous cladding have donated £2.5 million to the Conservative Party since the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, analysis has found.
> 
> Boris Johnson has personally received £50,000 from individuals with links to the cladding debacle.











						Builders who use Grenfell cladding give Tories £2.5m
					

Property developers who built flats covered in dangerous cladding have donated £2.5 million to the Conservative Party since the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, analysis has found.




					www.thetimes.co.uk


----------



## AmateurAgitator (May 9, 2021)

More establishment and royal sleaze









						Prince Michael of Kent accused of selling Kremlin access
					

The Queen's cousin denies he has close ties to Vladimir Putin after an undercover investigation.



					www.bbc.co.uk


----------



## MrSki (May 10, 2021)




----------



## elbows (May 10, 2021)

Holiday funding sleaze:









						Boris Johnson facing probe over funding of 2019 holiday
					

The MPs' standards watchdog is looking into whether costs of the trip have been correctly declared.



					www.bbc.co.uk


----------



## two sheds (May 10, 2021)

He'll doubtless correct any 'oversight' and just be let off  Fucking farce.


----------



## Badgers (May 13, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (May 13, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (May 13, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (May 13, 2021)

British Business Bank won't say how it spent £1 billion
					

The government has repeatedly given millions in pandemic-related contracts to friends of ministers and Conservative MPs.



					www.businessinsider.com


----------



## Badgers (May 13, 2021)

Former Tory chairman Andrew Feldman ‘used health department role to win PPE contract for his client’
					

Mr Feldman urged a Cabinet Office official to buy PPE from Bunzl, one of his company's clients, according to reports




					www.telegraph.co.uk


----------



## Chilli.s (May 13, 2021)

The stench from all this scrutiny free contracting to friends and family is getting stronger Aand stronger


----------



## teqniq (May 13, 2021)

Wrt to Torygraph article above here is a c&p of an email from GLP which may have more detail:

"It never stops.

Good Law Project has uncovered remarkable evidence that a Tory Minister brought a former Chair of the Tory Party, a man who now runs a lobbying firm, into the heart of Government to work on the massive multi-billion PPE procurement process. Having got his feet under the table that former Chair lobbied to win PPE contracts for at least one, and possibly a number, of clients of his lobbying firm.

The Tory Minister is Lord Bethell. The former Tory Party Chair is Lord Feldman - once described as David Cameron’s oldest and best friend - and he worked for Bethell from 23 March to 15 May 2020. And his huge lobbying firm is Tulchan, whose client list includes Bunzl Healthcare.

Bunzl was given a £22.6m PPE contract by the Department for Health without any competition in April 2020, _smack bang in the middle of the period Feldman was working with Bethell._ And we have also learned, from Government’s own documents, that:


Feldman was involved in the award of this contract. Bunzl had been removed from the Department for Health’s ‘approved suppliers list’ - and Feldman got them back on. An email from Feldman to Bunzl on 22 March 2020 states that he was acting as _“an unpaid advisor to Matthew Hancock at the department of health...but that there have been some historic issues which mean that you have been removed from the approved suppliers list. I would like to remedy that as soon as possible”._
On the same day, he emailed Bunzl, copying in Andrew Wood whom he describes as _“the person leading the accelerated procurement process in Cabinet Office”_ and said_ “I have spoken to him [Andy Wood] about Bunzl and the opportunity for you to supply the UK Government with equipment. He will be in touch”. _
And then, several days later, when Bunzl thought the deal was not progressing quickly enough, it asked Feldman to intervene - which he did. On 25 March Feldman wrote directly to the line manager of the official dealing with Bunzl, encouraging him to expedite the contract award process: _“We need to move quickly”. _
We fear these revelations just scratch the surface. We have seen Lord Feldman’s ‘Declarations of interest form’ and it contains a list of his other conflicts of interest. But Government has concealed these other names:

_“some of our clients [Tulchan Communication LLP], as well as many other companies are offering assistance to the government during the covid-19 crisis. This includes [REDACTED], Bunzl, [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED]”._

Despite requests from our lawyers Government is refusing to confirm which other companies linked to Cameron’s oldest friend and his lobbying firm Tulchan Communications were introduced to Government and/or won public contracts.

We have now launched formal Judicial Review proceedings. If you would like to help us challenge this extraordinary abuse of power - you can do so here.

We are publishing the Judicial Review Bundle we’ve submitted to the Court. Our amended Statement of Facts and Grounds and my Witness Statement are well worth a read.

Thank you,

Jo Maugham QC
Director of Good Law Project"


----------



## Petcha (May 13, 2021)

It's a bit of an exaggeration to describe Tulchan as 'huge' in the industry, they're a relatively smaller player, dealing with mostly FTSE 350s. And they're certainly not 'his'. He's the current (co) boss but only came on board a couple of years ago. The firm is very much Andrew Grant's baby. Regardless, this isn't a good look for a PR agency.


----------



## MrSki (May 14, 2021)




----------



## elbows (May 14, 2021)

Maybe there is another thread that would be better for this one but I cant resist putting it here.

Creative invoicing.









						Gupta empire facing UK fraud probe over Greensill
					

The group run by Liberty Steel owner Sanjeev Gupta is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.



					www.bbc.co.uk
				






> Greensill's business model - called supply chain finance - worked by placing itself between customers and suppliers. It would immediately pay the invoices that suppliers gave to their customers, meaning those suppliers would not have to wait possibly for months for payment.
> 
> The Financial Times has claimed that one of Mr Gupta's companies had sent Greensill invoices for business it had supposedly done with four European metal companies. But those European companies told the newspaper they had not dealt with GFG.
> 
> However, GFG said the invoices were for products it expected to perhaps sell in the future and that the financial arrangement was common for many of Greensill's clients.


----------



## MrSki (May 14, 2021)

elbows said:


> Maybe there is another thread that would be better for this one but I cant resist putting it here.
> 
> Creative invoicing.
> 
> ...


 It is Greensill related therefore pig fucker & tory sleaze.


----------



## Badgers (May 15, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (May 15, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (May 15, 2021)

'Boris Johnson's promise of levelling up is nothing but a cruel Tory illusion'
					

With vaccines, furlough money, and pots of spare cash, Tories can offer the illusion they care about working-class lives, but it is a cruel illusion, Brian Reade says



					www.mirror.co.uk


----------



## teqniq (May 15, 2021)

Badgers said:


> View attachment 268294


This has the potential be a real wheels come off moment. If you look at this thread GLP have multiple sources informing them of wrongdoing and there appears to be a connection with the Miami jeweller:


----------



## William of Walworth (May 15, 2021)

Badgers said:


> 'Boris Johnson's promise of levelling up is nothing but a cruel Tory illusion'
> 
> 
> With vaccines, furlough money, and pots of spare cash, Tories can offer the illusion they care about working-class lives, but it is a cruel illusion, Brian Reade says
> ...



I read the Mirror irregularly, but Brian Reade has always been a good, hard-hitting anti-Tory


----------



## MrSki (May 15, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (May 16, 2021)

Even the BBC had got on it now  





> Home Secretary Priti Patel has been accused of lobbying a fellow minister on behalf of a healthcare firm trying to get a government contract.
> 
> In May last year, Ms Patel wrote to Michael Gove expressing disappointment the government had not bought face masks from a company that had links to someone she knew.


----------



## Badgers (May 16, 2021)




----------



## two sheds (May 16, 2021)

A fucking apology? That's all we fucking get?


----------



## Badgers (May 16, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (May 16, 2021)

More on this...

Matt Hancock 'helped sex text shame former Tory minister Brooks Newmark land £180m PPE contract' - 



> The Health Secretary insisted that Brooks Newmark received no special treatment as he brokered a deal for international firms to supply millions of pairs of goggles to the NHS last year.
> 
> Mr Newmark, 63, a father of five, quit just months after being made minister for civil society in 2014 after he was exposed as having exchanged lewd photographs with a male journalist posing as a glamorous 20-year-old Tory PR woman.
> 
> A Freedom of Information probe by the Sunday Times today discovered National Audit Office emails showing that last May, at the height of the first Covid lockdown, he lobbied the Government on behalf of a Hong Kong firm.


----------



## MrSki (May 16, 2021)

Well Good Law Project & @EveryDoctorUK have six days in court over the next two weeks starting tomorrow regarding PPE procurement & not protecting NHS staff so a lot of these exposures should come up in the court case. Good luck to them.


----------



## Badgers (May 16, 2021)

Perfectly reasonable for me to forward on PPE offer - Hancock
					

The health secretary defends his role in helping a former Tory minister to secure a PPE deal.



					www.bbc.co.uk
				




That is all okay then... 



> Health Secretary Matt Hancock has defended his role in helping a former Conservative minister try to secure a PPE deal at the start of the pandemic.
> 
> He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show it was "perfectly reasonable" for him to send on an email when the country needed medical equipment.
> 
> The Sunday Times reported Mr Hancock "personally intervened" to help Brooks Newmark in getting the £180m deal.


----------



## teqniq (May 16, 2021)

He's just going to continue to brazen it out isn't he?


----------



## Badgers (May 16, 2021)

teqniq said:


> He's just going to continue to brazen it out isn't he?


Same as it ever was...


----------



## MrSki (May 16, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Perfectly reasonable for me to forward on PPE offer - Hancock
> 
> 
> The health secretary defends his role in helping a former Tory minister to secure a PPE deal.
> ...


Was he the gourmet dogfood manufacturer? A total shoe-in for a PPE contract.


----------



## brogdale (May 16, 2021)

Badgers said:


> More on this...
> 
> Matt Hancock 'helped sex text shame former Tory minister Brooks Newmark land £180m PPE contract' -


Old paisley pyjamas, eh?


----------



## Petcha (May 16, 2021)

teqniq said:


> He's just going to continue to brazen it out isn't he?


It's fairly clear the electorate doesn't give a shit so he/ they might as well brazen it out. It's almost unbelievable that this amount of sleaze has racked up and yet they become even stronger. If Boris called an early election it would be a landslide...

Shit, ineffectual opposition plus a general sense of fatigue.


----------



## ViolentPanda (May 16, 2021)

two sheds said:


> A fucking apology? That's all we fucking get?


Quite. 

I want the cunt in a gibbet on Streatham High Rd, so he's sucking in exhaust & getting mocked by PFWC people 24-fucking-7, the worthless Tory shitsack!


----------



## ViolentPanda (May 16, 2021)

teqniq said:


> He's just going to continue to brazen it out isn't he?



It'd be perfectly reasonable for members of the public that are incensed at his behaviour, to post him turds in tupperware boxes then, wouldn't it?


----------



## not a trot (May 16, 2021)

ViolentPanda said:


> It'd be perfectly reasonable for members of the public that are incensed at his behaviour, to post him turds in tupperware boxes then, wouldn't it?



Hancock was interviewed on the Sophie Ridge show this morning. According to him one voter in Middlesborough told him when out canvassing, that he couldn't care less about all this sleaze. That was Hancocks excuse for not answering her question about sleaze.


----------



## MrSki (May 16, 2021)

not a trot said:


> Hancock was interviewed on the Sophie Ridge show this morning. According to him one voter in Middlesborough told him when out canvassing, that he couldn't care less about all this sleaze. That was Hancocks excuse for not answering her question about sleaze.


Yeah I saw that. What a cunt!


----------



## existentialist (May 16, 2021)

not a trot said:


> Hancock was interviewed on the Sophie Ridge show this morning. According to him one voter in Middlesborough told him when out canvassing, that he couldn't care less about all this sleaze. That was Hancocks excuse for not answering her question about sleaze.


That's pretty fucking brazen! 

But probably one of the most honest things he's said in the last 10 years (not that the competition is exactly red-hot)


----------



## MrSki (May 16, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (May 17, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (May 18, 2021)

There is a lot that will come out of this court case.


----------



## MrSki (May 18, 2021)

More on the court case and one to keep an eye on for updates.


----------



## teqniq (May 18, 2021)

This is not so good:









						Government can keep amount spent on unusable PPE confidential, judge rules
					

The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor have brought legal action against the Government over how PPE contracts worth over £650 million were awarded.




					www.standard.co.uk


----------



## existentialist (May 18, 2021)

teqniq said:


> This is not so good:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It'd be nice to think that the judge wants to focus on the corruption/graft aspect of things, rather than getting bogged down in details about whether £200 was excessive for a surgical mask...


----------



## teqniq (May 18, 2021)

Nice thought but I suspect otherwise. Her argument has no merit imo, it's our money surely we have a right to know how much has been spent or misspent?


----------



## Badgers (May 19, 2021)

Government agreed £280m spending on sub-standard masks in PPE spree
					

The government agreed to pay £280 million to two ‘VIP’ companies fast-tracked into PPE deals for face masks which did not meet NHS standards, the High Court has heard.




					www.standard.co.uk
				






> He said the evidence due to be aired in the High Court over the next week shows that large sums of money was spent on equipment from hedge fund Ayanda and small family-run firm PestFix which failed to meet NHS safety standards.



Not new news but good to see the courts and press airing it


----------



## MrSki (May 19, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (May 20, 2021)

Hooray. Fraud being mentioned as a possibility:


----------



## existentialist (May 20, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Hooray. Fraud being mentioned as a possibility:



Anyone who's done any kind of NHS induction will be aware of just how stony-faced and glary they get about even the most trivial misuse of NHS resources. It's almost as if there's one rule for us, and another rule for them...


----------



## teqniq (May 20, 2021)

Also:


----------



## Badgers (May 21, 2021)




----------



## Bahnhof Strasse (May 21, 2021)

Badgers said:


>




It’s fucking endless.


----------



## Badgers (May 21, 2021)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> It’s fucking endless.


At least the #ToryScum have not just cut £118m funding for poorer children's education otherwise it would be really unacceptable.


----------



## Badgers (May 21, 2021)

It is okay because he said sorry  









						Boris Johnson's ex-aide sorry for approving £187m loan to firm he advised
					

Tory peer Eddie Lister admitted he did not disclose he was still being paid by a firm when it received a taxpayer-backed loan



					www.mirror.co.uk


----------



## Badgers (May 21, 2021)

__





						This week in Court
					





					us15.campaign-archive.com


----------



## MrSki (May 21, 2021)

Badgers said:


> __
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Badgers (May 23, 2021)

Lord Udny-Lister’s property paymasters handed another £150m loan
					

A luxury property company that paid Boris Johnson’s closest aide throughout his time in Downing Street secured £337 million through government loan schemes with




					www.thetimes.co.uk
				






> A luxury property company that paid Boris Johnson’s closest aide throughout his time in Downing Street secured £337 million through government loan schemes within a period of six months.
> 
> Lord Udny-Lister, formerly the prime minister’s chief strategic adviser, has worked for Delancey, a London-based developer owned by a Conservative Party donor, for the past five years.


----------



## teqniq (May 23, 2021)

How convenient:









						David Cameron texts deleted by top civil servant after 'wrong password’ entered
					

The London Economic - Sir Tom Scholar had his phone reset, and his replies to the former prime minister David Cameron were deleted. - News




					www.thelondoneconomic.com


----------



## existentialist (May 23, 2021)

teqniq said:


> How convenient:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The rot goes right the way to the bottom. A pathetic litany of unoriginal, transparent excuses.


----------



## MrSki (May 23, 2021)

> Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at 10 Downing Street. One is from up North another is from Poland, and the third is a Tory Party Donor. All three go with a Tory Party official to examine the fence.
> The contractor from up north takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about £9000. £4000 for materials, £4000 for my crew, and £1000 profit for me."
> The Polish contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for £7000. £3000 for materials, £3000 for my crew, and £1000 profit for me."
> The Tory party donor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the Tory Party official and whispers, "£27,000."
> ...


----------



## Badgers (May 24, 2021)

Thread of Tory donor perks...


----------



## Badgers (May 24, 2021)

> Research from the Good Law Project also found One Healthcare, which won a contract worth up to £12.7m, is owned by the asset manager Octopus Investments, which donated £12,500 to the Conservative Party in 2018.











						Private hospitals provided average of seven Covid beds a day despite £2bn Government contracts
					

A director at Ramsay Health Care, which won a Covid contract worth £271m, previously worked at the Department of Health and Social Care on the development and the rolling out of the NHS contracts




					inews.co.uk


----------



## MrSki (May 24, 2021)

> Good Law Project
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## MrSki (May 24, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (May 25, 2021)

> Good Law Project
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Badgers (May 26, 2021)




----------



## Bahnhof Strasse (May 26, 2021)

Badgers said:


> View attachment 270275




‘Their’ own arses


----------



## ska invita (May 26, 2021)

appreciate everyones your work on this thread


----------



## MrSki (May 28, 2021)

Latest email from Good Law Project.



> Good Law Project
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Badgers (May 28, 2021)

Patel, Mirza and the Middlemen - Good Law Project
					

Government’s position has consistently been that Ministers had no role in PPE procurement decisions. That, as we show below, is just not true. Good Law Project has evidence that Ministers – Cabinet Ministers – and...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Badgers (May 29, 2021)




----------



## not-bono-ever (May 29, 2021)

nothing to see here.


----------



## Badgers (May 29, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (Jun 1, 2021)




----------



## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 1, 2021)

MrSki said:


>





At the time he was given access to the 'VIP Lane' he was acting for a company that did not even exist, ffs.


----------



## MrSki (Jun 1, 2021)

Worth reading the thread. How these cunts are not banged up is beyond me.


----------



## MrSki (Jun 2, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Jun 2, 2021)

Answers to key questions over PPE ‘VIP lane’ are needed to set the record straight
					

It’s over a year now since COVID-19 hit the UK. A year of lockdowns, closed schools and face masks. A year when over 120,000 citizens, including those working on the frontline against the virus, tragically lost their lives to an invisible enemy. The government’s war-like rhetoric, evoking the...




					www.transparency.org.uk
				






> Whilst one or two of these instances could be ruled out as coincidence, our research has found at least 28 (and counting) contracts worth over £3.7 billion – over 20 per cent of all COVID-19 contracts by value – which surely cannot be a matter of chance. And thanks to the Government’s spending watchdog, National Audit Office, and litigation in the courts we know a bit about why.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 2, 2021)




----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 2, 2021)

My Mrs has just kicked off at the state of that website grammar- look at the fucking  state of it


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 2, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Jun 4, 2021)

Disgraced Tory Lord backed by Boris Johnson gives Conservatives £500k
					

A businessman involved in a cash-for-access scandal has donated more than £500,000 to the Conservative party after being made a peer by Boris Johnson.



					www.businessinsider.com
				






> Lord Peter Cruddas donated £500,000 to the Conservative Party's central office on 5 February 2021, only three days after he was introduced into the House of Lords where he now sits as a Conservative peer, the latest Electoral Commission records show.
> 
> Cruddas was nominated to become a member of the House of Lords by Boris Johnson in December 2020, despite objections from the House of Lords Appointments Commission, an independent group that vets nominations


----------



## Chilli.s (Jun 4, 2021)

It's all just blatant corruption, unsurprising in a post truth world.  But things do change and hopefully before too many more "rewards" get handed out. It would be nice to see some big dollops of consequence in the future.


----------



## Badgers (Jun 4, 2021)

Tory peer gives £8,000 to Conservative party while claiming furlough
					

Lord Wharton, the chair of the independent Office for Students, has given £8,000 to the Conservatives while claiming aid of up to £10,000 a month from the government's furlough scheme.



					www.businessinsider.com
				






> A Conservative peer, who was put in charge of regulating universities by Boris Johnson's government, has donated £8,000 to the party while claiming thousands of pounds through the furlough scheme at the same time.
> 
> Lord James Wharton is the sole director of GBMW Ltd, a consultancy firm he established after losing his seat of Stockton South in the 2017 general election.


----------



## two sheds (Jun 4, 2021)

It just gets to the stage where it's fucking funny the pisstaking they can get away with. I'm sure they're laughing all the way to the bank/house of lords/conservative central office.


----------



## Badgers (Jun 4, 2021)

£400 Million COVID Contract Winners Go On to Donate £615,000 to Conservatives – Byline Times
					

The Conservative Party’s coffers have been boosted by some of the individuals and firms that have benefitted from public sector deals during the Coronavirus crisis




					bylinetimes.com
				






> More than £600,000 has been donated to the Conservative Party by firms and individuals that have been awarded some £400 million in public contracts during the Coronavirus pandemic, Byline Times can reveal.
> 
> Yesterday, the Electoral Commission published its latest tranche of data for political party donations, covering the first quarter of 2021. The data shows that six individuals and firms that have benefitted from Government contracts during the crisis – which have previously donated to the Conservatives – have given generously to the party in recent months.


----------



## teqniq (Jun 6, 2021)

This is not good (short thread):


----------



## teqniq (Jun 6, 2021)

I would seem someone had a similar idea:









						The Compendium of Cabinet Codebreakers
					

Over the past few years, the list of abuses of power by the Johnson government has become clear. Ministers have given away lucrative contracts to friends and donors, repeatedly broken the code that is meant to govern them, and transgressed the law on several occasions. This compendium should be...




					yorkshirebylines.co.uk


----------



## MrSki (Jun 6, 2021)

Maybe worth keeping an eye on.


----------



## teqniq (Jun 7, 2021)

teqniq said:


> This is not good (short thread):



More on this:









						Government’s deceitful and bullying attempt to target a critic - Good Law Project
					

Over the weekend the Mail on Sunday reported, quite explicitly, that our founder, Jo Maugham, is being “targeted by Ministers”. What is suggested is that Good Law Project is somehow “abusing” crowdfunding. But no evidence...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## existentialist (Jun 7, 2021)

teqniq said:


> More on this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I hope GLP haven't cooked this up to get extra donations, because they're going to get another one from me  The blatancy of the attempts to lie and cover up are one thing, but these repeated efforts by our stinking, sleazy Government to silence any kind of criticism are sickening, whether it's this, the attempt to muzzle the judicial review process, the silencing of asylum seekers (eg re the Napier concentration camp), or quite a few I've almost certainly forgotten.


----------



## MrSki (Jun 7, 2021)

existentialist said:


> I hope GLP haven't cooked this up to get extra donations, because they're going to get another one from me  The blatancy of the attempts to lie and cover up are one thing, but these repeated efforts by our stinking, sleazy Government to silence any kind of criticism are sickening, whether it's this, the attempt to muzzle the judicial review process, the silencing of asylum seekers (eg re the Napier concentration camp), or quite a few I've almost certainly forgotten.


That response is to a story in the Sunday Mail so I expect the threat id genuine.


----------



## existentialist (Jun 7, 2021)

MrSki said:


> That response is to a story in the Sunday Mail so I expect the threat id genuine.


Yeah, I think GLP are pretty unimpeachable, so far as I can tell. But I shall be shovelling such extra cash as I can spare in their direction, because I have a feeling that they are one of our last remaining bulwarks against an out-of-control and apparently unaccountable government.

And, because, if I end up spending even a couple of hundred quid on them, the payback will be priceless if even a few of the cases they're bringing bears fruit.

Otherwise, I think it's down to insurrection and disorder, and I'd really prefer it doesn't get to that point.


----------



## Badgers (Jun 7, 2021)

__





						We are being targeted
					





					mailchi.mp


----------



## teqniq (Jun 9, 2021)

Result! I somehow doubt Gove will receive any censure from Johnson though, nor do I expect him to do the right thing:









						High Court rules: Gove broke the law - Good Law Project
					

Michael Gove broke the law by giving a contract to a communications agency run by long time associates of him and Dominic Cummings, the High Court has decided. The Court found that the decision to award...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Humberto (Jun 9, 2021)

They are doing good work there. Should think it's the thin end of the wedge (what don't we know?). This gives a good overview of the 'chumocracy' and their dealings: 









						Covid-19 Is a Boon for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Buds
					

The British government’s latest “test to travel” scheme is providing yet another opportunity for Conservative officials’ friends—like Randox founder Peter FitzGerald—to profit from the crisis.




					www.thenation.com


----------



## two sheds (Jun 9, 2021)

It is bloody similar to the profiteers in WW2.


----------



## existentialist (Jun 9, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Result! I somehow doubt Gove will receive any censure from Johnson though, nor do I expect him to do the right thing:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Definitely worth another £20.


----------



## existentialist (Jun 9, 2021)

two sheds said:


> It is bloody similar to the profiteers in WW2.








The Government, earlier.


----------



## MrSki (Jun 9, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Jun 10, 2021)

What a surprise:


----------



## Badgers (Jun 10, 2021)




----------



## existentialist (Jun 10, 2021)

teqniq said:


> What a surprise:



I can see how that might come as a shock to him, steeped as he is in the sense of privilege and "laws are only for ordinary people" mentality that appears to infest the Tory party.


----------



## MrSki (Jun 12, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Jun 12, 2021)

They have a piece about this on their site, also a link to a petition:









						Handing out peerages - Good Law Project
					

Peter – or Baron, as for now we must call him – Cruddas was once a Treasurer of the Conservative Party. In March 2012 the Sunday Times published a rather mean piece about him which included...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Lorca (Jun 14, 2021)

It's a new day, so it must be time for a new bout of networking sleaze!









						Billionaire donated £150,000 to Tories 48 hours after housing scheme approved
					

John Bloor, 77, handed £150,000 to the Conservative Party, shortly after ministers backed the finding of an independent planning inspector over 625 homes




					www.mirror.co.uk


----------



## MrSki (Jun 14, 2021)

Lorca said:


> It's a new day, so it must be time for a new bout of networking sleaze!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Fucking cunts.


----------



## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 14, 2021)

teqniq said:


> What a surprise:





Whenever I've been caught breaking the law I have to appear in court and pretend I'm sorry for whatever it is I've done and suck up the punishment. What's the point in endlessly finding ministers to have broken the law but it ends right there?


----------



## teqniq (Jun 18, 2021)

The vermin shutting down any and all avenues of criticism/potential means of prosecution:









						Electoral Commission to be stripped of power to prosecute after probe into Boris Johnson’s flat makeover
					

Condemnation of ‘government power grab’ - as minister claims prosecutions of alleged lawbreaking ‘waste public money’




					www.independent.co.uk


----------



## two sheds (Jun 18, 2021)

"a purist attitude to the law" is almost up there with "simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of fair play"


----------



## Badgers (Jun 19, 2021)




----------



## existentialist (Jun 19, 2021)

Badgers said:


>



It's no wonder that the government is trying to throw shade on crowd funded lawsuits. The lawsuit about THAT one will be interesting.


----------



## Badgers (Jun 21, 2021)

Oil firm led by Tory donor investigated over alleged bribes in nine countries
					

UK-based Petrofac accused of making payments over more than 15 years to secure contracts




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## two sheds (Jun 21, 2021)

Not that they'll be found guilty if The Party has anything to do with it, but isn't it strange how we minions get charged with receiving stolen goods but they just seem to keep the stolen/bribes money.


----------



## teqniq (Jun 21, 2021)

More dirt:









						EXCLUSIVE: Six more VIP-lane companies revealed - Good Law Project
					

Good Law Project is now able to reveal the names of six more companies awarded PPE contracts through the controversial’ VIP’ fast-track lane for associates of ministers and advisers. These six firms landed nearly half...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## teqniq (Jun 23, 2021)

Yet more dirt, lampost and rope anyone?









						Government accused of channeling Covid emergency cash into political ‘campaigning’
					

Boris Johnson told to launch inquiry after cash apparently spend on polling




					www.independent.co.uk


----------



## teqniq (Jun 24, 2021)

__





						Update from today's Court hearing
					





					r.mail.crowdjustice.co.uk
				




"*Update on Just how does public money end up in the pockets of Cummings' friends?*

We are pleased to report that the High Court has ordered the Government to pay 75% of our costs in our successful legal challenge against Michael Gove for the unlawful award of a contract to associates of his and Dominic Cummings at Public First. 
Government had planned to ask for permission to appeal the ruling but last night decided this wouldn’t be wise and withdrew, belatedly accepting their conduct over the Public First contract had been unlawful. 
They did however still attempt to argue in Court today at the costs hearing that we hadn’t won on every ground in our challenge, so the Court should make a costs order which reflects the ‘relative success of both parties’. Yet however Government try to spin this ruling in the press, the Judge today was crystal clear as to who won this case:

_“In this case, it is clear to the court that the claimant (Good Law Project) was the overall successful party in the case...it sought a ruling that the decision to award the contract to Public First was unlawful, and the Court has made a ruling to that effect. Also, it was successful in defeating the Defendant’s arguments about standing.”_

Our work is far from over, but for now, we take a moment to celebrate this win. Thank you, as ever, for all your support.  "


----------



## existentialist (Jun 24, 2021)

teqniq said:


> __
> 
> 
> 
> ...


These people are gods.

Or at least the nearest thing to it we're likely to see in the foreseeable future, and certainly god-like by comparison to the demons cavorting orgiastically in the Tory party.


----------



## Dystopiary (Jun 25, 2021)

"Why we are referring a series of transactions involving the Prime Minister's advisor Munira Mirza, Priti Patel and Matt Hancock to the Serious Fraud Office. THREAD."

 

Government's position has always been that the award of PPE contracts was a politically neutral process. Its usual formulation is that all PPE contracts were awarded pursuant to "the same eight-stage process to assess and process offers." See for example https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/u...-procurement-during-the-COVID-19-pandemic.pdf 

However, @GoodLawProject has uncovered evidence that go-betweens who had little apparent to offer apart from their political connections were paid vast sums of money to deliver contracts. 

We don't believe there is any 'good' explanation for this fact. We believe it points powerfully to the process being corrupt. And (as we will show) certain details of the process itself point in the same direction. That is why we are referring the matter to @UKSFO.


----------



## teqniq (Jun 26, 2021)

Fair play to the Good Law Project for referring all this to the SFO bu tbh i haven't got a great deal of faith in them. They are too willing to cave in to political pressure to drop investigations, even ones that are live. Witness the Saudi bribes and BAE systems scandal which Blair leant on them to drop.


----------



## Dogsauce (Jun 26, 2021)

Not sure what the consequences of the GLP stuff are, nobody will do time or have to send the money back, it just feels like an expensive and probably pointless gotcha.

I guess if anything it might help in sorting out the order of the gallows stuff, come the revolution.


----------



## MrSki (Jun 26, 2021)

Dogsauce said:


> Not sure what the consequences of the GLP stuff are, nobody will do time or have to send the money back, it just feels like an expensive and probably pointless gotcha.
> 
> I guess if anything it might help in sorting out the order of the gallows stuff, come the revolution.


If anything it has made the cunts in charge a bit more wary of dishing out the cash to mates. That has made it worth it even if no-one ends up banged up.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 27, 2021)

Back in the good old days just after the Empire collapsed, we had speculators and asset strippers beavering away in the shadows between legal and illegal, making fortunes as a result. Now we have no decent assets left apart from what is nominally owned by the public. It’s not that politicians are corrupt and outsiders want to scavenge what was always previously considered as sacrosanct-we expect that - it’s just how fucking  cheaply they can be bought that is astounding. So petty and seedy. Crap politicians


----------



## teqniq (Jun 27, 2021)

Nothing to see here....


----------



## Badgers (Jun 27, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Jun 28, 2021)

Yet more dirt which gives the lie to their statements to the contrary:









						NEW: leaked emails reveal Health Minister Lord Bethell did use personal email address for Government business - Good Law Project
					

A Number 10 spokesperson has explicitly denied that Government Ministers have used private email addresses: “Both the former health secretary and Lord Bethell understand the rules around personal email usage and only ever conducted government business...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## MrSki (Jun 28, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Yet more dirt which gives the lie to their statements to the contrary:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Every minister that used personal emails should be sacked & prosecuted. It is well out of order & none of these emails will appear in an inquiry when it happens.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 28, 2021)

Defenestration should be mandatory for politicians using private email


----------



## two sheds (Jun 28, 2021)

Harsh but fair


----------



## Streathamite (Jun 28, 2021)

two sheds said:


> "a purist attitude to the law" is almost up there with "simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of fair play"


I've met both Aitken and Johnson - and the former is a moral and ethical titan, in comparison


----------



## Dystopiary (Jun 29, 2021)

Number 10 confirms it.


----------



## Dystopiary (Jun 29, 2021)

Tory MP Danny Kruger has said that "the accusation that the government has been corrupt in handing out cash to their mates is a conspiracy theory on a par with anti-vax conspiracy theories." 

Does anybody believe this shit I wonder.


----------



## Chilli.s (Jun 29, 2021)

How much did Danny (or a close family member/friend) get then


----------



## teqniq (Jun 30, 2021)

Does not seem right to me at all, case thrown out because of wrong email address:









						We do not believe that is what the law should be or is - Good Law Project
					

The Government Legal Department requires new claims to be served on a particular email address. Our lawyers served (1) on 27 April 2021 an “unsealed” (i.e. yet to be stamped by the Court) copy of...




					goodlawproject.org
				




e2a:


----------



## teqniq (Jun 30, 2021)

And it just keeps on coming, more tomorrow apparently:









						NEW: Documents reveal VIP lane for testing contracts - Good Law Project
					

Good Law Project can reveal the existence of a VIP lane for Test and Trace spend – and that ‘VIP stakeholder engagement’ was run from a private gmail address. We are today publishing emails showing the...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Chilli.s (Jun 30, 2021)

A whole bunch of people rubbing their hands with glee whilst others worried sick


----------



## MrSki (Jun 30, 2021)




----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 30, 2021)

administrative error apparently.


----------



## yield (Jun 30, 2021)

not-bono-ever said:


> administrative error apparently.


This thread has taught me I wasn't cynical enough.


----------



## existentialist (Jul 1, 2021)

not-bono-ever said:


> administrative error apparently.


Isn't it funny how convenient so many of these "administrative errors" turn out to be.

And also how they never seem to be revealed/uncovered except via exposure in the press?


----------



## two sheds (Jul 1, 2021)

Tax fraud is also always an administrative error


----------



## Badgers (Jul 1, 2021)

Nissan are staying in Sunderland following an undisclosed payment from the government


----------



## teqniq (Jul 1, 2021)

More on the administrative error, an updated list which appears to be deliberately misleading including the omission that Hancock attended 2 meetings with would-be suppliers









						The lies that pass for transparency data - Good Law Project
					

On Monday we published a short post, pointing out that the so-called “transparency” data – which is supposed to list all of the external meetings Ministers have – failed to mention a meeting on 1...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## MrSki (Jul 1, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Nissan are staying in Sunderland following an undisclosed payment from the government


Which just so happened to be announced on By-Election day!


----------



## teqniq (Jul 6, 2021)

‘No record’ of Matt Hancock meeting Tory donor who owns stake in £346m COVID contract


----------



## Badgers (Jul 7, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Jul 7, 2021)

> On 2 April 2020, Lord Bethell met with Adjuvo Network – a company that brings together investors and early-stage business ventures. They were joined by the molecular diagnostics company QuantuMDX, which is part of the Adjuvo portfolio.
> 
> The founder, CEO and part-owner of Adjuvo is Mark Foster-Brown, who donated £127,500 to the Conservative Party between 2005 and 2010. Lord Bethell held two further meetings with Adjuvo, on 4 April and 3 May. Foster-Brown is explicitly listed as a participant in the latter meeting. All of the summits related to COVID-19 testing











						Undeclared Health Minister Meetings With Firm Owned by Conservative Donor – Byline Times
					

One of the companies involved secured a £16 million grant from the Government, reports Sam Bright




					bylinetimes.com


----------



## MrSki (Jul 13, 2021)




----------



## Dystopiary (Jul 13, 2021)

Mohamed Amersi calls himself “a renowned global communications entrepreneur, philanthropist and thought leader”. He's given some of his fortune to the Conservatives - a fortune made in part in Putin's Russia.

[...]

Switching to philanthropy, Amersi developed connections in the UK, where he holds citizenship.

[...]

Amersi, a Quintessentially client, became a Conservative donor - and [Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's nephew Ben] Elliot the party's co-chair. The £500,000 Amersi has given to the Tories has bought him a place in the Leaders Group, with access to ministers.

[...]

Now Amersi has set up a new group to help manage Conservative relations with the Middle East. He says the patron will be Theresa May, the former prime minister, with other senior Tories also involved.

[...]

Last year Charlotte Leslie, an ex-MP who runs the current group that takes Tory delegations to the Middle East, wrote memos raising concerns about Amersi. In response he spent £300,000 on lawyers including Carter Ruck to demand she retract them.

‘Knowing the right people’: the embattled concierge with elite connections

The donor, the Russian deals and the Conservative money machine


----------



## MrSki (Jul 15, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Jul 15, 2021)

Snout in the trough 
Cock in the Aide 

Cunt in a cunts clothing


----------



## MrSki (Jul 16, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Jul 16, 2021)

Lets spend lots more public money:


----------



## elbows (Jul 17, 2021)

Not new sleaze but more of a review:



> Alongside the rows over specific policy issues, there is a gnawing sense among some backbenchers – particularly in potentially vulnerable southern seats – that voters are becoming queasy about Johnson’s brand of Conservatism.
> 
> One senior MP who canvassed in the recent byelections said: “We picked up a bit of it in Chesham and Amersham and a bit in Batley and Spen but it wasn’t by itself: it was the attitude to aid, it was the chumocracy stuff.”
> 
> “You bundle it all together and you’ve got a party of Alan B’Stards,” he added, referring to Rik Mayall’s 1980s portrayal of an immoral, money-grubbing Tory MP.



From Tory jitters mount at political drift of Boris Johnson’s government


----------



## Dystopiary (Jul 17, 2021)

Government won't publish records of meetings between Dido Harding and Covid firms​The Government says the former head of the £37 billion programme won't be required to make her diary public

None of the meetings Dido Harding held with private firms and consultants while running the UK’s £37 billion Test and Trace programme will be declared, the Government has said.

Ministers and senior officials are required to publicly declare any meetings with stakeholders or private companies.

But no public record exists of any meetings held by Baroness Harding, a Tory peer and ally of shamed minister Matt Hancock.


----------



## teqniq (Jul 18, 2021)

£30 million. For designs. I'd be interested to know if one of the directors of Babcock donated to the vermin:


----------



## Badgers (Jul 19, 2021)

__





						‘Ventilator challenge’ to equip NHS for Covid lost £143m of public money | Coronavirus | The Guardian
					

Bill included paying defence firm Babcock £30m even though no machines were bought from the company




					amp.theguardian.com


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jul 19, 2021)

Badgers said:


> __
> 
> 
> 
> ...



So, what would you have done? Commissioned no patterns until the current supply ran out?

There was indeed money wasted, but when you are in a situation where you don't know if you are going to need 1000 or 100,000 ventilators, you need to pay people to be in a position to manufacture and quickly.

The Guardian is a shitstain of a publication, long on carping, short on solutions.


----------



## elbows (Jul 19, 2021)

Have you ever considered throwing your name into the hat for chairing the ethics committee?


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jul 19, 2021)

elbows said:


> Have you ever considered throwing your name into the hat for chairing the ethics committee?



Nope. I'm a pragmatist. I realise that life is not, and never will be perfect.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jul 19, 2021)

elbows said:


> Have you ever considered throwing your name into the hat for chairing the ethics committee?



What would you have done?

Easy to carp, less easy to come up with a solution.


----------



## elbows (Jul 19, 2021)

A pandemic plan that involved strong, timely measures in order to keep numbers very far below our intensive care capacity would have been a reasonable starting point.


----------



## Badgers (Jul 19, 2021)

elbows said:


> A pandemic plan that involved strong, timely measures in order to keep numbers very far below our intensive care capacity would have been a reasonable starting point.


Don't be ridiculous  we are talking about the self serving #ToryScum here.


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Jul 19, 2021)

Bit of a tangent, but can be all spare a few seconds to hail this mighty duck and his pimping haircut?


----------



## two sheds (Jul 19, 2021)

elbows said:


> A pandemic plan that involved strong, timely measures in order to keep numbers very far below our intensive care capacity would have been a reasonable starting point.


And where does the tory party get its millions in donations from then eh? eh?


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jul 19, 2021)

That’s a nice duck


----------



## elbows (Jul 19, 2021)

Beavis and Duckhead.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jul 19, 2021)

elbows said:


> A pandemic plan that involved strong, timely measures in order to keep numbers very far below our intensive care capacity would have been a reasonable starting point.



And _you _would have done that, how exactly?


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jul 19, 2021)

two sheds said:


> And where does the tory party get its millions in donations from then eh? eh?



Well, people donate to perceived winners... Labour does have a few wealthy donors, other than their paymasters the unions.


----------



## two sheds (Jul 19, 2021)

Sasaferrato said:


> Well, people donate to perceived winners... Labour does have a few wealthy donors, other than their paymasters the unions.


ah yes 'the unions' - representing millions of working people I could imagine you'd prefer large corporate donations over that.


----------



## elbows (Jul 19, 2021)

Sasaferrato said:


> And _you _would have done that, how exactly?


Being two weeks earlier with lockdown would have been a realistic way to get a long way towards that goal.

I'm not going to relive all this pandemic policy stuff with you in detail now, I've been talking about it in detail since January 2020. It would have been very difficult to get people to lockdown more than 2 weeks or so earlier than we actually did, but a claim that we could have done it two weeks sooner is really quite reasonable and would have made a large difference to the size of that first peak.


----------



## Badgers (Jul 19, 2021)

Might as well have a jumble sale outside 10 Downing St the fucking idiots 








__





						No one has yet bought UK's 2,000,000 rejected pieces of PPE
					

More than 2 million pieces of rejected PPE have been put on sale by the UK Government after being declared unsuitable for the NHS.



					metro.co.uk


----------



## elbows (Jul 19, 2021)

I'm surprised they didnt think to flog them off as freedom day gowns.


----------



## Badgers (Jul 19, 2021)

Cunt 









						Jab minister's £100m property empire exposed including £20m London townhouse
					

EXCLUSIVE: Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi, his wife and their companies have a portfolio including seven properties that were bought for more than £10m mortgage-free, while two more were part-funded by £10m of loans from Mr Zahawi’s wife Lana



					www.mirror.co.uk


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jul 19, 2021)

two sheds said:


> ah yes 'the unions' - representing millions of working people I could imagine you'd prefer large corporate donations over that.



Rather than McCluskey's comments to Starmer about party direction and cutting off of funds? Indeed IIRC funds were cut as a warning shot.

This is a part of Labour's problems, they are seen to be being directed by union money.

I have seen the good work that unions can do, I was a PCS rep for about seven years, but I have also seen the harm, as in Bathgate.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jul 19, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Cunt
> 
> 
> 
> ...











						Big Labour donors returning to party under Keir Starmer
					

Several former financial backers report rejoining, with some ‘ready to give again’ in wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s departure




					www.theguardian.com
				





Is it personal envy on your part, or just the usual socialist anger at seeing people prosper.

Born in Baghdad, Zahawi was co-founder of international Internet-based market research firm YouGov of which he was chief executive until February 2010 and was, until January 2018, chief strategy officer for Gulf Keystone Petroleum. 

This is a man who is wealthy by his own efforts, yet you call him a cunt. What a bitter person you are. must no one thrive, because they have more than you?


----------



## teqniq (Jul 20, 2021)

I'd forgotten how properly full of shit you can be in defence of the vermin. Thanks for the reminder.

'what you would you have done differently?' you bleat whilst overlooking the pages of evidence of cronyism and corruption on this thread. Have you even looked at any of it?

What would I have done differently?

I wouldn't have awarded contracts to donors of the vermin at vastly inflated prices and for goods  and/or services of a questionable and sometimes non-existent nature, sometimes to companies with little of no experience or expertise in the field they were bidding for and also sometimes with no real assets to speak of. I wouldn't have set up VIP lanes to expedite all this prolificacy with our money.

Then when taken to court by GLP I wouldn't have over inflated the costs of the government legal team to ridiculously high levels in a really obvious attempt to close down litigation, so much so that GLP had to apply for a cost-capping order. Please also remember that this is our money the vermin have been wasting and we are reduced to having people like GLP attempting to hold them to account by running crowd-funders to finance the proceedings. Is the irony of this not lost on you at all? I wouldn't have attempted to smear Jo Maugham the director of GLP in a futile effort to discredit him in the vermin-friendly press. I could go on but all the evidence you might care to look at is on this thread.

When all is said and done the scumbags responsible for the looting of the public purse ought to face jail time, though I am not overly optimistic that this will ever come to pass.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jul 20, 2021)

teqniq said:


> I'd forgotten how properly full of shit you can be in defence of the vermin. Thanks for the reminder.
> 
> 'what you would you have done differently?' you bleat whilst overlooking the pages of evidence of cronyism and corruption on this thread. Have you even looked at any of it?
> 
> ...



Your use of the word vermin reduces everything else you say to a puerile diatribe.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jul 20, 2021)

He’s a landlord. Scum


----------



## existentialist (Jul 20, 2021)

Sasaferrato said:


> Your use of the word vermin reduces everything else you say to a puerile diatribe.


I might have been tempted to agree with you ten years ago, Sass, but it seems to be almost an inadequate description of what we have "governing" us at the moment, who fulfil an awful lot of the criteria we'd apply to vermin.


----------



## two sheds (Jul 20, 2021)

Sasaferrato said:


> Your use of the word vermin reduces everything else you say to a puerile diatribe.


Good deflection, though. Means you don't have to consider the points being made.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jul 20, 2021)

two sheds said:


> Good deflection, though. Means you don't have to consider the points being made.



For the buffoon to class nearly 14 million of his fellow citizens as 'vermin' indicates the frustrated impotency of the left.

They wanted someone more to the left as leader, they wanted left wing policies. They got  both, and a hu7ge kicking from the electorate.

To describe fourteen million people as vermin, then expect them espouse your cause is utterly ludicrous.

Someone as tin eared as that has nothing to say that I want to hear. I actually voted for Labour at the last election, and will do so at the next.


----------



## Sasaferrato (Jul 20, 2021)

existentialist said:


> I might have been tempted to agree with you ten years ago, Sass, but it seems to be almost an inadequate description of what we have "governing" us at the moment, who fulfil an awful lot of the criteria we'd apply to vermin.


 So you regard 14m of your fellow citizens as vermin?

I'm off back to the garden, beautiful day here.


----------



## fogbat (Jul 20, 2021)

Sasaferrato said:


> Big Labour donors returning to party under Keir Starmer
> 
> 
> Several former financial backers report rejoining, with some ‘ready to give again’ in wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s departure
> ...


A self-made man, and he has been since prep school.


----------



## teqniq (Jul 20, 2021)

Your use of the word vermin reduces everything else you say to a puerile diatribe.
No actual answers then. Since when does actual evidence constitute ‘puerile diatribe’?


----------



## Badgers (Jul 20, 2021)

teqniq said:


> I'd forgotten how properly full of shit you can be in defence of the vermin. Thanks for the reminder.


Ignore it. If only we could do the same with the #ToryScum governcunt.


----------



## existentialist (Jul 20, 2021)

Sasaferrato said:


> So you regard 14m of your fellow citizens as vermin?
> 
> I'm off back to the garden, beautiful day here.


I tend to regard as vermin those enacting the policies, rather than those who, for whatever reasons, choose to elect them.


----------



## two sheds (Jul 20, 2021)

The original was "the Tory Party" 









						Lower Than Vermin: The Story Of Bevan’s Quote That Lives On
					

It’s 70 years since Nye Bevan claimed the Tories were ‘lower than vermin’. The speech took on a life of its own; to some it cost Labour two million votes at a general election, bl…




					tidesofhistory.com


----------



## existentialist (Jul 20, 2021)

two sheds said:


> The original was "the Tory Party"
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh, that's interesting. I'd always just assumed it was an Urban thing. Not, I suspect, that attributing it to Aneurin Bevin is going to cut a lot of ice with Sass.


----------



## Almor (Jul 20, 2021)

Sasaferrato said:


> For the buffoon to class nearly 14 million of his fellow citizens as 'vermin' indicates the frustrated impotency of the left.
> 
> They wanted someone more to the left as leader, they wanted left wing policies. They got  both, and a hu7ge kicking from the electorate.
> 
> ...


The tory party doesn't have 14 million members
Your conflation of members and voters so that you can dodge the points made is ludicrous


----------



## MrSki (Jul 21, 2021)

So really just a day off work then.


----------



## existentialist (Jul 21, 2021)

MrSki said:


> So really just a day off work then.



A ONE DAY ban . Talk about "nod and a wink"...


----------



## MrSki (Jul 21, 2021)

existentialist said:


> A ONE DAY ban . Talk about "nod and a wink"...


For anyone else it would be called attempting to pervert the course of justice.


----------



## Chilli.s (Jul 21, 2021)

MrSki said:


> For anyone else it would be called attempting to pervert the course of justice.


And usually carries a prison sentence


----------



## MrSki (Jul 22, 2021)

Dawn Butler's full speech deserves its place here as it covers corruption & sleaze as well as calling Johnson a liar. Tis good.


----------



## MrSki (Jul 23, 2021)

An interview with Byline TV from the MP of the week.



ETA maybe not an interview.


----------



## two sheds (Jul 23, 2021)

I like the Independent headline that she was ordered to leave the Commons for 'claiming' Johnson has lied. Nope, she pointed out that Johnson has lied.


----------



## teqniq (Jul 23, 2021)

BREAKING: Government admits at least 4 Ministers used private emails for Government business - Good Law Project
					

Following the revelations that disgraced former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Health Minister Lord Bethell used private email accounts for Government business, our lawyers wrote to Government lawyers asking them to confirm they had searched the private email accounts of Ministers for...




					goodlawproject.org
				




....but it is refusing to search the email accounts.


----------



## two sheds (Jul 23, 2021)

and "Government has also so far also refused to confirm that relevant emails in Ministers' personal accounts will be included in the future public inquiry."


----------



## Badgers (Jul 23, 2021)

teqniq said:


> BREAKING: Government admits at least 4 Ministers used private emails for Government business - Good Law Project
> 
> 
> Following the revelations that disgraced former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Health Minister Lord Bethell used private email accounts for Government business, our lawyers wrote to Government lawyers asking them to confirm they had searched the private email accounts of Ministers for...
> ...


#ToryScum


----------



## two sheds (Jul 23, 2021)

If you're trying to evade scrutiny for backhand deals, where else are you going to discuss it but private accounts to keep the record away from official accounts.


----------



## brogdale (Jul 25, 2021)

*Murdoch link*

£423/visor...nice work if you can get it.



> A former Conservative councillor received a £120 million government contract for face shields whose quality is so doubtful that fewer than 1 in 400 have been used, meaning each one has so far cost the equivalent of £423.
> 
> Steve Dechan, 53, is the owner of Platform-14, a Gloucestershire firm that had specialised in devices for managing chronic pain. It recorded significant losses in the year before the pandemic.
> 
> ...


----------



## MrSki (Jul 25, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Jul 25, 2021)

#ToryScum 😡


----------



## Badgers (Jul 25, 2021)

> The report said the money was invested in building influence across the UK establishment - including "PR firms, charities, political interests, academia and cultural institutions" - all of whom were "willing beneficiaries of Russian money."
> 
> And it went on to say: "In brief, Russian influence in the UK is ‘the new normal’, and there are a lot of Russians with very close links to Putin who are well integrated into the UK business and social scene, and accepted because of their wealth



Ffs 


> .”


----------



## Badgers (Jul 26, 2021)

🤔


----------



## Badgers (Jul 26, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Jul 26, 2021)

#worldbeating 









						Former Tory councillor got £120m ‘VIP lane’ government contract for face shields now lying unused
					

The shields could not be used at all last year during the peak of the first and second waves of the pandemic




					www.independent.co.uk


----------



## Badgers (Jul 26, 2021)

Bit more on that...


----------



## brogdale (Jul 26, 2021)

Badgers said:


> 🤔



Really?
A super-injunction to stop reporting of an act of Parliament?
Doesn't sound very credible.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jul 26, 2021)

scum


----------



## Badgers (Jul 27, 2021)

brogdale said:


> Really?
> A super-injunction to stop reporting of an act of Parliament?
> Doesn't sound very credible.


Credible has deserted these lands


----------



## teqniq (Jul 31, 2021)

Well I never....









						Cameron met with minister 2 months before firm he advises got £870k contracts
					

The ex-PM advises the UK arm of Illumina Inc, which was awarded two genome sequencing contracts by Public Health England in April and May




					www.mirror.co.uk


----------



## Badgers (Aug 1, 2021)

The private sector making hay


----------



## Badgers (Aug 1, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Aug 1, 2021)

__





						MPs claiming expenses for 'dependent' children who are actually adults
					

'One despairs that after ten years MPs have not learnt the fundamental ethical lessons of the 2009 scandal over expenses.’



					metro.co.uk
				






> Some MPs are claiming nearly £10,000 in expenses for ‘dependent children’ who are 18 or older and are studying at university.
> 
> They’re entitled to up to £5,400 per child as a second home expense under guidelines designed to help MPs with families rent larger homes.
> 
> But many are topping up their £22,760 standard rental allowance by claiming for children in their 20s.


----------



## MrSki (Aug 1, 2021)

Badgers said:


> __
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Fucking cunts. Time to name & shame. Not a fan of this but in these circumstances then why not? Not like they don't get a pretty decent wedge.


----------



## Chilli.s (Aug 1, 2021)

MrSki said:


> Fucking cunts. Time to name & sh


Time to face a robust prosecution for fraud


----------



## Badgers (Aug 2, 2021)

__





						The Conservatives and the whiff of chumocracy
					






					amp.ft.com


----------



## two sheds (Aug 2, 2021)

Boris Johnson’s Bullingdon Club ‘chum’ picked for sleaze watchdog from 173 candidates - follow live
					

Follow live




					www.independent.co.uk
				




*



Johnson’s Bullingdon Club ‘chum’ beat 171 candidates for sleaze watchdog job

Click to expand...

*​
The perfect description of government now


----------



## teqniq (Aug 3, 2021)

more complete dodginess:









						Lord Bethell's new phone - Good Law Project
					

Lord Bethell is the Health Minister responsible for overseeing the award of Covid contracts. His time as Health Minister has been mired in controversy: from failing to declare meetings with firms that won huge Government...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Badgers (Aug 4, 2021)

The Bumper UK Conservative Government Corruption Thread
					

All the reports of UK government corruption in one place!




					medium.com


----------



## Badgers (Aug 4, 2021)




----------



## cybershot (Aug 5, 2021)

Only criminals use burner phones.


----------



## MrSki (Aug 5, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Aug 6, 2021)

Something smells here:









						Boris Johnson's £75m 'Brexit jet' provided by same company running red list quarantine hotels
					

The Airbus A321, acquired to ferry ministers and the members of the Royal Family to engagements around the globe, was secured via Corporate Travel Management, an Australian-based company awarded two key Covid-response contracts




					inews.co.uk


----------



## teqniq (Aug 6, 2021)

SNP putting to boot in. TBH it's not difficult to miss:









						Tories told they 'can't hide from fact they're mired in sleaze'
					

THE Tories have been rebuked for saying donations don't affect government policy as the SNP said the party "can't hide from the fact their…




					www.thenational.scot


----------



## MrSki (Aug 11, 2021)

Led by Donkeys at it again.


----------



## MrSki (Aug 11, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Aug 12, 2021)

REVEALED: Secret meeting between firm chaired by Government’s PPE Tsar and UK minister to discuss PPE deals - Good Law Project


----------



## teqniq (Aug 15, 2021)

It's never-ending:   









						REVEALED: Tory welfare for the wealthy - Good Law Project
					

Cash for the Tories buys you access. And access means cash from the public purse. That’s the abysmal two-step that channels public cash to Party donors.  All of this happened secretly through the VIP backchannels for...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## existentialist (Aug 15, 2021)

teqniq said:


> It's never-ending:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What still perplexes me about all this is the continued lack of massive public outcry. It's depressing.


----------



## teqniq (Aug 15, 2021)

existentialist said:


> What still perplexes me about all this is the continued lack of massive public outcry. It's depressing.


I don't think it's getting anything like enough coverage and discussion from the likes of the BBC etc. Call it what you will but it looks like news management to me. The lies and the wholesale looting of the public purse should be a national scandal. Instead we get this:


----------



## MrSki (Aug 15, 2021)

There was a time when all of this would have received massive media coverage but it seems the tories now have the media in their pockets. 
Think back to when Cecil Parkinson had to resign for getting his secretary pregnant.


----------



## two sheds (Aug 15, 2021)

‘Lost samples and late results’: the Tory donor, his son and their travel-test firms
					

Concerns grow that for-profit Covid testing regime for travellers is facing collapse




					www.theguardian.com
				





> A Tory donor and his son are facing questions about two private companies they run offering Covid-19 PCR tests for travellers, amid complaints about poor service.
> 
> Dr Ashraf Chohan, founder and chair of Conservative Friends of the NHS, which aims to forge ties between politicians and healthcare workers in the private and public sectors, is the sole director of 1Rapid Clinics, a government-approved Covid-19 testing company that some customers have claimed sent results back late, lost samples and refused refunds.


Conservative Friends of the NHS  

I'd like to see labour say that they would reclaim costs of any fraudulent contracts if (ever) they get into power again. To include contracts given to tory donors without competitive tender or from the VIP route. Could reclaim them in person from the minister who gave them and the company that accepted them  We know that retrospective laws are ok because IDS pioneered it with the bedroom tax.


----------



## teqniq (Aug 15, 2021)

I wonder whether this applies to all and sundry:


----------



## MrSki (Aug 15, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Aug 16, 2021)

‘Deception and Possible Fraud’: Ministers Accused of Misleading Parliament Over HS2 – Byline Times
					

Lord Tony Berkeley, the deputy chair of Boris Johnson's review into the high speed rail link, claims the public is being kept in the dark over spiralling costs




					bylinetimes.com


----------



## MrSki (Aug 18, 2021)

Not corruption per say but it certainly a bit sleazy.


----------



## Badgers (Aug 18, 2021)




----------



## two sheds (Aug 18, 2021)

Are they branching out into PPE?


----------



## existentialist (Aug 18, 2021)

Badgers said:


>



Well, at least they declared the donations, for a change...


----------



## MrSki (Aug 19, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Aug 20, 2021)

Labour in attack mode on corruption for a change. How many open goals have been missed so far?









						Labour accuses Michael Gove of misleading parliament over £22m PPE contract
					

Exclusive: Ministers must ‘explain why they haven’t been telling the truth,’ says Angela Rayner




					www.independent.co.uk


----------



## Saul Goodman (Aug 20, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Labour in attack mode on corruption for a change. How many open goals have been missed so far?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Labour in doing fuck all about anything mode, as usual. Useless bunch of cunts are worse than the Tories. At least the Toerags are doing sleaze and corruption, while Labour write a strongly worded letter and leave all the work to the GLP.


----------



## Badgers (Aug 25, 2021)

> The High Court has granted permission for our legal challenge to the “Levelling Up Fund”. The huge £4.8bn fund pretends to be the centrepiece of a levelling up agenda – but we think it’s just a way to funnel money into constituencies of political benefit to the Conservative Party.











						Good news: We're going to Court - Good Law Project
					

The High Court has granted permission for our legal challenge to the “Levelling Up Fund”. The huge £4.8bn fund pretends to be the centrepiece of a levelling up agenda – but we think it’s just...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Badgers (Aug 25, 2021)

> The Labour Party has called for an Electoral Commission investigation into Conservative Party spending in the Hartlepool by-election, saying Prime Minister Boris Johnson treats rules on election spending "with contempt."











						Boris Johnson Hartlepool jet: Labour demands Election Commission probe
					

Angela Rayner demanded an EC investigation into the Tories' claim of "nil" spending on transport in the Hartlepool by-election, which Johnson flew to.



					www.businessinsider.com


----------



## Badgers (Aug 25, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Aug 26, 2021)

__





						Warrington council lends billionaire founder of The Hut Group £151m | Business | The Guardian
					

The sum is 10 times the average loan, and was paid to a company indirectly controlled by Matt Moulding




					amp.theguardian.com


----------



## Badgers (Sep 1, 2021)

We have permission to bring our cross-appeal - Good Law Project
					

In mid-July, we told you Michael Gove was appealing the Court’s decision that he broke the law in awarding a lucrative public contract to his friends at Public First because of apparent bias. We also...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Badgers (Sep 1, 2021)

Ex-chancellor Philip Hammond rebuked over lobbying by sleaze watchdog
					

Contact with senior Treasury official on bank’s behalf was ‘not acceptable’




					www.independent.co.uk


----------



## teqniq (Sep 1, 2021)

Also permission to appeal on this:









						Update: We have permission to appeal - Good Law Project
					

On 29 June we published a blog explaining that a technical error by our solicitors – involving the papers being sent to the wrong email address at the Government Legal Department, corrected a day later...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## teqniq (Sep 2, 2021)

I've linked to the reply, mainly because I think it's entirely likely that's what will happen:


----------



## teqniq (Sep 2, 2021)

I think he may be a tad rattled. Worth a read, lots of blatant falsehoods:









						Why might the anti-corruption tsar be smearing us? - Good Law Project
					

“Unimaginable resources” were thrown at Test and Trace. Yet it “cannot point to a measurable difference to the progress of the pandemic”. That’s what the Conservative-majority Public Accounts Committee found. There was a measurable difference,...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Badgers (Sep 2, 2021)

So he is 'anti corruption' yet lying to cover up corruption 🤔 is that not corrupt?


----------



## MrSki (Sep 2, 2021)

teqniq said:


> I think he may be a tad rattled. Worth a read, lots of blatant falsehoods:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah I got that as an email from GLP earlier.


----------



## teqniq (Sep 3, 2021)

Friday's dirt delivery:


----------



## teqniq (Sep 4, 2021)

Interesting. I wonder what lengths the vermin will go to to protect their mates?









						Government in dispute over ‘not fit for purpose’ PPE costing £1.2bn
					

Taxpayers’ money ‘abused’ says Labour, as health department considers legal action against firms




					www.independent.co.uk


----------



## Badgers (Sep 9, 2021)

> A company linked to the Conservative Party that won 'VIP contracts' has boasted of record £13m profits – saying that the pandemic provided an "unprecedented opportunity to support the government".
> 
> Meller Designs Ltd was awarded £160m in deals provide personal protective equipment (PPE), all without competitive tender.
> 
> The company was fast-tracked by the government through a ‘VIP lane’, after being recommended by a government insider.











						Record profits for Tory donor's firm that won huge PPE contracts
					

Pandemic was an 'unprecedented opportunity' says Meller Designs, which was fast-tracked in the government’s ‘VIP lane’




					www.opendemocracy.net


----------



## teqniq (Sep 16, 2021)

I'd offer Bethel a shovel but he seems to be doing fine on his own:









						NEW: The ever growing mystery of Lord Bethell’s ‘missing’ phone - Good Law Project
					

You will recall in our hearing in July Government admitted that some of Health Minister Lord Bethell’s dealings in relation to the controversial £85 million testing contracts to Abingdon Health had been conducted via WhatsApp...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Badgers (Sep 19, 2021)




----------



## existentialist (Sep 19, 2021)

Badgers said:


>



Tories: leaving no stone unturned to find new grafting opportunities.


----------



## teqniq (Sep 21, 2021)

Heh:









						£80m in Covid contracts lawsuit: Matt Hancock's personal WhatsApp and emails to be scrutinised
					

The personal WhatsApp messages and emails from former Health Secretary Matt Hancock will be searched as part of a High Court battle over millions of




					www.cityam.com


----------



## teqniq (Sep 21, 2021)

.


----------



## MrSki (Sep 22, 2021)

> Government spends half a million pounds trying to block FOI requests in courts
> 
> 
> Public concerned about increasing government secrecy after departments call in lawyers
> ...


----------



## MrSki (Oct 7, 2021)

A bit long but worth it.


----------



## teqniq (Oct 13, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Oct 16, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Oct 16, 2021)

Cameron's grubby fingers may well be all over this:


----------



## ViolentPanda (Oct 16, 2021)

Sasaferrato said:


> And _you _would have done that, how exactly?


By carpet-bombing Parliament.


----------



## Badgers (Oct 16, 2021)

ViolentPanda said:


> By carpet-bombing Parliament.


Something we can all (decent folk that is) enjoy


----------



## Badgers (Oct 17, 2021)

More on the lives risked/lost due to #ToryScum corruption


----------



## Badgers (Oct 18, 2021)

Breaking: Government ordered to reveal the names of companies in the PPE VIP lane - Good Law Project
					

Good Law Project has successfully forced the Government to reveal the names of the 47 companies in the PPE VIP lane.  The Information Commissioner has ordered the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to disclose...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## _Russ_ (Oct 19, 2021)

Deleted, already covered above


----------



## Badgers (Oct 26, 2021)

👍









						BREAKING: High Court gives challenge over Ministers' use of private email and WhatsApp green light - Good Law Project
					

Our challenge over Ministers’ persistent use of private emails and messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal for Government business has just been given a huge boost: the High Court has granted us permission to proceed...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## teqniq (Oct 26, 2021)

.


----------



## teqniq (Oct 27, 2021)

Complete and utter scumbags (but we knew that already):


----------



## existentialist (Oct 27, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Complete and utter scumbags (but we knew that already):



It would be expensive. It may well cost the Tories significant sums in party donations.


----------



## teqniq (Oct 28, 2021)

FFS


----------



## Badgers (Oct 29, 2021)

Blood washes off hands easily these days 









						‘No evidence’ conflicts of interest were considered in Greensill contracts – NAO
					

National Audit Office reviewed NHS and pharmacy pay contracts given to David Cameron’s former adviser




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## Badgers (Oct 30, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Oct 30, 2021)

Charity Commission: Nadine Dorries has not backed down - we’re launching full legal proceedings - Good Law Project
					

Two days before interviews began for a new chair of the Charity Commission, the Government published an article on the Gov.uk website explaining that whoever they hired would be required to “rebalance” charities away from...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Badgers (Oct 31, 2021)

JCB eh? 









						JCB signs green hydrogen deal worth billions
					

JCB will take 10% of the green hydrogen made by Australian mining company Fortescue Future Industries.



					www.bbc.co.uk


----------



## Chilli.s (Oct 31, 2021)

Badgers said:


> JCB eh?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Just how green is it once its loaded, shipped round the world, unloaded, repcked, distributed, unpacked and finally used


----------



## Badgers (Oct 31, 2021)

Chilli.s said:


> Just how green is it once its loaded, shipped round the world, unloaded, repcked, distributed, unpacked and finally used


Part of a great TrussTradeDeal perhaps?


----------



## Chilli.s (Oct 31, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Part of a great TrussTradeDeal perhaps?


so long as there's a profit to be skimmed off several times to several firms that do nothing more than bash away at a keyboard in an office somewhere providing just another layer of expenses to feed the shareholders


----------



## existentialist (Oct 31, 2021)

Chilli.s said:


> Just how green is it once its loaded, shipped round the world, unloaded, repcked, distributed, unpacked and finally used


TBF, hydrogen does rather tend to unpack itself . Sometimes violently.


----------



## Chilli.s (Oct 31, 2021)

existentialist said:


> TBF, hydrogen does rather tend to unpack itself . Sometimes violently.


Lets hope not


----------



## two sheds (Oct 31, 2021)

Chilli.s said:


> Just how green is it once its loaded, shipped round the world, unloaded, repcked, distributed, unpacked and finally used


They'll be using green hydrogen to transport it  really, you people 

there'll just be none left by the time it gets where it's supposed to be going.


----------



## teqniq (Nov 3, 2021)

EXCLUSIVE: Private hospitals were paid over £1.5 billion during the pandemic - Good Law Project


----------



## Badgers (Nov 3, 2021)

teqniq said:


> EXCLUSIVE: Private hospitals were paid over £1.5 billion during the pandemic - Good Law Project


Basically the taxpayer is funding the private takeover of the NHS which the taxpayer funded?


----------



## Chilli.s (Nov 3, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Basically the taxpayer is funding the private takeover of the NHS which the taxpayer funded?


for the benefit of the very rich who will then be able to skim profits for themselves via pension funds and income from investments


----------



## teqniq (Nov 3, 2021)

Also from the piece, it's not just tory scum:



> Practice Plus Group is owned by the private equity group Bridgepoint, whose advisory board includes the Conservative life peer Stuart Rose and Alan Milburn, the former Labour health secretary.


----------



## Chilli.s (Nov 3, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Also from the piece, it's not just tory scum:


Yeah once on the gravy train there's no boundaries. Government by a system like jury service would be far better


----------



## teqniq (Nov 3, 2021)

This probably belongs here as well:


----------



## Chilli.s (Nov 3, 2021)

Policy made by the highest bidder?  cunts. Completely ruins any ideas of democratic process


----------



## teqniq (Nov 3, 2021)

Fuck this. What with my previous posts today and now this, are people ever going to be angry enough to say enough is enough?


----------



## not-bono-ever (Nov 3, 2021)

Pick up trucks with a guillotine in the back.


----------



## MrSki (Nov 3, 2021)




----------



## brogdale (Nov 3, 2021)

Interesting point.


----------



## brogdale (Nov 3, 2021)

And there we have it...Paterson walks again:


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Nov 3, 2021)

Britain is basically a failed state at this point. Fuck all the dumb motherfuckers who voted for and support this shower of shit.


----------



## brogdale (Nov 3, 2021)

Was existential for the vermin, though; if they faced suspension (maybe recall) every time they corruptly shilled for capital...they'd be a spent force within weeks. That check on their venal propensity was not sustainable.


----------



## StoneRoad (Nov 3, 2021)

Corrupt MP walks free after fellow Tory MPs vote ...

Quelle surprise ! [not]

These grifting fuckers need to be aggressively policed by an independent standards committee, one with some teeth.
And it would be nice if they were chucked out from ever standing for office - at any level - again.


----------



## brogdale (Nov 3, 2021)

Trickett's not wrong.


----------



## eatmorecheese (Nov 3, 2021)

1-0 down at full-time. Never mind, just change the rules.

I don't often use the Urban neck-shot invective, but this is the fucking limit.

I am so tired. Enough. Fucking cunts.


----------



## Humberto (Nov 3, 2021)

Hard to know where the hyperbole begins and ends anymore, but government is available to the highest bidder?


----------



## eatmorecheese (Nov 3, 2021)

Where is the Jackie Weaver figure?

READ THEM AND UNDERSTAND THEM


----------



## Humberto (Nov 3, 2021)

I haven't read the Bill no, if that's what you mean.


----------



## Duncan2 (Nov 3, 2021)

Small consolation but his chances of surviving the next GE must now be zero?


----------



## teqniq (Nov 3, 2021)

Hopefully his small chance of surviving full stop.


----------



## Serene (Nov 3, 2021)

Ms Rayner hit back and said: 'Let me put this to him simply. If it was a police officer, a teacher, a doctor, we would expect the independent process to be followed and not changed after the verdict.

'It is one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us.'

Ms Rayner said of the Tories that 'when they break the rules, they just remake the rules'.


----------



## Serene (Nov 3, 2021)

The Independent headline about Owen Paterson

What happened in the House of Commons today was so foul, the stench might never clear​
Owen Paterson, having been found utterly in breach of the rules, has been protected by having his mates, and the government itself, just rip those rules up altogether​


----------



## teqniq (Nov 3, 2021)

Actually 27 including my MP who I have mailed asking for an explanation.


----------



## MrSki (Nov 3, 2021)

Good old Ms Sultana still saying as it is.


----------



## two sheds (Nov 3, 2021)

How dare she? We know what intemperate language about tory MPs has led to


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Nov 3, 2021)

MrSki said:


> Good old Ms Sultana still saying as it is.


Politicians are corrupt to the core, and given power the likes of Zarah Sultana are no different.


----------



## MrSki (Nov 3, 2021)

Count Cuckula said:


> Politicians are corrupt to the core, and given power the likes of Zarah Sultana are no different.


Have you any evidence to back that up? She comes across as one of the rare breed of honest ones but I await to hear differently.


----------



## MrSki (Nov 3, 2021)




----------



## AmateurAgitator (Nov 3, 2021)

MrSki said:


> one of the rare breed of honest ones


No such thing. But I'd imagine, as I hinted, that she would have to be part of a government for her corruption to manifest in any noticeable way.


----------



## bluescreen (Nov 3, 2021)

FT  is free of paywall today so this article from July about the Tory money-fixer Ben Elliot and the so-called Advisory Board is worth a read. 








						Inside Boris Johnson’s money network
					

The UK prime minister’s own finances may be shambolic, but a secretive donor club is transforming his party’s fortunes




					www.ft.com


----------



## yield (Nov 3, 2021)

Thanks! An outline so others can read it Outline - Read & annotate without distractions


----------



## Cwmflame (Nov 3, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Actually 27 including my MP who I have mailed asking for an explanation.



It’s pairing conventions. Lots of MPs are in COP26 and Select Committee excursions, so are paired with opposite numbers in the other party, cancelling out how each other would have voted. 

It’s why they need to bring in proxy votes, or digital votes if absent. Another hangover of an outdated system.


----------



## two sheds (Nov 3, 2021)

something like this would have called for a three-line whip?


----------



## teqniq (Nov 3, 2021)

two sheds said:


> something like this would have called for a three-line whip?





> Prime Minister Boris Johnson has backed the amendment, and Tory MPs have been issued with a three-line whip on voiting in its favour, a move that has caused disquiet among some Conservative MPs.











						Tories Have Voted To Overhaul Rules For MP Standards Despite Frustration Among MPs
					

A vote has passed in favour of reforming parliament’s standards watchdog as part of a wider effort to prevent Tory MP Owen Paterson from facing a 3...




					www.politicshome.com


----------



## two sheds (Nov 3, 2021)

Pairing isn't generally allowed during a three-line whip, though?


----------



## Humberto (Nov 3, 2021)

They vote to make themselves more powerful and more unaccountable.


----------



## Humberto (Nov 3, 2021)

Inspiring speeches one day (COP26), ravaging and exploiting the system the next.


----------



## Cwmflame (Nov 4, 2021)

two sheds said:


> Pairing isn't generally allowed during a three-line whip, though?


They do it for all votes as far as i’m aware, but sometimes have a strop and suspend it for periods. The Labour MPs that abstained today have all (or mostly) come out and explained that they were paired and in most cases the reason why (e.g. my MP, Alex Davies-Jones was on a Select Committee visit).


----------



## brogdale (Nov 4, 2021)




----------



## Jeff Robinson (Nov 4, 2021)

Count Cuckula said:


> Politicians are corrupt to the core, and given power the likes of Zarah Sultana are no different.



Top notch anarkiddie analysis!


----------



## Serge Forward (Nov 4, 2021)

Sez the person whose schtick is to post tons of videos of Stalinists in jackboots.


----------



## teqniq (Nov 4, 2021)

More grift:









						REVEALED: Minister’s partner’s firm awarded lucrative Covid contracts - Good Law Project
					

An investigation by Good Law Project can reveal that the partner of Michelle Donelan, the Minister of State for Universities, heads up the commercial unit at a PPE company that has been awarded numerous PPE...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## Badgers (Nov 4, 2021)




----------



## Jeff Robinson (Nov 4, 2021)

Serge Forward said:


> Sez the person whose schtick is to post tons of videos of Stalinists in jackboots.



Correction, Stalinists in _the people’s_ jackboots.


----------



## elbows (Nov 4, 2021)

lol.









						Owen Paterson row: Government U-turn over MPs' conduct plan
					

Labour says the Tory move to cancel Owen Paterson's suspension saw the PM "lead his troops through the sewer".



					www.bbc.co.uk
				






> Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg has now confirmed the changes will not go ahead without cross-party support.
> He told the Commons there was a "strong feeling" that any change to the standards process "should not be based on a single case", and Wednesday's vote had "conflated" the two.
> "This link needs to be broken" added Mr Rees-Mogg.
> He said the government would come back to MPs with more detailed proposals to change the system after it had held discussions with the other parties.
> And it is also understood another vote will take place on whether Mr Paterson should be suspended.


----------



## existentialist (Nov 4, 2021)

elbows said:


> lol.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Having done what must be about the worst thing, reputationally, that they could have done by even holding yesterday's vote, it seems to me that they have immediately relegated that to the *second* worst thing, reputationally, that they could have done, by backing away from their brazen attempt to sleaze their way out of this.

We are governed by fools.


----------



## bluescreen (Nov 4, 2021)

existentialist said:


> Having done what must be about the worst thing, reputationally, that they could have done by even holding yesterday's vote, it seems to me that they have immediately relegated that to the *second* worst thing, reputationally, that they could have done, by backing away from their brazen attempt to sleaze their way out of this.
> 
> We are governed by fools.


Knaves and fools


----------



## StoneRoad (Nov 4, 2021)

JR-M's u-turn was pretty quick ...


----------



## existentialist (Nov 4, 2021)

StoneRoad said:


> JR-M's u-turn was pretty quick ...


Those broughams can really turn on a sixpence. A silver one, obviously.


----------



## Smangus (Nov 4, 2021)

A fraternal and convivial u turn one thinks.


----------



## magneze (Nov 4, 2021)

Paterson has now resigned:








						MP Owen Paterson resigns from ‘cruel world of politics’
					

Tory MP was facing suspension after standards watchdog found he had broken lobbying rules




					www.theguardian.com
				




Perhaps he could have done this last week eh?


----------



## Carvaged (Nov 4, 2021)

So the corrupt fuck decides to resign, decrying the scrutiny he and his affairs have been subjected to. What a twat.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Nov 4, 2021)

At least he retains his integrity. You can’t take that from him


----------



## magneze (Nov 4, 2021)

> “I will remain a public servant but outside the cruel world of politics.”


🤣


----------



## two sheds (Nov 4, 2021)

not-bono-ever said:


> At least he retains his integrity money You can’t take that from him



cfu


----------



## Dogsauce (Nov 4, 2021)




----------



## Jeff Robinson (Nov 4, 2021)

Iron fist salute to this urban street artist and redecorator!


----------



## elbows (Nov 4, 2021)

Has anyone reported Johnson shouting 'let the sleaze pile higher' from his office yet?


----------



## MrSki (Nov 4, 2021)

StoneRoad said:


> JR-M's u-turn was pretty quick ...


One Hate Mail front page was enough to swing it.


----------



## Badgers (Nov 4, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Nov 4, 2021)

Thread on the extent of the corruption and complete unsuitability of Randox:


----------



## bluescreen (Nov 4, 2021)

The whole thing stinks




__





						Subscribe to read | Financial Times
					

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication




					www.ft.com


----------



## brogdale (Nov 4, 2021)

Ah ha!


----------



## elbows (Nov 4, 2021)

What an amazing sense of timing this regime have. 

Johnson the corrupt timelord whose tardis is a careening shopping trolley. Coming soon to an adventure titled 'the time bunglers bungs'.


----------



## Badgers (Nov 5, 2021)

Thread...


----------



## SpookyFrank (Nov 5, 2021)

You'd think Johnson would have no problem getting rid of obvious liabilities like Paterson and Hancock, but he keeps bungling this stuff. We know it's not out of empathy for his colleagues, because he doesn't have empathy. Maybe it's just stubbornness, maybe it's just being too lazy to write an email.


----------



## bimble (Nov 5, 2021)

Its like their only saving grace if you can call it that is their stupidity.


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 5, 2021)

Does Johnson have to wait till the New Year's Day honours list to send Paterson to the Lords or can he do it sooner?


----------



## bimble (Nov 5, 2021)

I’m going to a thing this eve where our mp will be there & you can ask questions. Would love to know how he feels about having voted for the leadsom amendment , the stupid fuck.


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 5, 2021)

bimble said:


> I’m going to a thing this eve where our mp will be there & you can ask questions. Would love to know how he feels about having voted for the leadsom amendment , the stupid fuck.



Give em hell


----------



## bimble (Nov 5, 2021)

rubbershoes said:


> Give em hell


You could ask that question quite politely, it would still be hell to answer wouldn’t it


----------



## rubbershoes (Nov 5, 2021)

bimble said:


> You could ask that question quite politely, it would still be hell to answer wouldn’t it



At an event a few years ago, our shitty tory MP accused Mrs Shoes of bullying him, as she had his voting record and pointed out all the nasty things he'd voted for.


----------



## bluescreen (Nov 5, 2021)

rubbershoes said:


> At an event a few years ago, our shitty tory MP accused Mrs Shoes of bullying him, as she had his voting record and pointed out all the nasty things he'd voted for.




❄️


----------



## Badgers (Nov 5, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Nov 5, 2021)

Nicked from Twitter:


----------



## two sheds (Nov 5, 2021)

That's what they call a taxable benefit isn't it. Not that the odd ten thousand would be a problem for him.

ps - anyone know why it doesn't copy the poster's name when you go back and copy their post to add?


----------



## gosub (Nov 5, 2021)

Criminal Records of serving MP's in the House of Commons - a Freedom of Information request to House of Commons Administration Committee
					

Can you please let me know if any current Members of Parliament have a criminal conviction. If so, how many MPs have a criminal conviction and what crimes are the convictions for and if any have served time in jail?  Yours faithfully, Adrian J Cohen




					www.whatdotheyknow.com
				



1. Do any current Members of Parliament have a criminal conviction and,
if so, how many?

And

 2. What crimes these convictions were for and if any MPs have served time
in jail?



In the first instance it may help you to know that MPs are not required to
disclose details of criminal convictions to the House of Commons.



However, some of this information is held by the House of Commons,
collected from publicly available sources.



Some information about convictions of current members while they have been
MPs is held by the House of Commons. This is published as a Research Paper
on the parliamentary web pages here:
[1]http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers....






__





						Wayback Machine
					






					web.archive.org


----------



## Badgers (Nov 5, 2021)

gosub said:


> Criminal Records of serving MP's in the House of Commons - a Freedom of Information request to House of Commons Administration Committee
> 
> 
> Can you please let me know if any current Members of Parliament have a criminal conviction. If so, how many MPs have a criminal conviction and what crimes are the convictions for and if any have served time in jail?  Yours faithfully, Adrian J Cohen
> ...


----------



## gosub (Nov 5, 2021)

Badgers said:


> View attachment 295522


Yep and the reasearch paper Recall of MPs Bill 2014-15 - Commons Library briefing - UK Parliament looks to be have been deleted 3 months before the FOI request


----------



## Badgers (Nov 5, 2021)

gosub said:


> Yep and the reasearch paper Recall of MPs Bill 2014-15 - Commons Library briefing - UK Parliament looks to be has been deleted 3 months before the FOI request


Shocker 🙄


----------



## Serene (Nov 5, 2021)

Owen Paterson has decided to keep his other jobs. He has has resigned his position as an MP while keeping the job he got in trouble for that earned him half-a-million pounds.


----------



## existentialist (Nov 5, 2021)

Serene said:


> Owen Paterson has decided to keep his other jobs. He has has resigned his position as an MP while keeping the job he got in trouble for that earned him half-a-million pounds.


I wonder how keen they will be to keep him on now that the main purpose of having him on board has evaporated. Although, perhaps, he still has the ear of senior government ministers


----------



## DaveCinzano (Nov 5, 2021)




----------



## stdP (Nov 5, 2021)

Some sickening bias from OpenDemocracy again, in an article on MPs raking it in hand-over-fist by taking lucrative second jobs they make a point of only mentioning Tories 😠









						MPs net £6m from second jobs since pandemic began
					

Exclusive: Opposition MPs call for ban on ‘moonlighting’ as it’s revealed an ex-PM and a cabinet minister are among highest earners




					www.opendemocracy.net


----------



## Badgers (Nov 6, 2021)

The 24 MPs with official complaints against them who voted to overturn sleaze watchdog
					

Breaches range from renting out properties on Airbnb and failing to declare the income, to offering tours of the Houses of Parliament as raffle prizes




					inews.co.uk


----------



## Badgers (Nov 6, 2021)

No 10 declines to rule out potential peerage for Owen Paterson
					

Tory MP quit Commons on Thursday hours after Boris Johnson withdrew his support for him in lobbying row




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## Badgers (Nov 6, 2021)




----------



## Badgers (Nov 6, 2021)

Not fact checked this but sounds familiar 🤔











						UK logistics firm given almost £800m of Covid contracts without tender
					

Uniserve is largest recipient of pandemic deals handed out by DHSC under emergency regulations




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## Badgers (Nov 6, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (Nov 7, 2021)

If only I had 3 million I could be LordSki & get 3 hundred odd quid for getting pissed in a subsidised bar.


----------



## Kaka Tim (Nov 7, 2021)

MrSki said:


> If only I had 3 million I could be LordSki & get 3 hundred odd quid for getting pissed in a subsidised bar.


----------



## teqniq (Nov 9, 2021)

Connections, a thread:



Unroll here:









						Thread by @DamianHastie on Thread Reader App
					

Thread by @DamianHastie: Covid Contract Family Connections Devizes 1957 - Henry Glass & Christine Smith Daughter is married to co-founder of Unispace Son is a director of Agile Medical Grandaughter married to direc...…




					threadreaderapp.com


----------



## brogdale (Nov 9, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Connections, a thread:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Good digging.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Nov 9, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Nov 11, 2021)

Thread in which it is revealed that middlemen made £84m on PPE procurement deals


----------



## teqniq (Nov 13, 2021)

What a fucking surprise:




E2a more here:









						Met say there is 'insufficent evidence' for 'cash for honours' criminal probe
					

THE Metropolitan Police have decided not to launch a probe into Tory "cash for honours" claims following a complaint from the SNP.




					www.thenational.scot


----------



## Badgers (Nov 13, 2021)

Filth 

As if they could be trusted 🙄


----------



## teqniq (Nov 13, 2021)

The stench continues:









						16 MPs claim £1.3m in rent from taxpayer – while letting their own homes
					

Exclusive: Four ministers have put rent on expenses while collecting on homes they own in London




					www.independent.co.uk


----------



## two sheds (Nov 13, 2021)

teqniq said:


> What a fucking surprise:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



When there's insufficient evidence of a crime you'd expect them to actually go looking for some


----------



## Badgers (Nov 13, 2021)

teqniq said:


> The stench continues:
> 
> 
> 
> ...





> *Sir* Geoffrey has been under fire following the disclosure that he stands to make more than £1m from outside legal work, including representing the British Virgin Islands in a corruption inquiry.
> 
> He is currently claiming £22,000 a year in taxpayer funding to rent a London home while collecting rent on another property he co-owns in the capital. A spokeswoman for the MP said: “Sir Geoffrey has acted at all times within the rules set by the IPSA.”



Do they have advisors telling them how to get rich(er) whilst the #ToryScum hang on to power? 

Can picture these bloated cunts sitting together in the taxpayer subsided bar sharing financial hacks and recommending dirty accountants / lawyers who can help out.


----------



## Edie (Nov 13, 2021)

This stinks. The idea of them getting decent people to donate their hard earned cash to save bloody cheetahs or whatnot, then spending it on mansions, interior decor, and corruption, makes me feel like grabbing my baseball bat.









						Charity that employs Carrie Johnson faces further questions over finances
					

Accounts for Aspinall Foundation show it paid more than £150,000 in ‘interior design services’ to chairman’s wife




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## not-bono-ever (Nov 13, 2021)

An outfit that is run by the goldsmiths and aspinalls might be ropey shocker.


----------



## Badgers (Nov 13, 2021)

__





						Chris Bryant: ‘I’ll report the next MP who tries to lobby me’ | Chris Bryant | The Guardian
					






					amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org
				






> Bryant, whose cross-party committee polices MPs’ conduct, describes an increase in attempts to influence due process in recent months, culminating in Boris Johnson’s extraordinary botched attempt to overturn the verdict against Owen Paterson.
> 
> “It’s: ‘Chris. Can I just bend your ear …?’ Absolutely not!” he says. “It has happened quite a lot over the last year, most notably over the Owen Paterson case but also a couple of others. And in the past, my view has been: ‘Right, I’m just going to tell you you’re not allowed to lobby.’ My new version is: the moment anybody lobbies me I will simply report it to the commissioner and then the commissioner can decide what to do with it.”


----------



## MrSki (Nov 13, 2021)

Fuck me get the DWP on the case. They can find any extra £2.50 that has entered your account.

 Not enough evidence?

What a total load of bollocks. Follow the cash & there is the evidence. 

Corruption stinks & Westminster is a fucking quagmire.


----------



## two sheds (Nov 13, 2021)

Can't survive without a nose in the trough  


> Owen Paterson asked third firm for a job ‘weeks after leaving government’​
> Exclusive: Disgraced former Tory MP phoned businessman he’d met through his ministerial brief to ask for work shortly after returning to backbenches


----------



## Badgers (Nov 14, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Filth
> 
> As if they could be trusted 🙄


----------



## ruffneck23 (Nov 14, 2021)




----------



## bluescreen (Nov 14, 2021)

Without knowing more about it than the headline here, it's puzzling. He could get cheap loans in the UK - I doubt he could get them cheaper in the Caymans. It's likely there's a lot more to the story than 'cheap loans' however. Anyway, what this is telling me is that the Mail is gunning for JRM.


----------



## Chilli.s (Nov 14, 2021)

bluescreen said:


> cheaper in the Caymans


Probably one of those loans that is actually income from his hidden businesses and he wants to avoid tax on it. Disguised as a loan it could be an allowable expense.


----------



## two sheds (Nov 14, 2021)

You'd think they'd have phrased it Cheap 'loans' if so

but there again this is the Mail on Sunday


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Nov 14, 2021)

Has Natalie Elphicke been mentioned yet?









						Tory MP who said Marcus Rashford should stick to the day job... has second job
					

In a private message to colleagues following England’s defeat in the Euro 2020 final, Ms Elphicke said: 'Would it be ungenerous to say Rashford should have spent more time perfecting his game and less time playing politics'




					inews.co.uk


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Nov 15, 2021)

ACG article on the Natalie Elphicke revelations :









						Natalie Elphicke MP – another dodgy dealer - Anarchist Communist Group
					

Dover and Deal MP Natalie Elphicke - wife of the previous Dover and Deal MP, convicted sex offender and ex Tory Whip, Charlie Elphicke - is paid £36,000 from a second job on top of her MP’s salary of £82,000. Elphicke, who often cynically and opportunistically rails against new arrival refugees...




					www.anarchistcommunism.org


----------



## two sheds (Nov 15, 2021)

Almost £225,000 in wages and freebies taken from gambling industry by 28 MPs
					

Guardian audit since August 2020 shows 19 Conservative MPs and nine Labour were beneficiaries




					www.theguardian.com
				




Yet more sleazy cunts  the money that gambling takes and damage it does to predominantly poor people.


----------



## Dogsauce (Nov 15, 2021)

Remember Blair wanting ‘super casinos’ everywhere? Symbolised his utter moral bankruptcy, at least Brown kicked that into the dirt.  Pretty sure those fixed odds betting terminals that fucked up loads of people came on his watch too. Captive government.


----------



## two sheds (Nov 16, 2021)

Almost $500bn ‘lost to tax abuse by firms and super-rich in 2021’
					

Figure would be enough to fully vaccinate global population against Covid three times over, report says




					www.theguardian.com
				




Enabling international, organized crime: 



> Countries are losing almost half a trillion dollars through tax abuse by multinationals and the super-rich, enough to fully vaccinate the global population against Covid-19 three times over, a report has said.
> 
> Research by tax campaigners found that estimated losses had risen from $427bn last year to $483bn (£359bn) in 2021, with the UK alone responsible for almost 40% of the total.
> 
> Britain facilitates abuse and evasion through a network made up of British overseas territories and the City of London, the report said.


----------



## teqniq (Nov 16, 2021)

They've got a little list....





__





						LEAKED: The Conservative politicians who referred companies to the PPE 'VIP lane' - Good Law Project
					

A leaked document has revealed which Conservative MPs and Peers funnelled companies through a ‘VIP lane’ for lucrative PPE contracts, without competition. A staggering £1.6 billion worth of contracts were awarded as a result of referrals from just ten politicians at the heart of the Conservative...




					goodlawproject.org


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Nov 16, 2021)

Prince Andrew’s £1.5 Million Loan Paid Off by Top Political Donor
					

(Bloomberg) -- One of the British Conservative Party’s biggest donors transferred 1.5 million pounds ($2 million) to Prince Andrew days after the prince borrowed a similar amount from a Luxembourg private bank controlled by the businessman’s family.Most Read from BloombergAmazon Sued Over...




					uk.yahoo.com
				




Maybe this should go in the Prince Andrew thread aswell?

One of the advantages of being the queens' son is that you can get very large unsecured loans from Tory party donors. Take away their benefits!


----------



## two sheds (Nov 16, 2021)

That's one fucking huge free lunch


----------



## DaveCinzano (Nov 16, 2021)

two sheds said:


> That's one fucking huge free lunch


Quid pro paedo, as they say


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Nov 16, 2021)

And there's yet more









						Money for nothing – corrupt Johnson pockets another £10 million - Anarchist Communist Group
					

Revelations of establishment corruption are coming out every day. One of the latest we at the ACG are aware of involves the Prime Minister Boris Johnson. How is this for corruption - The Prime Minister has been allotted 10 million quid to run a new government department that doesn’t really...




					www.anarchistcommunism.org


----------



## Chilli.s (Nov 19, 2021)

Dr Liam Fox, the Con MP for North Somerset, is expecting £10,000 from a PR firm based in the tax haven of Panama for a total of zero hours' work

Nice work


----------



## Badgers (Nov 19, 2021)

Chilli.s said:


> Dr Liam Fox, the Con MP for North Somerset, is expecting £10,000 from a PR firm based in the tax haven of Panama for a total of zero hours' work
> 
> Nice work


I could do 10 hours a week for only 10x that amount 🤔


----------



## Chilli.s (Nov 19, 2021)

Badgers said:


> I could do 10 hours a week for only 10x that amount 🤔


I'd do 10x the hours he's doing for the same pay, hell, i'll do it for half


----------



## teqniq (Nov 19, 2021)




----------



## Serge Forward (Nov 19, 2021)

Chilli.s said:


> Dr Liam Fox, the Con MP for North Somerset, is expecting £10,000 from a PR firm based in the tax haven of Panama for a total of zero hours' work
> 
> Nice work


Now that's what a proper zero hours contract should be


----------



## Badgers (Nov 19, 2021)




----------



## MrSki (Nov 20, 2021)

Good speech from Stephen Flynn.


----------



## teqniq (Nov 21, 2021)

Please sign and share:









						Cash for peerages scandal: ask the Met Police to investigate
					

I've signed the petition. Will you?




					actions.goodlawproject.org
				




more on this here:









						Pete Wishart threatens legal action against Met Police over Tory 'corruption'
					

A SENIOR Scottish MP is poised to take the Metropolitan Police to court over Westminster "cash for honours" claims, it has been revealed.




					www.thenational.scot


----------



## teqniq (Nov 23, 2021)

Oh dearie me...




Just how close is Baroness Mone to PPE Medpro?

we're going to need more lamp posts.


----------



## elbows (Nov 24, 2021)

teqniq said:


> we're going to need more lamp posts.


20,000 would be a good result.


----------



## Badgers (Nov 28, 2021)




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## Chilli.s (Nov 28, 2021)

I'd buy a peerage, though it'd have to be a knock down sale price one.

The thing with selling them off like the gov have been doing though is it just means any old tom dick or harry can have one

I'd want mine to be the old-fashioned exclusive type so I could be a respected and revered old eccentric getting lashed in the free restaurant then spouting shit in some debate that I have little or no knowledge about


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## Chilli.s (Nov 28, 2021)

Then claiming my day rate and a fuck ton of expences


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## AmateurAgitator (Nov 28, 2021)

Badgers said:


>



Yeah coz the Met have such a good track record of taking on the establishment and investigating stuff so far.


----------



## Pickman's model (Nov 28, 2021)

Badgers said:


>



You know this will end with no investigation and cressida dick in the house of lords


----------



## AmateurAgitator (Nov 28, 2021)

Natalie and Charlie Elphicke have put on no MP's surgeries in 12 years :









						Ex-MP Charlie Elphicke jailed for sexual assault now claiming universal credit
					

Former Tory member for Dover tells court he is in ‘very difficult position’ and unable to pay £35,000 of costs




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## MrSki (Nov 29, 2021)




----------



## teqniq (Nov 30, 2021)




----------



## existentialist (Nov 30, 2021)

teqniq said:


>



Cunts. Unprincipled ones.


----------



## elbows (Dec 1, 2021)




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## teqniq (Dec 1, 2021)

More on the above. Scum:









						Covid test kit supplier joked to Hancock on WhatsApp he had 'never heard of him'
					

Exclusive: chat suggests Alex Bourne may have downplayed links with health secretary in public




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## MrSki (Dec 1, 2021)




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## elbows (Dec 1, 2021)

I might pay if it means I never have to see that font again.


----------



## MrSki (Dec 1, 2021)




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## teqniq (Dec 1, 2021)




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## teqniq (Dec 2, 2021)

This is somewhat cheering:


----------



## Bahnhof Strasse (Dec 3, 2021)

Hancock's neighbour who landed a £40m NHS contract to supply plastic test tubes says there was no corruption. Surely his word is good enough, no?


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## MrSki (Dec 3, 2021)




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## MrSki (Dec 4, 2021)




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## elbows (Dec 6, 2021)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> Hancock's neighbour who landed a £40m NHS contract to supply plastic test tubes says there was no corruption. Surely his word is good enough, no?


He has applied to win a contract to be a supplier of equipment for the official corruption testing programme just in case.


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## Dystopiary (Dec 8, 2021)

Wasn't sure where to be this, aside from "pissed you off" thread. Who would this government put in charge of the new Turing student exchange scheme (set up to replace Erasmus after Brexit)? Of course they would, it's bloody Capita. 

Capita undercuts British Council to run Turing student exchange scheme

Crapita 

Capita to pay compensation to family of woman who died after benefits cut 

😡


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## existentialist (Dec 8, 2021)

Dystopiary said:


> Wasn't sure where to be this, aside from "pissed you off" thread. Who would this government put in charge of the new Turing student exchange scheme (set up to replace Erasmus after Brexit)? Of course they would, it's bloody Capita.
> 
> Capita undercuts British Council to run Turing student exchange scheme
> 
> ...


I am increasingly of the view that, any time the Government wants to either shaft the populace, or ensure that something fails miserably, or both, they'll hand the whole thing over to Crapita.


----------



## Dystopiary (Dec 8, 2021)

existentialist said:


> I am increasingly of the view that, any time the Government wants to either shaft the populace, or ensure that something fails miserably, or both, they'll hand the whole thing over to Crapita.


Yes, them, Atos or G4S.


----------



## yield (Dec 9, 2021)

Has this been post?

‘Wall of secrecy’ in Pfizer contracts as company accused of profiteering
Sun 5 Dec 2021


> Zain Rizvi, research director at Public Citizen, a US consumer advocacy organisation which has examined Pfizer’s global vaccine contracts, said: “There is a wall of secrecy surrounding these contracts and it’s unacceptable, particularly in a public health crisis.”
> 
> Rizvi said the UK needed to explain why it had agreed to secret arbitration proceedings. He said: “It’s the only high-income country we have seen that has agreed to this provision. It allows pharmaceutical companies to bypass domestic legal processes.
> 
> “The UK government has allowed the drug firms to call the shots. How did we end up in a situation where a handful of drug firms were able to exert so much control over the most powerful governments in the world? It points to a broken system.”


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## two sheds (Dec 9, 2021)

and feeds into paranoia by antivaxxers


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## MrSki (Dec 12, 2021)




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## teqniq (Dec 14, 2021)

Donor to the vermin get top recommendation for his product on government website:


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## existentialist (Dec 14, 2021)

teqniq said:


> Donor to the vermin get top recommendation for his product on government website:



From that thread: Dyson "purifiers" clean up in the Which? "Do Not Buy" category


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## elbows (Jan 6, 2022)

Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly involved in PPE firm she referred to government
					

Exclusive: Leaked files suggest Mone and her husband were involved in business given £200m contracts




					www.theguardian.com


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## Chilli.s (Jan 6, 2022)

If the SFO aren't all over this then....
O hang on.. they wont cos they're too thick and too bent


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## MrSki (Jan 8, 2022)

elbows said:


> Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly involved in PPE firm she referred to government
> 
> 
> Exclusive: Leaked files suggest Mone and her husband were involved in business given £200m contracts
> ...


----------



## existentialist (Jan 8, 2022)

MrSki said:


>



Bent as fuck.


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## teqniq (Jan 12, 2022)

Result!


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## Calamity1971 (Jan 12, 2022)

teqniq said:


> Result!



Says the judge has blocked how much money was given. 
Anyone know what happens now? Read through it and my head hurts. Been a busy news day for the old grey matter.


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## brogdale (Jan 17, 2022)

Potentially good news ?


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## Badgers (Jan 18, 2022)

🤔


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## teqniq (Jan 18, 2022)

further tweets state that it is in fact Johnson's brother who has substantial business interests in China


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## teqniq (Jan 25, 2022)

Ian Hislop on the lobby system:



E2a It's from the committee on standards which sat today. whole thing here:





__





						Parliamentlive.tv
					

Committee on Standards




					parliamentlive.tv


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## two sheds (Jan 25, 2022)

I can see why people see him as 'smug' - he laughs when he's talking about corruption. I can see why he does it, too though, on their level it's fucking funny that they're getting away with it while pretending there's nothing wrong.


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## cupid_stunt (Jan 26, 2022)

I've just watch this, respect to the Private Eye team.


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## existentialist (Jan 26, 2022)

cupid_stunt said:


> I've just watch this, respect to the Private Eye team.



I have a lot of respect for Ian Hislop, if not all of his ideas. But that video was like watching a pleasant headmaster bringing down righteous wrath upon the heads of MPs who probably consider themselves at the mild end of the corruption spectrum .


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## MrSki (Jan 27, 2022)

Sadly this comes as no surprise.


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## teqniq (Jan 27, 2022)

Grubby as fuck:

Nadhim Zahawi was ‘instrumental’ in securing Greensill loans approval, says Gupta


----------



## Carvaged (Jan 31, 2022)

Come get your Rishi-bucks! Must have links with Tories and offer generous backhanders; bad business ideas with poor prospects not an issue!









						Sunak pours taxpayer cash into online betting firm
					

Campaigners and gambling charities sound the alarm over investments made under Covid support fund




					www.telegraph.co.uk


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## brogdale (Feb 3, 2022)

Fill yer boots:

Government Releases Private Messages Between Owen Paterson and Matt Hancock Over Randox Contracts – Byline Times


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## teqniq (Feb 5, 2022)

Lobbying on behalf of a foreign government doesn't seem to be particularly in an MP's constituents interests: 









						Tory MP ‘fed’ propaganda by Azerbaijan
					

Bob Blackman boasted: ‘On a regular basis I put down positions on behalf of our good friends in Azerbaijan’




					www.opendemocracy.net


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## Badgers (Feb 5, 2022)

Shocked


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## Chilli.s (Feb 5, 2022)

I trust we are using those little American billions all the time now and not the British billion that is considerably bigger


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## Chilli.s (Feb 5, 2022)

still corruption though


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## DaveCinzano (Feb 5, 2022)

Chilli.s said:


> I trust we are using those little American billions all the time now and not the British billion that is considerably bigger


I refuse to call a milliard anything but


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## Artaxerxes (Feb 5, 2022)

Give me back my £200,000, major donor tells Tories
					

Controversial telecoms mogul Mohamed Amersi takes on Conservative party over exclusion from elite gatherings and auction prizes never received




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## Badgers (Feb 6, 2022)




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## teqniq (Feb 6, 2022)

Badgers said:


>



Paywall busted article here:

Private schools ‘gamed’ Covid rules to give their pupils more top A-levels


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## teqniq (Feb 9, 2022)

Well there's a thing...









						Corruption experts warn over Jacob Rees-Mogg conflicts of interest in new Brexit job
					

Tory MP is major shareholder in multi-billion pound fund that specialises in emerging markets




					www.independent.co.uk


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## bluescreen (Feb 13, 2022)

And here's another thing:








						Tories nudge donors into plum state jobs
					

The Conservative Party is helping donors apply for public roles, with officials offering behind-the-scenes support and directing applicants to a secretive Number 10 unit




					www.thetimes.co.uk
				




archived version sans paywall:




__





						archive.ph
					





					archive.ph


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## Artaxerxes (Feb 13, 2022)

And the tweets thread if you like that sort of thing


----------



## two sheds (Feb 13, 2022)

Private Eye had a piece on that this last issue. Plus a story on the most recent way (aside from property buyups and LLPs) of hiding laundered Russian money.


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## teqniq (Feb 14, 2022)

More dirt









						NEW: Leaked emails reveal Government officials manipulated VIP lane data after NAO investigation - Good Law Project
					

New leaked emails seen by Good Law Project suggest that senior officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Cabinet Office knew that many more PPE suppliers were given the VIP treatment than the 47 names they reported to the National Audit Office (NAO). In November 2020...




					goodlawproject.org


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## gosub (Feb 15, 2022)

Matt Hancock failed to comply with equality duty over Dido Harding appointment, court rules
					

Runnymede Trust wins court battle over key government appointments during coronavirus pandemic




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## gosub (Feb 15, 2022)

No 10 pressured me to drop anti-money laundering measures, says ex-minister
					

UK ‘laughing stock’ for failure to stem ‘dirty money’, says Lord Faulks QC, who was told to drop register by Theresa May’s No 10




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## Badgers (Feb 16, 2022)




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## bluescreen (Feb 16, 2022)

About time, too









						Met investigating cash-for-honours claims linked to Prince’s Foundation
					

Metropolitan police have launched investigation into allegations linked to Prince Charles charity




					www.theguardian.com


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## Badgers (Feb 17, 2022)

Tories nudge donors into plum state jobs
					

The Conservative Party is helping donors apply for public roles, with officials offering behind-the-scenes support and directing applicants to a secretive Number 10 unit




					www.thetimes.co.uk


----------



## teqniq (Mar 8, 2022)

Thread:


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## teqniq (Mar 21, 2022)

Thread on more corruption:


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## two sheds (Mar 21, 2022)

> Here’s (one of the) emails from Shergil copying Jassal to Johnson’s then close aide Munira Mirza offering PPE. "Thank you for your call... We are keen to support the Party."


Corrupt fuckers


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## Chilli.s (Mar 21, 2022)

It's just fraud dressed up


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## existentialist (Mar 21, 2022)

Chilli.s said:


> It's just fraud dressed up


And not even particularly well dressed up. Its petticoats are showing, if not in flagrante.


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## teqniq (Apr 29, 2022)

Blimey:









						Michelle Mone's home raided by police over multi-million pound PPE fraud probe
					

The National Crime Agency is investigating deals by PPE Medpro, a company set up by a business associate of Baroness Michelle Mone - the famous lingerie tycoon - whose £11m London home has been raided by police




					www.mirror.co.uk


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## teqniq (May 2, 2022)

Is there any way they can be forced to release these documents?









						Labour says government refusal to publish PPE firm’s contracts ‘reeks of cover-up’
					

Angela Rayner says dealings with firm linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone need same scrutiny as Owen Paterson’s lobbying for Covid test contracts




					www.theguardian.com


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## existentialist (May 2, 2022)

teqniq said:


> Is there any way they can be forced to release these documents?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Jo Maugham seems to be doing a pretty good job of getting the courts to force disclosure, but it does astonish me how we seem to have got way past the tipping point where you'd think the population at large would have been saying "Hang on, this whole thing is fucking BENT, isn't it?". Reminders of my naivety are a pain in the arse


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## teqniq (Jun 24, 2022)

Been a while but this happened today. Not to be overly pessimistic but I suspect that very little will come of it. However I have left room to be pleasantly surprised:






						BREAKING: High Court finds Government PPE ‘VIP’ lane for politically connected suppliers ‘unlawful’ - Good Law Project
					

Over a year of hard work has paid off today. The High Court has ruled that the Government’s operation of a fast-track VIP lane for awarding lucrative PPE contracts to those with political connections was...




					goodlawproject.org


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## teqniq (Jul 27, 2022)

The stench of corruption has not gone away, nor the sound of snouts in the trough:









						UK health department played ‘fast and loose’ when awarding Covid contracts to Randox
					

Commons public accounts committee issues damning report into £777m of contracts given to firm that employed Owen Paterson as lobbyist




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## teqniq (Aug 28, 2022)

I think this may bear watching closely. If the sale goes ahead i will be interested to know the final sale price and if it reflects true market value and who the buyers are:









						Jacob Rees-Mogg to sell London offices as civil servants work from home
					

Minister had urged staff to go into office and attacked FCA over working from home




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## teqniq (Sep 2, 2022)

Unpaid taxes eh? Well well well.









						HMRC issues winding up petition against PPE firm linked to Tory peer
					

PPE Medpro was awarded £203m contracts by UK government after Michelle Mone approached Michael Gove




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## teqniq (Sep 7, 2022)

Well now, blatant corruption methinks. Please read:


----------



## teqniq (Sep 7, 2022)

Heh:

Revealed for the first time: full list of VIP Test and Trace firms given priority treatment


----------



## brogdale (Sep 7, 2022)

teqniq said:


> Well now, blatant corruption methinks. Please read:



Let's hope she intentionally misleads Parliament when the first oppo MP asks her about it.


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## teqniq (Oct 2, 2022)

Completely blatant cronyism writ large. Wholesale taking the piss:









						Jacob Rees-Mogg’s business partner given senior ministerial role
					

City financier who cofounded investment firm with business secretary is made trade minister




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## teqniq (Nov 23, 2022)

The stink of cronyism and corruption is still around folks:









						Revealed: Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly received £29m from ‘VIP lane’ PPE firm
					

Documents suggest husband passed on money from PPE Medpro, which secured £200m contracts after Mone lobbied ministers




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## existentialist (Nov 23, 2022)

teqniq said:


> The stink of cronyism and corruption is still around folks:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Tanya1982 (Nov 24, 2022)

She really does come across as the most charmlessly avaricious and unbelievably tacky fuckwit. Apparently she was 'incandescent with rage' when not given another contract on top of the whacking great one she'd already had.

Having to be interviewed by the police for racist abuse after a yacht crash off Monaco, all while having her properties raided by the NCA, schmoozing Michael Gove, tweeting about her fabulous jet set life during lockdown, juggling this con while arranging her wedding complete with opera singers (sounds like utter hell for the guests to be sat through this 50 year old grifter playing princess), constant threats of litigation, profiteering from misery having already made one easy fortune from literal tits, referring to herself as Lady, and naming her possessions after herself. This piece of work seems to embody everything wrong with the honours system in this country.

Lady Mone, Baroness of Mayfair indeed. She had a bit of luck selling bras - great, she should've quit while ahead. I'm not sure the 'Bar L' has women's quarters, but they should open some especially for her, and strip her title and constitutional entitlements before slamming the door shut.


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## not-bono-ever (Nov 24, 2022)

I may have to join the U75 hang em high capital punishment clique, such is my anger that the actions of scum like this. In fact, I will volunteer to man the guillotine .

And they say you get more right wing as you get older


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## not-bono-ever (Nov 24, 2022)

Fucking scum


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## not-bono-ever (Nov 26, 2022)

If it’s punishable by a fine , it means it’s legal for the rich effectively


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## teqniq (Nov 26, 2022)

More detail on the Mone's dodgy as fuck goings on with the PPE money:

HSBC froze accounts linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone during corruption probe

Much as it pains me to say, I still think it's highly likely that they will get away with this Scott free. I will be very pleasantly surprised if they do not.


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## not-bono-ever (Nov 26, 2022)

As ever, the question arises- how much money do you actually need ?

Entrepreneurs are often moral free parasites


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## Tanya1982 (Nov 28, 2022)

teqniq said:


> More detail on the Mone's dodgy as fuck goings on with the PPE money:
> 
> HSBC froze accounts linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone during corruption probe
> 
> Much as it pains me to say, I still think it's highly likely that they will get away with this Scott free. I will be very pleasantly surprised if they do not.


How dodgy do you have to be for an actual offshore banking service to decide _you're_ a reputation risk to _it_, and tell you to close your accounts with it and disappear from their radar? I doubt she's even embarrassed about any of this, just angry and feeling hard done by.


----------



## teqniq (Dec 6, 2022)

I smell a rat, well actually more than one:









						Major Covid fraud taskforce is being shut down despite £3.4billion in lost money
					

HM Revenue and Customs has said it will close its dedicated taskforce for getting back wrongly-paid-out Covid cash - even though £3.4billion in fraud and mistakes is still outstanding




					www.mirror.co.uk


----------



## ruffneck23 (Dec 6, 2022)




----------



## ruffneck23 (Dec 6, 2022)




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## teqniq (Dec 19, 2022)

Why is the government suing the company? We know where the money went thanks to the HSBC leak. Go after Mone and her husband. Suing a limited liability company seems like a waste of legal fees. Something does not smell right about this.









						Government to sue Mone-linked PPE firm for £122m
					

PPE Medpro won contracts to supply PPE after being recommended by then Tory peer Baroness Mone.



					www.bbc.com


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 19, 2022)

teqniq said:


> Why is the government suing the company? We know where the money went thanks to the HSBC leak. Go after Mone and her husband. Suing a limited liability company seems like a waste of legal fees. Something does not smell right about this.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Say what you like about Putin, but the way he has historically dealt with regime-adjacent oligarchs who gamboled a little too far into the verdant uplands of Takingthepissshire certainly offers food for thought


----------



## Tanya1982 (Dec 19, 2022)

teqniq said:


> Why is the government suing the company? We know where the money went thanks to the HSBC leak. Go after Mone and her husband. Suing a limited liability company seems like a waste of legal fees. Something does not smell right about this.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


She’ll declare bankruptcy in some very baroque manner, having transferred enough ill gotten assets for several lifetimes out of harms way. That’s the only reason they’ve given her the time to do so, and are going after an arms length company instead.


----------



## Serge Forward (Dec 19, 2022)

teqniq said:


> Why is the government suing the company? We know where the money went thanks to the HSBC leak. Go after Mone and her husband. Suing a limited liability company seems like a waste of legal fees. Something does not smell right about this.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Presumably the individuals haven't been shown to have acted illegally... yet! In this instance, it would be the company that's liable rather than the individuals. If it becomes a clear matter of fraud then they should be up before the beak... unless they've got the posh that's get out of jail free card.


----------



## teqniq (Dec 19, 2022)

Serge Forward said:


> Presumably the individuals haven't been shown to have acted illegally... yet! In this instance, it would be the company that's liable rather than the individuals. If it becomes a clear matter of fraud then they should be up before the beak... unless they've got the posh that's get out of jail free card.


HSBC closed their account(s) when they realised what was going on. I am more of the opinion that they're going after the company as a PR exercise and will not go after Mone and Barrowman personally because they are afraid of what they may disclose in any investigation/court case. I believe Gove signed off on some or all of this.


----------



## teqniq (Dec 19, 2022)

Tanya1982 said:


> She’ll declare bankruptcy in some very baroque manner, having transferred enough ill gotten assets for several lifetimes out of harms way. That’s the only reason they’ve given her the time to do so, and are going after an arms length company instead.


The money's already been transferred to offshore trusts of which she and her kids are beneficiaries.


----------



## Ming (Dec 20, 2022)

not-bono-ever said:


> If it’s punishable by a fine , it means it’s legal for the rich effectively


Cost of ‘doing business’. I wonder if you can get insurance?


----------



## teqniq (Dec 21, 2022)

GLP have a little list, and it is fairly small. Also funnily enough only #ToryScum are in it:









						REVEALED: The names of those who referred Covid testing firms into the “VIP” lane - Good Law Project
					






					goodlawproject.org


----------



## brogdale (Dec 22, 2022)

So, Sunak has appointed his "ethics advisor". Yeah, a former banker; that sounds about right.


----------



## brogdale (Dec 28, 2022)

Tele having a go with this again yesterday...genuine laugh out loud inclusion insisted on by the legal compliance team...


----------

