The banker loving, baby-eating Tory party thread (regenerated)

[bickster]

52 minutes ago, snowychap said:

I largely agree. It is, though, an utterly daft thing for him, a minister of state, to say on a national radio programme.

That's my problem with it.

Hmm I get that (as I actually mentioned) but then, on the one hand, we expect politicians to be more human when it suits us, less so when it doesn't so its all a bit of nothing really

[snowychap]

18 minutes ago, bickster said:

Hmm I get that (as I actually mentioned) but then, on the one hand, we expect politicians to be more human when it suits us, less so when it doesn't so its all a bit of nothing really

I know you mentioned it, I wasn't meaning to disagree on that.

I expect politicians (especially senior government representatives) to bloody think, rather than just open their gob and let any old shite come out.

[bickster]

6 minutes ago, snowychap said:

I know you mentioned it, I wasn't meaning to disagree on that.

I expect politicians (especially senior government representatives) to bloody think, rather than just open their gob and let any old shite come out.

If that's what happened. There's also the, he knew what he was doing, knew he'd have to apologise and was appealing to his base in what shall be termed a Trumpian manner, (with the exception of the British modification of the apology|)

EDIT: I'm giving Gove the credit for actually not being that thick

[HanoiVillan]

This TES article on the fate of Gove's most-praised school heads is considerably more damning:

Sir Greg Martin (then): Gove: students will 'enjoy an outstanding state education, which will equip them for the future every bit as effectively as any private school'

Sir Greg Martin (now): Greg remains as head of the board of governors despite being ordered to resign, but the school trust has lost it's funding agreement due to 'significant breaches'. 

---

Liam Nolan (then): Gove: 'The two best schools in Birmingham are Perry Beeches I and Perry Beeches II'

Liam Nolan (now): 'an EFA investigation into the trust uncovered financial irregularities, including nearly £1.3 million in payments without contracts to a third-party supplier. 

Mr Nolan was also found to have been paying himself a “second salary” worth £160,000 over two years on top of his annual £120,000 pay packet. He resigned in May this year.'

---

Sajid Raza (then): Gove: 'an idealist'; Cameron: 'innovative and inspiring'

Sajid Raza (now): 'last month, Mr Raza began a five-year jail sentence having been convicted of defrauding the DfE of tens of thousands of pounds in funding.'

---

Sir Peter Birkett (then): Gove: one of the 'best generation of heads ever in our schools'

Sir Peter Birkett (later): 'The EFA raised concerns around financial management and apparent attempts to manipulate success rates at the college. 

Officials also criticised the federation for the size of payout given to Sir Peter and for allowing him to keep a company car.'

---

Greg Wallace (then): Pupils in his schools had 'benefited hugely from a rigorous approach to reading in the early years, which makes them enthusiastic devourers of every book they can get their hands on'

Greg Wallace (now): 'in June this year, Mr Wallace was banned from teaching after an investigation found evidence of financial mismanagement, as well as conflicts of interest, including £1 million worth of IT contracts. 

The head was struck off after a disciplinary panel heard he had awarded contracts worth more than £1 million to his then partner’s company without gaining approval from the governing body.'

[Seat68]

I am outraged. 

[PompeyVillan]

Since Conservative MPs, supporters and commentators do not apply double standards I should imagine they'll all call for Gove's resignation for making comments that are offensive to the victims of rape. 

Or bollox, people say daft things sometimes, this does reflect on them as individuals but we can forgive them should they show contrition since everyone makes mistakes. Making inappropriate comments may make them unsuitable for particular jobs or ministerial positions should this be something that happens regularly or if the comments are particularly hateful. 

Gove made a gaff, not for the first time (ask a teacher) but meh, it was a shite joke clearly not intended to offend anyone (since it was made on TV) but perhaps the nature of the joke gives you an indication of the lack of empathy he has. 

[chrisp65]

I think anyone can make a poorly executed joke in poor taste.

On the one hand, it was a silly joke, there's been an apology. End of.

But then, it's also easy to see that there is 50% of the population out there, including our own partners, wives and daughters, that have to put up with being put down on a daily basis. Somebody in a position of power has been caught, quite literally pants down and how seriously is it taken? Well, we have Gove, Kinnock and Humphrys on a stage making jokes about it. So I do have some sympathy here for those that feel it wasn't the right time for politicians on Radio 4 to be making light of it. James Corden or some other lame comedian, yeah go for it, it's your job. Politicians? Not so much.

So on this one, it's not exactly a big moment for me, though I can see where the complainers are coming from. I guess it's relatively easy for middle aged men to forgive middle aged men? There but for the grace of god, and all that.

Had it been Johnson, it would have been the 958th offensive thing he'd said and I'd be really hoping this was the straw that finally broke the camels back and somebody grew a backbone and actually called him out for what he is and sacked him right the **** out of politics.

[PompeyVillan]

Conservative minister gets aide to buy a couple of dildos. 

I sense another MP scandal emerging regarding sexual harassment and sexism. 

Edited October 29, 2017 by PompeyVillan

[bickster]

23 minutes ago, PompeyVillan said:

Conservative minister gets aide to buy a couple of dildos. 

I sense another MP scandal emerging regarding sexual harassment and sexism. 

Three gropers in the cabinet apparently

[snowychap]

1 hour ago, PompeyVillan said:

Conservative minister gets aide to buy a couple of dildos.

Minister in sex toy probe?

[darrenm]

Peston reckons this could bring the Tory gov down. Big things happening both sides of the pond at the moment https://www.facebook.com/pestonitv/posts/1939403306384405

The growing fear among Tory MPs is that the sexual-harassment scandal is evolving into the equivalent of the MPs' expenses debacle - and that it could bring down the government.

It's all the fault of that bloomin' list of MPs and their alleged misdemeanours that was compiled by Tory aides and was published by the Guido website overnight, with names blacked at.

The blacking out is not preventing reputational damage to a pair of cabinet ministers and several other senior members of the government.

Their names are being openly touted in Westminster - and it won't be long till they are outed on social media, and on offshore websites.

For May the big risk is that the story moves to how long she has known about the alleged misconduct, via her whip's office, and why she didn't move earlier to deter and punish.

Since time immemorial prime ministers and their whips have gathered intelligence about the flaws and transgressions of MPs as a way of enforcing loyalty. But that is not a good look for a prime minister who has said so much about wanting to stamp out gender discrimination, bullying and the abuse of the vulnerable.

That said, any escalation of the scandal that prompted resignations of MPs and by-elections would be a catastrophe for a prime minister and Tory party whose grip on office is the most tenuous of any government since the 1970s.

May somehow needs to hose down this fire pronto.

[markavfc40]

4 minutes ago, darrenm said:

Peston reckons this could bring the Tory gov down. Big things happening both sides of the pond at the moment https://www.facebook.com/pestonitv/posts/1939403306384405

 

 

Be interesting to see how the rags play this. If this was the Labour party they would be all over it like a rash and it would be front page news for days. With it being a precarious Tory government scandal I doubt they will be so rabid.

[tonyh29]

26 minutes ago, markavfc40 said:

Be interesting to see how the rags play this. If this was the Labour party they would be all over it like a rash and it would be front page news for days. With it being a precarious Tory government scandal I doubt they will be so rabid.

you do know that some Labours MP's are also believed to be on the list   ?

[markavfc40]

2 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

you do know that some Labours MP's are also believed to be on the list   ?

Certainly wouldn't surprise me.

[darrenm]

2 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

you do know that some Labours MP's are also believed to be on the list   ?

I thought it was a Tory list only? I.e it was the conservative party's own list

[markavfc40]

1 hour ago, darrenm said:

I thought it was a Tory list only? I.e it was the conservative party's own list

I think Labour have compiled their own dossier, John Mann has/is doing it, and it has four or five names on it. The Tory one has 36 apparently.

I'd imagine all parties need to get their house in order and tackle this.

Edited October 30, 2017 by markavfc40

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, darrenm said:

I thought it was a Tory list only? I.e it was the conservative party's own list

I hadn’t followed it that closely tbh ... but sounds like there are a few lists doing the rounds as it looks like a few Scotchland MP’s are also on a list , quite possible SNP ones ? 

[Xann]

Interesting. How nice of Guido.

On the theme of historic improprieties, maybe they could look for the missing dossier on Thatcher's protected pet paedos?

 

[tonyh29]

44 minutes ago, Xann said:

Interesting. How nice of Guido.

On the theme of historic improprieties, maybe they could look for the missing dossier on Thatcher's protected pet paedos?

 

Is that the same dossier that included Leon Brittan  which subsequently was proven to be made up resulting in Tom the people’s champion Watson having to apologise to his widow ? 

or is there another one ? 

[PompeyVillan]

It'll affect all parties I should imagine, but if there are potentially 36 Conservatives MPs on the list, then even a few by elections could spell disaster for the government. 

Something I naively didn't realise because to me it seems utterly absurd is that the amount of bars in Westminster. Err, sure feed and water people, but the idea that there is a drinking culture in parliament seems so backwards to me.

Anyway, as the Conservatives don't act in the national interest, only their own I expect them to attempt to sidestep the issue as much as possible. If they can distract the country with something else they will, expect the Daily Mail to have headlines about foreigners stealing nurses jobs or something tomorrow.