Bolitics The New Condem Government

[drat01]

Twitter feeds saying that Laws has resigned - be interesting who they get to replace him and the words that the ConDem leaders say

[Awol]

Wafic Said, was a fixer in BAE's huge Al-Yamamah deal with Saudi Arabia, which was investigated for bribery allegations by the Serious Fraud Office.

Slighty OT but regardless: One thing that has become blindingly clear to me since moving to the Middle East is that back handed payments are not just encouraged they are expected, without them you simply don't get the work.

The moralising sentiments of Europeans are viewed with a mixture of amusement and disdain. When a £15 billion plus contract is on the table then BAE would have been remiss not to have paid the piper. It's not just Arabs either, I've seen it wth plenty of Far Eastern firms too.

Major players like BAE are operating in the real world, not the editorial pages of the Granuiad. Given Labour's attempt to apply NUS activist standards to international relations it's not surprising that the Saudi's arelooking to bung their opponents a few quid.

[tonyh29]

Laws has resigned

least it will shut Mr Our party did nothing wrong up :-)

surprised to see labour supporters making a big deal out of it though ..more so in light VT's buzz word of the day being hypocrisy ..not as if labour were clean was it even the bullying name caller was mentioned in despatches for his excessive cleaning bill that didn't breach the rules and of course was subsequently paid back

[tonyh29]

I've seen it with plenty of Far Eastern firms too.

when the bank i worked for did roadshows for Japanese clients .. No hookers meant no Japanese ..it was as simple as that .. the banks "flowers and decorations" bill was probably bigger than Inter Flora's turnover

[drat01]

Nice attempted bit of deflection there Tony :-)

The simple matter is that the Tory party have joined with the LibDem's and one of the leading lights in this new party has been caught with his pants down. As said before if this had happened under the last Gvmt, the indignation from the media and people on VT would have been very loud. For this to have happened - and the other things - within such a short amount of time, shows the hypocrisy of the bleating from the Tory and Lib Dems. This is nothing to do with Labour, a Snr member of the ConDem's has been found out and has now seemingly gone. As the balance of this gvmt is such an interesting thing, how they manage to keep any sort of status quo will be interesting to all. Cable for the promotion and to show Osborne up for the complete and utter idiot that he is?

[tonyh29]

So a lib Dem has fiddled his expenses and you want to blame the Tories for it ... The indignation from the media and the country and VT on expenses was clear to see .. so it's somewhat baffling or desperation that you seem to want to try and score political points over it .. though of course being as far behind as you are I can see why you might want the points :winkold:

Cable for the promotion and to show Osborne up for the complete and utter idiot that he is?

Well seems you've also fallen for the Cable hype ... there is a very good reason why he didn't get the job as chancellor .. he evens makes Brown look decisive and competent ...

I'm not sure how good Osborne will be but i'm prepared to give him more than 2 weeks ..If nothing else he deserves a bit of slack for forcing Brown to cancel the election that he might have won in 2007

[Awol]

The simple matter is that the Tory party have joined with the LibDem's

Except that it's not a fact and you repeating it like a stuck record doesn't make it so.

[drat01]

Have I blamed the Tories for it? I am laughing at the hypocrisy of the Tory supporters who are now claiming that this was a trivial matter - the blogs make interesting reading to show that the tolerant Tory party are a myth.

I am still waiting for the falling on his sword comment from one of the wittier media wags

The simple fact is by joining the two parties in Gvmt, Cameron is now in charge of them and as such has to take the respective correct actions. Seemingly he is against doing that and again this is another U turn from his days in opposition. Clegg is noticeable by being quiet

Its a major story and as said after the other major U turns, and attempts to steam-roller and bully their message and laws, it seems that the Tory party of old is very much the leading one in the new ConDems

As for falling for the Cable hype, if he does not get this job then surely all of the LibDem pre election promises was waffle - wasn't he put forward in the Chancellors debate?

As for Osborne - the comments pre election were cutting and damning. There was even a lot of rumour of him being replaced. He is a complete and utter light weight in a job that needs experience. He is out of his depth. You may like him, many don't

[drat01]

The simple matter is that the Tory party have joined with the LibDem's

Except that it's not a fact and you repeating it like a stuck record doesn't make it so.

But seemingly the dictionary does?

A combination into one body; a union - Coalition

Jon as a big follower of the Tory party you must now start to wonder about the merits of this coalition of the two parties? Why does there have to be another fall guy to hold Gideon's hand? etc etc

This will all go away no doubt once Gideon has produced his budget.

Who will be the next token lib?

[snowychap]

Laws resigning now.

[snowychap]

But seemingly the dictionary does?

A combination into one body; a union - Coalition

That is one definition though it's not the common application in the context of political parties, which is:

An alliance, especially a temporary one, of people, factions, parties, or nations.

And from the Compact OED:

• noun a temporary alliance, especially of political parties forming a government.

[drat01]

Lib Dem Scottish Secretary Danny Alexander will take over the post, Downing Street has announced.

Apparently when Des Browne had two jobs there was mass indignation from the Tory party - will Alexander keep both jobs? If not who will be the Scot man and considering the total lack of any Tory parliamentary presence up there I suppose it has to be another ex LibDem unless of course Two Jobs are now allowed and hypocrisy is another word that this Gvmt want to redefine?

[Gringo]

The simple matter is that the Tory party have joined with the LibDem's

Except that it's not a fact and you repeating it like a stuck record doesn't make it so.

But seemingly the dictionary does?

A combination into one body; a union - Coalition

Strange. When I search the web for a definition of coalition I get three choices.

web"] 1. An alliance, especially a temporary one, of people, factions, parties, or nations.

2. A combination into one body; a union.

3. A group of usually two to six male lions that drive off and replace the male lions in a pride in order to mate with the females and protect the resulting offspring.

One of those is obviously related to politics, people and organisations and the other two aren't. And you seem to have chose one of the two that aren't. I think most people would have gone with the first one when refererring to coalition of political parties.

[drat01]

But seemingly the dictionary does?

A combination into one body; a union - Coalition

That is one definition though it's not the common application in the context of political parties, which is:

An alliance, especially a temporary one, of people, factions, parties, or nations.

And from the Compact OED:

• noun a temporary alliance, especially of political parties forming a government.

Oh I see - the rules are you pick and chose which definition fits ......... oh that is what I was doing. You say Tomato, I say Tomato

[snowychap]

Oh I see - the rules are you pick and chose which definition fits

No, context would push one in the direction of the correct definition (rather than what fits one's argument).

[Ads]

Hahahaha!

Drat's above post inlight of Gringo's apt comments seem to sum up the VT word of the day!

[tonyh29]

I am laughing at the hypocrisy of the Tory supporters who are now claiming that this was a trivial matter

and they would be ?

btw Laws is still a lib dem so it's not down to the Tory party to take action on him, but for the record did every single labour MP caught fiddling resign or get fired ? Brown got caught but stayed in his job for example ...

You may like him, many don't

i don't recall saying I liked him , you can argue that many don't but on an election fought with the economy as one of the key points more of the public seemed to like the party that had Osborne in it than the one that had Darling or cable

....

Its a major story

whats John Major got to do with it :winkold: ... the only question i guess is why has it come out now when all the details on expenses were published and investigated months ago ?

like I say only the desperate are going to use this as a story .... so over to the desperate

[Gringo]

Its a major story

whats John Major got to do with it :winkold: ... the only question i guess is why has it come out now when all the details on expenses were published and investigated months ago ?

I guess because no one knew who his partner was, where as it's quite simple to find out who jacqui smith's sister is, or who julie kirkbride's husband is.

[drat01]

Great deflection again Tony, but sorry you aint getting away with that. Cameron is in charge of the Gvmt, a Gvmt minister was caught breaking teh rules and it's one of the ConDem's hence he has a responsibility to do something about it - this is nothing to do with Labour. But I do seem to remember quite a few people on here shouting for sacking and resignations when the last expenses thing hit the press, so how come now the same rules don't apply? Cameron and Clegg the two leaders of this new set in charge both made a lot of media inches from their own parties at that time being in the clear re expenses. The fact that the two are now together in power makes those statements seem a bit shall we say BS!

This is nothing about desperate, this is a very big story and rightly will get talked about until Gideon gets his axe out during the England match

[Gringo]

Cameron and Clegg the two leaders of this new set in charge both made a lot of media inches from their own parties at that time being in the clear re expenses.

I must have dreamt all that stuff about moats, duck houses and osbornes limousine back from chester then.