UK Politics Thread part II

[Moonlight]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

He added: "The levels of migration are far too high. They've got to come down."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67801167

Well, he could make a start by going back to India and taking that currant of a wife with him, I'm sure the white population of England would appreciate his self sacrifice, go on Rishi, **** off and give us all a much needed Christmas present.

[Jimbuna]

It would appear the not so clever man is in deep water again.

Home Secretary James Cleverly apologises for 'ironic joke' about spiking wife's drink

Home Secretary James Cleverly has apologised for making an "ironic joke" about spiking his wife's drink at a Downing Street reception.

He reportedly said the ideal spouse was "someone who is always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there".

According to the Sunday Mirror, he also mentioned Rohypnol - a so-called "date rape" drug.

Senior Labour party figures have described the comments as "appalling".

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said spiking - putting alcohol or drugs in someone's drink or body without their consent - was a "disturbing and serious crime which is having a devastating impact on young women's lives".

"It is truly unbelievable that the home secretary made such appalling jokes on the very same day the government announced a new policy on spiking," she added.

And charity Women's Aid said political leaders were relied upon to "take action to end violence against women and girls, and the misogyny that underpins it".

"It is vital that spiking survivors see ministers treating the subject seriously and not downplaying the reality so many women face," it said on X.

Another women's rights organisation, the Fawcett Society, called on Mr Cleverly to resign, asking: "How can we trust him to seriously address violence against women and girls?"

In a statement, it said: "It's sickening that the senior minister in charge of keeping women safe thinks that something as terrifying as drugging women is a laughing matter."

A spokesman for the home secretary said: "In what was always understood as a private conversation, James, the home secretary tackling spiking, made what was clearly meant to be an ironic joke - for which he apologises."

A source told the BBC he did not recollect the exact wording he had used, because it was a private off-the-record event, but recognised that any joke along those lines was inappropriate - which was why he was apologising.

The incident happened on 18 December, when political journalists were invited to a drinks reception in 10 Downing Street along with political aides, ministers and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

On the same day, Mr Cleverly had promoted a raft of new government measures to tackle spiking and described it as a "perverse crime".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67813689

[Skybird]

I warned about this madness in postings already almost 20 years ago. Nobody believed me, some laughed at me. I hear nobody laughing anymore these days. Tichy's Einblicke writes about this event in the UK:


UK: Teacher sacked for rebelling against gender ideology

It didn't take a day for the British government's new guidelines on how to deal with supposedly transgender pupils to prove a failure and harmful. A long-serving math teacher had to resign because he had "misgendered" a pupil. He had only listened to his conscience.
It is a development that is taking place in one way or another in many Western countries, including Germany, as shown by the calls to order against AfD MP Beatrix von Storch and the politician's resulting lawsuit against the organs. It is about the issue of so-called "gender reassignment", also known as transgenderism for the sake of disguise. Yes, it is formally a gender change, a change to a different gender identity, but the goal is probably the other biological sex in over 90 percent of cases.

So far, there are only a few patients who want to belong to an unclearly defined "third gender". But all those undergoing medical treatment inevitably slip into something like this, because they do not really belong to either their old "gender" (if they do, then the one without reproductive ability) or the new, desired "gender". So it's also somehow about transsexuality. This could perhaps (not certainly) be better explained by those affected themselves.

The whole area is linguistically and conceptually mined. Where people used to talk about transsexuals (including in a corresponding law), we now talk about transgender people, which most people will hardly be able to imagine. So much for the theory of the matter, it will have to suffice here. Because the conversation is becoming increasingly specialized without the overwhelming majority having a vital interest in its continuation. However, the interest of this - mostly silent - majority is probably to be allowed to continue living more or less as "normally" as before. But this right is as much at stake in Germany as it is in the USA and elsewhere.

In the UK, the Conservative government recently introduced guidelines on how to deal with the issue in schools. On the first day they came into force, Kevin Lister, 60, lost his job as a math teacher at a further education college after 16 years. He had refused to address a 17-year-old female pupil by her male name and the corresponding pronouns. The girl currently "identifies" as a boy.

The whole area is linguistically and conceptually mined. Where people used to talk about transsexuals (including in a corresponding law), we now talk about transgender people, which most people will hardly be able to imagine. So much for the theory of the matter, it will have to suffice here. Because the conversation is becoming increasingly specialized without the overwhelming majority having a vital interest in its continuation. However, the interest of this - mostly silent - majority is probably to be allowed to continue living more or less as "normally" as before. But this right is as much at stake in Germany as it is in the USA and elsewhere.

In the UK, the Conservative government recently introduced guidelines on how to deal with the issue in schools. On the first day they came into force, Kevin Lister, 60, lost his job as a math teacher at a further education college after 16 years. He had refused to address a 17-year-old female pupil by her male name and the corresponding pronouns. The girl currently "identifies" as a boy.

In contrast, Conservative MP and former Prime Minister Liz Truss had called on the government to make the guidelines legally binding. The recently resigned Home Secretary Suella Braverman - a leader of the party right - called for "robust" and statutory regulation to clearly define the issue for all.

Now the predicted salad has happened. The sacked Lister compared the guidelines to the Telegraph to a bulldozer driving through the remaining regulations for school lessons. Teachers in particular would ultimately be left unprotected by decisions that they could not foresee. It introduces the arbitrariness of school administrators: "Any school, anywhere in the country, can now do to any teacher who chooses to follow the guidelines what they did to me. They can fire them and have their license (to teach) revoked." And behind the arbitrary decisions made by schools will again be the threat of a mob that may be unhappy with the decisions and can be made up of parents, charities, NGOs, pressure groups and more.

The guidelines come from the ministry of Kemi Badenoch, who - one would have assumed - leans more towards the Tory right on these issues. However, the friction in this Tory government in particular is extreme because it sees itself constantly called into question by poll results and is therefore increasingly giving in to woke pressure from the media and other organizations.

And so the guidelines from Badenoch do have some loopholes. For example, schools do not have to accept every gender reassignment request from an underage pupil. But there are also no clear rules on how to deal with such an alleged "transition" at school age. This is the crux of the matter in this dispute, which from a distance is reminiscent of the problems faced by Canadian psychology professor Jordan Peterson. It is about both the pupil or student concerned and the wider social environment, which is almost forgotten today.

But questions of identity (including personal identity) are of course capable of triggering a general lack of orientation in society or in any community if they are not answered clearly or are obviously nonsensical. As school or university teachers, Peterson and Lister were also bound by their personal conscience. If a teacher can no longer follow this inner compass, then he ceases to exist as an authority figure. Another case of the "dominoes of decadence", in which one tile breaks into the next. Today in the British Isles, tomorrow in Germany.

German original: https://www.tichyseinblick.de/kolumn...der-ideologie/

[Moonlight]

Jeremy Hunt draws up a plan to slash inheritance tax by HALF as he sets March 6 for the date of his vital pre-election budget

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ch-budget.html

All the pain that the average earner has suffered in the last few years and all they see for it is a tax cut for the wealthy, Income tax thresholds are infinitely more important than inheritance tax thresholds you currants.

[Jimbuna]

[Moonlight]

ISIS fanatic who snuck into Britain illegally is given UK citizenship despite security service terror threat warning

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...or-threat.html

This country is a breeding ground for these muslim terrorist scum, in fact I'd hazard a guess that there's more terrorists in Europe than there is in the rest of the western world.
The security services know who they are so they can easily be disposed of, there's no need for any fake accidents, just a rope and some hungry pigs will do the job, can you make bone marrow from human bones?, if yes, the pig business will soon take off, wtf are you currants waiting for, Christmas?,

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Well don't go counting me in.

The Tories are only supported by over-65-year-olds ahead of a looming general election, a tracker of polls reveals.

Rishi Sunak’s party is trailing Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour with voters in every age group except the over-65s, according to The Economist.

The party enjoys the support of 40 per cent of people in the oldest age bracket, compared with just 18 per cent of those aged between 18 and 34. At the last election, two thirds of over-65s voted for the Conservatives.

Meanwhile Labour is backed by more than half of 18 to 34-year-olds, and leads in the polls with everybody 64 and under.

After Mr Sunak announced plans to hold an election in the second half of 2024, the tracker shows his party trailing Labour by 19 points - the largest gap a year out from polling day since Sir Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide.

And, in a boost to Sir Keir after Jeremy Corbyn’s historic election defeat, Labour leads the Conservatives in every region, with the strongest support in its heartlands in the North and Midlands.

Britain is set for a gruelling election campaign in 2024 after the PM ruled out a spring vote and revealed he wanted to go to the polls much later in the year.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknew...de7c38e5&ei=22

[Jimbuna]

Rishi Sunak had significant doubts about sending migrants to Rwanda when he was chancellor, papers seen by the BBC suggest.

They suggest Mr Sunak wanted to scale back No 10's original plans.

They also indicate he was not sure the plan would stop Channel crossings.

And they suggest he was reluctant to fund reception centres to accommodate migrants instead of using hotels or private housing because "hotels are cheaper".

As prime minister, under pressure from his party, Mr Sunak has made the Rwanda plan one of his top priorities.

The scheme to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing and potentially resettlement, in order to deter people from crossing the English Channel in small boats, was first announced by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in April 2022.

Mr Sunak - who became prime minister in October 2022 - was Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Rwanda policy was announced.

The deal has been repeatedly delayed by legal challenges and no asylum seekers have been sent from the UK so far.

The No 10 documents were prepared in March 2022, as Mr Johnson was trying to persuade Mr Sunak to sign off on more funding for the plan. This was shortly before the deal with Rwanda to process migrants was signed.

They suggest Mr Sunak was concerned about the cost of sending asylum seekers to the African country, and wanted to limit the numbers initially.

They say, the "chancellor wants to pursue smaller volumes initially, 500 instead of 1,500" in the first year, and "3,000 instead of 5,000 in years two and three".

The exact numbers in the eventual plan have never been confirmed, but in April 2022 the BBC saw the accommodation the asylum seekers would be housed it, which were thought to have enough space to process up to 500 people a year, in line with what Mr Sunak seems to have argued for.

The documents describe a significant difference of view between No 10 and 11 Downing Street on the effectiveness of the proposed scheme saying the chancellor believes the "deterrent won't work".

Mr Sunak is also described as being reluctant to fund so-called "Greek-style reception centres", sites where migrants could be housed, rather than being put up in hotels which were said to be costing £3.5m a day at that point, the documents suggest.

They say, the "chancellor is refusing to fund any non-detained accommodation, eg Greek-style reception centres, because hotels are cheaper".

The documents suggest the Treasury preferred sending migrants to be housed around the country, known as "dispersal".

The papers also reveal that No 10 suggested Mr Sunak should be told to "consider his popularity with the base" if he was reluctant to sign up to changes to the migration system, including the Rwanda plan.

Despite the proposal being ruled unlawful by the UK Supreme Court, the prime minister has vowed to change the law so that flights can take off to Rwanda.

Yet the revelations about his doubts over the plan are likely to be awkward, especially as some MPs on the right of his party have urged him to go still further to meet his goal of stopping migrants crossing the Channel, potentially leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.

A source close to the prime minister told the BBC: "The prime minister was always fully behind the principle of the scheme as a deterrent.

"As chancellor it was his job to make sure it delivered and taxpayers' money was appropriately spent."

A government source said: "As chancellor, Rishi funded the Rwanda scheme and put it at the heart of his 10-point plan the month after becoming PM.

"Now he is passing the Rwanda Bill following the Supreme Court judgment to get flights off the ground. He is the first prime minster ever to oversee a reduction in small boat crossings, which were down by 36% last year."

In a statement, Labour MP and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "This shows what an utter con the Tories' Rwanda scheme is and how weak Rishi Sunak has now become.

"The prime minister knew the plan was incredibly costly and wouldn't work, and resisted it while he was chancellor. But he is so weak he has now agreed to write cheques to Rwanda for £400m without sending a single person there in a desperate attempt to shore up his leadership.

"Whether it be on Rwanda or hotel use, the Tories are continually going for gimmicks rather than ever getting a grip.

"It's time they gave up on this sorry charade and adopted Labour's plan to go after the criminal smuggling gangs, negotiating a new security deal with Europe to better protect our borders and set up a new returns unit to ensure those with no right to be in the UK are removed swiftly."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67897560

[Jimbuna]

Rishi Sunak considers plan to exonerate Post Office Horizon scandal victims

Post office operators whose lives have been ruined by the Horizon scandal could be exonerated under plans being considered by the government, Rishi Sunak has said.

The prime minister also confirmed that Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, could strip the Post Office of its powers to prosecute after more than 700 branch managers were wrongly handed criminal convictions.

It follows a national outcry over the treatment of post office operators between 1999 and 2015 after faulty Fujitsu software made it appear as though money was missing from their outlets.

This week, an ITV drama has highlighted the scandal and heightened demands for the government to take action.

Hundreds were jailed or left bankrupted and at least four people took their own lives, and most victims have not received compensation.
Asked whether the justice secretary was looking at plans to exonerate the Post Office’s victims or take away the Post Office’s ability to prosecute, Sunak said: “The justice secretary is looking at the things that you’ve described, it wouldn’t be right to pre-empt that process, obviously there’s legal complexity in all of those things but he is looking at exactly those areas.”

In an appearance on BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, he added: “Everyone has been shocked by watching what they have done over the past few days and beyond and it is an appalling miscarriage of justice.

“Actually seeing it and hearing about it again just shows what an appalling miscarriage of justice it is for everyone affected and it’s important that those people now get the justice they deserve.”

Chalk is looking at potential ways for the Post Office to be stripped of its role in the cases of operators who are seeking to appeal and overturn their convictions, it is understood.

To date, 93 convictions have been overturned and, of those, only 27 people have agreed “full and final settlements”.

According to the Sunday Times, this includes whether the Crown Prosecution Service could take over, which may make it easier for convictions to be quashed.

A source told the newspaper that Chalk had long held concerns about the ability of some arms-length bodies to mount private prosecutions, as well as the low rate of successful appeals among post office operators.

Even after the Horizon computer system was found to be defective, the Post Office has in recent years opposed a number of appeals by operators.

Earlier this week, ITV began broadcasting Mr Bates vs the Post Office, a four-part drama charting the scandal and the fight for justice by wrongly prosecuted branch owner operators.

Fifty new potential victims have contacted lawyers this week, including five who wish to appeal against their convictions.

Victims of the scandal are “traumatised”, a former post office operators has said. Lee Castleton, who was forced into bankruptcy after being pursued through the courts for hundreds of thousands of pounds in Post Office legal costs, said: “The victims are traumatised. It has been a long time of 25 years and £135m has been paid to some of the victims, but we have had £150m-plus paid to lawyers.

“These lawyers are putting lots of pressure and it is difficult. The schemes are difficult.”

“We are just normal run-of-the-mill people. We have legal people with us but it is so difficult and it is like a war.

“Why would anybody put the Post Office and DBT (the Department for Business and Trade) in charge of recompensing the victims?” said Castleton, who was played by the actor Will Mellor in the drama.

It is not known how much cash was paid back for imaginary shortfalls but so far £151m has been paid in compensation. Operators claimed tens of millions of pounds wrongly clawed back went into Post Office profits.

The Post Office is under criminal investigation over “potential fraud offences” committed during the Horizon scandal, the Metropolitan police have confirmed.

Officers are “investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions”, for example “monies recovered from subpostmasters [operators] as a result of prosecutions or civil actions”, Scotland Yard said on Friday evening.

The Met is also investigating two former Fujitsu experts, who were witnesses in the trials, for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

There are also growing calls for Paula Vennells, who served as chief executive of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019, to be stripped of her CBE. Last night a petition demanding she lose the honour had garnered more than 760,000 signatures.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknew...4cacbbe8&ei=29

[Jimbuna]

The minister with responsibility for the Post Office is set to give an update to Parliament relating to Horizon compensation and convictions.

Kevin Hollinrake will issue a statement, after ex-minister David Davis called for sub-postmasters and mistresses involved in the scandal to be exonerated.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has also said all cases need to be revisited, while Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said it was important that victims were properly compensated.

Earlier, the prime minister said the government "will do everything we can to make this right for all those affected"

Rishi Sunak would also "strongly support" the honours committee if it chose to look into revoking the CBE of former Post Office boss Paula Vennells.

Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and mistresses based on information from a computer system called Horizon.

More than 700 branch managers were given criminal convictions when the faulty software made it look as though money was missing from their sites - 93 of these convictions have been overturned.

[Jimbuna]

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is handing back her CBE with immediate effect after facing mounting pressure over the Horizon IT scandal.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67925304

And so she should.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL!

Government defends spending £27,000 on wine during Covid

The government has defended spending nearly £27,000 replenishing its wine cellar during the Covid pandemic.

The figure for 2020-22 was revealed in a Foreign Office report.

Foreign Office Minister Andrew Mitchell said all events organised by Government Hospitality during this period were "in strict accordance with Covid-19 restrictions".

He highlighted figures from the report showing use of the cellar fell by 96% in 2020 to 2021.

Some 130 bottles were drunk during this period, compared with 3,336 in 2019 to 2020.

The figures increased between 2021 and 2022 to 1,303, but were still well below pre-pandemic levels.

The alcohol, stored in the basement of Lancaster House in central London, is given to guests of the government.

The wine cellar is expected to finance itself through sales of some of its high value stock and payments from other government departments.

However, sales were not possible during the pandemic, only resuming in 2022.

A hospitality fund was originally set up in 1908 to provide for "high-level visiting overseas government guests and domestic guests".

In 1922 a committee was established to purchase alcohol and the Government Hospitality wine cellar was created.

After the outbreak of World War Two, the cellar was topped up with wines requisitioned from the German Embassy and for part of the conflict, some of the cellar was relocated to Warwickshire "for safe keeping".

A 2010 review concluded that the cellar was delivering value for money but recommended it should be a "self-financing regime for the medium term, with targeted sales of high value stock helping to pay for future purchases".

These days the Government Wine Committee, which meets around three times a year, advises Government Hospitality on purchasing new stock.

The committee is chaired by former diplomat Sir David Wright and the committee members are unpaid.

The overall market value of the cellar's contents is estimated to be £3.66m, compared to £3.34m two years before.

Between 2020 and 2021, £14,621 was spent on 516 bottles of Bordeaux, costing around £28 each.

The following year, £12,356 went towards purchasing 636 bottles of English and Welsh sparkling wines,18 bottles of gin, and four bottles each of whisky and liqueurs.

The pandemic prevented any sales of stock between 2020 and 2021 but they restarted in 2022.

Responding to the report, Labour's shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said: "For months we have asked why the government was suppressing the publication of this report, and now we know the answer.

"While the rest of the country was facing Covid restrictions and a cost-of-living crisis, the government was getting through 1,433 bottles from its wine cellar, and replenishing the stocks with a net spend of more than £100,000 over the three years from 2019-22.

"They lived the high life at taxpayers' expense while the rest of the country struggled, and it will never be forgotten."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67952153