… Billions Were Lost to Covid Fraud, …

THE GUARDIAN: Given the immense suffering the pandemic brought to so many people, profiteers cannot be allowed to get away with it

EXTRACT:

… A recent report by Transparency International UK says that a fifth of the Covid contracts awarded by the government contained red flags indicating possible corruption.

It is also well known that close contacts of Tory politicians made immense profits through this crisis, while the rest of the country suffered sickness, deaths and economic pain. The New York Times analysed 1,200 contracts worth nearly $22bn and found that roughly half went to companies run by friends and associates of Conservative party politicians, or with no experience in that area.

Read the whole article by Devi Sridhar here.

Iceland Boss Richard Walker Quits ‘Out of Touch’ Tories

THE TELEGRAPH: Supermarket chief says he can’t support a party that has lost its way on net zero

The boss of supermarket chain Iceland has quit the Conservative Party, criticising it for being “badly out of touch”.

Richard Walker, who had been trying to stand as a Conservative MP, announced that he had “now reached the end of the road” with the Tories, citing the party’s approach to net zero.

Mr Walker had been on the approved candidate list for the Conservatives, but said he was “never prepared to wear a gag to bag a seat”.

Writing for The Guardian, the businessman said: “It has become increasingly difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Conservative Party has drifted badly out of touch.

“I am certainly not willing to make compromises with a party which has clearly lost its way on its approach to net zero and the environment in particular. » | Genevieve Holl-Allen | Sunday, October 1, 2023

Michael Lambert: Failing Home Secretary Demonises Migrants

Sep 30, 2023 | Suella Braverman as Home Secretary presides over a Home Office which is in disarray. 1000 Met police officers are under investigation, only 5% of crime is solved and the borders are in chaos.

Immigration is a constant problem which Rishi Sunak has pledged to solve. Given the weakness of Rishi Sunak, she is the most powerful woman in the country. Braverman invokes memories of Germany in the 1930's! In recent years the rights of UK citizens have been much reduced, whereby the UK is now a police state. It is even an offence punishable by imprisonment to hold a sign which may offend the authorities.

Last week Braverman went to Washington to deliver a speech to the right-wing think tank American Enterprise Institute. It was a speech just a few days before the Tory party conference designed to boost her claim to be the successor to Sunak.

The speech and subsequent interviews were racist and dishonest. She presented dogwhistle arguments about the threat of migration and how it is the biggest threat that the world currently faces.

Her Rwanda policy involves swapping asylum seekers in the UK for 'vulnerable' deportees from Rwanda, another terrible deal which has cost the British taxpayer £140 million.

Braverman, by removing and restricting rights and by imposing restrictions, is turning the UK into a fascist state.

Appeal to LGBTQ+ Tories to Condemn Braverman over Gay Persecution Comments

GUARDIAN EUROPE: UK home secretary in US to call for rewriting of UN refugee rules so they are ‘fit for the modern age’

Suella Braverman will say the refugee convention has expanded the number of those who may qualify for asylum to ‘unsustainable’ levels. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA
LGBTQ+ Conservatives have been urged by the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw to condemn Suella Braverman’s speech in which she will say that Britain should not grant asylum to people who are simply fearful of persecution for being gay.

The former minister made the call ahead of a speech the home secretary is due to make in the US where she will make her case for the rewriting of key international refugee rules so they are “fit for the modern age”.

In a move to alter an agreement that undermined UK plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, the home secretary will argue that the United Nations 1951 refugee convention must be reformed to tackle a worldwide migration crisis.

She will argue that case law arising from the convention has lowered the threshold so that asylum seekers need only prove that they face “discrimination” instead of a real risk of torture, death or violence. As case law has developed, she will say, there has been “an interpretive shift away from ‘persecution’, in favour of something more akin to a definition of ‘discrimination’.” » | Ben Quinn, Political correspondent | Tuesday, September 26, 2023

This woman is truly shameless. She is herself from immigrant stock. This country was kind enough to give her family asylum, but now she wants to deny the same kindness and compassion which her family received to people who are so often persecuted in their homelands. In fact, many of them are in danger of being put to death.

Has this woman no shame? Has this woman no feeling? Has this woman no compassion? Has this woman no mercy?

This dangerous woman has managed to climb the social ladder. Apparently, she now lives in Harrow, having been born in Wembley. But one thing she hasn't managed to do: adopt a British mentality and character. We Brits have been famous for our fairness and compassion, especially to people in distress and danger. Are we now really going to allow people like this to destroy Britain's once proud reputation?

Her tough ideas and attitudes towards gays are really out of place in modern Britain. However, Uganda, I feel absolutely sure, would welcome her and her tough ideas! – © Mark Alexander

Lib Dems to Attack Tories on NHS and Pensions Triple Lock, Ed Davey Says

THE OBSERVER: The leader says his party is focusing on the NHS and protecting pensions to woo Conservatives in rural heartlands

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey at the Barton Hills nature reserve in June 2023 while campaigning in next month’s Mid Bedfordshire byelection. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian
The Liberal Democrats are planning to open two fronts against the Conservatives in their traditional heartlands, with a campaign focused on NHS waiting lists and a pledge to protect the pensions triple lock.

In an interview with the Observer, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said that the scale of support his party had been receiving from lifelong Tory voters meant that there was now no Tory seat in either the “blue wall” or the Conservatives’ rural heartlands that was safe.

The Lib Dems are in an increasingly optimistic mood as their annual conference takes place this week after a string of byelection wins, including in Chesham and Amersham, and Tiverton and Honiton. There is also mounting concern among Tories in constituencies where the Lib Dems are in second place.

Davey’s party is now honing an election campaign designed to win over liberal, pro-remain Tory voters as well as rural communities that have been out of reach to the Lib Dems for years. He said that, unlike in the run-up to previous elections, concern about the NHS and GP waiting times was a “common thread” across all the voters it was targeting. » | Michael Savage, Policy Editor | Sunday, September 2023

In my opinion, this is the gentleman who would make the best prime minister for our times. This is the man who could lead this country out of the mess and morass we now find ourselves in after thirteen years of Tory screw-ups and misguided government. – © Mark Alexander

The Guardian View on Liz Truss’s Premiership: A Mistake Britain Would Be Stupid to Repeat

THE GUARDIAN - EDITORIAL: Rishi Sunak criticised his predecessor’s plans as ‘fairytales’. But it’s magical thinking that the Conservatives want

Liz Truss. ‘As a politician she believed in burning rather than building bridges.’ Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
It only took 49 days for Liz Truss to tank the British economy. Imagine what a decade could do? Ms Truss is shamelessly thinking about just that. She is now working on a book, Ten Years to Save the West, to be published in April next year. The west had better watch out. Ms Truss’s tome is unlikely to deliver the mea culpa the public deserves for crashing the pound and sending interest rates spiralling upwards a year ago. The shortest-serving prime minister in British history is likely to double down on her misjudgments. » | Editorial | Sunday, September 17, 2023

Liz Truss’s comeback defies all belief – until you understand the rotten forces making it possible: A weak PM, a dying government, a radicalised rightwing press: these are the foundations of Truss’s unlikely relaunch »

Related links here.

MP Chris Pincher Loses Appeal against Eight-week Suspension

THE GUARDIAN: Development paves way for possible byelection in Tamworth seat of MP found to have drunkenly groped two men

Rishi Sunak faces the prospect of another byelection headache after the former Tory MP Chris Pincher lost an appeal against an eight-week suspension from parliament.

A report in July said Pincher had committed an “abuse of power” by drunkenly groping two men at the Carlton Club in London the previous summer.

Pincher appealed against the suspension but not the findings. On Monday it emerged that he had been unsuccessful. » | Aubrey Allegretti Senior political correspondent | Monday, August 4, 2023

Michael Lambert: World Class INCOMPETENCE - Every Week!

Sep 2, 2023

We Risk Being Seen as the ‘Nasty Party’ Again, Warn Senior Conservatives

THE OBSERVER: Moderate Tories fear the party’s attack on human rights will alienate many voters and damage the UK’s global standing

French lifeboat Notre Dame du Risban arrives in Calais last Friday amid a rescue operation in the Channel. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
The Conservatives risk being seen once again as the “nasty party” by trying to win votes with a divisive attack on human rights, senior party figures have warned.

Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure from his party this weekend over his pledge to stop the boats crossing the Channel. It follows another week that ended in Channel deaths after the capsizing of a boat, while the total number of people making the dangerous crossing since 2018 rose above the 100,000 mark.

Cabinet ministers are now said to be among those expecting the party to back quitting the European convention on human rights (ECHR) as part of its next election manifesto, should their plan to deport migrants to Rwanda be blocked in court.

Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said the government would do “whatever is necessary” to force its plans through. » | Michael Savage, Policy editor | Sunday, August 13, 2023

"Risk being seen as the nasty party?" There’s no “risk” to it! You ARE the bloody nasty party! The irony is this: The nastiest of the nasty are themselves largely immigrants! Today, the party is made up of unfeeling, unChristian people, lacking both compassion and mercy. – © Mark Alexander

After Brexit, Desperate Tories Needed a New Crusade. They Think Dumping ‘Human Rights’ Could Be It

THE GUARDIAN: Rightwingers want a nasty debate about the European convention on human rights to revive nativist passions

The drumbeats get louder as the call of the wild pulses through the blood of the Conservative party again. The front page of the Telegraph on Thursday splashes, “Cabinet call on PM to ditch ECHR”. On their headcount, a third of the British cabinet want to join Russia and Belarus as pariah states outside the European convention on human rights.

Downing Street says no, but others report the prime minister wavering. This is exactly how Brexit happened – and that’s the spirit the Braverman tendency hopes to reprise, with all the nativism, the xenophobia, the British “sovereignty” phantasm and even talk of another referendum, which could slice the country into two broken halves. They imagine this could save their party, or at least their own seats, at the next election. » | Polly Toynbee | Thursday, August 10, 2023

Downing Street Backs Tory Deputy Chair over ‘Back to France’ Comments

THE GUARDIAN: Lee Anderson’s remarks on Bibby Stockholm asylum seekers supported by justice secretary, who No 10 says is speaking for government

‘Divisive tactics’: Lee Anderson arriving at the Conservative conference in May. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock
Downing Street has backed the Conservative deputy chair, Lee Anderson, after he was criticised for saying people complaining about being housed on the Bibby Stockholm barge after entering the UK illegally should “fuck off back to France”.

Anderson made the comments in an interview with the Daily Express, after the transfer of asylum seekers to the barge was delayed by safety concerns and legal challenges.

He won the backing of Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, who said that while Anderson’s language was “salty” his “indignation is well placed”, and the comments were “not bigotry at all”.

No 10 also said the justice secretary was speaking for the government in backing Anderson. » | Rowena Mason Whitehall editor, Diane Taylor and Sammy Gecsoyler | Tuesday, August 8, 2023

The Tories have reached a new low now! Is Lee Anderson an example of the calibre of today’s Conservative politicians? Of course, he must be. My God! Such a disgraceful man; such a disgraceful way for a man in his position to speak! Sunak should kick this common bully, this bruiser out of the party, not endorse his disgusting outburst. This sort of obscene, obnoxious and intemperate utterance should make all decent Brits feel ashamed of their country. – © Mark Alexander

Ed Davey: ‘Tactical Voting Can Lock Tories Out of Power for a Generation’

THE OBSERVER: Lib Dem leader says people lending their votes to rival parties could shut the door on Conservatives at Westminster for years to come

Newly elected Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Dyke with party leader Ed Davey in Frome, Somerset, on Friday. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
The Tories could be locked out of power for a generation if supporters of other parties vote tactically at the next general election, the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, says on Sunday, after his party chalked up another stunning West Country byelection victory.

A massive 29% swing to the Lib Dems saw Sarah Dyke take the Somerton and Frome seat, overturning a Conservative majority of more than 19,200. Davey’s party now has a comfortable 11,000 majority of its own, the largest it has ever had over the Tories in the constituency. » | Toby Helm, Political editor | Sunday, July 23, 2023

As an Arab might say, inshallah! Send this régime packing: this band of corrupt, incompetent, greedy fools! Clowns! Rapacious clowns!

This country needs a business-friendly party to lead it. The Tories used to be that party. Alas, no longer. No business-friendly party would turn its back on the biggest, most-successful single market in the world: The Single Market – a market of 500m or so consumers. Only an idiot would turn its back on such a market.

It is to be hoped that we will soon witness the demise of the Conservatives. We Brits deserve better than this. – © Mark Alexander

Michael Lambert: The Incompetence, Dishonesty & Failure of the Sunak Government

Jul 22, 2023 | The current British government under prime minister Rishi Sunak must be the worst ever. 70% of the cabinet are politicians who opposed Brexit and yet agreed to support it in order to get elected.

The Home Secretary Suella Braverman continues to be obsessed with sending desperate asylum seekers to Rwanda whilst her lapdog junior minister Robert Jenrick does his best to make child asylum seekers as unwelcome as possible.

Kemi Badenoch the part-time trade and industry secretary extols the benefits of her deal with the CPTPP which will add £1.8 billion to the UK's GDP in ten years’ time.

Theresa Coffey the minister in charge of the environment claims waters around the UK are the cleanest they have ever been despite more than 300,000 discharges of sewage into rivers and seas in the past year.

Rishi Sunak is weak and has no ideas other than to parrot his five priorities, none of which he is likely to achieve.

TATA have been encouraged to open a battery plant in Somerset in exchange for a grant said to be around £500 million of taxpayers' money.

Lib Dems Demand End to ‘Conservative Circus’

EXPRESS & STAR: Party leader Sir Ed Davey covered supporters in confetti shot from a canon that read ‘Get these clowns out of No 10’.

Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Dyke with party leader Sir Ed Davey
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey channelled the circus for the now regular by-election victory PR stunt as he demanded a general election to remove the Conservatives from government.

He pretended to light a circus cannon adorned with the slogan “Get these clowns out of No 10” as yellow confetti was sprayed across dozens of Liberal Democrat supporters who had gathered to celebrate Sarah Dyke’s victory in the Somerton and Frome by-election.

Sir Ed described the gain as “nothing short of spectacular” and said the Lib Dems were now winning in their former heartlands, saying his party was “back in the West Country”. » | E&S | Friday, July 21, 2023

U.K. Voters Hand Sunak’s Party Two Defeats and a Win in By-elections

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The governing Conservatives retained Boris Johnson’s former Parliament seat in northwest London, but lost in two districts, including a sobering defeat in northern England.

Britain’s Conservative Party suffered crushing defeats in the race for what had previously been two safe seats in Parliament, but narrowly avoided losing a third contest, in election results Friday that sent an ominous signal about the political future of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The main opposition Labour Party won its biggest by-election victory since 1945 in Selby and Ainsty, in Yorkshire in the north of England — a dramatic shift in fortunes and a worrisome defeat for the Tories in a region that had undergirded their sweeping national victory three years ago.

The centrist Liberal Democrats scored a thumping win in another former Conservative stronghold, Somerton and Frome, in England’s southwest, revealing further cracks in what had long been a heartland of Tory voters.

But the Conservatives avoided a sweep by narrowly holding on to Uxbridge and South Ruislip, in the northwestern fringes of London, a district that had been represented by the former prime minister, Boris Johnson. » | Mark Landler and Stephen Castle, Reporting from London | Thursday, July 20, 2023

With all his plans in tatters, Rishi eyes some reshuffle lolz: After nine months of failure, PM casts around for something to pass the time before his summer hols »

Tory MPs Condemn Delay to Ban on LGBTQ+ Conversion Practices

THE GUARDIAN: Letter from cross-party MPs and campaigners says slow progress on legislation is a ‘moral failing’

Senior Conservative MPs have accused the government of a “moral failing” for delaying the long-promised ban on conversion practices that they say damage the lives of LGBT+ people.

In a letter to Rishi Sunak, a cross-party group of politicians and campaigners criticised the slow progress in bringing forward new legislation since the pledge was made five years ago.

The increased pressure on the prime minister and his equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, came amid further wrangling over the contents of advice to schools on how to deal with pupils questioning their gender.

The advice was planned for release before the end of the summer term. However, there is still concern among some Tory MPs over whether schools should be forced in all cases to inform parents if a child reveals they are questioning their gender. » | Aubrey Allegretti | Monday, July 17, 2023

Related.

Mick Lynch Rails against "Oligarch" Tories Destroying the Country

Jul 5, 2023 | General Secretary of the RMT has said the government are running the country's public services into the ground. Speaking to PoliticsJOE on Wednesday, Mick Lynch said plans to close ticket offices were a prime example of the Tories' raging war on the United Kingdom, to the detriment of the people living there.

What have I been saying all along? That this country is rotten and corrupt at its very core. The Tories have a lot to answer for. And please do not think that I am a socialist; I am most certainly not. I have never voted socialist in my life. In fact, all my life, I have been a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative voter. But that all changed with that ridiculous Brexit. I shall never vote Conservative again. But I should add not only because of Brexit at this time; but also because the Conservative Party is no longer what it used to be: it cannot be trusted. Modern Conservatives have TRASHED this country. Moreover, they are continuing to trash it. Further, the country is no longer run for the benefit of ALL people, the many; rather, it is run for the benefit of the few – the very rich few. The 0.0001%. As far as the Tories are concerned, the rest of the people can eat the crumbs that fall under their tables. – © Mark Alexander

Senior Tories Fear Mass Exodus from Parliament as Dozens of MPs Set to Quit

THE GUARDIAN: Former ministers, veterans and newcomers to quit Commons after years of exhausting political chaos

Senior ministers are expecting a “total clearout” of Tory MPs ahead of the next election, as party sources cited the experience of Boris Johnson’s premiership, the increasing stresses of the job and a continuing slump in the polls as reasons for a forthcoming bumper crop of departures.

More than 40 Conservative MPs have already announced they will step down at the next election – the most for a ruling party since the exodus of 100 Labour MPs ahead of the 2010 election in the wake of the expenses scandal and 13 years in government.

A senior party source said they were expecting “lots more” of the 352 Tory MPs to announce they were leaving as the election approaches. Insiders said the political chaos of recent years had meant many had stayed in parliament much longer than they had intended. “There are loads more to come, there will be a total clearout,” said a senior party figure. “There are some who expected to go before now but held on because 2017 was a snap election and 2019 was exciting. This is the moment many will go.” » | Michael Savage, Policy editor | Saturday, July 1, 2023

At first, the Europe question split the Conservative Party. So, to try and heal the rift, Cameron called for an advisory referendum on Europe. The Brexit referendum projected onto the country the rift that the Conservative Party itself had been suffering, thus splitting the country and turning region against region, friend against friend, and even slplitting families. The country hasn't, and will not heal. The country is divided – as divided as the Conservative Party was, is, and will remain. Without wishing to sound overly religious, what does it say about such divisions in the Bible? It says the following... “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. …” [Jesus] – Matthew 12: 26 (NKJV). Source: Bible Gateway.

Truly, this country needs a business-friendly political party, but the Conservatives are from another age, a bygone age. This country needs a forward-looking, Europe-friendly, business-friendly party to replace the Conservatives. As I have stated so many times before... The Tories need to go the way of the Whigs before them: into oblivion. – © Mark Alexander

Water Privatisation Is a Con

Jun 30, 2023 | (Location: Thames Water HQ)

Kick these Tories out of office, once and for all time! The Tories need to go the way of the Whigs: into oblivion! The Tories have ruined this country. Tories pretend to be patriotic; however, they are anything but. Tories care not about their country or the people that reside in it; rather, they care about their own gain, their own profit, their own pockets and their own bank balances. Tories know the price of everything, but the value of nothing! – © Mark Alexander

Today’s Tories Are TRASH!

They are out for their own ends and their own aggrandizement. Get the bastards OUT!

If you are not convinced, read this

James Cleverly’s use of £10,000 an hour Succession-style jet branded ‘ludicrous’: Exclusive: UK foreign secretary has been using type of private jet featured in hit TV show for Caribbean and Latin America tour »

Wealth may not repel voters, but greed does »