UK General Discussion: Rishecession

[Blair]

Don’t worry R***el J****n is on the Laura K show this morning.

Sums up British politics in a nutshell doesn’t it.

It’s quite fitting the only thing I can remember of any value from her show is Joe Lycett.

[CumbrianLefty]

It’s white fitting the only thing I can remember of any value from her show is Joe Lycett.

The almost universal "blue tick" horror over that really did tell its own story.

And when he was basically proven correct in all respects within weeks, they simply pretended that it had never even happened.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1617088357204647936

[Blair]

I’m starting to think Zahawi might be out- is now on the 4th day of leading the news.

[Torrain]

Feels possible now - his staff are now reaching out to lobby journalists confirm that he’s not resigning, which is a real “last days of Rome” thing to have to do.

Edit: Sunak says there are “questions to be answered” about Zahawi’s tax affairs, and the independent ethics advisor will investigate. They bypassed “full confidence in the minister” entirely. Can’t see how this ends well for Zahawi now…

[CumbrianLefty]

I’m starting to think Zahawi might be out- is now on the 4th day of leading the news.

What's interesting is that for some time there was great reluctance to cover this one in the media, but that abruptly changed last week. One too many legal (or indeed other) threats backfiring?

[NewYorkExpress]

Hundreds of child asylum seekers have gone missing since July 2021.

Hundreds of child asylum seekers have gone missing since the British government started housing minors in hotels due to a strain on the country’s asylum accommodation system, British Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick told lawmakers in parliament on Tuesday, amid calls for an investigation into the matter.

Jenrick said Tuesday that around 200 children have gone missing since July 2021. “Out of the 4,600 unaccompanied children that have been accommodated in hotels since July 2021, there have been 440 missing occurrences and 200 children still remain missing,” he said.

Approximately 13 of the 200 missing children are under the age of 16, and one is female according to government data. The majority of the missing, 88%, are Albanian nationals, and the remaining 12% are from Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Vietnam, Pakistan and Turkey.

[Blair]

V funny how many Tory backbench questions at PMQs are basically ‘prime minister the public realm is collapsing in my constituency’

[Torrain]

https://mobile.twitter.com/BenKentish/status/1618237316899962883
One potential reason Zahawi still has a job - the PM may be uncomfortable setting a precedent where a minister with dodgy tax affairs is forced out on principle.

[CumbrianLefty]

Sunak still deploying the "but Corbyn" non-defence at PMQs.

[afleitch]

Lol

https://mobile.twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1618266248286015496

[TheTide]

This is probably beating a dead horse, but observe Liz Truss's face in this photo and consider the matter at hand. I wouldn't quite call it a smile, but it certainly isn't solemn either.

https://twitter.com/trussliz/status/1618312522603573248?s=20&t=Q24ITKFB_bWZj...

[Torrain]

When it rains, it pours - looks like Zahawi’s not the only one in the cabinet who underplayed their political vulnerability:
https://mobile.twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1618344250252627968

[Serenity Now]

Pretty funny how the Guardian used a picture of Stratford-upon-Avon constituent who looks a bit like William Shakespeare for this article. Even more so if not deliberate, but I feel it just has to be..

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1618307970898485253?s=20&t=R-qjSB7_tCXTm...

[Blair]

When it rains, it pours - looks like Zahawi’s not the only one in the cabinet who underplayed their political vulnerability:
https://mobile.twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1618344250252627968

Part of me wondered whether Sunak would try and remove them both at the same time

[Torrain]

When it rains, it pours - looks like Zahawi’s not the only one in the cabinet who underplayed their political vulnerability:
https://mobile.twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1618344250252627968

Part of me wondered whether Sunak would try and remove them both at the same time

Aye. A mini-reshuffle after only three months feels a tad embarassing for the Government, but losing one minister after another to scandal feels considerably worse.

And at least if they go together (preferably dismissed), Sunak could do his "integrity matters to me" thing as an explanation. Far harder to do that if there's a drip-drip of ministerial resignations.

_{Clearly, the best thing to do would be not hiring MPs with clear ethical issues, but I appreciate that's no longer an option (and may never have been, given the ideological balance and alliegences Sunak was clearly trying to balance when he set up his government).}

[CumbrianLefty]

Well if he's doing that, get rid of Braverman as well. Three for the price of one?

[Torrain]

I think the risk if he clears house now is that the right-wing aspects of the press go into a fresh meltdown. The rumblings are already there.

Christopher Hope at the Telegraph wrote a hand-wringing editorial yesterday about how Sunak was clearing out the Johnson loyalists by leaking stories about the BBC Chairman and Nadhim Zahawi (apparently it's Sunak's fault, not the guys themselves for engaging in blatant rules violations...).

I'd dearly like to see all three gone, but I doubt Sunak believes he has the political capital to ditch Braverman (or clean house entirely) without some really good cause.

[CumbrianLefty]

Oh, of course I know all that.

And the Johnson cultists are getting very smug now, they need bringing back down to earth somehow.

[Torrain]

Didn't mean to patronise, apologies - mostly just thinking outloud.

[Torrain]

One other weird sideshow today - Andrew Bridgen is planning to sue Matt Hancock for £100,000, for libel.

Apparently, calling out Bridgen's holocaust-vaccine reference, and then saying this had an antisemitic element is entirely libellous, and he's demanding an apology and retraction. Hancock, to his credit, has doubled down.

It's a bit flimsy legally, because the whole case is built around a single tweet Hancock sent, which linked to his comments on the matter in Parliament. That's obviously protected under parliamentary privilege, but because he restated the attack in slightly different wording, Bridgen thinks he's got him.

Besides the lunacy of it all, the noteworthy thing is that Laurence Fox is apparently bankrolling Bridgen's legal fees, suggesting that particular political alliance is still holding. Given Bridgen is now doing the very opposite of what he'd need to do in order to be readmitted to the party, I do wonder whether we're still inching towards that Reclaim defection - although I'd be the first to admit that my defection predictions have a very poor hit ratio...

Edit: for bonus surreality points - Fox's legal team call themselves the "Bad Law Project", as some attempt to counterweight the "Good Law Project". Which is less "countercultural revolution", and more "Spock with a fake goatee hastily glued on."

[Silent Hunter]

Remember when Laurence Fox was actually an actor in a big TV show? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

He's James Fox's son, but in terms of both acting ability and political views he has much more in common with his uncle Edward. Not looks though. Lost out on all counts: sad!

[MABA 2020]

I'm amazed Zahawi hasn't been fired yet, it's embarrassing

[Torrain]

The FT have discovered that a second high-ranking Tory MP was under investigation by HMRC last year, at the same time as Zahawi. The way they found this out is, well, intriguing:

• On June 15th, HMRC responded to Dan Neidle's FOIA request, and confirmed a government minister was under investigation. Then, on June 23rd, when the FT had written up the story, HMRC reversed, and declared no ministers were being scrutinised - leading the FT to drop the story.
• Then, on July 7th, HMRC changed their story again, confirming that a minister was being investigated.
• Apparently, HMRC officials checked an inaccurate list, which included a high-ranking Tory MP who they assumed was a minister, and then hastily retracted it, hence the June 23rd denial.
• The second announcement came after they trawled a broader list of investigations - which included the Customer Compliance Group (which includes the Fraud Investigation Service and Counter-Avoidance).
• Apparently, all this miscommunication was an entirely innocent mistake, the result of several "blunders", to quote the apology they released today.

All a bit weird.