Has the Conservative Party lost all sense of competence

The biggest landowner in the country is James Dyson, that well-known brexiteer.
Really? - Goodness when did that happen?

I thought it was the Forestry Commission
Followed by the National Trust, Ministry of Defence, Pension Funds, Utility Companies etc.

The largest private landowner was, I thought, the Duke of Buccleuch & Queensberry
It used to be the Duke of Westminster but that is no longer the case.

Perhaps Dyson will leave it all to the National Trust after he's finished hoovering it up.

The idea that the UK is some bastion of democracy, rather than a mix of medieval privilege and huge inequality is one that Brexiteers seem to believe. Plenty of unelected elites influence our government - The Monarchy, House of Lords, The Church of England- we are the only country other than Iran which has automatic seats in parliament for religious leaders, top ranking civil servants, Paul Dacre, Rupert Murdoch etc etc. If people imagine that come Brexit there will suddenly be lots of extra spent on the NHS, housing, education, poorer regions they really are delusional.

The biggest landowner in the country is James Dyson, that well-known brexiteer.

Those very rich leavers want to do so to protect their offshore accounts and tax evasion - and many of them have got huge amounts of farmland too.

He's a self serving hypocrite

I'm sorry, ninny but I really don't see what that has to do with Heseltine's wish to stay in the EU.

I could quite equally (and probably more justifiably) claim that he is a deeply patriotic citizen who doesn't want to see the country he loves, and has served, being destroyed by Brexit. Very similar to most Remainers, really...

I hope Heseltine did spend it on his land but as he is a millionaire a few times over and more why can't he pay for and manage his farms himself without having a handout. He's a self serving hypocrite and no he's not the only but still doesn't make it right.

But I would be thinking along those lines, too, so that makes quite a few sensible people agreeing that unelected people try to rule us, too.
They not only try to tell the government what to do, but also without having the input of taxes in many cases.

I can't swear that that is the way suzied is thinking, though, GG.

Ah ... I see the way you are thinking.

Who were you thinking of?

I think I'd be thinking of Dacre, Murdoch and the Barclay brothers...

Are you his book-keeper Petra - otherwise how do you know which money funded what? How rude to libel the man so.

We are governed by plenty of unelected here in the UK .

Who were you thinking of?

Proof, please, Petra.

The period being complained about was the last 10 years. 1977 is a tad outside that.

MaizieD
He certainly spent it on his land. Theaford Garden and Arboretum. He started this soulless folly in 1977 but I'm sure that date is just a coincidence, it being so close to the date we joined the EEC.
Yes we could always trade outside the eu. But the tariffs imposed by the eu ( for food stuffs) would make it prohibitive.

We are governed by plenty of unelected here in the UK .

Oh, FGS, not that one again. Until you can prove that it all went into his pocket with not a penny spent on his land I'll remind you that most farmers depend on the subsidy to keep their farms going as a reasonably profitable concern. I don't see why Heseltine should be any different; he just owns a lot of farmland.

I can assure you that there are farmers who get more than £90,000 a year.

I for one can't wait for us to be a sovereign nation again trading with the whole world and free from being governed by an unelected commission.

On current showing you could be waiting a very long time. The world doesn't seem to be falling over itself to trade with us and there has been nothing stopping us doing it while we're in the EU.

Snap Wally! Poor old Heseltine losing all that grant money! Makes you feel quite worried for him!! He's always been a self centred pain, and clearly hasn't improved with age!

No one truly knows what will happen after brexit, what I do know with certainty is that the remainers got their predictions very wrong thus far and I for one can't wait for us to be a sovereign nation again trading with the whole world and free from being governed by an unelected commission.

Heseltine has received over 10 years about 900,000 in EU farm subsidies no wonder he doesn't want it to end.

David Davis will be replaced by ...

an unelected civil servant ...

What's this all about, jura?

my OH's family came from South Africa at the time of apartheid, in 1948. The only reason they were allowed in was because the grandfather was British. Nowadays, they would not be able to come- well not his wife for sure- as he didn't have a job when they arrived.

So- again, you could'nt make this stuff up. David Davis will be replaced by ...

an unelected civil servant ...

Oh the irony, oh my ;)

A Home Office spokesperson said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

It shouldn't have gone to legal proceedings in the first place. They are allowed discretion.

I know people who have moved here from South Africa, but that was before the Tories came to power.
May has been in charge of the home office since 2010, and is determined to make her name with regard to immigration.

It makes a mockery of the idea that we still want academic experts to come here and work in our universities.

Our friends have previous experience djen - not even being let in in the first place from Zimbabwe.

Petition on change.org by the way.