Jennifer Arcuri publicly admitting four year affair with Boris Johnson

According to Johny Mercer this government is "a cesspit full of lies"

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/johnny-mercer-government-cesspit-johnson_uk_6080542ae4b017537f0e14cb

I should have added that Mercer didn't resign because of a scandal but because of concerns over the treatment/prosecution of soldiers.

The difference between now and the time of the Profumo affair was that then ministers resigned. Now they don't - with the exception of Johnny Mercer.

I don't like the double standards. If he was a woman with various husbands, bits of the side, kids with different men he wouldn't be prime minister. I do think people need to behave appropriately in their private lives if they are in positions of power but I am a bit old fashioned like that. I do agree this is different though

Yes I dont care about who he sleeps with but that's not what this is about.

I don’t give a stuff about politicians’ private lives as long as they don’t use public money to pay for their little bits on the side! BJ should be held to account for what he did and be made to pay it back.

Sleaze and cronyism are one thing, but I can’t get steamed up about affairs. Powerful men have so often had them, but in the past they were kept quiet from the bulk of ‘ordinary’ people, as they like to call us - no matter how many of the elites knew.
Wasn’t Lloyd George a notorious womaniser? Just for starters.
But the press was too deferent to publish ‘scandalous’ details.

Maybe it was the Profumo affair that finally put paid to the general pretence that powerful/rich/aristocratic people were morally beyond reproach.

IMO Mandy Rice-Davies’ reply of, ‘He would say that, wouldn’t he?’ - and the laughter that ensued in court, was something of a landmark in such matters.

JaneJudge , just imagine what he’d want in return!!??

MaizieD

I think he'd only do that if you voted for Brexit, JaneJudge

I'm buggered then

MaizieD I am not missing the point.

On the news this morning (ITV) they reported that Mr.Dyson asked for an exemption from extra taxes for his employees coming from abroad to work on the ventilator project.

If this had been brought in (unclear if it was, happy to be corrected) it would have applied to anyone coming into the UK during the beginning of the pandemic, including nurses, doctors, engineers etc.

I am not saying I agree with the way that it was suggested , clarity is needed (which will probably not be forthcoming),

Maybe the PM should block some of his address book on his phone, if this happens no need for a new number.

I think he'd only do that if you voted for Brexit, JaneJudge

I wish I had the PM's phone number so he could waive my tax bill and plough money into my business

GrannyGravy13

James Dysons statement regarding ventilators.

I think you're missing the point, GG13.

The problem lies in the fact that

1) some privileged people are directly accessing the PM, because they have his mobile number and are using it to lobby him. Which immediately puts a very large bump into what should be a level playing field. (The same way that the VIP channel for PPE contracts created a massive bump)

2). The PM was prepared to do Dyson a favour and order that tax law should be waived for him. This is corruption. It is the misuse of ministerial power.

We cannot have ministers doing personal favours for their mates. I'm sure that you understand that.

BTW. The story in the Telegraph this morning is that Bozo has been asked to change his mobile number, because too many people have it, and that he refuses to do so.

Not sure Dyson has helped with the tax lie.

He is better keeping quiet.

James Dysons statement regarding ventilators.

They’re a right shower, aren’t they ? What is it with politicians these days ? Or maybe they were always like that but we just didn’t hear about it.

This article seems appropriate here:

Is the Speaker up to the job?

Concluding paragraph:

The evidence suggests Hoyle is not the worst ever Speaker of the House of Commons. However, it also suggests that he is out of his depth. His refusal to tackle deliberate and blatant untruths in the House means that a fundamental condition for democracy – that the demos be informed – is not met. With 87 per cent of the British press (by circulation) pro-government, and usually willing to turn a deaf ear to the industrial-scale lies coming out of Number Ten, and the Tory takeover of the BBC converting it from a public to a state broadcaster, members of the electorate are increasingly up against it to get to the truth. Given the weight of this Trumpian onslaught, if the House of Commons can no longer be relied on as a source of truth, our democracy is in serious peril.

westcountrybylines.co.uk/is-sir-lindsay-hoyle-up-to-the-job-of-speaker/

Tory lies again.
I found this tweet

Gordon Craig
@gordoncraig11
The culture secretary (Oliver Dowden) stated in the house ( ^i.e, the House of Commons ) that Dyson supplying ventilators saved thousands of lives,but as I understand it the Government cancelled the contract and none of the ventilators were ever used. Is this j6ust another @Conservatives lie to cover up some more corruption?

It is a barefaced lie as Dyson didn't supply any ventilators to the NHS.
It is disgraceful that tory ministers are lying in the HoC. This lie will be recorded in Hansard and will be taken to be the truth by researchers in the future as statements to the House by ministers are trusted to be the truth. Dowden could be required to correct the record by the Speaker, but as the Speaker has failed to call out ministerial lies (notably the PM's) to date it is unlikely that this is corrected.

This is rewriting history even as it is being made, isn't it?

Oldbat1

What is the point of PMQs as Johnson never answers the question and just gets away with all the sleaze. Disgraceful.

This Speaker has been a massive disappointment. It is his job to ensure Johnson answers the questions. And not a thing said about the comment today that about 'the dog making more sense'. He should have been them to retract and apologise.

he even hosted have i got news for you fgs

How do HMRC deal with that? Everything comes through the treasury who I believe had nothing to do with it did they?

It is nonsense of course.

How on earth did we land up with such an idiot for PM?

Whitewavemark2

But Dyson never did supply ventilators - so what is that about?

Talking about it on the 'Sleaze' thread.

It was Bozo's Big Idea. The Ventilator Challenge. When he wanted all his Brexity tory donor mates to develop a new ventilator to save thousands of people from dying of covid. This was as covid was really taking hold here...

Some bona fide ventilator manufacturers got a bit of help, too, but the focus was on the likes if Dyson and JCB...

They never came up with a usable ventilator...

But, of course, the main story is that, a) Dyson had Bozo's mobile number and that b) Bozo said he would arrange for tax rules to be waived for Dyson employees...

But Dyson never did supply ventilators - so what is that about?

Today's revelation was Sir James Dyson approached HMRC to get a tax saving for his employees working on plans to manufacture ventilators. Because he didn't hear from them he approached Johnson who basically said no problem and also spoke to Sunak about it. Johnson just relies on the pandemic as his answer to everything.

What is the point of PMQs as Johnson never answers the question and just gets away with all the sleaze. Disgraceful.