Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister

[honeybee13]

Covid: Boris Johnson resisted autumn lockdown as only over-80s dying - Dominic Cummings

WWW.BBC.COM

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Boris Johnson also questioned whether the NHS would be overwhelmed, his former aide tells the BBC.

 

This interview is tonight at 19.00 BST, BBC2. The Beeb have released some excerpts and I suspect the PM isn't going to be happy.

 

'In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Cummings also said that, near the start of the pandemic last year, Mr Johnson had wanted to keep his weekly face-to-face meetings with the Queen going - but he had to warn his boss that she might die if she caught coronavirus.'

 

'The "median age" for those dying was between 81 and 82 for men and 85 for women, the prime minister allegedly wrote, adding: "That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and Live longer.

"Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital... and of those virtually all survive. And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. Folks I think we may need to recalibrate... There are max 3m in this country aged over 80."'

 

 

[honeybee13]

Oh, the irony. Johnson has been proved to have lied to the House multiple times.

 

Dawn Butler said this and mentioned the Peter Stefanovic video that's had 27m views without the mainstream media mentioning it. She's told to leave the House.

 

So you can be sanctioned for telling the truth but not for lying to Parliament.

[honeybee13]

People in the world of journalism and others are very concerned about proposed new laws that would treat journos the same as spies.

 

Who’ll defend our right to a free press? Not the ex-hack in No 10 | Nick Cohen | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Journalists have every right to be fearful of the prime minister’s proposed legislation

 

And from the Press Gazette. 'Journalists could be treated like spies for reporting on matters of public interest under planned reforms to the UK’s Official Secrets Act.'

 

https://pressgazette.co.uk/official-secrets-act-reform-harsher-penalties-for-journalists/

 

[honeybee13]

On the PM visiting Cornwall.

 

Boris Johnson visited a village in Cornwall and asked the inhabitants what the government could do for them. "We have two big needs" said the village spokesman. "First, we have a health centre but no doctor." Boris whipped out his mobile phone, spoke for a while and then said "I have sorted it out. A doctor will arrive here tomorrow. What is your other need?" "We have no mobile phone reception at all in our village." - America’s best pics and videos

AMERICASBESTPICS.COM

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America’s best pics and videos is fun of your life. Images, GIFs and videos featured seven ti...

 

[honeybee13]

I see the cost of the 'national flagship' has already gone up by £50m and it hasn't even gone out to tender yet. Some commentators suspect that the additional annual running cost hasn't been considered yet.

 

I wonder how much will fall to the MoD and the Navy?

[honeybee13]

The Good Law Project were in court on Friday and have published emails showing that Cummings demanded civil servants set up a contract for polling costing £580m to Hanbury, who were involved with Vote Leave.

 

The emails reveal that it was political polling on opposition figures like Keir Starmer and Sadiq Khan. The Conservative party should have paid for this, not the taxpayer.

 

BREAKING: New emails reveal Government used taxpayers’ money to conduct political polling - Good Law Project

GOODLAWPROJECT.ORG

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Documents we can now disclose show that Hanbury, under the instruction of the Cabinet Office, were given taxpayers' money to conduct ‘political...

 

[honeybee13]

You're right, UB, £580k. I've got too used to government figures being bandied around in milllions.

[honeybee13]

I'm putting this on the Johnson thread because the exclusive club that Ben Elliot runs for his top tier clients also connects with the Tory 'Advisory Board' for top donors which allows access to the PM and Chancellor.

 

The ‘cash for access’ revelations mean a veil of secrecy around Prince Charles must be lifted | Gaby Hinsliff | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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His links to the Tory party chair and its major donors raise disturbing questions and have to be scrutinised, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

 

ETA: I'm not sure who published this first but I think it featured in The Times and FT first.

[honeybee13]

Gavin Esler has written an article on how British government is supposed to work on the 'good chaps' principle but isn't any more.

 

He talks about Peter Hennessy and Andrew Blick's paper on this and how they foresaw a lot of what's happening now. Depressing stuff.

 

The Death of the Last Good Chap – Byline Times

BYLINETIMES.COM

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Why do those in positions of power now evade accountability despite numerous examples of incompetence, dangerous liaisons, lies, and even...

 

[honeybee13]

Companies in the food chain are sounding increasingly desperate. I haven't seen anything about the government looking into this, they seem to be more interested in culture wars still.

 

Call for action as UK driver shortage hits supermarket shelves | Supermarkets | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Situation likely to continue unless government does more to tackle issue, suppliers warn

 

[honeybee13]

Failure to learn from previous errors. Again.

 

The bit about ordering officials not to make fall-back plans is unbelievable.

[honeybee13]

The Good Law Project have been in court again about covid contracts worth gazillions that were awarded under the emergency procedures. The government has redacted large amounts of information which the judge didn't seem happy about.

 

And it's saying that some of Lord Bethell's correspondence may not be available because his phone 'broke' and they may not be able to retrieve it. Techies are saying that it shouldn't be that hard. It's very disturbing that public money is being spent with inadequate records being kept. I'm sure those of us who work[ed] would be sacked for doing that.

 

https://goodlawproject.org/update/lord-bethell-new-phone/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social media&utm_campaign=abingdon private emails 0308

 

[honeybee13]

Me too. Also worrying is that directors of companies have done very nicely out of this financially but supplied PPE that wasn't fit to use. In the real world the client who paid the money would want some or all of it back.

 

I saw a story the other day about one of these directors who wanted to buy an expensive house and showed a multi-million deposit into his account from HMG which got him the loan.

[honeybee13]

If you have five minutes, this is Jolyon Maugham on LBC talking to James O'Brien about Lord Bethell allegedly not having records of messages he sent and received on covid contracts. Lord Bethell may have slipped up here, according to Jolyon.

 

https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/lord-bethell-breaking-phone-could-be-criminal-offense/

 

[honeybee13]

The European ETIAS visa-waiver scheme that some papers are getting aerated about was supported by recent David Cameron's government.

 

UK backed plan to charge non-EU travellers to enter Europe | European Union | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Exclusive: David Cameron’s government said to have been one of ‘biggest supporters’ of idea in 2016

 

[honeybee13]

  I saw that.

[honeybee13]

I could have nightmares about this. During a tantrum recently, the PM threatened to make Rishi health minister [I'm not clear what would happen to Javid] and make Liz Truss chancellor of the exchequer! With Rees Mogg as deputy?

[honeybee13]

The FT is digging up a lot of evidence on Ben Elliott, old-Etonian, Johnson's tennis partner and co-chair and chief fundraiser of the Conservative party. He's also the nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall and has access to Prince Charles.

 

He seems to be blurring the lines between his concierge company, Quintessentially, and political activities.

 

The Independent wrote about him last year.

 

'Luxury lifestyle' firm run by Boris Johnson's friend handed £1.4m to help super-rich 'network' with government

WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

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Labour condemns contract with prime minister's Old Etonian tennis partner as 'blindingly obvious conflict of interest' – and demands investigation

 

[honeybee13]

Where does Kerry Davies write please, TJ?

[honeybee13]

This article explains the author's view that no Brexit would ever be good enough for the hardliners and that the goalposts keep moving.

 

Paradox of Victimhood: No Form of Brexit Will Ever Satisfy Brexit Ultras – Byline Times

BYLINETIMES.COM

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Chris Grey explores the political psychology behind the increasingly extreme demands made around Brexit that satisfy one primary desire: not for...

 

[honeybee13]

I suppose that says it all, TJ.

[honeybee13]

How are people finding the situation in the shops?

 

I've heard from three different people in the south of England that fresh produce is starting to be in short supply and that cleaning products are harder to get hold of.

[honeybee13]

The situation in Afghanistan is so sad.

 

Albania is offering to take refugees, even though it's a poor country. A statement from their PM.

 

https://kryeministria.al/en/newsroom/hebrenjte-afganet-shqiperia/

 

Britain doesn't want to take many of the Afghans who helped British efforts because of the example it might set for other refugees, according to The Times.

[honeybee13]

More Afghans abandoned by the government. It's probably too late for the students now.

 

Boris Johnson intervenes over visas for Afghan students | Foreign policy | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Fears Chevening scholarship students blocked by Foreign Office could become targets of Taliban

 

[honeybee13]

There is that aspect of it too, although some journos are saying that having troops there limited what Al Qaeda and Isis could do and are expecting terrorism to increase.

 

There will also be a refugee problem.

 

I just think that the last few weeks have been mismanaged by the UK and the US and that they could have done better for people. They don't seem to have seen this coming.