Tory Party Watch 2017 (Hearts Of Darkness)

[Absorb the anus burn]

It's only taken 2 years, but at last, the Tory party have been fined for election expenses fraud...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39289195

Meanwhile, 12 files are handed into the CPS, as the Tories fear a series of by-elections in as many as 20 constituencies for overspending on the 2015 election.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2017/mar/15/second-tory-reveals-police-investigated-him-over-spending-allegations

Join in the fun...

[Large Noise]

Think they must've left a couple of zeros off that fine by mistake.

[Blumf]

Might as well drop in their National Insurance mess, for the record:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39278968

Plans to increase National Insurance rates for self-employed people - announced in the Budget last week - have been dropped.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has said the government will not proceed with the increases which were criticised for breaking a 2015 manifesto pledge.

He told MPs in a Commons statement: "There will be no increases in National Insurance rates in this Parliament."

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn said the U-turn showed a government "in chaos".

The rise was sorta-not-quite a breach of their election manifesto:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39208859

The government did promise in its manifesto not to raise National Insurance contributions, and this is an increase, so it has broken that pledge. It has not broken the law that enshrined its pledge as this applies to employees only, not the self-employed.

The low tax party there, you know, the ones who rose VAT to 20%, introduced the fuel duty escalator.

[Johnny Yesno]

The party of tax and hoard off-shore.

[Norton Canes]

Meanwhile, 12 files are handed into the CPS, as the Tories fear a series of by-elections in as many as 20 constituencies for overspending on the 2015 election

Hmm. Of which they'll lose how many, I wonder.

[Paul Calf]

But no re-run of the election, which means that essentially, the 70k's just another election expense.

[Black_Bart]

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/greater-manchester-police-hand-files-12748744

Others say the party's high command have left them high and dry, despite the fact the complaints relate to the busing of activists to key marginal seats, which was organised centrally.

A GMP spokesman said: "Greater Manchester Police has received an allegation of electoral fraud in relation to the 2015 General Election.

"A file has been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision."

On a separate note, there is a possible 11 people up for porridge, will the Conservatives beat the score of 4 to take the lead.

[Panbaams]

"How far would you go to keep Nigel Farage out of Parliament?"

[greenman]

Thank god the BBC got to the real issue with the Tory expenses scandle, having Ron Liddle being critical of Corbyn.

[Absorb the anus burn]

http://newsthump.com/2017/03/16/tories-fined-less-than-a-george-osborne-after-dinner-speech-for-breaking-election-spending-rules/

Tories fined less than a George Osborne speech for election fraud.

[Serge]

It was quite fun to see Charlie Stayt getting Dominic Raab rattled on BBC Breakfast this morning. Raab was there specifically to talk about Hammond's U-Turn but got blindsided by the expenses fine becoming breaking news a few minutes beforehand, so as Stayt was asking him about it, he kept saying, "I'm here to talk about National Insurance!" like a petulant child. He also managed to get a completely uncalled-for and unnecessary dig in at Corbyn. Sally Nugent seemed to be beaming away every time the fine was mentioned, she seemed quite pleased about it.

[Johnny Yesno]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39289195

No quotes around the word 'mistakes' when Kuenssberg says it.

[MoonDust]

Good column here written by Michael Crick, who's one of the Channel 4 journalists involved in this "big scoop".

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/16/are-our-elections-being-stolen-police-forces-claims-mps

Still outrageous, still despicable, still morally bankrupt. But shocking or surprising? Not in the slightest.

[MoonDust]

But no re-run of the election, which means that essentially, the 70k's just another election expense.

Not yet anyway. There's still time, especially if any of the MPs involved face actual criminal charges. By-elections have been called for much, much less.

In fact, I'm pretty sure by-elections are a legal obligation if a serving MP faces criminal charges, especially charges relating to electoral fraud.

[Twed]

Hah, 70K. That's not a fine, it's the fee they've had to pay for getting to do what they want to.

[MoonDust]

Anyway, this is a potential electoral gold mine for Labour. If by-elections are called and not one of the Tory seats goes to Labour, then seriously Labour, what the fuck mate?

[Pinckle Wicker]

Not a  mention of Tory Election Fraud on Queation Time last night either, no great surprise though. The BBC really is woeful thes days with its lack of objectivity. Also they had that awful cunt who owns Wetherspoons on as well as CAB favourite and Charles Hawtree celebrity lookalike Jacob Rees Mogg.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Given that the CPS is currently considering evidence presented to them by 12 police forces I'd imagine someone decided it's not really suitable for debate on a shitfest like Question Time. Lawyers will be watching, I'm sure.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

I'm reading "All Out War", the book that goes behind the scenes in the Brexit campaign and the Remain campaign and it's fascinating obviously.

But the one thing that sticks out is how much the Tories, on both sides, wanted to keep the party together. This was why cabinet ministers were allowed to campaign on both sides of the divide, why the Conservative Party itself stayed neutral, why it never got really nasty between Cameron and Johnson/Gove when it probably should have done. They decided that party unity was more important than the prospretity of the country, than our international alliances, than the lives of the millions of EU citizens who live here, than the futures of all of us. Party unity was more important, even, than the Union that forms part of their full name.

This is in stark contrast, of course, to Scottish Labour who selflessly destroyed their own party keeping the Union together.

When you're considering the Conservative Party, never forget that. The party itself is more important than anything. We all thought they'd fall to bits, they haven't.

[Black_Bart]

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/elections/2017/03/70000-question-what-does-conservative-party-election-expenses-scandal

The more excitable quarters of the left – not least the Canary – have speculated that this could topple May and, in particularly hopeful quantum leap, result in the EU referendum result being declared void. Such drastic recriminations are, to put it mildly, unlikely – but that isn't to say things won't get uncomfortable for the government.

Criminal prosecutions – and thus disqualifications – are unlikely unless candidates can be proven to have acted dishonestly. As the allegations currently stand, says the FT's legal expert David Allen Green, this is difficult to see happening. Punitive fines are much more likely.

And...

Oh, and Nigel Farage says he'll likely stand again if the South Thanet contest is re-run.

Looks like that Trump job offer didn't come through.

[BlodwynPig]

The origins of Milverton's avatar revealed

[Panbaams]

Blood on their hands

[DrunkCountry]

Andrew RT Davies' shit sucking grin after May namechecked him at the top of her speech at the Tory Spring Cuntference reminded me of something.

[BlodwynPig]

The Toad of Toad Hall

https://twitter.com/AndrewRTDavies?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

[Paul Calf]

I'm reading "All Out War", the book that goes behind the scenes in the Brexit campaign and the Remain campaign and it's fascinating obviously.

But the one thing that sticks out is how much the Tories, on both sides, wanted to keep the party together. This was why cabinet ministers were allowed to campaign on both sides of the divide, why the Conservative Party itself stayed neutral, why it never got really nasty between Cameron and Johnson/Gove when it probably should have done. They decided that party unity was more important than the prospretity of the country, than our international alliances, than the lives of the millions of EU citizens who live here, than the futures of all of us. Party unity was more important, even, than the Union that forms part of their full name.

This is in stark contrast, of course, to Scottish Labour who selflessly destroyed their own party keeping the Union together.

When you're considering the Conservative Party, never forget that. The party itself is more important than anything. We all thought they'd fall to bits, they haven't.

Time to wheel it out again:

We are a party whose sole purpose through the centuries has been to win and retain political power.

The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were- cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?

O'Brien is a character in the novel 1984.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/elections/2017/03/70000-question-what-does-conservative-party-election-expenses-scandal

And...

Looks like that Trump job offer didn't come through.

If all that comes out of this are fines, we might as well go home. What's the point in fining the Conservative Party.

If they cheated, surely they have to lose their seats and stand again. Surely.

[BlodwynPig]

If all that comes out of this are fines, we might as well go home. What's the point in fining the Conservative Party.

If they cheated, surely they have to lose their seats and stand again. Surely.

An absolute MUST. If, as you say, nothing more than a petty fine occurs...it'll all blow over and reset.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

This is in stark contrast, of course, to Scottish Labour who selflessly destroyed their own party keeping the Union together.

Not sure if serious?  Made me laugh anyway.  The Scottish Labour Party destroyed itself over a period of a couple of decades via lumpen lobby-fodder MPs, pitifully low ambitions for Scotland (the Holyrood set-up was supposed to be run in perpetuity by Labour with as little divergence from the decree of the Westminster masters as possible), the fact that the party became a by-word for political sleaze and abuse of power by serving as a giant patronage network riddled with corruption and cronyism, and sheer lack of political talent.  People who would once have joined Scottish Labour started joining the SNP as far back as the late 70s/early 80s, and this accelerated hugely through the Blair years as the UK Party mutated into Tory-lite.

You're right that aligning themselves with the Tories in 2014 applied the final death rites, but that appears to be the point when people down south such as yourself became aware of the Scottish Labour Party's 'issues'.  Still, the Tories, what a shower, eh? 

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

You're right that aligning themselves with the Tories in 2014

What do you mean?

Are you referring to their campaigning for Scotland to remain in the UK?

If so, isn't that to be expected? It's not 'aligning' with the Tories anymore than anyone else, it's what the Labour party stands for.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Oh, come on, they could've campaigned for the No campaign without standing shoulder to shoulder like great buddies with the Tories, having Alistair Darling appear at the Tory party conference for a standing ovation, and so on.