The UK Politics & Brexit Thread

[markjay]

It’s not level of income that influences corruption.

In the global Defence and Air Industry industry the tradition of side payments runs deep. Just extreme examples of the traditional procurement industry. The people who buy airplanes or even big ticket IT and consulting aren’t badly paid by any stretch of the imagination.

That said, the quality of people in politics and government is appalling because we’ve made it a badly paid vocation for the garrulous, supported by wealthy or high earning spouses. But I’ve made that point too many times before.

I am not suggesting that you couldn't bribe a Billionaire. All I am saying is that it's unlikely that you'll be able to buy influence from a Billionaire with a tailored suit and designer spectacles.

It is extrey unlikely for Britain's wealthiest Prime Minister would have accepted such gifts - but obviously you could argue that he simply had a moral compass.

(BAE Systems alleged to have paid bribes to Prince Turki bin Nasser to the tune of £60 million in the now-infamous Al-Yamamah oil-for-weapons deal)

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

But in industry, where often the rewards are said to be too high,
we often end up with international leaders running companies.
Considering our education is considered to be so superior you would have thought they to be all home grown.

Huh?

What makes you think British education creates ambitious, hard working, effective industrial leaders?

That ship sailed in the 1950’s

In the motor trade the only name that comes to mind is Adrian Newey, although there must be a few others. (Gerry McGovern? But he’s a creative leader at JLR, not actually running the whole company)

But this comparison is a long way away from a 50 year old MP earning as much as a 27 year old professional, or the Prime Minister earning as much as a 30 year old solicitor

 

[MrGreedy]

There could be two of the many conflicts of interest discussed here:
1. There is so much snout stuffing of the lower-level stuff like £20k clothes and holidays in the Caribbean at donor's holiday homes and £50k a year for half a day a month 'consultancy' gig with a firm, it's totally normalised over time and politicians and senior civil servants are numbed to it?
2. For the much bigger money people like Rishi, it has been suggested he was after (e.g. as reported in Private Eye) was via investments with his old employer who happened to buy shares with companies that were soon awarded massive contracts for e.g. vaccines (hence the desire from him also to not to put up CGT) and the influence on legislation and deals for his wife's company.

 

[m80]

What is Sir Keir Starmer's net worth and how he made his money

Sir Keir Starmer has been confirmed as the new Prime Minister of the UK under a Labour Government, find out his net worth.

www.westerntelegraph.co.uk

With the guy said to worth so many millions, why does he feel the need to take such a petty back hander (not for me and such btw) for him or / and his wife?
Is it because he, as an example of the political class, don't have respect for the being the example they should set. For the plabs to follow that is.
We expect this of Tories, but Socialists are the only one's with social morals, apparently.

 

[GrahamT]

Starmer faces investigation over possible breach of parliamentary rules after Labour donor 'pays for wife's clothes'

The Labour peer paid for a personal shopper, clothes and alterations for Lady Starmer, both before and after the Labour leader became prime minister in July, according to The Sunday Times. But Labour said they have contacted authorities over the matter.

news.sky.com

Boris Johnson confirms he was never gifted any clothes from a political supporter.

 

[m80]

Boris Johnson confirms he was never gifted any clothes from a political supporter.

But what about the implants?

 

[markjay]

What can I say.... the Lady has taste! It's a Yes from me.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

2. For the much bigger money people like Rishi, it has been suggested he was after (e.g. as reported in Private Eye) was via investments with his old employer who happened to buy shares with companies that were soon awarded massive contracts for e.g. vaccines (hence the desire from him also to not to put up CGT) and the influence on legislation and deals for his wife's company.

That's so funny. People are so unable to get their heads around what organisations like Goldman actually do, they do spout the most absurd nonsense.

(Assuming by "his old employer" you meant Goldman rather than "The Children's Investment Fund" that he ran immediately before going into Government. The firm that investing money for Children's charities. Bloody charities making money for children)

There's a very long distance between the CGT rate for Joe Public in the UK, and his wife's ownership of just one percent of Infotech, her father's company That's half a billion quid.

The worrying this about Mrs Sunak is that at some point in the not to distant future she will inherit her (half share of) 78 year old father's $5,000.0000,000 fortune. (Being an Indian billionaire, there is no inheritance tax)

At that point what is the best thing to do? Waste time in British politics, or commit her life to international philanthropy, like most of her fellow billionaire inheritors?.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

What can I say.... the Lady has taste! It's a Yes from me.

And a jolly good hairdresser.

Although I'm not sure that Mrs Macron would agree about the curtains.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

What is Sir Keir Starmer's net worth and how he made his money

Sir Keir Starmer has been confirmed as the new Prime Minister of the UK under a Labour Government, find out his net worth.

www.westerntelegraph.co.uk

With the guy said to worth so many millions, why does he feel the need to take such a petty back hander (not for me and such btw) for him or / and his wife?
Is it because he, as an example of the political class, don't have respect for the being the example they should set. For the plabs to follow that is.
We expect this of Tories, but Socialists are the only one's with social morals, apparently.

That's one seriously Micky Mouse source. The clue is in the name..

Keir owns a four bedroomed house in North London that's worth a million?

Apart from the likelihood of a mortgage, you won't find many Victorian villas like his Tuffnell Park gaff for anything ike a million. It'll be closer to two million and most of that will be inflationary gain.

Heck his pension pots from being a barrister and then being a civil servant at the DPP will be worth well over a couple of million

And his inheritance from his father's toolmaking company? Where's that? And be wary of the belief that a field in Surrey is worth ten million, even with the change in Development laws.

 

[MSG2004]

View attachment 161351

About Mr Lammy chatting about politicians need to rely on donations for "looking their best."
The other day when Lammy was rolled out to defend the donations. That reminded me of the Tories
when they rolled out someone every weekday morning to defend anything and everything

"Looking their best." I have to repeat myself that Starmmer earns a min of 166k per annum and I'm sure his income is a lot greater than that then you have his wifes income. Then they get free housing and a free fleet of cars with drivers etc. "looking their best," my Mrs, our daughter, sons, most of the time they dont spend a lot of money "looking their best." and they certainly don't need donations. Importantly, they live within their means.

Someone needs to ask Mr Lammy, what about the pensioners that will freeze this long winter and they have snatched hundreds from them in re winter fuel payments

Only one Labour MP dared to vote against Starmer re Winter Fuels. MP's bang on about "putting our country and people first," -REALLY!!

MP's should learn to live within their means and not handouts. After all, millions of pensioners this winter will be turning off the heating and stuck in one room with heating/blankets and the last thing on their minds will be "looking their best" but survival. To add insult to injury,gas/electricity going up next month

 

[MrGreedy]

That's so funny. People are so unable to get their heads around what organisations like Goldman actually do, they do spout the most absurd nonsense.

(Assuming by "his old employer" you meant Goldman rather than "The Children's Investment Fund" that he ran immediately before going into Government. The firm that investing money for Children's charities. Bloody charities making money for children)

Hi MiW.

Sorry for being dense, but I didn't get the spouting absurb nonsense angle. Help a forum member out with better understanding would you.
Private Eye reported Goldman piled into Moderna a few months before a Gov deal was done, and Rishi had a lot of wealth in Goldman tied to Moderna (which he was at arms length and didn't influence he said). I'm just repeating that article, and apologise if I don't understand better.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Hi MiW.

Sorry for being dense, but I didn't get the spouting absurb nonsense angle. Help a forum member out with better understanding would you.
Private Eye reported Goldman piled into Moderna a few months before a Gov deal was done, and Rishi had a lot of wealth in Goldman tied to Moderna (which he was at arms length and didn't influence he said). I'm just repeating that article, and apologise if I don't understand better.

Rishi worked for Goldman for two years as a graduate trainee. Training courses, classes, getting the coffees and sandwiches, and a bit of spreadsheet jockeying. (Salary at current rates about £60k, but would have been closer to £40k two decades ago.)

As a result people think that he’s corrupted for life and in the pocket of people he worked for two decades ago.

It’s a regular theme that Tabloids and The Left think he was also a partner of Goldmans as a 21 year old fresh graduate.

It’s unlikely that Rishi had any money “in” Goldman back in 2020. Arms length or otherwise. It’s not an investment fund.

Did Goldman invest in many types of Pharma producers before Covid 19 and when Covid broke out? Maybe, but most vaccine developers failed, and the products would have been tiny compared to the money made elsewhere in 2020.

You can be certain that your own occupational pension will have money invested in Global Pharma, so you “profit” from vaccine development.

It’s like children being convinced that there’s something under the bed. Really children, there isn’t.

If you know that a company is going to create a winning vaccine for a global pandemic, invest in it today. But don’t bet your farm

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Legal right to work from home will boost productivity, says Labour

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, vows to end ‘culture of presenteeism’ to make workers more ‘motivated and resilient’

www.thetimes.com

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

On the same day that one of the most successful and profitable companies in the world does this:

Amazon demands workers return to office five days a week

Employees must return to the office full time, hot desking is abolished and layers of management removed as retailer reverses host of pandemic-era policies

www.thetimes.com

 

[st13phil]

Legal right to work from home will boost productivity, says Labour

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, vows to end ‘culture of presenteeism’ to make workers more ‘motivated and resilient’

www.thetimes.com

View attachment 161366

This is completely bonkers. I can only assume it's driven by the civil service who have been angling for WFH to be enshrined as a right so that their "nasty bosses" can't require them to come in to the office where their lack of productivity would be visible to everyone.

The notion that the private sector wouldn't willingly encourage their workforce to WFH as a default position if it was genuinely more productive is risible. There are certain roles where WFH does work well, and some where it effectively becomes the default (such as Business Consultancy where you're expected to be on client sites most of the time), but there are others where it's a physical impossibility, e.g. warehouse work, production work, building trades, etc. Mandating the right to WFH is absolutely absurd and nothing more than the State poking its nose in where it really isn't needed for no other reason than it can.

 

[Darrell]

This is completely bonkers. I can only assume it's driven by the civil service who have been angling for WFH to be enshrined as a right so that their "nasty bosses" can't require them to come in to the office where their lack of productivity would be visible to everyone.

Is this why I’ve just hung up after being on hold to HMRC for the thick end of an hour??

My sister recently started a new job as a Building Surveyor for the London Fire Brigade. 4 days a week WFH and Fridays in their head office near London Bridge.

My brother is a Product Designer and works 3 days a week from home for a firm based in Dubai, 1 day for a firm at their office near Newbury and another for a firm in central London.

It seems to suit them both.

 

[markjay]

And a jolly good hairdresser.

Although I'm not sure that Mrs Macron would agree about the curtains.

Who? What? No, I wasn't talking about her hairstyle or her dress... I was referring to the lovely GTV

 

[st13phil]

My sister recently started a new job as a Building Surveyor for the London Fire Brigade. 4 days a week WFH and Fridays in their head office near London Bridge.

My brother is a Product Designer and works 3 days a week from home for a firm based in Dubai, 1 day for a firm at their office near Newbury and another for a firm in central London.

It seems to suit them both.

As I said, it does work well in some circumstances, but far from all and it's - at the moment - up to the employer to work out which (if any) roles it's applicable to and which it isn't. For example, I doubt your sister's employer would think WFH or hybrid working was suitable for the guy that drives the appliance or unrolls the fire hose.

 

[st13phil]

Meanwhile, even the Grauniad has felt compelled to publish an article about the internal wrangling amongst the anti-democratic leadership of the EU:

France’s European commissioner resigns amid row with von der Leyen

Thierry Breton, who had been appointed for second term, cited von der Leyen’s ‘questionable governance’ in EU

www.theguardian.com