Calls for Bozo to pay for his own partygate fees

[rebbonk]

I have no words of contempt for Johnson. I was banned from several websites years ago for saying what I thought of him. I've not been proven wrong, once a liar, always a liar!

MPs demand Boris Johnson pay his own Partygate legal fees as taxpayers face £245,000 bill

Labour MP Karl Turner has put forward an early day motion calling for the former Prime Minister to pick up the bill as he earns millions of pounds cashing in on his time in No10

A call for multi-millionaire Boris Johnson to pay his own £245,000 Partygate legal fees has been put before MPs.

Labour MP Karl Turner has tabled a motion saying it is "inappropriate" for taxpayers to foot the bill and urged the Commons to step in.

The huge sum is being spent defending Mr Johnson in a probe by the Privileges Committee, which is investigating whether he deliberately misled Parliament.

If the cross-party committee finds against him, he could face a suspension or even be forced to fight a by-election. He denies the allegation.

Rishi Sunak has faced calls to intervene and make Mr Johnson, who is MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, cough up.

Mr Turner has put forward an early day motion pointing out that Mr Johnson has earned a fortune since stepping down as PM.

The motion says it is "unacceptable that taxpayers are being forced to foot the bill, not least given that the Rt hon. Member has earned a reported £5 million since he stepped down as Prime Minister".

Mr Turner pointed out that ordinary members of the public are not automatically entitled to Legal Aid if they earn over £12,475.

His motion goes on to say it is "inappropriate for public funds to be used in this manner, not least during a cost of living crisis in which most families are struggling to manage".

He urged MPs to condemn Mr Johnson for requesting public funds, and said cases like this shouldn't happen again.

Mr Johnson should pay his own legal fees, the motion - which is unlikely to be debated or voted on - states.

News of the rise in legal costs, reported by the BBC, have sparked anger.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner fumed: “This murky arrangement that left taxpayers’ picking up the bill for Boris Johnson’s partygate defence fund is not only without precedent but without justification.

"With working families facing a cost-of-living crisis, it beggars' belief that they should have been left writing a blank cheque for these legal retainers as the ex-Prime Minister further enriches himself.

"Rishi Sunak must explain why he failed to put a stop to this brazen scheme and take immediate steps to ensure his disgraced predecessor returns this money to the public purse.”

Solicitors firm Peters and Peters were awarded a contract last August worth £129,700 to provide Mr Johnson with advice during the investigation.

By January this had risen to £220,000, prompting Labour leader Keir Starmer to tell Mr Sunak during PMQs: : "Surely even this Prime Minister can put his foot down and stand up to his old boss and say he made this mess, he can pick up the bill?"

The Prime Minister snapped back accusing the Labour leader of "carping from the sidelines" and "failing to lead".

Mr Johnson's legal team is headed by top barrister Lord Pannick, who sat behind him during a bad-tempered grilling in March.

The MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip desperately tried to convince MPs that a leaving party in November 2020 was "necessary" and that he believed he acted within the rules.

In January Cabinet Office permanent secretary Alex Chisholm said such arrangements are normal.

He told the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee: "It is normal, there's an established precedent across multiple administrations that former ministers can be supported with legal representation after they've left office when the matters relate to their time and conduct as a minister."

Source:https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/mps-demand-boris-johnson-pay-30033903

[dutchman]

Some rich party donor would just pay it for him!

[rebbonk]

Some rich party donor would just pay it for him!

I wouldn't have any issue with that, would at least mean that the tax-payer isn't footing the buffoon's bill.

I think Monday's debate on the report is going to be interesting. I have a feeling a few careers are about to go down the tubes.

[rebbonk]

Ah, Bozo, the gift that keeps on giving. (BTW, I'm still banned from the DM website for expressing views that they didn't like, despite over 3000 'up' votes from the readership!)

Ethics body accuses Boris Johnson of new breach

Ministers and civil servants who leave office are required to consult an ethics body

FORMER British prime minister Boris Johnson, who quit parliament last week over a finding that he misled lawmakers about Covid lockdown parties, was accused of a new breach for taking a newspaper columnist job without waiting for required ethics vetting.

Nine months after he left the premiership, Johnson’s ethics record is causing renewed trouble for the governing Tory party, divided over whether to endorse the findings of a committee of lawmakers that he deliberately misled parliament over parties at his office during the pandemic.

The committee, which has a Tory majority, said he should have been suspended from parliament had he not quit as a lawmaker last week. He called it a “political assassination”, in a blistering resignation statement in which he also appeared to take swipes at prime minister Rishi Sunak.

On Friday (16), Johnson, 58, was named as a columnist for the Daily Mail newspaper, returning to a journalism career that had seen him write for several leading British titles, including one that sacked him for making up a quote.

“Whether you’re a Boris fan or not, it’s going to be required reading – both in Westminster and for millions across the world,” the paper said of the column which will appear on Saturdays.

Ministers and civil servants who leave office are required to consult an ethics body, the advisory committee on business appointments (ACOBA), before taking up new jobs. It said Johnson had committed a new breach by failing to give it proper notice.

“The ministerial code states that ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the committee has been able to provide its advice,” it said in a statement. “An application received 30 minutes before an appointment is announced is a clear breach.”

ACOBA has no enforcement powers, but a new breach of rules could make it harder for Johnson to mount a political comeback.

Johnson started his working life in journalism, sacked by The Times newspaper for making up a quote. He went on to have a career at the Daily Telegraph, where as a Brussels correspondent he lambasted the European Union in vivid if not always accurate prose.

He later pursued parallel media and political careers as editor of the Spectator magazine and as an MP, and before becoming prime minister wrote a column for the Daily Telegraph.

That column often saw him criticised for his views – he was accused of Islamophobia when he said Muslim women who wear burqas looked like letter boxes or bank robbers.

Source: https://www.easterneye.biz/ethics-body-accuses-boris-johnson-of-new-breach/

[rebbonk]

Oh dear, oh dear! I really think custodial sentences are in order...

Conservatives face fresh partygate probe after video shows staff dancing and mocking Covid rules

The Conservatives could face another partygate police probe after a newly released video shows staff dancing and joking about Covid rules at the height of the pandemic.

Footage has been obtained by the Mirror, appearing to show Conservative Party staff enjoying festivities in December 2020, soon before people were unable to spend Christmas with their loved ones.

In the video, one attendee can be heard saying: " As long as we don't stream that we're like, bending the rules," before laughing - while a man and woman hold hands and dance.

At least 24 guests were reportedly at the gathering, said to have taken place on December 14, 2020. Police took no action against the attendees, who included former mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey.

One of the other attendees was recently awarded an OBE in Boris Johnson's controversial resignation honours list, published earlier this month.

Benjamin Mallet, a former Conservatives' campaign director for the 2021 mayoral election, can be seen holding a glass of red wine in the video.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has described a video appearing to show Tory Party staff dancing and joking about Covid restrictions during the height of the pandemic at a Christmas party as “terrible”.

The minister told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show: “I want to apologise to everyone who, looking at that … will think these people are flouting the rules designed to protect us all.”

Mr Gove said the video was “terrible” and “unacceptable” but that it would not be right for him to say whether police should investigate.

CCHQ said "formal disciplinary action" was taken against four staff members, who were seconded to the Shaun Bailey campaign, over the "unauthorised" event.

The footage was condemned by opposition parties, with deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner saying the video shows Tories "openly mocked the rules the British people followed".

"Revellers at this lockdown Tory booze-up openly mocked the rules the British people followed. The Tories think it's one rule for them and one rule for everyone else," she said.

"Instead of forcing them to face the consequences, Rishi Sunak has caved into Boris Johnson's demands and chosen to reward them with honours. It's a sickening insult.

"This Prime Minister is failing to deliver the integrity he promised and showing he's too weak to turn the page on thirteen years of Tory scandal."

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: "Conservative MPs and ministers should be sick to their stomachs seeing this new Partygate footage.

"While families grieved and NHS staff worked on the front line, Conservative Campaign Headquarters partied.

"What's worse is the current Prime Minister granted Boris Johnson's request to give some of these people honours.

"There are thousands of families out there who deserve an apology for this scandal - Rishi Sunak should give them one immediately."

A CCHQ spokesperson said: "Senior CCHQ staff became aware of an unauthorised social gathering in the basement of Matthew Parker Street organised by the Bailey campaign on the evening of 14 December 2020.

"Formal disciplinary action was taken against the four CCHQ staff who were seconded to the Bailey campaign."

Source: https://www.itv.com/news/2023-06-17/conservatives-face-fresh-partygate-probe-after-video-shows-staff-partying

I think this shows that they knew it was all a load of b*ll*cks, but were intent on continuing their deceptions

[dutchman]

If we ever get a real pandemic, who is going to believe them?

[rebbonk]

If we ever get a real pandemic, who is going to believe them?

Of course, that could be a real problem. Speaking for myself, I have no faith in those that would rule us, nor the NHS, as a direct result of how things have panned out. They have behaved like the boy who cried 'wolf', and it will be a long time before they are taken seriously again.