| Starmer! Wow! on 06:03 - Oct 1 with 1519 views | Whiterockin |
| Starmer! Wow! on 19:11 - Sep 30 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
After weeks of rumours around conflict between Number 10, Sue Gray and the head of the civil service Simon Case the latter has today dropped the bombshell that he has to step down immediately due to a long standing health issue.
If I were the cynical type I’d suggest that the timing is more than a bit bloody convenient but fortunately I’m not so I wish him well with his recovery and hope he can move on to a new and exciting chapter. |
His role is already being advertised on the civil service website, with a salary of £200,000 a year. |  | |  |
| Starmer! Wow! on 07:24 - Oct 1 with 1485 views | SullutaCreturned |
| Starmer! Wow! on 22:17 - Sep 30 by majorraglan |
There’s ministers allegedly briefing the papers that they want him gone asap, but it appears that he’s been ill for 18 months and that he was off work for 2 months last year before returning to work in January.
I suspect there’s more to come on this. |
Ill for 18 months but in work full time for the last 9 months and now suddenly....oh well, cyncal me. I guess when you earn 200k with a gold plated pension plan you can afford to just walk away "with immediate effect" but I still think there's more to come. Keep an eye on his next job. |  | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 21:46 - Oct 1 with 1346 views | majorraglan |
It appears that the recent furore over Starmer’s “gifts” is going to result in a change of the rules and a change I believe which is for the better.
Starmer is going to reverse the change introduced back in 2015 by the Cameron government which removed some of the scrutiny around ministers gifts and hospitality. The changes “relaxed” what minsters were required to report but continued to require others including shadow ministers to declare their “donations” or “gifts” every fortnight. It seems the previous rules could result in a situation where a minister and a shadow minister attended the same event, the minister wouldn’t have to make any declarations while the shadow minister would! That can’t be right and begs the question how on earth did this arrangement come about ……Under the new rules Starmer is introducing all will be now be treated the same way and have the same reporting requirements.
It appears that the registers relating to MP’s is updated and published monthly, however the ministers record is updated intermittently and was last published in December 2023 some 10 months ago. It also appears ministers had the leeway to determine what, if anything was relevant and in need of reporting.
The ministerial code says it is “a well established and recognised rule that no minister should accept gifts, hospitality or services from anyone which would, or might appear to, place him or her under an obligation”, it adds that this “is primarily a matter which must be left to the good sense of ministers”.
Starmer has been quite rightly criticised for what he’s received, but we’ve no idea what the previous government’s ministers accepted because they’ve had leeway to report what they think is relevant! Imagine a politician failing to declare a gift or interest………. | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 01:12 - Oct 2 with 1259 views | Robbie |
Best I ever had was a freebie mug , biro and next years diary from a supplier rep and all with their logo on it , it really was a real bit of promotion for that company , I took the tea cup and everything else on offer of course , anything for nothing was the gimme then .
That was many years ago , even then a colleague refused to take accept the gift and thought it was a bribe , he stood by his decision , well done to him looking back at that time .
Moving on to now , the ruling for me as an employee is no sweetners accepted at all .
Politicians find a sewer rat escape clause in all their expense claims . | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 06:24 - Oct 2 with 1233 views | SullutaCreturned |
| Starmer! Wow! on 01:12 - Oct 2 by Robbie |
Best I ever had was a freebie mug , biro and next years diary from a supplier rep and all with their logo on it , it really was a real bit of promotion for that company , I took the tea cup and everything else on offer of course , anything for nothing was the gimme then .
That was many years ago , even then a colleague refused to take accept the gift and thought it was a bribe , he stood by his decision , well done to him looking back at that time .
Moving on to now , the ruling for me as an employee is no sweetners accepted at all .
Politicians find a sewer rat escape clause in all their expense claims . |
I work for a registered charity and we have a hard and fast rule, we can only accept any gift if the value is likely less than £5, if it's probably more than a fiver we have to say no and even then we are not allowed to accept any cash.
Myself and a colleague were offered thermal cups by a builders merchant, value about 3 quid. They have the merchants logo on them, I took it and it's been in the cupboard ever since.
The big difference is, we are not in a position to do massive favours for anybody but being a government minister you obviously are, even a shadow minister may be in that position someday and these people with the expensive gifts, they don't forget. | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 09:01 - Oct 2 with 1178 views | Whiterockin |
| Starmer! Wow! on 06:24 - Oct 2 by SullutaCreturned |
I work for a registered charity and we have a hard and fast rule, we can only accept any gift if the value is likely less than £5, if it's probably more than a fiver we have to say no and even then we are not allowed to accept any cash.
Myself and a colleague were offered thermal cups by a builders merchant, value about 3 quid. They have the merchants logo on them, I took it and it's been in the cupboard ever since.
The big difference is, we are not in a position to do massive favours for anybody but being a government minister you obviously are, even a shadow minister may be in that position someday and these people with the expensive gifts, they don't forget. |
It's not surprising that the smaller cogs in businesses have to obey the strict rules and those further up the ladder with influence flaunt them, often the rule makers themselves. | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 09:34 - Oct 2 with 1107 views | Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
Imagine a completely hypothetical scenario where a nefarious donor type offers the use of a luxury apartment to an MP completely for free. That apartment is bugged or has covert cameras which records sensitive information or perhaps the said MP getting up to sexy shenanigans with his or her mistress/fancyman.
That MP would then be completely compromised and danced around like a simple marionette.
This is of course a made up scenario and sounds a bit extreme but I would bet a lot of money it has happened, it is happening and it happens more than you think. |  |
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| Starmer! Wow! on 09:49 - Oct 2 with 1088 views | Whiterockin |
| Starmer! Wow! on 09:34 - Oct 2 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
Imagine a completely hypothetical scenario where a nefarious donor type offers the use of a luxury apartment to an MP completely for free. That apartment is bugged or has covert cameras which records sensitive information or perhaps the said MP getting up to sexy shenanigans with his or her mistress/fancyman.
That MP would then be completely compromised and danced around like a simple marionette.
This is of course a made up scenario and sounds a bit extreme but I would bet a lot of money it has happened, it is happening and it happens more than you think. |
It frequently happens lower down the political scale. Possibly with a couple of hospitality outings and at one the host asks a guest where he is going for his holiday. The host then says I have a friend who has a villa that he rarely uses, would you like me to see if it's empty. Six months later at another hospitality event the host says, you remember that villa you stayed in well my friend is struggling to get his planning application through.......
Yes it really is the way it works. What starts an innocent day out at an event easily spirals. | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 09:49 - Oct 2 with 1083 views | Dr_Winston |
| Starmer! Wow! on 09:34 - Oct 2 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
Imagine a completely hypothetical scenario where a nefarious donor type offers the use of a luxury apartment to an MP completely for free. That apartment is bugged or has covert cameras which records sensitive information or perhaps the said MP getting up to sexy shenanigans with his or her mistress/fancyman.
That MP would then be completely compromised and danced around like a simple marionette.
This is of course a made up scenario and sounds a bit extreme but I would bet a lot of money it has happened, it is happening and it happens more than you think. |
Most definitely. Honey trapping has been a standard tactic for years. The KGB were masters of it, apart from the time when they tried it on President Sukarno of Indonesia and it backfired somewhat...
https://factrepublic.com/facts/28976/ |  |
| Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or f*cking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back. |
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| Starmer! Wow! on 09:51 - Oct 2 with 1075 views | onehunglow |
| Starmer! Wow! on 09:49 - Oct 2 by Dr_Winston |
Most definitely. Honey trapping has been a standard tactic for years. The KGB were masters of it, apart from the time when they tried it on President Sukarno of Indonesia and it backfired somewhat...
https://factrepublic.com/facts/28976/ |
Profumo had a few freebies too. | |
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| Starmer! Wow! on 11:35 - Oct 2 with 971 views | majorraglan |
| Starmer! Wow! on 09:34 - Oct 2 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
Imagine a completely hypothetical scenario where a nefarious donor type offers the use of a luxury apartment to an MP completely for free. That apartment is bugged or has covert cameras which records sensitive information or perhaps the said MP getting up to sexy shenanigans with his or her mistress/fancyman.
That MP would then be completely compromised and danced around like a simple marionette.
This is of course a made up scenario and sounds a bit extreme but I would bet a lot of money it has happened, it is happening and it happens more than you think. |
If I’m not mistaken some time ago there were rumours/claims/suggestions that a former president of the US had been recorded in a compromising video. I dare say there a lot more people being caught up in these situations than is made public. | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 12:02 - Oct 2 with 941 views | AnotherJohn |
Spot on. That is the case I thought of immediately. And it seems that others may have been put in a similar position. | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 12:45 - Oct 2 with 907 views | majorraglan |
Good call, I’d forgotten about this one. | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 17:16 - Oct 2 with 808 views | raynor94 |
I see he's now agreed to repay 6k for some of the freebies he received, including Taylor Swift tickets.
About time too! |  |
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| Starmer! Wow! on 17:29 - Oct 2 with 785 views | union_jack |
| Starmer! Wow! on 17:16 - Oct 2 by raynor94 |
I see he's now agreed to repay 6k for some of the freebies he received, including Taylor Swift tickets.
About time too! |
Too little too late.
Hopefully🤞 |  |
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| Starmer! Wow! on 18:30 - Oct 2 with 736 views | onehunglow |
| Starmer! Wow! on 17:29 - Oct 2 by union_jack |
Too little too late.
Hopefully🤞 |
Tickets for Doncaster races too. | |
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| Starmer! Wow! on 22:22 - Oct 2 with 654 views | majorraglan |
Starmer is quite rightly taking some stick, but what we’re not privy to are the freebies the cabinet ministers in the last government received as rules which applied to the shadow cabinet didn’t apply to the government.
FWIW I think every last penny should be accounted for, whether that’s donations to a party, an individual, any freebies etc. transparency should be the order of the day. | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 22:29 - Oct 2 with 650 views | Scotia |
| Starmer! Wow! on 22:22 - Oct 2 by majorraglan |
Starmer is quite rightly taking some stick, but what we’re not privy to are the freebies the cabinet ministers in the last government received as rules which applied to the shadow cabinet didn’t apply to the government.
FWIW I think every last penny should be accounted for, whether that’s donations to a party, an individual, any freebies etc. transparency should be the order of the day. |
What we do know about the last government regarding donations/ gifts is bad enough and worse than anything Starmer has accepted.
Have the Tories paid back the donations from the racist fella yet that they still received until shortly before the election?
None of this should be ok. | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 06:38 - Oct 3 with 579 views | Whiterockin |
Not Starmer related. But was the money to the individual Vaughan Gething a donation or a gift and should it be repaid. | | | |
| Starmer! Wow! on 08:14 - Oct 3 with 539 views | AnotherJohn |
| Starmer! Wow! on 06:38 - Oct 3 by Whiterockin |
Not Starmer related. But was the money to the individual Vaughan Gething a donation or a gift and should it be repaid. |
I am not an expert on this, but it seems a complicated area. On the one hand, there is the Senedd’s Register of Members’ Interests relating to gifts and donations, on which apparently Gething did not declare the £200K donation. On the other hand, there are the Electoral Commission rules on donations. It seems that it was from the Electoral Commission that details of the size of the Gething donation became public. So as far as I can see, this is a donation rather than a gift but a donation to an MS rather than to central party funds. Some have argued that the rules in this area of donations to individual MSs need clarification.
https://nation.cymru/news/petition-launched-to-tighten-up-donation-rules-for-sen
Perhaps others know more than I do about this. [Post edited 3 Oct 8:16]
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| Starmer! Wow! on 08:58 - Oct 3 with 502 views | majorraglan |
I disagree with your view about gifts to an individual being different to a donation to a party, the guy that donated £15m to the Conservatives has public contracts, is that linked ? Robert Jenrick was housing minister when he illegally intervened in a planning issue for a Conservative donor who happened to donate £12k around the same time, so there may be links and this is an area that needs tightening up. We’ve also seen numerous comments about the donations made by unions to the Labour Party.
Times radio will push very hard on this because it’s a right leaning media outlet. | | | |
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