Johnson Again (You couldn't make it up!)

O

Ollygon

Well-known member
Boris Johnson is being investigated by the MPs' standards watchdog over the funding of his Caribbean holiday in late 2019.
Commons standards commissioner Kathryn Stone has confirmed she is looking into whether the PM correctly declared how the trip was paid for.
Mr Johnson has previously declared he received accommodation worth £15,000, covered by businessman David Ross.
No 10 has previously said it was properly registered.

Mr Ross, a co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, initially said he did not "pay any monies" for the trip to the private island of Mustique, part of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

He later clarified that he had "facilitated" accommodation for the prime minister, and Mr Johnson's declaration of a "benefit in kind" was "correct".

The prime minister took the holiday with his then-partner Carrie Symonds, now his fiancée, between Boxing Day 2019 and 5 January 2020.
He declared the accommodation in the February 2020 version of his Register of Interest, which MPs have to update every few weeks when Parliament is sitting.

But Labour had asked for the standards commissioner to investigate, saying at the time Mr Johnson's entry "appears to be incorrect".
The news that a probe is under way was confirmed on Monday, when Ms Stone published a list of MPs currently being investigated.

Ms Stone had said she would publish the list after this month's series of elections had finished. She gained the power to do so recently after a tweak to Commons rules.

Word has it that there's a huge trough in the basement of Number 10, and Johnson regularly visits it, returning with his snout dripping with sleaze.
 
Ollygon said:
Boris Johnson is being investigated by the MPs' standards watchdog over the funding of his Caribbean holiday in late 2019.
Commons standards commissioner Kathryn Stone has confirmed she is looking into whether the PM correctly declared how the trip was paid for.
Mr Johnson has previously declared he received accommodation worth £15,000, covered by businessman David Ross.
No 10 has previously said it was properly registered.

Mr Ross, a co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, initially said he did not "pay any monies" for the trip to the private island of Mustique, part of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

He later clarified that he had "facilitated" accommodation for the prime minister, and Mr Johnson's declaration of a "benefit in kind" was "correct".

The prime minister took the holiday with his then-partner Carrie Symonds, now his fiancée, between Boxing Day 2019 and 5 January 2020.
He declared the accommodation in the February 2020 version of his Register of Interest, which MPs have to update every few weeks when Parliament is sitting.

But Labour had asked for the standards commissioner to investigate, saying at the time Mr Johnson's entry "appears to be incorrect".
The news that a probe is under way was confirmed on Monday, when Ms Stone published a list of MPs currently being investigated.

Ms Stone had said she would publish the list after this month's series of elections had finished. She gained the power to do so recently after a tweak to Commons rules.

Word has it that there's a huge trough in the basement of Number 10, and Johnson regularly visits it, returning with his snout dripping with sleaze.
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Doesn't matter. Look over here, vaccinations for all....

Shiny, shiny, deflect, deflect.
 
Of course all other political parties are white than white (can I still say that without offending anyone?).
It carries on no matter what party, what nation, whatever.
And it'll continue to happen in all different levels of skullduggery.
Accept it, it'll never change
 
Wizzerboy said:
Of course all other political parties are white than white (can I still say that without offending anyone?).
It carries on no matter what party, what nation, whatever.
And it'll continue to happen in all different levels of skullduggery.
Accept it, it'll never change
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Doesn't make it right.
 
After the last wallpaper debacle from Keith he would probably be best to give this one a wide berth.
 
Kip said:
Quite right. We wouldn't want a global pandemic causing millions of deaths to deflect from the real issues of wallpaper and benefits in kind.
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Yes, it's not as if the favours for friends thing has impacted the government's Covid response in any way.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
Yes, it's not as if the favours for friends thing has impacted the government's Covid response in any way.
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Nothing wrong in a brand new company with absolutely no experience at all making useless PPE. At least it kept people employed
 
Ollygon said:
The prime minister took the holiday with his then-partner Carrie Symonds, now his fiancée, between Boxing Day 2019 and 5 January 2020.
He declared the accommodation in the February 2020 version of his Register of Interest, which MPs have to update every few weeks when Parliament is sitting.

But Labour had asked for the standards commissioner to investigate, saying at the time Mr Johnson's entry "appears to be incorrect".
The news that a probe is under way was confirmed on Monday, when Ms Stone published a list of MPs currently being investigated.
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I've highlighted the key line, more mudslinging by Labour, no evidence of any wrongdoing.
 
Some political analyst was on the BBC today talking about the elections this week and giving his reasons why the Tories had made gains. His opinion was that people were bored stiff hearing Labour's protestation about possible misdemeanours by Boris and the effect was to drive them further away from Labour and towards the Tories. The gist was that as long as Boris carries on doing what he's promising the rest is of no relevance to voters. Is that right? I don't know. Based on the current political state of play it probably is.
 
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So who did cover the £15,000 value of Bozo’s holiday on Mustique, which is an exclusive privately-owned Caribbean island. And what do they want in return? Even if actual cash did not change hands. Until we know that truth, we cannot judge the seriousness of any possible rule breaking.

Carphone Ross says he only “facilitated” it which seems to be blurring the truth, intentionally or not. If Ross paid, why not say so simply and clearly? If it was just another Tory businessman donor, why hide it? Wiki says that Bozo and CS spent Christmas 2019 “with the von Bismarck family”. If the von Bismarck family happened, by chance, to be linked in their business dealings to some dodgy characters ( say, for example a Russian oligarch) then that would be more serious. It’s all part of the smell of sleaze surrounding him and will trip him up sooner or later.

To date, the MPs’ Register has not been modified from Bozo’s original Feb ‘20 entry, so is he lying to all or, rather, being economical with the actualité ? Bozo is sloppy and careless in his lifestyle, perhaps he has been so here, not paying attention to possible consequences? No wonder there is an investigation. As our PM he needs to be transparently honest and the only way to that end is to come clean and explain.
 
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Maybe some of the new AVFTT tory faithful could set up a 'GoFundMe' page to pay for his accommodation costs as a way of thanking him....
 
Archibald Knox said:
So who did cover the £15,000 value of Bozo’s holiday on Mustique, which is an exclusive privately-owned Caribbean island. And what do they want in return?
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I think the £15,000 is the estimated value of the holiday, it does not follow that anyone actually paid that amount.

Presumably Mr Ross owns a substantial home on Mustique and lent it to Mr Johnson for 10 days, it won't have cost Mr Ross anything to do that but Mr Johnson correctly declared the open market value of the benefit, apart from that Mr Johnson presumably paid for his own flights and any other costs.
 
It is interesting how we have become almost numb to sleaze allegations from both parties now.
It used to be a shocking affair - now you barely raise an eyebrow when you hear that the toffs have had their nose in the trough again, or that some Labour council is rotten to the core.
I’m amazed anyone is surprised. Personally I’m surprised it’s as little an amount as it is? At least properly take the piss Boris and go Neca island.
 
Chunkylad said:
It is interesting how we have become almost numb to sleaze allegations from both parties now.
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Could it be becuase the accusations are fundamentally baseless?

I mean Labour are trying to spin the sleeze angle hard, but have they proven any of their claims? I certainly can't think of any.

Seems like they are claiming sleeze for the sake of newspaper headlines and hoping that nobody notices when the claims are dismissed, sooner or later people are going to notice.
 
Lost Seasider said:
Could it be becuase the accusations are fundamentally baseless?

I mean Labour are trying to spin the sleeze angle hard, but have they proven any of their claims? I certainly can't think of any.

Seems like they are claiming sleeze for the sake of newspaper headlines and hoping that nobody notices when the claims are dismissed, sooner or later people are going to notice.
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You sure are wearing a massive pair of “Boris Goggles”🤓😎🤓🥸
 
Lost Seasider said:
I think the £15,000 is the estimated value of the holiday, it does not follow that anyone actually paid that amount.

Presumably Mr Ross owns a substantial home on Mustique and lent it to Mr Johnson for 10 days, it won't have cost Mr Ross anything to do that but Mr Johnson correctly declared the open market value of the benefit, apart from that Mr Johnson presumably paid for his own flights and any other costs.
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That’s one hell of a presumption!😄
 
Lost Seasider said:
Could it be becuase the accusations are fundamentally baseless?

I mean Labour are trying to spin the sleeze angle hard, but have they proven any of their claims? I certainly can't think of any.

Seems like they are claiming sleeze for the sake of newspaper headlines and hoping that nobody notices when the claims are dismissed, sooner or later people are going to notice.
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Straw Clutching World Champion 2021.
 
Wizzerboy said:
Of course all other political parties are white than white (can I still say that without offending anyone?).
It carries on no matter what party, what nation, whatever.
And it'll continue to happen in all different levels of skullduggery.
Accept it, it'll never change
Click to expand...
I think you’ll find the have standards
No one in or around No 10 has any standards fir for public duty - as a Civil Servant as I was, I wouldn’t have lasted 5 mins undermining the public like these muppets are allowed to

the jokers that really get me are the voters - they should be labotomley examined
 
So what's he actually done wrong? His mate said come stay at my gaff for a week.
People do that all the time. Explain and prove the wrongdoing and I might countenance it but just because the mate has a place in the sun rather than a semi in Birmingham doesn't make it somehow an issue
 
Lost Seasider said:
I think the £15,000 is the estimated value of the holiday, it does not follow that anyone actually paid that amount.

Presumably Mr Ross owns a substantial home on Mustique and lent it to Mr Johnson for 10 days, it won't have cost Mr Ross anything to do that but Mr Johnson correctly declared the open market value of the benefit, apart from that Mr Johnson presumably paid for his own flights and any other costs.
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If you carefully read again, you will see that I did say “£15,000 value” not cash. If you do a little research, apparently that’s the going rate for a week in a Mustique villa in low season. At Christmas, the rate for a villa can be circa £40,000 a week as that’s the most popular time (and you have to pay the staff extra). But as no actual money changed hands then Bozo can quote the “value” of the gift for the MPs’ Register as whatever he thinks is plausible.

I am sure Mr Carphone Warehouse Ross is a mate of Bozo’s as they move in similar circles. Does he own a villa on Mustique? If so, why not just say so? That’s the big stinking turd sitting in the bowl. Ownership is hard to acquire but anyone can hire one. But what about the info that Bozo/CS “spent Christmas with the von Bismarck family” on Mustique? Now that’s serious Euro-trash nobility and I can believe they own a villa, and perhaps Mr CPWH Ross did call them to “facilitate”.

Did Bozo pay for their flights on British Airways from London to St Vincent? Yes, I believe he did because that involved actual cash outlay and not a favour. There’s a credit card trail ! Did he pay for the private plane to Mustique? Did he pay for all the fine wine and exotic food he guzzled during his stay ? That I doubt very much (all-inclusive in the “favour” I expect).
 
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Chunkylad said:
Personally I’m surprised it’s as little an amount as it is? At least properly take the piss Boris and go Neca island.
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Bozo’s declaration of interest is as low as £15k because that’s what he thinks he can plausibly get away with, based on a share of the low season rental prices if he was a guest staying with others in a villa.

Actually, I believe Necker Island is a little primitive (not that I’ve ever been) and I doubt Old Beardie Branson could put up with Bozo for 5 minutes.
 
There seems to be a direct correlation between the accusations and the PM's popularity. Every daft new story brings a boost to his approval with the public.
 
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