Chris Bryant: Defence minister broke code

by Sunny Hundal    
June 10, 2011 at 8:30 am

Labour MP Chris Bryant has reported Defence Minister Andrew Robathan to Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell, alleging he broke the ministerial code.

Bryant said on Twitter last night that Robathan broke the code:

By briefing the Daily Telegraph before the House of Commons – and then pretending he hadn’t even though DT quoted him.

The issue relates to the Daily Telegraph publishing an exclusive on 14th May that ministers were planning to put the military covenant on the statute books.

The Defence ecretary Liam Fox eventually made a statement to the House of Commons on 16th May announcing the plans.

Chris Bryant raised the issue in the Commons, accusing Robathan of giving “on the record” quotations to The Daily Telegraph before announcing the policy to the Chamber.

Robathan denied the charge, claiming, “[Chris Bryant MP] will discover that what he has said is not in fact in any way correct”.

But Bryant returned back to the Daily Telegraph article, pointing out that it clearly referred to Andrew Robathan by name.

The full exchange is here.

Did Robathan not realise he was quoted in the article?

Chris Bryant said last night that Robathan had misled the House of Commons by denying he had briefed the Daily Telegraph in advance.

He has now written to the Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell with the allegation that Andrew Robathan MP has broken the ministerial code.

He is not alone either. Conservative minister Chris Grayling has been referred twice for politicised press releases regarding welfare cuts.

Yes, inequality does kill and here’s the proof

by Chris Dillow    
June 9, 2011 at 3:37 pm

In The Spirit Level, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett claim that “unequal societies are almost always unhealthy societies.”

Some new research provides laboratory evidence for this.

Armin Falk and colleagues conducted a simple experiment. They split people into pairs. One person had to do a tedious job, of counting the number of zeros on sheets of numbers, with the pair being paid according to the number of correct answers.
continue reading… »

Staines storms aid event & looks like a prat

by Sunny Hundal    
June 9, 2011 at 3:09 pm

Paul Staines’ (aka blogger Guido Fawkes) obsession with Damian McBride knows no bounds.

This morning Staines, his chum from UKIP and a space-monkey decided to ambush a joint aid event.

Fearless as ever against a gang of snarling and dangerous middle-England lefties, Staines reported:

Guido and the spaceman were escorted out of the building so we were unable to speak with Cafod’s new comms hire Damian McBride. Nor could we hear Andrew Mitchell boast how much hard-earned taxpayers’ cash he is exporting to corrupt Mercedes-driving aid recipients.

However, people at the event told Liberal Conspiracy that P. Staines had to be asked to leave after he got aggressive* and started shouting at a Ghanian woman who wanted to explain why aid was important.

P Staines of course wasn’t interested. Someone did catch a flattering picture of him though.

A source told us:

Not one to waste much time on poverty, Guido looking immaculately smug pushed his way through pensioners and an African woman who made the mistake of trying to engage him in rational discussion.

Staines even got some basic facts wrong. He claims the aim of the rally – called ‘Teatime For Change’ – was to demand the aid budget be increased from 0.7% to 1%. Untrue.

Our source added:

Once inside the hall, Guido positioned his weird looking ‘indian space man’ in front the gentle old folk. The stage seemed set for some epic showdown of ‘ good common sense’ against, against…. what exactly Guido? A group of pensioners showing the political establishment that they care about others less fortunate than themselves. Well done. Bravo, what a hero. Shame the mission failed to launch.

Maybe someone could put P Stained into a monkey-suit and send him into outer space? I’d chip in for that.

* I’ve changed the word ‘abusive’ to ‘aggressive’ to clear some confusion. Staines did not get physically abusive at any time. However, two witnesses tell us they felt he was being verbally aggressive.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Update: @ElliotFolan has photo-shopped the pic to create a blank placard. Use it and abuse it!

We already have entries for a caption competition!

by @EliottFolan

.

by @5ChinCrack

.

by @brianfmoylan

.

by @DanPoxton

.

by @cpoffers

.

by @5ChinCrack

.

by @ChrisGLS

.

by @EliottFolan

.

by @KennyEvil

New BBC poll: 84% against Tax Avoidance

by Sunny Hundal    
June 9, 2011 at 12:22 pm

A poll out today by Comres for the BBC finds an overwhelming majority of people against tax avoidance by businesses.

Comres stated: “The Government should crack down on tax avoidance by businesses operating in the UK.”
Agree: 84%
Disagree: 12%
Don’t know: 3%

The poll also stated:
“The Government should crack down on tax avoidance by businesses, even if it causes unemployment, or some companies to leave the UK.”
Agree: 60%
Disagree: 34%
Don’t know: 6%

Update: To clarify a point that some of our right-wing trolls may have missed out: the polling question above first explains what tax avoidance is and then asks the questions above. So people are aware of what it is, and yet are still against it.

The poll found men more likely to agree with this statement than women, and older people more likely to agree than younger groups.

The tables of the results are here.

The poll comes as Green party leader Caroline Lucas seeks to get traction for a new bill to crack down on tax avoidance by businesses.

Why Cameron’s triangulation could be his greatest weakness

by Adam Ramsay    
June 9, 2011 at 11:40 am

Labour was always accused of spinning. In a sense, this seems to ultimately have contributed much to their downfall – but not in the ways we would expect.

The usual complaint about spin is that it misleads. But this feeling of spin didn’t cost Labour any election. Despite the lies of the Iraq War, the 2005 election wasn’t even close. I’ve not heard anyone argue this was a major issue in the 2010 election.

No, for me, the problem is that Labour never made the case for the principles of the left.
continue reading… »

How do you sleep at night, Chris Grayling?

by Sue Marsh    
June 9, 2011 at 9:34 am

Yesterday, the Conservative minister Chris Grayling told us that assessments used to determine whether or not someone is “fit for work” or not are “not money driven” – somehow ignoring the “target” of saving £1 billion from the sickness benefits bill.

And here’s Mr Grayling, during a recent DWP committee meeting, telling us that the decision to stop all ESA benefits entirely after one year – whether the person is then fully recovered or fit for work or not – was entirely based on cost cutting.

When asked if after one year these vulnerable sick or disabled people would have found work or even be fit for work, he replied:
continue reading… »

GPs still refuse to back Tory NHS plans

by Newswire    
June 9, 2011 at 9:02 am

GPs are not yet ready to back the government’s NHS plans for England – despite the recent concessions.

Earlier this week David Cameron outlined a series of changes he was prepared to make to win over critics.

But British Medical Association leaders said they were still concerned about competition and warned an “overly bureaucratic system” could be created.

The warnings come as hundreds of GPs gather in London for the start of their annual two-day conference. The meeting is taking place just two days after the prime minister set out a number of concessions he was planning to make.

…more at BBC News

Lucas’ Bill on tax evasion on the agenda

by Newswire    
June 8, 2011 at 7:48 pm

A new Tax and Financial Transparency Bill to recover billions of pounds of lost tax, by forcing companies to be more transparent in their accounting, is on the agenda for debate in Parliament on Friday (10 June).

The Bill, launched by the MP Caroline Lucas in March this year, is due for its second reading in the House of Commons – and will also feature on BBC Radio 4’s Decision Time programme tonight.

The Brighton Pavilion MP launched her campaign after posing a number of Parliamentary Questions to the Chancellor, in which she exposed the fact that HMRC is failing to prevent serious tax evasion which could amount to as much as £16 billion in lost tax.

She is also calling for a requirement on multinational companies to publish information on where they make their sales, record their profits and pay their taxes, in order to ensure that corporations make a fair and proper contribution to society.

Caroline said:

The first aim of this Bill is to tackle the scandalous reality that around 500,000 companies every year appear not to be paying tax in the UK. Tax Research UK estimate that regulatory failures by H M Revenue & Customs and Companies House mean that around 500,000 companies a year fail to pay their tax or file their accounts.

A great many are simply struck off the Register of Companies as a result, never to be heard of again. It is thought that up to £16 billion of tax a year might be lost to the country as a result.

This Bill would ensure that banks have to provide details on all accounts they maintain for companies operating in the UK so that H M Revenue & Customs and Companies House can chase those companies who do not file the returns they’re obliged to make for the missing information – and the tax they owe.

She also says the bill would force companies to publish what tax they pay, requiring all companies filing accounts in the UK to include a statement on the turnover, pre-tax profit, tax charge and actual tax paid for each country in which they operate, without exception.

That would make it easier to determine how much tax they should pay according to local laws.

The PCS Union today issued a statement saying they also backed the bill.

Why is the Guardian’s Simon Tisdall defending Bashir again?

by Guest    
June 8, 2011 at 7:32 pm

contribution by Tim Flatman

Earlier this year the Guardian became the first mainstream UK newspaper in recent memory to carry a front-page interview with an ICC-indicted war-criminal, describing him as a “maverick” who “polarised opinion”.

It implied state-sponsored abuses in Darfur were a thing of the past, contrary to many reports over the last 12 months of numerous rape and camps being bombed.

Now its columnist Simon Tisdall is trying to justify the Government of Sudan’s invasion of Abyei.
continue reading… »

New poll: Libdems even more toxic than Tories

by Sunny Hundal    
June 8, 2011 at 6:42 pm

Wow, this is slightly unexpected. A poll by YouGov finds that Libdems are now considered even more toxic than the Tories by voters.

YouGov asked about voters preferences

This matters because if the boundary changes to constituencies go ahead, and 50 seats are cut, then each MP will have to create new alliances to maintain their vote. In this case, toxicity matters.

As Mark Gettleson at PoliticsHome points out:

Indeed, one of the successes of the Lib Dems has been that they were able to supplement their low core vote with the fact that there were not vast numbers of voters with a strong sense of antipathy towards the party. This is very helpful when campaigning in new territory, whether in a by-election or through boundary changes.
…
From the publication of these changes, MPs will have a sprint. They will have less time to gain the credibility brought through regular literature and informal casework that have been the hallmark of an incumbent’s response to boundary changes.

Olly Parker at Next Left explains why this could now turn into “600 headaches” for both the Tories and Libdems, and precipitate even more in-fighting and briefings.

Looking at the poll above, I can’t imagine too many Libdem MPs would be happy with the prospect of having to reach out to new, potentially hostile voters.

RECENT OPINION ARTICLES

Diane Abbott resigns from abortion panel 19 Comments Watch: Chicken chases Boris Johnson 33 Comments Does Priti Patel MP care for human rights? 59 Comments Watch: funny spoof explains benefits cuts 18 Comments UKuncut to join disabled to oppose Welfare bill 15 Comments Lawson’s GWPF faces questions over funding 25 Comments Shock poll shows public indifferent to Labour’s new cuts line 38 Comments Watch: NHS report “vindicates Labour” 7 Comments Daily Mail writer: Hurrah for French fascists! 64 Comments Save our pensions! Unite slams Unilever in video 11 Comments

LATEST COMMENTS » Sunny Hundal posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Sally posted on Even by economic standards Hester's £1m bonus is unworthy » Flowerpower posted on Diane Abbott resigns from abortion panel » Tom (iow) posted on The benefits of being a "burden" on society » Anne posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Ian M Davies posted on Week of action against Atos begins Monday » Robert2012 posted on The benefits of being a "burden" on society » G.O. posted on Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest? » Dave posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Schmidt posted on Even by economic standards Hester's £1m bonus is unworthy » Link: “govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote” | Help Me Investigate Health posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Planeshift posted on Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest? » Makhno posted on The benefits of being a "burden" on society » Trooper Thompson posted on Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest? » ukliberty posted on Does Priti Patel MP care for human rights?