[Samanfur]

I can't see a Zahawi thread, so I'll leave this here:

Revealed: officials raised ‘flag’ over Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs before he was appointed chancellor

A “flag” was raised by officials over the financial affairs of the new chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, before he was promoted, the Observer can reveal.

Civil servants in the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team are said to have alerted Boris Johnson to a HM Revenue and Customs “flag” over Zahawi before his appointment. The PM appointed him despite the possible concerns over his tax affairs.

“It’s extraordinary that flags were raised ahead of Nadhim’s appointment by the Downing Street proprietary team,” one source said this weekend. “These sorts of concerns would stop someone receiving an MBE or OBE. The idea he could be chancellor or even prime minister is unbelievable”.

[Youngian]

Yeah, I'm sure that the electorate want tax and spending cuts, Justin.

Didn’t Badecoch oversee a report for Johnson concluding there’s no racism in Britain?
She looks the nearest to a moral majority type candidate although I’ve no idea if they still exist in the Tory party. Probably not in Essex.

[Youngian]

Never a dull moment

leadership campaign teams have passed the Labour Party a digital dossier containing a series of lurid allegations about their potential opponents. Last week tongues were set wagging when a prominent supporter of one of the frontrunners in the race was seen meeting a senior Labour official at the White Horse pub in Soho, central London.

[Samanfur]

The BBC're reporting that Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt've both declared candidacy.

[Youngian]

I can't see a Zahawi thread, so I'll leave this here:

Revealed: officials raised ‘flag’ over Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs before he was appointed chancellor

A “flag” was raised by officials over the financial affairs of the new chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, before he was promoted, the Observer can reveal.

Civil servants in the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team are said to have alerted Boris Johnson to a HM Revenue and Customs “flag” over Zahawi before his appointment. The PM appointed him despite the possible concerns over his tax affairs.

“It’s extraordinary that flags were raised ahead of Nadhim’s appointment by the Downing Street proprietary team,” one source said this weekend. “These sorts of concerns would stop someone receiving an MBE or OBE. The idea he could be chancellor or even prime minister is unbelievable”.

Did he now.

He struck up a friendship with the novelist Lord Archer

[satnav]

With open warfare in the Tory Party I'm worried that there is going to be a popcorn shortage by the end of the month.

Whatever the eventual outcome of the vote I'm pretty sure that Nadine Dorries will be out of the cabinet as soon as the new leader forms their first cabinet.

[Bones McCoy]

[AOB]

The BBC're reporting that Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt've both declared candidacy.

I'd be interested to see how many staff left the NHS during Hunt's tenure as Health Secretary in comparison with others who had the role. They absolutely hated him. Then he had the gall to promote himself as a staunch ally of the NHS during Covid.

[Watchman]

I was wondering if Govey and DomCum might be up to mischief

[Abernathy]

Ye gods. Jeremy Hunt has just said that if he wins, he wants to make Esther McVey his deputy PM.

Bye, Jezza.

[Youngian]

With open warfare in the Tory Party I'm worried that there is going to be a popcorn shortage by the end of the month.

Whatever the eventual outcome of the vote I'm pretty sure that Nadine Dorries will be out of the cabinet as soon as the new leader forms their first cabinet.

Unless she’s PM

[Tubby Isaacs]

Shapps, to his credit, swerving culture wars.

[Andy McDandy]

Face it, he knows all about adopting a new identity, and defining yourself by your own terms.

[Samanfur]

Rishi blows the dog whistle:

[Boiler]

Mordaunt has entered the fray.

That's one for the brain-dead onanists then.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This is exactly what Labour need to be going for.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Didn’t Badecoch oversee a report for Johnson concluding there’s no racism in Britain?
She looks the nearest to a moral majority type candidate although I’ve no idea if they still exist in the Tory party. Probably not in Essex.

I think that report was allowed to fade away.

Badenoch's a nasty bit of work. See this from Con Home. The Con Home interviewer is a bit taken aback.

Badenoch [laughing]: “I know. I think you had a bad press lately. I was just telling the truth. Lots of people helped me, but if I was dividing them demographically, the bulk of the people who did help me would fall into that category.

“And again, I don’t treat people differently because they’re a different gender or a different race. I don’t want to be treated like that.

“But it seems as if the argument has moved away from ‘it’s bad to treat people in a certain way because of their skin or race’, to ‘unless they fall into these categories’.

“Then it’s OK. That seems to be what people say now. Previously racism was wrong. Now it’s OK to be prejudiced provided it’s against the patriarchy, or it’s OK to be sexist if it’s a middle-aged man.

“And that just doesn’t make any sense to me. The rules should apply to whoever you are or wherever you come from or however lucky you’ve been, and that’s how I look at things.

“That’s the difference between us and Labour at the moment. They’ve created groups that have ticks, and groups with crosses. And that’s how they’re approaching politics.

“So everything now is about ‘what’s this done for equality and diversity’. Basically their political strategy seems just to be counting how many women are there, how many ethnic minorities are there.

“Certainly up to the 2017 election. And they do it in a different way now with things like Universal Credit, where they’re not necessarily looking at the average taxpayer, who doesn’t earn that much money, but people who are in a small category of benefit claimants, to be frank, it’s not everybody, it’s a small category of benefit claimants.

“So they’ve picked the religion they support. It’s not everybody. It’s certainly very anti-Judaism. Probably neutral on Christianity, neutral to negative. And then they have chosen to be pro the Muslim community in a way they have not been in the past.”

ConHome: “Sorry, by ‘they’ who in particular are you talking about?”

[Tubby Isaacs]

The loons really don't like Sunak.

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Tubby Isaacs]