[Oboogie]

I also do YouGov polls, I've accrued thousands of points which I've never redeemed. As I see it, YouGov are one of the most accurate pollsters and by that measure they are a good company, the fact that one of their founders is a Tory crook is irrelevant. I'm continuing to do their polls because I don't see how my opting out would make any difference to Zahawi.

My plumber likes to be paid in cash, I don't know, but he might be avoiding tax. He also might not share my politics. I use him because he's cheap, reliable and with good availability and those are the attributes which matter in our relationship.

[Andy McDandy]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... is-johnson

Marina Hyde does....something something self-assessment...I just don't have the energy...

“In order to ensure the independence of this process,” he said yesterday, “you will understand that it would be inappropriate to discuss this issue any further.” Any further? He hasn’t discussed it at all, unless you count legal threats for “smears” that seem to have turned out to be “facts”. But yet again, the public finds itself in a familiar limbo: being told it would not be “proper” to pre-empt the findings of yet another formal inquiry.

This morning the government served up Home Office minister Chris Philp as the broadcast-round sacrifice. Philp has been involved in multiple firms that have gone bust, in some cases reportedly owing money to the taxman. I note he describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur”, which is a bit like someone with syphilis describing themselves as a “hopeless romantic”.

The public is presented with the bizarre spectacle of people who work with each other every day claiming that “we don’t know”. Then why don’t you save everyone a lot of drawn-out pain and just ask?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Popbitch:

>> 'King hell <<
Playing name games

In PB1095 we asked: "Which of the potential Tory leaders gave himself the supremely icky nickname at a former job 'The King Of Anal'?"

After all the headlines he's endured this week, he's going to have to give up that crown. Surely you can't be that anal if you accidentally overlook a tax bill of £3.7 million...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Big Dan makes a very good point here. This "have you paid a tax penalty, minister?" isn't big or clever. Because the vast majority of them aren't remotely serious matters, unlike Zahawi's, and are setting up "Shadow Cabinet tax penalty hypocrite" bollocks.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Ah bless...

[Malcolm Armsteen]

And he's gone.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Serious breach of basic duty as a taxpayer too.

[Samanfur]

His response:

[Malcolm Armsteen]

That is an unbelievable response.

No contrition.
No apology.
Still blaming investigative journalism, which was shown to be entirely accurate.
Takes full credit for the vaccine rollout which was done by the NHS.
Takes credit for the mourning perio for the late queen - WTF?

He needs to be recalled.

[Andy McDandy]

I think Truss also took credit (or it could have been Braverman in her non-resignation) for the funeral, although "I stayed the fuck out of the way as a well rehearsed plan was put into action" doesn't sound quite as good.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

"Success has many fathers..."

[Tubby Isaacs]

We've had big royal occasions for as long as I can remember. Did Dennis Howell or whoever take credit for the Silver Jubilee?

[Abernathy]

Serious breach of basic duty as a taxpayer too.

I agree. In fact, in my view this is substantially more serious than the breaches of the ministerial code for which Zahawi was ostensibly sacked. A cabinet minister actively seeks, and takes steps to evade (and I do mean evade, not avoid, the diplomatic niceties of HMRC in the face of power notwithstanding) the payment of tax legitimately due on millions of pounds, is officially investigated and penalised for it, lies about it, and attempts to suppress publicity of the matter by intimidating a journalist legitimately doing his job. The whole thing stinks worse than a week old halibut.

And yet, such avaricious and fundamentally dishonest behaviour is apparently deemed to be perfectly acceptable in the modern Conservative Party. No fucking wonder their government remains mired in sleaze.

[davidjay]

And as sure as night follows day, bad news for the government leads to #Starmerout trending on Twitter.

[Bones McCoy]

Another 10 day soap opera for a situation that could have been resolved quickly.

I look forward to watching Johnson squirm when the ethics spotlight turns on him.

[Bones McCoy]

Serious breach of basic duty as a taxpayer too.

I agree. In fact, in my view this is substantially more serious than the breaches of the ministerial code for which Zahawi was ostensibly sacked. A cabinet minister actively seeks, and takes steps to avoid the payment of tax legitimately due on millions of pounds, is officially investigated and penalised for it, lies about it, and attempts to suppress publicity of the matter by intimidating a journalist legitimately doing his job. The whole thing stinks worse than a week old halibut.

And yet, such avaricious and fundamentally dishonest behaviour is apparently deemed to be perfectly acceptable in the modern Conservative Party. No fucking wonder their government remains mired in sleaze.

Because, for them, "it's only the money that matters".

[Tubby Isaacs]

Another 10 day soap opera for a situation that could have been resolved quickly.

I look forward to watching Johnson squirm when the ethics spotlight turns on him.

Do we yet know who provided the money for Bozo? Mr Blyth is the guarantor only as I understand it. Somebody else we don't know about was actually forking out.

How can Simon Case have let this by? How could RIchard Sharp thought it appropriate to get involved while a candidate for BBC Chair? Sharp has an awkward committee appearance due, but as far as I know Case isn't.

[slilley]

Another 10 day soap opera for a situation that could have been resolved quickly.

I look forward to watching Johnson squirm when the ethics spotlight turns on him.

As I understand it the hearings into Partygate and Johnson potentially misleading Parliament will be televised live. Question who within Johnson is going to play the Alexander Butterfield role. For those who do not recall Watergate Butterfield was the one who publicly revealed the taping of Oval Office conversations, so alerting the committee to the potential for "smoking gun" tapes. From that point on Nixon was toast. Who will grass on Johnson.

[Tubby Isaacs]

As I understand it the hearings into Partygate and Johnson potentially misleading Parliament will be televised live. Question who within Johnson is going to play the Alexander Butterfield role. For those who do not recall Watergate Butterfield was the one who publicly revealed the taping of Oval Office conversations, so alerting the committee to the potential for "smoking gun" tapes. From that point on Nixon was toast. Who will grass on Johnson.

No shortage of possible candidates, you'd think. If not on the record in front of the committee but via leaks that then get put to Johnson. A civil servant fined for attending something that Johnson did too (sans fine) might fit the bill.

[Andy McDandy]

He'll bluster and try to avoid answering directly, and if that fails, he'll fall back on making faces and generally taking the piss. The real question is whether the committee will go in hard or soft, and how rigorous they'll be.