[Youngian]

No evidence of the Portugal trip has surfaced. Tempting though it is to accept Danny’s mate’s claim in good faith

[Tubby Isaacs]

Do Portuguese media publish on an intranet?

[Crabcakes]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ncock.html

According to the Heil, dePiffle is claiming he sacked Handcock as soon as the story broke

But he said the matter was closed? Now I don't know who to believe: bullshitting PM Boris Johnson from Friday or bullshitting Pm Boris Johnson from today.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This is like the Jack Dee character in Lead Balloon, when he gets caught out by a TV hoaxer and then claims to have been in on it all along. And indeed to have been both in on it and not later on.

[AOB]

No evidence of the Portugal trip has surfaced. Tempting though it is to accept Danny’s mate’s claim in good faith

I saw this yesterday and was going to put it here but a brief sojourn down a Twitter rabbit hole in search of Portuguese media evidence could only lead back to June 1st, before Portugal was amber, and the below article. A Tweet beginning with "My mate..." is always a bit of a red flag whatever the subject. Not a story that would be hard to disbelieve though, admittedly.

Newlyweds Boris and Carrie Johnson take two-day mini honeymoon at undisclosed location

[Tubby Isaacs]

Julia Lopez is a new one on me. Stitched up here by Number 10 who didn't tell her what they'd said before she went into the chamber to answer questions.

Responding to questions from Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, cabinet office minister Julia Lopez said a “huge volume of correspondence was coming to ministers via their personal email addresses…” regarding PPE contracts.

However, two hours previously, the prime minister’s spokesperson had told reporters: “Both the former health secretary and Lord Bethell understand the rules around personal email usage and only ever conducted government business through their departmental email addresses”.

Welcome to Test Match Cricket, Julia. As Geoffrey Howe said, you might need to check the team captain hasn't broken your bat before you go out to face the opposition attack.

[Crabcakes]

I see we're at the "giving up is official policy" stage then...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Means about as much as "we're leaving the EU on October 31".

That's the optimistic reading anyway.

[Spoonman]

[Cyclist]

Two hundred grand refurbishment and he has to sit on a table to watch the telly? He was robbed.

[Crabcakes]

Things of note:
1. that's part of an office, unless they have very strange taste in wastebins
2. they're watching it, at best, on iPlayer as there's no aerial cable
3. the TV clearly isn't there usually because it's at an absurd height that suits no one and is placed in front of a desk tidy

My take: they heard England had scored a goal and set up a very hasty photoshoot to make it appear like they had both been keenly watching the national team, then stuck the match up on iPlayer for a still. Which is why the score shows 0-0 and (I think) about 15 mins on the clock despite the tweet with that in being posted at 6pm yesterday - well into the 2nd half. And why later he'd suddenly fucked off to a marquee with a bigger screen and no Carrie. It's a wonder he didn't do a John Terry and put the full kit on.

[Bones McCoy]

Terry is a full-kit wanker.
Johnson is a bullshit wanker.

[Andy McDandy]

Saw the BBC breakdown of PMQs.

Regarding Hancock's exit, his line is now "I heard about it on Friday and he was gone on Saturday, aren't we fast?".

Someone please hold this fucker to account properly.

[Samanfur]

If we'd been taking shots every time Johnson changed the subject to how successful the vaccine rollout is, we'd all have been hospitalised.

[Crabcakes]

Saw the BBC breakdown of PMQs.

Regarding Hancock's exit, his line is now "I heard about it on Friday and he was gone on Saturday, aren't we fast?".

Someone please hold this fucker to account properly.

From coverage I've seen, this line appears to have convinced practically no one

[Oboogie]

Saw the BBC breakdown of PMQs.

Regarding Hancock's exit, his line is now "I heard about it on Friday and he was gone on Saturday, aren't we fast?".

Someone please hold this fucker to account properly.

It's the Speaker's job to discipline MPs who lie to the house, the problem is there's nobody to hold the Speaker to account.

[Andy McDandy]

Well, technically he's not lying. He's omitting two crucial bits of information - that Hancock resigned due to the pressure on him and lack of support, and that Johnson had nothing to do with it - but technically not a word he has said is a lie.

But if people aren't buying it, good. Part of the problem of appealing to Sun readers is that when you insult their intelligence, they do tend to resent it.

[Oboogie]

The fact remains that Johnson does lie to Parliament. On Wednesday Ian Blackford urged Johnson to extend the deadline for EU citizens applying for settled status.

Johnson replied that the deadline had already been extended multiple times.

It has not been extended multiple times. Johnson knows that, ergo he lied.

[Bones McCoy]

Well, technically he's not lying. He's omitting two crucial bits of information - that Hancock resigned due to the pressure on him and lack of support, and that Johnson had nothing to do with it - but technically not a word he has said is a lie.

But if people aren't buying it, good. Part of the problem of appealing to Sun readers is that when you insult their intelligence, they do tend to resent it.

The print media, where Johnson learned his trade, know this well.

In the words of Miles Davis: "It's not just the notes you play, It's knowing which notes to not play".
Same goes for stories / statements.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Oh look.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... l-boardman

The solicitor appointed by Boris Johnson to run an independent inquiry into the Greensill lobbying scandal is a former Conservative party member who stood as a council candidate, the Guardian can reveal.

Nigel Boardman, whose appointment prompted concerns that he may be perceived as being too close to the Tories and the government, tried to become a councillor for the party in Islington, London, in 1986.

The disclosure, after weeks of government denials that Boardman is too close to the Tories to conduct an inquiry into conflicts of interest, has prompted calls for the inquiry to be abandoned.