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Post by northwestman on Nov 24, 2022 10:45:13 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/23/revealed-tory-peer-michelle-mone-secretly-received-29m-from-vip-lane-ppe-firmDocuments suggest husband passed on money from PPE Medpro, which secured £200m contracts after Mone lobbied ministers The Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her children secretly received £29m originating from the profits of a PPE business that was awarded large government contracts after she recommended it to ministers, documents seen by the Guardian indicate. Lady Mone’s support helped the company, PPE Medpro, secure a place in a “VIP lane” the government used during the coronavirus pandemic to prioritise companies that had political connections. It then secured contracts worth more than £200m. Documents seen by the Guardian indicate tens of millions of pounds of PPE Medpro’s profits were later transferred to a secret offshore trust of which Mone and her adult children were the beneficiaries. Asked by the Guardian last year why Mone did not include PPE Medpro in her House of Lords register of financial interests, her lawyer replied: “Baroness Mone did not declare any interest as she did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity.” The leaked documents, which were produced by the bank HSBC, appear to contradict that statement. They state that Mone’s husband, the Isle of Man-based financier Douglas Barrowman, was paid at least £65m in profits from PPE Medpro, and then distributed the funds through a series of offshore accounts, trusts and companies. The ultimate recipients of the funds, the documents indicate, include the Isle of Man trust that was set up to benefit Mone, who was Barrowman’s fiancee at the time, and her children. In October 2020, the documents add, Barrowman transferred to the trust £28.8m originating from PPE Medpro profits. That was just five months after Mone helped PPE Medpro secure contracts to supply masks and sterile gowns for use in the NHS. The controversy over Mone and PPE Medpro threatens to embroil the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who has pledged to make “integrity and accountability” pillars of his leadership. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/23/the-yacht-the-wedding-and-29m-michelle-mones-life-during-the-covid-crisiswww.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/23/michelle-mones-ppe-denials-v-what-we-know
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Post by northwestman on Nov 24, 2022 17:38:32 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/24/michelle-mone-ppe-firm-revelations-prompt-anger-in-commonsThe growing controversy over a PPE company linked to the Tory peer Michelle Mone has sparked an angry reaction in parliament, as MPs demanded an investigation into wider concerns over what one called “absolutely sickening, shameful and unforgivable” instances of politically connected firms profiteering from unusable PPE during the pandemic. Parliamentarians asked ministers for more information about how PPE Medpro was awarded more than £200m in government contracts after it was referred to ministers by Lady Mone. They also used the occasion to ask broader questions about the government’s procurement contracts during the pandemic – some of which, one MP said, had since been flagged by Transparency International as a “corruption risk”. In response to an urgent question on Thursday from Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, the junior health minister Neil O’Brien repeatedly sought to defend the government’s actions and its use of a “VIP lane” that prioritised referrals from politically connected PPE companies. The minister said that “the people who came through the high-priority route were not politically connected people, except in the sense that they were being referred in by MPs across the house”!!!!
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Post by northwestman on Nov 24, 2022 19:18:39 GMT 1
Gove is now being dragged into the Mone controversy. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/24/michael-gove-under-pressure-explain-role-ppe-deals-michelle-moneMichael Gove is facing mounting pressure to fully explain his role in the government’s award of large PPE contracts to a company that was first recommended to him by the Tory peer Michelle Mone. Asked in an interview on Thursday how he responded to Lady Mone’s approach in May 2020, Gove said he referred all offers of PPE to “the appropriate civil service channels”. That explanation appears at odds with a chain of emails previously released under the Freedom of Information Act that shed light on how the company, PPE Medpro, was added to a “VIP” lane that prioritised politically connected firms. The emails suggest that after initially being contacted by Mone, Gove suggested she contact another then minister, the Tory peer Theodore Agnew. She then did so, emailing both Gove and Lord Agnew using their private, non-governmental email addresses to tell them about PPE that could be procured from “my team in Hong Kong”. It was Agnew, who was then a minister in the Cabinet Office responsible for procurement, who referred PPE Medpro to the VIP lane. The Guardian contacted Gove to ask him how the account he gave of his response to Mone’s offer on Sky News, in which he said he referred all offers to “the appropriate civil service channels”, was consistent with the suggestion he in fact told Mone to contact Agnew. He did not respond. |
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Post by northwestman on Nov 24, 2022 19:26:33 GMT 1
The Conservative peer Michelle Mone referred a business to the Cabinet Office for potential multimillion pound PPE contracts before it had even been incorporated as a company, it has emerged.
The business, PPE Medpro, was fast-tracked by the government through its “VIP lane” for politically connected firms following the referral by Mone.
Within weeks of the company’s incorporation on 12 May 2020, PPE Medpro was awarded contracts worth £203m to supply millions of masks and gowns.
It has now emerged that Mone’s referral of PPE Medpro occurred five days before the company was formally registered.
In a press release issued in December 2020, PPE Medpro claimed: “We are proud of the fact that we provided 210,000,000 [face] masks and 25,000,000 gowns, which undoubtedly helped keep our NHS workers safe at a time of shortages due to the Covid pandemic.”
The 25m surgical gowns, for which the government paid PPE Medpro £122m, were rejected by the Department of Health and Social Care after technical inspection and were never used in the NHS. The DHSC has been trying to recoup its money through a dispute resolution process. PPE Medpro insists its gowns passed technical checks and the company is entitled to keep the £122m. Either way, they have never been used to keep NHS workers safe.
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Post by northwestman on Nov 24, 2022 19:38:03 GMT 1
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Post by zenfootball2 on Nov 26, 2022 6:06:09 GMT 1
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Post by staffordshrew on Nov 28, 2022 17:10:02 GMT 1
Just brazen it out until everyone forgets about it....trouser or stuff down your bra in this case £29M to you offshore accounts, jobs a good 'un.
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Post by northwestman on Nov 28, 2022 20:00:04 GMT 1
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Post by northwestman on Nov 28, 2022 20:40:07 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/28/oliver-dowden-paid-fee-by-firm-of-kwarteng-mini-budget-party-hostDowden provided “policy advice” to Caxton Associates in October while he was still a Conservative MP, despite having been in the cabinet until June. He gained permission for the job from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, making £8,398 for 12 hours of work between 24 September and 24 October when he resigned to join Sunak’s government as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, working from the Cabinet Office. Dowden also took on a £5,000-a-month job for a firm called Pierce Protocols trading as Heni, an “international art services business”. Other former ministers to have taken second jobs in the last year include Gavin Williamson, a former education secretary who took on a £50,000-a-year job for RTC Education, a higher education firm offering higher national diplomas, which is linked to two Tory donors Selva Pankaj and Maurizio Bragagni. Williamson quit the RTC Education job on joining Sunak’s government as minister of state without portfolio. Two weeks later he resigned from the government in relation to bullying allegations, which he denies.
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Post by northwestman on Dec 2, 2022 20:08:30 GMT 1
Yet another one! www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/02/conservatives-urged-to-suspend-mp-facing-allegationsThe Conservative party is facing calls to suspend an MP whom it is investigating over allegations of rape and sexual assault. Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson declined to comment on reports that the party had hired a law firm to look into the conduct of a Tory backbencher after complaints by colleagues. It is understood that none of the alleged victims have made a formal complaint, but some Conservative MPs have reported the accusations to the police and the party. The allegations are the latest in a raft of sexual scandals faced by political parties in recent years. At least six Conservative MPs have had the whip withdrawn or quit politics in the past 18 months over allegations of misconduct. One backbencher is currently under orders to stay away from parliament after being arrested on suspicion of serious sexual offences including rape. |
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Post by northwestman on Dec 5, 2022 16:37:21 GMT 1
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11500789/Matt-Hancock-accuses-Michelle-Mone-wild-accusations-try-help-firm-win-Covid-contract.htmlIn his explosive Pandemic Diaries, the former health secretary accuses the Tory peer of sending him a 'threatening' message complaining the company she was helping had not secured a lucrative deal. Mr Hancock says in his book, which is being serialised on The Mail+ and in the Daily Mail, that by the end of the email she had 'worked herself into a complete frenzy' and was throwing around 'wild accusations'. The allegations will come as a fresh blow to the former lingerie tycoon – nicknamed 'Baroness Bra' – who is already facing questions over whether she benefited financially from the profits of a different company. She is under investigation by the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards for allegedly failing to declare an interest in the firm PPE Medpro which won a £200million Government contract at the height of the pandemic. But now Mr Hancock has revealed that the baroness demanded his 'urgent help' with a second company – which he has not named – in June last year. In his diaries he writes: 'Baroness Michelle Mone has sent me an extraordinarily aggressive email complaining that a company she's helping isn't getting the multi-million-pound contracts it deserves. Mr Hancock's claims come as the baroness is also accused of trying to 'bully and hector' two other ministers into awarding contracts to PPE Medpro. The Tory peer was reported to have aggressively lobbied Michael Gove and Lord Agnew in May 2020 to secure lucrative business for the company which supplies face masks and medical gowns. I wonder how much lobbying Hancock's pub landlord friend did!
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Post by northwestman on Dec 16, 2022 12:27:14 GMT 1
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Post by tdk on Dec 16, 2022 12:44:24 GMT 1
Think Daniel Kawczynski probably innocent on this one. Don't think Mongolia features on the sex tourism trail |
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Post by northwestman on Dec 16, 2022 13:38:11 GMT 1
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Post by northwestman on Dec 16, 2022 20:48:54 GMT 1
And yet more snouts in the trough! www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/16/watchdog-orders-suspension-of-two-peers-over-cash-for-parliamentary-adviceWatchdog orders suspension of two peers over ‘cash for parliamentary advice’. Earl of Shrewsbury and Mary Goudie took thousands of pounds to help and promote firms, reports find. A House of Lords watchdog has ordered that two peers be suspended from the upper house for long periods for taking thousands of pounds to promote companies, in breach of parliamentary rules. In two reports published on Friday, the House of Lords Conduct Committee recommended a suspension of nine months for the Earl of Shrewsbury, a former Conservative, now non-affiliated, hereditary peer, and six months for the Labour-appointed peer Mary Goudie. |
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Post by northwestman on Dec 16, 2022 21:00:45 GMT 1
Admittedly, this involves E.U. sleaze, though our M.Ps have also taken gifts and hospitality. www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/16/qatar-2022-this-world-cup-has-taken-place-in-a-sceneTwo days out from the World Cup final, Qatar finishes hosting its tournament having very recently been declared “a frontrunner in labour rights”. “Today,” the declaration in question continued, “the World Cup in Qatar is proof of how sports diplomacy can achieve a historic transformation of a country.” It feels only mildly unfortunate that the member of the European parliament who uttered these words three weeks ago is currently detained by Belgian police, after the discovery of almost €1m in banknotes in her marital home and a hotel room used by her father. The arrests in Brussels last week are alleged to relate to Qatar’s attempts to bag an aviation deal and visa-free travel to the bloc. There is no smoking gun on Qatar’s successful bid, and Fifa’s no-doubt crack ethics committee found nothing in its investigations. The desert state would prefer you focus solely on its jubilation in that 2010 footage of Sepp Blatter opening the envelope revealing the word “Qatar”, while the cameras picked up representatives of England’s failed 2018 bid, including David Beckham, looking sad and shrugging. Beckham himself has since found a reported £150m from Qatar to cheer him up. So, you know – every cloud. As for last week’s arrests, they allege Qatar’s continuing attempts to curry global influence. Some of these are in plain sight. A number of British MPs have accepted travel gifts and hospitality from the Doha regime, with £260,000 showered on 36 MPs in the past year alone. |
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Post by northwestman on Dec 28, 2022 18:58:26 GMT 1
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Post by northwestman on Jan 9, 2023 12:03:04 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jan/09/conservative-peer-helped-land-50m-ppe-contract-for-firm-linked-to-fellow-toryA Conservative peer advising the government during the coronavirus pandemic helped a company secure PPE contracts worth £50m after a fellow Tory peer introduced him to the firm, documents obtained by the Guardian show. Andrew Feldman, a former Conservative party chair, referred the company, SG Recruitment, to the “VIP lane” that gave priority to politically connected firms, after the introduction by Lord Chadlington, a Tory peer for 26 years. Chadlington, whose name is Peter Selwyn Gummer, had a financial interest in SG Recruitment as he was a director and shareholder of its parent company, Sumner Group Holdings, which is registered in Jersey.
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Post by northwestman on Jan 10, 2023 12:23:06 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jan/09/andrew-bridgen-suspended-from-house-of-commons-over-lobbyingThe Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has been suspended from the House of Commons for five days after being found to have breached rules on paid lobbying and declaring interests. The MP for north-west Leicestershire was found to have repeatedly broken the MPs’ code of conduct by a cross-party committee, which endorsed findings from Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards. The Standards Committee report maintained Bridgen e-mailed Stone asking about what Bridgen maintained were rumours that Boris Johnson would give Stone a peerage, but this depended on her “arriving at the ‘right’ outcomes” during the Parliamentary Standard's investigations. He was unsuccessful in an attempt to overturn the recommendation in December and a motion was approved by parliament on Monday. The suspension is due to start on Tuesday 10 January, and will run for five sitting days. Why only 5 days suspension for such egregious breaches? Had it been for 10 days or more, then he'd have been subject to a recall petition. Bridgen failed in his bid to overturn his recommended five-day suspension for a “very cavalier” series of breaches of lobbying rules. The Independent Expert Panel (IEP) dismissed his appeal “on all grounds” and told the backbencher that he could reasonably have been handed a “more severe” punishment. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/andrew-bridgen-commons-mps-b2248585.htmlMoreover, he has previous form with regards to appearing before the Standards Committee. In March 2017, Bridgen apologised for failing to declare during an HS2 debate that his home was being bought by the high-speed rail link. He made the apology in the House of Commons after being found to have breached the rules governing MPs’ interests following an investigation by the Commons standards watchdog. www.loughboroughecho.net/news/local-news/mp-apologises-profusely-hs2-non-12806303Bridgen was found by a High Court judge to have lied under oath in relation to claims that he made in court about his family business, AB Produce. It was found that he encouraged a police inspector to investigate his brother, a director of the company, on false allegations of fraud. He also made false allegations about the reasons why he had left the company. www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/mp-andrew-bridgen-evicted-15m-7547786A Leicestershire MP has been ordered to pay £800,000 and been evicted from his five bedroom home by a judge following a legal dispute involving the family vegetable business. It is currently unknown where Andrew Bridgen, Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, lives after being given final deadline of August 24 to vacate the premises in Coleorton, near Coalville. The 57-year-old was branded " dishonest" by a High Court judge in March - who ruled that Bridgen "lied" under oath. Judge Brian Rawlings said he was so dishonest that nothing he said about the dispute with AB Produce, a vegetable and potato supplier based in Measham, could be taken at face value. Bridgen was also said to have behaved in an an "abusive", "arrogant" and "aggressive" way during the dispute, in which he has spent years suing the firm. A later judgement in June, reported by the Times on Sunday, forced the MP to vacate the £1.5 million-valued property owned by AB Produce that he has lived in since 2015. What more need be said? His Wiki page doesn't make for good reading either. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bridgen
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Post by northwestman on Jan 10, 2023 18:03:13 GMT 1
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Post by northwestman on Jan 11, 2023 12:57:03 GMT 1
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Post by frankwellshrews on Jan 11, 2023 18:11:00 GMT 1
Looks like he knew the writing was on the wall so he's decided to go full lunatic. Probably hoping to spin the suspension issues as a smear for him "bravely speaking out about the vaccine". I am sick of these people to be honest. |
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Post by northwestman on Jan 11, 2023 19:40:50 GMT 1
The ultimate in rejection. Bridgen is slagged off by Fabricant.
Tory MP Michael Fabricant backed the decision to remove the whip from Mr Bridgen over his comments, saying he would have “blood on his hands” if his views had deterred people from getting a vaccine.
“If this deters people from being vaccinated and causes deaths as a direct consequence, he’ll have blood on his hands. His tweets are wholly irresponsible.”
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Post by kenwood on Jan 12, 2023 0:45:51 GMT 1
How long is this fool going to be an MP .
I would love it if his constituency party said we’ve had enough and deselected him .
He is an absolute disgrace .
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Post by frankwellshrews on Jan 12, 2023 10:07:09 GMT 1
How long is this fool going to be an MP . I would love it if his constituency party said we’ve had enough and deselected him . He is an absolute disgrace . He's already lost the whip. |
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Post by northwestman on Jan 12, 2023 11:23:29 GMT 1
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Post by northwestman on Jan 16, 2023 0:35:48 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/15/nadhim-zahawi-to-pay-millions-in-tax-after-dispute-over-family-financesNadhim Zahawi has agreed to pay several million pounds in tax to the authorities after a dispute over his family’s financial affairs, it has been reported. Representatives of the Conservative party chair are believed to be paying after questions over his use of an offshore company to hold shares in the polling firm YouGov, according to the Sun on Sunday. The shares were held through Balshore Investments, a Gibraltar-registered family trust, from which he has previously denied benefiting.
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Post by northwestman on Jan 18, 2023 13:08:20 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jan/18/liz-truss-jenga-style-podium-cost-taxpayers-4175A Jenga-style podium used by Liz Truss in her short-lived stint as prime minister cost taxpayers £4,175, it has emerged. The lectern was compared to a Jenga tower, from the board game that results in total collapse, as it featured pieces of wood that resembled Jenga blocks ready to topple. It was specially made for the former prime minister who lasted 45 days in No 10.
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Post by northwestman on Jan 18, 2023 18:14:55 GMT 1
No 10 defends Zahawi after reports he paid millions to settle tax dispute.
At the post-PMQs lobby briefing the PM’s press secretary said that Rishi Sunak has full confidence in the Conservative party chair, Nadhim Zahawi, and takes him “at his word” over allegations around his tax affairs.
At PMQs, asked about the report that Zahawi has paid millions to settle a tax dispute, Sunak said Zahawi has “addressed this matter in full”. In fact, Zahawi has not confirmed the payments, or answered questions about the story, but just issued a statement saying he pays his taxes.
The PM’s press secretary defended this, saying Zahawi “has spoken and been transparent with HMRC”.
Asked if Sunak considered the matter closed, she said:
I don’t know whether the prime minister has reviewed it in full, but I do know that he takes Nadhim Zahawi at his word.
She also said that Sunak intended to publish his own tax return shortly.
The Guardian.
Would you take Zahawi at his word? I certainly wouldn't!
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Post by staffordshrew on Jan 18, 2023 18:44:01 GMT 1
I suppose HMRC staff are among the public servants getting 2 to 3% pay rises this year? I #m sure they will want to ensure members of the government pay their taxes.
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