Our Prime Minister...

Reggie_Perrin

Anchor a 90 year old woman with 18k plus directorships? Ha ha ha. Questions to answer perhaps?

Foxy_Dread

In addition two batches of PPE at 77k and 30k seems a little bitty in light of other sums.

space

She was what is known as an "Incorporation Agent" who creates companies and then sells them "off the peg" to people. I had one myself in the 1990s. It cost me about £120 I think. There's an interesting side stream to follow as incorporation agents such as herself were taken advantage of by money launderers and she gets name dropped in some investigations - I might read up on that later. The Barbara Kahan that died in 2000 is an entirely different woman who comes up first in a google search on that name (lazy journalism or someone just hoping no one would actually fact check them there). I would think that the company name was dissolved in 2018 but the business kept going under another company name but retained the original name as a trading name. Maybe it changed hands. I'd look but to be honest I've wasted more than enough Sunday on this line of bollocks.

The next bit is a bit boring so you may not want to read it - but it turns out the list isn't even Priti Patels spending. It's items taken from a list of Home Office purchases. Not her personal expenses.

Anchor

I think everyone was aware it was her dept. and not her. I was for one. However as tthe boss of that dept. she is responsible.

However I am personally alarmed at the level of spending on seemingly arbitary things.

A garden centre, a pub, a cake shop and a dietican. Admitedely Priti carries a bit of weight on her harris but should I pay for that?

I am still not sold on the PPE thing either.

I bought 50 face masks from amazon for a £10 the other week.

It stinks. No two ways about it.

Travis_Bickle

I suppose it's the circumstances in which we're asked to consider the spending that causes people concern. Throughout the early stages of the pandemic, existing suppliers of PPE were queuing up to offer it for sale. And yet, we know a 'fast-track' existed for those who had the ear of MPs etc.
The 'Good Law Project' case on procurement should shed some light on the whole business. The fact the government tried to scare the litigants off with threats of inordinately large costs orders suggests they're not keen for the forensic glare to fall upon their actions.
Add to that the serial lying (which is now pretty much beyond debate) and I get why these lists cause the anger they do.

Flaneur

They are so blatantly, and extremely visibly, stupid.

cordshoes

Anybody else want to text good old Bozzer to ensure his company and people don't incur those nasty old UK income and company taxes?
Same bloke after promoting Brexit and then fucking his business off as soon as fucking possible.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56819137

hendersonjones

cordshoes
How do these tax dodging cunts get the private mobile number of the prime minister , james dyson has held the government to ransom over this

cordshoes

hendersonjones

Text from 6 months earlier....."Hello Bozzer you chubby chancer. I've got some money knocking about to promote a political campaign, can you think of anybody who might want to hoover (arf, arf) it up for their use?"

heyho

I am more interested in knowing (as a head of cyber for a large organisation) how the text got into the public domain. A major IG issue (thats Information Governance) and breach.

space

So it was part of a discussion where Boris is asking for Dyson to shift staff to the UK to build ventilators on a not for profit basis and he offered them a tax break?

It's difficult to see this as another Watergate. But maybe that's just me.

Travis_Bickle

space so you're comfortable with unfettered access for an undefined group of people? And with those people being able to shape policy after exchanges via text?
Before anyone talks about emergencies and times of national crisis, let's remember there were literally 1000s of organisations and individuals working for the common good who took an economic hit through Covid. From foodbanks to the self-employed providing vital services. They'd have loved to have chucked in the odd request for a tax break whilst showing how philanthropic and community-spirited they were.
Add to that the fact this didn't happen in isolation and comes against a backdrop of Greensill and unanswered questions about PPE and I think it is a pretty big fucking deal tbh.

albert_herbert_hawkins

As far as I can make out, all he asked was that the company and any of its employees did not end up with a tax liability due to them operating out of the UK on not-for-profit work on Covid. Seems entirely fair to me. Also, Dyson (the company) is allegedly out £20M for its trouble. I'm struggling to see any wrongdoing here despite Justin Webb working himself up into a bit of a tizzy.

Reggie_Perrin

Travis_Bickle yeah its another example of how these cunts operate but people don't care because they are partially boiled frogs.

space

Travis_Bickle I'm against all that. What I'm not particularly against is asking Dyson to shift staff to the UK to build ventilators on a not for profit basis and offering a tax break for it.

I'm not being cryptic mate. I'm saying that I don't think in that context it's bad or neccessarily something that another political party wouldn't have done. If an incentive to make ventilators for cost wasn't made I'd be more upset and want to know why not.

Travis_Bickle

The issue isn't about the efficacy of providing a public service. It's about rich people using their personal connections.
Dyson had no experience of ventilator manufacturing. Existing manufacturers answered the government's call for help of the 16th of March. They heard nothing back. One firm offered 5000 units before the government's request for help.
Logic dictates that upscaling and refining existing domestic manufacture and using existing suppliers is a better way of achieving your aim that ordering 10k units from someone overseas who is starting from scratch.
But Dyson is a long-time friend of the Tories and a donor. The same as JCB, known the world over for their famous yellow ventilators. Well that must be why the Tories contacted them as well. Even if you put aside cynicism and believe Dyson's gesture was selfless (his tax break query suggests otherwise), the PR from it was obvious.

It's bent.

space

Travis_Bickle Logic dictates that upscaling and refining existing domestic manufacture and using existing suppliers is a better way of achieving your aim that ordering 10k units from someone overseas who is starting from scratch.

There was no UK ventilator industry so there was fuck all to upscale. As for foreign suppliers - see how we did getting PPE shipped from abroad as you have pointed out yourself.

Also, they're a company full of engineers. It's not really starting from scratch. Certainly no more than any other building full of fluid/gas engineers.

space

..actually I've just looked it up. There is one uk ventilator manufacturer and it's not exactly a huge company.

Travis_Bickle

space Penlon? The one that the government told HVMC to get behind?
https://www.pesmedia.com/ventilator-challenge-uk-15042021/
I'm no expert on any of this. But I don't see a single reference to text messages and tax breaks. Or to Dyson for that matter.
This article actually shows something the government got right. And how companies can work together for the greater good without stopping to ask what's in it for them it seems.
I know people might think I'm incapable of giving a Tory government credit. I'm not. The vaccine purchasing decisions were good ones. Sadly, the handling of the pandemic more widely was shambolic. And, it seems, a good excuse for members of the government to line the pockets of their families and friends.
I really do wonder how people don't see what's wrong with governments changing policies and dishing out contracts by text message exchanges with friends and donors.

cordshoes

Travis is a better author than me.
And I can make anything show as not for profit, so that expression mean f*** all.

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