Category Archives: Employment

Politicians want people with Long Covid to work. Is it another cull of the sick?

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Long Covid: to sufferers, it is a huge burden they have to carry every day. Now politicians on both sides of the political fence want to force them to suffer that burden AND go to work as well, so they don’t have to take migrant workers from abroad. It will be a death sentence.

Politicians in both main political parties want to push sick people back into work – but isn’t that an indictment of the UK’s political response to Long Covid?

Let me explain, with the help of Samuel Miller:

You have to look behind the headlines, behind what the mouthpieces are uttering, in order to understand what they really mean.

Here’s an example:

How about this now-deleted tweet from broadcaster Jeremy Vine?

It attracted a strong response:

The document contains details of people who have died or committed suicide as a result of government mistreatment of their sickness benefit claims in attempts to force them back into work.

Looking at the evidence, and based on my own experience of government policy over the last 20 years (Tory and Labour), This Writer is moved to ask:

Are we looking at the beginnings of another politically-motivated cull of the sick?

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Sunak knew he was lying when he said the UK has 20,000 more police officers. Why isn’t he gone?

Rishi Sunak: he treats Parliament as if he’s appearing in a badly-scripted community theatre. The claims are untrue but he seems to think that if he delivers them as if they were, he’ll be believed anyway.

I remember when knowingly lying to Parliament was an offence for which any MP could expect to be expelled. Sadly, under the Tories, such discipline has fallen by the wayside and even a prime minister can now get away with saying any old rubbish and getting away with it.

We were reminded of this yesterday (April 26, 2023) at PMQs:

He even went ahead and publicised this on the social media:

Here are the facts, courtesy of Peter Stefanovic:

So there you have it. Sunak is lying. Braverman was wrong.

If you enjoy watching Tories squirm, watch her having her wrongness pointed out to her by Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain:

The UK only has 4,000 more police officers, and in any case, to reach parity with previous levels of policing per head of population, the government would have needed to recruit 50,000 more police.

But they can’t, because wages have fallen 20 per cent behind inflation and morale is at an all-time low.

Still, if you repeat a lie often enough, people will start to believe it, as Josef Goebbels taught the Tories.

Do you believe it?

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Scott Benton suspended: isn’t this double-standards after the Led By Donkeys sting?

Scott Benton: what he offered to do was wrong, but no different from other Tory MPs. So why has he been singled out?

It seems Led By Donkeys is not the only organisation that has been trying to entrap MPs by creating fake firms for them to represent by illegal lobbying.

The Times has apparently tried to net Tory MP Scott Benton by the same means – and unlike Kwasi Kwarteng, Sir Graham Brady, Stephen Hammond and Gavin Williamson, he has been suspended by the party pending an investigation.

This seems very odd.

Benton referred himself to Parliament’s standards watchdog and had the whip removed by his party shortly afterwards. It seems The Times had filmed him saying he could table Parliamentary questions and leak a Parliamentary policy paper, if he took a job with the fake firm.

But he did not pursue the role and it seems no rules have been broken.

This seems no different from the behaviour of three of the five MPs who were approached by Led By Donkeys. They did not have apparent concerns about being used as conduits for a firm to talk to ministers. Another, who said he could not lobby directly, said there was a way around the rules.

Only one refused to have anything to do with behaviour that might be used to attempt to influence government policy.

To This Writer’s knowledge, none of them have been referred to the Parliamentary standards watchdog or been suspended from their party whip (although, in Matt Hancock’s case, this would be difficult as he has already been suspended).

Why is he being investigated and not them?

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MP extra jobs: Led By Donkeys’ investigation rushes to unexpected conclusion

Hancock shock: he was the only MP interviewed by Led By Donkeys’ fake firm who actually pointed out that he had a responsibility to his constituents.

This took me a little by surprise. The last three Led By Donkeys video films about MPs trying to get an extra job with a fake foreign firm, ignoring the plight of their poverty-stricken constituents, have been released over the last 24 hours.

Here they are. Firstly, Tory Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond, who already has two extra jobs that make as much money for him as his Parliamentary salary. The (relatively recent) saying is true: money isn’t earned any more – it is a commodity that may be demanded in greater or lesser amounts according to circumstances…

Here’s the clip:

It’s fascinating how he talks about his price range being at the lower end of the scale suggested – then he readily agrees to suggest remuneration at the middle-to-top end of the scale.

Next up: Sir Gavin Williamson, who left his last Tory government job under a cloud of bullying accusations:

Interestingly, he at least took a more sceptical attitude toward the fake company, seeking to establish that it was bona fide. But he still joined a Zoom call to discuss the fake job being offered to him.

And when he found out the firm wanted to meet government ministers, he made his excuses and hung up. It seems he did not want to be involved with an organisation that may seek to influence government policy.

It provides a curious footnote to Williamson’s career. After years on the wrong side of the headlines, he suddenly did the right thing.

That being said, and as with all the other Tories, the well-being of his constituents still took second place to his own comfort as he has since taken a second job with an education firm, for which he takes £50,000 per year.

Finally: Matt Hancock – described by Led By Donkey’s as an independent MP, having lost the Tory whip due to his appearance on TV’s I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, and by a commenter on the video clip as the kind of person you have to admire: “Imagine waking up as Matt Hancock every morning and not simply throwing yourself into the ocean.”

He was interviewed in the week his damning WhatsApp conversations about the Covid-19 crisis were publicised in the press, and announced he would be standing down as an MP at the next election.

He still seemed to have time to discuss a second job with a foreign firm – although, let’s be fair: he was the only MP in the Led By Donkeys investigation who mentioned any responsibility to his constituents at all.

And, again, he stressed he’d stick to Parliamentary rules about meetings with government ministers.

Surprisingly, Led By Donkeys did not sum up their findings at all.

Well, I have a few – and here they are:

Firstly, it is clear that all five of the MPs who interviewed for the fake job were quite happy to have such a position alongside their work as MPs and for their constituents; they all wanted to get on the gravy train.

Four of them had no concerns about security – doesn’t that make them security risks?

Three of them did not have apparent concerns about being used as conduits for a firm to talk to ministers. Another one, who said he could not lobby directly, said there was a way around the rules. Only one refused to have anything to do with behaviour that might be used to attempt to influence government policy. So it seems the majority were happy to help influence the government by these means.

And only one MP – possibly the one who might be least expected to do so – actually mentioned a duty to constituents.

So the intention of the investigation is proved: it seems clear that, among some MPs at least, the well-being of UK citizens comes a distant second to the opportunity to use status as an MP to rake in pots of cash.

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Tory lies: they say police numbers are at their highest ever. But check the small print

Police: the Tories are fiddling recruitment numbers – there still aren’t enough of them. And do we trust them any more?

Here’s a great piece of exposure by Peter Stefanovic:

The Tories were never going to recruit an extra 20,000 police officers; they were always trying to compensate for the 21,000 they removed – and they were never going to make it because a more realistic recruitment figure, taking retirements into account, was 50,000.

Worse still, because the population has risen, the number of police officers per UK citizen has fallen drastically.

And to cap it all off, trust in the service is at an all-time low because of recent revelations about the Metropolitan Police (institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic).

The result is a crisis for law and order in the United Kingdom that Braverman is simply ignoring.

MPs’ extra jobs: Tory backbench chairman Sir Graham Brady interviews for SIXTH job

The latest Led By Donkeys video clip on MPs taking extra jobs is now available – and focuses on Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Tories’ backbench 1922 committee.

He’s a highly important Parliamentary figure being the MP who takes ‘no confidence’ votes in Tory Party leaders and announces the result in the leadership elections that may follow.

He also has four other jobs already. How much opportunity does that provide for commercial concerns to influence him, and for him to influence Parliament in turn?

Here, he participates in a job interview for the fake South Korean firm set up by the campaigning group:

He never mentioned his obligations to his constituents.

It is possible that this is because – as he stated to Led By Donkeys when the group contacted him – he is planning to quit Parliament at the next election, and he took part in the interview because he is looking for new opportunities beyond his life as an MP.

Looking at what he said in the interview, do you think that’s true?

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‘I can get you Boris Johnson’ says Kwasi Kwarteng to fake foreign employer

This is more from the Led By Donkeys investigation into MPs’ who have or try to get second jobs with huge pay rather than helping constituents who have to struggle on tiny wages or benefits.

It seems Kwasi Kwarteng, in discussions with the fake South Korean firm set up by the campaigning group, suggested he could get former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson to represent them.

Here’s the resulting video clip:

More to follow…

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Led By Donkeys MP second jobs scandal: Labour is no better

Backhander: another problem with MPs taking second jobs is that they don’t declare any interest when taking part in debates – you have to look up their details in the House of Commons Register of Interests to find out about it.

The film series in which Led By Donkeys exposes MPs who are happy to neglect their first duty – to their constituents – for a second job with a (fake) foreign firm has won huge public interest since its trailer debuted yesterday.

But let’s remember one thing while we’re looking at Tory MPs trying to get their noses in the trough:

Labour’s leader is no better.

In 2017, Keir Starmer was blocked from taking a second job with law firm Mishcon de Reya – by then-party leader Jeremy Corbyn (a man with better principles than all the MPs mentioned in the Led By Donkeys research, put together).

Nowadays, it seems he likes to say he was only “in discussion” with that firm – as though it doesn’t mean he was talking with its people about working for them. Watch him get contradicted by a Sky News reporter here:

I wonder how Sky News will be treated by a future Labour government, considering the way Starmer has abused and persecuted dissenters in his own party?

A huge problem with MPs having second jobs – besides the fact that it reduces their work for constituents to a part-time hobby – is that it makes them employees of organisations that may (and many do) wish to influence politics in the UK. But that isn’t the only way it can be done.

Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has said the party will end the scandal of MPs’ second jobs – as though that will be the end of the corruption.

What about the donations she (along with other Labour MPs) takes from pro-Israel lobbyist Trevor Chinn? As matters stand, there is no reason they shouldn’t take his money – but what are they obliged to do in return?

Here’s a ray of hope, though: fortunately some MPs still remember the reason they were elected to Parliament, and are prepared to point out the failings of their fellow representatives. Here’s Zarah Sultana:

Needless to say, she has been sidelined by Starmer.

Another backbencher, sidelined by Starmer, is Richard Burgon – whose Private Members’ Bill to ban MPs from having second jobs is currently going through the Parliamentary process:

He has spoken forcefully about the issue in the House of Commons:

How many of you expect this excellent legislation to be filibustered out of existence by the usual Tory suspects?

None of this should be allowed to override the main point of the Led By Donkeys exposure, though – that sitting MPs are demanding huge amounts of money to shill for commercial interests while their constituents suffer in poverty and hunger.

Let’s have a look at some of the figures:

It’s corruption fuelled by greed, pure and simple.

And the fact is that it will continue because there is no way to compel MPs to stop.

Or will the tide of public opinion be enough to make these avaricious pigs lift their snouts from the trough and do the right thing – for fear of being ousted at the next election?

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While we face financial hardship, Tory MPs demand a fortune to work for a fake firm

Matt Hancock: of course the MP who took a six-figure sum to appear on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here was interested.

Remember Led By Donkeys – the campaign group that came to public knowledge by putting posters on billboards showing politicians’ hypocrisy about Brexit?

Well, as people in the UK face continued financial hardship, and at a time when MPs may reasonably be expected to be concentrating on their main job, this group wanted to see how many may be tempted to take a second job, promoting a foreign firm (that doesn’t exist), to boost their own fortunes.

The operation netted interest from some big names, as you can see from this trailer:

I’m willing to bet you can’t wait for the next episode.

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Lee Anderson’s second job hypocrisy

Lee Anderson: he’s the one on the right, pictured with another controversial man at the moment, Boris Johnson. Strangely enough, ’30p Lee’ has not, to This Writer’s knowledge, criticised Johnson for the many other paying engagements he takes on and it seems unlikely he ever will, now that he has also taken a second job.

Tory MP ’30p Lee’ Anderson, who once said MPs should not take second jobs but should quit Parliament altogether before seeking a higher-paying career… is taking a second job.

He’ll be drawing down £100,000 a year on a GB News TV show:

The hypocrisy is clear. I don’t have video clips of Anderson saying the words quoted above, but here’s one of him saying MPs who can’t live on their £84,000-a-year salary should get a job as a lorry driver instead:

The funny side is, Anderson wouldn’t even do that.

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