Corruption in Government
In December 2022 we decided to see just how corrupt the Tory administration was. The results showing alongside surprise even us.
By some measures the Tories have become so corrupt that we thought it was time to start logging just how and in what forms that corruption takes place. We label practices corrupt if they benefit the Tory Government or their supporters at the expense of others or the country as a whole. There are countless examples in the last few years from the attempt to mislead the Queen by giving wrong advice about parliament, to awarding contracts for PPE to companies and individuals without any scrutiny of their ability to deliver. The list seems endless but as we now have a Prime Minister who, promised to lead a government of "integrity, professionalism and accountability", we thought we would see just how honest and professional they really are.
- 18/11/2023 - Revelations in The Observer detail how the Tory Government has carried out secret vetting of individuals public comments to prevent them from speaking at government organised public events. According to the Observer, one such individual, Dan Kaszeta, a chemical weapons expert, was disinvited in April from giving a keynote speech at a UK defence conference after officials found social media posts criticising Tory ministers and government immigration policy. Speaking to The Observer, Lib Dem peer Lord Wallace of Saltaire, who convened a debate in the Lords on government social media vetting after Kaszeta’s blacklisting, said: “It is a horrifying notion that only people who agree with you should be involved in policy discussions.”
Apart from interfering with the whole concept of free speech for the British people this has to be recognised as corruptly attempting to silence those who criticise government policies and actions. With the appointment of Esther McVey as the Minister of Common Sense are we now to expect the introduction of George Orwell's 'Ministry of Truth' as the next step in Rishi Sunak's concept of "integrity, professionalism and accountability" into Tory political philosophy? - 06/11/2023 - Claims surface that the Tory Party had covered up multiple allegations that a Tory MP had commited rape on a number of occasions. The claims first surfaced in a book being written by Nadine Dorries, a former Tory MP and Cabinet Minister. It was also revealed that two Tory MPs, Jake Berry (A former Tory Party Chairman) and Wendy Morton (a former Chief Whip) had written to the police last year (2022) asking them to look into the allegations. It has also been claimed that as part of the cover up the Tory Party had paid for one of the victims to receive treatment in a private hospital.
- 21/05/2023 - A leader in To-day's Observer identifies allegations made in the Mail and the Sunday Times that Suella Braverman used her position as Home Secretary to try and influence her punishment for a speeding offence comitted when she was the Attorney General in the summer of 2022. Civil servants refused her request and she eventually accepted the punishment meted out. She had tried to avoid penalty points on her licence by arranging to take an awareness course instead.
- 21/04/2023 - Dominic Raab resigns as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor after a report found that he was guilty of bullying. He later, in May, announced that he would be standing down from Parliament at the next General Election. Perhaps a case of he can dish it out but he can't take it.
- 08/04/2023 - A leader in to-day's Guardian Newspaper focuses on the sleaze now rampant in the resignation honours lists of departing Tory Prime Ministers. With over 770 members the House of Lords exceeds the membership of the House of Commons, our elected representatives.. The House of Lords' Speaker, John McFall, complained that only two independants can be appointed each year which leaves the majority as political appointees from the two main parties and shows up the system as corrupt, as individuals are rewarded for patronage and not for what they contribute to society. The article calls for the lists from Johnson and Truss to be rejected and for the practice of resignation honours to be scrapped and for reform of the House of Lords.
- 05/02/2023 - Bullying claims against Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, intensify as it becomes known that some complaints cover multiple Civil Servants. Tory Party former Chair, Jake Berry, says that Raab should stand down whilst these claims are investigated. Just one complaint is said to have involved 27 Civil Servants.
- 29/01/2023 - Nadhim Zahawi sacked as Tory Party Chair and Cabinet member after he was found to have breached the Ministerial Code. Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister's Ethics Advisor found that Nadhim Zahawi had twice breached the Ministerial Code in first failing to advise officials that he was under investigation over his tax affairs when he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequor and secondly for failing to officially declare that he had paid a settlement to HMRC when he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and a Minister under Liz Truss, and for failing to declare the same settlement to Rishi Sunak when he was appointed Tory Party Chair and Minister without Portfolio.
- 24/01/2023 - Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, refers Nadhim Zahawi to the the Government Ethics Commissioner over his behaviour regarding his personal tax affairs whilst Chancellor of the Exchequor. He also refers the appointment of Richard Sharp the current Chair of the BBC over the manner of Sharp's appointment and involvement in a loan of £800,000 sought by Boris Johnson, then the Prime Minister.
- 21/01/2023 - Nadhim Zahawi the Tory Party Chair finally admitted that he had reached a settlement with HMRC over his tax affairs after denying that anything had been wrong with them. Calls were made for the parliamentary standards commissioner to carry out an investigation into what was known when Zahawi was appointed Chancellor by Boris Johnson, shortly before Johnson resigned. For a politician to have been appointed Chancellor when his tax affairs were red flagged by officials is a prime example of corrupt standards rampant within the Tory government.
- 14/12/2022 - PM calls for further 5 cases to be considered into bullying allegations against Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab. That makes 8 cases in all that the barrister Adam Tolley KC is now investigating. Following on from the upheld bullying cases against Priti Patel when she was in government it shows the contempt and disregard that some senior Tories have for their work colleagues.
- 14/12/2022 - The Guardian points out the failure to appoint a Victims Commissioner for England & Wales to monitor and defend the interests of those who suffer from lack of proper scrutiny of legislation. Perpetrator? Dominic Raab the Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor.