Left Leaning Blog excited to be a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn's brand of politics and cutting through the lies of the right-wing Tory press!
(This blog is being updated)
Just weeks before a decision was due to me made about the BSkyB bid the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt had said he intended to order a full-scale competition probe into the BSkyB bid. Then out of the blue Hunt suddenly performed a huge U-turn and accepted a plan by Rupert Murdoch to spin off Sky News as an independent company, and that on this basis Hunt would grant the takeover-bid.
The Culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt was within a few hours of signing off the BSKyB bid and giving consent for the takeover to Rupert Murdoch.
If events hadn't then took a different course, forcing the government onto the back foot forcing Hunt to refer the bid to the Competition Commission on July 11 2011, then Murdoch would now be the owner of BSkyB and control the majority of the press and broadcast media in this country. How could Hunt and Cameron even have thought that this would be acceptable?
BSkyB decided to drop the their bid for the remaining 61% of shares for the company. Ofcom are now looking at News Corp to see if they are a "fit and proper" company to hold a broadcasting licence in this country, this will concern BSKyB's 39% stake in the company. The regulator has not yet ruled.
So Jeremy Hunt DID speak to Fred Michel and on the day that Hunt made a statement to the House. (Before he made the statement)
Does Jeremy Hunt remember having a conversation with Fred Michel on 11th July 2011, on the very same day that the Culture Secretary was to give a statement in the House of Commons? Does Jeremy Hunt and David Cameron deem this acceptable behaviour to be having such a conversation on the day Hunt is to speak in the house on this matter?
And could Jeremy Hunt please explain what he was doing talking to Fred Michel and informing him that he was going to "expose the politicisation by Labour of a regulatory/legal process"?
When Jeremy Hunt got to his feet in the House to make his statement:
1621:At the start of his statement, Mr Hunt apologised for not having given Labour leader Ed Miliband advance sight of what he was going to say. For his part, Mr Miliband looked deeply unimpressed.
Yet Mr Hunt had already told Fred Michel earlier that day that he was going to expose what he referred to as "Labour's politicisation of a regulatory/legal process" and also warned him to expect that some Labour MPs would use the opportunity to make further revelations regarding News International and Fred Michel was then able to warn James Murdoch about it. So Hunt informed Michel and James Murdoch about something he had not even had the courtesy to inform the leader of the opposition about!
TO: Murdoch~ James ( Newscorp ~_ Anders0n, Matthew
!Palker, Jeffrey
(NewsCorp), ]; Antonio.Bavasso
Andrea Appelia( Newscorp ) I11’11!
j--
From: ’ Michel, Frederic
Sent: Mon 11 07 2011 ¢ 2:25:21 PM.
,Subject: HUnt statement at 4.15 - infos
Just spoke to JH, He won’t add anything news in his statement from this morning’s letters.
He’will expose the politicisation by Labour of a regulatory/legal process.
We can also expect some Labour MPs to use the opportunity, to make further revelations
What are we supposed to do as a collective people trying to cope with the attack on our living standards by a morally bereft government that reduces tax for the mega rich (which includes themselves), reduces tax for the bankers and OKs their huge million pound bonuses while forcing pensioners, the disabled, terminally ill, the unemployed, public AND private sector workers, women and children etc to pay for the greedy corrupt practices of the bankers, the very people who actually caused the world's problems?
What can we do about this government who are lying to us at every twist and every single turn, who are totally misleading us and have us on the road to certain financial catastrophe?
This government are hiding the truth from us, they are keeping us in the dark deliberately, they are not even doing this because they think it is in the interests of the country, they are doing it for their own narrow party political interests. The very flakiest of reasons. They are deliberately hiding the deepening mess and the crisis this God forsaken Tory led coalition government have caused and are causing every single minute of every single day. They are concealing the truth from us because Cameron, Osborne and Clegg know if the people actually knew the whole truth it would spell the abrupt end of this deceitful, disingenuous Tory government. Everything they are hiding now is being hidden in order that they get re-elected at the next general election.
The next time David Cameron and George Osborne and their tea-boy Nick Clegg try lying right to your face remember these simple set of *official figures* provided by the Office national Statistics.
Public sector net debt at the end of April 2012 was £2,293.9bn (147.7% of GDP).
This compares with £2,245.3bn (149.7% of GDP) as at the end of April 2011
So you see that when you remove the Royal Mail pension fund figures the TRUE picture is that the Tory government under Osborne and Cameron is actually INCREASING the deficit and not decreasing it.
This Conservative government is lying to you - Same Old Tories (Only much worse)
Same Old Tories - For the rich and stuff the poor.
David Cameron Dumbing Down British Political System and the British Parliament!
Once a week Prime Minister's Question Time (PMQs) is broadcast on BBC2 and shows the workings of the British parliament and political system,
PMQs form an important part of British political culture which is watched around the world As are some news programmes on the BBC.
Our reputation for having the "Mother of all Parliaments" is being reduced to laughing stock status with the un-prime-ministerial conduct from David Cameron. The prime minister has become a national embarrassment his rudeness, ignorance and arrogance, is making a mockery out of the country's whole political process.
When Cameron is not deliberately misleading the public, he is guilty of habitually lying to us, when he is not lying he is treating the economy, unemployment, welfare the NHS, education and police and defense and awarding contracts as some kind of joke and blaming everything, and everyone else for the problems he and his chancellor and deputy PM have caused. This is being broadcast around the world and whereby once the world had respect for our parliamentary system, now all they have is contempt and treat us like a sick joke.
The prime minister is there to answer questions from opposition parties and from backbench MPs, however, David Cameron in particular never answers questions and acts like it is his right not to answer questions and is guilty of arrogantly swatting away questions from people he believes are beneath him.
Cameron's language in parliament has not only been unparliamentary, it has been deeply offensive, personal, sexist and sometimes just outright rude, arrogant and childish.
Here are just a few examples, (there are many more.)
Outside the House of Commons David Cameron is just as bad, if not worse, he has made jokes about the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's height, joking about a box Mr Sarkozy stands on. Again on a personal issue Cameron described the House of Commons Speaker John Bercow - Mr Bercow (who is sensitive about his height) to Tory MP Mr Burns: “I’m not happy!” To which Mr Burns replied: “Well, which one [of the seven dwarves] are you?”
David Cameron's behaviour is not big and it is certainly not funny, especially when people are losing their homes, their jobs, businesses and it is being relayed around the world bringing shame upon this country, this on top of the international gaffes that the prime minister has also made which have caused deep offense to other leaders of other countries and their people.
This behaviour is not just confined to the Conservative PM either, it also extends to Boris Johnson who aggressively attacked his opponent Ken Livingstone in a lift, the London Mayor Mr Johnson squared up to rival Mr Livingstone in a lift after an hour-long radio show at LBC.
Mr Johnson yelled: “You’re a f***ing liar, you’re a f***ing liar, you’re a f***ing liar.”
Then again on live BBC news television which was broadcast around the world London Mayor Boris Johnson displays the same rude, arrogance of David Cameron, that he should not be questioned and anyone who does dare to question him gets short shrift.
Boris Johnson Conservative mayor for London "stuff Donovan, he's talking f***king b****cks".
This Conservative prime minister David Cameron and Conservative London Mayor Boris Johnson are what this country has leading us during a time of great uncertainty, distress and hardship and they do not give a damn about us, they are treating the whole things like a big joke.
This government, these people are not fit to run this country they are rude, foul, ranting, arrogant, out of touch, out of ideas and totally out of their depth. They are a serious danger to the ordinary people of this country they have an inbuilt arrogance that makes them believe they have a God given right to govern us and they are not even very good at it, in fact, they are absolutely appalling, quite f the worse incompetent, foul mouthed ranting government this country has ever known. The Tories honestly believe they are our masters but they are totally ruining the country's reputation and the country's economy, causing immense hardship and suffering in the process.
The Conservative prime minister and the Conservative London Mayor, the entire Tory party aided and abetted by the Liberal Democrats are entirely guilty of dumbing down Britain's economy and Britain's reputation abroad. They are a national disgrace. Just bumbling, foul, childish ranting buffoons, who should never be left in charge of a sweet shop let alone running a country at this dreadful uncertain time.
Is he working or playing computer games? By the look on his face it looks suspiciously like he is playing games!
How I long for the days when we had a prime minister in charge of the country, say what you like about Gordon Brown, he cared and he put this country first. He worked hard for this country morning, noon and night. What a contrast between Brown and Cameron.
Brown the prime minister who went on holiday *in this country* and within hours was notified of a foot and mouth outbreak and immediately returned to Downing St to take charge of the grim task ahead.
What a difference a taste of power makes, strangely when Cameron was leader of the opposition in August 2007 when foot and mouth broke out, he thought that important enough to delay the start of his family holiday, (I suppose he did need the votes then) however, some three years later when Cameron was actually prime minister and rioting broke out in August 2011, strangely, he did not think it important enough to return home instantly when the country was suddenly plunged into widespread rioting, looting and anarchy and the police had lost control of the streets! Cameron literally had to be forced to return home amid horrifying images of the country burning and people losing homes, jobs and businesses to arson, rioting, looting and lawlessness were rampant on our streets and were was being broadcast around the world. It was the August 08, the third day of the 2011 riots and Downing St were still saying that David Cameron would NOT be cutting short his holiday and return home to take control of the situation, it was not until after midnight on August 09 after suffering 3 days of rioting that Cameron eventually decided he had better come home, dispelling what we all now know to be his serial lack of judgement.
Not forgetting either that immediately prior to the riots we had a crisis in the Euro Zone which rocked the markets and sent them into free fall and Cameron stayed on holiday and Chancellor George Osborne still jetted off on his family holiday to stay in the US most expensive hotel.
Still I suppose we should make allowances, after all we can't expect Dave to put down his computer or game playing all the time in order to steer the country f through a crisis and he b obviously feels the same about his cabinet because why else would the prime minister allow his "non deputising" DPM, Nick Clegg, Chancellor George Osborne, Home Secretary, Theresa May and London Mayor, Boris Johnson to all be absent from the country on holiday at the same time? None of them thought about cutting their holiday short and returning home, not even astonishingly London mayor, Boris Johnson!
Perhaps they were all having an "Angry Birds" or "Fruit Ninja" convention and couldn't be disturbed or asked to return home to run the country, or take control back from the yobs that were ruining people's lives, businesses etc? And where 4 people lost their lives!
I mean perish the thought the prime minister actually done some work. Perhaps Foreign Secretary William Hague made a Freudian slip when telling businesses and workers to stop moaning and whingeing and work harder and he was really saying this to his boss, David Cameron?
Today's headline news from the Daily Mail reporting that David Cameron and his cabinet have been holding cosy meetings with Google ever since the May 2010 election, has made me wonder where the missing link to video footage which I have watched several times has gone?
It was a Youtube video and Cameron was talking to an audience and I think he may have been replying to the then prime minister Gordon Brown who had been saying we needed to regulate the banks more. David Cameron was pretty insistent in his reply, he said that; "we needed LESS not more banking regulation". Now I have been searching on and off for months for this video footage and I cannot find it, if anyone has the link please feel free to leave it here.
I can quite understand why David Cameron would not want this link circulated and brought to a wider audience, but I think it should be, because it actually underpins the opinion that is fast gathering momentum now that Britain has an habitually lying prime minister, it also clearly demonstrates that Cameron and Osborne have lied through their back teeth to get into government and now they are there they haven't a clue what to do with it.
Cameron, Osborne and Clegg are dangerous threat to the British people, they need exposing, where has that video footage gone and why has it disappeared? Why can't I find any press mention of this either? Why can't I find any mention of it on Google? At one point it was very easy to find, I only had to type in David Cameron and Bank regulation and it came up in seconds, including several reports in the national press, now no more why?
Something that triggered concern was Cameron and the Tory party's scandal and connection with lobbyists Bell Pottinger, where they were caught on camera boasting they could manipulate Google and clean up entries unfavorable to the Tories.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism said that Tim Collins, a senior director at Bell Pottinger and former Tory MP, had claimed he could gain access to Steve Hilton, David Cameron's chief strategist; Ed Llewellyn, Cameron's chief of staff and even foreign secretary William Hague.
Collins's claim came after a member of the bureau went to Bell Pottinger, as well as a number of other lobbying firms, posing as a member of the Uzbek government wanting to clean up the regime's image in the west
Bell Pottinger is own by Tory peer Lord Bell.
I wonder have Bell Pottinger been practicing the "Dark Arts" for the Tory party on this occasion and who knows on countless other occasions too?
What we should be asking is, exactly what the hell we have for an excuse of a government in the UK, precisely at the time we need a government that knows what it is doing, because from where I am, we have a profoundly dishonest, deceitful grossly incompetent government, led by a grossly incompetent and an habitually lying prime minister, a government that is wrapped up in PR and spin and one that hasn't a clue what it is doing.
David Cameron misleads this country every time he speaks, he has mistaken making speeches for the job of PM and he and the Tory and Lib Dem idiots are placing at risk every single person in this country and even more frightening they are risking our children's futures.
When is a newspaper going to break out from the silence imposed on them by the Tories and the worse government this country has ever had in living history, put the people of this country first and actually tell us all just what the hell this incompetent shower are doing and covering up?
The press always go on about it being their duty to inform us of the truth, how about they start now while there may be time left for all of us? They must surely know by now that Cameron, Osborne and Clegg are slowly destroying this country, with their lies and cover-ups. We simply cannot go on with an attention seeking publicity obsessed prime minister who is out of of touch, out of ideas and out of his depth, yet seems to be under some pathological delusion that he is somehow governing this country, when everything this government says and does ends up in a catastrophic car crash. How much more can the country take?
The press reputation has been sorely damaged with the phone hacking scandal etc, why not use what they know is going and what we all know is going on to inform the people now, be a force for good and help the country? Before it is too late?
A third of children in England cannot swim by the time they leave primary school, according to research from the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA).
The research suggests many non-swimmers have never had a school swimming lesson despite its being part of the national curriculum for seven-to-11-year-olds.
The Department for Education said schools must provide lessons and pupils must be taught to swim 25m unaided.
With the summer fast approaching, it is imperative that children learn to swim, however, researchers calculate that around 200,000 children leave primary school each year unable to swim properly.
The survey responses also suggested that of the children who could not swim, 39% had never been offered school swimming lessons.
It quotes figures from the National Water Safety Forum which show that more than 400 people drown each year in the UK and that drowning is the third most common cause of accidental death in children.
So with all the benefits physically, mentally and safety-wise for our children, one has to ask why when this coalition government first came to power they decided to axe free swimming for children and pensioners that the former Labour government had put in place, which was a huge success?
It doesn't make sense, especially when we have an increasing fitness and obesity problem.
But as ever we have a government that seems to know the price of everything but the value of nothing and has a complete inability to see the bigger picture or the domino effect of what they cause when they do things like this!
David Cameron speaking in Manchester said: "the financial crisis of 2008 that led to the near-collapse of the banking system "never really went away". Is that so? Then why have Cameron, Osborne and Clegg repeatedly told us for over a year and a half that they have got us‘Out of the danger zone’ and also said, "we are a safe haven, we will secure the recovery, we’ll get the deficit down?" So was Cameron lying when he said at or is just totally incompetent?
The reality is unemployment is high, they’re borrowing more than they planned and we are now back in recession. Thanks to Cameron and Osborne everything they have touched is a huge terrible chaotic "omnishambles"!
Also in PMQs yesterday Cameron spoke of how his government had reduced interest rates, this is a blatant lie, interest rates are exactly the same now as they were over three years ago BEFORE the Tories assumed power, when is the Speaker going to pull Cameron up on his habitual lying?
Cameron Claims they have reduced the deficit!
How can this possibly be true when this Tory led government are in fact borrowing £150 BILLION more than Labour would have done? That is government borrowing money to pay unemployment etc, so the deficit cannot possibly have reduced. Totally misleading lies from Cameron yet again.
Is Unemployment Really Falling?
David Cameron would have us believe that everything is fine and unemployment is falling and it is all down to the Tory led coalitions government's austerity measures.
However the latest 45,000 decrease in unemployment is down to the huge increase in the numbers of people forced to take part time jobs because they cannot find full time work and the British economy is in recession and is still shedding full time jobs, just today Clintons the card shop has said it will close 280 shops with the loss of 3000 jobs. There are still 2,63 million people looking for full time work with over a million of those being long term unemployed and another million attributed to youth unemployment.
The 45,000 "reduction" in unemployment (if that is what it really is) between January and March barely registers in the ranks of the jobless.
The reason why we are in this recession and the reason why Ed Balls and Ed Miliband are correct to point out that this is a "recession made in Downing Street" is because the Conservative chancellor George Osborne's austerity measures have crippled the economy crushing and choking off the growth they inherited from Labour in May 2010 and have ruined the fragile recovery that was underway.
Introducing a massive hike in VAT up to 20% was a huge error and making 750,000 public sector workers redundant is seriously damaging consumer confidence. There is now simply no consumer demand and this is set to get worse, as people continue to cut their spending back to bone in an effort to make ends meet. People who would describe themselves as "middle class" are now shopping for clothes in charity shops and the number of food banks since 2010 has doubled as people can no longer afford to feed and clothe their families, ore heat their houses.
The most alarming thing about this is that only 15% of this government's austerity measures have been implements, there is another 85% t come and yesterday, David Cameron the Prime Minister tells us he is now thinking of bringing in more spending cuts, forcing those poor, vulnerable and middle income earners to pay for what the greedy bankers did not only to the British economy but to the world's economy too!
Confidence in British Businesses
There is no confidence in business or demand in the private sector to inspire the to hire people or expand their businesses, or to off set Osborne's attack on public sector jobs.
Before people fall for Cameron's decidedly nasty yet totally contrived attack on the "bloated public sector" they should remember that public sector workers are human beings too and also important for the economy and to support private sector jobs, public sector workers pay tax and National Insurance and they also spend their wages in the economy buy produce the private sector makes. They buy houses, soft furnishings, food etc and without their input into the economy, the economy will wither and die, just as it has been doing since 2010 when Osborne's measures started to take effect. Virtually every leading world economist has told Osborne he is wrong and that he cannot run a country's economy the same way a domestic economy is run, but he and Cameron and Clegg have steadfastly refused to listen, placing their broken political ideologies ahead of this country.
It's hard to understand how this government are hoping to inspire confidence in British business when the Foreign Secretary and his fat friend Eric Pickles have attacked workers and businesses telling them to stop moaning and whingeing and work harder! A bit rich coming from Hague especially who has never done a proper day's work in his entire life.
President Hollande and David Cameron
Before Hollande was elected, he visited London last February and wanted to meet David Cameron, however, David Cameron refused to meet him, instead he issued statements about wanting Mr Sarkozy to win. Now in an amazing turn about face, Cameron is actually trying to re write President Hollande's manifesto to suit himself, saying they agree on many things, pity he didn't agree last February and for the sake of diplomacy agree to meet Mr Hollande before he became president, it may have made things easier now.
Cameron Deliberately Baiting EU Leaders
Meanwhile the "perfect storm" in the Euro Zone is brewing and all Cameron can do is employ bullying tactics in his usual arrogant fashion from the Dispatch Box in PMQs yesterday. Which today has brought fury from other EU leaders.
Cameron's impetuous and arrogant intervention telling other leaders "It's time to make up or break up" was at complete odds with his own chancellor George Osborne's calls a few days ago "not to talk up the financial turmoil", once again we as a country and a nation of people desperately struggling to try and stay afloat are laid bare to the atrocious and narcissistic serial lack of judgement of the British PM.
David Cameron and his Tories are sliding in the polls and people are sussing out the utter incompetence of the British government so he has deliberately tried to cause an argument with other EU leaders over the Euro Zone in order to make himself look like he is taking a tough stance on Europe, however after his misleading and deceitful performance on the use of the British veto last winter and his subsequent lying and public posturing, will anyone believe a single word that comes out of his mouth?
This government produced a disastrous budget that is harming the British economy and they did not fare any better with their Queens Speech which was empty and devoid of any plans for the growth this country badly needs, in order to get out people back to work - properly!
Confused? You will be as another day and another scandal hits right at the heart of British Conservative-Led government; Read another episode of "Land of Soap and Tory".
On the Andrew Marr show on 29th April,2012 David Cameron insisted there was no "grand deal" between himself and the Murdochs to wave through News Corporation's takeover of BSkyB.
I do wonder then if the prime minister can possibly explain why on Friday 11th May 2012, Rebekah Brooks told the Leveson Inquiry that on December 13th 2011 that during a private dinner, she lobbied the Tory chancellor George Osborne over the BSkyB bid and stressed that Osborne had expressed to her his "total bafflement" at the reaction of Ofcom to the BSkyB bid? Why was Osborne even in communication with Rebekah Brooks (who was at the time still Chief Executive of News International) at such a sensitive time during the progress of the highly controversial BSkyB take-over bid, let alone attending a private dinner party with her and another News International company executive and their spouses? Who were they? Shouldn't Leveson have them named for probity?(James Murdoch stood down as news International Executive Chairman in February 2012.)
Could the prime minister also explain all these dates where his chancellor, George Osborne had connections with Rupert and James Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson etc and why he (David Cameron) accepted a recommendation from George Osborne that he hire Andy Coulson as his Director of Communications, despite a whole swathe of opposition to the idea and people expressing their dismay and horror at the engagement, not least from his very own party?
However, even more bizarrely, Rupert Murdoch himself told the Leveson Inquiry that he too was amazed that the PM had hired Andy Coulson. Although if Murdoch's "failing memory" allowed him to recall that he was so in the dark about Andy Coulson's "activities" then one has to wonder why he would feel so amazed at his former employee's job at the heart if the British Government.
Is the hiring of Andy Coulson by David Cameron anything to do with some part of a payback to the Murdochs for switching their support from the Tories to Labour in October 2009? Something denied by Cameron, Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, however, with their apparent inability to remember key issues and events, could be they all just "forgot" that Coulson was hired as a favour to News International. With Coulson safely ensconced in Downing Street in a top job out of harms way and apparently a tight lid screwed down on the hacking scandal, News International were free to pursue their BSkyB bid unfettered.
May 2010
Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne each meet Rupert Murdoch for general discussion.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt attends dinner and reception with Rupert Murdoch and others. [Did Jeremy Hunt discuss the BSkyB bid?]
Education Secretary Michael Gove attends dinner and discussion with Rupert Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks, and others.
Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson has lunch with The Times. (I wonder if the editor of the Times James Harding shares his boss's (RupertMurdoch) amazement at his former colleague Andy Coulson's "luck" in landing such a plum job?)
September 2010:Osborne attends social engagement with Rebekah Brooks; Has a general discussion with James Harding, and social engagement with James Murdoch.
October 2010: Cameron and Osborne each meet or attend a function with Times editor James Harding, Sunday Times Editor John Witherow (who admits his paper the Sunday Times hired an actor to obtain information on the amount Gordon Brown paid for his flat.) Sun editor Dominic Mohan, the then News of the World Editor Colin Myler and Rebekah Brooks at Conservative party conference.
November 2010:Osborne meets James Murdoch for general discussion and attends Sunday Times business reception.
December 2010:Osborne meets Brooks for general discussion; also meets Rupert Murdoch for general discussion over dinner in New York.
January 2011:Osborne meets Times editor James Harding for general discussion.
June 2011:Osborne attends social engagement with James Harding, and social engagement with Elisabeth Murdoch.
Also, the newly published memos reveal that News International contacted Rupert Harrison, George Osborne's special adviser, to discuss Vince Cable's attitude towards the BSkyB bid. Here's [a copy of a] memo from NI's Frederic Michel to James Murdoch:
[Harrison] confirmed tensions in the coalition around Vince Cable … Vince made a political decision probably without even reading the legal advice, as was confirmed to us also by Vicky Price and David Laws yesterday … Rupert and I will have an ongoing dialogue in the weeks to come [my italics].
And let's not forget who lobbied to bring Andy Coulson into Downing Street – George Osborne. The Chancellor really is up to his neck in this Source: The Telegraph
So whom is lying to whom? Cameron stood up in the house and swore he could not remember having an "inappropriate conversation" about BSkyB bid with James Murdoch. When he did that, Cameron deliberately not only deliberately misled the House of Commons he also deliberately misled the country! Or is he given to the same strange form of memory loss that is currently afflicting Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, Andy Coulson, Rebekah Brooks and Jeremy Hunt and no doubt countless others involved in this scandal? The attacks of amnesia always seem to be exacerbated when they are called on to give an account of their involvement in the scandal or with News International and News Corp in formal settings under oath, such as the House of Commons and the Leveson Inquiry.
The same scandal that has now found its way right to the heart of the Tory party and the British government, that former Sun editor Kelvin McKenzie once described as "ludicrous" (until he discovered NoW was hacking his phone, then he changed his mind)
After previously denying and proclaiming he couldn't remember having any inappropriate conversations with anyone connected with BSkyB, David Cameron is asking us all to believe that he has suddenly remembered that in fact, yes, he did talk to James Murdoch about the bid at Rebekah Brooks home over Christmas 2010, uncannily he remembered this after James Murdoch himself had a sudden rush of memory when he appeared at the Leveson Inquiry and told everyone that he had in fact spoken with the prime minister about the bid.
What is more it now transpires that in addition to that conversation, Cameron's chancellor George Osborne, has been lobbied by Rebekah brooks over the BSkyB bid, not once but several times. If that isn't bad enough we also discover that Rohan Silva, David Cameron's special adviser (SPAD) has also spoken to Fred Michel of news International about the BSkyB bid on December 02, 2010.
It is blindingly obvious that prime minister, David Cameron, Chancellor George Osborne and Culture secretary James Hunt have all lied about their involvement with the Murdochs and his papers and broadcast media and the question must now be asked "why isn't George Osborne being called to appear in front the Leveson Inquiry" when it is strikingly obvious there are questions for him to answer?
It appears that not only did Jeremy Hunt break the ministerial code, so too did, prime Minister, David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne.
It would be absolutely extraordinary if the BSkyB bid was not discussed on any of these occasions. The was an £8bn commercial bid which the government were going to make a decision on. they should never have been meeting interested parties, their position have been wholly compromised.
Yesterday: Andy Coulson said that he did not discuss phone hacking with David Cameron. Today: Rebekah Brooks said that she discussed phone hacking with David Cameron. So what is the truth?
Here we have yet another connection with the Tories and Rebekah Brooks.
Conservative Peer Lord Bell of Bell Pottinger, the Lobbyists recently embroiled in lobbying scandal involving a powerful cabinet member's son advised Rebekah Brooks how to handle herself at Leveson Inquiry.
Some more Time-lines
July 04, 2006: George Osborne and his wife throw dinner for James Murdoch and his wife and Samantha and David Cameron
April 04, 2007: James Murdoch dines with the Camerons
May 31, 2007:David Cameron hire Andy Coulson as his spin doctor, at George Osborne’s suggestion on a reported salary of £485,000
January 22 2008:James Murdoch breakfasts at Stafford hotel with David Cameron, at the initiative of Rupert Murdoch, to discuss David Cameron's political views.
July 15, 2008:The Camerons dine with James Murdoch and his wife
August 16 2008:Cameron flies out on Matthew Freud’s plane to meet Rupert Murdoch on his yacht off Santorini
October 29, 2008The Camerons have James Murdoch and his wife to dinner, along with William Hague and his wife. According to exhibit JRJM10, James Murdoch says the discussion at the dinner was political. This was at the height of the Sachsgate row over the behaviour of BBC presenters. The following Monday David Cameron provided a comment piece for the Sun, strongly critical of the broadcaster.
November 03, 2008: In a typical way in which the thenTory leader had come to act and fall into line with what Rupert and James Murdoch wanted Cameron writes this piece in Murdoch's Sun newspaper in The Sun: Bloated BBC is out of touch, says CameronStrangely enough just as the recently exposed emails between AS/JH and Fred Michel have proved that what was mentioned in them has actually happened, so the same sort of thing has occurred here. Cameron and Osborne have twice refused to raise the BBC license fee, heralding it as some kind of victory for the people, but is it? Starving the BBC of cash is not only forcing them to cut many of their programmes, it is also pandering to Murdoch's notion that the BBC is bloated, something that Cameron also speaks of after being involved with Murdoch for years. It also placed them in a vulnerable position for privatisation, where they would have been vulnerable to a Murdoch take-over bid, should his BSkyB bid have been allowed through without controversy. Not mentioning that Cameron has parachuted Conservative Peer Lord Chris patten into the BBC Chairman role. Also Cameron replaced Andy Coulson with former editor of BBC flagship 6 and 10 O'clock news Craig Oliver.
January 25, 2011: David Cameron has secret dinner with James Murdoch at the home of Rebekah Brooks shortly before Christmas the secret meeting comes only a few days after Cameron stripped Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, of the power to decide whether News Corp should be allowed to buy the 61 percent of BSkyB it does not already own.
March 01, 2011: Craig Oliver Former Editor BBC Flagship news programmes Joins Downing St staff as Andy Coulson's replacement as Director of Communications. Oliver oversaw government cuts to BBC.
May 1st, 2011: Conservative Peer Lord Patten took over as Chairman of BBC Trust
It appears that there is an inexplicable link between the government, the Murdochs and the BBC and looks very much like the BBC was and maybe still is being prepared for privatisation.
It seems that the chosen fall guy in all of this is Jeremy Hunt, first of all he gets hung out to dry by James Murdoch when he appeared at the Leveson Inquiry and yesterday the same thing happened when Rebekah Brooks hung him out to dry at the Leveson Inquiry also. It appears they have decided on a scapegoat and Jeremy Hunt is it, any loyalty he has towards the Murdochs and Rebekah Brooks should be forgotten about, because this looks like it has been done on purpose and it can only now be a matter of time before Hunt Loses his job and goes the same way as he sacrificed his personal adviser Adam Smith. Cameron doesn't want to get rid of Jeremy Hunt, however, he may have no choice and the Murdochs will know this of course.
It is very difficult to envisage that Hunt can keep his job after Brooks exposed that Jeremy Hunt colluded with Rupert Murdoch’s media empire to try to prevent a public inquiry into phone hacking and asked it to help guide Downing Street’s ‘positioning’ on the unfolding scandal, it was claimed yesterday.
A bombshell email published by the Leveson inquiry suggested the Culture Secretary asked News Corporation to ‘advise him privately’ as the News of the World was engulfed in hacking allegations. How much can Cameron and Hunt blame on one person Adam Smith for all of this, it is reaching ludicrous levels and how much more is there to come out?
Is it far from the realms of impossibility that the Murdochs wish to bring Cameron and the Tory led government down and this, for reasons better known to themselves, is this the way they have chosen to do it?
Update Sunday 13, May 2012:
I wrote yesterday that George Osborne was in this up to his neck
George Osbornewas dragged deeper into the furore over the Murdoch empire's links to government as it emerged that he entertained Rebekah Brooks for a weekend at his country residence asRupert Murdochwas planning to take overBSkyB.Also present for the weekend at Dorneywood, the chancellor's grace and favour residence in Buckinghamshire, was Brooks's friend, Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor, who at the time was working as David Cameron's director of communications inside No 10. Read More: The Guardian
Ever since the Tories got trounced in the local elections, got kicked out of Scotland and Wales and almost lost the London Mayoral elections, Cameron has been doing the rounds trying to blame it all on Labour saying they "inherited a broken economy", they didn't, IT WAS GROWING and it isn't now, we are in recession. The Tories (Cameron, Osborne and Clegg) broke it. Their fault!
Sick of Cameron's habitual lying, arrogance, rudeness, incompetence and deliberate misleading.
This is a Tory recession made in Downing Street by David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg and it's about time they accepted responsibility for their own actions and stopped blaming others.
Last February David Cameron refused to meet François Hollande, when he visited London on a campaigning visit to the hundreds of thousands of French expats who have made their home in the British capital.
This act once again exposes the serial lack of judgement displayed by the British prime minister.
Privately Cameron's Aides said that he did not want to offer support to Hollande. Now after Mr Hollande has won the French presidency, David Cameron is left looking like a silly petulant little boy.
“The Prime Minister called President-Elect Hollande this evening and congratulated him on his victory.“They both look forward to working very closely together in the future and building on the very close relationship that already exists between the UK and France.”
Yes of course Dave. Is this one more lie we have to chalk down to you ? Truth is that Dave has already managed to upset the president of France before he even became president and there is no excuse for it, he should have known to have afforded Mr Hollande a few minutes because he had no idea who was going to emerge the winner from the presidential race.
By publicly declaring his support for Nicholas Sarkozy in the French Presidential race Cameron broke with the long-standing convention that British Prime Ministers do not take sides in foreign elections, which he did by endorsing Mr Sarkozy in French Newspaper Le Figaro.
The Prime Minister heaped praised on Mr Sarkozy as a ‘brave politician’ with ‘great leadership qualities’ while criticising his main rival Francois Hollande.
Of course Cameron probably doesn't really think this about Mr Sarkozy, he was most likely just trying to get back into Sarkozy's good books, after Sarkozy snubbed him for acting like a spoiled schoolboy when Cameron used the British veto during a summit on the vitally important eurozone when there was absolutely no need to, which later transpired to be just another faux fight and an act designed to get him off the political hook back in the UK, an act that left the UK isolated and Cameron looking stupid.
I also doubt very much that Mr Sarkozy ever forgot that George Osborne and David Cameron were caught making jokes about Sarkozy's height while asking for a box for the president to stand on and then reducing themselves to fits of schoolboy laughter. Prompting the then president's office to officially complain about their offensive behaviour.
However, Cameron's mistakes with presidents or would be presidents doesn't actually stop there, in his serious schoolboy crush on President Obama, he managed to upset Mitt Romney the Republican nominee for presidency of the US when he gushingly took sides’ in the US Presidential election race.
Aides to Republican candidate Mitt Romney have accused the Prime Minister of staging a ‘love in’ with Barack Obama during his recent trip to Washington which will help the president get re-elected.
In a highly unusual attack on Mr Cameron, the Romney camp accused the Prime Minister of showing a ‘lack of experience’ and being ‘not very skilful’ when he gave a toast in Mr Obama’s honour during a White House banquet.
A senior aide said: ‘You don’t take sides in an election year.’ The Tories and the Republicans are supposed to be political bedfellows but a rift appeared to be opening up last night over Mr Cameron’s comments.
Now when Mr Romney visits London with his wife for the Olympics, it is doubtful he will want to meet Cameron, why would he? He may be treated to the same kind of snub that Cameron treated Mr Hollande to, I doubt that Mitt Romney will want to risk it. Cameron should remember that when President Obama visited the UK, he took the time out from his schedule to meet with the leader of the opposition Ed Miliband, Obama obviously knows his protocol, which is much more than can be said for the British prime minister.
Mr Cameron's office has admitted that Mr Cameron’s first meeting with Mr Hollande is unlikely to happen until the G8 summit at Camp David in the US on May 18 and 19, raising the bizarre prospect that the Prime Minister will have to fly 4,000 miles to see the French President, rather than take a two-hour trip to Paris!
Officials in Whitehall last night accused Mr Cameron of ‘putting all his eggs in one basket’ by throwing his political weight behind Mr Sarkozy – even when polls suggested he was likely to lose.
And they warned that Britain might pay a heavy price for the snub since the UK is heavily dependent on the new French leader for economic recovery, national defence and the future of the UK nuclear power industry. The Mail.
Once again our joke of a prime minister has put his serial lack of judgement and his own incompetent ability to keep out of trouble before the good of the British people and this court jester prime minister is just not funny any more.
To think they used to criticise George W Bush, Cameron is far worse than even him!
The Conservative MP for Harlow, Robert Halfon has said on Sky News today that the Conservatives should get the "knuckledusters out for Labour", a tad violent perhaps?
So I decided to have a little look at the member for Harlow, this is what I discovered, Robert Halfon has his fingers in a lot of strange pies, many of which have been registered for years and are active but nothing has ever happened in them: I also discovered that one of the companies that Halfon is connected with has links to lobbyists Bell Pottinger who has been connected to the Tory government.
Robert Halfon member of the recently formed "Right Angle Campaign" which hoped to rival the successful campaigning group 38 Degrees. Right Angle is the campaign that was so desperate followers that it purchased over 9000 of Face Book "Likes" from India in a couple of days of commencement of the campaign.
The right-wing pressure group Right Angle aims to emulate 38 Degrees’ success after a string of victories by the progressive website. But three of Right Angle’s four directors have links with Dmitry Firtash (above left) – a Ukrainian billionaire with a controversial past.
Robert Shetler-Jones (above second from left) is the Chief Executive of Firtash’s Group DF business conglomerate, and also takes money from Firtash through his company Scythian Ltd, which he directs. Shetler-Jones dished out £20,000 per year to Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones — who was then refused a role as National Security Adviser after MI5 raised security concerns over her connections to Firtash.
Anthony Fisher (above right) is the Director of Firtash’s DF Foundation, a privately-owned body which ostensibly funds Ukrainian-based education in British universities. He also directs the British Ukrainian Society with Shetler-Jones, which shares its swanky Knightsbridge office with Scythian Ltd and the DF Foundation.
Robert Halfon MP (above second from right), who is also a Right Angle director, hasreceived significant funding from Shetler-Jones and his Scythian Ltd, which was listed as “dormant” at Companies House from its foundation in 1996 until at least 2008:
As reported in The Guardian, a former Ukraine PM accused Firtash of having links with mafia boss Semyon Mogilevich — believed to be the “Boss of Bosses” of most Russian mafia syndicates and described by the FBI as “the most dangerous mobster in the world”. Links between Mogilevich and Firtash’s business interests have been the subject of an investigation by the US Department of Justice.
Would you trust these people with your email address?
The Conservative Party has accepted more than £57,000 in cash donations from British Businessman who oversees the assets of a controversial Ukrainian billionaire embroiled in a battle over the control of gas supplies to a large part of western Europe. Robert Shetler-Jones, a 39-year-old property developer who is the chief executive of Group DF – the holding company for the multi-billion pound assets of Dmitry Firtash with offices in Knightsbridge, has made a series of donations over the last two years to Conservative Central Office as a private individual and through Scythian Ltd, a company listed at Companies House as “dormant”.
So what gives? What are these companies for, what do they do? Who do they benefit, what is Halfon's real connections toall of these companies?
Why is one of them (Granovski Associates Ltd) connected to Bell-Pottinger the lobbyists?
Bell Pottinger whose links to the Tory government has been recently uncovered. The most powerful public affairs business in the country’ is how senior executive David Wilson describes Bell Pottinger Public Affairs (BPPA). Many believe the key to that power is the company’s links with the Conservative Party.
It’s no coincidence that when the Conservative Party held its controversial auction of internships in February, a week’s work experience at Bell Pottinger was one of the lots on offer.
Bell Pottinger regularly sponsors Tory events, such as the Conservative Future reception in June, where BPPA managing director Tim Collins spoke alongside David Cameron, the Party’s co-chairman Lord Feldman and vice-chairman Andrew Stephenson.
And research by the Bureau has shown that the firm donated almost £12,000 to the Tories in the year to September 2011.
