On topic. I'm surprised that Farage is surprised (that the £5m bung cut through). He clearly has low expectations of his voters.
I think he knew it was going to cut through to voters - his hope was that no-one was going to find out about it.
There's also the lesson that Nigel has learned from previous behaviour- namely that Nigel Farage can get away with things, because he's Nigel Bally Farage, dammit. Which encourages some people to behave even worse the next time. (Much the same was true of Boris.)
Harder question is what happens if it does get as far as recall. Nigel presumably could win, but does he want six weeks waving away awkward questions? He might be better served by walking away raging about the unfairness of it all.
Oh I suspect he would have to put another candidate up and not stand himself - otherwise it's going to get incredibly personal.
Of course if he does leave he can't really continue to lead Reform as he couldn't be PM..
So he's in a bind, stand and the other parties will destroy him, leave and he can't continue doing what he's done for the past 2 years.
Put some stooge (Tice?) in a "leader", whilst Farage continues be the true leader. Like last time. After all, GBNews gives him all the platform he needs for now.
And the King of the North demonstrates that not being an MP is overrated as a barrier to becoming PM.
Even if there was a by election Farage should win Clacton comfortably. He won the seat even in 2024 with a large majority and only Restore would have a chance of getting near him in this massively pro Brexit and largely white working class seat
Until Farage has an answer to why the took the £5m, his reputation is down the crapper. He hasn't found one yet. His tone to "friends" suggests he doesn't see one that will convince.
It is almost impossible to underestimate the impact of Farage being effectively out of UK politics by the next election.
Personally, I find the answer that he took £5m in return for swaying political policy in favour of the giver very convincing.
The donor should have called himself a trade union
Which would still have to be declared.....but good attempt at pithy whataboutery.
and why not ? Its not as if our politicians dont like money. Labour get bribed by the unions and occasionally business. The Tories take big dollops of cash. It's not as if this comes without strings attached.
The distinction is that Labour and the Tories declare those donations, Farage keeps on coming up with different excuses about what the money was for, as I noted yesterday
Finally the most damaging of all is the £5 million donation from Christopher Harbone, Nigel Farage’s explanations keep on changing and are as credible as philandering husband trying to explain to his wife why another woman’s thong ended up in his overnight bag.
Oh how lawyerly, You defend the rules but excuse the principle, All our parties take money and all of them try to get as much of it as possible, and there isnt a single politcal party which hasnt stretched the rules beyond breaking and got away with it.
This is simply political humbug to nail Farage for something the rest of them do anyway,
Have some effing policies to attack the man not this dross.
There's a reason why people are willing to pay hundred, if not thousands, of pounds per hour for lawyerly advice.
I saw some bloke in the news this week on £5000 per hour.
Lord Pannick.
In 2010 I hired a lawyer at £3,000 per hour plus VAT and disbursements and I still think he undercharged me.
I have Lord Pannick's book, Advocates, on the shelf next to Mr Lawson's Gamble. Both are due for the tip.
A tip? On top of £3k+VAT per hour? Isn’t that a little OTT?
Farage's opponents could be making the same mistake that the French establishment made with Le Pen by going after him over money issues. Zia Yusuf might be Nigel's Bardella.
This is classic, canonical far right. The law and political scrutiny shouldn't apply to them. Because if it does, well then we'll unleash something even worse. So you'd better shut up and let them do whatever they fancy. Otherwise beware!
A political movement based on mafia mentality.
Why do you see Zia Yusuf as even worse than Nigel Farage?
Even if there was a by election Farage should win Clacton comfortably. He won the seat even in 2024 with a large majority and only Restore would have a chance of getting near him in this massively pro Brexit and largely white working class seat
It, or much of it, was Labour in 1997. How popular, locally is the former MP? He's held dozens of posts locally.
Farage's opponents could be making the same mistake that the French establishment made with Le Pen by going after him over money issues. Zia Yusuf might be Nigel's Bardella.
This is classic, canonical far right. The law and political scrutiny shouldn't apply to them. Because if it does, well then we'll unleash something even worse. So you'd better shut up and let them do whatever they fancy. Otherwise beware!
A political movement based on mafia mentality.
Why do you see Zia Yusuf as even worse than Nigel Farage?
Did you watch on Question Time last week? Came across as a very unpleasant sort of chap indeed.
Good job Tuchel didn’t pick Trent who can’t defend and picked Spence. It’s so bloody ponderous - I didn’t watch much Arsenal last season but I didn’t think that Rice would be beaten in a sprint by Harry McGuire.
Until Farage has an answer to why the took the £5m, his reputation is down the crapper. He hasn't found one yet. His tone to "friends" suggests he doesn't see one that will convince.
It is almost impossible to underestimate the impact of Farage being effectively out of UK politics by the next election.
Personally, I find the answer that he took £5m in return for swaying political policy in favour of the giver very convincing.
The donor should have called himself a trade union
Which would still have to be declared.....but good attempt at pithy whataboutery.
and why not ? Its not as if our politicians dont like money. Labour get bribed by the unions and occasionally business. The Tories take big dollops of cash. It's not as if this comes without strings attached.
The distinction is that Labour and the Tories declare those donations, Farage keeps on coming up with different excuses about what the money was for, as I noted yesterday
Finally the most damaging of all is the £5 million donation from Christopher Harbone, Nigel Farage’s explanations keep on changing and are as credible as philandering husband trying to explain to his wife why another woman’s thong ended up in his overnight bag.
Oh how lawyerly, You defend the rules but excuse the principle, All our parties take money and all of them try to get as much of it as possible, and there isnt a single politcal party which hasnt stretched the rules beyond breaking and got away with it.
This is simply political humbug to nail Farage for something the rest of them do anyway,
Have some effing policies to attack the man not this dross.
The problem is we don't know what policies Christopher Harbone bought by giving Farage £5m.
At least when it comes to Unions you know the quid pro quo is something to do with Workers Rights. What is Harbone after for that £5m..
Isnt is pretty obvious a crypto king wants crypto deregulation?
He doesn't want an official digital pound.
Incidentally, the 'digital Euro' is slowly moving forward, as a sovereign setup to go around the USA.
I think there's a very high chance that the Parliamentary investigation will conclude Farage erred. It's hard to read their code of conduct and conclude Farage didn't need to declare this. You'd have to be very generous to him.
If they conclude he erred, how badly do they conclude he erred? A 14-day suspension (or 10 sitting days) is sufficient to trigger a recall petition. Ian Paisley Jnr got a 30-day suspension for not declaring 2 holidays in Sri Lanka. There are differences to that case, but it's ballpark the same, so I expect Farage is looking at something similar. Hard to tell, but I think more likely than not Farage faces a recall petition if the investigation concludes he erred.
Will a recall petition pass? There have been 6. All except the first one (the Paisley case) passed, and the Paisley one was close. This seems almost certain, in which case: by-election.
Farage can choose to stand or not stand in the by-election. The result last time was Ref 46, Con 28, Lab 16, six other candidates <5 each. That gets interesting. I think an anti-corruption independent with Con, Lab, LD and Grn standing down in favour would be well placed, but is that going to happy? Labour could stand but do no work to help the Tories win, but do they want to? Could a Conservative candidate win in a competitive election? Maybe? Depends on the candidate and how the campaign unfolds. I think Farage is beatable, but it won't be easy. Conversely, if he can build up an anti-establishment argument, "they're all out to get me", maybe he gets an increase majority. As TSE suggests, what effect would Restore have? I have zero idea... but I do think the odds will start too favourably for Farage, so laying Farage early might work.
Until Farage has an answer to why the took the £5m, his reputation is down the crapper. He hasn't found one yet. His tone to "friends" suggests he doesn't see one that will convince.
It is almost impossible to underestimate the impact of Farage being effectively out of UK politics by the next election.
Personally, I find the answer that he took £5m in return for swaying political policy in favour of the giver very convincing.
The donor should have called himself a trade union
Do you have any examples of trade union donations not being declared?
Even if there was a by election Farage should win Clacton comfortably. He won the seat even in 2024 with a large majority and only Restore would have a chance of getting near him in this massively pro Brexit and largely white working class seat
It, or much of it, was Labour in 1997. How popular, locally is the former MP? He's held dozens of posts locally.
Only in the New Labour landslide of 1997, Labour lost it in 2005 and only got 16%, less than half their UK percentage in the seat in 2024.
I haven't watched football for a long time. I'm currently the only sober bloke in the pub watching it. Are England usually this chaotic, and what's with the keeper acting like Jorge Campos from the 90s?
What are the actual penalties that can apply in this situation?
Just a long enough suspension from the House to trigger a recall?
Yes, the usual penalty is a suspension, and a long enough one triggers a recall petition.
I think possibly they do also have the power to propose a suspension, which would trigger a by-election in which the suspended individual could still stand.
He'd win a recall byelection easily though. It's Clacton.
Even if he wins not only would he have spent 6 weeks on the defensive, he'd have had to hang around Clacton to see it through. That level of disruption is probably worth it for both the Tories and Labour.
All that would do is feed the notion that the establishment are trying to nobble him rather than beat him on policy,
It simply highlights why our two traditional parties have lost the plot.
That’s the obvious play to make. Would voters buy it? If Farage’s crime has been something more technical, something more in a grey area, as you might perhaps applies in Le Pen’s case, that would be an easier case to make. But taking a £5 million gift, I think the gut reaction of most UK voters to that is not sympathetic.
Until Farage has an answer to why the took the £5m, his reputation is down the crapper. He hasn't found one yet. His tone to "friends" suggests he doesn't see one that will convince.
It is almost impossible to underestimate the impact of Farage being effectively out of UK politics by the next election.
Personally, I find the answer that he took £5m in return for swaying political policy in favour of the giver very convincing.
The donor should have called himself a trade union
Remind me of the last person to get a £5m personal "gift" from a trade union
Until Farage has an answer to why the took the £5m, his reputation is down the crapper. He hasn't found one yet. His tone to "friends" suggests he doesn't see one that will convince.
It is almost impossible to underestimate the impact of Farage being effectively out of UK politics by the next election.
I don't think anyone cares about it apart from political anoraks. Sorry to be disappointing.
Off topic, but possibly of interest to those following the World Cup: I was expecting more trouble in the US than there has been. Fans can sometimes be a bit boisterous, some Americans are armed, drugs are readily available in many American cities, national teams sometimes come from nations that don't like each other much, and so on.
For example, recently Iran and Egypt played in Seattle -- and local activists took the opportunity to declare it a "Pride match", since it occurred during our month-long "Pride" celebration. Some Iranians, living in the US, demonstrated against the Mullahs.
But so far I haven't seen any major problems, here, or elsewhere in the US. So far. I am happy that I was wrong, and hope I will continue to be wrong.
(Some credit should be given to law enforcement here. They have kept drones way from the matches, they have warned that marijuana here might be a tad stronger than in much of the world, and so on.)
Until Farage has an answer to why the took the £5m, his reputation is down the crapper. He hasn't found one yet. His tone to "friends" suggests he doesn't see one that will convince.
It is almost impossible to underestimate the impact of Farage being effectively out of UK politics by the next election.
Personally, I find the answer that he took £5m in return for swaying political policy in favour of the giver very convincing.
The donor should have called himself a trade union
Which would still have to be declared.....but good attempt at pithy whataboutery.
and why not ? Its not as if our politicians dont like money. Labour get bribed by the unions and occasionally business. The Tories take big dollops of cash. It's not as if this comes without strings attached.
The distinction is that Labour and the Tories declare those donations, Farage keeps on coming up with different excuses about what the money was for, as I noted yesterday
Finally the most damaging of all is the £5 million donation from Christopher Harbone, Nigel Farage’s explanations keep on changing and are as credible as philandering husband trying to explain to his wife why another woman’s thong ended up in his overnight bag.
Oh how lawyerly, You defend the rules but excuse the principle, All our parties take money and all of them try to get as much of it as possible, and there isnt a single politcal party which hasnt stretched the rules beyond breaking and got away with it.
This is simply political humbug to nail Farage for something the rest of them do anyway,
Have some effing policies to attack the man not this dross.
The problem is we don't know what policies Christopher Harbone bought by giving Farage £5m.
At least when it comes to Unions you know the quid pro quo is something to do with Workers Rights. What is Harbone after for that £5m..
What is Lord Sainsbury after when he donates to Labour or any number of businessmen who give to the Conservatives. Frankly none of us have a clue but they will be after something.
Individuals have donated to parties since the beginning of time.
Do you seriously not understand the difference between donating to a party and "gifting" an individual politician £5m? I know you are MAGA adjacent but are you really that thick?
Off topic, but possibly of interest to those following the World Cup: I was expecting more trouble in the US than there has been. Fans can sometimes be a bit boisterous, some Americans are armed, drugs are readily available in many American cities, national teams sometimes come from nations that don't like each other much, and so on.
For example, recently Iran and Egypt played in Seattle -- and local activists took the opportunity to declare it a "Pride match", since it occurred during our month-long "Pride" celebration. Some Iranians, living in the US, demonstrated against the Mullahs.
But so far I haven't seen any major problems, here, or elsewhere in the US. So far. I am happy that I was wrong, and hope I will continue to be wrong.
(Some credit should be given to law enforcement here. They have kept drones way from the matches, they have warned that marijuana here might be a tad stronger than in much of the world, and so on.)
The height of football hooliganism was in the 1970s and 1980s. It's not so much a problem now.
Until Farage has an answer to why the took the £5m, his reputation is down the crapper. He hasn't found one yet. His tone to "friends" suggests he doesn't see one that will convince.
It is almost impossible to underestimate the impact of Farage being effectively out of UK politics by the next election.
Personally, I find the answer that he took £5m in return for swaying political policy in favour of the giver very convincing.
The donor should have called himself a trade union
Which would still have to be declared.....but good attempt at pithy whataboutery.
and why not ? Its not as if our politicians dont like money. Labour get bribed by the unions and occasionally business. The Tories take big dollops of cash. It's not as if this comes without strings attached.
The distinction is that Labour and the Tories declare those donations, Farage keeps on coming up with different excuses about what the money was for, as I noted yesterday
Finally the most damaging of all is the £5 million donation from Christopher Harbone, Nigel Farage’s explanations keep on changing and are as credible as philandering husband trying to explain to his wife why another woman’s thong ended up in his overnight bag.
Oh how lawyerly, You defend the rules but excuse the principle, All our parties take money and all of them try to get as much of it as possible, and there isnt a single politcal party which hasnt stretched the rules beyond breaking and got away with it.
This is simply political humbug to nail Farage for something the rest of them do anyway,
Have some effing policies to attack the man not this dross.
The problem is we don't know what policies Christopher Harbone bought by giving Farage £5m.
At least when it comes to Unions you know the quid pro quo is something to do with Workers Rights. What is Harbone after for that £5m..
What is Lord Sainsbury after when he donates to Labour or any number of businessmen who give to the Conservatives. Frankly none of us have a clue but they will be after something.
Individuals have donated to parties since the beginning of time.
Do you seriously not understand the difference between donating to a party and "gifting" an individual politician £5m? I know you are MAGA adjacent but are you really that thick?
Off topic, but possibly of interest to those following the World Cup: I was expecting more trouble in the US than there has been. Fans can sometimes be a bit boisterous, some Americans are armed, drugs are readily available in many American cities, national teams sometimes come from nations that don't like each other much, and so on.
For example, recently Iran and Egypt played in Seattle -- and local activists took the opportunity to declare it a "Pride match", since it occurred during our month-long "Pride" celebration. Some Iranians, living in the US, demonstrated against the Mullahs.
But so far I haven't seen any major problems, here, or elsewhere in the US. So far. I am happy that I was wrong, and hope I will continue to be wrong.
(Some credit should be given to law enforcement here. They have kept drones way from the matches, they have warned that marijuana here might be a tad stronger than in much of the world, and so on.)
The height of football hooliganism was in the 1970s and 1980s. It's not so much a problem now.
Ungovernable. And the stats on the NHS are even worse - I only take anyone seriously on spending if they consider health, but it really is untouchable.
Ungovernable. And the stats on the NHS are even worse - I only take anyone seriously on spending if they consider health, but it really is untouchable.
I doubt most people could explain what the triple lock is and think abolishing it means cutting the state pension.
Ungovernable. And the stats on the NHS are even worse - I only take anyone seriously on spending if they consider health, but it really is untouchable.
In Blair’s first term, Labour abolished both MIRAS and the married couples’ tax allowance, both of which had benefited millions of ordinary taxpayers and had been part of our tax system since not long after the First World War.
Ungovernable. And the stats on the NHS are even worse - I only take anyone seriously on spending if they consider health, but it really is untouchable.
I doubt most people could explain what the triple lock is and think abolishing it means cutting the state pension.
That's because Labour have been telling people for decades that a smaller rise than previously planned is a cut.
Ungovernable. And the stats on the NHS are even worse - I only take anyone seriously on spending if they consider health, but it really is untouchable.
Voting for free money when the question is asked and being ungovernable are not the same thing. We are overlooking the extent to which most people live lives in civil peace and a measure of prosperity. We are highly governable and hate chaos while liking competence.
Comments
And the King of the North demonstrates that not being an MP is overrated as a barrier to becoming PM.
More than $4bn (£3bn) is to be spent upgrading the US government’s military and spy bases in the UK, according to official documents that shed light on the UK’s apparent role as a secretive site for American nuclear weapons.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/30/nuclear-weapons-storage-us-uk-airbases
#gamemanagement
I should feel guilty about taking money from gullible patriotic sheep but I don't.
0-1 at halftime I reckon.
Incidentally, the 'digital Euro' is slowly moving forward, as a sovereign setup to go around the USA.
If they conclude he erred, how badly do they conclude he erred? A 14-day suspension (or 10 sitting days) is sufficient to trigger a recall petition. Ian Paisley Jnr got a 30-day suspension for not declaring 2 holidays in Sri Lanka. There are differences to that case, but it's ballpark the same, so I expect Farage is looking at something similar. Hard to tell, but I think more likely than not Farage faces a recall petition if the investigation concludes he erred.
Will a recall petition pass? There have been 6. All except the first one (the Paisley case) passed, and the Paisley one was close. This seems almost certain, in which case: by-election.
Farage can choose to stand or not stand in the by-election. The result last time was Ref 46, Con 28, Lab 16, six other candidates <5 each. That gets interesting. I think an anti-corruption independent with Con, Lab, LD and Grn standing down in favour would be well placed, but is that going to happy? Labour could stand but do no work to help the Tories win, but do they want to? Could a Conservative candidate win in a competitive election? Maybe? Depends on the candidate and how the campaign unfolds. I think Farage is beatable, but it won't be easy. Conversely, if he can build up an anti-establishment argument, "they're all out to get me", maybe he gets an increase majority. As TSE suggests, what effect would Restore have? I have zero idea... but I do think the odds will start too favourably for Farage, so laying Farage early might work.
https://x.com/gilescoren/status/2072358050682273890
Zaire we go
Zaire we go
Farage would romp home regardless
I think possibly they do also have the power to propose a suspension, which would trigger a by-election in which the suspended individual could still stand.
For example, recently Iran and Egypt played in Seattle -- and local activists took the opportunity to declare it a "Pride match", since it occurred during our month-long "Pride" celebration. Some Iranians, living in the US, demonstrated against the Mullahs.
But so far I haven't seen any major problems, here, or elsewhere in the US. So far. I am happy that I was wrong, and hope I will continue to be wrong.
(Some credit should be given to law enforcement here. They have kept drones way from the matches, they have warned that marijuana here might be a tad stronger than in much of the world, and so on.)
Do you seriously not understand the difference between donating to a party and "gifting" an individual politician £5m? I know you are MAGA adjacent but are you really that thick?
No point resting him for future rounds if we never make it there.
Football is a game of four quarters.
(*Maybe)
The horror, the horror
https://x.com/Crumblybum/status/2072364868255035752
Ungovernable. And the stats on the NHS are even worse - I only take anyone seriously on spending if they consider health, but it really is untouchable.
Time to bring back Sir Gareth Southgate.
I've touted Sam Curran as a potential Test captain. He's been overlooked by this management, but who knows how long this management will be around.
I cannot think of a seam-bowling all-rounder other than Curran and I think England need one to balance their [Test] side.
https://kevinspacey.store/
Why didn't Andy Burnham make Pickford Health Secretary?
Because he couldn't stop the DR's strike
I reckon if we can claw it back against one of the most impoverished nations on Earth, we can definitely beat Mexico, Argentina and France.
Once Streeting resigned and stopped grand-standing the DoH got to a solution fairly quickly.
😬😬😬
https://x.com/SkyBet/status/2072370187815334109
Um Bongo, Um Bongo, we’re getting fucked by the Congo…
https://x.com/gilescoren/status/2072358050682273890