World Watching

Brown defends ministers on expenses – , – MSN News UK

Gordon Brown has demonstrated once again his total contempt of the british voter by defending cabinet MP’s dodging tax. He even insisted there was “no problem” with the way in which the secretary for transport Geoff Hoon and secretary James Purnell have sought to avoid Capital Gains Tax on their second homes.

Also in the firing line is senior Tory MP, Sir Peter Viggers who has to become the third Tory to announce he will stand down at the next election after it had been revealed his claims have included £1645 for a “floating duck island” for his pond.

Tory MP’s Anthony Steen and Douglas Hogg have also announced their exit from politics having themselves been publicaly ridiculed over their outrageous claims on the public purse. Steen was also forced to unreservedly apologise having lashed out and blamed the freedom of information act for bringing about his demise.

The simplest way to now sort this out is to call an election and get the MP’s cash hungry snouts out of the trough that is the public purse sooner rather than later.

When i started this blog, i didn’t want to turn it into a labour bashing blog… BUT they just seem incapable of doing anything at all even remotely decent.

Only days after promising the Gurkha’s most steadfast campaigner,actress Joanna Lumley personally that he would take charge of the Gurkha situation and that he was “supportive of the Gurkha’s”  we now hear that our incompetent and inept government has gone and rejected 4 out of the 5 test cases that formed the very basis for the courts ruling that the government was acting illegally last year.

A spokesperson for the campaigners has been quoted as saying  “We trusted the Prime Minister to take charge of the situation. This is an outrage and a disgrace.”

Gordon Brown has been humiliated in the commons during a vote on Gurkha’s rights to settle in the UK at the hands of the opposition and some of his own backbenchers.

This humiliation was dished out by Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and his motion calling for the scrapping of restrictions placed upon Gurkha’s rights to settle in the UK.

The Vote was supported by the Conservatives and Telegraph.co.uk  reports that some 27 Labour back benchers defied party orders and voted with the opposition.

The BBC’s News 24 channel broadcast that with the number of Labour MP’s that abstained from the vote, that the number of backbenchers that refused to vote with the government could be as many as 100.

The defeat came only hours after the home secretary Jacqui Smith made last minute compromises to try and secure a government victory in the vote but it was a case of Too little, Too late it seems.

Telegraph.co.uk, also reports the PM as saying that to admit all Gurkha’s would cost £1.4billion.

The Times Online website reported David Cameron as saying: “The basic presumption that people who fight for our country should have a right to come and live in our country has been set out very clearly. The Government has now got to come back with immediate proposals so that those Gurkhas who have been waiting so long for an answer can have that answer.”

The Gurkha’s and their supporters including actress Joanna Lumley were reported as being ecstatic at the result.
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Given the vast amounts of money the government pours into the EC and any other cause detrimental to the UK i would have thought that £1.4billion to allow veterans who have risked life and limb for this country is a small price to pay.

The Gurkha’s are not just any kind of immigrant, They are soldiers who have fought for this country ever since 1815.

I would love to know what kind of deranged reasoning our illustrious un-elected PM uses to ban Gurkha’s from settling in the UK when he allows any other Immigrant to set up camp here while spouting anti-British rhetoric while the brave soldiers who defended this country and its interests have to rely on legal battles and public petitions to stand just a hope of being allowed of living here.

The government has claimed as many as 100,000 Gurkha’s could flood into the UK, The Gurkha’s and their supporters have rubbished that claim. Personally i would rather see 100,000 Gurkha’s come to britain than the countless hundreds of thousands of immegrants that the government currently and openly welcomes. In fact as a born and bred white brit, i would personally hold the door open and welcome the Gurkha’s to britain.

While the result isnt legally binding, it does however put the PM in a sticky situation. He has to do something. Now more than ever before it should be obvious to him that not only will the conservatives and lib dems unite forces against him BUT also that he is losing control of his own party.

Please support the Gurkha’s by signing the online petitions below.

http://www.gurkhajustice.org.uk/

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/justice4gurkhas/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5239122/Justice-for-Gurkhas-petition.html

Damien McBride and the PM

Labour is facing new allegations about the “Smeargate” affair as polls revealed how much the row has damaged Gordon Brown’s re-election hopes – with support for the party plummeting.

General secretary Ray Collins was forced to deny claims he was involved in setting up a website to spread unfounded personal stories about senior Conservative MPs.

He was accused of attending a meeting, along with then Downing Street aide Damian McBride, at which the planning and organisation of Red Rag was discussed.

Red Rag was the site on which Mr McBride, who quit as one of Gordon Brown’s most senior advisers last weekend, had planned to post smears about top Tories.

At the same time, polls showed support for Labour slumping dramatically in the wake of the affair, allowing the Tories to extend their lead to up to 19 percentage points.

They showed that trust in the Government had been damaged by the smears disclosures, which have engulfed Labour since they appeared last weekend.

The latest claims were made in the News of the World, which said it had obtained an email proving that Mr Collins chaired a crucial meeting on December 1.

And the revelations keep coming, how long will it take for the FULL TRUTH to emerge i wonder?

I think the truth is Gordon Brown is a desperate man, and willing to try anything to revive his chances of a general election victory.

During a visit to the european parliament on the 24th march 2009 by PM Gordon Brown, Conservative MEP for the southeast Daniel Hannan made this outstanding speach, Gordon Browns response? he sat grinning like a de-ranged fool. The video is here courtesy of YouTube has now been viewed over 2million times on the internet and has become a global hit.

Hardly any surprise that Jeremy Clarkson famously referred to the PM as a one eyed scottish idiot.

The Conservative Party are demanding a personal and public apology from Prime Minister Gordon Brown after details of a proposed smear campaign led from No.10 were leaked into the media ultimately forcing one of the PM’s top aides to resign.

Damian McBride resigned after admitting sending “juvenile and inappropriate” emails from his Downing Street account to former spin doctor Derek Draper.

The emails suggested the setting up of an “attack blog” called Red Rag, with the express purpose of spreading unfounded gossip about Conservative Opponents. Suggested in the emails were possible stories such as spreading rumours about the shadow chancellor George Osborne’s wife, accusing another conservative MP of promoting his/her partners business interests in parliament and suggesting conservative leader David Cameron had suffered an “embarrassing illness”.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling branded the stories “blatant lies cooked up in Downing Street”, and asked who else had been aware that the talks were taking place.

“Mr Brown hasn’t even had the decency to apologise. His statement was unacceptable.”
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The Conservative Party are demanding a personal and public apology from Prime Minister Gordon Brown after details of a proposed smear campaign led from No.10 were leaked into the media ultimately forcing one of the PM’s top aides to resign.

Damian McBride resigned after admitting sending “juvenile and inappropriate” emails from his Downing Street account to former spin doctor Derek Draper.

The emails suggested the setting up of an “attack blog” called Red Rag, with the express purpose of spreading unfounded gossip about Conservative Opponents. Suggested in the emails were possible stories such as spreading rumours about the shadow chancellor George Osborne’s wife, accusing another conservative MP of promoting his/her partners business interests in parliament and suggesting conservative leader David Cameron had suffered an “embarrassing illness”.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling branded the stories “blatant lies cooked up in Downing Street”, and asked who else had been aware that the talks were taking place.

“Mr Brown hasn’t even had the decency to apologise. His statement was unacceptable.”

Is this what politics in this country has come to? What happened to the age old concept of winning on merit? It seems now the aim is to win by default facilitated by simply making your opponent look worse than you do.

I am rapidly concluding that it is time there was a major political shake up in Westminster and i dont just mean a conservative government as i genuinely dont believe they would be much better these days.

The time has come in my humble opinion to make MP’s far more accountable for their actions and/or inactions. The ridiculous salaries and bonuses paid to these so called public representatives not to mention countless other perks that are these days a direct affront to society in these economic hard times.

When I look at the constant flow of corruption, greed and sleaze that has become almost a daily occurence in Westminster, I have to ask myself are these the kind of people i want representing me, Not just here in the UK but also on the world stage? The answer is a resounding NO.

I also ask myself if the salaries, bonuses and perks of MP’s were slashed to bring them into line with the average wage… How many of todays MP’s would be interested in doing the job then? Not many i suspect. I then wonder how many of todays MP’s campaigned on the grounds of being ‘passionate’ about representing the communities they were seeking votes from? i suspect many of them are actually more passionate about the stupidly high salaries they receive for being an MP than they are about actually representing the man on the street.

Slashing of salaries may seem extreme, But lets look at what the average MP really is. An MP is by default a representative of the people who voted for him or her. The average MP doesnt make decisions, They dont decide policy… and many very quickly forget the reasons people even voted for them in the first place, Politics to the vast majority of them is simply a gravey train. To have described Mr McBrides emails as “juvenile” is actually another indication that Government actually barely holds the public even in contempt. We all know if Labour thought they could have got away with doing it.. they would.. But spare a thought here for the innocent victims of this proposed campaign.. Mr Osbournes wife, The partner of the un-named MP. Their personal reputations and possibly their relationships could have all to easily been wrecked at the hands of a few power crazed and power hungry politicians and their chronies.
It would be easy to simply say it’s something they have to accept when involved with an MP.. But actually, should they really HAVE to accept their reputations being considered a legitimate target for a corrupt and sleazy opponent of their partners to snipe at?

The time has come to snap politicians and civil servants into line… and HARD!