Every Doctor is a doctor-led organisation that campaigns to save the NHS, most especially from privatisation.
This week, it issued this in an email:
Is anyone really surprised by this anymore?
Streeting had been bought.
Cooper is clearly in manoeuvres to replace Starmer, with Ed Balls shouting for her in the wings.
Reeves is transactional.
We might be appalled that they think they can do this. But surprised? Not really. This is Blairite Labour after all.
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Couple this with the number of Lab MPs coming from PR firms working with the healthcare sector, and it’s… not good.
(One example: Ipswich MP Jack Abbott worked for PLMR before winning the seat.)
Thank you and well said, Leon. Lots more to come from that sector.
Asking for a friend…
Theoretically only, of course, but is there or should there be a limit to the amount of political donations beyond which a Member of Parliament is required to disclose an interest and is thereby disqualified from speaking or voting on any matter that involves his clients/donors?
Your readers might suggest what that limit should be. £1 might be impractical, but £20 000, say, might just be enough to influence this pensioner.
I think zero. MPs must be free from such influence. Political parties should be state funded.
I agree totally that MP’s should be state funded and be forced to abide by the Codes of Behavior imposed on employees of the Civil Service and Local Government.
In addition there should be a reduction in their numbers of at least 50%.
MP (and staff) donation limit should be £0.
No misunderstandings, no loopholes, no workarounds.
Agreed
Might this article go some way to answering the question posed in your previous article?
Maybe
Rather than outlawing donations completely, perhaps we should just forbid MPs from participating in any future decision making relevant to their donors’ businesses? I suspect donors would be much less interested in being generous if that was the case! It’s hard to argue that this would be an unfair restriction. (Difficult to police, though, I will admit.)
How are Politics funded in the rest of Western Europe?
Good question
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funding_of_European_political_parties
I wrote this recently to urge Lib Dems to put this higher on the party’s agenda –
https://libdemvoice.org/the-best- democracy-money-can-buy-77197.html
It includes a link on Sweeting’s funding from private health companies.
That level of funding should disqualify him as Health Minister in conflict of interest grounds.
There is nothing remotely democratic about any of this, that is what is so disappointing.
My polling card came through yesterday and I put it straight into the fire. I’m not having anything to do with this charade. I’m not gracing or legitimizing any of it with my good name. I’ve played by the rules all my life only to witness this?
No thanks.
@PSR
NO! No! No! Please, NO!
You *must* vote. It’s perfectly permissible to “cross the ballot” like a cheque and write in “None of the Above”. I even do it on my postal ballot.
Yes, your vote, if the intention is clear, is counted as a spoiled paper but more importantly it features in the turnout figure. With FPTP it’s the only way of registering our disgust at the status quo. Show you care about democracy whilst simultaneously saying it’s a sham.
The alternative in the wings is disenfranchisement, because “nobody bothers with voting nowadays.” A boycott at an election plays into right-wing hands.
VOTE!
Too late.
And BTW ‘No’.
I never really believed in Father Xmas from when I watched my parents putting my pressies at the bottom of my bed as little boy or fairies when sneaking 50p under my pillow case when I lost a tooth.
I let the facts determine my beliefs Anne.
I do not believe in democracy in this country because it is not a fact.
Fact.
End of.
Have to agree with Mrs Cruise.
PSR, you are right on many many things – could it be that you are making a mistake on this?
I sympathise with your anger, Pilgrim.
I recognise that all our votes are heavily outgunned by the billions spent by the rich.
But by giving up your right to vote you’re just acquiescing in the status quo.
I agree
I think to spoil a paper is better
I’m not giving up a right to vote.
I’m simply giving up a right to be known by people whom I do not want to be known by.
Pollsters, data analysts, political advisors, marketeers, politicians, ad nauseum.
The politicians behave as if I am not here, so I will make it so.
I prefer representation by my taxes and NI contributions all of which are on record.
Political corruption by wealth is well known since the days of the Greeks – if not before in older societies long lost to history. It’s an age old battle since Adam was a lad that you would think we would have learned our lessons from by now.
We haven’t. And I find that rather pathetic. It’s beneath me. I don’t do ‘pathetic’.
My position harms no one. As for myself I am harmed already before I took this stance. ‘Democracy’ by nature has to have an authoritarianism about it that is judicious in order for it to function fairly because it recognises power imbalances based on wealth and position. To equalise competing claims, it has to be authoritarian . British democracy has never really done this. It’s authoritarianism is frequently brought to bear down on the less wealthy, the poor, the sick. American Neo-liberalism and its obsession with materialism in making better people has merely worsened British pro-wealth democracy. The establishment has used it to merely validate itself and entrench its position.
BTW, when I talk about ‘authoritarianism’ I’m talking about sovereign, legal compulsion, fidelity with the law/sovereignty of the land, which it seems to me the rich in this country have long held in contempt. Rule breakers you see, not rule takers.
What do M. P.s do with their political donations?
Are there any rules and/or records relating to donation use?
There should be
That’s one to ask Ni**l Fa***e, MP for Mar-a-Lago South (with Clacton, but not often), when he’s next in a witness box.
Reform UK are being sued by the Good Law Project for alleged abuse of people’s data rights.
But, Ni**l Fa***e is an honourable man… (anyone need cough medicine?).
https://goodlawproject.org/update/we-have-filed-a-landmark-case-against-nigel-farages-reform-uk/
In the past Fa***e fell foul of the EU parliament over his & UKIP’s misuse of EU expenses claimed for MEP staff costs, that ended up being used for UK Westminster candidates’ campaigns instead. Hefty fines were imposed and further EU funds witheld.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42669293
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ukip-group-denied-590000-eu-funds-over-fraud-investigation-1660159
https://www.politico.eu/article/european-parliament-suspends-ukip-groups-funding-over-kickbacks-claim/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage-hit-35000-fine-11842514
Do tell your friends, in fact tell as many friends (and enemies) as possible. Fa***e needs the bad publicity and Good Law Project need money for the case. I got a real emotional boost yesterday from bunging GLP a few quid for their legal expenses.
That’s Ni**l Fa***e, and Reform UK, accused of misuse of private data.
Also, wearing a different (UKIP) party frock, found to have fraudulently claimed/used public EU cash.
I don’t trust Fa***e to tell me the time of day, and I don’t want him anywhere near any government gravy train. My neighbours deserve far far better than Fa***e.
I presume all these donations go straight into their private bank accounts?
If so, is not bribe a better word than donation?
No – to their parliamentary office accounts
Thank you, Richard.
It seems to be getting worse.
I think, perversely, many in the Labour elite know the game is up, not just for Labour, but the UK, too, so they may as well sell themselves and the country to the highest bidder, usually US.
Aurelien, who was a civil servant from the mid-1970s to the turn of the century, worked as a consultant for some years before going to academia and writing, reckons that western politicians are no less corrupt than African ones. He has served in Africa and Europe.
Mum says she came across corruption in central and local government in the mid-1970s, but more prevalent in local. With regard to the police, let’s not even go to that “cesspit”, a word frequently used by London civil servants about the police and, by a former deputy governor at the Bank of England, the City.
Aurelien and mum reckon it’s worse now.
Every UK MSM feature on corruption overseas is a confession. That’s one reason why a British former athlete loved by the MSM did not become head of an international body.
Re the last, agreed
I lived in Nigeria for a time, many years ago. I was able to get a teaching post, thanks to a friend. I did not have to give him any ‘dash’…… It was just a way for him to thank me for my friendship. It was only when I returned to the UK and- driving past the British Museum- that the full force of the ‘culture shock ‘ hit me, and I realised then that the corruption in this country is so deeply embedded that most people do not even see it. This sense of entitlement has, for several hundred years, meant that the ‘British’ way of doing things is regarded as being completely honest and above board. We delude ourselves.
Agreed
Thank you, Richard.
I’m surprised by Tom “TNT” Tugendhat. He’s like these racehorses who have a reputation based on breeding and the gallops, but are no good where it matters, the racecourse. Why does anyone bother with him? He’s going nowhere. He used to be sensible, but got desperate as office remained distant and sold out.
When I was very young, I learned something about racehorses, but quite a bit more about human nature, when I listened to this song by the Pioneers.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=L0xwYPW01dI
Interesting bunch the Tugenhats. I recall reading comments by his father about British Viscose Corp and its ownership of American Viscose – viscose being amongst the 1st artifical fibres. Tugenhat grand pere being in the fibres/petrochem business, they knew a bit about artificial fibres. As Tugenhat pere observed, in 1941, to purchase supplies for the War, the British government were pressured by the U.S. Government to sell the company to 152 American investment firms in a deal led by Morgan Stanley & Co. and Dillion, Reed & Co… at a knock down price. Keep in mind, viscose was, at that time the only artificial fibre. Special relationship? yeah only so far that the UK has been screwed by the yanks since +/- 1940 to present day. As for the current Tugenhat – totally divorced from his grand fathers orgins (clogs to slik in 2 generations?).
Thank you and well said, Mike.
Wow – cheap, UK politicos bought for next to nothing in terms of up-front “costs”. Reflect on the NHS bill (£100bn?) & the money to be made & it would seem that our “elected representatives” (??? – surely they just represent themselves??) are selling both the country and themselves cheaply? Americans must be laughing – paying them what amounts to petty cash.
What a pathetic (& traitorous) crew.
Thank you and well said, Mike.
With regard to your penultimate sentence, that was the talk of the tech sector last year, how cheap Labour is? This came about when it was revealed how much Google had spent wining and dining the then shadow cabinet to avoid a tax hike.
I’ve never understood why an MP should be treated any differently than the most lowly Civil Servant and that means no donations, presents, freebies etc from any organisation or member of the public. If it’s right for someone with very little power, it becomes more necessary the more power and influence someone has.
I was depressed about the state of of Labour and it’s decisions of late. This information makes me more so. I am surprised such donations are allowable and accepted. I am naive.
No, you are reasonable and moral. Don’t blame yourself.
As Shadow Chancellor, Reeves sold out the plans to invest £20bn+ each year into green/renewable projects for meagre £10k “donation” from the fossil fuel sector.
We can’t prove that, but…..
I’ve drafted a new constitution which outlaws all ‘donations’ . Richard and commentators here so right about how embedded is bribery and corruption in UK. Will BBC ask questions? No. PSR please vote.
How about requiring MPs to wear the logos of the companies who donate to them? Would demonstrate transparency?