The House Of Blackmail [DVD]

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I believe that the UK government’s practices amount to wholesale corruption and that a public inquiry needs to be held to explore these funding decisions in detail, since what we know about is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg and the fear shared among many is that billions of pounds may have been misappropriated.” He claimed that MacGregor had verbally threatened to withhold money from a steelworks in his Workington constituency.

That the defendant has a view to make a gain for himself or another or have intent to cause a loss to another. Jewell said she has uncovered evidence that Tory constituencies were prioritised over less affluent Welsh areas for receiving funds through the community renewal fund, and that this, alongside other publicly known examples, constitutes enough evidence to warrant an inquiry. It would absolutely be wrong and, look, the reality is that my experience as a minister is, of course, that that is not a tactic that I’ve ever seen or heard of being deployed and the wider reality, of course, is that we also have a civil service, we have our officials who are, of course, precisely in place to make sure that in all funding allocations there is due process and proper rigour. The Labour peer and QC Dale Campbell-Savours points out that the parliamentary authorities have previously investigated threats to withhold funds from an MP.Plaid Cymru MS Delyth Jewell is calling for an inquiry into the revelation that the government threatened to withhold funds for a school unless MP Christian Wakeford voted a certain way. In her speech this morning in Bury, where she was introduced by Christian Wakeford, who defected to Labour from the Tories yesterday, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said Britain has had a “lost decade” under the Tories.

And only last week, the High Court ruled that the government’s use of a VIP lane to award PPE contracts to the friends of Tory MPs and Ministers was unlawful. Wragg’s claims were followed by allegations from Christian Wakeford, the Bury South MP who defected to Labour, that he had been threatened with a loss of funding for his constituency if he rebelled as a Tory MP.

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Reeves started her speech saying it was “particularly fitting to welcome” Christian Wakeford, the Tory MP for Bury South who defected to Labour on Wednesday. She said: “Christian, like so many others, sees that our country needs Keir Starmer’s leadership and a Labour government now more than ever.” Kine Weekly said "The picture... opens well, but as soon as it moves to Markham’s mansion its action becomes a trifle stilted, Mary Germaine, as Carol, displays good looks and obvious acting ability, and William Sylvester, although a little too sure of himself, registers as Jimmy, but the rest are a very mixed bag. Even so, the sound stellar portrayals, coupled with the 'twist' ending, give it the benefit of any doubts." [3] The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, accused the Conservatives of no longer being the party of business given that they had presided over a “ lost decade” of low growth. Rachel Hall here taking over from Andrew Sparrow for the rest of the afternoon. I’ll be focussing on the fallout of the Wragg revelations, while also keeping you updated with the other key developments in Westminster, including any important updates on coronavirus. If there’s anything I’ve missed, do send it over to [email protected].

In 1981, when he was the MP for Workington, Campbell-Savours complained to the privileges committee – and had his complaint upheld – after being threatened by Iain MacGregor, the then head of British Steel. The 'Six Men' are a gang of six criminals that Scotland Yard is unable to pin a charge against even though they are positive of the identities. A great little British Crime Drama shot in just Ten days, tracing the activities of the gang of crooks whose long run of successful coups has the police in a panic. The Conservatives have become the party of high taxation because they are the party of low growth,” she said. And explaining what she meant by “lost decade”, she said:Anyone with any substantive evidence to substantiate that kind of allegation should go to the relevant authorities. The Guardian’s home affairs editor Rajeev Syal has done some research and found that there is a precedent for parliamentary authorities investigating threats to withhold funds from MPs if they vote certain ways. Under Keir Starmer’s leadership, Labour has changed, but so too have the Conservatives. The Conservatives once called themselves the party of business. That’s a distant memory. And their failure to put the national interest above the interests of their friends and donors, utterly removed from the lives of working people. In this excerpt from Hansard in January 1981, Campbell-Savours recalled the meeting with MacGregor, who had taken issue with his criticisms in parliament of British Steel.

The Treasury chief secretary, Simon Clarke, has said it would “absolutely be wrong” for government whips to threaten to withdraw constituency funding if MPs did not support the prime minister.The Radio Times wrote: "Not one of [Maurice Elvey's] best efforts. We could do with more surprises, but the pace is unrelenting and there are typically solid performances from Mary Germaine, William Sylvester and John Arnatt." [6] Sajid Javid said the partygate scandal had been “damaging to our democracy”, and defended the lifting of mask rules in schools since it is “harder to teach children” if they wear them. Reeves accused the Conservatives of being “the party of high taxation because they are the party of low growth”. Campbell-Savours says the privileges committee ruled in his favour. MacGregor went on to become the head of the National Coal Board during the miners’ strike. He died in 1988. It’s either something he can substantiate, or it isn’t. I think that’s the point. And I simply need to see any evidence that that has in fact occurred. I think we have to accept objectively here that Mr Wakeford is not entirely a neutral source on these matters, having made the decision that he has.