Proud dad husband and rugby player for @thanetwanderers
thanet uk
Joined June 2009
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Pinned Tweet
thetimes.co.uk/article/torie…
Very good points by @ClareFoges Top 1% pay 27% of IT Top 10% pay 59% of IT
That means next 90% only pay 40% of IT!
chris marson retweeted
My guess is that we are days, even hours, away from a resignation announcement. For those still trying to run the "good man, bad politician" line, have a look at this.
I sense that political obituarists are preparing to run with the line that @Keir_Starmer was a decent fellow, but ill-suited to politics. Honest but naïve.
Well, have a look at this and then try to tell me he was honest. The signs were there from the start.
chris marson retweeted
Every life matters.
One law. One standard. For everyone.
This is about justice, for Henry, for his family and for all our children. They deserve better.
Great article well worth a read
“Blackheath again olé olé.”
Went to the RAG again to see Blackheath – and their awesome supporters – do a job in the Champ accession final to seal promotion to the second tier. A well-drilled, tough side. With loud fans.
thetimes.com/sport/rugby-uni…
chris marson retweeted
In two to three years time, when Starmer and his government are no doubt deeply unpopular, I hope we in the media will ask ourselves: "Why were we so supine during the long 2024 election; why didn't we hold Labour properly to account while we could, and ask more probing questions, and explore their records, rather than give them such an easy ride?".
chris marson retweeted
Yep. Trans rights activists are 'too often overlooked' when they yell into megaphones outside Parliament about "punching terfs", or threaten us wearing balaclavas while trying to stop us entering women's rights events. They're 'overlooked' inside Parliament by every Labour MP...
chris marson retweeted
If you enjoy my work and the content I create or share, kindly follow (if you don't already) and share this post in order to help others find myself and the subjects I cover. Thank you all for your interest, and support, it means the absolute world to me. 🤝 @PubHistoryTours
chris marson retweeted
Apropos of nothing - three weeks ago, who would have had money on (a) Jenrick and Braverman voting with Labour and (b) them being Reform's first rebellion?!
chris marson retweeted
I have asked the Government several times via written questions whether #petermandelson received a payoff when he resigned as ambassador to the US. So far the @FCDOGovUK Minister in the Lords @JennyChapman has refused to answer.
chris marson retweeted
Labour’s addiction to debt continues. The government borrowed another £11 billion in November taking the budget deficit (financial year to date) to £132 billion — the highest borrowing since records began outside the pandemic.
Borrowing continues to rise to finance record public sector wage rises and ever higher inflation-busting welfare spending.
Public sector pay rose by 7.6% over the last year, the highest rate of growth since records began in 2001 — and almost double the 3.9% increase in the private sector.
Socialism in action.
chris marson retweeted
Retweet if you think Kevin Sinfield should be knighted.
(And donate if you can)
donate.giveasyoulive.com/fun…
#SirKevinSinfield
chris marson retweeted
A young professional earning £60,000 & on Plan 2 loan
pays £2,035 extra as a result of Budget over next couple of years:
£722 additional student loan payments + £1,313 in additional NICs & Income Tax
>Not surprised they are all leaving - no end in sight
chris marson retweeted
Story of the Budget:
- Reeves thought she had a black hole
- She didn’t
- But she raised taxes anyway, to pay for welfare U-turns and keep Labour backbenchers happy
- Thus tilting the economy further towards the public sector and away from the private, and doing zero for growth
chris marson retweeted
There is one other pattern that emerges in every single Labour scandal. The story always changes. There's always one more excuse. But the constant is that by the end, what they said at the beginning always turns out to have been untrue.
This is very interesting and shows more questions need to be answered.
I’ve been Foreign Secretary, I’ve done senior ambassadorial appointments. Let me explain why the Mandelson situation is even worse than it first appears.
The Foreign Secretary has a huge amount of power when it comes to appointing Heads of Missions. Head of Mission is the general term for Ambassadors, High Commissioners, and Permanent Representatives to international bodies like the UN. Basically the choice of who the top diplomat is in an overseas post is down to the Foreign Secretary.
In almost all cases the choice is from a list of career diplomats, who have years (often decades) of experience, have been vetted, and tested by experience, and have previously held junior diplomatic positions around the world.
But the Foreign Secretary can choose someone else. Someone without those attributes. Clearly the Foreign Office system doesn’t like it when the FS does this and almost always advises against it. That’s not to say that choosing an outsider is wrong, just that that the FCDO will make it clear that doing so carries additional risks. And those risks sit with the Minister rather than the Department.
Obviously I wasn’t involved with any of the conversations about Peter Mandelson but I know the FCDO well and I know the personalities of the people who would have advised David Lammy about this appointment.
They would have reminded Lammy that Mandelson had resigned in disgrace twice before. They would have reminded Lammy that Mandelson had a longstanding relationship with Epstein. They would have reminded Lammy that Mandelson had widespread, complicated, and opaque commercial interests.
I have no doubt that they would have reminded Lammy that he and the PM were importing significant reputational risk if they appointed Mandelson. I have no doubt they would have unambiguously advised Lammy against appointing Mandelson to the post.
And it is now clear that Lammy and Starmer ignored that advice and appointed him anyway.
And now we have no ambassador to the USA, a new Foreign Secretary, an imminent state visit, a damaged relationship with the White House, and humiliation for British diplomacy.
But most of all we have a number of unanswered questions about what Starmer and Lammy knew, when did they know it, and why they went ahead with Mandelson’s appointment.
chris marson retweeted
I’ve been Foreign Secretary, I’ve done senior ambassadorial appointments. Let me explain why the Mandelson situation is even worse than it first appears.
The Foreign Secretary has a huge amount of power when it comes to appointing Heads of Missions. Head of Mission is the general term for Ambassadors, High Commissioners, and Permanent Representatives to international bodies like the UN. Basically the choice of who the top diplomat is in an overseas post is down to the Foreign Secretary.
In almost all cases the choice is from a list of career diplomats, who have years (often decades) of experience, have been vetted, and tested by experience, and have previously held junior diplomatic positions around the world.
But the Foreign Secretary can choose someone else. Someone without those attributes. Clearly the Foreign Office system doesn’t like it when the FS does this and almost always advises against it. That’s not to say that choosing an outsider is wrong, just that that the FCDO will make it clear that doing so carries additional risks. And those risks sit with the Minister rather than the Department.
Obviously I wasn’t involved with any of the conversations about Peter Mandelson but I know the FCDO well and I know the personalities of the people who would have advised David Lammy about this appointment.
They would have reminded Lammy that Mandelson had resigned in disgrace twice before. They would have reminded Lammy that Mandelson had a longstanding relationship with Epstein. They would have reminded Lammy that Mandelson had widespread, complicated, and opaque commercial interests.
I have no doubt that they would have reminded Lammy that he and the PM were importing significant reputational risk if they appointed Mandelson. I have no doubt they would have unambiguously advised Lammy against appointing Mandelson to the post.
And it is now clear that Lammy and Starmer ignored that advice and appointed him anyway.
And now we have no ambassador to the USA, a new Foreign Secretary, an imminent state visit, a damaged relationship with the White House, and humiliation for British diplomacy.
But most of all we have a number of unanswered questions about what Starmer and Lammy knew, when did they know it, and why they went ahead with Mandelson’s appointment.
chris marson retweeted
We paid for Angela Rayner’s education. We paid her wages when she worked for the local council. We paid her wages when she became an MP. We even paid the settlement that enabled her to buy a house. Tax payers have funded every aspect of her entire life.
chris marson retweeted
ABSOLUTE GOLD: A comment from a Telegraph reader 👇
All Rayner has done was ask her cabinet colleagues for advice. She started with the ex transport minister but then realised she was a fraudster, she tried the chancellor for economic advice, however she lied on her CV, so she turned to the Business secretary who after all was a solicitor, but it turns out he also liar and was never a solicitor
Perhaps the minister for corruption could help, but no, she was ousted for corruption. Her last hope was the minister for homelessness, who herself resigned due to making people homeless
So Ange the housing minister, who could afford the best information available, thought, let's try and get away with a few quid, £40k to be precise!!
This government is rotten to the core, and it starts with Lord Alli's mate, Starmer. The organisation works as a shadow of the leader
*Credit to Howard Nichols 👏👏
chris marson retweeted
Next question will be whether Rayner through her team lied on the record about this - which would be a certain resignation offence if it isn’t already
Angela Rayner admits she underpaid her taxes in the latest blow to the govt
Calls her political future into question especially given she’s been Labour’s main attack dog on standards
Tells @PippaCrerar she “deeply regretted” error
Tells @BethRigby she’s considered resigning