By far the most important issue in this Election...

[BillyStubbsTears]

...and it's being buried.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TomJHarper/status/1193279348851314688?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Johnson refuses to publish the security services report on Russian interference in UK elections.

Sunday Times reporters dig into this and find that that NINE Russian oligarchs named in that report are also donors to the Tory party.

This is bigger than any other story or issue by a million miles.

This is how democracies fail.

And from the BBC?

f**k all. I stead they lead with a story the Tories want pushed, about them guessing how much Labour's policies will cost us.

And the Sunday Times also leads with that Labour cost story splashed all over it's cover. While the investigative journalism by its own reporters I to Johnson and the Russians is buried inside.

[BillyStubbsTears]

This provides some background.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/11/08/uk/uk-russia-inquiry-intelligence-security-committee-gbr-intl/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

This line sends a chill through me.

Members of the cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) were told that Moscow built up a network of friendly British diplomats, lawyers, parliamentarians and other influencers from across the political spectrum. One witness described the development as "potentially the most significant threat to the UK's institutions and its ways of life,"

It's well known of course that Osborne and Mandelson used to frequent Oleg Deripaska's super yacht in the Med.

It's well known that Johnson has been on excellent social terms with Russian oligarchs, including a visit to a bunga-bunga party at an oligarch's villa in Italy while he was Foreign Secretary. Apparently, MI6 were in meltdown over the security aspects of that little trip.

It's well known that Alex Salmond was given an RT programme from which to act as an apologist for Putin.

I've known all those facts individually for a while. I've never pieced them together as part of a bigger picture.

And here's the one that really gets me scratching my head. Go and dig around the internet and see if you can find ANY example of Corbyn clearly and u equivocally criticising Putin. I've been looking for years and never found one.

[Glyn_Wigley]

But Johnson went to the Albert Hall, so he's done nothing wrong.

[Filo]

...and it's being buried.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TomJHarper/status/1193279348851314688?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Johnson refuses to publish the security services report on Russian interference in UK elections.

Sunday Times reporters dig into this and find that that NINE Russian oligarchs named in that report are also donors to the Tory party.

This is bigger than any other story or issue by a million miles.

This is how democracies fail.

And from the BBC?

f**k all. I stead they lead with a story the Tories want pushed, about them guessing how much Labour's policies will cost us.

And the Sunday Times also leads with that Labour cost story splashed all over it's cover. While the investigative journalism by its own reporters I to Johnson and the Russians is buried inside.

Regarding how much Labours policies cost, Kwarsi Karteng was on one of the shows this morning refusing to say how much the Toriespolicies will cost saying he’s not going to band about figures, and then went on to band about figures of the Labour policies, they f**king forget what they said seconds earlier, too busy ducking and diving!

[BillyStubbsTears]

Kwarteng is awful. The worst type of politician to be interviewed. He never,ever engages with the substance of questions. He just bulldozes through with the pre-planned statement he wants to make.

[Filo]

Kwarteng is awful. The worst type of politician to be interviewed. He never,ever engages with the substance of questions. He just bulldozes through with the pre-planned statement he wants to make.

It was actually Sajid Javid, there was that much ducking and diving by the Tories this morning I lost track of who said what

IN FACT IT WAS BOTH THE LYING bas**rdS

[Padge_DRFC]

It's not the Doncaster public you need to persuade. Put a labour badge on my dog and stand him as a candidate for labour in Doncaster he would still win.
They'll win in Doncaster but not by as much as usual.

[bpoolrover]

Granted this is a older link but this it what you would vote for if vote labour maybe not Russian links https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/13/jeremy-corbyn-labour-leadership-foreign-policy-antisemitism

[BillyStubbsTears]

So absolutely nothing to do with the point of this thread then Bpool?

[wilts rover]

I think this was the link bpool was trying to put up -

the Tory Party has received at least £500k in recent weeks, £3.5 million in the past 5 years from Russian oligarch donors, including the wife of Putin's former finance minister, despite a pledge by the party 2 years ago to distance itself from Russian donors:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/revealed-russian-donors-have-stepped-tory-funding/
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/08/tories-have-ongoing-relationship-with-russian-money-says-labour
https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnsons-conservatives-receive-surge-in-cash-from-russians-2019-11?r=US&IR=T

Now this surge in Russian support may have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with a report into Russian meddling with British politics being suppressed - but I await bpoolrover's explanation on it?

[bpoolrover]

There is no explanation from me mate as I’m sure they are up to no good, you have to decide who you vote for tories who are using the Russians help and money or labour whose leader seems to have a lot of affection for terror groups, let’s be honest none are very appealing

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bpool.

Forgive me for being rude, but I think you've missed the point of the OP.

It's not about the Tories using Russian money.

It's about Russian gangster-businessmen effectively buying out our democratic process. And it goes way beyond party politics. This is about whether you actually care about a democracy that has taken centuries of struggle to develop, it whether you just can't be arsed.

There needs to be a public demand for that security report to be released before the Election, so that we know what the state of play is.

[bpoolrover]

I’m not missing the point mate even if your right it will not make voting labour a viable option anyway with corbyn and McDonnell there,what you think is the most important thing is maybe not what others do, we had a vote to leave the eu and the remain mps or remainers have not cared about the once in a generation vote so why should we care about it?

[wilts rover]

Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s most senior adviser, is facing questions over his past activities in Russia after a whistleblower came forward to raise “serious concerns” about the 3 years Cummings spent there after graduating from Oxford. See the Sunday Times

A whistleblower has contacted Labour frontbench with concerns over the relationships that Cummings may have developed in “politics, intelligence and security” when he worked in Russia between 1994 and 1997.

Cummings allegedly met Vladislav Surkov, the “grey cardinal” of the Kremlin, who has close links to Russian intelligence

https://twitter.com/TomJHarper/status/1190756919427915777

[wilts rover]

Breaking - 9 Russian businessmen who gave money to the Conservative party are named in a secret intelligence report on the threats posed to UK democracy which was suppressed last week by Downing Street. See tomorrow’s Sunday Times story

Some Russian donors are personally close to the prime minister, including Alexander Temerko, who had close links to the Kremlin’s defence industry, and who has spoken warmly of his “friend” Boris Johnson. He has donated over £1.2m to the Tories over the past 7 years

MPs on the intelligence committee were also briefed on concerns regarding Alexander Lebedev, the former KGB spy who was allowed to buy the London Evening Standard newspaper. Alexander’s son Evgeny has hosted prime minister Boris Johnson at his Italian estate near Perugia

https://twitter.com/TomJHarper/status/1193279348851314688

[BillyStubbsTears]

Is that different to my OP Wilts?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bpool.

I'm not sure which bit you're not getting here.

This isn't about voting Labour or Tory. It's about whether our democratic processes are being routinely and systematically undermined by a hostile foreign power. Including interference in the 2016 Referendum.

You saying you don't give much of a shit about that?

[bpoolrover]

I give a shit about as much as you give a shit about corbyn and his terror links and as much as you do about the once in a generation vote, your outraged because it suits your agenda

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bpool.

So I assume you've never read my repeated criticisms of precisely Corbyn's attitude towards terrorist groups?

That post of yours sums up the shit we are in.

"I'm going to ignore what you say and assume what you think, and I'm going to use that to justify me just not engaging with issues"

f**king great place we are in, eh?

[Glyn_Wigley]

I give a shit about as much as you give a shit about corbyn and his terror links and as much as you do about the once in a generation vote, your outraged because it suits your agenda

In effect, you don't care who buys British democracy as long as it isn't Labour.

[bpoolrover]

You have over corbyn yes, my point is, is it any worse having a Tory government which might have done what is said, or a labour government with corbyn and McDonnell which ever you get are not very good options, you saying it’s by far the most important issue I would and it is a guess say that if you did a poll of 10k people it would not be high up on the list

[BillyStubbsTears]

But as I keep saying. This is NOT about party politics. This is about interference in the process by which we choose our Govt, by a hostile nation. This is WAY more important than which party you do or do not support.

[bpoolrover]

But it’s not been proved yet it’s all speculation

[bpoolrover]

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/23/boris-johnson-repeatedly-declines-to-comment-on-claims-he-awarded-public-funds-to-friend There was uproar over this then he was found to have done nothing wrong

[BillyStubbsTears]

But it’s not been proved yet it’s all speculation

Yes!
Because Johnson has blocked the publication of the report!

That's the whole bloody point! He doesn't want this to be discussed during the election, and by saying it's just speculation, you're toeing his line!

[bpoolrover]

He will have to release it at some point and if he is found to have done something criminally wrong he will not be pm long will he!

[BillyStubbsTears]

And what would the mechanism for removing him be?

[bpoolrover]

I’m sure if they can stop a no deal brexit they can remove boris if he has been found to be a convicted criminal

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bpool. Just stop and think.

What happens if and when Johnson wins s big majority, with his critics in the Tory party booted out?

THAT is what is going on here. He's already got most of the Tory MPs who don't like him either standing down or not being chosen as candidates. So, if he wins a big majority, with MPs who are solidly behind him, and THEN the report is published, what is the mechanism for bringing him to task?

THAT is why the report has been sat on.

[Padge_DRFC]

Bpool. Just stop and think.

What happens if and when Johnson wins s big majority, with his critics in the Tory party booted out?

THAT is what is going on here. He's already got most of the Tory MPs who don't like him either standing down or not being chosen as candidates. So, if he wins a big majority, with MPs who are solidly behind him, and THEN the report is published, what is the mechanism for bringing him to task?

THAT is why the report has been sat on.

Just inbox each other instead of having 5 threads open bickering with each other.