UK Politics Thread

[Pannonian]

With all the excuses of "Lets' wait for Sue Gray's report", her report is now delayed, and the Met have asked her to make minimal reference to the events in Downing Street. Yup, her report into the goings on should make minimal reference to what she's supposed to be reporting on, and we shouldn't draw any conclusions until this delayed, minimal report comes out.

They're not even pretending to follow the rules any more. Still, they win elections, which is all you need in a democracy.

[Furunculus]

With all the excuses of "Lets' wait for Sue Gray's report", her report is now delayed, and the Met have asked her to make minimal reference to the events in Downing Street. Yup, her report into the goings on should make minimal reference to what she's supposed to be reporting on, and we shouldn't draw any conclusions until this delayed, minimal report comes out.

They're not even pretending to follow the rules any more. Still, they win elections, which is all you need in a democracy.

with the quoted text above and the the suggestion that "they're note even pretending to follow the rules any more" you seem to be drawing a direct inference between me and a conspiracy in the the deep-state to pervert the course of justice.

i'm flattered, but i'm really a nobody, and the truth might be a lot more prosaic:

https://thesecretbarrister.com/2022/...endent-report/
https://twitter.com/BarristersHorse/...98083272675330

in contrast to the implication above, i did in fact say:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...post2053827306

If he has lied to parliament i imagine there will be sifgnificant presure for him to step down, and i will support it.

[Pannonian]

A "FRAT house" atmosphere in Boris Johnson's flat and laxness around security led to restrictions on where top-secret papers could be viewed, it has been claimed.

Highly classified material was left lying around in 11 Downing Street where it could be read by any visitor, reported The Times.

Sue Gray, who is investigating lockdown parties held in Downing Street, found that some of Carrie Johnson’s friends had access to a Pin code giving access to the private flat above 11 Downing Street, according to claims being made in Whitehall.

Then top adviser Dominic Cummings is said to have found “STRAP” material lying around the flat in early 2020 – highly classified documents which only named individuals can view often requiring security clearance above Top Secret.

The papers can easily be spotted as they are printed on pink paper, and were also allegedly found at the upstairs quarters in Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country house.

Cummings and Johnson’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds responded by having Johnson sign sensitive papers in his office before they were returned to a safe location.

One source told The Times that Johnson’s ministerial box with crucial documents was left outside his flat’s door on Saturdays, “often” from the morning until evening.

Another described the scene in 11 Downing Street where Carrie entertained friends as “a frat house”.

A former No 10 official said: “Cummings was dismayed that very highly classified STRAP material was not kept in the PM’s box but was lying around the flat, and upstairs in Chequers, in such a way that Carrie could see it and potentially her journalist friends and other guests when they were invited to the flat and Chequers. There had been a series of leaks of national security issues.”

A spokesman for No 10 did not say whether the extra security measures around the papers were still in place.

He said: “We do not comment on security matters.”

https://www.thenational.scot/news/19...nson-revealed/

Wouldn't this be grounds for summary sacking in any other job, let alone the job with supposedly the highest security rating in the country?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Wouldn't this be grounds for summary sacking in any other job, let alone the job with supposedly the highest security rating in the country?

One of my wife's favorite complaints. Private sector folk working with classified information can end up fired or even jailed for failing to secure classified materials. Our leadership cadres, by contrast, get to read globs of it and even leak some of it to the press and seldom if ever receive even a reprimand.

More equal pigs and all that....

[Pannonian]

One of my wife's favorite complaints. Private sector folk working with classified information can end up fired or even jailed for failing to secure classified materials. Our leadership cadres, by contrast, get to read globs of it and even leak some of it to the press and seldom if ever receive even a reprimand.

More equal pigs and all that....

The problem is no one even knows if it's been leaked. At least a leak is by definition controlled. The classified materials were left lying in the open while his wife's friends had access to areas where the materials had been lying in the open. Under this PM, state secrets have been a buffet, where you help yourself.

It should be noted that, when Johnson was foreign secretary under May, the security services warned May not to give her foreign secretary the usual access to secure information, as he couldn't be trusted.