The communication, released by the Commons foreign affairs committee on Wednesday, was sent by 25 August 2021 by a foreign office official – at the height of the Kabul airlift.
In an email to the the department's "special cases" team managing part of the evacuation, the official, whose name is redacted, says that the animal charity Nowaz has "received a lot of publicity".
It adds that "the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated".
Mr Johnson had previously said on 7 December last year that it was “complete nonsense” that he had intervened to have the animals evacuated – a claim the email seems to contradict.
...
(My bold and colour)
Yet again truth seems to be an unknown/unrecognised/unused concept to our Glorious Leader.
thirdcrank wrote: ↑26 Jan 2022, 1:03pm
Re presidential system, we don't seam to be so far from the American system. They have impeachment but voting along mainly party lines seems to make impeaching a president virtually impossible, even when it's not a party political matter.
Where big money wins out every time.
Democracy is dead!
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
The communication, released by the Commons foreign affairs committee on Wednesday, was sent by 25 August 2021 by a foreign office official – at the height of the Kabul airlift.
In an email to the the department's "special cases" team managing part of the evacuation, the official, whose name is redacted, says that the animal charity Nowaz has "received a lot of publicity".
It adds that "the PM has just authorised their staff and animals to be evacuated".
Mr Johnson had previously said on 7 December last year that it was “complete nonsense” that he had intervened to have the animals evacuated – a claim the email seems to contradict.
...
(My bold and colour)
Yet again truth seems to be an unknown/unrecognised/unused concept to our Glorious Leader.
Last month Johnson said the claim that he was personally involved was “complete nonsense”. But today his spokesman said: “It remains the case that the PM didn’t instruct officials to take any particular course of action.” https://www.theguardian.com/politics/li ... st-updates
With the caveat that you never know what is lurking round the corner, my feeling is that Boris Johnson has got through the partygate crisis. He's reported to have agreed to the publication of the whole Gray report, but some form of Maxwellisation - giving those named in a chance to respond - will delay publication. The police investigation may lead to the issue of some fixed penalties - perhaps quite a lot - but those penalties won't reflect the gravity of what's alleged to have been happening: one rule for us etc. A fixed penalty does not amount to a conviction - indeed, it's a way of avoiding one - and while the Met may report the number of tickets issued (if any) I doubt names will be named so any fixed penalties can be spun away.
I fancy the great majority of Tory MPs, having flunked a leadership challenge, and having been threatened by Mogg with a general election will come back in line. Public opinion seems to have a short power of concentration and soon tires. There may be long term damage to the Tory party.
In different circumstances, Tony Blair dismissed questions about Two Jags thumping a protestor with "John is John" or something similar. Now, Boris Johnson's spinners are pushing "Boris is Boris" and people knew what he was like when they elected him.
I hope I wrong but every passing hour makes him more secure
The Independent reported the Foreign Secretary had opted for the private flight for her trip last week due to security concerns, although commercial flights were available.
The newspaper said she had travelled on the private government Airbus A321 which a senior source told them would have cost £500,000 to operate.
...
The Independent reported the Foreign Secretary had opted for the private flight for her trip last week due to security concerns, although commercial flights were available.
The newspaper said she had travelled on the private government Airbus A321 which a senior source told them would have cost £500,000 to operate.
...
By an extraordinary coincidence here's what someone with the same name wrote in 2009:
thirdcrank wrote: ↑27 Jan 2022, 2:11pm
.... my feeling is that Boris Johnson has got through the partygate crisis. ...
As of 0730 28.1.2022, there's nothing on the front page of the BBC News www about Boris Johnson, parties (or indeed gates.) Even on here, attention has moved on to one of his supporters - Ms Truss - squandering £££ on aping Air Miles Andy.
This isn't going to go away, but it doesn't seem likely now to bring him down.
And here is an equally depressing quote from Alexander Navalny, not the nicest bloke on the planet but at least he's trying to stand up to the dictator he's trying to replace.
"Every time I get arrested I am grabbed and thrown into jail by the same kind of policemen and every time I say 'why are you arresting me, don't you know that Putin is a thief' and every time I get the same response - 'it'll never get any better mate, it'll never get any better'"
roubaixtuesday wrote: ↑24 Jan 2022, 9:29am
The terms of reference for the investigation are being played.
Johnson's line will be "cleared of illegality so accept apology and move on"
Gray report does not have assessment of legal position in terms of reference, so this conclusion is inevitable.
Gray report is largely irrelevant in terms of Johnson's position: we already know from his own statements that he was clearly in breach of the rules as understood by the country at the time.
So, I'd absolutely accept facts of Gray report, but absolutely not accept Johnson interpretation of it.
Agreed.
"Fact" and "truth" aren't simple concepts. I'm not expecting any deliberate lies in what's produced. There may be important omissions. And the short form obviously can't be "the whole truth".
The inquiry was flawed from the start. And won't be the end of this.
Scotland Yard has said it has asked for references to matters it is now investigating to be removed from Sue Gray’s report into parties held in breach of lockdown restrictions at Downing Street. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ray-report