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General UK politics VIII - The Last Tory

About a year ago I made an important statement about semi-skimmed milk being "left wing". Just in case you were in any doubt about what a ridiculous, whinging, out of touch frog-faced bellend I am.

Rees-Mogg got there first.
 
Rees-Mogg got there first.
I recall Anne Widdercombe saying semi-skimmed was rubbish on some documentary many years ago. Although she may have mellowed on the matter after a quick search on the issue.

Don't know what it is about these nutters that they obsess about such matters.
 
I recall Anne Widdercombe saying semi-skimmed was rubbish on some documentary many years ago. Although she may have mellowed on the matter after a quick search on the issue.

Don't know what it is about these nutters that they obsess about such matters.


What would she know about it? Just as King Midas couldn't eat because his touch turned all food to gold, Anne Widdercombe can't drink milk as her visage curdles it to cottage cheese before it passes her flews lips.
 
As I’ve said before : I believe some people are just super saturated solutions of anger with nothing to be angry about then someone mentions skimmed milk/vegan food/anything and wham the solution crystallises on that issue.

I bought my wife a nut milk maker for Christmas, a little part of me holds the Christmas Wish that I'm contributing in some small way to their eventual coronaries.
 
I recall Anne Widdercombe saying semi-skimmed was rubbish on some documentary many years ago.
Saying it's rubbish isn't quite the same thing as what is being discussed. My grandfather used to describe skimmed milk as "what you have left after you've sold the good stuff", but he didn't think it was a left-wing plot.
 
The Tory Shadow Attorney General is also now Abramovich’s legal counsel - apparently working to protect his assets from efforts to recover them for Ukraine.

Barristers should not be judged by the character of their clients. But his political position is clearly untenable.


Did he get the job via the 'Cab Rank' or is it a private engagement? If the former then attacks on him are no more justified than the ones on Starmer were.


ETA If the latter then he's a money grubbing scumbag Tory.
 
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Surprise, surprise!

A whole bunch of Reform types are anti-vaxxers.

I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!
Put these brave souls in the front line against the next epidemic to hit the UK. They can get the disease instead of everyone else who is vaccinated.

Also, very likely these cowards are fully vaccinated themselves.
 
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has launched a review into what she calls "serious information failures" in the case of British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah.

In a letter to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Cooper said she, Sir Keir Starmer and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy "were all unaware" of Mr Abd El Fattah's historical tweets, which they consider to be "abhorrent".

 
Keir Starmer
@Keir_Starmer
As @YvetteCooperMP sets out in her letter, the historic tweets by Alaa Abd El-Fattah are absolutely abhorrent.

With the rise of antisemitism, and recent horrific attacks, I know this has added to the distress of many in the Jewish community in the UK.

We are taking steps to review the information failures in this case
 
Keir Starmer
@Keir_Starmer
As @YvetteCooperMP sets out in her letter, the historic tweets by Alaa Abd El-Fattah are absolutely abhorrent.

With the rise of antisemitism, and recent horrific attacks, I know this has added to the distress of many in the Jewish community in the UK.

We are taking steps to review the information failures in this case
It does seem strange that the Tories didn't know about his postings when they granted him British citizenship and that so many years went by and they never surfaced. What sort of checks did the Tories do before granting British citizenship to him?
 
He's an MP and Shadow Minister, why has he got the time to do it?

There is that as well. If it was down to me tnere'd be no second jobs, but MPs in careers that require professional practice to maintain their eligibility to practice should be allowed to put in the necessary hours for public service or charity operations. For barristers, arguably, randomly assigned clients could count.
 
It does seem strange that the Tories didn't know about his postings when they granted him British citizenship and that so many years went by and they never surfaced. What sort of checks did the Tories do before granting British citizenship to him?
He said what they wanted to hear - kill Jews.
On Monday evening, Reform UK said that it would change the law to ensure Mr Abd El Fattah could be stripped of his British citizenship and deported.
You first, Nige.
The party's leader, Nigel Farage, said previous Conservative and Labour governments had "opened our doors to evil people".
I think he forgot that the previous Conservative ministers are now mostly his prime Reform candidates. Can these people truly kick themselves in the nuts?
 
Did he get the job via the 'Cab Rank' or is it a private engagement? If the former then attacks on him are no more justified than the ones on Starmer were.
There is no "Cab Rank". All barristers work under the 'cab rank' principle. It doesn't mean that barristers are appointed simply because they happen to be next in line. It just means that if a barrister is approached by a client who is prepared to pay the usual rates for a case that is within the barrister's usual area of practice, and the barrister is not otherwise engaged, they are obliged to take the case, however they feel about the client. They are all 'private engagements'; the client's solicitor will decide which barrister is appropriate to the case, and offer them the brief.

The term 'cab rank' comes from the idea that a cabbie is not supposed to be able to refuse a fare if it's within their usual area, not from some imaginary queue of barristers waiting for clients.
 
The Roman Abramovich case is a Jersey case, the cab rank principle doesn’t apply.
Actually, it seems that Jersey actually does have a 'cab rank' of lawyers: for the first 15 years after qualifying, Jersey lawyers are on a list, and the next one on the list is appointed to the next legal aid case.
 
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There is no "Cab Rank". All barristers work under the 'cab rank' principle. It doesn't mean that barristers are appointed simply because they happen to be next in line. It just means that if a barrister is approached by a client who is prepared to pay the usual rates for a case that is within the barrister's usual area of practice, and the barrister is not otherwise engaged, they are obliged to take the case, however they feel about the client. They are all 'private engagements'; the client's solicitor will decide which barrister is appropriate to the case, and offer them the brief.

The term 'cab rank' comes from the idea that a cabbie is not supposed to be able to refuse a fare if it's within their usual area, not from some imaginary queue of barristers waiting for clients.

The principal I'm applying is that if he 'had' to take the case it would be wrong to criticise him for doing so, as in the cases where Starmer has been criticised, but Andy has said that it's a Jersey case so he was at liberty to refuse it. That was the distinction I was drawing.
 
The principal I'm applying is that if he 'had' to take the case it would be wrong to criticise him for doing so, as in the cases where Starmer has been criticised, but Andy has said that it's a Jersey case so he was at liberty to refuse it.
I'm not sure if that's the case, even if it's a Jersey case he's still a member of the English bar being offered work he's qualified to do. Richards's letter to Badenoch seems to accept that the cab rank rule applies.
 
I'm not sure if that's the case, even if it's a Jersey case he's still a member of the English bar being offered work he's qualified to do. Richards's letter to Badenoch seems to accept that the cab rank rule applies.
Presumably a conflict of interest is a valid reason for not taking a case in the cab rank
 
The principal I'm applying is that if he 'had' to take the case it would be wrong to criticise him for doing so, as in the cases where Starmer has been criticised, but Andy has said that it's a Jersey case so he was at liberty to refuse it. That was the distinction I was drawing.
Starmer wasn't an MP when he was a barrister.
 
Starmer wasn't an MP when he was a barrister.


I know, but it was a Tory attack line to criticise him for the people he'd defended when he was. I think you're aware of my view that MPs second jobs should only be allowed where practice is necessary to allow them to stay in their 'IRL' profession and then I would limit it to charity or public service roles, but the rules being what they currently are I'd consider this less of a story if he was compelled to take the case than if he has chosen to.
 

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