This week's EXPOSED! features a return to a topic that we genuinely believed would have blown up publicly and led to firings, court cases and the repatriation of funds, it was that incendiary. Sadly, it not only passed with barely a word and almost fewer casualties (one government minister walked due to some inappropriate canoodling with his PA rather than his blatant corruption and malfeasance) that we needed to circle back to it.
So here we are, revisiting the whole sorry affair but linking it to a pattern of behaviour that just beggars belief in terms of both its brazenness and also in the meek and mild fashion in which its victims are responding!
Let's start with our original EXPOSED! on the British government's blatant profiteering during the early stages of the pandemic (from last year):
Big H
The British political satirical magazine 'Private Eye' has carried numerous reports on further disclosures and summarized the 'tip of the iceberg' neatly in this one poster:
One feature that has been exposed since the original article has been the extent to which members of the Conservative party aided and abetted their friends and contacts through what has been dubbed the 'VIP Lane'. This was an arrangement by which they were granted fast track access to the ministers and civil servants responsible for the procurement of PPE and other medical supplies and services.
Seems like a good idea to speed things up in a time of national emergency, right? Well, maybe but many of these companies had no experience in this field, some were mere shells created specifically for the purpose of being awarded a contract and it completely ignored the existing and long-established procurement system in place within the National Health Service (NHS) and all of its accredited and highly qualified suppliers.
Great work in exposing this racket, and in bringing cases to court, has been conducted by The Good Law Project, this thread disclosing some of the damning evidence uncovered regarding ministerial connivance.
The NHS is a much loved and dearly cherished universal health provider, as evidenced by the letter below written to the Guardian newspaper recently, that was created in the wake of the Second World War).
And whilst not without its flaws, years of political interference and chronic under-investment has left it highly vulnerable to further attempts to break it up and to privatize health provision in the UK and move from a non-profit to a for-profit setup.
However, not content with being caught out, certain sections of the ruling party are attempting to have their legal defence funded by the very taxpayers they are accused of ripping off.
The same MPs who introduced the Innocence Tax - removing legal aid for people accused of crimes and then refusing to reimburse them their private legal fees when they’re acquitted - would now like some taxpayer-funded legal representation, thank you very much.
Extract from The Secret Barrister
Probably the most grotesquely insane, ludicrous, bonkers, mad, bat**** crazy, stupid, in the gutter contemptible idea I’ve heard this week. Did I miss anything out?
Peter Stefanovic, lawyer at the Communication Workers Union
Stefanovic has also being leading a veritable one-man action against the government in defence of the NHS as well as against the Conservative government in general. His short viral video showing the Prime Minister lying 11 times in Parliament in the space of less than two minutes has been viewed by over 40 million people but never once mentioned on the BBC, Britain's national broadcasting corporation, again taxpayer funded.
Add these to the manifesto promises to build 40 new hospitals, for which no plans or budget existed and for which refurbishments and extensions to existing facilities were included...the 50,000 new nurses over 10 years, a number that included 17,000 who were going to be 'retained or re-recruited'....or the 20,000 new police officers again over 10 years which is exactly the number cut under the last 10 years of Tory rule. Absolutely brazen!
So why no public outcry? Well, partially because the supposed 'free press' isn't! The so-called Main Stream Media in the UK is owned by about 5-7 companies or individuals, most of whom are multimillionaires and invariably right leaning politically. Support for the government is unflinching, as witnessed by the sacking of the editor of the notoriously biased Daily Mail for daring to run a front page story about ministerial corruption, and the favour is returned in spades.
Another factor is the lack of credible opposition. Labour the 'other half' of the British two party system has lost its way and its tacit (and frankly unfathomable) support for the Brexit disengagement from the EU leaves it vulnerable given how poorly that is working out whilst its opposition to further devolution or even independence for Scotland is a cynical recognition of its inability to hold power in any (f)UK.
The Unionist parties in Northern Ireland had done a sweetheart deal with Downing Street but have since walked away after PM Johnson's duplicity over the border. The Scottish National Party holds the majority of the country's Westminster Parliamentary seats, along with control of the devolved Parliament in Edinburgh, but are focused on gaining another referendum on Independence but never fail to take advantage of the national stage that the 'Mother of all Parliaments' presents to score points against the ruling Tories.
🗣️"They have no interest whatsoever in trying to represent the people...what they see as important is their bank balance." pic.twitter.com/sTfg90ttJo
— Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) November 18, 2021
What has been uncovered after all the ferreting around into the dodgy dealings of ministers and MPs over PPE supplies has been the 'spider's web' of contacts and connections between them and big business on all levels and in all areas.
Individuals on a handsome taxpayer funded salary with generous expenses, claiming they require second jobs to 'survive'! A few hours work a month in exchange for five or six figure sums...and lo and behold they've bought your unyielding support for their pet project.
The issue in hand is the future of the NHS and the clear moves by the ruling party to dismantle it and privatize the best bits. As the ancient proverb would have it "A fish rots from the head down', basically implying that corruption starts at the top and so it would seem after Stefanovic uncovered the sorry tale of a huge (and initially undeclared) conflict of interests involving the current Health Minister (a former banker...which tells you all you need to know about his suitability for the position).
Do not be left with the impression that all of this is being conducted in the shadows, recent attempts to pass legislation very clearly show the determination of the government to whitewash the whole operation with a veneer of legitimacy, there has been pushback...let's hope that this continues.
At the end of the day, the Tories love to talk about loyalty...to Queen and country, in defence of free trade and family values...sadly, it is obvious from their actions that the only people they really care about are themselves and their supporters and reward that loyalty in the form of prestige, privilege and protection even in the form of peerages to the upper chamber of Parliament, the unelected and unrepresentative House of Lords. Hypocrisy of the highest order!
And finally, if you have ever wondered about the origins and the definition of the term 'Tory'...well now you will know:
As a political term, Tory is an insult (derived from the Middle Irish word tóraidhe, modern Irish tóraí, meaning "outlaw", "robber", from the Irish word tóir, meaning "pursuit" since outlaws were "pursued men") that entered English politics during the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1678–1681.
Sums it up neatly!
