Tally-ho, it's a Fox hunt

[Suffolkcoastal]

Well Oliver Twitwin (I believe this is what he's is known as in political circles) looks like he's going to get away with it using the Fox resignation as a smoke screen. I'd have been sacked if I'd been found chucking personal information in a public place. I cannot believe how people like him get away with it and how a man of such stupidity can be in government.

[teamsaint]

Well Oliver Twitwin (I believe this is what he's is known as in political circles) looks like he's going to get away with it using the Fox resignation as a smoke screen. I'd have been sacked if I'd been found chucking personal information in a public place. I cannot believe how people like him get away with it and how a man of such stupidity can be in government.

contacts.

[Mahlerei]

I bet the tabloid that broke the Twitwin story has thsoe documents and plans to leak them in the days ahead. I would not be best pleased if I were a constituent whose letter was summarily disposed of, opening me to the possibility of identity theft. Like most I shred personal papers and always make sure my name and address are removed from packaging that's recycled

[teamsaint]

I bet the tabloid that broke the Twitwin story has thsoe documents and plans to leak them in the days ahead. I would not be best pleased if I were a constituent whose letter was summarily disposed of, opening me to the possibility of identity theft. Like most I shred personal papers and always make sure my name and address are removed from packaging that's recycled

most people do that? blimey. Makes no difference anyway, the government know your every move, from credit cards, mobile phone positioning systems , the 87 trillion cctv cameras etc etc.

anyway, my kids have a great system re personal papers and security ....they rip the envelope open, tearing any valuable contents in the process, and then leave the whole lot lying around the lounge or hall. Well I assume its a great system, they follow it diligently........

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well Oliver Twitwin (I believe this is what he's is known as in political circles) looks like he's going to get away with it using the Fox resignation as a smoke screen. I'd have been sacked if I'd been found chucking personal information in a public place. I cannot believe how people like him get away with it and how a man of such stupidity can be in government.

Well, now that he's apologised, that makes it OK, doesn't it?

[teamsaint]

Well, now that he's apologised, that makes it OK, doesn't it?

I think so too . You should always say sorry if you do something naughty.
I don't know who is more dangerous, clots like letwin, or people like rachel reeves, who is apparently the future of the workers party, thanks to her banking industry CV. (she is happy with workers retirement ages heading up towards 70. Very socialist !!)
Oh i know, its neither. Its the banks, and their cronies in the city, credit agencies and commodity markets who run the world who are the danger. Anyone got a plan for dealing with that lot?

[Chris Newman]

I thought that John Profumo went as Minister of Defence for very similar reasons but more quickly.

[Lateralthinking1]

Fox and Werritty - Thank the Lord and well done french frank. Among many other things, what this whole episode leaves is a feeling similar to the one most people felt in connection with the Murdoch business. It is that there are various unaccountable networks that often seem to be running this country. International and always lacking transparency - does anyone here feel that Andy, Glenn, Rebekah or for that matter George and Dave have ever provided the answers one would want? - they show sadly that the voting system is a bit of a sideshow. Will we ever discover in the case of Fox quite what was going on among the politicians and business types in the United States, Israel, Sri Lanka? What was the role, if any, of the secret services?

Sandys and the Secret Services : - And is this the last we will hear of Security Futures and the Atlantic Bridge? Two MPs were Directors of the former alongside AW. One was Laura Sandys. Her name has hardly been mentioned. The grandaughter and daughter of highly influential MPs - her father Duncan was related to the Churchills and a very significant establishment figure - she presents herself as just an ordinary woman who left school at 17 and generally likes to help the farmers of Thanet. The other MP who was a Director of Security Futures was openly gay Ian Stuart. All the kerfuffle about Werritty's sexuality remains significant to clarify the politics. Let us for one moment assume that the only bond between between him and Fox was one of business. Might we not ask how it could be that an unknown individual with a very ordinary academic record could establish himself in that way? Who were all his friends among the elites? Could it happen again? What country within a country was and is their one?

Hammond and Greening : Anyhow, Hammond moves across to Defence. Is it that his personal wealth is 8 million pounds? I can't recall. Along with Andrew Mitchell, I believe he was on the Dispatches programme about tax havens like the Cayman Islands. It will be bad news for MoD staff. He is a cutter extraordinaire. Good news possibly though for chauffeurs. He never seemed to enjoy the walk from his weekly pad a mile or so up the road from his old job. As for that job, many civil servants will be quaking in their boots. For many years, Justine Greening was allegedly loathed and feared there for her persistent questioning and criticism. The phrase "anyone but her" is one that could arguably apply and now she is there. High speed rail will now be built - probably by Tuesday.

Villiers and Shale: - It is also a further indictment of Theresa Villiers - another from a political dynasty who may have expected to be in Hammond's role before he was appointed. She can spend more time at Glastonbury but not with poor Mr Shale whose death was natural according to the coroner. Mind you, the verdict came many months after the festival and was in the small news.

Letwin and Comedians : Finally, what with the Letwin affair too - maybe now that so many papers have been binned in St James's Park, the Cabinet Office will be able to answer some of those late FOI enquiries : it is day 63 for mine should you be interested and there is still no sign of a reply - what great news for Merton and Hislop. Just as their new series begins, the Conservatives at least deliver on content for satire if nothing else. And for dear old Rory Bremner too who begins a new series on Radio 4. Unfortunately, they will have to work hard to get us into a laughing mood. Nevertheless, the best of British to them.

[Chris Newman]

Duncan Sandys? Ah! Bells ring!!! Duncan Sandys was known in the early 1960s on That Was the Week That Was (David Frost, Bernard Levin and Co) as Sunken Glands when the Profumo "scandal" happened. I forget what Sandys was but he was part of the Government. I survived the Profumo scandal....My school CCF (Combined Cadet Force) party were in the front two rows of the balcony at The Royal Tournament in Earl's Court. The yobs behind us lobbed empty coke cans, etc over us. The Guest of Honour was the Minister of Defence (John Profumo) and he was below us. At assembly next morning those at the Royal Tournament were summoned to meet the Headmaster. Fortunately (1) the teachers (officers) with us knew what had gone on and defended us AND (2) Profumo had resigned so it did not matter.

Having said that, I admired JP for the charitable works which he subsequently went on to do.

[Lateralthinking1]

Yes, it was indeed Duncan Sandys. One day we should ask ff to compile a chart of the MPs from political dynasties. It would be interesting and horrible.

DS and Profumo were in my pram period. I therefore know little. The plus point in the case of the former is that he established the green belt. It seems to me that everything else about him was probably a minus point.

I know what CCF means because I was in one for two years. This was compulsory. However, I sometimes feel that I have the establishment to thank for that military training. The politicians are becoming harder. The future for poor pensioners looks uncertain. An ability to fire a gun might come in handy.

[Chris Newman]

A little more on Duncan Sandys:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Sandys

and maybe a little more on where he got the rather obvious nickname, Sunken Glands

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/aug/10/sarahhall

er, well....how low can a celeb sink?

Well, blow me!!!

[Lateralthinking1]

Yes - they weren't exactly youngsters either were they? I started to read about Profumo again. Peter Hitchens has written that Profumo "vanished into London's East End for 40 years, doing quiet good works" beginning as a toilet cleaner at Toynbee Hall. Perhaps Liam Fox could consider a similar course of action. He would get the CBE by 2023 and be able to sit next to the King at an ex-Prime Minister's birthday dinner in 2043. Course he might have been made a saint by then courtesy of Pope Blair I.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Profumo brought down the only good Tory prime minister ever to have existed.

[mangerton]

Profumo brought down the only good Tory prime minister ever to have existed.

Yes, that was always my impression of Macmillan. The best of a very bad lot.

[antongould]

Of the 28 freshmen who started at Balliol with him only Supermac and one other survived the First World War in which he was seriously wounded. Then of course he scolded Milk Snatcher for "selling of the Crown Jewels". Formative influences and views more different from Fox (and Cameron) are hard to imagine!