That's a mirror of the attitude many people have adopted. Plenty of people suspect that this is a story authorised by Johnson to take attention away from another piece of bad news. I've not yet seen any hint of what that story might be so you may well be right.

 

There are, of course, lots of people trying to suggest that a bigger story is the question of who leaked the CCTV footage. That is significant as it suggests a major breach of data protection law but it shouldn't be allowed to divert attention from Hancock's apparent flouting of Covid restrictions.

 

I don't think Johnson had anything to do with it, nor was it authorised by him. Seems a bit ridiculous for his standards, it's not like Hancock is even that powerful within the Party. Someone powerful obviously wants him gone though, not sure this will be the last of it, so it will be interesting to watch the papers this weekendto see if anything else comes out.

And Hancock has gone.

And Hancock has gone.

 

Finally!

This gives a ray of hope that people will expect resignations in future but due to how dragged out this has been, I still can’t muster any respect for him even doing the right thing. Johnson of course gets even more disdain as he had the chance to sack him and didn’t.

Good. Better late than never.

Fantastic news that Hancock has resigned.

This gives a ray of hope that people will expect resignations in future but due to how dragged out this has been, I still can’t muster any respect for him even doing the right thing. Johnson of course gets even more disdain as he had the chance to sack him and didn’t.

Exactly. Once again, Johnson's judgement has been woeful.

Should've been a sacking, but good news to finally see a bit of bloody accountability in this cabinet. Johnson saying that the matter was closed looks so ridiculous now, they really were hoping this would all go away like it did with Cummings.

 

Can't wait to see which new incompetent they hire to replace him!

@1408852539202752514

 

This tweet is killing me :cheeseblock:

Sajid Javid, who resigned as Chancellor because he didn't want Cummings to appoint his advisors, has got the job.

Should have had the sack. That he’s finally gone doesn’t lessen the damage done by this whole incident to democracy.

Sajid Javid, who resigned as Chancellor because he didn't want Cummings to appoint his advisors, has got the job.

🤮🤮🤮

 

I suppose it’s not the worst option But he’s hardly someone I’d want in charge of boiling a kettle never mind the NHS

it resigned, even after Bjo tried to close ranks and claim it was all fine!! Reflects even worse on Blojo.

About 18 months too late sadly.

What someone in this government has admitted doing something wrong????

As we all know, James Duddridge is a Foreign Office minister with particular responsibility for Africa. He was sent to Zambia to represent the UK at the funeral of their former leader Kenneth Kaunda. What a pity, then, that he gave a speech in which he said that the people of Zimbabwe were in mourning.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/electi...g-b1881313.html

 

The Elections Bill isn’t just about introducing voter ID, despite what’s been making the headlines. Buried in the detail are clauses that criminalise things that are fundamental to free and fair elections in the UK.

✕

 

It guts the role of the Electoral Commission and hands unprecedented powers around elections to ministers. It lets them change the definition of “campaigning” at a whim, and, knowing that there are elections somewhere in the UK every year, allows them to curtail whatever they call “campaigning”, 365 days before any election.

 

As for preventing foreign interference in our elections, this bill actually makes it easier for tax exiles to make political donations, increasing the scope for dark money and vested interests to influence our elections.

 

Most worryingly of all, it imposes limits on groups, unions, charities and even individuals doing anything considered to be “intended to achieve a common purpose”. This is a phrase so open to interpretation that it could effectively exclude charities and voluntary groups from the electoral process and make it impossible for political parties with broad bases of support to organise effectively.

 

To that end, the bill means ministers can designate booking a meeting room as a criminal offence. This sounds trivial, and indeed it might have been designed that way, but it is a serious barrier to organising opposition that is vital to any democracy.

 

One-party Tory state ahoy, I think we need to start calling this democratic backsliding what it is.

 

All of these bills, the Policing Bill, the Election Bill and the Nationality and Borders Bill that essentially criminalises asylum, in short order.

That is deeply concerning

I have been warning you all about Tory fascism and this Tory dictatorship for YEARS. I saw it coming a mile off. With that bill, democracy only exists within the Tory definition of the word: i.e, Tories always win.

Restrictions on pre-campaign spending made some sense while the Fixed Term Parliament Act applied - at least in theory. Limits like that had some logic behind them (although they were too wide-ranging) if you could be 90%+ certain of when the next election would be. Without that certainty, they are a nonsense.

 

The new ministerial powers are positively scary. Once again, the government should be forced to apply the "that lot over there" test. Are they prepared to give the same powers to every future government? If not, they shouldn't give those powers to themselves.