In which Mr Pecksniff lays before his readers for their approval certain observations and speculations reflecting on the political life. (His DMs are open.)
East Anglia
Joined January 2022
- Tweets8.1K
- Following474
- Followers711
- Likes913
Pinned Tweet
Dear Readers, it's a dark world
- Britain’s “special relationship” looks one-sided
- EU stands firm together, UK stands alone
- Trump pillages Venezuela, Tories squirm & Farage calls the action “unorthodox”
Yet Epping brings light to their community
eastangliabylines.co.uk/peck…
Pecksniff retweeted
🚨Conservative shadow minister’s nearly £2 MILLION expenses bill draws scrutiny
Helen Whately, the Conservatives’ Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, has claimed almost £2 million in parliamentary expenses over the past decade. These payments come from the public purse—funded by the taxes of ordinary hard-working people. Most of the total covers staff salaries, but around £300,000 relates to her own travel and accommodation, even though she lives roughly 50 miles from London in Kent.
Party leader Kemi Badenoch claims £2,700 a month toward rent on a six-bedroom farmhouse in her Essex constituency, within the rules for an MP with three children. She has also faced claims she once sought taxpayer funding for a family holiday flight, which officials refused.
Critics say the sums sit uncomfortably beside Conservative calls to tighten welfare; supporters note the claims follow standard IPSA rules for MPs
Pecksniff retweeted
Hi @IsabelOakeshott the @PrivateEyeNews revealed today you head a UAE company conducting unregistered lobbying activities in UK on behalf of African countries and that it involved British politicians (your husband included). Home Office unaware. Care to comment?
Pecksniff retweeted
This is a shocking watch. But it needs to be seen.
This is what's going on inside Nigel Farage's party.
Pecksniff retweeted
Traitors like Johnson and Farage that caused the Brexit disaster must be prosecuted.
Pecksniff retweeted
Former Head of MI6 Sir John Sawers, "Russia was very keen that the Leave campaign should succeed and that Britain should leave the European Union"
"Because that would marginalise Britain as a global player and weaken Europe in general"
"That's the strategic opportunity the Russians spotted, and the leaders of the Leave campaign fell into it"
My view: Former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers says Russia saw Brexit as a way to weaken Britain and divide Europe, and that the Leave campaign’s leaders walked straight into the opportunity.
So let’s remember who sold it:
VOTE LEAVE
• Boris Johnson — political figurehead
• Michael Gove and Gisela Stuart — campaign committee co-convenors
• Matthew Elliott — chief executive
• Dominic Cummings — campaign director
• Daniel Hannan — leading Brexit advocate
• Priti Patel, Iain Duncan Smith, Chris Grayling, John Whittingdale and Theresa Villiers — senior Conservative campaigners
• David Davis, Liam Fox, Dominic Raab, Steve Baker and Douglas Carswell — prominent Leave campaigners
LEAVE. EU
• Nigel Farage — leading political figure
• Arron Banks — co-chairman and major funder
• Andy Wigmore — communications director
GRASSROOTS OUT / LABOUR LEAVE
• Peter Bone and Tom Pursglove — Grassroots Out co-founders
• Kate Hoey — Grassroots Out co-founder and Labour Leave campaigner
• Graham Stringer, Kelvin Hopkins and Roger Godsiff — Labour Leave campaigners
• Sammy Wilson — prominent DUP Leave campaigner
They promised Brexit would make Britain stronger.
Sawers says Russia saw the opposite opportunity: a Britain marginalised and a Europe weakened.
Pecksniff retweeted
NEW: Boris Johnson failed to declare to parliament a gift of private jet flights from the same cryptobillionaire, Christopher Harborne who gave £5m to Nigel Farage, leaked documents reveal.
New #HarborneReceipts investigation from @thenerve_news
1/
Pecksniff retweeted
🆘 This is Sir James Eadie QC, the Government’s own barrister, in the Court of Appeal in 2019.
Listen carefully to what he says.
Theresa May was, he told the court, “entirely well aware” of the “notorious” facts surrounding the referendum: the Electoral Commission findings, police investigations, ICO work and parliamentary scrutiny.
And then this:
“It’s perfectly obvious that the PM has decided to carry on.”
🔥 That is the heart of it.
The referendum was advisory. Serious unlawful conduct had already been established around the campaign. The PM knew the findings and proceeded anyway.
At the same time, Parliament had authorised the Article 50 notification, but had never expressly enacted the separate Article 50(1) decision to withdraw. That was the issue raised in my own Webster judicial review.
The courts refused permission in both Webster and Wilson. Now, years later, we are being told that Russia also interfered in the 2016 referendum.
That is why this can no longer be brushed aside as old Brexit litigation.
We need a statutory public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005.
We need the documents, the intelligence assessments, the Cabinet record, the legal advice, the witnesses under oath, and the full Article 50 decision-making trail.
Because the question is now very simple:
What did the Government know, when did it know it, and on what basis was Britain actually taken out of the European Union?
@JMPSimor @mrjamesob @mikegalsworthy @andyburnham
Pecksniff retweeted
When I met Angela Rayner to campaign for change to overly aggressive council tax debt collection, with its unprecedented rapid escalation to balliffs, she nodded like most politicians do.
I explained it was destructive for individuals, councils and the economy. She listened more then said she'd change it. I was sceptical. Yet a consultation was launched within weeks and delightfully the change announced within 18mths (its in place from next April) - bullet train pace for politics.
I've a rule that if I campaign for a politician (of any party) to do something, and they do it, I say thank you. Its important to recognise it. So thank you so much Angela Rayner for listening and more importantly acting. The changes coming are a great start.
I promised we'd make council tax fairer, and I’m getting on with the job.
Too many working people have seen council tax debt spiral before they had the chance to get help.
That's why we're introducing more time to pay, clearer warnings if you miss a payment and more support from councils.
Thanks to @MartinSLewis and @mmhpi for their tireless campaigning to make this change happen.
Here's everything you need to know ⬇️
Pecksniff retweeted
Extraordinary letter in @ft from former UK defence attaché at Moscow embassy - we warned you about Putin but you listened to the City instead
Pecksniff retweeted
Standing room only for John Curtice’s briefing on the Tories’ electoral chances at the Conservative Party Conference. He has just told the activists here that the Tories are doing no better than the 2024 general election. 😳
Pecksniff retweeted
🚨 SUELLA BRAVERMAN, YOU CAN’T ESCAPE THE RECEIPTS! 😂
Now trending is a video of Suella campaigning for office under the Conservative Party banner, while presenting herself as a supporter of Net Zero and action on climate change.
Careful, Suella! 😂
When she sees this video, I’m half expecting her to tell us Rishi Sunak held a gun to her head and forced her to make the campaign video.
You genuinely couldn’t write this stuff. 😂😂
Pecksniff retweeted
Hi @TiceRichard, tell us about your friend Councillor James Sawkins who was raided by police and on entry allegedly found a quantity of unlicenced prescription drugs and class A drugs.
Pecksniff retweeted
Man with stubble, "Small boats arrivals are 37,000. There are over 4 million kids in child poverty. And 4.5 million who can't get a dentist appointment" #BBCQT
"We spend 90% of the media discourse on the 37,000. How much more could we achieve if we put that effort into the 4.5 million?"
Well said that man 👏
Pecksniff retweeted
I listened to Ed Davey on the @BBCr4today this morning, and frankly, I think he missed the point.
The idea that we're keeping the triple lock to help millennials is at best for the birds, and at worst downright insulting. I say that as a millennial.
The case for the triple lock is a worthy one - stopping pensioner poverty. I want that as much as anyone. But pensioners are now less likely to be in poverty than children or working age adults.
We talk about fairness, yet our answer is to give the same increase to every pensioner, treating the one choosing between heating and eating exactly the same as the one with millions in the bank. I can see no moral or fiscal case for above inflation rises for millionaires.
That money should go where it's needed most - to everyone in poverty, not just one group. It could help fund free personal care, a policy that would disproportionately benefit older people.
Ed is right that we shouldn't pit one generation against another. But intergenerational inequality is already one of the defining injustices of our time, and this would further entrench it. Worse, it gaslights an entire generation into believing it's for our benefit.
Telling millennials we're keeping the triple lock to help us in 30 years' time is nonsense. We're on course to be the first generation worse off than our parents. We're locked out of the housing market, paying higher taxes, repaying student loans that never seem to shrink, and putting off having children because of the cost of living.
I joined this party because I care about fairness and tackling inequality, and that has to include inequality between generations.
This line, and this decision, fails on both counts. Ed needs to think again.
Pecksniff retweeted
I think it’s worth posting this because Farage is already posting on here about Burnham taking away the triple lock.
Here’s Tice saying they won’t rule out doing exactly the same thing.
@MarinaPurkiss
Pecksniff retweeted
Benefit/Pension/NHS Spending in the UK isn't high.
In fact it is pretty low, just not low enough for the billonaires.
