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Lincoln “I should regret to see the day in which the people should cease to express intelligent, honest generous criticism upon the policy of their rulers.”

Jan 24, 2023, 26 tweets

[thread]

I don't want to talk about @nadhimzahawi

I want to talk about @RishiSunak

But I think it is of "paramount" importance to focus on @10DowningStreet @RishiSunak

Let us go back in time to 23rd October 2022

And a promise

dailymail.co.uk/video/video/vi…

Now we move on to the 23rd January 2023

Now I transcribed that interview from Channel 4

Because I have questions

So many questions

Not of Nadhim Zahawi

But of Rishi Sunak

Now the reason I have questions

Is because of Rishi Sunak's answers at #PMQs on 18th January 2023

5 days before he gave that Channel 4 interview

Here is @RishiSunak with a simple question from @alexsobel

Here's the full extract from Hansard

In addition to the PMQs response

There was also a follow up in the daily live blog of the BBC and the Guardian

I have added them here also

As I want to overlay my questions alongside these 4 texts

So questions

1. You seem to repeat the phrase integrity and accountability quite a lot - why can you not just live up to it rather than repeat hollow words?

2. What are the "questions that need answering" - can you list them ?

3. When did you realise that these questions needed answering ?

4. Given on 18th January 2023 you told us that Nadhim had "addressed the matter in full and there is nothing more that I can add" - if there has been no change in the circumstances between 18/1/23 - 23/1/23 what had changed that gave rise to "questions" ?

5. How did you verify on 18/1/23 that Nadhim had "addressed the matter in full" - was it purely by asking Nadhim?

6. Given an ounce of "hindsight" do you perhaps not think that relying on the word of an "honourable friend" might not be sufficient of a check?

7. You seem to make quite a stress that the "questions relate to a time before I was PM" and an appointment "I didn't make" - you did appoint him - as a minister without portfolio and as party chairman - what due diligence did you do prior to those appointments?

8. If when you were Chancellor you were under investigation by HMRC would
a) report this to the PM ?
b) report this to the Cabinet Office/Ethics adviser?
c) recuse yourself your job?

9. You say Nadhim Zahawi has "agreed with that approach" of the investigation - why was his agreement even 1) required or 2) relevant?

10. Does any individual that you give permission to the ethics advisor to investigate also have to agree?

11. What happens if they refuse?

12. What matters is the ethics advisor investigating
a) his tax investigation by HMRC and its conclusion?
b) his threats to journalists and investigators over a period of years to try to silence the matter?
c) text messages to Cameron/Grensill being lost?

13. You say the ethics advisor will provide "advice" can you tell us how that panned out during the investigation into the bullying carried out by Priti Patel?

Ironically I wrote a thread around that that included a foreword from Nadhim

As always - a protective square is as revealing of those who help build it as it is of the person it is built to protect

So my question - who would Nadhim NOT threaten?

The difficulty in this scandal

Is not just the scandal

It is the cover up, the deflections, the denials

How you twist yourself in knots

To deny "integrity and accountability"

I will stop there

I am sure there are more questions

But you did the ethics investigation merely to shut down questions so you could kick it into the long grass

That is shameful

On you

Not *just* Nadhim

You know this of course

Here's a reminder of a previous scandal

I will stop there

I am sure there are more questions

But you did the ethics investigation merely to shut down questions so you could kick it into the long grass

That is shameful

On you

Not *just* Nadhim

I will leave more precise questions to well.... experts

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