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Jim Pickard
@PickardJE
, 4 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
banana republic klaxon:

Boris Johnson’s government has awarded £100,000 of taxpayers’ money to a company that donated £25,000 to his leadership campaign

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
fair to say that @alexwickham is on fire at the moment
@alexwickham now going to point out that £10m went to 16 ports, so Bristol's £100,000 is way under the average....but this is an obvious conflict of interest, weird they didn't spot it
and the potential conflict of interest was obvious in July as wrote back then

google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.c…
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More from @PickardJE see all

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Jim Pickard
@PickardJE
Leaked government paper warns that the UK’s efforts to strike a US trade deal after Brexit could “severely limit” Britain’s ability to negotiate an equivalent agreement with the EU.

ft.com/content/778b2d…
The document says relaxing SPS standards in the UK to get a US trade deal could damage public health.

“Weakening our SPS regime to accommodate one trade partner could irreparably damage our ability to maintain UK animal, plant and public health, and reduce trust in our exports.”
Documents via @UE @damiankahya @JSandlerClarke @lukewbarratt

Labour’s @BarryGardiner says:

“Their (US) rules specify ‘acceptable levels’ of maggots in orange juice, rat droppings in ginger and hormone levels in beef. The right level should be zero.”

unearthed.greenpeace.org/2019/10/07/bre…
Read 4 tweets
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Jim Pickard
@PickardJE
Jacob Rees-Mogg and his business partner were negotiating to sell their fund management company to an American group for up to £100m during the summer before talks collapsed after objections from colleagues.

Scoop by me and @OwenWalker0

ft.com/content/c3918a…
well I didn’t expect this reaction in the comments section
Jacob Rees-Mogg would have made up to £15m from the deal
Read 3 tweets
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Jim Pickard
@PickardJE
Awkward letter to Times from leading constitutional expert
"The Queen will have been used to make a Conservative party political broadcast"
arguably you could say that (to some extent) about every Queen’s Speech
Read 3 tweets

Related threads

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Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
NEW: Boris Johnson has handed £100,000 of taxpayers' money to one of his main personal donors

The cash is supposed to help the company be "ready for Brexit". But it declared itself "Brexit ready" in January

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
Four months ago the Bristol Port Company donated £25,000 to Boris Johnson ahead of his Tory leadership campaign

Johnson's government has just awarded Bristol port £100,000 of taxpayers' money, the Department for Transport has confirmed to BuzzFeed News

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
Now here's a strange thing

Transport secretary Grant Shapps says the £100,000 for Bristol port is about "ensuring they are ready for Brexit"

But in January the Bristol Port Company released a pamphlet already declaring themselves "Brexit ready"

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
Read 5 tweets
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Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
NEW: Dominic Cummings ordered Tory aides to “ram” the phrase Surrender Act “down their throats” at a meeting last night

He said there would be an election in November and claimed Labour were trying to silence it because “they know it’s hurting them”

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
☢️A Tory MP has compared Boris Johnson's Brexit strategy to the scene in HBO's Chernobyl with the red and blue cards

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The three key moments Tory MPs say No10 has got wrong

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— prorogation

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
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Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
— Johnson has no intention of resigning

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buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/pa…
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buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/pa…
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buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/pa…
Read 6 tweets
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Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
NEW

— if No10 can find space to shift for a deal, it plans inducements to win over rebels and "desperate" DUP, then ask EU to rule out extension

— if not, they will "go straight through" the Benn law and prepare for Oct Supreme Court battle and a budget

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
No10 thinks the EU will not offer an extension if the UK govt does not want one

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buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
Preparations also being made for an emergency end of October budget (as @SamCoatesSky
reported this week)...

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buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
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Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
NEW: Boris Johnson has today backed a Singapore-style tax free port at Bristol… six weeks after receiving a £25,000 payment from the owners of Bristol port

Cash-for-policy questions for the Tory leadership frontrunner:
buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
Boris Johnson today endorsed a report recommending Bristol port as one of six tax free ports

The report showed Bristol port could benefit from hundreds of millions of pounds of extra cash per year

Six weeks ago Bristol port paid Johnson £25,000...

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
The Johnson-backed report specifically recommends Bristol port as a candidate tax free zone...

Today Johnson said his govt will "consider specific candidate sites"...

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
Read 3 tweets
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Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
NEW: Boris Johnson has been referred to the Information Commissioner for multiple alleged breaches of data protection laws that Jeremy Hunt supporters say amount to “foul play” in the Tory leadership contest

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
Harriet Baldwin has asked the ICO if the Johnson campaign’s alleged use of mailing lists is legal

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buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
A CCHQ party membership mailing list was also used to distribute a pro-Johnson message from Nadine Dorries

The Johnson campaign insists it is compliant with GDPR and data protection laws

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/bo…
Read 3 tweets

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