We've done a pretty thorough sweep of Tory Russian donors declared with the Electoral Commission and, we believe, not even one is on the Government's sanctions list.
Wouldn't want to bite the hand that feeds, I guess.
Still enjoying this splendid self-own from the firm founded by a Chair of the Tories.
Anyone care to venture a theory as to why none of his clients have been sanctioned?
I guess, that elements of the Government are corrupt doesn't surprise me. If you've followed the VIP lane stuff you know it already. But I am deeply shocked by the Home Office's callous response - the gaslighting of desperate Ukrainian families - to the unfolding human tragedy.
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I usually ignore the lawyers who po-facedly complain about being blocked by me. But, illustratively, let's look at Joe Rich. I'm not aware I've ever been impolite to him but in the last year alone...
First hard truth. It's generally fine to criticise lawyers - barristers and solicitors - for acting for Oligarchs.
Solicitors always get to choose who they act for. Some barristers do (nobly) abide by the cab rank rule - but many do not. They act for who will pay their fees.
Yes, criticising lawyers for acting for Oligarchs theoretically undermines access to justice and equality before the law which is a genuinely important foundation of the law.
The sheer mendacity of this Government is quite breath-taking.
Back in June last year we revealed the existence of the VIP lane for test and trace. Government said the claims were "completely false" and there was "no separate fast track process."
Heather Wheeler has now confirmed that £6bn of Test and Trace money was spent on "priority referrals for covid testing."
And as the Guardian has reported, internal emails talked about test and trace offers getting the "VIP treatment." theguardian.com/world/2021/jul…
Awful to watch those brave people getting arrested in Russia for protesting against their Government. Here, our Government has just pushed through laws which allow them to arrest us for protesting against ours.
A leading case on the right to protest concerns Russia's criminalisation of protests by Navalnyy, the then leader of the Opposition. Russia said his protests caused noise and disruption (1). Protests causing noise and nuisance are exactly what our new laws target (2).
So the Mail is running a puff piece for a Priti Patel crackdown on Russian oligarchs (don't hold your breath waiting for a crackdown against Russian oligarchs who are also Tory donors)...
The highlight of the crackdown seems to be this: properties owned by complex ownership structures will be within the scope of unexplained wealth orders...
All sounds wonderful. Except that the first ever unexplained Wealth Order was obtained against... a property owned by a complex ownership structure (commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-brief…).