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May 21 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
STORY

Ring of Tory donors 'line pals up' for honours and degrees in "gong-go-round"

mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
A string of the same Conservative Party donors have been given international knighthoods, honorary degrees and doctorates from a top UK university, and seats on the board of a second university.

It’s been nicknamed the #GongGoRound by one Tory insider.
Follows exclusive investigation last month which revealed San Marino’s honorary consul in the UK was almost exclusively giving honours to Conservative Party donors. mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
Five of the men linked to the San Marinese consul and honorary doctorates from Bolton shared a table at the Tory spring lunch last week.

And four shared a table at the infamous President’s Club dinner in 2018. #GongGoRound
Here’s an amusing aside there just wasn’t space for - The San Miranese consul posted a photo of himself outside a restaurant called “San Marino” last month.

The restaurant is in Bolton.

Sources said the “end goal” of the group was to increase their influence in Conservative social circles, obtain UK knighthoods and peerages and create a money network to support their favoured Tory leadership candidate. #GongGoRound

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More from @mikeysmith

Mikey Smith Profile picture
May 13
Conclusive proof that anyone with £50, an Aldi within walking distance, a team of helpers, an industrial kitchen and a professional chef can make meals for 30p.
(Not including gas/electricity, because that would be madness)
Also, presumably best part of a day to do nothing but cook. But everyone has that, right?
Read 7 tweets
Mikey Smith Profile picture
May 13
Computer says no.
Didn’t they just spend a decade and millions of pounds replacing the benefits system with a shiny new one, which they said would be simpler and more flexible?
The excuse is that legacy benefits - that haven’t been put on Universal Credit yet - still use a “paper system”.

They were supposed to be fully transferred to UC by 2017.

The current deadline for it actually happening is 2024, seven years late.
Read 5 tweets
Mikey Smith Profile picture
May 6
So let’s talk about the term “greasy night”.

In Richard Holden’s letter to police on April 22, he says “greasy night” is defined on Urban Dictionary as involving a lot of alcohol.

There is no entry for “greasy night” on Urban Dictionary.
There is an entry for “greasy” - from 2006, it’s the fourth definition of the word down, you have to scroll for a bit - which refers to anything involving debauchery. I
Enough people were saying “wait, it means what?” that I tried to look up how often it’s been picked up on Google over time. Turns out not at all.
Read 5 tweets
Mikey Smith Profile picture
May 5
The ex-detective who wrote this is a former Conservative Party member who believes he was "hounded" out of the Met because of his "edgy" views.

thesun.co.uk/news/18464098/…
The views included *repeatedly* comparing LGBT "propaganda" to Nazi Germany. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4… ImageImage
Oh, and you may remember Mr Neville from when he demanded Diane Abbot be fined for drinking a Mojito in a tin on an overground train "as a deterrent to others".

thesun.co.uk/news/8901060/l…
Read 4 tweets
Mikey Smith Profile picture
Nov 13, 2021
Delighted to return from a week's holiday to find everyone's got into sleaze, cronies and second jobs.

But like when everyone discovered Game of Thrones during season 3, there's lots to catch up on.

Here's a recap of some of the stories I've worked on over the last 18 months.
Let's start with donors - specifically this run of stories about a Russia-linked energy firm which donates a LOT to the Tories.

Tory Energy Secretary dined with donors behind £1.2bn pipeline at fundraiser
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
More:

Tory who raised energy pipeline in Commons shared fundraiser table with donors behind it
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Second Tory minister recuses herself from power pipeline decision over donations
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
Read 29 tweets
Mikey Smith Profile picture
Apr 4, 2021
Just remembered the absolute hysterical fever dream that was November 7, 2020.
I sent this tweet as I was rushing to check out of my DC hotel room, where I’d been based during the last days of the campaign.
After extending my stay for as long as was reasonable while the counts went on, I ended up filing the update that the networks had called it for Biden from an armchair in the lobby - as people ran out of the lifts and into the street, literally whooping and hollering.
Read 4 tweets

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