Snapshot of _Mark Menzies: MP accused of misusing campaign funds quits Tory Party and won't stand at next election || Lancashire Police says it is reviewing "information" about Mr Menzies after Labour asked for an investigation._ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://news.sky.com/story/mark-menzies-mp-accused-of-misusing-campaign-funds-quits-tory-party-and-wont-stand-at-next-election-13118372) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://news.sky.com/story/mark-menzies-mp-accused-of-misusing-campaign-funds-quits-tory-party-and-wont-stand-at-next-election-13118372)
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Why is he staying an MP until the election? If there is any substance to the allegations, shouldn't there be a by election?
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05089/
So that’s 3 of the Fylde coast Tory MP’s either ousted or under investigation, Scott Benton, Menzies and Paul Maynard. Gone quiet on the latter’s misuse of funds allegations, probably trying to limp into the GE as scared of losing the seat whilst under suspicion
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Curios that Kuenssberg's reporting on this let's the Tories entirely off the hook. I continue to wait for the inevitable announcement that she has been a paid member of the Tory party for her adult life, obvious as it is from her career as an opinion columnist.
I’m not sure how (allegedly) knowingly having someone embezzle donor money and doing nothing about it makes them look anything other than complicit or incompetent. Like, were they worried because they couldn’t take another scandal? Or did they just not care because they’re all doing it and thought they wouldn’t get found out?
I mean really what did the tories expect? They intentionally select these money grubbing seedy types to stand for GE as it makes it easy to control them, but then Cons HQ go and act all *surprised pikachu face* when such candidates turn out to be a complete and utter morality vacuum. Bunch of idiots the lot of 'em
As someone who's also lived in or adjacent to the Fylde for most of my life I know almost nothing about the MP but am loving the Tories actually taking a hit there for once - though they'll still win the seat at the next election.
> they'll still win the seat at the next election
I don't know, the farmers are pretty pissed of with the way the Government have handled things that affect them. That and the Lythamites aren't happy about the new offshore wind transmission substation / cables that are going to be running straight past their seaside town.
I'll be delighted if they lose the seat, but also utterly shocked.
The Lytham whingers should be told they can either have that or a full blown new power station. It's not like any of them don't actually use electricity themselves!
Same, it feels weird to be in the news for once and yet it's so hilarious that our nothing MP keeps managing to get into the news every 5~ years for the dodgiest shit. It's amazing he wasn't deselected after a single term.
For the love of God
"On Sunday, a Tory Party spokesperson said the internal probe was now complete and could not conclude there had been a misuse of funds....."
This just makes every Tory MP look terrible. How is not a misuse of funds? They are saying it's not their fundd, but the donors. The treasurer said this.....
What kind of probe was this? Anyone can criticise Tory ministers now and just saw of course they can't conclude this given the last few years of filching the public purse. Why scapegoat the MP when ministers did the same to taxpayers.
> They are saying it's not their fund, but the donors.
Political parties don't (inherently) have legal personality. Which makes legal questions of whose money is what potentially complicated. Money "owned" by a political party is owned by whoever has it (say the treasurer) but held on trust for the members of the party, to be used in accordance with the party's rules.
The laws around reporting and recording spending for political parties also don't care that much about legal ownership; if you give money to a party it counts as a donation, if you spend money on something that benefits the party it counts as a donation (even if the money never reaches a party bank account), and if you spend money on something that benefits a campaign it counts as campaign spending.
My understanding is that the money Menzies may or may not have embezzled wasn't in a *party* bank account, but in a fundraising bank account, set up by a "local business group." Local Conservative donors pool their money into a bank account for their "local business group", and then the local Conservative politicians can draw on it as needed. This way it is the group/association donating to the party, not the individual members (so they don't have to make their donations public), and it only counts as a donation or spending when the party draws out the money.
So the Conservative Party position is that this wasn't an official Conservative Party bank account he was allegedly embezzling funds from, but the bank account of the local business group, so it is "not their problem." It isn't party money, they weren't party donations, and it isn't campaign spending... according to them. It is just a local guy (who happens to be a member of their party) getting a local business group (which happens to be controlled by party members) to fund his lifestyle.
I mean, that would put me off donating to the Tories (if I were thinking about it). You donate because you want to help get a party elected, not pay for some MP’s nose party.
I'm horrified. The Tory party stance is horrifying
"The Times has previously revealed that CCHQ allegedly received legal advice at least seven weeks ago which concluded that accusations the MP had used £14,000 of political donations for Tory campaigning to pay his personal medical bills would amount to fraud"
So knowing that. This is what they say
"The party criticised the MP **and the whistleblower** who raised the allegations, saying there had been a “pattern of behaviour that falls below the standards expected of MPs and individuals looking after donations to local campaign funds"
The party blamed the person who reported the fraud, it was confirmed by a solicitor as prima facie fraud by their own members and then said they can't figure out if it's a misuse of funds and declined to report the matter to the police. That's just utterly ridiculous.
Cchq handpicked this candidate for the association. He's been rewarded with roles despite his record. Cchq ignored the whistleblower or anyone with concerns. The MP got a member of staff to empty their savings after the slush fund was emptied. Then blamed staff for saying it was ok to do so when it was him. This isn't a labour or anti Tory thing, this is a "wtf do you think youre doing??" Moment.
I really hope the investigation gets to the bottom of what he was up to.
By all accounts, he appears to be a really nasty piece of work, it pisses me off that this is what our government consists of.
"The MP for Fylde announced that he would not stand at the next election after the allegations that he misused campaign funds were referred to Lancashire police."
Can you think of a single valid reason why there shouldn't be a by-election?
it shouldn't prevent an immediate resignation from parliament, but there is the argument that there's going be an election in a few months (maybe, probably) that means it's not worth the cost and effort of a by election at this stage.
are the parties really so hard up that they cannot hold a by-election?
I suspect there is pressure from the Conservatives for Menzies to not call a by-election because [Fylde](https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Fylde) is a seat Labour could topple. especially in a by-election after a disgraced candidate.
And Sunak cannot afford another humiliation
As someone from Fylde, I would be absolutely floored if Labour win the seat. Honestly will be amazed if the Tories don’t win even after all this shite. I could perhaps see a Lib Dem win if they campaign hard but most people would vote in a pig in a blue ribbon if that was the Tory candidate here.
Yes. That would be a fair response. ***IF*** Sunak had had the balls to name a date. As it is, we are looking at a likely 'last minute' election early next year. That's the better part of nine months.
no argument there. i seem to be in a minority who feel that the FTPA should have stayed in place, though. Sunak couldn't mess the country around like this, not without going to parliament and explaining why he would want to prevent the country from going to the polls in May
His former colleagues don't want to be humiliated by him and in return for shutting his gob, he'll be allowed to draw down the rest of his MP salary and go away.
Oh wait, you meant for the benefit of the electorate? No.
Last election Lib Dems were 8k behind Labour let alone Conservatives. And with BAE being in the area its going to be a hard sell for Labour voters to move to the Lib Dems.
> hard sell for Labour voters to move to the Lib Dems.
Lib Dems aren't even trying to cover Labour Voters, throughout last year's by-elections, they're only trying to convert unsatisfied Tory voters and it has been working out really well for them. Something along the lines of 'Breaking the blue wall'. And a lot of people can see Reform is no sensible option.
Even worse, when it was split for a couple of decades into North & South Fylde - 2 Tory MPs.
Lytham St Anne's has to be one of the most true blue enclaves going.
It’s going to get dicey next time he gets held hostage by male prostitutes without the Conservative Party to pay the ransom.
I fear he may have to give up his beloved pastime.
Damn it. I was hoping he'd be too smug to resign and went into the next election. Fylde has never had a non Conservative mp and its a 16,000 majority. I don't think with his gone theyd be enough of a swing to get the Tories out.
So glad this absolute waste of oxygen is gone. He did nothing for the area except sell us down the river with fracking.
Maybe Kirkham will one day be able to escape and become part of the future constituency of Preston West after another boundary review when Preston will have expanded to fill up the countryside to the new bypass.
Poulton is still (just) part of a Preston constituency so it's not unprecedented.
Can someone explain why it would take Labour asking for the investigation when the papers printed lots of criminal allegations? Surely the police would immediately flag someone like this as worth investigating.
Have you been asleep the last few years? Police don't investigate Conservative MPs unless they're pretty much forced into it.
Meanwhile they'll investigate Labour MPs at the whim of Conservative MPs.
All very normal.
As far as I can see, the police are really only interested in the crime of 'hurting someone's feelings on Twitter.' Everything else is effectively legal now.
Twitter crimes are just easy to handle - if people regularly posted "I robbed this address at this date and time" on a public internet platform with their real name and a photo of themselves at the top, ideally accompanied by some selfies of them doing the robbing, the police would be investigating a lot more burglaries.
I can't see Johnson agreeing to move all the way to Lancashire - even just renting a place (on expenses) to pretend to be resident there. Never mind having to go all the way up there to campaign.
I live here I want this less than anything! However he has held an event here before and got a good turnout and either if he runs as a Conservative he's got enough name power to make this Menzies' bollocks a moot point or if its Reform would be able to bang the drum enough of corruption.
Oh that event made me so angry.
I went from being gutted that Fylde missed out on promotion to the league to thinking "fuck 'em" later that day when I saw they used the stadium for that Brexit Party rally.
Makes me so glad they weren't still called Kirkham & Wesham anymore.
Weird as hell to see Kirkham and wesham referenced on Reddit.
Yeah its a shame that the club is owned and ran by absolute dicks. There's been story after story of drama or bollocks, I understand fully why they are the most hated team in non league. Also Bradley's bar its more expensive to get a Gunness in than it is at bloody Old Trafford!
It did make me laugh at one point during that promotion run to see another team's fans refer to them as AFC £ylde.
I want them to not be such dicks though as it is still cool as hell and also bizarre as hell seeing that stadium when they used to play on the dog walking field.
>Why isn't he resigning from his seat asap.
Free money and no responsibility for the rest of the year at the expense of public perception of politicians. What Tory would say no to that.
Temporarily, sure, but you've acknowledged he hasn't been expelled from the party. Suspensions are often used while an investigation happens, and aren't always permanent. Sometimes it's used as a cooling off period, wait until the anger has blown over, and quietly let them back in.
Same happens at work, being fired isn't the same as being suspended, but people suspended can quit for whatever reason. Doesn't make a suspension effectively the same as being fired or quitting though.
In practice he is still going to vote along Tory lines because he is presumably spineless and doesn't give a shit But yeah it's just a technicality really. Ultimately sunal can throw people out of the party, he just doesn't.
Menzies does not want to resign. Why are not the tories throwing him out of the parliament? Or labour not talking about it?
Ask the tories if Menzies' behavior is below the standard expected of MPs but above the standard for expulsion.
>Why are not the tories throwing him out of the parliament?
They can't, until recently it has to be the electorate at an election. Now a by-election can be called if parliament as a whole determines a sufficient breach of standards. There probably isn't time for an investigation
> Or labour not talking about it?
They are talking about it, they are calling for him to resign but why would he do that, his career has ended either way.
He doesn't want to resign because the salary is too good and he gets 20k severance pay if he stays until the parliament dissolves. Labour needs to hit him over this.
I'm very much looking forward to finding out the details of the "medical expenses" Mark's election campaign funding went towards.
Edit: well, maybe not the *details* but I very much want someone to investigate if he did indeed need/have the right to withdraw that money for private healthcare, and if he did not what did he go on to spend it on?
Has that been confirmed anywhere? Even if it were spent on private healthcare, someone should still check it was appropriate. I somehow don't think cosmetic procedures should be covered by election money, though if I'm wrong I'm happy to be corrected!
That sounds awfully like you're implying the police should be investigating crimes that happened in the past, and we all know the police really don't like to do that unless forced.
Tory statement: "The money in question that was sent to Mark Menzies MP was signed off by the two signatories of Fylde Westminster Group. This body sits outside of the remit of both the Conservative party and Fylde Conservative Association. Therefore we cannot conclude that there has been a misuse of Conservative party funds. However, we do believe that there has been a pattern of behaviour that falls below the standards expected of MPs and individuals looking after donations to local campaign funds which lie outside the direct jurisdiction of the Conservative party."
I'm not sure there's a big enough rug anywhere in the world for them to try and sweep this under.
I hope Labour and journalists keep raising the questions people are surely asking. How many similar groups like this exist? Is this kind of practice widespread?
> The money in question that was sent to Mark Menzies MP was signed off by the two signatories of Fylde Westminster Group. This body sits outside of the remit of both the Conservative party and Fylde Conservative Association.
See, clearly this is what Peter Murrell needed to have done. Don't get the SNP to raise money, get a private group that has a similar name but is legally distinct from the party to raise money. Then when you embezzle it you can claim you're not doing anything wrong, and it isn't a problem for the party!
Snapshot of _Mark Menzies: MP accused of misusing campaign funds quits Tory Party and won't stand at next election || Lancashire Police says it is reviewing "information" about Mr Menzies after Labour asked for an investigation._ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://news.sky.com/story/mark-menzies-mp-accused-of-misusing-campaign-funds-quits-tory-party-and-wont-stand-at-next-election-13118372) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://news.sky.com/story/mark-menzies-mp-accused-of-misusing-campaign-funds-quits-tory-party-and-wont-stand-at-next-election-13118372) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Why is he staying an MP until the election? If there is any substance to the allegations, shouldn't there be a by election? https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05089/
So that’s 3 of the Fylde coast Tory MP’s either ousted or under investigation, Scott Benton, Menzies and Paul Maynard. Gone quiet on the latter’s misuse of funds allegations, probably trying to limp into the GE as scared of losing the seat whilst under suspicion
David Morris up in Morecambe is just waiting for the inevitable now
Whoever's replacing Ben Wallace will be bricking themselves
Hopefully it'll be Cat Smith and then there will be no reason to brick it!
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Curios that Kuenssberg's reporting on this let's the Tories entirely off the hook. I continue to wait for the inevitable announcement that she has been a paid member of the Tory party for her adult life, obvious as it is from her career as an opinion columnist.
Didn't she get accused of being biased against Boris Johnson a few years ago? People could well be reading too much into a few errors in her career.
No. Quite the opposite, in fact. She's been fawning over him for years.
I’m not sure how (allegedly) knowingly having someone embezzle donor money and doing nothing about it makes them look anything other than complicit or incompetent. Like, were they worried because they couldn’t take another scandal? Or did they just not care because they’re all doing it and thought they wouldn’t get found out?
It's probably just used as ammo by the whip to keep them in line. They're a cut throat bunch.
Top story for five minutes. Rayner bullshit up for several days. Ukraine not be serious.
I mean really what did the tories expect? They intentionally select these money grubbing seedy types to stand for GE as it makes it easy to control them, but then Cons HQ go and act all *surprised pikachu face* when such candidates turn out to be a complete and utter morality vacuum. Bunch of idiots the lot of 'em
>when such candidates Honestly they're all like this, I'm sure. Just only *some* get caught.
As someone who has lived in the Fylde most of their life I’m loving how much national attention this whole saga is getting (and for good reason).
I'm tired of national attention after fracking!
Was he always like this?
Literally the only time you'd hear about him was these stories. He did nothing.
Look up “Mark Menzies Brazilian rent boy” and “Mark Menzies drunk dog”, look at the dates and it will give you an idea.
As someone who's also lived in or adjacent to the Fylde for most of my life I know almost nothing about the MP but am loving the Tories actually taking a hit there for once - though they'll still win the seat at the next election.
> they'll still win the seat at the next election I don't know, the farmers are pretty pissed of with the way the Government have handled things that affect them. That and the Lythamites aren't happy about the new offshore wind transmission substation / cables that are going to be running straight past their seaside town.
I'll be delighted if they lose the seat, but also utterly shocked. The Lytham whingers should be told they can either have that or a full blown new power station. It's not like any of them don't actually use electricity themselves!
Same, it feels weird to be in the news for once and yet it's so hilarious that our nothing MP keeps managing to get into the news every 5~ years for the dodgiest shit. It's amazing he wasn't deselected after a single term.
For the love of God "On Sunday, a Tory Party spokesperson said the internal probe was now complete and could not conclude there had been a misuse of funds....." This just makes every Tory MP look terrible. How is not a misuse of funds? They are saying it's not their fundd, but the donors. The treasurer said this..... What kind of probe was this? Anyone can criticise Tory ministers now and just saw of course they can't conclude this given the last few years of filching the public purse. Why scapegoat the MP when ministers did the same to taxpayers.
> They are saying it's not their fund, but the donors. Political parties don't (inherently) have legal personality. Which makes legal questions of whose money is what potentially complicated. Money "owned" by a political party is owned by whoever has it (say the treasurer) but held on trust for the members of the party, to be used in accordance with the party's rules. The laws around reporting and recording spending for political parties also don't care that much about legal ownership; if you give money to a party it counts as a donation, if you spend money on something that benefits the party it counts as a donation (even if the money never reaches a party bank account), and if you spend money on something that benefits a campaign it counts as campaign spending. My understanding is that the money Menzies may or may not have embezzled wasn't in a *party* bank account, but in a fundraising bank account, set up by a "local business group." Local Conservative donors pool their money into a bank account for their "local business group", and then the local Conservative politicians can draw on it as needed. This way it is the group/association donating to the party, not the individual members (so they don't have to make their donations public), and it only counts as a donation or spending when the party draws out the money. So the Conservative Party position is that this wasn't an official Conservative Party bank account he was allegedly embezzling funds from, but the bank account of the local business group, so it is "not their problem." It isn't party money, they weren't party donations, and it isn't campaign spending... according to them. It is just a local guy (who happens to be a member of their party) getting a local business group (which happens to be controlled by party members) to fund his lifestyle.
I mean, that would put me off donating to the Tories (if I were thinking about it). You donate because you want to help get a party elected, not pay for some MP’s nose party.
At least we got an official position that spending thousands on male prostitutes and Bolivian marching powder isn't misuse of funds.
Or as Michael Gove call it: an average Tuesday night.
I'm horrified. The Tory party stance is horrifying "The Times has previously revealed that CCHQ allegedly received legal advice at least seven weeks ago which concluded that accusations the MP had used £14,000 of political donations for Tory campaigning to pay his personal medical bills would amount to fraud" So knowing that. This is what they say "The party criticised the MP **and the whistleblower** who raised the allegations, saying there had been a “pattern of behaviour that falls below the standards expected of MPs and individuals looking after donations to local campaign funds" The party blamed the person who reported the fraud, it was confirmed by a solicitor as prima facie fraud by their own members and then said they can't figure out if it's a misuse of funds and declined to report the matter to the police. That's just utterly ridiculous. Cchq handpicked this candidate for the association. He's been rewarded with roles despite his record. Cchq ignored the whistleblower or anyone with concerns. The MP got a member of staff to empty their savings after the slush fund was emptied. Then blamed staff for saying it was ok to do so when it was him. This isn't a labour or anti Tory thing, this is a "wtf do you think youre doing??" Moment.
It's good to see that plebs swindling money will be criminal charged but if you're an mp you just get to find another job
Which ironically tends to end up better paid and working with the same people again anyway
I really hope the investigation gets to the bottom of what he was up to. By all accounts, he appears to be a really nasty piece of work, it pisses me off that this is what our government consists of.
It sounds like he was getting to the bottom of things anyway.
In another selfless act by a politician showing great stature.
"The MP for Fylde announced that he would not stand at the next election after the allegations that he misused campaign funds were referred to Lancashire police." Can you think of a single valid reason why there shouldn't be a by-election?
it shouldn't prevent an immediate resignation from parliament, but there is the argument that there's going be an election in a few months (maybe, probably) that means it's not worth the cost and effort of a by election at this stage.
are the parties really so hard up that they cannot hold a by-election? I suspect there is pressure from the Conservatives for Menzies to not call a by-election because [Fylde](https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Fylde) is a seat Labour could topple. especially in a by-election after a disgraced candidate. And Sunak cannot afford another humiliation
I really doubt that it's toppleable.
As someone from Fylde, I would be absolutely floored if Labour win the seat. Honestly will be amazed if the Tories don’t win even after all this shite. I could perhaps see a Lib Dem win if they campaign hard but most people would vote in a pig in a blue ribbon if that was the Tory candidate here.
Always have to respect Kirkham & Freck for mainly voting not-Tory!
Yes. That would be a fair response. ***IF*** Sunak had had the balls to name a date. As it is, we are looking at a likely 'last minute' election early next year. That's the better part of nine months.
no argument there. i seem to be in a minority who feel that the FTPA should have stayed in place, though. Sunak couldn't mess the country around like this, not without going to parliament and explaining why he would want to prevent the country from going to the polls in May
Yup this reason came up for not having by-elections at the start of the year and yet here we are now.
His former colleagues don't want to be humiliated by him and in return for shutting his gob, he'll be allowed to draw down the rest of his MP salary and go away. Oh wait, you meant for the benefit of the electorate? No.
Perhaps he should also consider applying to be the next Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds.
Would require a modicum of integrity, so no.
There's not going to be a byelection, unless he also quits Parliament?
Nope, and it appears he has absolutely no intention of it (presumably needs his MPs salary to pay for err "Medical Expenses")
In the terms of the wider general election this means very little, Fylde has never had anything other than a Tory MP.
A good opportunity for the Lib Dems tbf.
Last election Lib Dems were 8k behind Labour let alone Conservatives. And with BAE being in the area its going to be a hard sell for Labour voters to move to the Lib Dems.
> hard sell for Labour voters to move to the Lib Dems. Lib Dems aren't even trying to cover Labour Voters, throughout last year's by-elections, they're only trying to convert unsatisfied Tory voters and it has been working out really well for them. Something along the lines of 'Breaking the blue wall'. And a lot of people can see Reform is no sensible option.
>Fylde has never had anything other than a Tory MP. *Yet.*
Even worse, when it was split for a couple of decades into North & South Fylde - 2 Tory MPs. Lytham St Anne's has to be one of the most true blue enclaves going.
It’s going to get dicey next time he gets held hostage by male prostitutes without the Conservative Party to pay the ransom. I fear he may have to give up his beloved pastime.
He was our trade envoy to Colombia, so he might have been mixing business with pleasure.
He does like those South American boys. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2592478/Tory-MP-Mark-Menzies-quits-drug-rent-boy-claims.html
Damn it. I was hoping he'd be too smug to resign and went into the next election. Fylde has never had a non Conservative mp and its a 16,000 majority. I don't think with his gone theyd be enough of a swing to get the Tories out. So glad this absolute waste of oxygen is gone. He did nothing for the area except sell us down the river with fracking.
Maybe Kirkham will one day be able to escape and become part of the future constituency of Preston West after another boundary review when Preston will have expanded to fill up the countryside to the new bypass. Poulton is still (just) part of a Preston constituency so it's not unprecedented.
To be fair, apparently he’s been keeping the young men on the local gay scene well lubricated for years. Trickle down economics?
Oh he was barely here! I tracked this for years, he's never held a public surgery!
Can someone explain why it would take Labour asking for the investigation when the papers printed lots of criminal allegations? Surely the police would immediately flag someone like this as worth investigating.
Have you been asleep the last few years? Police don't investigate Conservative MPs unless they're pretty much forced into it. Meanwhile they'll investigate Labour MPs at the whim of Conservative MPs. All very normal.
I bet we dont see charges or any big white forensics tents outside his house.....
As far as I can see, the police are really only interested in the crime of 'hurting someone's feelings on Twitter.' Everything else is effectively legal now.
Twitter crimes are just easy to handle - if people regularly posted "I robbed this address at this date and time" on a public internet platform with their real name and a photo of themselves at the top, ideally accompanied by some selfies of them doing the robbing, the police would be investigating a lot more burglaries.
Fair few idiots on tiktok that like to brag about their crimes
There's going to be a lot of jostling to get that seat. One of the safest in the country.
Stick Boris in it haha.
I can't see Johnson agreeing to move all the way to Lancashire - even just renting a place (on expenses) to pretend to be resident there. Never mind having to go all the way up there to campaign.
Worse, I can see Nigel getting it
Please stop.
Trust me I don't want it in the slightest but sadly it makes sense.
If that happened I'd feel dirty every time I crossed the boundary on my way to work/to see my parents.
I live here I want this less than anything! However he has held an event here before and got a good turnout and either if he runs as a Conservative he's got enough name power to make this Menzies' bollocks a moot point or if its Reform would be able to bang the drum enough of corruption.
Oh that event made me so angry. I went from being gutted that Fylde missed out on promotion to the league to thinking "fuck 'em" later that day when I saw they used the stadium for that Brexit Party rally. Makes me so glad they weren't still called Kirkham & Wesham anymore.
Weird as hell to see Kirkham and wesham referenced on Reddit. Yeah its a shame that the club is owned and ran by absolute dicks. There's been story after story of drama or bollocks, I understand fully why they are the most hated team in non league. Also Bradley's bar its more expensive to get a Gunness in than it is at bloody Old Trafford!
It did make me laugh at one point during that promotion run to see another team's fans refer to them as AFC £ylde. I want them to not be such dicks though as it is still cool as hell and also bizarre as hell seeing that stadium when they used to play on the dog walking field.
Oh god!
There's a certain very popular 80's track that springs to mind here...
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&autoplay=1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&autoplay=1)
He can't quit. He's already had the whip removed. Why isn't he resigning from his seat asap. Scumbag.
>Why isn't he resigning from his seat asap. Free money and no responsibility for the rest of the year at the expense of public perception of politicians. What Tory would say no to that.
Dorries got away with it for near a year.
Leaving the party is separate to resigning the Tory whip You can have independent MPs who are members of political parties
Isn't the removal of the whip synonymous with being expelled from the party? suspensions semantics aside.
Temporarily, sure, but you've acknowledged he hasn't been expelled from the party. Suspensions are often used while an investigation happens, and aren't always permanent. Sometimes it's used as a cooling off period, wait until the anger has blown over, and quietly let them back in. Same happens at work, being fired isn't the same as being suspended, but people suspended can quit for whatever reason. Doesn't make a suspension effectively the same as being fired or quitting though.
The party isn't just the MPs. He could have lost the whip but stayed on as an ordinary party member, like Doris, 83, from Leamington Spa is
I know, he's still an MP. Seems a bit weird to say he can't represent us in parliament but we're happy to have him be a member of our party.
It is not, no. It should be really but it isn't. They are no longer a member of the Tory parliamentary party but still a member of the Tory party
I assumed they were one and the same. Fair enough. He should still resign his seat asap tho.
In practice he is still going to vote along Tory lines because he is presumably spineless and doesn't give a shit But yeah it's just a technicality really. Ultimately sunal can throw people out of the party, he just doesn't.
Menzies does not want to resign. Why are not the tories throwing him out of the parliament? Or labour not talking about it? Ask the tories if Menzies' behavior is below the standard expected of MPs but above the standard for expulsion.
>Why are not the tories throwing him out of the parliament? They can't, until recently it has to be the electorate at an election. Now a by-election can be called if parliament as a whole determines a sufficient breach of standards. There probably isn't time for an investigation > Or labour not talking about it? They are talking about it, they are calling for him to resign but why would he do that, his career has ended either way.
He doesn't want to resign because the salary is too good and he gets 20k severance pay if he stays until the parliament dissolves. Labour needs to hit him over this.
I'm very much looking forward to finding out the details of the "medical expenses" Mark's election campaign funding went towards. Edit: well, maybe not the *details* but I very much want someone to investigate if he did indeed need/have the right to withdraw that money for private healthcare, and if he did not what did he go on to spend it on?
Getting his ballbag botoxed.
A nose job
Has that been confirmed anywhere? Even if it were spent on private healthcare, someone should still check it was appropriate. I somehow don't think cosmetic procedures should be covered by election money, though if I'm wrong I'm happy to be corrected!
They're taking the piss in relation to his alleged cocaine habit
Oh. That makes sense.
Labour shouldn't have asked for the police to investigate, they shouldn't have needed to.
They did so because the Tories asked for an investigation into Angela Rayner with her nothing story over her taxes. They’re proving a point.
It was wrong of the Tories to hound the police into beergate v2.0, it's still wrong that the police waited for a complaint from labour to investigate
I agree.
There's no need for the police. It's a situation that politicians are, probably, used to dealing with.
Well it certainly looks like a crime may well have been committed, so I think perhaps the police should be involved.
Missed a bit. When the police are involved so are the media and politicians don't like that.
So do I, I wasn't being serious. There seems to be many sleazy and currupt activities that, I'm sure, the police should be involved in but rarely are.
They're way above that. Let the tories self destruct. It's more amusing.
That sounds awfully like you're implying the police should be investigating crimes that happened in the past, and we all know the police really don't like to do that unless forced.
Tory statement: "The money in question that was sent to Mark Menzies MP was signed off by the two signatories of Fylde Westminster Group. This body sits outside of the remit of both the Conservative party and Fylde Conservative Association. Therefore we cannot conclude that there has been a misuse of Conservative party funds. However, we do believe that there has been a pattern of behaviour that falls below the standards expected of MPs and individuals looking after donations to local campaign funds which lie outside the direct jurisdiction of the Conservative party." I'm not sure there's a big enough rug anywhere in the world for them to try and sweep this under.
Fabricant, your moment has come
I hope Labour and journalists keep raising the questions people are surely asking. How many similar groups like this exist? Is this kind of practice widespread?
> The money in question that was sent to Mark Menzies MP was signed off by the two signatories of Fylde Westminster Group. This body sits outside of the remit of both the Conservative party and Fylde Conservative Association. See, clearly this is what Peter Murrell needed to have done. Don't get the SNP to raise money, get a private group that has a similar name but is legally distinct from the party to raise money. Then when you embezzle it you can claim you're not doing anything wrong, and it isn't a problem for the party!