Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Zoupa]

Valmy, you better start supporting Scottish independance or else that quote in your sig will have to go

[Tamas]

I have found it quite distasteful when a couple of days ago various SNP people jumped on Johnson for politicising the pandemic when he made some comment on the SNP's plans to potentially limit travel from England to Scotland.

Actually THEY are the ones making politics out of it even more than Johnson does. I don't think it is a coincidence that a pro-independence party is eager to make the English-Scottish border a real one at the first opportunity.

There is also their ridiculous pantomime with not doing what Westminster does but still doing it. Like "stay alert" - oh no that's confusing we won't have it! We'll have "stay vigilant!" Reducing the 2 meters rule? No, that's nonsense, we are not having it! Except, we reduce the 2 meters rule a week later.

It's really quite petty.





On the matter of people seemingly not caring for keeping the UK together. I was thinking about this amidst the statue-destroying, and was also brought up in the Talking Politics podcast: if we remove the Imperial past and symbolism as part of the national identity, and even WW2 (Churchill clearly makes the two closely linked in some people's eyes), then what remains? Something new would need to be built and I am not sure if there's an appetite for that.

[Valmy]

Valmy, you better start supporting Scottish independance or else that quote in your sig will have to go

I am not really supporting French interests there am I?

Point taken

[Sheilbh]

Government announcing new sanctions regime. For all of my (many) issues with this government between this and their position on Hong Kong, these are real positive steps on foreign policy that are a world away from the "Golden Era" under Cameron and Osborne, or New Labour in quite an impressive way. I mean if they follow through and really deliver on these, which is always questionable, but it is still promising, especially given how important the UK is for the people who live in Moneyland

Dominic Raab unveils UK sanctions against human rights abusers
'Magnitsky sanctions' to target violators in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Myanmar and North Korea
Patrick Wintour and Luke Harding
Mon 6 Jul 2020 15.41 BST
First published on Mon 6 Jul 2020 11.35 BST

Long-awaited UK government sanctions against human rights abusers, including a close aide to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, have been unveiled by the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab.

The measures announced on Monday against individuals in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Myanmar and North Korea include asset freezes and travel bans and represent the first time the UK will alone name and penalise individuals and organisations accused of human rights abuse.

"This government is committed to the UK being an even stronger force for good in the world," Raab told parliament as he announced the sanctions. "We will hold to account the perpetrators of the worst human rights abuses."

The sanctions will cover "an individual's right to life", freedom from torture or slavery and will be aimed at those not just those directly committing human rights abuses, but those that are benefitting and profiting from them.

Raab said the sanctions will target those involved in the deaths of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the Saudi journalist Khashoggi, the systemic killing of the Rohingyas in Myanmar and the use of forced labour in North Korea.

Chief among the individuals named is Saud al-Qahtani, who US authorities believe oversaw the team that killed Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

"Those with blood on their hands won't be free ... to waltz into this country, to buy up property on the King's Road, do their Christmas shopping in Knightsbridge, or siphon dirty money through British banks," Raab said.

The move follows the passage of the 2018 Sanctions Act setting up an independent post-Brexit sanctions regime.

Previously the UK was obliged to follow the EU and UN sanctions regimes. A statutory instrument subject to debate by MPs is to set out how the new regime will work.

The so-called Magnitsky sanctions are named after Sergei Magnitsky a Russian lawyer who died from mistreatment in a Moscow jail in 2009 following his disclosure of a $230m tax fraud at Hermitage, a UK-based asset management company. Similar regimes exists in the US, Canada, and the Baltic states.

The proposals were welcomed by Hermitage's chief executive, Bill Browder, who has campaigned internationally for Magnitsky-style regimes. He said the first group of people to be sanctioned by the UK would be "Magnitsky's killers".

Chris Bryant, a Labour MP on the foreign affairs select committee, also welcomed the move, but pointed to the delays in preparing the new laws by successive Conservative governments.

The new sanctions regime will exclude cases of corruption at this stage, a crime covered in parallel regimes in Canada and the US. Ministers were stressing the list is a first step, and will be developed over time. Raab said he was looking at the UN convention against corruption and the operation of sanctions laws in the US and Canada.

Some campaigners had also been briefed that the regime will only cover those countries listed as "countries of concern" to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in its annual human rights report, but this was not confirmed.

Given the scale of human rights abuse in the world by various authoritarian regimes, the FCO will inevitably face a battle to convince campaigners that individuals or countries have not been excluded due to wider UK diplomatic or trade interests. Ministers will also face claims that they are willing to select lesser officials in a country for sanction, but not accept that in wholly authoritarian regimes the climate on gross human rights abuse is set by the leaders, and not just officials.

The potential for conflict with diplomatic allies such as Saudi Arabia, and the potential for retribution is self evident.

Ministers, aware that the regime will be subject to legal challenge, have been stressing that the sanctions must not be seen as punishment from which there is no hope of exit, but instead designed to encourage better behaviour and relief from sanctions. Other measures are available to punish wrong doing.

Raab in 2014, then a backbencher, took legal action against the Information Commissioner's Office and the Home Office to force the disclosure of whether 60 Russian public officials allegedly involved in Magnitsky's murder were allowed to enter the UK, but the first-tier tribunal (information chamber) dismissed the claims.

Browder has spent a decade campaigning for the officials behind Magnitsky's death to be sanctioned. In 2012, the US Congress passed a landmark Magnitsky law. It blocked 18 Russian officials from entering the US and denied them access to US banking facilities. Vladimir Putin responded by prohibiting the adoption of Russian orphans by US couples.

Other countries have subsequently adopted similar legislation. They include the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – all EU members at the time – as well as Canada and Kosovo. Australia is considering legislation. In December, the EU agreed to adopt a Magnitsky law but has yet to follow through.

Browder described the UK government's initiative on Monday as a "huge milestone in the Magnitsky campaign". He said: "Most kleptocrats and human rights violators keep their money in the UK, have houses in London, and send their kids to British schools. This will have a stinging effect on bad guys around the world."

He added: "It's been a long and difficult journey to convince the British government to do this. It took eight years. The Magnitsky family is finally finding some justice. Sergei was working for a British firm when he was murdered."

After making the statement to parliament, Raab will pose for a photograph outside the FCO with Magnistky's widow, Natalia, and son Nikita.

A tax expert, Magnitsky was arrested by the same interior ministry officials he accused of fraud and locked up in Moscow's Matrosskaya Tishina prison. He was refused medical treatment and died at the age of 37 in an isolation cell, after being beaten by guards.

[Josquius]

Looks like the Newcastle take over is off then

[Sheilbh]

Looks like the Newcastle take over is off then

I still think that's more likely to be derailed by the piracy dispute with Qatar. Be involved in human rights abuses and the Premier League will welcome you in, be involved in IP infringement and it's far more challenging.

Interesting profile of Sunak - who seems very good at politics, I couldn't help but notice that the arts bailout yesterday had his fingerprints all over it and seemed far more linked to him than the Culture Secretary or the PM:
https://www.tatler.com/article/rishi-sunak-chancellor-of-the-exchequer-feature?sdk

Edit: Another example:

Chancellor Rishi Sunak to unveil 'kickstart jobs scheme' for young people

It's weird that they've merged the Nr 10 and Treasury Spads, but you still have the Chancellor hogging all the positive announcements.

[Sheilbh]

Already calls from senior Tories and Labour MPs for Carrie Lam and others in the Hong Kong government to be sanctioned

[Sheilbh]

Saw someone mention yesterday how unkind time has been to the coalition era. The reputations of Cameron, Clegg, Osborne etc are in tatters for a variety of reasons - working for Facebook on their global strategy, impact of austerity, major reforms of public health and the NHS that went very well, the referendums, the "Golden Era" with China etc.

So just to add to that the former Lib Dem campaign boss, who then went on to be head of strateg for the Remain campaign ("this is a very important referendum we need to win - call the Lib Dems!") is now advising on strategy and PR for the Hong Kong government. Edit: And apparently his other big client is the government Saudi Arabia

It sort of makes you understand why so many voters just want to burn it all down.

[Admiral Yi]

The nice countries don't need PR help.

[Josquius]

Saw someone mention yesterday how unkind time has been to the coalition era. The reputations of Cameron, Clegg, Osborne etc are in tatters for a variety of reasons - working for Facebook on their global strategy, impact of austerity, major reforms of public health and the NHS that went very well, the referendums, the "Golden Era" with China etc.

So just to add to that the former Lib Dem campaign boss, who then went on to be head of strateg for the Remain campaign ("this is a very important referendum we need to win - call the Lib Dems!") is now advising on strategy and PR for the Hong Kong government. Edit: And apparently his other big client is the government Saudi Arabia

It sort of makes you understand why so many voters just want to burn it all down.

Excuse me whilst I dust off my conspiracy hat; the remain campaign actively wanted to lose. Its big challenge for which vast sums of money were paid; convincing a overwhelmingly anti brexit population that brexit was the thing for them!

I joke of course. But it is curious someone with such a track record of failure continues to fall upwards.

[Sheilbh]

Excuse me whilst I dust off my conspiracy hat; the remain campaign actively wanted to lose. Its big challenge for which vast sums of money were paid was convincing a overwhelmingly anti brexit population that brexit was the thing for them!

I joke of course. But it is curious someone with such a track record of failure continues to fall upwards.

I mean seriously.

This guy was the Director of Strategy after his sterling work on the Lib Dems worst ever election. And the campaign was headed by Will Straw (son of Jack Straw) who had just not been elected as an MP in the 2015 and was rewarded by being put in charge of arguably the most important campaign in decades.

I don't know about a conspiracy, I think it was just arrogance. They were so sure they couldn't lose that they just used it as a jobs for the boys scheme. So the Lib Dems and Miliband teams had lots of out of work aides and consultants, get them in and what could possibly go wrong

Plus I just don't really like the princeling aspect of Will Straw's appointment. I mean luckily it hasn't worked. It seems that being the sun of a New Labour figure actively hinders your ability to get into politics (or at least once you get to the stage where voters have any say), but still

[Tamas]

Dominic Cummings is to visit the SAS and four other of the Ministry of Defence's most sensitive sites, a leaked email has revealed, at a time when the armed forces are battling to avoid swingeing cuts in an upcoming review.

MoD sources confirmed a personal tour had been organised for the prime minister's chief adviser, which will also take in the specialist military research laboratories at Porton Down, Wiltshire.

According to an email seen by the Sydney Morning Herald, the Cummings tour will also cover the Special Boat Service, defence intelligence and the Rapid Capabilities Office, which is responsible for special project development. Cummings has visited MI5 and MI6, the domestic and foreign intelligence agencies, twice already, it said.

The idea is to showcase some of the MoD's flagship operations to an adviser who has complained that military procurement "has continued to squander billions of pounds" and who has written in his personal blog of the potential for drone warfare.


The tour was deemed sufficiently important by Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, that he and his special adviser wanted to arrange its outline themselves before handing over to officials, according to the email.

"The secretary of state explicitly does not wish anyone to engage Number 10 or Dominic Cummings on this," the email said. "It is for the [the minister's special adviser] and the secretary of state to engage in the first instance before delegating to officials."

And you all think your prime minister is Boris Johnson, when he is just a PR stunt man shoved in front of the cameras.

[Josquius]

Project fear continues to become real.
Really should start on those Italian classes

https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/uk-asks-eu-if-it-can-build-checkpoints-in-northern-ireland-1-6734304?fbclid=IwAR2qedRRyaWyLw-ofsld2Iw13ZFZZlqaZFpw3CvnsrgksUGvw0r18K0y18s

EU receives UK request to build border posts in Northern Ireland as part of post-Brexit arrangement

[Tamas]

The government jumps to the rescue of people and the economy by.. trying to prop up housing prices via a tax holiday.

Yay! Obviously falling house prices is the LAST thing you want!

[Tamas]

Project fear continues to become real.
Really should start on those Italian classes

https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/uk-asks-eu-if-it-can-build-checkpoints-in-northern-ireland-1-6734304?fbclid=IwAR2qedRRyaWyLw-ofsld2Iw13ZFZZlqaZFpw3CvnsrgksUGvw0r18K0y18s

EU receives UK request to build border posts in Northern Ireland as part of post-Brexit arrangement

I mean that was in Johnson's brilliant schooling of the EU agreement wasn't it? I am just surprised they actually want to go through with it and not try to bluff their way out of the obligation.