COVID-19 'Pandemic'
- Thread starter Ocean Breeze
- Start date
Hmm. . . good point. OK, Plan B. . . hide under the bed.
Boris Johnson deliberately misled UK Parliament over 'partygate,' scathing report finds
The former prime minister resigned on Friday after the committee gave him advance notice of its findings
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Danica Kirka And Sylvia Hui
Published Jun 15, 2023 • 4 minute read
LONDON — A committee of lawmakers harshly rebuked former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, saying he lied to Parliament about lockdown-flouting parties and was complicit in a campaign to intimidate those investigating his conduct.
The House of Commons Privileges Committee found Johnson’s actions were such a flagrant violation of the rules that they warranted a 90-day suspension from Parliament. That sanction would have been more than enough to trigger a by-election that could have cost Johnson his seat in Parliament, but the former prime minister avoided that ignominy by resigning on Friday after the committee gave him advance notice of its findings.
Release of the committee’s scathing 77-page report touched off an angry exchange of recriminations, with Johnson repeating his claims that the panel was a “kangaroo court” bent on ousting him from Parliament and the committee saying his defense was an after-the-fact justification that was “no more than an artifice.”
The report is just the latest episode in the “partygate” scandal that has angered the public and distracted lawmakers since local news organizations first revealed that members of Johnson’s staff held a series of parties in 2020 and 2021 when such gatherings were prohibited by pandemic restrictions.
Johnson initially denied that any parties took place, then repeatedly assured lawmakers that rules and guidance were followed at all times.
The committee, which took testimony from Johnson and senior members of his government during its 14-month investigation, concluded that those assurances were misleading and that Johnson failed to correct the record when asked to do so. This amounted to a “serious contempt” of Parliament, the panel found.
“The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the Prime Minister, the most senior member of the government,” the committee said. “There is no precedent for a Prime Minister having been found to have deliberately misled the House. He misled the House on an issue of the greatest importance to the House and to the public, and did so repeatedly.”
The committee also said Johnson should not be granted a pass to Parliament’s grounds.
Johnson, 58, fought back in a statement tinged by fury. He insisted he had done nothing wrong.
“The committee now says that I deliberately misled the House, and at the moment I spoke I was consciously concealing from the House my knowledge of illicit events,” Johnson said. “This is rubbish. It is a lie. In order to reach this deranged conclusion, the Committee is obliged to say a series of things that are patently absurd, or contradicted by the facts.”
Johnson angrily quit as a lawmaker on Friday after the committee informed him in advance that he would be sanctioned. In his statement Thursday, he lashed out at the committee, saying they used their prerogatives to bring about what “is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination.”
Johnson’s move to quit Parliament means he can no longer be suspended, and his seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip will be contested in a special election in July.
Johnson and his wife, Carrie, were fined by the Metropolitan Police last year for breaching COVID-19 laws at a birthday party for Johnson in June 2020 in his Downing Street residence and office.
Current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was also among dozens of people issued with fixed-penalty notices for a series of office parties and “wine time Fridays” in 2020 and 2021 across government buildings.
Revelations of the booze-fueled gatherings, which took place at a time when millions were prohibited from seeing loved ones or even attending family funerals, angered many Britons and added to a string of ethics scandals that spelled Johnson’s downfall. Johnson resigned as prime minister in July 2022 after a mass exodus of government officials protesting his leadership.
Johnson has acknowledged misleading lawmakers when he assured them that no rules had been broken, but he insisted he didn’t do so deliberately.
In March he told the committee he “honestly believed” the five gatherings he attended, including a send-off for a staffer and his own surprise birthday party, were “lawful work gatherings” intended to boost morale among overworked staff members coping with a deadly pandemic.
Families of people who died in the pandemic flatly disagreed. The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group said the committee’s report was a painful reminder that while they were saying goodbye to loved ones on Zoom, the prime minister was holding parties.
David Garfinkel, a spokesperson for the group, said Johnson should be barred from holding office again.
“Johnson has shown no remorse,” Garfinkel said in a statement. “Instead he lied to our faces when he told us that he’d done ‘all he could’ to protect our loved ones, he lied again when he said the rules hadn’t been broken in number 10, and he’s lied ever since when he’s denied it again and again.”
torontosun.com
The former prime minister resigned on Friday after the committee gave him advance notice of its findings
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Danica Kirka And Sylvia Hui
Published Jun 15, 2023 • 4 minute read
LONDON — A committee of lawmakers harshly rebuked former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, saying he lied to Parliament about lockdown-flouting parties and was complicit in a campaign to intimidate those investigating his conduct.
The House of Commons Privileges Committee found Johnson’s actions were such a flagrant violation of the rules that they warranted a 90-day suspension from Parliament. That sanction would have been more than enough to trigger a by-election that could have cost Johnson his seat in Parliament, but the former prime minister avoided that ignominy by resigning on Friday after the committee gave him advance notice of its findings.
Release of the committee’s scathing 77-page report touched off an angry exchange of recriminations, with Johnson repeating his claims that the panel was a “kangaroo court” bent on ousting him from Parliament and the committee saying his defense was an after-the-fact justification that was “no more than an artifice.”
The report is just the latest episode in the “partygate” scandal that has angered the public and distracted lawmakers since local news organizations first revealed that members of Johnson’s staff held a series of parties in 2020 and 2021 when such gatherings were prohibited by pandemic restrictions.
Johnson initially denied that any parties took place, then repeatedly assured lawmakers that rules and guidance were followed at all times.
The committee, which took testimony from Johnson and senior members of his government during its 14-month investigation, concluded that those assurances were misleading and that Johnson failed to correct the record when asked to do so. This amounted to a “serious contempt” of Parliament, the panel found.
“The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the Prime Minister, the most senior member of the government,” the committee said. “There is no precedent for a Prime Minister having been found to have deliberately misled the House. He misled the House on an issue of the greatest importance to the House and to the public, and did so repeatedly.”
The committee also said Johnson should not be granted a pass to Parliament’s grounds.
Johnson, 58, fought back in a statement tinged by fury. He insisted he had done nothing wrong.
“The committee now says that I deliberately misled the House, and at the moment I spoke I was consciously concealing from the House my knowledge of illicit events,” Johnson said. “This is rubbish. It is a lie. In order to reach this deranged conclusion, the Committee is obliged to say a series of things that are patently absurd, or contradicted by the facts.”
Johnson angrily quit as a lawmaker on Friday after the committee informed him in advance that he would be sanctioned. In his statement Thursday, he lashed out at the committee, saying they used their prerogatives to bring about what “is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination.”
Johnson’s move to quit Parliament means he can no longer be suspended, and his seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip will be contested in a special election in July.
Johnson and his wife, Carrie, were fined by the Metropolitan Police last year for breaching COVID-19 laws at a birthday party for Johnson in June 2020 in his Downing Street residence and office.
Current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was also among dozens of people issued with fixed-penalty notices for a series of office parties and “wine time Fridays” in 2020 and 2021 across government buildings.
Revelations of the booze-fueled gatherings, which took place at a time when millions were prohibited from seeing loved ones or even attending family funerals, angered many Britons and added to a string of ethics scandals that spelled Johnson’s downfall. Johnson resigned as prime minister in July 2022 after a mass exodus of government officials protesting his leadership.
Johnson has acknowledged misleading lawmakers when he assured them that no rules had been broken, but he insisted he didn’t do so deliberately.
In March he told the committee he “honestly believed” the five gatherings he attended, including a send-off for a staffer and his own surprise birthday party, were “lawful work gatherings” intended to boost morale among overworked staff members coping with a deadly pandemic.
Families of people who died in the pandemic flatly disagreed. The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group said the committee’s report was a painful reminder that while they were saying goodbye to loved ones on Zoom, the prime minister was holding parties.
David Garfinkel, a spokesperson for the group, said Johnson should be barred from holding office again.
“Johnson has shown no remorse,” Garfinkel said in a statement. “Instead he lied to our faces when he told us that he’d done ‘all he could’ to protect our loved ones, he lied again when he said the rules hadn’t been broken in number 10, and he’s lied ever since when he’s denied it again and again.”
Boris Johnson deliberately misled UK Parliament over 'partygate,' scathing report finds
The former prime minister resigned on Friday after the committee gave him advance notice of its findings.
Florida couple charged with more than $2M in COVID-19 relief fraud
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jun 16, 2023 • 1 minute read
FORT MYERS, Fla. — A southwest Florida couple has been charged with stealing more than $2 million in COVID-19 relief funds and using the money to buy boats, new businesses and other luxury items.
Timothy Craig Jolloff, 46, and Lisa Ann Jolloff, 56, made their initial appearances Friday in Fort Myers federal court on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and illegal monetary transactions, according to court records. Timothy Jolloff is also charged with one count of wire fraud.
According to a criminal complaint, Timothy Jolloff submitted false and fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program loan applications in the spring of 2020 to the Small Business Administration, as well as a PPP approved lender. This caused the SBA and a PPP lender to approve and fund 11 disaster loans and six PPP loans, totaling about $2.14 million, prosecutors said.
The Jolloffs then used the money to purchase three pontoon boats, real estate in Indiana, home furnishings, outdoor kitchens for their homes, a 2020 Polaris utility vehicle, jewelry and two dogs, investigators said. The couple also purchased a furniture business in Indiana and a landscaping business in Florida, which had no connection to the businesses for which the couple had obtained COVID relief funds, officials said.
Online court records didn’t list defense attorneys for the Jolloffs.
The Paycheck Protection Program involves billions of dollars in forgivable small-business loans for Americans struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The money must be used to pay employees, mortgage interest, rent and utilities. It is part of the coronavirus relief package that became federal law in 2020.
The Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is designed to provide economic relief to small businesses that are experiencing a temporary loss of revenue. The Main Street Lending Program was designed to provide support to small- and medium-size businesses and their employees across the United States during the pandemic.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jun 16, 2023 • 1 minute read
FORT MYERS, Fla. — A southwest Florida couple has been charged with stealing more than $2 million in COVID-19 relief funds and using the money to buy boats, new businesses and other luxury items.
Timothy Craig Jolloff, 46, and Lisa Ann Jolloff, 56, made their initial appearances Friday in Fort Myers federal court on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and illegal monetary transactions, according to court records. Timothy Jolloff is also charged with one count of wire fraud.
According to a criminal complaint, Timothy Jolloff submitted false and fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program loan applications in the spring of 2020 to the Small Business Administration, as well as a PPP approved lender. This caused the SBA and a PPP lender to approve and fund 11 disaster loans and six PPP loans, totaling about $2.14 million, prosecutors said.
The Jolloffs then used the money to purchase three pontoon boats, real estate in Indiana, home furnishings, outdoor kitchens for their homes, a 2020 Polaris utility vehicle, jewelry and two dogs, investigators said. The couple also purchased a furniture business in Indiana and a landscaping business in Florida, which had no connection to the businesses for which the couple had obtained COVID relief funds, officials said.
Online court records didn’t list defense attorneys for the Jolloffs.
The Paycheck Protection Program involves billions of dollars in forgivable small-business loans for Americans struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The money must be used to pay employees, mortgage interest, rent and utilities. It is part of the coronavirus relief package that became federal law in 2020.
The Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is designed to provide economic relief to small businesses that are experiencing a temporary loss of revenue. The Main Street Lending Program was designed to provide support to small- and medium-size businesses and their employees across the United States during the pandemic.
Florida couple charged with more than $2M in COVID-19 relief fraud
A southwest Florida couple has been charged with stealing more than $2 million in COVID-19 relief funds and using the money
At first I thought "Ron and Casey DeSantis?" But, nah. They defrauded WAAAAY more'n a couple of mil's worth.
Says who? I've not heard anything like this so where did you get this information?
Um. . . says me. You can tell by looking over to the left of the post that has your panties in a knot. Right below the cute pony.
You know how it is Dix...... say it until it becomes true.
UK likely to back scathing report that slammed Boris Johnson over 'partygate'
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jill Lawless
Published Jun 19, 2023 • 3 minute read
LONDON — Britain’s House of Commons is likely Monday to endorse a report that found Boris Johnson lied to lawmakers about lockdown-flouting parties in his office, a humiliating censure that would strip the former prime minister of his lifetime access to Parliament.
Lawmakers will debate a report by the Privileges Committee that found Johnson in contempt of Parliament, and are expected to approve its findings. It’s unclear whether there will be a formal vote or whether the report will be approved by acclamation.
Johnson responded with fury to the report, branding its conclusions “deranged” and accusing its members of “a protracted political assassination.”
But only a handful of his staunchest political allies have said they will vote against the committee’s conclusions, and many Conservatives are likely to skip the debate altogether. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, wary of riling Johnson’s remaining supporters, hasn’t said whether he will attend.
“He’s got a number of commitments,” including a meeting with Sweden’s prime minister, said Max Blain, Sunak’s spokesman. “It will depend on how the timings in Parliament play out.”
Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, said that Sunak should “show leadership” and vote, because “we need to know where Rishi Sunak stands on this.”
Johnson, who turned 59 on Monday, won’t be there. He stepped down as prime minister in September 2022, but remained a lawmaker until June 9, when he quit after receiving notice of the privileges committee’s findings.
Monday’s debate is the latest aftershock from the “partygate” scandal over gatherings in the prime minister’s Downing Street headquarters and other government buildings in 2020 and 2021.
The revelation that political staffers held birthday gatherings, garden parties and “wine time Fridays” during the pandemic sparked anger among Britons who had followed rules imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, unable to visit friends and family or even say goodbye to dying relatives in hospitals.
Memories were revived this week by the Sunday Mirror newspaper’s publication of video showing staffers drinking and dancing at an event at Conservative Party headquarters in December 2020, when people from different households were banned from mixing indoors.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said that it was examining footage of the event, which the BBC reported was billed as a “jingle and mingle” Christmas party.
Johnson initially denied that any parties took place at the prime minister’s office, and then repeatedly assured lawmakers that pandemic rules and guidance were followed at all times. The committee concluded that those assurances were misleading and that Johnson failed to correct the record when asked to do so.
It said Johnson “misled the House on an issue of the greatest importance to the House and to the public, and did so repeatedly.”
The panel — made up of four Conservatives and three opposition legislators — said Johnson compounded the offense with his attacks on the committee, which he called a “kangaroo court” engaged in a “witch hunt.”
It concluded that Johnson’s actions were such a flagrant violation of the rules that they warranted a 90-day suspension from Parliament, one of the longest ever imposed. A suspension of 10 days or more would have allowed his constituents to remove him from his seat in the House of Commons.
Johnson escaped that sanction by resigning — “at least for now,” he said, hinting at a potential comeback. That could prove difficult. He faces being stripped of the lifetime pass to Parliament’s buildings customarily given to former lawmakers.
While some Conservatives still laud Johnson as the charismatic populist who led the party to a landslide victory in 2019, others recall how his government became so consumed by scandals that he was forced out by his own party less than three years later.
His legacy is a headache for Sunak, a fellow Conservative who took office in October with a promise to restore professionalism and integrity to government.
The Conservatives, who have been in power since 2010, trail the main opposition Labour Party in opinion polls, with an election due by the end of 2024.
The party faces electoral tests before that in four special elections for seats vacated by Johnson, two of his allies and a fourth Tory lawmaker who quit over sex and drugs allegations.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jill Lawless
Published Jun 19, 2023 • 3 minute read
LONDON — Britain’s House of Commons is likely Monday to endorse a report that found Boris Johnson lied to lawmakers about lockdown-flouting parties in his office, a humiliating censure that would strip the former prime minister of his lifetime access to Parliament.
Lawmakers will debate a report by the Privileges Committee that found Johnson in contempt of Parliament, and are expected to approve its findings. It’s unclear whether there will be a formal vote or whether the report will be approved by acclamation.
Johnson responded with fury to the report, branding its conclusions “deranged” and accusing its members of “a protracted political assassination.”
But only a handful of his staunchest political allies have said they will vote against the committee’s conclusions, and many Conservatives are likely to skip the debate altogether. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, wary of riling Johnson’s remaining supporters, hasn’t said whether he will attend.
“He’s got a number of commitments,” including a meeting with Sweden’s prime minister, said Max Blain, Sunak’s spokesman. “It will depend on how the timings in Parliament play out.”
Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, said that Sunak should “show leadership” and vote, because “we need to know where Rishi Sunak stands on this.”
Johnson, who turned 59 on Monday, won’t be there. He stepped down as prime minister in September 2022, but remained a lawmaker until June 9, when he quit after receiving notice of the privileges committee’s findings.
Monday’s debate is the latest aftershock from the “partygate” scandal over gatherings in the prime minister’s Downing Street headquarters and other government buildings in 2020 and 2021.
The revelation that political staffers held birthday gatherings, garden parties and “wine time Fridays” during the pandemic sparked anger among Britons who had followed rules imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, unable to visit friends and family or even say goodbye to dying relatives in hospitals.
Memories were revived this week by the Sunday Mirror newspaper’s publication of video showing staffers drinking and dancing at an event at Conservative Party headquarters in December 2020, when people from different households were banned from mixing indoors.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said that it was examining footage of the event, which the BBC reported was billed as a “jingle and mingle” Christmas party.
Johnson initially denied that any parties took place at the prime minister’s office, and then repeatedly assured lawmakers that pandemic rules and guidance were followed at all times. The committee concluded that those assurances were misleading and that Johnson failed to correct the record when asked to do so.
It said Johnson “misled the House on an issue of the greatest importance to the House and to the public, and did so repeatedly.”
The panel — made up of four Conservatives and three opposition legislators — said Johnson compounded the offense with his attacks on the committee, which he called a “kangaroo court” engaged in a “witch hunt.”
It concluded that Johnson’s actions were such a flagrant violation of the rules that they warranted a 90-day suspension from Parliament, one of the longest ever imposed. A suspension of 10 days or more would have allowed his constituents to remove him from his seat in the House of Commons.
Johnson escaped that sanction by resigning — “at least for now,” he said, hinting at a potential comeback. That could prove difficult. He faces being stripped of the lifetime pass to Parliament’s buildings customarily given to former lawmakers.
While some Conservatives still laud Johnson as the charismatic populist who led the party to a landslide victory in 2019, others recall how his government became so consumed by scandals that he was forced out by his own party less than three years later.
His legacy is a headache for Sunak, a fellow Conservative who took office in October with a promise to restore professionalism and integrity to government.
The Conservatives, who have been in power since 2010, trail the main opposition Labour Party in opinion polls, with an election due by the end of 2024.
The party faces electoral tests before that in four special elections for seats vacated by Johnson, two of his allies and a fourth Tory lawmaker who quit over sex and drugs allegations.
UK likely to back scathing report that slammed Boris Johnson over 'partygate'
The House of Commons is likely to endorse a report that found Boris Johnson lied to lawmakers about lockdown-flouting parties in his office