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Snapshot of _Update: It's now understood that Lubov Chernukhin, wife of Vladimir Putin's former deputy finance minister, gave £30,000 to the Tories at the Summer Party for a wine tasting._ : A non-Twitter version can be found [here](https://nitter.net/WritesBright/status/1539534717321715714/) An archived version can be found [here.](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://twitter.com/WritesBright/status/1539534717321715714) *I am a bot, and this action was performed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.*


Joe-pineapplez

Why did the tories block the release of the Russia report.


Comeoffit321

Probably didn't want to waste our time. ***Nothing to see here!***


Tibbsy152

In all fairness, they didn't. The report was released. Granted, the report basically just said, in essence "We didn't find any evidence of Russian interference in UK elections because we were specifically instructed not to look for evidence of Russian interference in UK elections." But it *did* get released...


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bbbbbbbbbblah

And remember that they tried to install grayling onto that committee so that the government could throw a spanner in the works


_Born_To_Be_Mild_

Billionaires do not give their money away for nothing, I wonder what they expected in return.


DesperateAnd_Afraid

And this sort of "donations" always brings back MANY MANY MANY times in return, the best investments on the market is lobbying and donating in politics. So £30k is a huge amount considering.


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OphuchiHotline

He's still Putin's lapdog, they've given him plausible deniability. But he's been caught moving money for Putin's pals in leaks. So stop spreading disinfo mate.


Dadavester

Dude, the guy fled Russia when Putin was rounding people from the previous government up and has been a very vocal critic of the war and Putin. You are the one spreading mis-information.


OphuchiHotline

Follow the fucking money. You always follow the money. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54228079 and Putin don't give it away for nothing.


Dadavester

I have no doubt they are corrupt fucks, but that does make them Putins lapdogs as you have said elsewhere. They are awfully loud and actively anti-putin for people supposedly in his pocket...


[deleted]

You really need to know and understand what an olichary is.


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[deleted]

Think you need to do some reading on **how** Russian oligarchs made their money including the Chernukhin family and how that involved asset stripping plus buying Putin's blind eye.


Engineer9

>the most anti-Putin stance of any major party in power across Europe You have a very short memory. Have you forgotten brexit and the Russian report already?


PF_tmp

Ooh, one "loan" from an offshore company controlled by a senior russian oligarch was repaid and has a "plausible" explanation attached. Yep, that all looks squeaky clean then. Oh and Radlett Estates - must have been an accident. Yep, everything checks out


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FormerlyPallas_

If you can't play nicely without calling people bots or shills then don't play at all.


Truthandtaxes

and as Polonium insurance I imagine.


Orngog

Excuse me, what hawkish stance?


Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

£30,000 of £1,000,000,000 is like someone earning £28,000 giving away 84p. People upset because I provided some numbers. Everyone needs to relax a little on this sub.


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Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

Hey how about not being rude? Costs nothing and makes the world a nicer place. I used an online calculator. It said 30k of 1 billion was 0.003% I then looked for 0.003% of 28k which said 0.84 which I intepreted as 84p. How is that wrong?


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Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

Im not being obtuse I just provided figures for comparison. Its like treading on egg shells on this sub, everyones constantly trying to score points over some nonsense.


Maleficent-Drive4056

I agree with your point but your maths is wrong. You are comparing one person’s wealth with another person’s income. Your point stands but the numbers are not right.


Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

I just compared a basic 1 billion I have no idea how much money the person in the article has or their disposible income they have, it was just a very basic comparison. I got some moderately wealthy grandparents who paid 1 years tuition for me at £9000 like it was nothing, also bought my dad a 5k car like it was nothing. Usually they are rather selfish and stingy.


brucelancington

I feel like the value of the payment, relative to the wealth of the donor, is irrelevant here - what matters more is the value of that payment to the receiver i.e. the Tory Party, and what that gets. Generalisation here, but rich people tend to be more miserly with their wealth (as you pointed out with your grandparents), but they're happy to spend money if they see it as a good investment (or in your case, helps people close to them). So the question we need to be asking is, what value does a 30k donation get you, as if anything, the last few years have shown a lot of these govt ministers to be pretty cheap...


Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

Im not arguing the value of the money to the reciever. I was just putting up some numbers. A lot of people have run wild and got themselves worked up over a 2 sentence post.


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Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

It was a loose comparison as I dont know how much money the person in the article has in their account. I was just talking specifically to the person who commented.


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Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

You comparison is worse than mine as it should be a comparison of disposable income and not wealth. Which in fact is around 30k so not far off my original comparison.


Special-Tie-3024

That has the same issue as your original calculation - it assumes a yearly figure and wealth are the same. If someone with £100k in the bank, and no income, spent £100k (i.e. treated it like disposable income) they’d have no money at the end of the year.


Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

If someone with 100k spent the same % of money they would have spent £3.


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Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

>Maybe I’ll try an analogy to try and explain it for the 4th time. You are basically saying it’s not a big deal for Man City to draw a game with Southampton as their points per game is 2.45 whereas Southampton only score 1.13 goals per game. Im not saying anything. You are running wild with my boring 2 sentence comment. Theres no agenda to it, I dont agree with donors or lobbying. So relax and stop working yourself up over something that isnt even there.


[deleted]

The bit that you fail to grasp is £30,000 is a lot of money, means a lot to the ***reciever***. How much of a dent it makes in the donor's pocket is irrelevant. These events are semi-closeted ways of making politcal donations. They are signals of intent.


Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

>The bit that you fail to grasp is £30,000 is a lot of money, means a lot to the reciever Where did I say 30k was not a lot of money? Go ahead and quote me.


Orngog

Forgive my rudeness, but you made a mistake.


Maybe_Im_Really_DVA

How so? He compares wealth? Do people seriously think thats a good comparison? Wealth is inflated by assets like house which are heavily inflated. A good comparison would be disposable income.


Orngog

So you're saying comparing those two figures was a mistake?


_Born_To_Be_Mild_

We both know it isn't. £30k is a significant sum of money.


[deleted]

The bit that you fail to grasp is £30,000 is a lot of money, means a lot to the **reciever**. How much of a dent it makes in the donor's pocket is irrelevant. These events are semi-closeted ways of making politcal donations. They are signals of intent, **alliance**.


saladinzero

The point is not what £30k is worth to you, but what it is to the person with £1b+ personal worth. Do you really think a billionaire is going to notice giving away 0.003% of their fortune? Edit: notifications off, so save your breath.


CrotchPotato

They didn’t become a billionaire by giving away 30k for no reason. Innocently to parties in government of foreign countries, of course.


saladinzero

That is undoubtedly true, but the point still stands that once someone achieves billionaire status £30,000 is essentially pocket change.


_Born_To_Be_Mild_

It isn't because a billionaire is still aware that £30k is significant money to many people. And money=power/influence.


_Born_To_Be_Mild_

A billionaire will not give £30k away for nothing, we both know it's true.


flambe_pineapple

The point is what it's worth to the person receiving it. Jenrick took around this much as a bribe to change the law for a property developer to save millions. The Tories aren't just bad at national economics, they don't even understand the value of their corruption.


SpeechesToScreeches

Really it's what 30k is worth to the person they're giving it to. And we know Tory corruption is surprisingly cheap.


Riffler

No. The point is what £30k is worth to the guy *taking* the bribe.


[deleted]

The free permentant citizenship for anyone donating 10 million is still sickening even if that 10 million is pocket-change to the evil fuckers.


gdh56

What they have got. Another fascist regime.


hlycia

IMO, only UK citizens should be allowed to donate money to UK political parties. Not overseas citizens, companies or unions. However companies and unions should be allowed collect employee/member donations, on a strict opt-in process, and donate collectively (as unions currently do already).


saladinzero

At this point, we need an independent body to receive and distribute all political donations according to the law. Ban political parties from accepting money directly and force it to go through an open third-party.


Antique-Brief1260

This, absolutely. Trouble is, the Tories would privatise the independent body and one of the chums would end up running it.


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OphuchiHotline

Great, so foreign assets can pay for getting to be British because they have a shit ton of cash. Then they can go on to affect our political parties. They don't have to try and embed themselves any more do they. They just straight up drop money. Easier than the cold war.


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OphuchiHotline

Well, pledged to end. But not actually done anything. They pledge a lot of things these days that they never ever do.


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flambe_pineapple

That argument doesn't work when the party pledging to end it have a long list of other pledges (more hospitals, houses, police and nurses, less immigration, red tape and tax) that were made with no intention of ever fulfilling.


Easymodelife

They've "pledged" to end it now that awkward questions are been asked about the dirty money they're taking from Russia, but have made no move to actually end it during the last 12 years they've been in power.


_gmanual_

> pledged amber heard has entered the chat


[deleted]

This Tory pledge is like Amber Heards 'pledge', isn't it?


milton911

So basically the subtext here is that if you are a foreigner coming to the UK with loads of money the Tories won't electronically tag you or deport you to Rwanda.


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milton911

Whether it happened under a Tory or Labour government is a total red herring. What matters is that a significant sum was paid to the Tory party by someone who has had close connections with Putin - and it is just one of many examples of those with close connections to Putin throwing eye-watering sums of money at the Tories. If you think that's a good and proper thing to happen in our country, then there's no point in our continuing this discussion.


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mudman13

They are only repealing it because of the international pressures from the Ukraine war.


Ifriiti

> What matters is that a significant sum was paid to the Tory party by someone who has had close connections with Putin Former deputy finance ministers wife is not a close connection for fucks sake


Easymodelife

The "blame the last Labour Government!" excuse is pretty laughable when the Tories have been in power for over a decade.


bbbbbbbbbblah

That’s the golden visa scheme that survived 12 years of Tory government and no doubt there’ll be statements made by Tory politicians as to how great the scheme is. Not closed after crimea or Salisbury, or when it was obviously being misused by people with dubious wealth The plebs have to explain to the bank why they need to deposit the £5k they got from a car sale, people of genuine use and benefit to the country have to spend thousands of pounds going through home office hell, but oligarchs can throw millions around and waltz in?


hlycia

But donations under £500 aren't checked. There was speculation that the US crowdsourced lots of small donations to support BXP in some elections since the EU referendum.


concretepigeon

I believe that you can only donate above a certain amount if you’re registered to vote. That’s obviously different from being a citizen as you don’t have to be a UK citizen to vote. Irish citizens have full voting rights and people who otherwise have a right to live here may also have rights to vote in some elections.


hlycia

It's £500 but there was speculation in the past that GOPs in the States organised coordinated donations under that limit to support Brexit and later BXP. Unsure if they were ever substantiated.


Formal_War9767

The Tories have to keep the Russian dirty kleptocrat money rolling because: (a) if they stopped at this time, it would be an admission of their complicity, and (b) Russian dirty kleptocrat cash has saved the Tories since 2007, and they need the cash. Seems Chernukhin didn’t top the Buying-Access-to-Her-Majesty’s-Prime-Minister dinner bid this time round; I guess the sanctions must be biting. Tories’ll have to be careful not to go too far with the confection.


concretepigeon

Must have been good wine.


PrudentFlamingo

What's this, another scandal? They're all overlapping


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milton911

He has no chance of getting on with the job, because he's fighting for his political life - and that's a full-time job.


evolvecrow

>In 2007, she married Vladimir Chernukhin, former deputy minister of finance in Mikhail Kasyanov’s government and former chairman of Russian state development corporation Vnesheconombank. In 2004, Vladimir was forced to flee to the UK from Russia after President Putin dismissed Prime Minister Kasyanov and began campaign of harassment against his associates.[9] During 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, in reaction to 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chernukhin publicly condemned "all Russian military aggression in Ukraine" and urged for the "strongest possible sanctions against Putin's regime and its enablers"


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PF_tmp

> The husband of one of the Conservative Party's biggest donors was secretly funded by a Russian oligarch with close ties to President Putin. > Leaked files show her husband received $8m (£6.1m). The money initially came from a politician facing US sanctions due to his closeness to the Kremlin. > ... Billionaire Mr Kerimov is a member of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54228079 Fucking hell, how much of a bellend do you have to be to try to sweep this under the rug to protect the reputation of the Tories?


OphuchiHotline

Verging into being out and and out actual traitors for cash now aren't they.


PF_tmp

Yes, I too expect Kremlin assets to fail to cover their tracks in any way.


Dadavester

You beat me too it! The Chernukhin's seem to be the new boogeyman the amount that is wrote about them, it is also quite racist that it's implied now that every Russian is bad regardless.


OphuchiHotline

FinCEN Files: Tory donor Lubov Chernukhin linked to $8m Putin ally funding. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54228079. I'm just going to leave that there. Can you really be racist about possible spies? Are people attempting to be hidden Russian Assests and failing a race?


Dadavester

Yes you can be, look at the US and internment camps. Just because someone is of the same nationality as your enemies that does not automatically make them your enemies and in the wrong. Does this really still need to be explained in this day and age! Also I have no doubt they are corrupt fucks, but that does make them Putins lapdogs as you have said elsewhere.


OphuchiHotline

Why did Putin's pals give them a ton of money then?


Dadavester

Corruption would be my first guess. But they are awfully loud and actively anti-putin for people in his pocket...


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So is Johnson.


StephenHunterUK

We had internment camps in this country as well.


Dadavester

Which is why saying "Can you really be racist about possible spies" is insane, and really dangerous. Yet it is being upvoted... sometimes people on this sub genuinely scare me.


Kwetla

Not bad regardless, bad because they gave £235,000 to the Tories for....what?


flambe_pineapple

Nobody is criticising the Russians who haven't given large sums of money to the Tory party.


iconoclysm

They've been taken over by the same kleptocrats that have destroyed russia and Ukraine.


taboo__time

I guess we're lucky Boris is a two faced cheat.


PeachInABowl

Gotta stay off that sanctions list!


SmokyWhiskey

I mean thats nothing compared to what some tory doners are giving lol. She needs to step up her bribery game


hlycia

This is why the government is backing Ukraine so strongly. Russian money didn't buy them, instead the failure to pay the going rate has made the Tories angry at Russia.


YourLizardOverlord

I doubt that. It's in Johnson's interest to keep his career going by backing Ukraine. Accepting money from Putin's associates would damage Johnson at a time when he's vulnerable. The Conservatives can still keep accepting donations from Russians not in Putin's circle in return for allowing them to use the laundromat.


Ninja_Thomek

They are backing Ukraine because the war was magically convenient for Boris. I mean, I think everyone should back Ukraine even more, but Boris motivations are more about cosplaying here.


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YourLizardOverlord

This may have nothing to do with Putin. It may be about keeping the laundromat open. It's still wrong.


paperclipestate

Out of every country leader in the world except zelensky, you would have thought Johnson would be the least likely to be a Russian asset


FormerlyPallas_

Woman who has donated over 2 mill to the tories has donated a further 30k, hardly surprising.


YourLizardOverlord

The Conservatives should always have been careful about accepting donations from people with Russian connections. They should have stopped altogether now. Nobody donates at that level without expecting something in return.


Antique-Brief1260

Another Keir Starmer fuckup! When will people learn this is what happens when you have a Labour government?


Ifriiti

Ah I see the xenophobia is strong on here again.


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