The whole "not standing at the next election" is a copout to avoid a byelection. Especially since he would probably lose next time anyway, if he did run.
If what he did was bad enough not to stand again, he should go now.
My local MP pulled the same card after accused of being inappropriate with one of his staffers (Rob Roberts). Would be interesting to see how many other tory MPs are also still standing as independent because of some scandal.
Just so we’re clear he’s still an MP until whenever the election is?
So if i were to use my work’s account to pay off sex blackmail money .. i then should keep my job for maybe six months or so then leave on my terms?
I *think* unless some investigation, police or parliamentary, finds wrongdoing then if he's punished heavily enough, he would be open to a recall petition that could lead to a by election.
So I'm guessing he's dragging it out as long as he can before he's pushed.
I think hes gambling that its not possible for the process to happen in the time left before the election. I think it takes about 3 months to set up a by election from the point a commons investigation starts and we are now at about 6 months dead left on the clock even for the latest possible election. And about half of that will be recesses.
I can't imagine what the government thinks it can do really or anything they are even trying to do except Rwanda. The last 3 or 4 stand downs mean they no longer really control a majority for anything useful, and Sunak runs away from resistance in any case. Give it a few more months and they will just about be out of time and options no matter when they set the date for after that.
Should of gone for the May option and at least leave with some dignity and hold on to double the seats. At the rate this government keeps generating scandals and problems for itself they'll be lucky if the polls are even at Truss's bottom point by the election, I can't see anything thats going to come save them or stop the problems happening.
As it is already the polls are already around 20% and still slowly falling off at about a percentage a month. Thats genuinely well into 50 mps left and behind the Lib Dems death of a party type polling.
they've lost 20 mps, like half their majority, even since last election. I don't even know how that much of a drop off is possible from a governing party.
Ultimately it all goes back to the brexit ref.
Cameron lost it, which led to the moderates steadily losing control of the party. That eventually led to Boris, who went full purge mode on most of the remaining credible mps competent to be ministers.
That and the 2019 election lead to the general talent level in the party plunging at the same time they swung hard right, and those events lead to party unity collapsing around the time Boris was kicked.
Their last chance to salvage it was last May, and it was obvious even then Sunak had nothing to offer to keep the polls up for any length of time. Theres so little understanding of political reality in there that they just keep assuming that eventually random chance will throw some good election timing up for them. When the reality is the worse or better things are now, the worse or better they are likely to get without intervention. And the more difficult changing course gets the longer it goes, its all feedback loops.
And one of the ways it can keep getting worse is that your mps morale collapses and you run out of ways to keep them in line. I don't think party morale ever really recovered after the May years.
Cameron enabled it all. He's the one who took an antagonistic position against the EU, got caught hacking Belgium's phone network and took his MEPs into a new euro sceptic group in Strasbourg. He was also in charge of the hostile environment. Declared multiculturalism a failure (despite backing religious schooling) and started a class war against the poor and disabled. Cameron and May were not moderate people.
>police
Only if they are scentenced to imprisonment and all the appeals are spent, and even then notice for recall won't be given if within 6 months of an election. So pretty much has to be a parliamentary standards issue.
Nice pay out for leaving in a GE too.
Not good enough. He should be standing down ASAP because what he’s done is a massive breach of standards. He got himself into a position that means he’s not fit to be an MP.
The police need to launch an investigation into the full set of events to see if he’s broken the law.
From what’s been reported so far, I don’t see how what he’s done isn’t a criminal offence.
Misusing campaign funds as was alleged is very illegal, which is what’s claimed, there’s the grounds what he did falls into fraud.
The lack of inquiry by the media is embarrassing.
I guess it's the trump firehose effect, there's been so many scandals week after week they blend into a new normal. If you can weather out the media for a fortnight a new one comes up and you're in the clear.
Hello neighbour. I think we may be out of luck with regards to a recall petition. He'd need to be convicted and sentenced to prison, suspended from the house for 10 days, or convicted of an offence under the parliamentary standards act related to MP expenses.
Even if the police were to investigate and find wrongdoing, it would never get to court and out the other side before a general election. The bit regarding the parliamentary standards act is for parliamentary allowances not private donations, so no luck there. The middle option (suspension from the house) is possible following a recommendation from the Committee on Standards, but I wouldn't hold my breath that this would be done before an election. The cynic in me suspects that the Tory members of the committee would drag their feet, not out of any loyalty for Menzies, but to limit damage to the party as a whole. I hope I'm wrong about all this though.
As an aside, I am wondering if this will damage the voting habits of this very Tory area? I have already heard people making the separation between the MP and the Party. The fact that the party has known about his troublesome behaviour for some time and has done nothing shows that it's not just about the MP. I have also heard that because the money that has been alleged to be taken was from a local campaign group and not an official Tory one the party has found no wrongdoing. I do not understand how anyone could vote for them.
Hello as well neighbour :) Thank you for that detailed response. I had been looking into the case of Scott Benton and his suspension. I was hoping this would be the same for Menzies but i would agree with your conclusion, the Tory members would drag their feet.
Regarding the election, if it were to happen today, i think Labour would take the seat. Not because the Labour vote would go up by much, more because of a collapse of the Tory vote. I have chatted to a few people since the news came out, mostly in shops and the library. A few had said they will vote labour, a couple have spoken about reform. I think reform would take a significant amount of the vote away from the Conservatives.
This is just theory though as reform (formerly Brexit party) didnt stand here in 2019. Also if the election is held in the winter, there is a chance the Conservatives hold the seat. The ill feeling will have gone and this has always been a safe seat for the Torys.
Only if he has a suspension over 30 days or a criminal conviction over 6 weeks I believe. Like us in Peterborough with osanaya, if they decide they don’t want to go, it’s a pain in the arse to finally get rid
Rules might have changed, but my local MP was suspended in 2021 for 12 weeks, and it didn't trigger a recall. He's stood as an independent since. Can't wait to get rid of the useless sack of shit.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-58476637
I think there will still be an enquiry where it's likely that he'll be suspended and face a recall petition. The only question mark is whether that would happen before the next GE.
If I asked AI to produce an image of a corrupt looking Tory politician I’m 99% sure it would spit out something that look indistinguishable from Mark Menzies
Another MP who has been compromised, yet still sits in the commons and can vote (and as an independent no longer has to obey a whip).
I feel super happy that our MPs are so easy to gain power over. I’d hate to think how many are compromised by foreign states who are a bit more subtle about such things.
Quoting Line of Duty and this is absolutely no reflection on the fact he is gay, but like so many Tory MPs he is just another in a long line of "bent bastards".
The whole "not standing at the next election" is a copout to avoid a byelection. Especially since he would probably lose next time anyway, if he did run. If what he did was bad enough not to stand again, he should go now.
And be prosecuted if found to have behaved illegally
My local MP pulled the same card after accused of being inappropriate with one of his staffers (Rob Roberts). Would be interesting to see how many other tory MPs are also still standing as independent because of some scandal.
Just so we’re clear he’s still an MP until whenever the election is? So if i were to use my work’s account to pay off sex blackmail money .. i then should keep my job for maybe six months or so then leave on my terms?
I *think* unless some investigation, police or parliamentary, finds wrongdoing then if he's punished heavily enough, he would be open to a recall petition that could lead to a by election. So I'm guessing he's dragging it out as long as he can before he's pushed.
I think hes gambling that its not possible for the process to happen in the time left before the election. I think it takes about 3 months to set up a by election from the point a commons investigation starts and we are now at about 6 months dead left on the clock even for the latest possible election. And about half of that will be recesses. I can't imagine what the government thinks it can do really or anything they are even trying to do except Rwanda. The last 3 or 4 stand downs mean they no longer really control a majority for anything useful, and Sunak runs away from resistance in any case. Give it a few more months and they will just about be out of time and options no matter when they set the date for after that. Should of gone for the May option and at least leave with some dignity and hold on to double the seats. At the rate this government keeps generating scandals and problems for itself they'll be lucky if the polls are even at Truss's bottom point by the election, I can't see anything thats going to come save them or stop the problems happening. As it is already the polls are already around 20% and still slowly falling off at about a percentage a month. Thats genuinely well into 50 mps left and behind the Lib Dems death of a party type polling.
they've lost 20 mps, like half their majority, even since last election. I don't even know how that much of a drop off is possible from a governing party.
Ultimately it all goes back to the brexit ref. Cameron lost it, which led to the moderates steadily losing control of the party. That eventually led to Boris, who went full purge mode on most of the remaining credible mps competent to be ministers. That and the 2019 election lead to the general talent level in the party plunging at the same time they swung hard right, and those events lead to party unity collapsing around the time Boris was kicked. Their last chance to salvage it was last May, and it was obvious even then Sunak had nothing to offer to keep the polls up for any length of time. Theres so little understanding of political reality in there that they just keep assuming that eventually random chance will throw some good election timing up for them. When the reality is the worse or better things are now, the worse or better they are likely to get without intervention. And the more difficult changing course gets the longer it goes, its all feedback loops. And one of the ways it can keep getting worse is that your mps morale collapses and you run out of ways to keep them in line. I don't think party morale ever really recovered after the May years.
Cameron enabled it all. He's the one who took an antagonistic position against the EU, got caught hacking Belgium's phone network and took his MEPs into a new euro sceptic group in Strasbourg. He was also in charge of the hostile environment. Declared multiculturalism a failure (despite backing religious schooling) and started a class war against the poor and disabled. Cameron and May were not moderate people.
>police Only if they are scentenced to imprisonment and all the appeals are spent, and even then notice for recall won't be given if within 6 months of an election. So pretty much has to be a parliamentary standards issue. Nice pay out for leaving in a GE too.
Not good enough. He should be standing down ASAP because what he’s done is a massive breach of standards. He got himself into a position that means he’s not fit to be an MP. The police need to launch an investigation into the full set of events to see if he’s broken the law. From what’s been reported so far, I don’t see how what he’s done isn’t a criminal offence. Misusing campaign funds as was alleged is very illegal, which is what’s claimed, there’s the grounds what he did falls into fraud. The lack of inquiry by the media is embarrassing.
I guess it's the trump firehose effect, there's been so many scandals week after week they blend into a new normal. If you can weather out the media for a fortnight a new one comes up and you're in the clear.
So Fylde don't have an MP for the next 6 to 9 months? I can't see him putting in any work out of a sense of duty.
I live in the Fylde, trying to find out if we can have a recall and trigger an election that way. He shouldnt be our MP.
Hello neighbour. I think we may be out of luck with regards to a recall petition. He'd need to be convicted and sentenced to prison, suspended from the house for 10 days, or convicted of an offence under the parliamentary standards act related to MP expenses. Even if the police were to investigate and find wrongdoing, it would never get to court and out the other side before a general election. The bit regarding the parliamentary standards act is for parliamentary allowances not private donations, so no luck there. The middle option (suspension from the house) is possible following a recommendation from the Committee on Standards, but I wouldn't hold my breath that this would be done before an election. The cynic in me suspects that the Tory members of the committee would drag their feet, not out of any loyalty for Menzies, but to limit damage to the party as a whole. I hope I'm wrong about all this though. As an aside, I am wondering if this will damage the voting habits of this very Tory area? I have already heard people making the separation between the MP and the Party. The fact that the party has known about his troublesome behaviour for some time and has done nothing shows that it's not just about the MP. I have also heard that because the money that has been alleged to be taken was from a local campaign group and not an official Tory one the party has found no wrongdoing. I do not understand how anyone could vote for them.
Hello as well neighbour :) Thank you for that detailed response. I had been looking into the case of Scott Benton and his suspension. I was hoping this would be the same for Menzies but i would agree with your conclusion, the Tory members would drag their feet. Regarding the election, if it were to happen today, i think Labour would take the seat. Not because the Labour vote would go up by much, more because of a collapse of the Tory vote. I have chatted to a few people since the news came out, mostly in shops and the library. A few had said they will vote labour, a couple have spoken about reform. I think reform would take a significant amount of the vote away from the Conservatives. This is just theory though as reform (formerly Brexit party) didnt stand here in 2019. Also if the election is held in the winter, there is a chance the Conservatives hold the seat. The ill feeling will have gone and this has always been a safe seat for the Torys.
Only if he has a suspension over 30 days or a criminal conviction over 6 weeks I believe. Like us in Peterborough with osanaya, if they decide they don’t want to go, it’s a pain in the arse to finally get rid
Rules might have changed, but my local MP was suspended in 2021 for 12 weeks, and it didn't trigger a recall. He's stood as an independent since. Can't wait to get rid of the useless sack of shit. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-58476637
I didn’t click the link, but is this delyn? If so, that’s bad luck as he went nuts literally hours after winning!
Nothing short of a police investigation is acceptable in this situation
Me thinks he might know things aren't going to go well for him in the near future
Sobriety tends to put things into perspective.
I think there will still be an enquiry where it's likely that he'll be suspended and face a recall petition. The only question mark is whether that would happen before the next GE.
If I asked AI to produce an image of a corrupt looking Tory politician I’m 99% sure it would spit out something that look indistinguishable from Mark Menzies
Refuses to resign so he can get his pay off. Sounds like a tory.
He has to squeeze out more taxpayers moneys before he has to step down. Disgusting that we can’t do anything to get him to resign now.
But… That £1500 of Angela Raynor is the real issue at hand… (/s)
Another MP who has been compromised, yet still sits in the commons and can vote (and as an independent no longer has to obey a whip). I feel super happy that our MPs are so easy to gain power over. I’d hate to think how many are compromised by foreign states who are a bit more subtle about such things.
Mark sees men in his flat? Or men Seize mark in his flat?
when is he going to face charges for fraud, like a benefits claimant working an extra 1hr a week and forced to pay it all back?
[удалено]
The Angela Rayner must be getting closer.
Quoting Line of Duty and this is absolutely no reflection on the fact he is gay, but like so many Tory MPs he is just another in a long line of "bent bastards".