U.K. Politics: Nadine Dorries resigns her post as MP - or does she?

[Wayne]

MP David Warburton has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital after a parliamentary investigation was launched into his conduct, his wife has told the BBC.

His wife, Harriet, said he had severe shock and stress.

The Conservative whips office said he had been suspended from the parliamentary party while the investigation was ongoing.

Conservative sources said there were three allegations of sexual harassment.

The investigation was launched by the Parliament's Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) following allegations about Mr Warburton's conduct in the Sunday Times newspaper.

The newspaper said three women have complained about Mr Warburton's conduct.

The newspaper also reported allegations that Mr Warburton had taken cocaine, and that he had failed to declare a £100,000 loan - taken out in 2017, and since repaid - from a Russian businessman.

Mr Warburton told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper he had not heard from the ICGS and that he had "enormous amounts of defence".

Asked about the allegations, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he had no further knowledge other than what the party had said, and what he had read in the newspapers.

"Obviously, any allegations like this need to be taken extremely carefully, but all the facts will need to be brought out as well," he told Sky News's Sophy Ridge On Sunday.

Mr Warburton, 56, has been MP for Somerton and Frome since 2015.

Mr Warburton is chair of the all-party parliamentary group on music and has previously been a member of the European scrutiny committee.

He lives near Somerton, in Somerset, with his wife and their two children, his website says.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-609756

[wave]

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to be fined over lockdown parties.

[AceReject]

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to be fined over lockdown parties.

Absolutely disgraceful.

[Artoo]

PMQs will be fun tomorrow.

[Thriller]

Annoying really as this makes no impact to them financially so they will shrug it off and move on. Disgraceful.

[Artoo]

Call me cynical but his trip to the Ukraine feels like damage control before the damage now.

[Thriller]

Everything with that man is damage control

[Wayne]

It's absolutely scandalous but he's already brushed it off by saying he needs to deal with the job at hand.

He'll get away with it, I'm sure - I can't believe how much we are willing to let him get away with. He and Sunak must both go.

Sunak is no better with his disgraceful tax affairs.

[jordi_89]

Call me cynical but his trip to the Ukraine feels like damage control before the damage now.

For sure. But #partygate hit right after his trip to Ukraine, so he'll have to do something else (maybe promise more stuff to Ukraine) to get the media to stop talking about how naughty he is.


He'll probably also survive this, though.

[maroon]

The only good thing he's probably done was that covid party.

[Artoo]

So there’s no PMQs this week - parliament is on a sodding Easter break. Utterly shameful. There is no way Boris can come back from this - the electorate won’t forget and the other parties will remind us come election time. Politics is one thing - but this was bigger than politics.

Starmer said ‘Britain deserves better’ which I quite like as a Labour slogan. You can say it about every single thing the Tories do and it’s never not true

[SholasBoy]

So “Rwanda gate”, if it wasn’t so cruel it would be hilarious. Who came up with this idea of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. It sounds like something someone would jokingly come up with down the pub! But not only was this idea presented, but the home office thought it was a great idea and gave it the green light


edit…oh Priti Patel is behind it, now it makes sense. For someone from a minority group herself, why is this woman so desperate to appeal to the racist corner of Britain.

[Artoo]

This government continues to make a mockery of Britain, our values and the honesty of our word. Frankly I don’t know how we can accept refugees from the Ukraine (albeit begrudgingly) but send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Where on earth does Rishi keep finding money trees? £120m they expect to spend on this scheme but where have they magicked that up from?

Farcical, the lot of them.

[theMathematician]

Is war going on in Rwanda currently? If not, where is the problem? The goal of seeking asylum is to be at a place where you are not politically persecuted. It's not about increasing the personal living standard, so you have a right to live in peace, but you have not got to right to say that you live in one specific country.

[SholasBoy]

Is war going on in Rwanda currently? If not, where is the problem? The goal of seeking asylum is to be at a place where you are not politically persecuted. It's not about increasing the personal living standard, so you have a right to live in peace, but you have not got to right to say that you live in one specific country.

yeah and when Rwanda is full we can send them to the moon.

[Artoo]

I’d live on the moon. Send vodka and new Madonna albums.

[Spartan]

I wonder what Rwandans think of one of the richest countries in the world pawning off asylum seekers to their country.

[SholasBoy]

I wonder what Rwandans think of one of the richest countries in the world pawning off asylum seekers to their country.

The irony that years ago we wanted to take people from there against their will, now we want to send people to there.

[Spartan]

I’d happily go to Rwanda to escape Priti Patel.

[AceReject]

The whole Rwanda thing is so colonial and really doesn’t belong in the 21st Century, in my opinion. Surprised we’re not trying to ship them off to the Australian penal colonies tbh.

[Thriller]

Just another example of how this country is slowly going back to the 1950s.

[InFamous]

The whole Rwanda thing is so colonial and really doesn’t belong in the 21st Century, in my opinion. Surprised we’re not trying to ship them off to the Australian penal colonies tbh.

I honestly thought it was made up when I heard it first

[Wayne]

Is war going on in Rwanda currently? If not, where is the problem? The goal of seeking asylum is to be at a place where you are not politically persecuted. It's not about increasing the personal living standard, so you have a right to live in peace, but you have not got to right to say that you live in one specific country.

The UK has a GDP of $3.108 trillion (the 5th largest economy in the world) and Rwanda has a GDP of $10.395 billion (the 149th largest economy in the world - or the 67th poorest). It's disgraceful, just in economic terms.

Furthermore, we'll accept refugees from Ukraine because it's politically convenient but we'll not accept asylum seekers? Let's look at who this decision impacts. 43% of UK asylum seekers were from Middle Eastern countries last year with 28% from African countries - this policy is racist, a return to Colonial era practices and it plays to that category of British voter who supported Brexit and who believes people like asylum seekers should "return to their own country" (as if they all came from the same place to begin with).

Offshore processing centres do not work, as Australia has proven with their own - they are inhumane and treat a vulnerable group of people as if they are animals. Offshore processing centres in third world countries where the UK will have limited control over what happens is even more frightening.

You speak about having a right to peace but not to a specific country - there were 1,012 individuals in 2020 who sought refuge in a progressive country like the UK because of their sexuality. They probably faced imprisonment (or worse) in their own country. To re-route this vulnerable group of people to a country like Rwanda, which isn't progressive in areas like this and where sexuality remains a taboo issue, is frankly horrifying.

The whole policy is shameful - I'm ashamed to live in the UK.

[SholasBoy]

These people will not be keen to stay in Rwanda either, they have travelled miles from their countries of origin in the first place, this will set them up to make treacherous journeys all over again, back on makeshift dinghy's crossing the Mediterranean.

[theMathematician]

To be honest, the whole asylum system needs to be reworked because it initially used to apply to individuals being politically persecuted. It's not supposed to cater to millions of people from certain places. We've had it three times in the past couple of years now: 1. Syria, 2. Afghanistan, 3. Ukraine.
Politicians make big promises, then they and the whole political system are overwhelmed by the whole situation, promise that they'll do better next time, while both, the asylum seekers as well as the native population need to find a way to adapt despite dire conditions on both sides, left by themselves.
It doesn't help that especially politicians on the left side of the spectrum tend to mix asylum, which is limited in time, and legal migration, which is supposed to be permanent.