Keir Starmer

[Hypnotic Chimera]

Yes, you give the PM some free tickets to your concert and in exchange you get a police escort.

I'm hoping this is sarcasm, it's difficult to tell in written words sometimes.

For the avoidance of doubt, the PM or Home Sec, or anybody else in the Home Office or government have NO POWER to instruct Police on Operational Matters.
The choice to provide a police escort was entirely a Police Operations decision, and most likely precipitated by actual known threat targeting overseas.

 

[John Brown]

I know where I'd rather live.

Either you're very rich or you haven't visited America for some time. Or you just like talking b0110cks.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

.

 

[John Brown]

It doesn't surprise me that you'd prefer Russia.

I beg your pardon, I mistakenly thought you were talking America versus the UK.
I retract my remark.

 

[sploo]

That the NHS operates using private sector resources is nothing new - drugs manufacture, hospital construction, medical consumables, x-ray and imaging machinery, IT hardware and systems etc etc etc. Most would have no issue with this.

There may be more concern perceived where the private sector delivers services somewhat closer to patient outcomes - cleaning, catering, etc.

Yet most don't realise that GP surgeries and services. - a fundamental NHS building block - has been privately run under contract to the NHS since its inception.

GPs are critical - they manage delivery of healthcare to their local community and act as the gatekeeper to most other facilities and specialisms through referral processes.

That GP services are struggling is largely driven by the financial and contractual terms under which they currently operate. The general public and GPs would no doubt be delighted if contractual issues were resolved to enable a return to the high standards delivered over the last 75 years.

The knee jerk reaction - private involvement in the NHS is the precursor to is demise - is without foundation as has been demonstrated over decades.

My wife's an NHS doctor, and has watched more parts of the NHS slowly get farmed out to private contractors over the last decade. No argument that some parts have always been provided/supplied by private firms, but what's happened recently is much more insidious.

 

[sploo]

I beg your pardon, I mistakenly thought you were talking America versus the UK.
I retract my remark.

If Phil did mean the US, then I can tell him that doctor wife has also worked there; and witnessed the joys of patients being checked for a credit card before commencing any treatment (after immediate triage). Otherwise you get farmed out to a charity run hospital.

 

[Blackswanwood]

My wife's an NHS doctor, and has watched more parts of the NHS slowly get farmed out to private contractors over the last decade. No argument that some parts have always been provided/supplied by private firms, but what's happened recently is much more insidious.

Genuine question - what is it that has happened recently that you are referring to?

 

[sploo]

Genuine question - what is it that has happened recently that you are referring to?

A particular recent issue has been the replacement of permanent NHS staff with people provided by private contract firms. Probably not appropriate for me to go into detail of specific roles, but whilst they're not doctors or nurses they are people that directly interact with patients at a medical level (i.e. it's not "just cleaners" of stuff like that).

 

[ey_tony]

Dodging the question with a different question Tony?

Perhaps if we were starting from here we wouldn’t have signed up to the ECHR. Our membership is inextricably linked with the GFA though.

Let’s not muddy the water with why we need it and you share your cunning plan as to how we withdraw without destroying the GFA whilst keeping a workable relationship with the EU and US?

Oh and don’t forget you were going to share your master plan to renegotiate our trade deal with the EU …

Why is asking a rational question dodging the question?
While on the subject of questions I'll ask you the same question, why you believe it's impossible that the links between the GFA and the ECHR can't be re-negotiated?
If I'm honest eventually I can see a divided Ireland returning to just one nation and then there will be no need for the rest of the UK to be subject to ECHR rulings.
With the mindset that nothing can be done, then nothing will ever change or improve and we'll be stuck in the same rut for centuries.

Again, I'll wager you voted Remain judging by your comment on re-negotiating trading with the EU!
The UK was in a prime position and arguably still is to benefit from leaving the EU based on trading figures after it voted to leave the EU but the pro-EU lobby and negotiators threw away vital opportunities as they were afraid to negotiate without their caps in hand. I have to say the EU had far better negotiators than the UK but then again the establishment didn't really want to leave the EU in the first place.

The people and business potential of this country are being slowly strangled by the mindsets of people with their 'this or that can't be done or achieved'. It's little wonder that the economy is stagnant. It needs people with enthusiasm and drive to get the UK's economy moving again not people with the dynamics of a stone laying there saying it can't be done.

The EU is not our friend, it is a competitor and should be treated as such and their access to our markets should benefit us, only then will our economy start achieving it's true potential.
The referendum was over 8 years ago, it's now time to re-negotiate the terms of many trading agreements which were effectively handed to the EU on a plate. Even Captain Two-Tier has said as much.

 

[Yorkieguy]

I'm hoping this is sarcasm, it's difficult to tell in written words sometimes.

For the avoidance of doubt, the PM or Home Sec, or anybody else in the Home Office or government have NO POWER to instruct Police on Operational Matters.
The choice to provide a police escort was entirely a Police Operations decision, and most likely precipitated by actual known threat targeting overseas.

To say the PM and Home Secretary nor anyone else have 'NO POWER' (You 'shouting' - not me) over operational decisions is simply not credible.

Why do I say that?

As well as the Prime Minister, ten other Labour MPs said they also received free tickets to see Ms Swift, including Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Why have I highlighted the Home Secretary and London Mayor, both of whom were recipients of free tickets?

At the centre of the issue is the claim that senior Labour figures, including Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, personally intervened to secure a high-security police escort, despite the initial hesitance from the Met, and despite the initial resistance, the SEG eventually agreed.

The Attorney General (Who as far as I know didn't receive tickets) was also involved in discussions. Swift was granted blue-light police escorts to her London shows after the Government’s chief law officer put pressure on Scotland Yard. Sources said that Attorney General Lord Hermer was asked to intervene after the Met Police warned that giving the billionaire pop star such protection would breach its protocols.

It was unclear who in Government had requested that its top lawyer get involved, according to reports last night. However, it was claimed that it was only after Lord Hermer wrote to the Met that senior officers reversed their original decision and granted a level of security normally reserved for royalty and top-level politicians.

Sir Keir, and his wife Victoria were granted a private audience with Taylor Swift on August 20 – the final night of Swift's tour – after he received £2,800 of tickets and hospitality from her record label Universal came just days after the PM's now-sacked chief of staff Sue Gray took part in negotiations with Ms Swift's mother and manager, Andrea, which led to Scotland Yard agreeing to provide a 'VVIP' escort, which is even denied to the Duke of Sussex, (fifth in line to the throne), when visiting Britain.

The Met Police Commissioner is accountable in law for exercising police powers and to the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime and to the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime and is held to account for the delivery of policing by the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London. Both have a role in appointing the Commissioner, with the decision taken by the Home Secretary following consultation with the Mayor.

The Home Secretary also has a specific role regarding the functions of the Met that go beyond policing London – for example, counter-terrorism policing and the national policing functions that the Met carries out. The Mayor of London was given a direct mandate for policing in London in 2011, as part of the Police and Social Responsibility Act. As such, the Mayor is responsible for setting the strategic direction of policing in London through the Police and Crime Plan.

https://www.met.police.uk/police-forces/metropolitan-police/areas/about-us/about-the-met/governance/

To say that the Home Secretary and Major of London 'have NO POWER' over operation decisions would have some credibility if they and the rest of the top team hadn't received many thousands of pounds worth of tickets to a sell-out tour, but yet again, through their lack of judgement and probity, they've seriously compromised the independence of their roles in the highest office of the land, and brought disrepute on themselves.

You may not think so, and more concerning, is that they seem not to think so, but I do and I doubt that I'm alone in that view. It isn't about whether they're Labour Tory or whatever. It's about senior politicians not behaving in such a manner that calls into question their independence.

And please, for goodness sake, don't tell me 'they haven't broken any rules'.

This decision has been met with fierce criticism within the policing community, not only for its cost to the taxpayer but for setting what some consider a dangerous precedent.

“An Abuse of an Elite Service”:

Former Met commander John O’Connor has been particularly vocal about the decision, branding it “an abuse of an elite service”. He told the press: “The SEG is dedicated to the very serious business of protecting the Royal Family, senior government ministers and foreign heads of state. This interference creates a perception that there is no such thing as a free lunch or concert tickets.”

https://emergency-services.news/tay...ort-sparks-controversy-a-dangerous-precedent/

Exactly so.

Just a final point: This wasn't an armed escort - just a 'blue light escort' so was really just glitzy 'Showbiz' razzmatazz at Taxpayers' expense.