Tories no-show at Sidmouth hustings last night

Last night’s hustings organised by Vision Group for Sidmouth ( VgS) gave the traditional chance for voters to quiz those standing for the Town and for District Council seats…. provided the candidates turn up, of course.

All the Independents, and a UKIP-er did. Very noticeably, not one local Conservative candidate for the District was there. Only Stuart Hughes bothered to send apologies, but was therefore not available to answer the obvious question of why he declares himself variously as Conservative, and as Independent, depending on which council he’s representing. (Is he simply more flexible than for example his Exmouth colleagues?)

Members of the public waited patiently at the empty tables set out for Tories Chris Wale, Sheila Kerridge and Tim Venner, but left disappointed. Wonder who’ll get their vote?

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

1 May 2019

Posted under

Accountability, Hugo Swire, Lobbying, Sleaze

Conservative Party funded by loads of Russian money

And Hugo Swire stays silent about his business partnership with the British Russian “big cheese” Lord Barker …..

“Given Theresa May’s strong stance on Russia (not least on the Salisbury poisoning), it’s baffling that she has allowed any whiff of links between Putin and Tory donations to occur. But thanks to Liz Truss’s energetic Instagram account, hacks have been able to pounce on a grainy photo of the PM and six female Cabinet ministers at a lavish fundraising dinner with the wife of one of Putin’s former ministers. Lubov Chernukhin’s latest £135,000 charity bid (for the event on Monday) takes her donations to the Tories over the past seven years past the £1million mark.

The Daily Mail has led the sleuthing, pointing out that at last year’s Black and White Ball Mrs Chernukhin won two more auctions – £20,000 to dine with Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and £30,000 to dine with Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson. Earlier this year, she donated £9,500 to the war chest of Tory chairman Brandon Lewis. Five years ago, David Cameron faced questions after Chernukhin successfully bid £160,000 at a party fundraising dinner to play tennis against him and Boris Johnson.

As the Mail reports, it was not known whether the match involving Cameron and Johnson ever went ahead, but last March – following the spy poisoning – Johnson finally admitted it had. He said: ‘It’s very important that we do not allow a miasma of suspicion about all Russians in London – and indeed all rich Russians in London – to be created.’ Hmmm.”

Source: The Waugh Zone, Huffington Post

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

1 May 2019

Posted under

Accountability, Hugo Swire, Post-Brexit Adjustments

“Government ferry contracts for no-deal Brexit to be cancelled costing £50 million”

The party of efficiency and business?

And Swire thinks they are the best party to sort out a climate emergency by leaving it to “the market”!

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-government-ferry-contracts-no-14978107

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

1 May 2019

Posted under

Accountability, Developers/ Development, Persimmon

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Persimmon and Bellway – many homes not fire safe

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48113301

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/persimmon-homes-admits-dangerous-missing-2816833

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

1 May 2019

Posted under

Accountability, Audit (EDDC), Local Government Finance

Auditor KPMG [EDDC’s Auditors] fined £6m for a botched audit

“Tainted beancounter KPMG has been fined £6million for a botched audit of a car and motorbike insurer.

It failed to spot serious problems at Equity Red Star and should not have given it a clean bill of health, regulators said.

Equity Red Star, part of a conglomerate which insures one in four British motorcycles, lost £194million in 2010 after failing to set aside enough cash to cover payouts for claims.

KPMG should have spotted the problems and raised the alarm, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said.

The auditor’s partner Mark Taylor and former partner Anthony Hulse have been fined £100,000 each for their involvement.

And Douglas Morgan, a former director of Equity Red Star, has been banned from the accounting industry for two years.

Although the fines sound large they are dwarfed by KPMG’s UK revenues, which stood at £2.3billion in the last financial year.

Partners earned an average of £601,000 each.

It has been claimed that the penalties for bad behaviour are not big enough to make a difference to how the companies behave.

The FRC is being scrapped and replaced with a new authority following a damning review which found that it was failing to hold auditors to account properly.”

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-6977471/Auditor-KPMG-fined-6m-botched-audit-car-motorbike-insurer-Equity-Red-Star.html?ito=rss-flipboard