Reform, and the death of the Tory Party

[briantrumpet]

The Benny Hill chasing theme.

Yackety Sax.

 

[secretsqirrel]

Yackety Sax.

Boots Randolph.

I can play it but need to practice the opening growl and slide.

 

[Pinno718]

 

[briantrumpet]

I'm starting to lose track.

https://liberalengland.blogspot.com/2026/07/reform-uks-opaque-finances-now-lib-dems.html

 

[briantrumpet]

I'm starting to lose track.

View attachment 16490

https://liberalengland.blogspot.com/2026/07/reform-uks-opaque-finances-now-lib-dems.html

I think the £2mn is new news. At least the detail is new, and, of course, damning.

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...sferred-2m-mother-beforer-reform-uk-donations

The convicted fraudster George Cottrell transferred a total of more than $2m to his mother, Fiona Cottrell, in the days before her 2024 donations to Reform UK, the Guardian understands. Financial industry sources told the Guardian that Fiona received one deposit of $1.4m and two tranches of more than $300,000 each – money she attributed to having come from her son, George, when bankers asked about the deposits.

On each occasion, the Guardian understands transfers were made 24-72 hours before Fiona made a donation either directly to Reform, or via Britain Means Business, a fundraising vehicle for the political party. According to sources, the lump sums went through US-based cryptocurrency exchanges before entering Fiona’s account. These platforms allow crypto-assets to be changed for hard currency, such as US dollars or British pounds. Some were routed to Fiona via money exchange services.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

I'm starting to lose track.

View attachment 16490

https://liberalengland.blogspot.com/2026/07/reform-uks-opaque-finances-now-lib-dems.html

It would be easier just to list the members of Reform that hadn't alledgedly committed financial crimes!

On a serious note, we are talking about a political party here, one that could form a govt. There should be rules in place that preclude a political party from existing if key leaders are found to have committed fraudulent or financial crimes in support of said party.

 

[briantrumpet]

It would be easier just to list the members of Reform that hadn't alledgedly committed financial crimes!

On a serious note, we are talking about a political party here, one that could form a govt. There should be rules in place that preclude a political party from existing if key leaders are found to have committed fraudulent or financial crimes in support of said party.

Both the UK and US systems didn't seem to envisage the Trumpian Faragiste level of wrong-doing and brazenness. Trump's still getting away with it, but the UK needs to get to grips with this now, and quickly - I'd hope that either through the HoC systems or the more general legal systems that the UK safeguards would be robust enough to deal with the scale of this assault, and well before any election.

The US legal system was just too sluggish, either in its systems, or because it was deliberately slow-walked before the 2024 election: Trump should have been in front of a court and convicted on several charges (e.g. the ones that Jack Smith tried to prosecute). Aileen Cannon was one of many politically-appointed slow-walkers/obstructionists helping Trump.

 

[BoldonLad]

I'm starting to lose track.

View attachment 16490

https://liberalengland.blogspot.com/2026/07/reform-uks-opaque-finances-now-lib-dems.html

I thought Tice was a millionaire, why does he need to borrow(?) £80k from Cottrell?

 

[Psamathe]

I thought Tice was a millionaire, why does he need to borrow(?) £80k from Cottrell?

Some of these "business people" think they are really smart concocting all sorts of weird financial manoeuvres.

When I was a company director (of a plc) we had a non-exec director who was there more for "process". We were looking to take over a competitor, we had more than enough in the bank to buy them but this non-exec was concocting all sorts of weird financial schemes to try and buy the competitor without actually paying money; things like creating a large number of special shares and paying in shares based on achieving targets ...

Daftness but they find it fun, just a stupid game.

 

[BoldonLad]

Some of these "business people" think they are really smart concocting all sorts of weird financial manoeuvres.

When I was a company director (of a plc) we had a non-exec director who was there more for "process". We were looking to take over a competitor, we had more than enough in the bank to buy them but this non-exec was concocting all sorts of weird financial schemes to try and buy the competitor without actually paying money; things like creating a large number of special shares and paying in shares based on achieving targets ...

Daftness but they find it fun, just a stupid game.

I am not a millionaire, but, I can identify with that 😊 If making a purchase, even if I have "the readies", I will always investigate the other options (interest free credit, Klarna 0%, etc etc) maybe I missed my vocation?

 

[briantrumpet]

I think the £2mn is new news. At least the detail is new, and, of course, damning.

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...sferred-2m-mother-beforer-reform-uk-donations

Carole Cadwalladr is now linking this back to previous financial shenanigans from Aaron Banks.

https://bsky.app/profile/carolecadwalla.bsky.social/post/3mrsi3vpjqc23

Big new story from @annaisaac.bsky.social. Cottrell transferred $2m to his mother before she made Reform & Tice donations. The even bigger question now is where did Cottrell’s money come from? And this is where I think a very big problem lies...

The NCA has done an investigation like this before. In 2018/19 into the ‘true source of Arron Banks’s £8m donation to LeaveEU. That investigation led to the creation of a loophole in UK law. A loophole Arron Banks took legal action against the Electoral Commission for even speaking about. The details are in my story but nobody knows about this or understands the consequences..but I think there are potential knock-on effects here & now.

It would be nice to think that in a few years time the question will be why/how the mainstream media ignored all the red flags for so long. It's getting to the point where it looks like Farage and everything he's ever done has been based on dodgy money from money laundering outfits.

 

[Psamathe]

I am not a millionaire, but, I can identify with that 😊 If making a purchase, even if I have "the readies", I will always investigate the other options (interest free credit, Klarna 0%, etc etc) maybe I missed my vocation?

But in business it distracts from what your business is about. Things need monitoring, legal documents reviewing, managing all the weird clauses, etc., etc. all taking time and effort that should be being spent doing what the business has been successful at doing (the success from focus that created the bank balance to mean we could have just paid money to acquire the competitor.

 

[C R]

Carole Cadwalladr is now linking this back to previous financial shenanigans from Aaron Banks.

https://bsky.app/profile/carolecadwalla.bsky.social/post/3mrsi3vpjqc23



It would be nice to think that in a few years time the question will be why/how the mainstream media ignored all the red flags for so long. It's getting to the point where it looks like Farage and everything he's ever done has been based on dodgy money from money laundering outfits.

The graun should be ashamed of not helping Cadwalladr defence at the time.

 

[briantrumpet]

The graun should be ashamed of not helping Cadwalladr defence at the time.

Yep, it would be interesting to know if they just chickened out at the first threat, or if there was more going on to warn them off. I suspect the chicken theory is correct.

 

[Pblakeney]

Some of these "business people" think they are really smart concocting all sorts of weird financial manoeuvres.

When I was a company director (of a plc) we had a non-exec director who was there more for "process". We were looking to take over a competitor, we had more than enough in the bank to buy them but this non-exec was concocting all sorts of weird financial schemes to try and buy the competitor without actually paying money; things like creating a large number of special shares and paying in shares based on achieving targets ...

Daftness but they find it fun, just a stupid game.

I worked freelance for a small company where one of the directors was all over stuff like that. I was quite happy as to his way of working paying me an extortionate amount was "cheaper" than hiring someone full time. Even though I was there for years.