Strif Gate......should They Step Down?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31597287
Personally I think both their positions are untennable, they should get in a dual application for the Chiltern Hundreds pronto. What a complete pair of shysters.

[weecalf]

How will we know as neither has done anything in the last 20 years .Will straws 5000 a time go up now hes famous

[Peter Pedant]

3T there is stepping down and stepping down

saying "I am not gonna be on the spooks committee pro tem" is completely different from applying for the Chiltern Hundreds which here would be irreversible

and fellas wanting £1500 / h dont do things which irreversibly damage themselves.

why dont we say - oh it is another grasping Scot - 6 m more north of the border ?

[andy-hughes]

I entirely agree.

Straw should not be allowed to dawdle and prevaricate until the end of this Parliament, when he steps down.

Rifkind should be stripped of his chairmanship of the Security Council - how can it be appropriate that someone in that role can be so easily scammed by the offer of money on the side?

And yes, they should both apply for the Chiltern Hundreds, but as usual, default reaction is to deny everything and hang on, hoping it will all go away.

With an election looming, both parties will be required to take some action to distance themselves from the unsavoury actions of their members.

[ToraToraTora]

Yes PP that's right, I'm saying they both should be out on their ear full stop. Sadly an MP cannot be removed but they have had the whip removed so worse case they can hang on till may when they won't be the official candidate for their seat so will probably get booted out by the voters.

[Peter Pedant]

Straw did all sorts of things

Used I think to be pres of the National Union of Students and in his law finals ripped up his papers and walked out leading a walk out of .... one

the rest just applauded and got on with the exam

so he didnt lead a walk out
and then they found he had negotiated with another uni to take finals there

I mean a fella like that is gonna go places

[Jackdaw33]

In Straw's case I cannot see how the expense of holding a by election this close to a general election can be justified. A new member would sit for a couple of weeks at most before parliament is dissolved.

[ToraToraTora]

They would not hold a bye election this late.

[jno]

Straw was already stepping down before this blew up, wasn't he? Hence the discussions on things he might do after he's quit. I can't see any point in the trouble and expense of setting up by-elections for, say, March, when the general election will be only weeks later.

[jno]

well, what do you want exactly: expulsion and their constituents unrepresented until May?

[ToraToraTora]

same as what happens when an MP dies jno, the bye election is not instant. Usuallly quicker than the 10 weeks to the next election but in this case they'd just leave it till the next election.

[jno]

I don't think voters should be left unrepresented. No choice if an MP dies; but here there is a choice.

I think they're a pair of conmen (alleged), but I also think voters' interests come first.

[Jomlett]

Rifkind resigns as ISC chair and to leave Commons at election.

[Jomlett]

BBC News - Rifkind steps down as security committee chairman... http://bbc.in/1BLDcZN

[Peter Pedant]

thx Jomblo
and well spotted

bad call - I suppose others will now ask what other mistakes has he made in and out of office ?

Overseeing intelligence...
Didja see Andrew marr and Hague

Marr: bit of a cuck up over the teenage girls
Hague : well we dont discuss secret things or else - they wouldnt be secret !
and Marr - instead of saying - why not if it is a cuck-up ?
said in a craven and admiring fashion - yeah it is secret, yeah !

[ABerrant]

"they should get in a dual application for the Chiltern Hundreds pronto."

It is not possible for two people to hold the one office simultaneously, which is why outgoing MPs alternate between the Chiltern Hundreds and Northstead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Steward_and_Bailiff_of_the_Manor_of_Northstead