Defence Secretary

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abc123
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by abc123 »

Well, I wouldn't say that Ben Wallace is a bad decision per se, now how much will the new Government ( either want or could ) spend time, attention and money on defence, that's another matter.
Fortune favors brave sir, said Carrot cheerfully.
What's her position about heavily armed, well prepared and overmanned armies?
Oh, noone's ever heard of Fortune favoring them, sir.
According to General Tacticus, it's because they favor themselves…

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SKB
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by SKB »

Related to Defence Secretary, the new Minister of Defence Procurement & Infrastructure:
She is MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed on the England-Scotland border.

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Jensy
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by Jensy »

I expect that outside a pub somewhere, Penny Mordaunt is laughing into a very large glass of wine.

Seems like the new Def Sec is not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, or else has some sort of political death-wish:



He publically boasted to his French opposite number that:

"We’ve suddenly found ourselves with no majority and a coalition and that’s not easy for our system.

"“I don’t know what the outcome will be, you know politics!"

To which No.10 has responded responded that "Ben Wallace is mistaken and was not involved in discussions on a Queen's Speech."

This story is now spreading in both France and here at home as the idiot did so metres away from sound equipment and a camera.

There was me thinking his close links to the Iranian regime were the biggest problem with his appointment. It appears that indeed he has the media agility of a three-legged hippo, and a similar lack of judgement to his once removed predecessor.

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SDL
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by SDL »

i keep seeing this posted with that quote of what he said... but there's nothing in the video where he says that quote...

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Jensy
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by Jensy »

SDL wrote:i keep seeing this posted with that quote of what he said... but there's nothing in the video where he says that quote...
Yeah, I'm not sure why the video doing the rounds seems to be a video of a video, showing BBC News at One. There is a fuller version which is a minute long and includes more of the quote but nothing about the Queen, so have removed that bit.

I chose that tweet as it was the only one from a journalist, rather than an activist. The quote matched the French media's reporting of the event but might be a tad iffy from translation.

You can see the full clip here, from 9:35 onward: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... e-29082019

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Caribbean
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by Caribbean »

Can anyone find an actual recording of him saying "nothing to do with a new agenda - it is all about numbers as the government knows they can’t command a majority in the House of Commons, thus they have misled The Queen."?

I can't. The closest I can find is him saying is:

“And we’ve suddenly found ourselves with no majority and a coalition, and that’s not easy for our system.”

Though some talking head then alleged the rest of it, there doesn't seem to be any recorded evidence that he actually did.

The "Nothing to do with a new agenda" and "misled the Queen" bit is actually the words of some guy called Charlie Proctor (with the tag @MonarchyUK).

Starting to look like classic social-media-based fake news "story".
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
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Jensy
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Re: Defence Secretary

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Caribbean wrote:Starting to look like classic social-media-based fake news "story".
Looking increasingly likely that it's been blown up. That said, Downing St's response is rather heavy handed for a potential fake story.

My interest, from a personal and professional perspective, is how someone occupying a senior cabinet position can be so poorly media-trained in this age. Just a complete lack of self-awareness and judgement.

If he were at Rural Affairs or Media & Sport I could just about excuse it. When you're an ex-serviceman appointed to run the MoD, I think more can be expected. Which rather raises the question of why he wasn't involved in the Queen's Speech in the first place...

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Caribbean
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by Caribbean »

Jensy wrote:My interest, from a personal and professional perspective, is how someone occupying a senior cabinet position can be so poorly media-trained.
You should try watching the Brexit: Behind Closed Doors fly-on-the-wall documentary (the BBC has taken it off, but it's on you-tube) - they all knew they were being filmed and most have years of experience in front of the camera, but they say quite a lot of undiplomatic stuff on there!
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

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Pseudo
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Re: Defence Secretary

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Caribbean wrote:Can anyone find an actual recording of him saying "nothing to do with a new agenda - it is all about numbers as the government knows they can’t command a majority in the House of Commons, thus they have misled The Queen."?

I can't. The closest I can find is him saying is:

“And we’ve suddenly found ourselves with no majority and a coalition, and that’s not easy for our system.”
The former is the implication of the latter. The remarks are going to provide a lot of fuel for the legal challenges to prorogation. He's basically saying that the British parliamentary system is "winner-takes-all" where the government is formed by the party with a majority of MP's and has complete control of the government and parliamentary agenda. He's basically saying that the government can't control the agenda because they've got no majority and not entirely reliable coalition partners. The bit about misleading The Queen is that there'd be no constitutional reason for The Queen to allow a prorogation simply to prevent parliament from making the government's life difficult, which is what Wallace is essentially admitting in the clip.

Caribbean
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by Caribbean »

So, as I said - he didn't actually say it.

What you impute to his statement will depend on what your political perspective is and what you are seeking to prove
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Caribbean wrote:try watching the Brexit: Behind Closed Doors fly-on-the-wall documentary (the BBC has taken it off, but it's on you-tube)

Wrong thread for this comment, but...
there's the Beep, actively rewriting (very) recent history
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Pseudo
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by Pseudo »

Caribbean wrote:So, as I said - he didn't actually say it.

What you impute to his statement will depend on what your political perspective is and what you are seeking to prove
Not really, it'll more depend on whether you understand the meaning of the words that he's using and the ultimate implication of that meaning.

Caribbean
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Re: Defence Secretary

Post by Caribbean »

I refer you to my previous answer
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

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SKB
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Re: Defence Secretary

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SKB
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Re: Defence Secretary

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