IT is interesting to note that Jacob Rees-Mogg has been appointed Minister for Brexit Opportunities and government efficiency in Boris Johnson’s latest Cabinet re-shuffle, a ploy very much akin to re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
If anyone should be au fait with Brexit opportunities, it is surely the former Leader of the House of Commons. He is estimated to have earned at least £7 million from his stake in Somerset Capital Management (SCM), a sum that has benefited greatly from the fall in the value of the pound following the Brexit referendum.
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It is significant that SCM moved their headquarters to Dublin to remain in the EU after the Brexit decision, a decision that Rees-Mogg denied had anything to do with the result of the referendum.
Brexit opportunities seem to have been restricted to a small select group of leading Tories and their friends over the last thee years.
As the general public continue to suffer from a sharp rise in the cost of living and growing inflation, friends of the Prime Minister – such as leading advocate of Brexit, hedge fund manager Crispin Odey – continue to thrive by betting that the value of the pound will plummet.
READ MORE: Jacob Rees-Mogg's ministerial salary doubles after demotion in Boris Johnson's reshuffle
In short, the super-rich ensured that the country bailed out of the EU just before an additional tax was levied on their obscene wealth and, knowing that Brexit would damage their own economy, decided to gave the system to increase their riches and influence in the UK. Brexit has visited economic, social and political vandalism on the UK and has offered little or no benefits to ordinary people, in fact the complete opposite in many cases.
The reshuffle and the creation of this post for the antediluvian Rees-Mogg are exercises in obfuscation and deception. It’s all Johnson has got left.
Owen Kelly
Stirling
AS Downing Street disintegrates and Westminster hesitates, integrity is defined as “the quality of being honest, with strong moral principles’’. That is to say, doing the right thing for the right reasons. It is certainly not doing whatever you think you can get away with and seeking special treatment because you are in a position of power and privilege. A lack of integrity is a shameful thing.
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This criminally incompetent Tory government led by a serial liar is utterly without integrity. It dishonours democracy and drags the name of the UK and its associate nations into the gutter.
With courage and confidence it is truly time to leave this toxic Union. A fully independent Scotland, with its many advantages, will flourish like other small nations around Europe and the world.
Grant Frazer
Newtonmore
I’M not so sure that the weans and families of Stirling currently deciding whether to eat or heat their homes will be too interested to hear the excuses of their MP Alyn Smith for his recent visit to Ukraine. Apparently Alyn was “holding this rotten UK Government to account for what it might be about to do in Ukraine.”
How about holding this rotten UK Government to account for what it is doing to the people of Scotland? In any case, the only people possibly about to do anything serious in the Ukraine are the Russians, and not the UK Government.
Alyn says: “If we want to be an international actor we need to start looking like it”. Call me old-fashioned, but I have no wish an independent Scotland to be an international actor – whatever that means. I would prefer an independent Scotland to live in the real political world.
READ MORE: Alyn Smith: We must act like a state if serious about independence
Apparently the Ukrainian government “were glad to have us there and glad of our interest and support.” I am sure they were, just as long as the UK is prepared to hand over large sums of its public’s money and lots of modern anti-tank weapons.”
If Alyn is really interested in international affairs, perhaps he should spend a bit less time in the political cesspit that is Ukraine and take a trip to Afghanistan, where he could see the results of the UK and America’s interference in the another country. He would see a nation devastated by decades of war where dying wee weans share incubators and slightly older children are bought and sold like secondhand cars. The hospitality may not be as lavish as in the Ukraine but I am sure it would be better learning experience.
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Alyn states: “We clearly articulated a distinctive SNP policy.” I’m actually not sure what current SNP policy is on Ukraine. I don’t remember it being discussed very recently at an SNP conference. Perhaps it should be again and very soon, but in the meantime perhaps Alyn Smith should remember that, before he looks out his passport for this next trip to one of the world’s political hotspots, three SNP MPs do not make policy.
If we are not really really careful, current tensions in the Ukraine will escalate to a shooting war. The UK may feel the need to act like it is still a military power in the world and send in troops. I hope Alyn will be close on hand to explain to the grieving relatives of the glorious dead why their sacrifice was a good thing for Scotland.
Brian Lawson
Paisley
SO we had SNP MPs on a jolly to Ukraine complete with Union Jack. This, together with Peter Wishart’s co-chairmanship of the Westminster Beer Club, suggests that the SNP MPs are now comfortably ensconced within the Westminster bubble.
I notice your correspondent Rosemary Smith pleads for radical action by the SNP (Letters, Feb 8). I feel this is a forlorn hope.
Look what the bookies think – no referendum before 2025 is the odds-on favourite.
N M Shaw
Edinburgh
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