The "art" of Led By Donkeys is distraction. The PPE scandal revealed a procurement system mired in corruption and a chumocracy at the heart of govt that sought to profit from public health. Instead we ended up focusing on Mone, in her bikini, on a yacht. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... - ThreadSky

fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social • 7 days ago

The "art" of Led By Donkeys is distraction. The PPE scandal revealed a procurement system mired in corruption and a chumocracy at the heart of govt that sought to profit from public health. Instead we ended up focusing on Mone, in her bikini, on a yacht.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/26/led-by-donkeys-wanted-to-confiscate-michelle-mones-yacht-but-settled-for-renaming-it-it-was-still-a-coup

Comments

rhernamanallen.bsky.social•6 days ago

It seems to me that they drew the corruption to public attention in a way that other routes may not have done. It was surely up to the politicians and media to play their part properly. Surely it's them who deserve to be criticised?

fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social•6 days ago

The corruption isn't news. We've had repeated scandals about procurement (incl privatisation) & abuse of access by peers. The issue isn't knowledge but the will to action, and by focusing on individuals Led by Donkeys allowed the systemic nature of the corruption to once more be ignored.

rhernamanallen.bsky.social•6 days ago

It was allowed to be ignored by (a) the previous government for obvious reasons (b) the present government for reasons which aren't obvious and (c) the media (not least the BBC), some of the reasons for which are obvious. The will has to come from politicians, driven by the media if necessary

fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social•6 days ago

We don't need to send Michelle Mone to prison, or simply blackball her from polite society. We need to abolish the House of Lords and either prevent or properly invigilate ministers making procurement decisions.

rhernamanallen.bsky.social•6 days ago

No problem with that. Actually, the Perm Sec at DHSC should have either vetoed much of it or written to the NAO. Why not? I've no idea. But he's recently become Cabinet Secretary. There is a system to monitor procurement decisions, but has to be used.

nicktheinventor.bsky.social•7 days ago

Every system defends itself by sacrificing the odd “bad apple” if absolutely needed. She took one for the team.

grumpybb.bsky.social•6 days ago

Not yet she hasn’t.

nicktheinventor.bsky.social•6 days ago

Yeah let me rephrase, she was “chosen” by the system as the potential sacrificial lamb even if she hasn’t gone down

hockney74.bsky.social•7 days ago

Strong agree

harrylym.bsky.social•6 days ago

This looks a bit like sneering at effort so what would you recommend instead?

fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social•6 days ago

Abolish the House of Lords. In 30 years time, don't be surprised if one of those Led by Donkeys chaps is donning the ermine.

harrylym.bsky.social•6 days ago

Seems a bit of a false equivalence going from the work of a pressure group that's existed for barely 5 years to major constitutional change and a bizarre and completely unfounded prediction that one of LBD's founders will be a member of a constitutional body that may not even exist in 30 years.

fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social•7 days ago

That "something" would be the reassurance of bien pensant liberals that they really did fight the good fight by sharing sarcastic memes about Boris Johnson.

fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social•7 days ago

Obviously 4 entitled liberals with a ladder didn't swing the 2019 general election result, but they didn't help, did they?

judyw.bsky.social•6 days ago

Brexit was a disaster for the country as a whole and the Labour Party in particular. 80+% of Labour supporters hated Brexit, but J Corbyn was a Lexiter and did nothing to challenge the rush to get as hard a Brexit as possible.

fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social•6 days ago

Corbyn was critical of the EU but he was not a Lexiteer (he said he was "seven, or seven and a half" out of 10 for staying in the EU in 2016). He was one of the few who sincerely tried to achieve a soft Brexit in 2019. The responsibility for hard Brexit lies with the Tories & the 2nd Vote campaign.

judyw.bsky.social•6 days ago

Totally the Tories fault. Caused ugly splits in UK society as a whole - Labour Party included. JC should have been a lot less equivocal in his support for the EU when it mattered. A section of the Labour left have been anti-EU for a very long time.

fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social•6 days ago

Being equivocal about the EU was the norm in British politics from the 80s onwards. All govts, including New Labour, used Brussels as a whipping boy, blaming it for unpopular policies they originated themselves or using it as an excuse for inaction. There were no goodies & baddies.

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