Portillo calls Grayling most incompetent of all time

[Dave1987]

He's not sticking around after May leaves. I expect a P45 on his desk as soon as the new PM comes in.

Shows how bad and weak she is the fact she cannot/will not sack him

 

[LOL The Irony]

Shows how bad and weak she is the fact she cannot/will not sack him

Because he's pro-leave and hasn't left her cabinet. And I agree 100% with your statement.

 

[Dave1987]

Sorry can’t post in the proper way for the forum at the moment but this spoof is very appropriate at the moment!

https://newsthump.com/2019/03/01/hu...rt-after-chris-grayling-tries-to-use-stapler/

 

[GRALISTAIR]

He's not sticking around after May leaves. I expect a P45 on his desk as soon as the new PM comes in.

Please god please

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Sorry can’t post in the proper way for the forum at the moment but this spoof is very appropriate at the moment!

https://newsthump.com/2019/03/01/hu...rt-after-chris-grayling-tries-to-use-stapler/

Briiliant

 

[yorksrob]

Compared to Marples, he's still a paragon of virtue.

 

[edwin_m]

The no-deal no-ferry ferry no-deal, not from Deal...

 

[driver_m]

You can't be as bad as Grayling and it be simply be incompetence. Something stinks about it all. Anyone else in any industry would have been long gone by now.

 

[AndrewE]

You can't be as bad as Grayling and it be simply be incompetence. Something stinks about it all. Anyone else in any industry would have been long gone by now.

but of course politics isn't anything like any industry. The greasy pole and all that.

 

[nanstallon]

Off-topic, but relevant.

The main reason that MP's are often pretty inept is that there are NO qualifications required for the job other than you haven't committed a significant crime and you follow the party ticket (at least for a while). Thus you get MP's who can talk the talk but are otherwise useless at their jobs.

'A significant crime' - lying about an offence doesn't seem to have stopped a certain female MP from going straight from prison back to the house of Commons!

 

[LeylandLen]

but of course politics isn't anything like any industr. The greasy pole and all that.

No doubt he will probably end up in House of Lords when he does leave the failing government. I DO NOT agree , never really liked him in that job .

 

[baz962]

Chris Grayling getting battered big time on the news.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Chris Grayling getting battered big time on the news.

GOOD - he needs to

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

He wouldn't have been the person that chose Seaborne Freight (though he has to support his dept's decisions).
The shipping world is full of brokers, charterers and part-owners trying to place their assets.
You just have to follow the ownership, naming and operation history of any ferry to realise what a chaotic industry it is.
He chose unwisely.
The Eurotunnel thing is just a bung to avoid an embarrassing court case he was bound to lose, at the worst time possible for the government.
Good on Eurotunnel (sorry, Getlink), first stroke of luck in 23 years.

It he gets the push, it probably won't be a railway-savvy replacement.
It doesn't work like that. At least it can't be Jo Johnson!
We'll have to get rid of Theresa May first, and that will open a different sort of flood-gate.

 

[modernrail]

He wouldn't have been the person that chose Seaborne Freight (though he has to support his dept's decisions).
The shipping world is full of brokers, charterers and part-owners trying to place their assets.
You just have to follow the ownership, naming and operation history of any ferry to realise what a chaotic industry it is.
He chose unwisely.
The Eurotunnel thing is just a bung to avoid an embarrassing court case he was bound to lose, at the worst time possible for the government.
Good on Eurotunnel (sorry, Getlink), first stroke of luck in 23 years.

It he gets the push, it probably won't be a railway-savvy replacement.
It doesn't work like that. At least it can't be Jo Johnson!
We'll have to get rid of Theresa May first, and that will open a different sort of flood-gate.

He should go both on the basis of Ministerial incompetence for not asking questions before sign off and on the basis of taking responsibility for his department. The truth is we have no idea what is tail and what is dog but we do know there is a pattern of behaviour/trail of devastation.

The Eurotunnel settlement is a constitutional disgrace. They have clearly settled because there is little chance of success. That could easily be because of damning evidence against Grayling and his decision making. That we don't get to find out and the public purse takes such a massive hit is unconscionable. Brexit spending should be subject to at least the same level of process, accountability and transparency as any other spending. Arguably it should be under more scrutiny partly because it is being spent at a time of austerity (vulnerable people getting less) and partly so that the mythical promise of repatriation of monies that were largely spent here anyway can be measured properly against the cost. It's called a P&L exercise and it is important if any supporter of this course of action, which includes Grayling, is to have a shred of credibility. Perhaps that doesn't matter anymore, perhaps we are happy to lose our national credibility?

Another important part of the exercise would be checking what the shift in exchange rates has done to costs to transport. I seriously hope train orders were signed in Sterling.

 

[driver_m]

but of course politics isn't anything like any industry. The greasy pole and all that.

There are greasy poles in all industries! I do get the impression though, that in years to come, we'll be reading about this sorry saga with a very different view to now.

 

[yorksrob]

There are greasy poles in all industries! I do get the impression though, that in years to come, we'll be reading about this sorry saga with a very different view to now.

In what way, out of interest ?

 

[306024]

Chris Grayling getting battered big time on the news.

And in a leading article in The Times this morning. Can't post a link but it is headed "Losing Control Chris Grayling's ministerial incompetence has gone on for too long" and ends with "It is past time for Mr Grayling to go, whether voluntarily or not".

 

[hwl]

He should go both on the basis of Ministerial incompetence for not asking questions before sign off and on the basis of taking responsibility for his department. The truth is we have no idea what is tail and what is dog but we do know there is a pattern of behaviour/trail of devastation.

The Eurotunnel settlement is a constitutional disgrace. They have clearly settled because there is little chance of success. That could easily be because of damning evidence against Grayling and his decision making. That we don't get to find out and the public purse takes such a massive hit is unconscionable. Brexit spending should be subject to at least the same level of process, accountability and transparency as any other spending. Arguably it should be under more scrutiny partly because it is being spent at a time of austerity (vulnerable people getting less) and partly so that the mythical promise of repatriation of monies that were largely spent here anyway can be measured properly against the cost. It's called a P&L exercise and it is important if any supporter of this course of action, which includes Grayling, is to have a shred of credibility. Perhaps that doesn't matter anymore, perhaps we are happy to lose our national credibility?

Another important part of the exercise would be checking what the shift in exchange rates has done to costs to transport. I seriously hope train orders were signed in Sterling.

They settled because the judge was about to order DfT to publicly disclose over 10,000 documents for evidential purposes. The press would have poured over them and found the government level of preparation for 29th March No deal to be very lacking!

 

[HH]

Grayling to May, "Permission to panic, Sir!".

 

[jfollows]

And in a leading article in The Times this morning. Can't post a link but it is headed "Losing Control Chris Grayling's ministerial incompetence has gone on for too long" and ends with "It is past time for Mr Grayling to go, whether voluntarily or not".

Here it is: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-times-view-on-chris-grayling-losing-control-dsjpmj8mg

The Times view on Chris Grayling: Losing Control

His ministerial incompetence has gone on for too long

The American politician John Randolph remarked that the most delicious of all privileges was spending other people’s money. Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, has taken the message to heart. The latest episode in the saga of his prodigality is an out-of-court settlement under which the government, that is the taxpayer, will fork out up to £33 million to Eurotunnel.

Mr Grayling has the misfortune to have a surname that rhymes with “failing” but in truth the common moniker in political debate of “failing Grayling” overstates his competence. “Fiasco” and “farrago” are more the ticket. The Eurotunnel settlement is far from the only or most costly of his gaffes, which are outstanding even in a government as fractious and undistinguished as this one. Mr Grayling is not only a political liability but also a constant danger to the public purse.

This latest settlement concerned contingency planning for a no-deal Brexit. In December his department contracted three companies to provide extra freight capacity for lorries on cross-Channel ferries. Eurotunnel, which operates the Eurostar rail service and has run a cross-Channel ferry service, complained that these contracts had been awarded secretively.

Mr Grayling attracted derision when it emerged that one of the three successful contracted companies, Seaborne Freight, did not have anything so prosaic as ships. Nor had it ever run a ferry service. Moreover, the terms and conditions posted on its website appeared to have been copied-and-pasted from a food delivery firm. Despite these self-evident disadvantages, which caused it in the end to pull out, the deal would have been worth about £14 million to the company. Eurotunnel sued the government on the grounds that it too should have been offered the chance to bid for the contract. The settlement involves a deal for Eurotunnel to ferry medicines to the NHS in return for improvements to its terminal at Folkestone.

Mr Grayling expressed regret that Eurotunnel had sued, as if it was some natural disaster that could not have been foreseen, but he made no apology. The fact that he does not appear to understand his own culpability in squandering so much money demonstrates his unfitness for office. Ever since he joined the cabinet as justice secretary in 2012, and in every post he has occupied, he has shown that he is unfit to be in the cabinet.
As justice secretary he was best known for his vindictive policy of banning prisoners from receiving books from relatives or friends. That was found to be unlawful by the High Court in 2015. A policy of part-privatisation of probation contracts, begun by Mr Grayling in 2013, turns out, according to a National Audit Office report published yesterday, not to have saved taxpayers’ money but to have cost at least £171 million. As transport secretary, Mr Grayling presided over a rail time- table reorganisation that caused severe disruption to passengers last May. At least with the benefit of self-knowledge in this instance, Mr Grayling revealed to MPs that he was “not a specialist in rail matters”.

Mr Grayling is the epitome of overpromotion. His tenure has had direct and punitive financial costs to the taxpayer. If such maladministration and incompetence took place at a public company, shareholders would rightly demand the sacking of the chief executive. It is past time for Mr Grayling to go, whether voluntarily or not.

 

[HH]

Battered and fried, I'd say.

Oddly enough, the "epitome of overpromotion" barb, is very similar to a comment I made in conversation last week. When you're at the top, blaming your subordinates for everything that goes wrong is a strategy that normally has a short shelf-life.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Battered and fried, I'd say.

Oddly enough, the "epitome of overpromotion" barb, is very similar to a comment I made in conversation last week. When you're at the top, blaming your subordinates for everything that goes wrong is a strategy that normally has a short shelf-life.

Indeed - and might I add - cowardice too?

 

[driver_m]

In what way, out of interest ?

As I said, something doesn't sit right. Other political liabilities are binned off after a few screw ups .Grayling his going to have his own dedicated wiki site the way he's going .

 

[yorksrob]

As I said, something doesn't sit right. Other political liabilities are binned off after a few screw ups .Grayling his going to have his own dedicated wiki site the way he's going .

Ah yes, perhaps we'll see in due course.

 

[Class 170101]

And in a leading article in The Times this morning. Can't post a link but it is headed "Losing Control Chris Grayling's ministerial incompetence has gone on for too long" and ends with "It is past time for Mr Grayling to go, whether voluntarily or not".

Losing Control, you are being very generous. Never been in control more like.

 

[modernrail]

Losing Control, you are being very generous. Never been in control more like.

I think I spotted Grayling's escape plan whilst out on a run today

 

[modernrail]

They settled because the judge was about to order DfT to publicly disclose over 10,000 documents for evidential purposes. The press would have poured over them and found the government level of preparation for 29th March No deal to be very lacking!

...and that is a Government overstepping its constitutional boundaries, just like it did with the DUP bribe. This Government keeps spending money outside of spending reviews and budgets. The DUP bribe and Brexit spending being the 2 worse culprits by far. When they do this, they deprive Parliament of the ability to debate the budget or have proper oversight over spending. A Government settling out of court to save it's own embarrassment is an abuse of power. I am not sure we have seen such disgraceful behaviour from a Government in my lifetime. It is much worse than simple incompetence because it is highly calculated. It is really quite simple, I do not bust a gut at work and pay my taxes for a Government to pour my money down the drain to support its grubby little power hungry farce. Any other public body behaving like this would be subject to sanction.

 

[Busaholic]

May and Grayling were partners in crime for years as Home Secretary and Justice Secretary: May keeps him because she has to have someone even less competent than herself, though she has Liam Fox as backstop there. I'm convinced they both know disobliging things about the other, on a political level, but once one falls the other will be microseconds behind. Just imagine what the press and opposition would make of him if he'd been a Labour Transport Secretary! The Labour Party is now so ineffective and wanting to fight among themselves they can't launch the blistering attack which would see him off.

 

[moggie]

...and that is a Government overstepping its constitutional boundaries, just like it did with the DUP bribe. This Government keeps spending money outside of spending reviews and budgets. The DUP bribe and Brexit spending being the 2 worse culprits by far. When they do this, they deprive Parliament of the ability to debate the budget or have proper oversight over spending. A Government settling out of court to save it's own embarrassment is an abuse of power. I am not sure we have seen such disgraceful behaviour from a Government in my lifetime. It is much worse than simple incompetence because it is highly calculated. It is really quite simple, I do not bust a gut at work and pay my taxes for a Government to pour my money down the drain to support its grubby little power hungry farce. Any other public body behaving like this would be subject to sanction.

The reality is that the £33M (plus lawyers fees) will simply be paid from the DfT budget. DfT has (supposedly) direct control of £9Bn to spend on the national rail network Rail Enhancement projects in CP6. No one will ever know IF that money is actually spent therefore it will be simple for £33M of that money to be 're-purposed' from its intended use. Fettling up Eurotunnel's terminal is probably an 'allowed' expenditure to keep the NAO off his back - again.