[Boiler]

It was mentioned on a BBC HYS on this matter that it costs over £1700 to apply for citizenship if you have ILR.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-in ... -to-remain

[RedSparrows]

My partner has paid several thousand pounds for visa costs so far. The most direct route, a spousal visa, will cost thousands more. She works and pays tax. She is a friend to many.

Ghouls. They don't see these people as people. Easier not to.

[Youngian]

Farage and his voters will eventually get what they want as the supply of overseas labour plummets. Not just falling birthrates but more cities in developing nations prospering. Even aspirant people take the path of least resistance and migrate to the nearest big city or neighbouring country. Hitting a country for a limited period to get the job done and moving onto another for the next contract might become far more common.
Strangely one of the few people making this point is the one woman pro immigration campaigner Zoe Gardner rather than anti migrant politicians. Apart from having little ability to think behind the horizon, there’s no mileage for Farage to calm the mob on immigration.

[Abernathy]

Extremely good piece in today's Grauniad from Jonathan Freedland.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ca2yGVPsUA

[Boiler]

Yes, very good. But it's very hard to fight feelings with facts and these days, feelings trump facts.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Quite surprised to see Farage go for the health crankery. This isn't something he's particularly done before.

Are we sure he actually wants to be in government? He's making that less likely, not just in terms of his own support, but in terms of consolidating tactical voters against him. Maybe he just wants to hang out with Trump and get a load of wingnut welfare?

[Samanfur]

Like Johnson, Farage wants the power and the money-making potential, not the actual job.

[mattomac]

Maybe he is just a crank….

[davidjay]

Maybe he is just a crank….

A claim that cannot be entirely ruled out.

[Dalem Lake]

It's also a good distraction from his girlfriend's iffy house purchase in Clacton.

[Oboogie]

Quite surprised to see Farage go for the health crankery. This isn't something he's particularly done before.

Are we sure he actually wants to be in government? He's making that less likely, not just in terms of his own support, but in terms of consolidating tactical voters against him. Maybe he just wants to hang out with Trump and get a load of wingnut welfare?

I judge him by his behaviour:
He was an MEP - he rarely turned up.
Since becoming an MP his attendance at the HoC has been poor and in his constituency almost non-existent.
He has, however, found time for regular trips to the USA - one a month since he was elected I believe.
I conclude there's no evidence that he wants to be PM - hard work and long hours, I expect he'll resign before the next election even if Reform hasn't imploded.

[Andy McDandy]

Also, he's very quick to tell us what he doesn't want, not so much to define what he does.

[Youngian]

Bozo didn't put in the hard yards to become PM but wanted the job if he could wing his way to the top. Which he did.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Theresa May should have kept him on the backbenches. She thought he'd have to put his big boy trousers on in the Cabinet, but that was a far too generous analysis of his character. It just gave him a platform to resign from.

[Youngian]

They're eating the swans, they're eating the ducks.

There was moaning 20 odd years ago about Polish anglers taking carp home instead of throwing it back (questionable if that's really a problem). Maybe Andrea has confused swans with fish.

[mattomac]

This lot should be being under the cosh on this and yet Andy Burnham wants to launch his leadership bid that apparently "Labour Mps" have called for and is totally impossible in his current position.

I assume Reform's position will be to melt into a coalition with the conservatives, let them take the hits and hard yards, see Brexit. Like their big plan for Wales is to get rid of the government and centralise it.

[Crabcakes]

I judge him by his behaviour:
He was an MEP - he rarely turned up.
Since becoming an MP his attendance at the HoC has been poor and in his constituency almost non-existent.
He has, however, found time for regular trips to the USA - one a month since he was elected I believe.
I conclude there's no evidence that he wants to be PM - hard work and long hours, I expect he'll resign before the next election even if Reform hasn't imploded.

He and Corbyn really are different sides of the same coin. If you’re in charge, you have to do the work, you are accountable (despite Boris’s best efforts to prove otherwise), and you can’t complain about the government because you are the government. And worst of all you have to compromise and find workarounds - and the moment you do, your ‘credibility’ as a maverick outsider who’ll do things differently is gone forever. So much better to be outside pissing in than ever having to develop a piss removal policy.

And let’s be honest - Farage has had a frightening amount of influence before he (finally) managed to get elected an MP. So he may well be entirely right in thinking the best place for him is opposition.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yep. Farage can take Andy Burnham with him next time he goes.

[Abernathy]

.

[Boiler]

Oh hello...?
Ex-Reform politician admits Russia-linked bribery charges

The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has pleaded guilty to bribery charges relating to statements in favour of Russia while being an elected member of the European Parliament.

Gill, 52, from Llangefni on Anglesey, admitted eight counts of bribery between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019, but denied one charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.