Tool Makers Son Defends Arsenal Freebies

He says if he was in the stands then the tax payers money would be ridiculously high on security costs! Yes but he’s forgetting;

On his huge 170K salary plus free lodgings and everything else on tap - he can well afford corporate hospitality with ease!

Pay for it you hypocrite and to think this horrible individual was slamming Boris for everything from wine to wallpaper!

PS - many pensioners will freeze this winter whilst he’s in his warm freebie hospitality at the Emirates. My daughter would have loved freebie Taylor Swift tickets too!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by baggieal

He says if he was in the stands then the tax payers money would be ridiculous high on security! Yes but he’s forgetting;

On his 170K salary plus free lodgings and everything else on tap - he can well afford corporate hospitality with ease!

Pay for it you hypocrite and to think this horrible individual was slamming Boris for everything from wine to wallpaper!

---

Hi , his earnings last year was over £400k and he paid £92k tax . Less than 25% my nieces husband is paying 40% .
Starmer had a law changed because of his pension .
Sue Gray who is unelected and pulling all the strings , is picking up a Civil service pension ,state pension plus £3k more than Starmer with £170k salary,plus another pension and perks .
Shouldn't Starmer pay tax on these £107k gifts .

IMHO no politician should accept gifts and certainly not a PM. The argument that the job role is so full on that some down time is needed is valid enough and if he choses to watch Arsenal that's down to him but trotting out the Prince Harry-esque line that he can only really afford to sit in the stands but cannot do so because of security concerns which is why he accepted the offer of a box seems complete b ollocks when he is on £107k and doubtless gets security whatever he goes.

As for Sue Grey, she has decades of experience within the Civil Service and so, in theory, should be an ideal candidate for the job and, of course, there are already some in equivalent management position within the public sector on comparable salaries to hers and plenty more in the private sector who are paid more.

The Tories don't like her because she oversaw the Partygate enquiries but what is worrying is the nature of her relationship with Starmer both prior to his election victory and now, and also the amount of influence she has. It's long been held that, as governments and ministers change, the real power lies with senior civil servants (think Yes, Minister) and there is, perhaps, a large degree of truth in this but the stories being leaked out of Whitehall over concerns over either her abrasive style or unwarranted influence don't bode well.

I don't agree with all Labour's policies but after 13 years of Conservative rule was hopeful of change and that things, however slowly, would improve. Given the entitlement and sleaze of the recent Tory leadership I had certainly expected far better from Starmer.

Didn't Sue Gray leave NI politics, for a few years, to run a pub with her husband in IRA controlled Newry? If true, maybe she knows where the (metaphorical) bodies are buried

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Titchfieldbaggie

Didn't Sue Gray leave NI politics, for a few years, to run a pub with her husband in IRA controlled Newry? If true, maybe she knows where the (metaphorical) bodies are buried

---

She did indeed but whilst I'm sure she doesn't know where those particular bodies are buried, her sheer length of service through various positions in the Civil Service probably means that she knows more about what skeletons might be hidden amongst whose closets there than anyone else. By all accounts this is making a few people in Whitehall a bit nervous and, of course, may give her some unfair advantage when it comes to leverage should she need it. 🤔

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Omegstrat6

She did indeed but whilst I'm sure she doesn't know where those particular bodies are buried, her sheer length of service through various positions in the Civil Service probably means that she knows more about what skeletons might be hidden amongst whose closets there than anyone else. By all accounts this is making a few people in Whitehall a bit nervous and, of course, may give her some unfair advantage when it comes to leverage should she need it. 🤔

---

Isn’t this the ongoing problem though?

Leaders take on people like Gray without the slightest awareness that said person, or a Dominic Cummings in Boris’s case, possess the knowledge needed to make their own lives a nightmare.

They also lack the awareness to understand these people have a tendency to be malign and have their own agenda.