If you’re not angry about these 3 things – you should be!

By Gareth R Roberts

I’m trying not to be angry, I really am. I’m trying to phlegmatic and trusting and contented about the general election campaign – but I can’t. I’m trying not to sound paranoid either – because that really isn’t me – but there’s far too much going on that is emitting a green hued stench of dishonest manipulation for any of us to just sit back and allow to happen without question.

This general election is simply too important for that.

Let’s start with the missing Intelligence Security Committee report into Russian interference in the UK’s democratic process. Now, I don’t know what this report says any more than anyone else – but, if we consider the Mueller Report in the USA and various other credible examples of the Kremlin involving themselves in elections in other parts of the world, and when one considers the fact that, according the Sunday Times, at least 9 Russian nationals who have made substantial contributions to the Conservative Party have been referred to in the report, then the fact that this report has been suppressed by Downing Street, after all other departments had cleared it, is mightily, mightily suspicious.

I mean we are being asked to vote in an election in a few weeks – we need to have faith and confidence in this process, and we need to be content that one of the parties who are standing candidates, namely the Tories, are not in any way being infiltrated or influenced by a foreign power.

It’s massively serious.

Imagine that you were about to put your kids into a nursery and you were told that there  was an investigation going on into possible child abuse at the school – but, the secretary then put an arm around your shoulder and told you not to trouble your pretty little head with it and that it was quite alright to put your kids into the school even though the report hadn’t been published. How many of us would blindly allow this to happen, especially if we knew that the report was complete and that it was the headteacher who was preventing its publication?

Not one of us.

This general election is not just a demonstration of our democracy, the Tories and Brexiters have made it about our democracy with their assertions about sovereignty and ‘taking back control’ – so for them to then suppress a report which may be absolutely fundamental to our democracy is indefensible.

But, it doesn’t end there – in September the Independent Office for Police Conduct declared that it had been asked to look into the possibility that Boris Johnson misappropriated funds when he was dealing with his ‘special friend’ Jennifer Arcuri, who just happens to have been the recipient of a big bag of cash from the public purse.

This week the IOPC have declared that they will be delaying the decision on whether to ‘investigate’ Johnson until after the election because of the convention of Purdah the ancient rules  preventing some public bodies from making announcement during the period of a general election – this is patently nonsense, first the IOPC is not a public body covered by the rules of the civil service (the clue is in the name), and second, in any event, public interest overrides the rules of Purdah.

It is not as though the IOPC is being asked to declare a final judgement on the Arcuri matter, it is simply delaying the formal announcement as to whether they believe that there is a matter for them to investigate – and this is quite clearly a delay brought about by political expediency because the last thing Johnson wants is to be dogged by questions about his propriety during the course of this election. It is classic Trump and it is making me angry.

Because there are some huge questions for Johnson to answer.

Yesterday, I happened to read again the transcript of  Boris Johnson’s conversation with Darius Guppy during which Guppy was asking Johnson to provide him with the address of a journalist Stuart Collier, so that he could have a few heavies go and beat him. During the exchange it is absolutely clear that Johnson knew that it was within the contemplation of Guppy that violence would be used against Collier – as a criminal barrister, this is, every day of the week, a nailed on conspiracy to commit GBH.

Why is this man our Prime Minister?

Why was he never tried and convicted for this?

Everyone who is voting in this general election should be aware that this man is capable of these type of acts.

With a month to go this general election is fast becoming an exercise in ensuring that the people don’t ever see the real Boris Johnson and the real Tory Party – it’s not good enough.