Ashford: Should he stay or should he go?

[NoTail]

What cake?

[yindyssagh]

45 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

Can we blame his wife?

Did he know there was a party? 

Given the crap his gf spouts online as his ultra-right-wing spokesperson, I'd say he should be worried about more than a party.

[VikingRaider]

I'm not in any way a supporter of Ashford but its a common complaint that Govt uses loaded questions to achieve their desired result. Unfortunately you have fallen into that trap as some people (however deluded) may want to vote for him not to go at question 1. Also describing him in Q1 as a fantasist (however true or not) is not a balanced view either.

[The Phantom]

2 minutes ago, yindyssagh said:

Given the crap his gf spouts online as his ultra-right-wing spokesperson, I'd say he should be worried about more than a party.

I'd suspect he gets invited to very few parties...

[Declan]

2 hours ago, Newsdesk said:

Really? I hope not. My intention is to find how other people think as my MHK said that quite a few people had got in touch to make their views known in advance of Tynwald tomorrow. 

Pretty shit poll construction. I think the answer to the first question is "YES" to both options - he should resign and if he won't he should resign. Also the absence of a He Should Carry on Regardless  option means you can claim 100% think he should be sacked or resign -when it's probably closer to 98%. 

Question 3 is irrelevant - these circumstances don't meet the criteria for withdrawal of an honour.  

Edited May 16, 2022 by Declan

[Roger Mexico]

1 hour ago, cissolt said:

Ashford may be the fall guy, but Will Greenhow and the reverred Sir Jonathan failed to even provide a witness statement, even though both featured heavily.

Greenhow gave a witness statement but didn't appear in person and so couldn't be cross-examined. Sir Jonathan Michael didn't even supply a statement,despite being the recipient of one of the protected disclosures[1].  The Tribunal drew their own conclusions from this absence that Ranson must have been telling the truth.

In fact the Cabinet Office was notable by its absence with even the participants in the 'Grantham Meetings' not giving any sort of evidence.

 

[1]  He told Ranson not to bother complaining about anything as it wouldn't make any difference.  Which shows just what an effect his 'reforms' were having and how much he cares about implementing them.  He was (and may still be) on a consultancy fee of £90,000 a year (plus VAT) from the Cabinet Office for ... whatever.

[Declan]

56 minutes ago, Youaintseenme said:

I never understood why he had so many fans during the whole COVId farce.  It was like people went lockdown crazy and just because he was on our radio it didn’t matter what tripe he spouted people just fell in love with him.

 

He seemed ok to start with when standing too late. That's partly  because the Government took action in closing the borders, which most people supported. Of course at that time there was no discussion about whether the action was too late and the public expected him to have made sure he was properly informed. 

 

[craggy_steve]

Ashford needs to go. So does Cannan. Cannan appointed Ashford to Treasury Minister despite having shared a full term with him in the Quayle CoMin, there is no way Cannan can claim to have been innocent or misled, he's essentially given Ashford the No. 2 spot in Manx politics; why, for what? When Cannan became CM succeeding Quayle there was a _possibility_ for improvement.  Cannan dashed all hope of that very quickly, so he too is unfit for office in my eyes. CoMin and COG both need a rigorous clear-out.

[Boris Johnson]

For his own dignity he should resign, do a year on the back bench and get promoted if there is a place.

He would go up in many peoples estimation if he did and its not like he would take a big pay cut now if he did so he should do it - No Excuses.

This is something Spewing Juan should have done back in the day but that would have involved a pay cut............

The only trouble I have with this is that DA is a puppet of the CS, JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER MHKS.

THE CS INVOLVED AND THEIR ULTIMATE MASTERS in Cabinet Office SHOULD BE SACKED OR BE MADE TO RESIGN AS THEY ARE THE PERSONS WHO MAKE THE DECISIONS.

You can feel a bit sorry for these MHKs as they are claimed "independents" in the main, so have no party behind them to stand up for them against the full weight of the island PS/CS who are only out to feather their own nest and from experience will do anything to keep mistakes covered and daily workload a low as possible.

🙂 trying to keep my face straight while I typed the last line above but it is very close to the truth.

[Newsdesk]

21 minutes ago, Declan said:

Question 3 is irrelevant - these circumstances don't meet the criteria for withdrawal of an honour.  

I’d disagree with that. He was awarded an MBE specifically for his covid work. Chris Thomas read out what they said at the time on the radio about his ability to understand complex medical data which we all know is total nonsense. He’s all but admitted he had nothing to do with the day to day issues in the department so I’m sure its legitimacy could be questioned at the very least. As for the poll you’re free to do your own rather than moaning.

[Newsdesk]

1 hour ago, VikingRaider said:

Also describing him in Q1 as a fantasist (however true or not) is not a balanced view either.

Chris Thomas referred to him as a Walter Mitty character so fantasist is perfectly valid. 

[Declan]

8 minutes ago, Newsdesk said:

I’d disagree with that. He was awarded an MBE specifically for his covid work. Chris Thomas read out what they said at the time on the radio about his ability to understand complex medical data which we all know is total nonsense. He’s all but admitted he had nothing to do with the day to day issues in the department so I’m sure its legitimacy could be questioned at the very least. As for the poll you’re free to do your own rather than moaning.

It's irrelevant because it won't happen - there's no mechanism to remove an honour because we later believe it is unmerited - there needs to be something like a criminal conviction, or a ruling against him from a professional body (and the tribunal ruled against the Department not him). It's a distraction from the more serious matter. 

It's amazing how many on the left and how many anti-elite righties get hung up about honours. If they're irrelevant undeserved awards to start with why make such fuss. 

[quilp]

From what I've been reading there are many Ashford stalwarts who don't feel as most posters do, on here. It appears he still has a loyal fan-base giving him encouragement and support. Which leads me to believe that he ain't going anywhere in the immediate future.

Would be interesting to know Quayle's opinion on all this. 

[hissingsid]

I think David should stay, he has worked incredibly hard since he was elected and hindsight is a wonderful thing.  

[Wavey Davey]

14 minutes ago, hissingsid said:

I think David should stay, he has worked incredibly hard since he was elected and hindsight is a wonderful thing.  

On what basis do you think he should stay? To oversee even more bullying and even bigger compensation payments to people who work in his department for their abusive treatment by people he is responsible for? He hasn’t got a chance really. Fantasist is without doubt the best word to use in respect of such a delusional character who is on,y capable of seeing the world through his own over-egged reality goggles.