The Official Stephen Flynn & Mhairi Black Thread

[houston_bud]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

What a strange story. How can a guy work for an MP a for years and then fail vetting? Is vetting some kind of background check or is it a test on how capable you are?

Mairi Black threatening to quit the entire party over it seems extreme. She’s surely got a big future in it, even though she’s stepping down from Westminster. What if the party had said “oh see us”. That’s her political career basically finished.

For a party that put forward Margaret Ferrier 3 times for election, it must be pretty hard to fail vetting. In saying that, maybe because of idiots like Ferrier they're tightening up vetting.

He's also already a councillor, so must've got through vetting for that. It gives the opposition parties an easy attack like as well; the party thinks this guy isn't suitable but happy to have him represent you.

I don't know the guy but his ward is where my folks stay. I had a look at his twitter page when he first stood and it wasn't pretty reading, secret oil fields in the clyde and other stuff like that.

[StellarHibee]

2 hours ago, virginton said:

Aye because which of us hasn't been privy to hundreds of thousands of pounds of people's money, which disappears from the books. And which of us haven't also put a vehicle on company books before handing it over to the mother in law's for safe keeping, honest.

They'll be arresting and investigating people for breathing next.

If money mismanagement from political parties is a crime, then it clearly only applies to political parties in Scotland. I can already tell you what's going to happen here. The investigation is going to drag on until the next election has been concluded. Then it will be abruptly dropped. Job done.

[ScotiaNostra]

4 hours ago, houston_bud said:

For a party that put forward Margaret Ferrier 3 times for election, it must be pretty hard to fail vetting. In saying that, maybe because of idiots like Ferrier they're tightening up vetting.

He's also already a councillor, so must've got through vetting for that. It gives the opposition parties an easy attack like as well; the party thinks this guy isn't suitable but happy to have him represent you.

I don't know the guy but his ward is where my folks stay. I had a look at his twitter page when he first stood and it wasn't pretty reading, secret oil fields in the clyde and other stuff like that.

What are the secret oil fields in the clyde, is that some conspiracy stuff?

[MacDuffman]

They wouldn't be a secret if they told you

[ScotiaNostra]

2 hours ago, StellarHibee said:

If money mismanagement from political parties is a crime, then it clearly only applies to political parties in Scotland. I can already tell you what's going to happen here. The investigation is going to drag on until the next election has been concluded. Then it will be abruptly dropped. Job done.

your right that it seems to only apply to the SNP as the moment and not the tories, though hopefully that will change.

It does show a complete lack of awareness by the SNP , its pretty simple to keep the books. Knowing any slip up will be pulled up shows them up even more for doing it. A 2 bit show really

[TONTROOPER]

52 minutes ago, ScotiaNostra said:

What are the secret oil fields in the clyde, is that some conspiracy stuff?

Exploration permission was declined by UK Gov several years ago.

Reason given was the need to keep the Clyde free of any maritime obstructions which could/would impede safe passage of HM ships/subs from RN Base Clyde (Faslane).

[Bob in Denny]

8 minutes ago, TONTROOPER said:

Exploration permission was declined by UK Gov several years ago.

Reason given was the need to keep the Clyde free of any maritime obstructions which could/would impede safe passage of HM ships/subs from RN Base Clyde (Faslane).

Keep it clear for Russian sub visits as well

 

[TONTROOPER]

2 minutes ago, Bob in Denny said:

Keep it clear for Russian sub visits as well

 

Goodness me... that takes me back. Remember lots of rumours at the time but needless to say the M.O.D. intervened..." Move along now...nothing to see here."

[StellarHibee]

7 hours ago, ScotiaNostra said:

your right that it seems to only apply to the SNP as the moment and not the tories, though hopefully that will change.

It does show a complete lack of awareness by the SNP , its pretty simple to keep the books. Knowing any slip up will be pulled up shows them up even more for doing it. A 2 bit show really

It's not the SNP or political parties themselves who keep the books. It's the responsibility of the auditors. There's a reason why they were abruptly sacked following the discrepancy in the accounts.

[vikingTON]

2 hours ago, StellarHibee said:

It's not the SNP or political parties themselves who keep the books. It's the responsibility of the auditors. There's a reason why they were abruptly sacked following the discrepancy in the accounts.

Lol wut

Erm no, it is the responsibility of the SNP's officeholders such as treasurer and chief executive to make sure that nobody is cooking the books. 

Auditors may well be complicit in fraud over the long-term by failing to flag issues, but it is really not their actions that cause criminal activity.

And the auditors weren't sacked by the SNP at all. They refused to sign off the party accounts (because that is a legal liability to them) and resigned from their post instead. The SNP then had to grub around to find some total diddy outfit to verify their accounts before the deadline for Westminster funding was surpassed, because no larger auditor firm would touch them with a bargepole.

I was a member of the SNP until 2021. It brings me zero pleasure to state those fundamental and demonstrably correct facts.

Back to the Play-dough corner for you if you can't grasp what happened in what is the most straightforward element of this scandal.

 

Edited October 7, 2023 by vikingTON

[invergowrie arab]

14 hours ago, houston_bud said:

For a party that put forward Margaret Ferrier 3 times for election, it must be pretty hard to fail vetting. In saying that, maybe because of idiots like Ferrier they're tightening up vetting.

 

It's so hard to fail vetting you can get through if you aren't a British national entitled to stand or vote in a general election.

[StellarHibee]

10 hours ago, virginton said:

Lol wut

Erm no, it is the responsibility of the SNP's officeholders such as treasurer and chief executive to make sure that nobody is cooking the books. 

Auditors may well be complicit in fraud over the long-term by failing to flag issues, but it is really not their actions that cause criminal activity.

And the auditors weren't sacked by the SNP at all. They refused to sign off the party accounts (because that is a legal liability to them) and resigned from their post instead. The SNP then had to grub around to find some total diddy outfit to verify their accounts before the deadline for Westminster funding was surpassed, because no larger auditor firm would touch them with a bargepole.

I was a member of the SNP until 2021. It brings me zero pleasure to state those fundamental and demonstrably correct facts.

Back to the Play-dough corner for you if you can't grasp what happened in what is the most straightforward element of this scandal.

 

You either don't know how it works, or you're being wilfully ignorant in an attempt to justify a position that you know is incorrect.

[alta-pete]

11 minutes ago, StellarHibee said:

You either don't know how it works, or you're being wilfully ignorant in an attempt to justify a position that you know is incorrect.

So it was the auditors all along? 
 

[Trogdor]

12 hours ago, StellarHibee said:

It's not the SNP or political parties themselves who keep the books. It's the responsibility of the auditors. There's a reason why they were abruptly sacked following the discrepancy in the accounts.

The auditors give an opinion on the financial statements it's the company/organisation's management who are responsible for preparing them.

All auditors in the UK are governed by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). They are the body that fine auditors when things go wrong. Like Carillion. Heres a link to what auditors are actually responsible for: 

FRC

Johnston Carmichael weren't sacked either. They resigned as auditors and disengaged from the SNP being a client.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Trogdor

[welshbairn]

On 07/10/2023 at 09:41, houston_bud said:

For a party that put forward Margaret Ferrier 3 times for election, it must be pretty hard to fail vetting. 

Was there something else about her other than her Covid era brain melt which probably couldn't be predicted by vetting? 

Edited October 8, 2023 by welshbairn

[DeeTillEhDeh]

On 08/10/2023 at 12:09, StellarHibee said:

You either don't know how it works, or you're being wilfully ignorant in an attempt to justify a position that you know is incorrect.

Sorry but you are completely wrong. The auditors role is only to audit what they've been given - if items have been ledgered inaccurately that won't always be picked up on - especially if there is accompanying paperwork to validate spending that isn't quite legitimate.  

Fraudsters get accounts signed off quite easily because what they had documented isn’t the reality.

Edited October 9, 2023 by DeeTillEhDeh

[vikingTON]

9 hours ago, StellarHibee said:

You either don't know how it works, or you're being wilfully ignorant in an attempt to justify a position that you know is incorrect.

There's only one person who clearly doesn't know a thing about how the auditing process works in this thread, and it's not me. 

Stop digging a hole for yourself and while you're at it, also start consulting a wider range of sources of information too. You are just regurgitating some unhinged, conspiratorial left-nationalist take that never actually stands up to scrutiny. 

[houston_bud]

16 hours ago, welshbairn said:

Was there something else about her other than her Covid era brain melt which probably couldn't be predicted by vetting? 

I was being slightly facetious. Although one of her first (possibly the first) hustings she had in 2015 it was clear she was so far out her depth. She was asked about the SNP policy on Full Fiscal Autonomy and it appeared she didn't even know what those words or 'barnet formula' meant.

The Labour majority in that seat was huge, I guess not even the SNP thought they'd win it and put forward any old candidate.

Now, I've no idea why Robert Innes has failed vetting but I would imagine they are now being more picky than they were in 2015.

Edited October 9, 2023 by houston_bud

[Donathan]

There was a lot of talk around the time of the covid breach that it was an open secret amongst local activists that Ferrier was a bit of a wrong un. Nothing of actual substance reported although the 2015 GE was such a game changer that several of the SNP candidates were signed up as paper candidates and never genuinely expected to be elected. 

[RH33]

This is where I see a really juxtaposition, we want politicans who are seen as being in touch with normal people. However I want people who have the brains to understand the basics to run the country. Having the Eton set.in Westminster isn't ideal but when situations like the above hustings show, there is a need even a grasp if the basics.