Dr Julian Lewis.

[gulliver1]

Stripped of the Whip and Kicked out of the Con Party, for beating Chris Grayling to become Chair of the of
"The Intelligence and Security Committee" .

[jim360]

I'd also like to point out to TTT that:

1. Lewis was among the first to vote for a referendum on EU Membership, even when the Tory Party was against this.

2. Lewis was one of the rebels who voted to demand a cut in the EU Budget, even when the Tory Party was against this.

3. Lewis again collaborated with the opposition in keeping the Government out of the War in Syria.

4. Lewis was and remains a Brexit supporter, and also was among those to reject Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement.

I'm just saying that this is the sort of person who was your natural ally for most of the last 30 years. But he didn't vote for Chris Grayling and immediately becomes a traitor?!

[ichkeria]

He’s far better qualified to lead the ISC than Chris Grayling. Not that that is saying much.

[ichkeria]

I believe Johnson tried to
whip his MPs (in the parliamentary sense) which is against the rules.
And failed.
So he tried to foist an unsuitable candidate ok the committee and made a mess of it.
Doesn’t augur well for his hopes of succeeding in Brexit talks.

[woofgang]

"For Woofgang @ 12.06

He studied as a postgraduate at St Antony's College, Oxford, being awarded the DPhil in Strategic Studies in 1981. "

Jackdaw I am not sure how this is relevant. You said he shouldn't use Dr in the circs unless he is a medical doctor....I pointed out that he is....he is a local GP to me. I used to take community rehab referrals from his surgery.

[woofgang]

That's fascinating. He definitely was a GP local to where I worked. I used to get referrals from him and met him several times....and yet his medical qualification history has vanished.

[bednobs]

f they both wanted grayling in the job and he isnt in the job, how does that prove Absolute Rule?

[Mamyalynne]

Most odd Woof, he appears to be being referred to as a GP here.

https://www.gponline.com/general-election-2019-five-gps-elected-three-lose-seats/article/1668711

[gulliver1]

12.21 J/D, Dr Julian Lewis has been kicked out of the Con Party.

[woofgang]

yes, I KNOW he was I mean I used to treat his patients. He's not kept up his GMC registration and its now 13 years since I retired so he may well not be one now but no mention anywhere of where he got his medical degree or anything.....
Mind you I did have cause recently to report a different person in the public eye for misuse of a professional title and if I hadn't taken screenshots of the pages where the misuse occurred I would have thought I was going nuts because shortly after I contacted the relevant professional body, the links, which I had also saved, took me to very cleverly edited pages!

[Gromit]

Didn’t the Committee have a built in Conservative majority?
How did Grayling managed to lose?

[gulliver1]

18.42 Gromit , The vote was already rigged for Grayling to win . but he lost.

[Gromit]

Gulliver,
I am not home so cannot check. When I read of the win the other day, I thought it said the Committee had 4 Tories and 2 Labour.

[jim360]

// ... he shouldn't use Dr in the circs unless he is a medical doctor ... //

The mystery over Dr Lewis's medical past aside, the claim isn't even true. Dr to indicate GP and Dr to indicate PhD are equally valid in most etiquette guides. The exception, perhaps, is honorary doctorates, and in advertising where it may clearly be used to mislead, but elsewhere it's down to the individual's choice whether they choose to be "Dr John Smith" or "John Smith, PhD".

[woofgang]

indeed jim but when someone wipes out a whole part of their life like that I have to wonder why......

[jim360]

I don't understand that either. Then again, I'd be surprised that he had time to fit a medical career in between his studies of defence policy.

Hope you don't mind my asking, but is it possible that you've confused two different people?

[Gromit]

OK. Research done.
The Committee has 9 members, and the Tories have 5 members, so a majority. Labour have 2 members, SNP, and a Former Sea Lord (presumably Independent).

In an effort to engineer a Conservative majority on the committee, the government removed Robin Janvrin, a crossbench peer, from the committee, to enable Graylings coronation.

Grayling has a long list of embarrassing failures on his CV (remember him awarding an £80million ferry contract to a company who had never run a ferry service).

The Committee were so horrified at the prospect of Grayling getting the Chair, that they told Lewis he would win if he stood. Lewis took the bait and Grayling was dumped.

Basically the Government were amateurish and out manoeuvred, Boris has a huge majority, but has acted very peevishly at not getting his way.

Lewis is essentially a Tory euro sceptic and he and Boris should be natural bedfellows. But Grayling is more toadying and Boris wanted to reward him.

Lewis won the contest and is now leader of this very influential committee. He does like to rebel, so maybe he will flourish in his forced independent status.

[woofgang]

jim I don't mind at all but I have met the bloke on several occasions and used to receive referrals from him.

[Gromit]

// One senior Conservative MP said No 10 had “stacked” the committee to ensure that Mr Grayling was elected. “Shooting fish in a barrel is supposed to be easy. It seems one of these fish shot back,” he said. //

[Gromit]

Boris and Lewis sing from the same hymn sheet. I suspect the party whip will be restored very quickly, when Boris has dried his tears.

[theshedman]

Gulliver if anyone on here has been "radicalised" seems to be your word of the month, it's you to hate anything to do with Boris or Brexit your 2 favorite subjects. You may have a point with Cummings as he comes across as a unpleasant individual who shouldn't be anywhere near the heart of our government.