Reply to: Why do they do it?

[minestrone]

The tories are absolutely fooked in this general election but not because they have run a particularly bad campaign ( which they have ) but because the general electorate is mind numbingly thick.

[NickFitz]

The Torys are just disgustingly lazy. It would not be hard to find large numbers of small businessmen ready to endorse their party

Exactly. It's utterly bizarre that they manage to cock something like this up to such an enormous degree

Not saying I'm sorry that they did, mind

But still. They could at least try

[DodgyAgent]

It keeps on giving: Charity Commission writes to four charities that signed pro-Tory letter in The Daily Telegraph | Third Sector

The Charity Commission is writing to four charities that appeared among more than 5,000 signatories of a letter to The Daily Telegraph newspaper in support of the Conservative Party, asking that they "remedy the situation swiftly".
…
A spokesman for the commission said: "Signing a letter in support of a political party is not a legitimate activity for a charity. We will be writing to all four charities to establish the facts and expect them to remedy the situation swiftly if they have not done so already. The commission will decide what further action, if any, is necessary once the charities have responded."

The spokesman said the commission had already been made aware that Diverse Cymru and Marsha Phoenix had publicly asked for their names to be removed from the list, and said that this was "the right course of action".

Rebecca Long, director of Marsha Phoenix, said: "The named signatory is an employee of the trust who has confirmed she has not been approached to be signatory to such a letter as a small business owner. We believe our and her inclusion on this list is some sort of error."

The Torys are just disgustingly lazy. It would not be hard to find large numbers of small businessmen ready to endorse their party

[NickFitz]

It keeps on giving: Charity Commission writes to four charities that signed pro-Tory letter in The Daily Telegraph | Third Sector

The Charity Commission is writing to four charities that appeared among more than 5,000 signatories of a letter to The Daily Telegraph newspaper in support of the Conservative Party, asking that they "remedy the situation swiftly".
…
A spokesman for the commission said: "Signing a letter in support of a political party is not a legitimate activity for a charity. We will be writing to all four charities to establish the facts and expect them to remedy the situation swiftly if they have not done so already. The commission will decide what further action, if any, is necessary once the charities have responded."

The spokesman said the commission had already been made aware that Diverse Cymru and Marsha Phoenix had publicly asked for their names to be removed from the list, and said that this was "the right course of action".

Rebecca Long, director of Marsha Phoenix, said: "The named signatory is an employee of the trust who has confirmed she has not been approached to be signatory to such a letter as a small business owner. We believe our and her inclusion on this list is some sort of error."

[darmstadt]

It gets worse. It now looks like people/businesses were added to the list of "signatories" via a phishing email scam: Small Business letter to the Telegraph; an attempt to defraud the electorate?

Aurum Solutions found itself at the centre of a swirling tea cup this morning; our Sales Director, Steve O’Hehir, was listed as a signatory to a letter supporting Conservative Party policies, published on the front page of the Daily Telegraph. Steve remembers the email apparently from Karren Brady (last week), and recalls clicking on the link to find out more: however he did not, and would not, have supplied his details referencing Aurum Solutions in any political support.

As a company Aurum Solutions has always had a policy of remaining politically unaligned - its been that way throughout our 11 year history. Whatever the views of the people working within the company have, and we are a close-knit team, we all agree that the company doesn’t have a political agenda. We’re far too busy for one of those anyway.

As Managing Director of Aurum Solutions, I contacted the Daily Telegraph and asked for Steve’s name to be removed from the list of signatories. The tweet we wrote as one part of that contact process has received a lot of attention, and has been referenced in other national media titles.

Our position is simple: as a corporate entity, we are politically neutral, whatever we believe or support as individuals is completely separate. As of this afternoon, our request to be removed from the list was met. So, with that, we’re going back to our software and the data.

The full list: http://static.guim.co.uk/ni/14301323...ees-to-Tel.pdf ...Play spot the fakes or the 'picked a name out of the phone book'

[vetran]

Brand is as far from anarchist as you can get.

oops sarcasm tags

[SpontaneousOrder]

he probably wanted to meet a great anarchist mind while he had a chance, before the electorate throw him out.

Brand is as far from anarchist as you can get.

[vetran]

Indeed, but then why did Ed Milliband do this?!

2015-04-27 Miliband visits Russell Brand 'for interview'

he probably wanted to meet a great anarchist mind while he had a chance, before the electorate throw him out.

[OwlHoot]

Why then do they feel the need to do this?

Andrew Neil demolishes “political stunt” Tory letter | LabourList ...

Indeed, but then why did Ed Milliband do this?!

2015-04-27 Miliband visits Russell Brand 'for interview'

[ZARDOZ]

1,000 love rats back Tories in letter to Take A Break

[WordIsBond]

So, how does that work then ?

If you hire someone, the first £2000 employer's NI every year you don't have to pay it.

If you don't, then it may or may not be helpful to you depending on other factors. It could make it better to pay yourself more salary, up to the income tax threshold, for instance.

Ah, that's the second one, you can pay yourself £10.6K income tax free now. So they did two worthwhile things, even if they made up for it by not increasing the higher rate threshold. Bless their little hearts.

[TestMangler]

Employment Allowance £2000 / year.

Please don't ask for a second one, though, it's beyond my capability.

At last, thanks

So, how does that work then ?

At least there's one small business friendly policy from 'the party of small business'.

Edit - OK, up to £2K of Employer NI. That's something I suppose.

[WordIsBond]

Serious question as everyone seems to trot that out all the time.

Can anyone name ONE thing (at the risk of this turning into a 'What did the Romans ever do for us discussion), one PRACTICAL thing that the Tories have done in this parliament to improve the climate for micro/small business ??

Employment Allowance £2000 / year.

Please don't ask for a second one, though, it's beyond my capability.

[NickFitz]

It gets worse. It now looks like people/businesses were added to the list of "signatories" via a phishing email scam: Small Business letter to the Telegraph; an attempt to defraud the electorate?

Aurum Solutions found itself at the centre of a swirling tea cup this morning; our Sales Director, Steve O’Hehir, was listed as a signatory to a letter supporting Conservative Party policies, published on the front page of the Daily Telegraph. Steve remembers the email apparently from Karren Brady (last week), and recalls clicking on the link to find out more: however he did not, and would not, have supplied his details referencing Aurum Solutions in any political support.

As a company Aurum Solutions has always had a policy of remaining politically unaligned - its been that way throughout our 11 year history. Whatever the views of the people working within the company have, and we are a close-knit team, we all agree that the company doesn’t have a political agenda. We’re far too busy for one of those anyway.

As Managing Director of Aurum Solutions, I contacted the Daily Telegraph and asked for Steve’s name to be removed from the list of signatories. The tweet we wrote as one part of that contact process has received a lot of attention, and has been referenced in other national media titles.

Our position is simple: as a corporate entity, we are politically neutral, whatever we believe or support as individuals is completely separate. As of this afternoon, our request to be removed from the list was met. So, with that, we’re going back to our software and the data.

[d000hg]

No way Boris can be party leader. A couple of decades ago, probably, but these days you have to be polished and PR trained and he is neither. When someone tries to interrupt him, he lets them - to the extent you never get to hear him answer a question or finish a point.