Again, someone I met and liked at a meeting at AFC Bournemouth back when Roger Knapman was leader, in fact Wise drove him down if I remember rightly. Malcolm Wood introduced us after the Q&A and we got along very well. Someone I thoroughly enjoyed sitting down and having a drink with.
If only the corruptible and the corrupted could wear some kind of badge. It would make life so much easier.
Thank you for giving us a better understanding of what went on.
I wonder what penalty might have been suffered by those arrested for betraying us to the Chinese but released when Starmer & Co could not bring themselves to confirm that China was indeed an enemy in terms of the legislation. I wonder what penalty ought to be imposed on those many others, including then current or recent MPs who ran around for the CCP in the last two or three decades.
If accepting money (or money's worth?) and deceiving the public are to be treated so severely (and I do not say it shouldn't) what punishment for those parliamentarians who routinely accept gifts or funds and speak for the donors without contemporaneous disclosure. The whole lobbying industry should be trimmed to a tenth of its size regularly.
To be betrayed like that is painful and questioning, but we all have to be held responsible for our choices. NG has let so very many people down, but ultimately himself. Thank you for sharing Gawain, especially the China bit, as it still raises the recent events and questions in Parliament that have been shamefully swept away.
What’s missing here is the obvious point: Gill’s sentence was political. Ten-plus years is far beyond anything normally handed down for bribery, even in cases involving far larger sums (and far more than several grooming gang participants. This was the judiciary flexing its muscles on foreign influence and, by extension, signalling to the entire Reform/UKIP ecosystem that the state will come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who strays into that territory. Ironically, the sheer severity of the punishment edges towards the kind of demonstrative sentencing you’d expect in Moscow rather than London. Towler’s piece, meanwhile, reads more like an attempt to wash his hands than a clear-eyed look at why the court went so far beyond the usual tariff.
The situation with Gill is very unfortunate, and the biased MSM have seized on it as if he was a current representative of Reform Wales, leaving out the fact that it was over 4 years ago and for less than 3 months. It's also served as a convenient deflection of the present worrying situation that is going on with the Left and China. This is what the gullible MSM should be focusing on.
At first, I thought it was a typical fake media headline hell bent on trying to bring down Reform UK’s momentum, but was absolutely staggered and shocked when I read the court’s and the judge’s transcript.
Thank you for this post, Gawain. Sadly, as with the Cambridge Five who spied for Russia then, the expectation that they are good, decent and trustworthy people allow these types to hide in plain sight.
I think what I find the most awful over Gill is that this wasn't (like Kim Philby) someone who had a staunch political slanting towards the group he chose to do this for, but rather it was down to complete greed, and who then used his amiable persona to rope others in, too.
The concerning aspect of this is that this will undoubtedly be going on now. Whether it's via brown envelopes, the promise of a Directorship or anything else, we can guarantee that Gill is not the first and certainly won't be the last - as the approaches to you somewhat prove.
Thank you Gawain for this very honest and good article. It is necessary for us the public to hear the truth about what goes on in public life that could affect us all. You are what’s needed to get this country back to being the honest and best place to live. At the moment we are all in great despair at what it has become . So upwards and onwards we must go to achieve the greatness we once had . Merry Christmas to you and yours from a very hopeful, once disillusioned oldie X
Can someone explain why Gill is sentenced to 10 years in prison for parrotting his paymaster's words in the European parliament, but Lord Dannat and countless MPs don't end up in prison for parroting their own paymasters words in Parliament, whether these be activist organisations, betting companies, defence firms?
What Nathan did was wrong. However, I fear it is being used to suppress any dissent within Reform to the globalist and main stream media narrative about Ukraine. It will be fascinating to see how many EU and British politicians are being well paid for supporting the corrupt Zelenski regime in a war in which Britain has no strategic interest.
The media headlines are all about linking Gill, Russia and Reform. They are primarily being used to smear Reform because Reform is an electoral threat. It is a version of the Russia Collusion Hoax deployed against Donald Trump, a fiction invented by the Hilary Clinton campaign team and then knowingly advanced, with full knowledge of its lack of truth, by the mainstream media and by every Trump opponent of the last decade. The objective is to promote the idea that parties of the right are in league with our enemies......
How exactly did accepting payments from "figures linked to" a Ukrainian politician, and appearing on Ukrainian TV, make Nathan Gill an employee of Vladimir Putin? How does a court in Wales claim jurisdiction over acts allegedly committed in Brussels and Strasbourg? And why are you so quick to throw your friend under the bus like this?
"From December 2018 to July 2019, he accepted cash, thousands of euros, from figures linked to Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch and close ally of Vladimir Putin. In exchange, Nathan delivered speeches in the European Parliament criticising Ukraine’s democracy, defending Medvedchuk against treason charges, and even hosting events to promote pro-Russian “peace plans” for Donbass. He toured Ukrainian TV studios owned by Medvedchuk’s associates, and questioned Ukrainian rights to self protection."
Medvedchuk is Ukrainian, not Russian. Why are we supporting Ukraine when it jails opposition politicians and seizes media that criticises the government?
Well said. Though I maintain that the most offensive part of all this was how cheaply he was bought 🤣
Better than Tom Wise’s 2nd hand brown Peugeot estate.
Again, someone I met and liked at a meeting at AFC Bournemouth back when Roger Knapman was leader, in fact Wise drove him down if I remember rightly. Malcolm Wood introduced us after the Q&A and we got along very well. Someone I thoroughly enjoyed sitting down and having a drink with.
If only the corruptible and the corrupted could wear some kind of badge. It would make life so much easier.
or china’s MP Barry who just wanted to not pay his interns… eh.
Thank you for giving us a better understanding of what went on.
I wonder what penalty might have been suffered by those arrested for betraying us to the Chinese but released when Starmer & Co could not bring themselves to confirm that China was indeed an enemy in terms of the legislation. I wonder what penalty ought to be imposed on those many others, including then current or recent MPs who ran around for the CCP in the last two or three decades.
If accepting money (or money's worth?) and deceiving the public are to be treated so severely (and I do not say it shouldn't) what punishment for those parliamentarians who routinely accept gifts or funds and speak for the donors without contemporaneous disclosure. The whole lobbying industry should be trimmed to a tenth of its size regularly.
To be betrayed like that is painful and questioning, but we all have to be held responsible for our choices. NG has let so very many people down, but ultimately himself. Thank you for sharing Gawain, especially the China bit, as it still raises the recent events and questions in Parliament that have been shamefully swept away.
What’s missing here is the obvious point: Gill’s sentence was political. Ten-plus years is far beyond anything normally handed down for bribery, even in cases involving far larger sums (and far more than several grooming gang participants. This was the judiciary flexing its muscles on foreign influence and, by extension, signalling to the entire Reform/UKIP ecosystem that the state will come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who strays into that territory. Ironically, the sheer severity of the punishment edges towards the kind of demonstrative sentencing you’d expect in Moscow rather than London. Towler’s piece, meanwhile, reads more like an attempt to wash his hands than a clear-eyed look at why the court went so far beyond the usual tariff.
Yes and no, it was an exemplary sentence. Though with office comes responsibilities. But yes, pour encourager les autres.
The situation with Gill is very unfortunate, and the biased MSM have seized on it as if he was a current representative of Reform Wales, leaving out the fact that it was over 4 years ago and for less than 3 months. It's also served as a convenient deflection of the present worrying situation that is going on with the Left and China. This is what the gullible MSM should be focusing on.
At first, I thought it was a typical fake media headline hell bent on trying to bring down Reform UK’s momentum, but was absolutely staggered and shocked when I read the court’s and the judge’s transcript.
Thank you for this post, Gawain. Sadly, as with the Cambridge Five who spied for Russia then, the expectation that they are good, decent and trustworthy people allow these types to hide in plain sight.
I think what I find the most awful over Gill is that this wasn't (like Kim Philby) someone who had a staunch political slanting towards the group he chose to do this for, but rather it was down to complete greed, and who then used his amiable persona to rope others in, too.
The concerning aspect of this is that this will undoubtedly be going on now. Whether it's via brown envelopes, the promise of a Directorship or anything else, we can guarantee that Gill is not the first and certainly won't be the last - as the approaches to you somewhat prove.
Thank you Gawain for this very honest and good article. It is necessary for us the public to hear the truth about what goes on in public life that could affect us all. You are what’s needed to get this country back to being the honest and best place to live. At the moment we are all in great despair at what it has become . So upwards and onwards we must go to achieve the greatness we once had . Merry Christmas to you and yours from a very hopeful, once disillusioned oldie X
What a helpful article to help me understand the facts and what a refreshingly honest personal reaction.
Can someone explain why Gill is sentenced to 10 years in prison for parrotting his paymaster's words in the European parliament, but Lord Dannat and countless MPs don't end up in prison for parroting their own paymasters words in Parliament, whether these be activist organisations, betting companies, defence firms?
What Nathan did was wrong. However, I fear it is being used to suppress any dissent within Reform to the globalist and main stream media narrative about Ukraine. It will be fascinating to see how many EU and British politicians are being well paid for supporting the corrupt Zelenski regime in a war in which Britain has no strategic interest.
An insightful and well written article as always …
The media headlines are all about linking Gill, Russia and Reform. They are primarily being used to smear Reform because Reform is an electoral threat. It is a version of the Russia Collusion Hoax deployed against Donald Trump, a fiction invented by the Hilary Clinton campaign team and then knowingly advanced, with full knowledge of its lack of truth, by the mainstream media and by every Trump opponent of the last decade. The objective is to promote the idea that parties of the right are in league with our enemies......
How exactly did accepting payments from "figures linked to" a Ukrainian politician, and appearing on Ukrainian TV, make Nathan Gill an employee of Vladimir Putin? How does a court in Wales claim jurisdiction over acts allegedly committed in Brussels and Strasbourg? And why are you so quick to throw your friend under the bus like this?
Nathan took money from a foreign actor and tried to hide the fact by getting his supposed friends to do his dirty work while pocketing the cash.
You seem confused about the facts of this case
From the article:
"From December 2018 to July 2019, he accepted cash, thousands of euros, from figures linked to Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch and close ally of Vladimir Putin. In exchange, Nathan delivered speeches in the European Parliament criticising Ukraine’s democracy, defending Medvedchuk against treason charges, and even hosting events to promote pro-Russian “peace plans” for Donbass. He toured Ukrainian TV studios owned by Medvedchuk’s associates, and questioned Ukrainian rights to self protection."
Medvedchuk is Ukrainian, not Russian. Why are we supporting Ukraine when it jails opposition politicians and seizes media that criticises the government?
he got more that most of the grooming gangs did…….
As a long standing supporter of both Reform and Ukraine's defiance of Russian imperialism, this is a profound article, thanks you for writing it.