Mogg is fascinating because he is so well trained in the aesthetic of the parliamentarian, and truly seems to hold himself in regard through that aesthetic, but his every action is so dishonest, corrupt and self-serving that it's hard not to see him as a sociopath.

As an Irish man living in the USA for almost 20 years, I love your commentary. I fear for the world right now. You voice is much wider than you may think.

If you've never changed your mind, do you really have one? Sadly here in Hampshire support for Tories is unwavering. They simply didn't go far enough cutting undeserved public services, and everything that's gone wrong is because of the EU or Labour undermining their valiant and honourable efforts. It's like some kind of twilight zone here among people that have never set foot in an NHS hospital. Or housewives that ship their offspring to boarding school and spend their days pampering themselves, yet look down with utter disgust at the lazy tradesmen continuously renovating their properties.

The party of Law and Order has fallen so far that I don't trust any of them

They all realised that in 2016 there was an open opportunity to make billions from the coffers of the Treasury. An open door to the biggest Bank Vault in the world.

"Let us presume they were once honourable" Priti Patel used to be a lobbyist for the Tobacco and Alcohol industries. Just an example.

How is it even conceivable that Rees-Mogg gets a knighthood? How?

They should resign immediately or be kicked out of office and be made to hand back any honour bestowed on them.

All of them named need to be removed from parliament and have any peerages privileges removed

Named and shamed should all be sacked and never to be MPs Again

Sir Philip Green, the common thief still adorned with honours. Says it all.

It is truly disgraceful and undermines our parliament, they where elected to the institution to represent the electorate, not to undermine the system they are privileged to be positioned to represent! Shocking.

Disgusting levels of corruption

It is quite frankly staggering what's been done to this country by these rule breaking charlatans.

They are supposed to answer to the electorate. But as Dorries admitted, they actually answer to the Billionaire Donors, which is why society in this country has broken down and a completely different approach is required.

How? Greed, Power, and having Narcissistic tendencies...They only care about themselves. NO ONE ELSE!!!

Socio-paths believe they have all the answers and should not be questioned.

The issue is James, that the people concerned didn't, and still don't accept they actually did anything wrong; and are still supported in their nefarious behaviour by many members of the Tory Government, and the Conservative and Unionist Party.🤬

They’re all shameless, corrupt fiends. If they weren’t MP’s they’d be in jail

They may have been named but the idea that they would feel any shame at all is not something that would cross their minds, totally shameless.

Simple really, self interest, by far the worst government in our history and that includes John Majors bunch

straight out of the D. Trump playbook.

James ,I wonder how deep this pit of despair this nation is in, there are people in prison for doing less than these cretins , my heart weeps for my nation,how have we come to this .😞

Whatever happened to the British sense of fairness?, I'm 77 years old and was brought up to show cosideration and respect for others whatever nation they come from or whatever age or colour they are. I'm so ashamed of the fall in standards of my country. It is so hard to find anything that is right in this country now, I could weep and I'm not ashamed to say I have at how our statndards plummeted to an all time low. Getting back on track after the Boris wrecking ball will not happen in my lifetime.

For me you ARE the main media. Stuff the others. I laud your commentary and accurate interpretation of the current situation in the UK. THANK YOU, James.

So really this is Britain's ' Trumpian ' period

Couldn't agree more with you James, it's a disgrace this has been allowed to carry on. Well done for calling this out my friend

Thank you for speaking out you really are saying how I feel about these clowns, thank you 🙏

"Hold your nerve." "Let them eat cake."

Named - yes. Shamed - I suspect not. Absolute bunch of cow boys. It makes me genuinely despair.

Much like with Donald Trump here in The US, everything Boris Johnson touches either Dies, or gets Corrupted.

Its only going to stop when some of these characters start being sent to prison.

This is utter BS. There have never really been consequences for politicians

Here's the problem: These 8 far right (and far from bright) MPs have always found it necessary to have a convenient scapegoat to blame both for failures in government + failures in their own lives and careers. And because the Privileges Committee found their hero and guru, mendacious con artist Johnson was guilty of deliberately lying in Parliament, these 8 MPs couldn't accept that they could have been wrong. Therefore they blame the Privileges Committee because it's easier than admitting - even to themselves - that they made an error of judgement by choosing to believe Johnson's proven lies.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

We live in a world where you need a dozen qualifications and certificates to use a floor scrubber as part of your employment but need absolutely no qualification whatsoever is needed to stand as an MP.

Absolutely on the button with these observations!

This should be a criminal charge and they should face court / prison. They should also be sacked, along with a loss of their golden pension and any other privileges.

I just worry about how much more damage this Govt can do to our country before the next election.

These are crimes and are very serious! They should be taken to court over their lying and misrepresentation (and not judged by someone whose pockets they might fill).

Now that they’ve been named as maligning the institution of Parliament, shouldn’t they be stripped of their Honours? Since the official reason for getting their Honours was “Services to Parliament”?

Surely the time for well-meaning and progressive human beings to be in charge has now come?

What they did should get them suspended from the house

Rees Mogg has always had contempt for democracy and parliament. When he was first selected for a conservative seat, it was for Central Fife in Scotland. (1997) - it was a labour stronghold but, at age 27, the safe conservative seat would not be handed to Jacob until he had done the rounds. He went to Fife - driving around the council estates of Leven, with His nanny. He had nothing but contempt for local conservative party workers - he would not even shake a few hands - and even more contempt for the local people, struggling on unemployment benefit - who he considered "The Scourge of the Earth" [Direct Quote]. He did little canvassing, because he was not interested. he only did the play-act so he could be handed a safe seat, later. he got 9% of the vote in Central Fife - which just goes to show that some people would vote for a soiled stick if it had a blue rosette stuck to it

Some would say suspend them from the commons; cancel their honours, but what else could be done? Clearly naming and shaming would have no effect as they have no concept of shame. This is Johnson's legacy - and it's behaviour learned from the orange baby across the pond.

The worst part of this is that the attempt to influence the committee was carried out while the committee was deliberating, before the report was completed or published.

You have to hand it to the Tories. Just when you thought they couldn't be be more repulsive than Thatcher , they come up with JRM, Patel and Braverman in quick succession. Impressive pursuit of the ultimate.

Mogg and his colleagues should be made available to answer questions about their disgusting behaviour and resign immediately

James, Love you and your work. Keep it strong! 🇵🇹

I think the people who voted for the Tories are ultimately to blame as well. Imagine electing a Tory government for the fourth time in a row despite all their failures and the abysmal state of the country at the time thanks to austerity. And now look at how bad things have gotten, everytime the Tories have been elected, the state of the country just keeps getting worse and this is just the beginning. Things will get even worse by the time a GE happens. If the Tories get back in, I think that will be me, I'll be looking to move out the country. Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me.

i swear when i came back to the UK after 15 years away I thought Fabricant was a harry enfield skit! you couldnt make these clowns up if you tried! somebody dust off Chris Morris, we need you more than ever mate!!

Brilliant analysis ….what a word smith you are Mr O’Brien

Fabric*nt doesn't have a knight hood, it's a straw wig!

The most staggering part of all is that none of those involved will ever really be punished, and even those that lose/do not receive peerages will still go on to high paid and quite likely influential jobs when their Parliamentary careers have drawn to a close.

Have you noticed how JRM is increasingly reminding the viewing public about his Catholicism? Last week on his show, he had a priest in to discuss St. Thomas Moore. Today, as he was hounded by Sky News, he said he was off to church. A deliberate attempt to project a holier than thou image. What a bad example of Christianity he is!

What boiled their brains? They've all been riding the gravy train. Boris put them on it, and they don't want it to end.

Imagine if after a meeting with your boss at work you started slandering them on twitter how long do you think you'd be in that job for 20 minutes at most. And you aren't running a country, they need to be severly punished they need to see that their actions have consequences. I know children understand this but these incredibly unimpressive human beings don't.

It can surely only have been a competition to see who could stoop the lowest? There must be an end of term prize.

Grifting corrupt MP: "The committee is a kangaroo court" BBC: "Tonight: is the privileges committee a kangaroo court? We look at both sides of the debate!".

"If they at some point once understood the importance of of parliamentary democracy" OR ........"If they at any point had any basic humanity". There is no doubt that most, if not all of them, had the privilege of being well-educated (or at least being in the school / college/university environment which delivers such), so understand they do. That would mean that they were SPECIFICALLY promoted beyond their capabilities BECAUSE they had the same hallmark irrationality, cruelty and thirst for power as their narcissistic boss to roll out the dubious policies to further their vile and desructive goals

But again, if Sunak had any real ability, he would remove the whip from them all.

There is a cell, under the Commons chamber. And the Sergeant at Arms has the right to put people in it. And a sword, in case they get obstreporous about being escorted there. If we're going to have medieval customs and traditions, in our Parliament, they should see some use.

What happened? They pushed the boundaries and were not punished for it, so they pushed harder and further and still nothing happened. Although too late some punishment needs to be meted out to these people to show others that i]actions like theirs will no longer be tolerated. Without them being punished there will be no end to the abuse that these people and others like them feel able to pile on others

Zac Goldsmith lost the position of being Richmond Upon Thames MP to the lovely Sarah Olney (Thank Goodness! I like in Barnes) and then was immediately made a Lord by Boris Johnson Goldsmith has been paying for Johnson and his Wife’s holidays and holiday homes ever since Quid Pro Quo Always

What has been shown is that personal integrity is no long sufficient to keep the system from being corrupted. Rules with slapped wrists and stiff talking to's, named and shamed, for rule breakers are no longer a deterrent and should be replace by laws with real sanctions for those who break them.

This is a proud moment illustrating the propriety of the British parliamentary system. A Tory majority committee thoroughly condemning their own party colleagues. The contrast with the US could not be more dramatic.

So what actual disciplinary action is to be taken against them ?

It’s like a poor version of what’s happening to the Republican Party in the states, Poundland Johnson and his cronies.

They should have been taught the difference between right and wrong when they were children, but i doubt they that ever were. Not challenging them over the years and encouraging their behavior for more clicks on a website or an increase in sales of newpapers is why they have gotten worse. Then when they saw Boris be accused of his lies and his accusers thrown out the house of commons they were inspired. They wanted to be able to abuse the rules just like him but finally punishing Boris for his behavior was a threat to their aspirations to be able to manipulate the system, their only option is to protect Boris to protect themselves. The really sad thing is for the things I have mentioned they are not alone, these individuals are just the ones too stuipid to not turn on Boris as that was the best way to protect themselves, thats what the rest of the Tories did.

Impugning the process itself was bad enough, but might, to some degree, be dismissed as 'politics' (no matter how inappropriate). But, inasmuch as the activities of these individuals can be seen as explicitly lobbying and applying pressure to the members of the committee, it should be clearly seen as criminal, and should be punished as such.

Without a strong watchdog institution ,Inpunity becomes the very foundation upon which systems of Corruption are built

There are no rules. That's the problem.

To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, is it possible to impugn a parliament that hasn't been pugned for over a decade?

They identified the weaknesses in Parliamentary governance. They recognised an opportunity. And they exploited it ruthlessly, repeatedly, pushing to see how far it was possible to stretch the limits of tolerance while pursuing self-aggrandisement with no regard for the facts, for laws, treaties or international conventions. At no time did the welfare of the citizens whose protection intrude into their conscience. At the centre of this web of filth sat Johnson, out for himself on a scale not seen since Aethelred paid off Viking raiders to buy peace. Until the next raid. The full damage is still not known.

Once people could be persuaded that their lives would be better outside the EU, all links with reality were gone.

James I agree with your every word you are a "truth warrior"

The rest of the world is not surprised; they've always known the UK parliament is a freak show, its only task to maintain the 500 year old feudal status quo.

Shakespeare summed it up: 'Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive".

If this is how much respect they have for our parliament and its processes, they should not be allowed to be part of it.

Politicians have huge responsibilities....therefore the punishment to be just as big. They are literally playing with peoples lives therefore they need to be punished accordingly

Roll on Scottish independence it can't come soon enough

Promoted to the point of incompetence

It is a crumbling society because corruption is endemic within it.. I just had my facebook account suspended for discussing truth in a philosophy thread..! We are so far down the road of self abuse, it will be almost impossible to redeem ourselves.. 😢

O.K we all agree !! But what happens to these people NOW. Do we load up the tumbrils or just shrug out shoulders and revert to “O.K this is dreadful but what can you do” Then just get on with our lives ?

It’s wonderful to hear you speaking about this as I’m so annoyed about this government preaching this all the time- nothing is their fault it’s always someone else. I have never voted for the Tories however growing up (I’m 73) they were decent people.

I've got no idea how his honours list still gets passed.

As an Australian living in London I've never been so happy to have dual nationality.

One of the best summary’s I have heard in a very long time ..

Keep at it James. You’re doing an important job for us all. Thank You!

James is always spot on, tells it like it is !!!

Shame is dead. It died about ten years ago tbh. From the expenses scandal things just got worse exponentially

There's a phrase that keeps popping up in my mind whenever I read stories leaking out from the great hermetically sealed halls of power, 'It's a club and you ain't in it'. The fact that the public ain't anywhere near enough, let alone 'in' the club, to be able to bring it's members to some regular form of accountability without the assistance of investigators tells us a lot about the political system we have inherited from the days when the country was run mostly by the privileged class.

Power! "With great power comes great responsibility" Isn't that what Uncle Ben said in all the Spiderman films?

The entire UK collectively shrugging their shoulders and sending thoughts and prayers to solve their problems.

SOVEREIGNTY 🇬🇧...SOVEREIGNTY 🇬🇧...SOVEREIGNTY 🇬🇧... No....not THAT kind of sovereignty!

Dorries is the worst, threatening resignation then not doing so. She has members of her family on the payroll. She's got her own show on Talk TV.

It happened because England kept voting for them.

Hubris. That is what happened.

They should be officially investigated

Undiluted dishonesty. Great expression & analysis. We are in the gutter. 'Land of hope & glory'. Disgusting, disgraceful wickedness. Yes, wickedness. Wickedness..