Millionaire peer raises Bush attack in UK Lords
(CNS): A Conservative member of the UK’s House of Lord was probing government peers last week over comments made by the Cayman Islands premier deriding the current governor. According to the House of Lords’ Hansard, Lord Ashcroft asked government representatives in the British upper House what their assessment was of the comments made by McKeeva Bush about the UK appointed governor, Duncan Taylor. The FCO representative in the House of Lords, Lord Howell, said he was aware what Bush had said but there was no truth in the allegations and the governor had the UK government’s full support.
The question posed by the millionaire peer, who is facing media accusations in the UK about his own business dealings and entanglement with issues in the Turks and Caicos Islands, queried what the FCO felt about the attack by Bush on the governor and his conspiracy theories.
Ashcroft pointed in particular to the comments Bush made in a statement released to the press at the beginning of last month after the governor revealed that the premier was the subject of more than one police investigation. Bush had accused Taylor of doing "nothing of substance" to help the country and said he had "stealthily and insidiously undermined" government efforts to "get our economy off the ground and get jobs for people.”
In a widely publicised statement he had also accused Taylor of having “done nothing for three years to help us but to throw cold water on whatever we were trying to do", accusations strenuously denied by Taylor, who has persistently pointed to his directions to the premier to follow good governance practices.
Following Ashcroft’s question, the FCO’s Cabinet member and Tory peer, Lord Howell, said the British government was aware of the comments made by the premier attacking the governor and suggesting that there is a conspiracy to undermine the Cayman Islands, and assured Ashcroft that there was “no truth whatsoever in those suggestions.”
Howell pointed to the governor’s own comments when he said the “UK government's vision for the Cayman Islands was set out clearly during the visit by the Minister for the Overseas Territories, Henry Bellingham,” which, he went on to say, was a “vision of a flourishing and vibrant economy, whose public finances are well managed and whose adherence to internationally recognised standards of governance enhances its reputation as a good place to live, work and do business."
Howell said Governor Taylor shared Bellingham’s vision and that he “has our full support”, referring to the UK government.
Ashcroft has been the subject of media attention in the UK recently as a result of his possible connections to various dealings in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The UK’s Sunday newspaper,The Observer, reported this weekend that it had seen documents linking the wealthy lord to Allan Forrest, chief executive of the firm Johnston International, which collapsed in 2010 taking the Cayman based firm Hadsphaltic with it.
Ashcroft, however, has denied any legal, economic or beneficial interest in Johnston since 1999.
The BBC flagship investigative show Panorama also reported earlier this year that Ashcroft had misled the public and the stock exchange over his business interests in TCI.
The allegations also centred on Johnston which was believed to have funded a luxury mansion for Misick. In the programme Panorama alleged that Ashcroft had given the impression that he had no involvement in the firm when the mansion was being built but the evidence of 14 former employees and leaked company documents implied the peer controlled the firm at the time. The documents showed the peer issuing instructions, sometimes in his own handwriting, on how to run the company, the BBC said.
Ashcroft rejected the allegation he had deliberately misled the public and denied having any involvement in the day-to-day management of the construction firm for more than a decade.
Category: Politics
The history is there to be read, studied and analysed by all who chose to do so.
In the days of imperial Britain, the rewards were the natural resources of the colonies…minerals, animimal products, land etc etc and the free/slave labour that guaranteed the profits of the colonial masters.
Today, in Cayman's case in particular, it is the lure of the financial industry and its massive economic potential that is the rewards at stake.
It is really only some old-fashioned 'god-queen-and-countrayyy' colonial citizens that naively believe anything the British government has to say about anything.
Today, Britain's modern citizens at home neither trust nor believe anything a British politican has to say…we do not leave things to chance with them.
Today's modern British citizen at home takes every single measure that the law allows to both protect ourselves from these politicians…and punish them for their wrongs when we can.
And there are certainly more laws with which to protect ourselves in modern-day Britain than there currently are in colonial Cayman.
Thank you very much! I am sick and tired of the naive folk that associate every bit of what is true as being false because it falls from the lips of McKeeva Bush or somebody else they don't like! We need to grow up, get off our party bandwagons, and be a little bit more mature. These elite people are as dangerous as the ones we have here – they twist the truth, they spy on us, and they think we are as dumb and naive as mere natives, which I must admit from the comments posted here, many do act like this forum is some place to vent their stupid tribalism and all about which side you are on! If we continue dividing ourselves with politics and not thinking for ourselves and uniting the country, we will collaspe and never be able to rise again. Cayman, please (if you are the ones commenting here) don't allow them to take us for fools. McKeeva may be considered a dictator whose hands are pretty much tied, but what is presently going on in Turks and Caicos Islands is a dictatorship wherein the people really have no voice or no one to go to for a reddress of grievances! Think of that! This is happening in the UK's backyard and the international media are paid a huge fortune not to cover it!
Amen.
I rely on history to form my opinion of Britain – specifically, the way "Britain" values me … for how I / we value Britain is completely irrelevant.
(As a matterof fact, the way we value ourselves in this regard is irrelevant as well. We can be the most brain-washed, loyal, little flag-waving subjects we want to be, but at the end of the day, Britain will hold strong to her shameful ideals to the very end.)
Cayman needs to look in the mirror and finally gain a proper understanding of who we are as a people. Crucially, we need to understand where this reality fits in within the British colonial sense of the world.
We are NOT a special or exclusive off-shoot of "the others" as many of my folks tend to believe – no, as far as the British establishment is concerned we are simply members of "the others".
However, as usual, this will never be understood or clarified until AFTER the act and fact. Similar to the matter that is still ongoing in the British courts regarding the uprooting, removal and dispersal of "British citizens" from a British Overseas Territory.
At this very moment as Britain climaxes after its glorious Diamond Jubilee celebrations, it is desperately scrambling to locate and destroy files and archives relating to their crimes against humanity in respect to their "British Overseas Citizens" – this is a fact, a simple google search will reveal all.
What I find most interesting and shameful of all is that these very heinous crimes (beatings, murders, castrations, torture) all took place during Lizzie's "Diamond Jubilee" … why weren't these issues referred to over the past 4 days?
Cayman needs to wake up and realize that we are in the middle of the same old process, simply via new tactics.
Divide and rule. Pressurize and destroy.
Lastly, it begs the question … what is with Britain's long-standing obsession with ensuring and promoting human suffering upon those that they consider as different?
(Some B.O.T.'s have the pleasure of having the British military mobilize 7,000 miles in order to protect them – other B.O.T.'s have to suffer the injustice of being uprooted, victimized, and REPLACED by the British military.)
What is the difference between the respective groups I wonder??
Ok … no actual counter to my post, yet a sizeable degree of opposition.
Interesting.
we don't have as much free time as you.
Obviously you do.
Listen, our economy was not founded on the back of caymanians.(we were too busy selling everything) Global investors including the brits bought land, established local business,and to date has a huge presence in our finance market because of the "know how". You really should be thanking the brits for everything they have provided to these little islands Why? .Lets face it, tourisim(our only home grown product) on its own could never have provided the lifestyle, for all!, that we are used to.
Britans colorful past does merit the judgment you spew; however, name me a super power that dosnt have blood on their hands?BTW, the Cayman Islands practised slavery, and our sister islands harboured outcast criminals for many years. What can you do right?! Im sure you have a british passport; it nice eh? You can travel just about anywhere, some places with out a visa. You can work in other markets across the EU. You can recieve education from a top college or university across the EU at local rates. Not too bad for a country who is working to "divide and rule" us.Now lets examine where our Government recieves its loans. Yep, thats right, the brits.They do all of this and never interfer short of us cutting of our own heads. Seems like a pretty good deal.
Lets not forget we are a british territory. We were founded and nurturied to succes. I wonder what might have been if the Cayman Islands as we know it,B.O.T, didnt exist.If our current leaders are a variable of this probablity id dare say we'd be in a right mess, even worse than today's. Sure as hell wouldnt have the Camana Bay we all love. We wouldnt have had the booming market that inflated job oppurtunity which sparked the "we need education" movement.Cayman would have been the little island run by money hungry dictators. Bush would have been our Kim Jong Un; imagine him having to answer to no one.
You may argue, why if they care do they allow the current state of affairs to reach lower and closer points of disaster. Cayman has a judicial and law enforcment system. Systems I suspect the brits would like to imagine can handle our problems. Systems im sure they would rather not undermine; can you imagine how we would react if the stepped in and concluded "truths" outside of these established system?!
I conclude, that if we dont want british rule or managment that we clean our dirty laundry i.e politicians including and most specifically UDP and its ignorant, loud mouth leader. After all, it is he who provoked this whole mess!
TO MR. PUFFY THE DRAGON:
You don't know anything about our financial history. The only thing that the Brits gave us was the Queens face on our dollar! But nice try. The credit though goes to a mixture of Caymanians and foreignors… hardly we had Brits in our financial industry!
“Tony was one of those proactive individuals that helped shape what has happened in the Cayman Islands financial services industry.” This is a quote suggesting the importance of Anthony Travers(a Brit), who helped put Cayman in the position its in today.Important note, he is still grindingaway at it, 30+ years later.
See link below for entire article.
http://www.compasscayman.com/cfr/story.aspx?id=1564
My girl calls me Puffy too, thanks.
Hmmm… are we talking about history or are we talking about now and one guy?
Travers represents now and then.(read the article) Im sorry ,what sample size would you like? Perhaps the table below will help, it details our finance industry employees by the highest pay scale.This scale is used to shine light on who are the bosses, hence who is leading this Islands success.
*This table can be found on the ESO website.
The point remains that the Cayman Islands needed help, as it contiunes to need today. The Brits are apart of our society and success.
There are / were many a British Overseas Citizen that once shared your persepctive yet found themselves sold down the river by the British establishment.
Basic common sense suggests that people such as ourselves should learn the lessons of the mistakes of others.
There is not a single good reason why I should not view the British establishment with a narrow eye – and it is all their doing.
To each his own though.
Nevertheless, I appreciate the feedback and respect your opinion.
I recommend you take a look at Nigel Farage's work. He is one hell of a politician who gives you that warm fuzzy feeling that the future might just work out.
I know of Mr. Farage.
He is one of the very few British politicians that actually gives a damn about the actual welfare of the British people and is not consumed with impressing the Euro elites as a means to self-elevation within the now non-democratic power structure.
Can I call Chagossian bingo if he refers to the Chagossians without naming them? If so does it count for double points?
Here is a question for a peer to ask in the House of Lords: Why was former Governor Stuart Jack so hell bent on protecting McKeeva when Charles Clifford was warning the Caymanian people about McKeeva. Until we get to the bottom of that matter we will never know the truth about the UK's intentions !!!
Millionaire peer raises Bush attack in UK Lords
zzzzz… as if they have the final word over us… zzzzz
Was this spat with the Governor the reason why McKeeva was not at the Jubilee parade yesterday, and his speech was made by Michael Adam?
Or is McKeeva off on a jolly somewhere?
10;10
You forgot his was invited by our Queen. Very important man!
We don't need McKeeva Bush or any local politician for that matter to show to us that British colonialism is alive and well. Historical records and documents are self-explanatory.
One thing is for sure about these politicians, they are really good liars. You would have to be a real fool to believe in everything they say ~ be they from Cayman or the UK!
Let commonsense be your guide.
welcome back mr. thumbs down……
I know… interesting… you can't please them all. Lol… once you attack a party around here, you have all hell loose.
The Lords probably go to seminars titled "How to Deal with Tin Pot Buffoons" during which they shake their heads in disbelief when confronted with examples of puffed up egos that belong to mayors of small towns who think they are heads of states in important "countries".
It is behaviour of this type where a man can deny beneficial ownership and no-one can confirm either way that shows some of the sins of offshore with its secret registers, corporate directors, nominee shareholders and the misuse of trusts. Places like the Caymans are parasites feeding off these sins.
You can hide the Beneficial ownwership in the UK also, so it appears everywhere are parasites.
Maybe if the UK takes the lead then others will follow
There are dozens, if not hundreds of similar corporate structures and corporate vehicles around the world in the USA, Canada, UK, and many other places where beneficial ownership can be "hidden". You might want to research some of the larger places where this occurs (try Nevanda or Delaware for example) before pointing fingers atthe Cayman Islands.
The "others are just as bad" hackneyed response of the Cayman fraud and tax evasion protection network does not carry much weight. Every major international fraud has links to the Caymans precisely because its little culture of tick box secrecy is controlled by those interested in keeping ushc activities alive and well.
Speaking of hackneyed statements, it is simply not true that every or even most international frauds have any connections here. However, you will find that most of them have a U.S. connection.
Bush,as usual, carefully pitches his inflammatory speeches at a certain sector of the local electorate. He does not fully understand the international repercussions. Nor does he care.
"Nor does he care" hmmmm ..
But that is one quality I like about Bush
Although XXXX, Bush "doesn't care"
to speak about the FCO and her ties to others.
He may be loud and rude, but isn't it nice to know
that whilst they are tearing each other down,
some truth is coming to light. Keep it up 🙂
I have a little problem with this story. Just a few weeks ago, Mac declared that the Conservatives were "all good" and Labour was "all bad".
What happened?
What happened? Business as usual of course, Bush shoots from the lip.
He is a smart man who knows a lot about local political expediency.
I was with you up to the comment: "He is a smart man"
Even Ashcroft is trying to distance himself from McKeeva. LOL.
When the dominoes are falling, it is best to try to get out of the way, unless you will be toppled too
Just Great Mac, Ashcroft is the perfect poster boy to defend us overseas. Birds fo a feather flock together they say,,
PS. Where do I drop off my UDP membership card? I no longer want mine!
Just give it to Ellio… wait (looking around), where is Ellio?
he's running around collecting nuts…..
remember he is into his last 300 days of employment…
He need not look any further than his chin LMAO
When the dust settles and the FCO has intervened and we are no longer on the path to self determination, I hope everyone remembers who is responsible for our downfall. All that was necessary for this mess to be avoided was for MCkeeva to step aside and demonstrate that he supports transparency and good governance, but instead he runs his mouth off at the UK Govt and their representative and now we will pay the price. Its still not too late but it looks like we have all been hypnotized into inertia. Good luck my friends, we are nearing the end!
Well, here’s a man who doesn’t believe in keeping his head below the parapet, however many arrows there may be flying around. Anybody heard anything about a possible greater personal involvement in Cayman – perhaps the Media?
In my opinion Mr Ashcroft needs keep out of any debate or business in the Cayman Islands. He is not wanted and I remind everyone that he was clearly involved in Johnston International Ltd in the Turks and Caicos Islands and a myriad of offshore companies. His track record and popularity in Belize and TCI is appalling and leaves much to be desired.Two banks in which he has an approximately 70% interest have been losing money for quite some time and last year one was hives off into a new BVI company.
Moreover Johnston was a sister company of Hadsphaltic when Ashcroft ‘s bank pulled the plug on both entities leaving huge amount of unemployment in both TCI and the Cayman Islands.
Mr Ashcroft, please go away. You are not welcome here and nor are your comments.
And Lord Howell just happens to be Chancellor George Osborne's Father-in-Law.
Osborne was very close to Murdoch in the past and pivotal in recruiting now disgraced ex-NOTW editor Andy Coulson. Another Murdoch supporter, Jeremy Hunt, apparently now claims Osborne, while close friends with Murdoch, insisted on vetted all media releases from the Conservatives (when they were in opposition) before they were released.
Chris, it's all wheels within wheels in the UK. This was a put up job to clear the air and give Howell an excuse to raise the matter in public. If he'd simply made a statement the media would have wondered what heck was going on, this way he's got plausible deniability.
These liars never cease to put a smile on my face.
Sorry, that should read 'vetting' not vetted – too much Diamond Jubilee celebration here.
I second that Chris. Our Premier also needs to be careful as we all know too well about T&C situation. How it started and how it's ending and it ain't pretty.
God Bless, Michel
I am one of the employees here in Cayman still waiting to be paid compensation from Millionaire or should i say probably Billionaire Lord Ashcroft!!! But that will probably never happen! He also owes the CI government for not finishing the Mosquito Unit Building! And not to mention a lot of other local companies whoch he also owes money to!!!! But he pulled all his money out and filed for bankruptcy!!!!
According to some Englishmen, all the crooks/pirates lived in Cayman – what do they have to say now?
bush should either retract his statements with an apology or he should resign/or be removed…
his comments were disgraceful and had no basis in fact…
" I deny everything!" Ever notice how Politicians, including our own special breed, spend more time denying things than getting anything done? It seems evident, although this is just a theory, they are often predisposed to use their position to further their own economic interests, at great cost to the public. There should be an island created somewhere (not Cayman please or the U.K.) where they can invest to their heart's content, milk it, sell favors and deny everything to each other! Instead of continously wasting our time and our money representing themselves. What a place that would be The Denial Islands…just south of Antartica.
Good! I'm glad someone of sense is aware that McKeeva's comments are out of line, especially for someone in his position.
It seems to me that this battle has now gone into the street. At first I thought the fight with HE the FCI and Premier was on Cayman soil, but it looks to me as if the battle is now across the road in the street. Dear me what a rucus.