The Political Week in Twitter
By Ruth Mckee
The week's best political tweets in one handy location.
Liam Fox and his close personal friend Adam Werritty were the stars of the twittersphere this week as tweeters queued up to make #foxhunting jokes but there were also some insightful predictions and speculation.
@MatthewPetford – As an aside to the bigger #Fox / #Werrity story, at what age should you stop referring to someone as your "best friend"?
@christopherhope – #fox Ahead of a weekend of speculation, I am hearing talk of Sir Malcolm Rifkind being lined up as a like for like replacement for Liam Fox
@Jonathan_Todd – Portillo: "What is a bit embarrassing is that the Times is getting to the facts quicker than the civil service" #foxhunting #bbctw
@ianrobo – @politicalhackuk resignations at the weekend always best, watch a leak saying GOD's report looks bad maybe Sat night #foxhunting
@UKIPRomsey – @oflynnexpress Do you take your best friend to work with you? Have him sit in meetings with US generals? #foxhunting
@politicalhackUK – Are we supposed to believe that Fox didn't know Werrity was paid by anonymous donors to advise him? http://t.co/WFxcPoa2 #foxhunting
@politicalhackuk – increasingly obvious that the only one who didn't think Werrity was an advisor to Fox was Fox. #foxhunting
@witten – Wondering why none of my former flatmates ever bought me a £318 dinner @ Mandarin Oriental #justasking #Fox #Werrity http://t.co/VXkmJAeC
@VauxPopuli – Seems that #Fox & #Werrity may have been running a private mini-government funded by neocons. We're talking really unacceptable stuff #BBCQT
@jossgarman – Erm, how is #Fox still in the job? And why won't the PM hold a serious inquiry if there's nothing to cover up? #corrupt @unitelondon
The Cabinet were not having a great week to begin with, and then those pictures of Oliver Letwin dumping government papers in a public litter bin, added to the impression of overall incompetence, as the twittershpere pointed out:
@tom_watson – @MirrorJames Remember his dept are responsible for "Information Assurance" – convincing people their data is safe with HMG.
@CAWSW – @Number10gov I guess Olver #Letwin isn't concerned with recycling if he throws paper in the bin @OliverLetwinMP
@cory_tunt – I can assure fellow #Tories that no confidential policy documents were discarded by Oliver Letwin. They go to #Labour for recycling. #Letwin
@KRTshopaholic – The news. It would be quicker to list Government members who are honest/doing a decent job. #fail #Letwin
@LouMcCudden – At least this explains why regular bin collection is so important to the government… #Letwin
@dohonard – Had Letwin been a public servant he'd have been sacked. Ditto Fox. Oh, they are public servants aren't they ? #Letwin #doublestandards
@Philipingham – The bigger question for me re:#letwin is why he has printed out email. Get an #iPad save the trees!
@opinion8ed_dyke – @Telegraph Q to ponder .. Did #Letwin claim for a shredder/pro shredding company on expenses ?
@TRAINEElaw – Letwin should have known better, paper goes in the recycling bin! #Letbin #Letwin #bingate
@MCmattsally – Rooney ban mystery explained: Wayne asked Oliver Letwin to post his letter to UEFA.. #Letbin
The Health Bill was debated on BBC question time, which instantly seemed to strike up a cyber storm of responses:
@thomasdolphin – Mr Lansley, will you PLEASE stop using the BMA's name as if we support your plans? We do NOT support your Health Bill! #nhsreform #bbcqt
@thomasdolphin – @thebma It's frustrating to see your name being used indirectly to promote the #healthbill when your policy is to see it withdrawn. #bbcqt
@criminologyUK – #Bbcqt the issue is that most of us understand that the #NHS makes us feel good about being #British. Not much else does
@bbcquestiontime – "A really free press is one that is not owned by multi-millionaires," says @ken4london #bbcqt
@Khyberman – There ARE jobs in the UK. We have a huge attitude problem we need to fix first. Why aren't immigrants complaining? They find jobs. #bbcqt
@Bo_Novak – @philhammond on #bbcqt also made good point about 20% of patients using up 80% of NHS resources. We need more focus on prevention too.
@iambags – Just in case you've forgotten, Andrew Lansley receives significant sums from private heathcare providers http://t.co/qm64uVLC #bbcqt
@Amesmaster – Lansley sneers at critics on #bbcqt, Fox takes his mate to work and Letwin chucks office docs in a park bin – THIS IS OUR GOVERNMENT!
@thcritchley – I've never seen such an obtuse, imbecilic, partisan audience than that which carped and bleated throughout @bbcquestiontime last night #bbcqt
