Paul Flowers: Defrocked

Former Co-op Bank chairman Paul Flowers says he still struggles with addiction, three years after a drugs sting led to his suspension as a Methodist minister.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Sunday Programme after being stripped of the title reverend last week, Mr Flowers, 66, said his problems were "largely" in the past.

But he said it would be a "lie" to suggest they were completely over.

In 2014 he was fined for having cocaine, crystal meth and ketamine.

Mr Flowers, who became a Methodist minister in Bradford in 1976, has now also lost the authority to lead services for "seriously impairing the mission, witness or integrity of the Church".

He had initially been suspended in November 2013 following allegations in the Mail on Sunday newspaper that he bought and used the illegal drugs.

Along with claims of inappropriate expenses payments, the allegations led to him stepping down from his roles as deputy chairman of the the Co-op Group and chairman of its banking arm.

Mr Flowers told Radio 4: "The truth is that I think all of us struggle with issues of addiction and we have different addictions that affect millions of us in this country,

"I'm not going to tell you a lie that it's behind me totally, because it isn't, but I believe it's now largely behind me, but we still struggle with addiction of different sorts."

Mr Flowers added that his departure from the bank and suspension from the church ultimately made his faith stronger...

BBC News.

Big hugs, Paul.

x

You can listen to the Sunday Programme programme here.

Paul Flowers: Don't Laugh

There is an interview with my pal Paul Flowers in The Guardian today.

That is all.

Paul Flowers: With Crisps On His Nipples

With crisps balanced on his nipples, disgraced ex-Co-op bank chairman Paul Flowers is caught napping during a four-day cocaine and ketamine-fuelled bender.

The drug-loving suspended reverend – nicknamed the Crystal Methodist at the height of the scandal that enveloped him two years ago – was earlier filmed snorting lines as he ­entertained four naked rent boys at a bizarre hot-tub party in his back garden.

The disturbing images, recorded last weekend, reveal Flowers has again fallen prey to his demons.

He is still ­technically a church minister and vowed to change his ways after “life-changing” rehab.

A rent boy who attended the party told how the ex-bank chief, who was in charge of billions of pounds, had sent him invitation texts saying “I have Charlie and Katie”, code for cocaine and the horse tranquilliser ketamine.

The male escort, who we are calling Kris, said: “There were a lot of drugs. He just doesn’t seem to care. He just seems out of control.” ...

Sunday Mirror.

It shouldn't be a crime to have a good time.

LEAVE PAUL FLOWERS ALONE!

Lord Sewel: You Are The Quarry

The Sun.

Here is a photo of a man you'd never heard of til yesterday having far more fun than you do.

But don't worry, we're going to make the jammy bastard pay!

Full disclosure: No journalist who works for The Sun has been proven to pay for hookers and coke on expenses for at least a year.

PS Anyone for a straight re-run of the Paul Flowers, the 'Crystal Methodist', non-story?

PPS What Lord Sewel gets up to is none of our business, Ian Dunt, politics.co.uk

Co-op: When In Doubt Blame Paul Flowers

The Sun.

Wow! It's been literally three months since you've had a go at Paul Flowers.

Where have you been, lads?

For the record, Paul was a non-executive director of the Co-op and didn't actually make any financial decisions, so blaming him for the Co-op's current woes makes about as much sense as blaming Her Majesty The Queen for the recession.

His only crime still seems to be having way more fun than your readers do - and, unlike some journalists I could mention, he never tried to claim it back on expenses.

Fagburn remains as ever #TeamFlowers. x

Paul Flowers: If It's Sunday It Must Be...

Time for yet another unbelievably shitty Mail On Sunday expose!

Stripped to his grubby shorts and polo shirt, this sordid image of ‘Crystal Methodist’ Paul Flowers shows him doing what he loves best – entertaining rent boys and apparently snorting cocaine.

Holding court in his rent-free Methodist Church house, the disgraced minister and former Co-op Bank chairman is shown for the first time indulging in the addiction that brought about his downfall and wrecked his stewardship of the ‘caring’ bank.

The squalid scene, taken from an exclusive video, is all the more astonishing as it was only shot just over a fortnight ago – and a week after Flowers was charged with possession of crystal meth, ketamine and cocaine. On Wednesday he escaped with a lenient sentence when his lawyer claimed he had learned his lesson...

As told by another 'escort', who had the presence of mind to film it on his phone, then call the MoS.

Top lad.

Christ, if you're concerned about Paul Flowers well-being why don't you leave him alone?.

A Mail Online reader writes. 

Paul Flowers: Disgraced Double Vision

Daily Mirror.

If you look closely you'll see Paul is so disgraced he has got a doppelganger to go to court for him.

Can't believe this has gone to court.

Actually, I can, the tabloids set the political agenda.

#teamflowers
x

PS Why is 'crystal meth' in quotation marks, does it not really exist?

Paul Flowers Watch: All-Night Bender

Escort Dale, 22, last night told The Sun: “I can’t believe he has been so brazen. Most of the bank’s failures are down to him, yet he doesn’t have a care in the world.”

Fagburn has not a scintilla of doubt that Escort Dale, 22, really said this to The Sun.

FFS! LEAVE PAUL FLOWERS ALONE!

Paul Flowers: Vultures

“There is a phrase for some people, they call them vultures, and I really do hope that somebody quotes me on that, especially the BBC. The BBC have been really nice to me but the rest of you are vultures.”

The Times.

Paul Flowers addresses the good gentlemen of the press after being charged with possession of some very naughty drugs.

'They'll trip you up and laugh when you fall...'

PS The Daily Mail are not happy!

Scroll down for video!

Mail On Sunday: Gay Man Uses Grindr Shocker!

Mail On Sunday.

Drop me a line if you know how this is in anyway newsworthy.

'Man likes sex shocker'.

There was no 'orgy'.

Beyond the Mail On Sunday have tasted gay blood after going for Paul Flowers, and now can't quit.

What scum - we're going back to the 80s, boys.

Wish they'd stop - Fagburn's fed up with defending gay Tories.

Gay Marriage: Now Be Good!

As inexorably as night follows day and push comes to shove, so the words ‘Tory’ and ‘scandal’ seem destined to conjoin with ‘Brazilian’ and ‘rent-boy’. Yet the main response to the allegations about Mark Menzies MP last weekend was neither laughter or condemnation, but pity. The tone was similar to that recently adopted by Jeremy Paxman when interviewing the disgraced former Co-op chairman Paul Flowers. How sad, it seemed to sigh, in this day and age. Is there anything we can do?

Well yes, in fact: it has just been done — and among other things it is likely to prove this sighing a phase. Because although there certainly was a time when gay people could be the objects of pity, viewed as tragic individuals weighed down by society’s unjust attitudes, all this has changed. The most recent change is that since last weekend gay men and women are now allowed the right to full and equal civil marriage in Britain...

Douglas Murray, The Spectator.

Britain's leading right-wing magazine tells The Gays to keep it in their overpriced underpants.

Press Awards: Scoop Of The Year!

The Mail on Sunday’s exclusive into former Co-Op bank chief, Paul Flowers, saw the paper awarded the Scoop of the Year Award alongside being crowned the News Team of the Year.

It was described by the judges as a consistently great story-breaker that continues to produce quality journalism.

Press Awards.

How does this scuzzy, scummy act of paid entrapment constitute a 'scoop' of any relevance?

'The Mail on Sunday and its sister paper have printed a lot of things about me. I remember dear old Michael Foot once describing the Mail group as the Forger’s Gazette.

'I find the Mail on Sunday and its pseudo-fascist far right tendencies which make Valdimir Putin look like a bleeding heart liberal utterly abhorrent.

'The reality is a considerable amount of what the Mail on Sunday has printed has been pure and utter fiction.'

Paul Flowers in last week's Newsnight interview.

Watch it here.

Mark Menzies: Like Leveson Never Happened

From today's Sun: Man had sex on drugs, quite enjoyed it bombshell!

It was quite like old times on the newsstands yesterday. Two Sunday red-tops took us back to the era of sleaze that bedevilled John Major's administration.

In other words, it was way before the nation, and the press, had heard of Lord Justice Leveson.

There was the News of the World - sorry, Sun on Sunday - with a splash headlined "Top Tory quits in rent boy scandal" plus, incidentally, an inside spread on "a blonde beauty" who "enjoyed internet sex chats with four Manchester United stars".

And there was the Sunday Mirror splashing on the same tale, "Tory MP quits in drugs & rent boy scandal". And this on the day when same-sex marriage laws came into force, duly celebrated on the paper's page 23.


The story concerned the resignation of Conservative MP Mark Menzies, parliamentary private secretary to the international development minister, Alan Duncan, after allegations made by a Brazilian male escort.

Both papers lay claim to exclusivity, but that little local dispute between the titles is far less interesting than the editorial agenda that convinced each of them of the story's importance.

You might have thought it inappropriate nowadays to expose people for their (alleged) gay relationships. You might have also thought it inappropriate to accept the word of someone who has sought payment for that (alleged) relationship. Doesn't the term "rent boy" seem oddly archaic in 2014?

You would probably concede that the (alleged) involvement of drugs just about gave it a public interest justification. But only just, given that the level of proof appears less than convincing.

I sincerely hope that this isn't the beginning of a trend.

Roy Greenslade, Guardian Media blog.

Quite, but this new trend surely began with the Christopher Jefferies and Paul Flowers witch hunts?

If you're gay, it's always hunting season, and you are the quarry.

Update: Two (2) more stories on this boring nonsense which affects no-one in The Sun today.

Paul Flowers: 'Still At It'

I hate The Sun so much.

Best wishes Paul.
x

PS And in the Mail Janet Street-Porter writes - badly; 'Admitting you're a sinner doesn't let you off the hook'.

Paul Flowers: Hell

Newsnight is showing an interview with Paul Flowers tonight!

Fagburn wonders if any regular viewers can think of another fairly decent gay man who has recently quit a prestigious job, and then some media thought it would be fun to give him an endless kicking?

PS: The Daily Mail did not like this, surprisingly.

Mr Flowers was allowed to insinuate that the Mail on Sunday's allegations were at least partly false without being invited to specify which of them he was referring to. When he preposterously suggested that the paper had 'pseudo-fascist, far-Right tendencies [that] make Vladimir Putin look like a bleeding heart liberal', Paxo did not demur. etc etc.

Paul Flowers: Gay Man Has Facebook Profile, Likes Gay Stuff Shock!

The Methodist minister has yet to ­apologise to his ­congregation for his headline-grabbing antics.

Flowers, 63, is currently suspended from the two churches he looks after in Bradford, West Yorks.

But now he has caused further upset among ­parishioners by bookmarking dozens of ­erotic pages dedicated to gay men on the ­social networking site.

Among his “likes” are Manly Men, Hot Sport Guys, Bear Magazine, XXL and Grab Mag.

Many of the pages contain pictures of male models in their underwear or ­cavorting with ­other men.

He also posted a banner saying: “Let’s get one thing straight. I’m not.”

Last night a ­parishioner said: “It is like he is just trying to shock for the sake of it.

“It is one thing looking at sleazy websites – whether they are for gay or straight people – in private but for him to be so open about it on his Facebook page is a little sad.

“It is almost like he has no thought for the people who worship at his churches.”

Daily Star.

If it's Sunday it must be time for another puny tabloid story about Paul Flowers!

Risible and hopeless attempt at 'investigative journalism' and mock outrage over nothing.

At the time of typing Paul's Facebook page is still up - though he doesn't appear to have been on it this year.

Fagburn has, but of course, sent this poor bugger a friend request.

Edit: Mr Flowers has accepted me as a Facebook friend - DAY MADE!

More Flowers-bashing in - surprise - the Mail On Sunday, masquerading as a business interview with Euan Sutherland, the new CEO of the Co-operative Group.

Apart from donations to the Labour Party, practically nothing else is mentioned apart from the 'Crystal Methodist' scandal.

Paul Flowers: This Sunday's Story About 'The Shamed Gay Crystal Methodist' ©

Shamed banker the Rev Paul Flowers aims to profit from his sins by becoming an after-dinner speaker.

He hopes for fees of up to £5,000 to tell business conferences about his lurid life as a vicar who blew a fortune on rent boys.

A friend told the Sunday People: “He always gave amazing sermons and people will pay a lot to hear him talk of his troubles.”
Sunday People.

Paul Flowers is the Sunday tabloids' gift that keeps on giving.
Not cause he's done something wrong, but because they know he's not going to sue.
A friend said!!? 
Is that really the best you can do?
A friend said; "Ya mama got a glass eye with the fish in it!"
And thus that is a fact.
FFS.

Paul Flowers: The Appliance Of Science

Those of us outside the board of The Co-operative Bank can only guess at Paul Flowers’s results. Maybe he was INFP — introverted, intuitive, feeling, perceptive; or maybe the crystal-meth smoking Methodist who almost brought the bank to its knees was more ENFP — the E for the sort of extrovert who boasted of a “two-day drug-fuelled gay orgy”.

We do know one thing though: the results were impressive, because it emerged this week that his lack of expertise in finance was ignored by recruiters because of his performance in psychometric tests.

Psychologists say that the ubiquity of these tests in financial services recruiting, in particular the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test, which assigns everyone a four-letter code and which one psychologist compared to the Victorian practice of phrenology, is “extremely vexing”, and not just because these tests don’t screen for drugs and financial incompetence.

City recruiters said that in many first-round interviews a Myers-Briggs test, which was created in the 1960s by two amateur psychologists who had read the work of Jung, is standard...

Times.

No idea.

Anyone?

You can take the nebulous Myers-Briggs Test here.

Apparently, I'm an INFP - introverted, a bit meh on all the rest - Wow!

Fagburn seriously doubts this was the main determinant of Paul Flowers getting the Co-op gig.
Or going to a "two-day drug-fuelled gay orgy".
Though if there's an entry test for them...

Crystal: More Balls

2014 marks an important anniversary.
It was twenty years ago that the first article in the UK gay press warning about Crystal Meth was published in the short-lived magaine, Phase.
Every year ever since we have been warned by the gay and straight press that the UK gay scene is about to get taken over by Crystal AND WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!
You may have noticed this has not happened.
To mark the 20th anniversary we are being taken over by a new flood of warnings about meth.
Maybe it's been helped cause boring people may have now heard about it from Breaking Bad and the "shamed Crystal Methodist" Paul Flowers
The other week the Independent On Sunday was warning about a "meteroric rise" in "slamming" (injecting at sex parties).
Based on some data that showed this wasn't really happening.

Today Channel 4 News joined in the hysteria with an item; Is Crystal Meth Behind London's Rising HIV Levels?
Viewers learn that some gay men in London take drugs, some take crystal ("a very small proportion"), some like having sex on drugs - and some people even use something called "Grindr" and tell other gay men they take drugs!
It was all shocking stuff.
An expert says there is a "public health nightmare".
Antidote said that at London's two clinics for gay male drug users, 187 men had meth as their main problem in 2010.
[Channel 4 News admitted a recorded rise in meth users at the clinics "must be treated with caution - it may reflect greater awareness of the clinics."]
Crystal can certainly do terrible things to some users - so I wouldn't be surprised if a high proportion of gay men are having problems, even if they are a very small proportion of users - and Antidote are doing a great job helping them, but out of a London gay male population of maybe 200,000-500,000 is this really inidicative of such a big problem?
Or is this just more media gay + sex + drugs = death hysteria?

PS The Daily Mail join in the fun!

Update: An excellent piece by Professor David Nutt on the UK press this week reporting a woman's "Death by cannabis". Last week Anorak did a nice montage of tabloid stories about the EVIL ACID HOUSE MENACE!

Paul Flowers: Random Outraged Sunday Tabloid Headline Generator

“CRYSTAL methodist” Paul Flowers has had gates put up to stop doggers having sex outside his vicarage.

Daily Star.

2 out of 10. Must try harder.