As voters get ready to weigh up candidates’ pros and cons, they will no doubt be examining their claimed business acumen. Tunbridge Wells’ Tory candidate, Neil Mahapatra, says on his resume that he is a “successful businessman, seasoned campaigner and long-standing party supporter.” What it makes no allusion to is the kushy nature of his business career…
A biological sciences graduate, Mahapatra founded Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies, a biopharmaceutical honourably committed to developing cannabinoid medicines, especially in the UK. Rapper Snoop Dogg is puffing along with a 3.2% stake in the venture. In 2021 Mahapatra was forced to stand down as Executive Chairman of the company following his selling of locked-in shares during its relatively short-lived listing on the London Stock Exchange. The high-flying firm delisted last month…
Cannabis crackdowns have dogged Mahapatra’s company and it blames its failure in the UK on market “turbulence“. A Labour source tells Guido: “This is an evergreen tale – the Conservatives’ campaign continues to go to pot. The people of Tunbridge Wells deserve better than a cannabis magnate to represent them in Parliament.” A few more marijuana magnates in the Commons and Brits might get the chance to start puffing what they damn well please…
Peter Mandelson has finally said sorry for believing Jeffrey Epstein over the paedophile’s victims. He told BBC Newsnight:
“Yesterday, I did not want to be held responsible for his crimes of which I was ignorant, not indifferent, because of the lies he told me and so many others. I was wrong to believe him following his conviction and to continue my association with him afterwards. I apologise unequivocally for doing so to the women and girls who suffered. I was never culpable or complicit in his crimes. Like everyone else I learned the actual truth about him after his death. But his victims did know what he was doing, their voices were not heard and I am sorry I was amongst those who believed him over them.”