Saturday 29 February 2020

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 23-29 FEB 2020

23.02.20 - Scott Clissold, Sunday Express
23.02.20 - Bob Moran, Sunday Telegraph
23.02.20 - Martin Rowson, Sunday Mirror
24.02.20 - Brian Adcock, Independent
24.02.20
25.02.20 - Morten Morland, The Times
25.02.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph
25.02.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
25.02.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard
26.02.20 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail
26.02.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
26.02.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph
27.02.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard
28.02.20 - Ben Jennings, Guardian
28.02.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph
29.02.20 - Morten Morland, Spectator
29.02.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times

SURVATION BLOW TO LEFT

Pollsters Survation have dealt a blow to the hard left with a new opinion poll for the Labour leadership.  Survation's first poll in mid-January gave Rebecca Long-Bailey a narrow lead over Keir Starmer, but their latest poll gives Starmer an eleven-point lead.  His lead is precisely half the margin shown in YouGov's most recent poll, but both polls are very close when it comes to the second round.  YouGov calls it 66-34 while Survation calls 64-36.

Survation leadership poll (21-24 Feb)

First round

Starmer 45%
Long-Bailey 34%
Nandy 21% (eliminated)

Second round

Starmer 64%
Long-Bailey 36%

(sample size 1,196)

With Richard Burgon miles behind in the deputy leadership race it appears there will be no continuity Corbyn candidates at the helm after the results are announced in five weeks time.  Jeremy Corbyn's decision to come off the fence and demand that Keir Starmer publishes details of his donors shows that desperation and realisation is beginning to sink in.  The loony left are making good capital over Starmer's refusal to publish the details and will naturally jump to all sorts of conclusions and conspiracy theories.


So far the above tweet has got eight retweets.  Long live the revolution!

KHAN'S WOKE VIRTUES

For the few, not the many:  Smug Khan is adored in woke London

When Sadiq Khan was heckled at Regent's Park Mosque recently, it was small payback for his constant pandering to minorities who are not necessarily compatible with the Islamic faith.  You're just as likely to see him releasing a video message praising the contribution of Jews and Hindus as you are praising members of his own faith.  The truth is that Sadiq has strayed far from his roots, perhaps initially for votes, but it's now clear from his smug narcissistic exterior that he revels in adoration from sections of London society.  From white sneering middle class Remainers to drag queens and dildo waving gays, he is idolised and - if the polls are to be believed - nailed on for victory in May.  He knows this and appears to grow ever more smug about it.  Here he can be seen using trans lingo to mock his Conservative opponent Shaun Bailey at an LGBT event.


There were plenty of glowing tributes to Khan following his appearance at Labour's LGBT gathering on Thursday night.  He bared a hand written LGBT message on his chest and posed for photos with a variety of sordid characters, after which he retweeted numerous messages of support, some of which appeared to call on Londoners to vote for Khan simply because he was an LGBT 'ally'.  This is hardly a major policy area in which to attract support from the masses, but it makes the Mayor feel good about himself.


While Khan retains a huge loyal following in woke London, there will be many in forgotten London who won't countenance a vote for him in May.  In stark contrast to Khan's colourful and largely irrelevant embrace of identity politics, his Tory opponent can be seen on the streets with police officers and community workers.  It's not gone unnoticed that Khan is reluctant to even mention the word crime.  Cavorting with transvestites is not going to cut it with most voters, those who just want to feel safe when they leave their homes.  It's certainly not going to cut it down at the mosque either.

In a wide field of candidates with so many to choose from, many of those who won't vote Khan won't vote Bailey either.  In the end it will be the large majority of law abiding citizens who suffer while Khan's liberal merry-go-round of wokeness continues unchecked.

Friday 28 February 2020

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 27.02.20

Seven by-elections were held last night, mostly across central England.  Labour fought five of these and their share of the vote dropped in every one, although they held two of the three seats they were defending.  There was a surprise defeat in the solid Labour territory of Manchester where the party lost to an independent.  In Cheshire there was a return to politics for ousted Labour MP Laura Smith, where she won a seat on the council.  Smith lost her Crewe & Nantwich seat in the general election and was photographed at the Job Centre last month, sparking controversy when she claimed she was "the same as millions of others in the country".  Not really Laura - you were earning an £80,000 salary with copious expenses that most unemployed folk could only dream of.

It was a mixed night for the Conservatives with votes up in three and down in four.  Two seats were held and one was lost to the Lib Dems.

Millfield, Blaby District Council

Lab: 228 (52.2%) -1.0%
Con: 188 (43.0%) -3.8%
Green: 21 (4.8%) New

Lab HOLD

Duxford, Cambridgeshire County Council

Lib Dem: 1,607 (59.6%) +26.3%
Con: 1,090 (40.4%) -14.7%

Lib Dem GAIN from Con

Crewe South, Cheshire East Council

Lab: 854 (54.1%) -7.5%
Con: 566 (35.8%) +10.3%
Green: 69 (4.4%) New
Ind: 67 (3.6%) New
Ind: 34 (2.2%) New

Lab HOLD

Hillingdon East, Hillingdon London Borough Council

Con: 1,430 (68.8%) +9.1%
Lab: 488 (23.5%) -12.7%
Lib Dem: 86 (4.1%) New
Green: 59 (2.8%) New
UKIP: 16 (0.8%) New

Con HOLD

Clayton & Openshaw, Manchester City Council

Ind: 1,191 (47.9%) +3.4%
Lab: 1,083 (43.6%) -1.4%
Con: 102 (4.1%) +0.6%
Lib Dem: 57 (2.3%) -1.0%
Green: 51 (2.1%) -1.6%

Ind GAIN from Lab

Whittlesford, South Cambridgeshire District Council

Con: 526 (55.2%) -8.1%
Lib Dem: 427 (44.8%) +30.3%

Con HOLD

Gwersyllt North, Wrexham County Borough Council

Plaid: 189 (36.6%) New
Lab: 87 (16.8%) -10.7%
Con: 78 (15.1%) -5.0%
Ind: 51 (9.9%) New
Ind: 43 (8.3%) New
Lib Dem: 41 (7.9%) New
Ind: 19 (3.7%) New
Green: 9 (1.7%) New

Plaid GAIN from Ind

NANDY SMASHES IT

Last night's leadership debate

It was a wobbly start for the outsider in last night's leadership debate on Sky, but Lisa Nandy came back strong.  While Long-Bailey and Starmer reeled off their well-rehearsed introductory speeches, Nandy was clearly unprepared and her head bobbed up and down as she constantly referred to the notes in front of her.  Her poor start was soon vanquished as the audience began to deliver a series of awkward questions.

Starmer, who had delivered easily the most polished and confident opening speech, stuttered and stammered his way horribly through a couple of questions.  Long-Bailey, now sporting a hairdo that made her look more like a character from Desperate Housewives than a potential political leader, had little impact throughout the debate.  At one point she insulted the intelligence of northern Brexit voters, claiming they were mistaken in their 'belief' that Labour were trying to reverse Brexit.  It was not a question of 'belief' dear, the facts were there for all to see!  She later gave us an insight into her parenting skills - or lack of them.  An elderly blind woman in the audience asked the candidates for examples of how she could interpret their personalities.  Long-Bailey announced that she was a strong northern lass who didn't take any nonsense from anyone.  In the very next sentence she referred to her little boy and how when he gets home from school she waits on him hand and foot, giving in to his every demand.  Contradiction asides, what a horrible little twat he's going to grow up to be.

One third of the audience was made up of Labour members, another third Labour voters and a third former Labour voters.  One of the Labour members got very up tight about anti-Semitism, denouncing the Chief Rabbi as a Tory and suggesting it was all a fantasy concocted by right wingers.  At this point Nandy jumped in and took control of the situation.  However, her assessment led to the most exciting exchange of the entire debate as a flustered Keir Starmer lost his cool.  Sadly, even when he loses it he still comes across excruciatingly dull.  Watch their spat below.


At the end of the debate presenter Sophy Ridge asked the audience to raise their hands as to who they thought had won the debate.  A handful chose Starmer, a handful chose Long-Bailey.  The overwhelming majority chose Nandy, the candidate widely expected to come a distant third in this epic contest.  Most viewers will probably have agreed that none of them were particularly likeable or electable.  The future's bleak for Labour, regardless of who wins.

Thursday 27 February 2020

GO COMPARE BRYANT'S HYPOCRISY

Labour MP Chris Bryant has called on the BBC to sack a radio presenter after he compèred a Tory fundraiser.  Wynne Evans is a presenter on BBC Radio Wales, but is better known across the UK as the Go Compare tenor in TV ads.  On Tuesday night he hosted the Conservatives' annual Black & White fundraising event that included a rendition of Land of my Fathers between Evans and none other than the Prime Minister himself.

Boris Johnson and Wynne Evans singing Land of my Fathers

Reminiscent of the petty-minded cancel culture of the left, Rhondda MP Bryant expressed his outrage directly to Mr Evans' employers, telling the BBC:  "It's really simple, he's paid for by the licence fee, a public service broadcaster - he should keep his political views to himself, otherwise he should be sacked or resign.  He's a regular presenter on a BBC Wales show - it's absolutely basic".  The broadcaster responded by saying it had spoken to Mr Evans and told him he was not to accept similar bookings in future.

This wasn't quite the end of the story.  Former Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies had spotted some rank hypocrisy on the part of Bryant.  In November 2018 Bryant had tweeted in support of BBC presenter Gary Lineker hosting an anti-Brexit 'People's Vote' event.  Oops.


While Bryant is not on the hard left of the party, it appears that their intolerance for people with different views is rubbing off on him.

HARTLEY-BREWER VS BITTER EX-LABOUR MEP

TalkRadio's Julia Hartley-Brewer spoke to Labour's Richard Corbett on Wednesday about Britain's forthcoming trade talks with the EU.  The former MEP is still clearly very bitter about losing his job and lashed out at Brexit towards the end of the interview, much to the delight of Hartley-Brewer.  Watch below.


Corbett has been a very prominent campaigner against Brexit since 2016, but his motive wasn't purely out of self-preservation.  He has dedicated his life to a federal Europe and could be seen clinking wine glasses with EU fanatic Guy Verhoftwat in a BBC documentary last year.  An Oxford graduate Corbett was involved in the Yes campaign in the original 1975 referendum.  He later became involved in various federalist groups including the European Movement and was a vociferous opponent of the UK Independence Party.  Hilariously he lost his Brussels seat in 2009 to the hard right anti-EU British National Party, but won it back four years later.  During his four year break he remained in Brussels as an advisor to the President of the European Council.

Having completed more than 18 years of service as an MEP, Corbett collects a handsome pension from the EU.

Richard Corbett (circled) pictured alongside other Labour Remainers
(including Starmer and Thornberry) outside the Labour conference last year

RALLY FOR SOCIALISM BOMBS

McDonnell addresses the faithful

It was a 'great turnout' announced Richard Burgon, but the truth is that the 'Rally For Socialism' couldn't even fill a small venue.  Last night around 150 people heard speeches from Corbyn loyalists such as John McDonnell and Diane Abbott, but there were empty spaces at the back and in the balcony, while unused seats could be seen stacked up at the side.  The rally was organised in response to the hard left's struggling leadership campaign that has seen Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner become run away favourites.  Leaflets for the two continuity Corbyn candidates were handed out, but this was a loyalist crowd who were already voting for Long-Bailey and Burgon anyway.  The event was such a blowout that Richard Burgon was the only main speaker who mentioned it on Twitter.


In last year's European elections the Labour party portrayed UKIP and the Brexit Party as 'far right' and 'fascists'.  It was a daft tactic that ultimately backfired, but the sad truth for these lefties is that Brexit Party meetings draw far bigger crowds than this.

The main speakers at last night's rally were:

John McDonnell
Claudia Webbe, MP for Leicester East
Diane Abbott
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Streatham
Ian Lavery
Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South
Richard Burgon
Apsana Begum, MP for Poplar & Limehouse

ON THIS DAY IN 1973, CORBYN'S MATES...

The Provisional IRA ambushed an RUC patrol in a country lane near the village of Aghagallon in County Armagh.  At around 15:20 hours the two constables had stopped their patrol car to investigate a suspicious vehicle.  As they were about to get out and inspect the car, gunmen opened fire from inside the vehicle.  Constable William Wylie was struck in the thigh and managed to return fire, but was hit again and died at the scene.  His colleague, Reserve Constable Ronald Macaulay, was struck in the chest.  Despite his injuries he managed to engage the terrorists in a firefight for around 15 minutes before they fled across fields.  He was also struck in the arm and stomach during the gun battle.  He was rushed to hospital, but died from his wounds four weeks later on March 25.

The funeral of Constable Wylie

In December 1973 three men were convicted of the murders and sentenced to life with a recommendation they serve 25 years.  Two of them came from nearby Lurgan, while a third came from the Republic.  The three men had dismissed their defence team earlier in the trial and sat with their backs to the court.  As they were sent down they shouted "Up the Provos".  A fourth man, also from Lurgan, was found not guilty of murder.  Unlike the others he had retained the services of his lawyer, but was found guilty of possessing illegal firearms and sentenced to seven years.

One of the men convicted of the policemen's murders was returned to prison in 2010 when he was reported to have become involved in the Continuity IRA.  IRA convicts who are found to have resumed paramilitary activity can be automatically returned to prison without trial.  However, Martin Corey was released two years later after successfully suing the British government over his imprisonment.  The 61-year-old's case relied on the European Convention on Human Rights.

The two policemen murdered by Corey and his accomplices were posthumously awarded the Queen's Police Medal for gallantry.  Constable William Raymond Wylie, 26, came from Lisburn and was survived by his wife and six-month-old child.  He joined the force in 1971.  R/Constable Ronald Macauley, 43, came from the village of Aghalee, less than two miles from where he was shot.

Const Wylie and R/Const Macauley

Wednesday 26 February 2020

RAYNER IN THE SECOND?

In addition to its leadership poll YouGov also conducted a poll for the deputy leadership.  Rather unsurprisingly Angela Rayner was miles in front, but unlike Starmer they don't expect her to win outright.  They predict a narrow victory in the second round, after Ian Murray is eliminated in round one.  Hard left candidate Richard Burgon is expected to come a distant second.  Presumably he'll claim that it was a victory and his policies were 'popular'!

STARMER IN THE FIRST ROUND?

YouGov's latest poll of Labour members has Keir Starmer winning outright for the first time.  


Starmer has significantly extended his lead in each of the three YouGov polls to date, but the only other poll carried out suggested a narrow victory for Rebecca Long-Bailey.  The Survation poll, carried out last month, took its findings from a much larger sample than YouGov.  It found that Long-Bailey would have a very slender advantage in the final round.  Survation are not mugs, they correctly predicted a Leave vote in 2016 when most pollsters (including YouGov) had Remain winning.  They also correctly predicted the Scottish independence referendum and all three of the last general elections.

This is how all four leadership polls stack up.

First round

YouGov (20-25 Feb)       YouGov (13-15 Jan)        Survation (8-13 Jan)        YouGov (21-31 Dec)
Sample: 1,323                Sample: 1,005                Sample: 3,835                 Sample: 1,059

Starmer 53%                 Starmer 46%                Long-Bailey 42%            Starmer 36%
Long-Bailey 31%           Long-Bailey 32%           Starmer 37%                  Long-Bailey 23%
Nandy 16%                    Phillips 11%                  Phillips 9%                     Phillips 12%
                                       Nandy 7%                      Nandy 7%                       Thornberry 7%
                                       Thornberry 3%              Thornberry 1%                Nandy 6%

Final round run-off

Note:  There would not be a run-off if Starmer received more than 50% in the first round, but as 53% is within the margin of error YouGov has included second preference findings

Starmer 66%                  Starmer 63%               Long-Bailey 51%              Starmer 61%
Long-Bailey 34%             Long-Bailey 37%          Starmer 49%                   Long-Bailey 39%

SUE, YOU'RE SHOUTING AT TEA


Earlier today #SueYoureShoutingAtTea was bizarrely the number one trending hashtag on Twitter.  The leftist tantrum against Yorkshire Tea has yet to subside, despite the fact the company had absolutely nothing to do with Rishi Sunak's innocuous photo.  Even for the petty-minded childish morons of the left this is beyond a parody.

So, who is Sue?  She is just one of the thousands of idiots bombarding the company's Twitter account with messages of outrage.  However, the brand has turned the tables on Sue in a marketing coup d'état, leading to the hashtag #SueYoureShoutingAtTea taking Twitter by storm and exposing just how daft these balloon head leftists truly are.

According to the Huffington Post this was what Sue wrote initially: “The last thing I want to do when I’m making a tea is to think about what the Tory, who was blatantly advertising your tea, paid or otherwise, will be doing to continue to grow the rich/poor gap".  When Yorkshire Tea responded to the weekend's onslaught she had more to say and you can see the full exchange below, ending with the now infamous 'Sue, you're shouting at tea' masterpiece.

Click to enlarge

The line is so popular that some quick-thinking entrepreneurs have reproduced it on mugs and t-shirts.  Bit of a backfire there Sue!

BEN WON'T BE SILENCED

Ex-Labour activist Benjamin Jenkins has continued his collaboration with Turning Point UK and discusses the fallout from his very public departure.  Benjamin is from rock solid Labour territory in South Wales and has predictably drawn plenty of flak for his brutally honest portrayal of the party.  He says he won't be intimidated by the hard left bullies unleashed by the rise of Corbyn...


Watch below for Benjamin's original exposé on Labour and you can also visit Turning Point's YouTube channel for more.

Tuesday 25 February 2020

WHY HIDE THIS DAVE?

Like many MPs, Dave Lammy is not quite satisfied with earning an £80,000 salary, lavish expenses and, in his case, the occasional slot on LBC Radio.  He's now promoting a book too.  When Tribes hits the shelves it will cost a whopping £20, but it's not his first effort.  In 2011 he was quick to cash in on his favourite subject when he wrote Out of the Ashes, a book about the London riots that occurred less than three months earlier.  Race is also the topic of his latest book, quelle surprise!

Lammy is also renowned for his expenses claims, among the highest in Parliament.  Ironically the same year he wrote Out of the Ashes he defended his expenses by claiming that his workload was so heavy that he had no choice but to run two offices.  That year his expenses were the highest of all 650 MPs, but despite his supposed dedication to casework he still found time to write a 320 page book in less than three months.

Lammy didn't top the MPs' expenses table again after 2011, but his claims have remained consistently high.  Since 2011 he has tabled claims worth a staggering £1,203,052.  Yes, you read that correctly - £1.2 million.  It comes as no great surprise to find that he's keen to avoid as much attention as possible when it comes to his expenses.


This was the message that pops up to Twitter users when clicking on one of his promotional tweets for his latest book.  Unfortunately for Dave, users can still explore the hidden tweets and the message only serves to draw more attention to them.  One such hidden gem refers to his excessive expense claims, duly noted by one user who screencapped it and retweeted it (see below).  Lammy then hid the retweet too!


What do we learn from this concealing act?  That Dave is genuinely ashamed of his lavish expenses, but it's impossible for him to run from them.

ODDS SHORTEN ON PLANK


Voting is now finally underway in the Labour leadership and deputy leadership contests.  This final stage in the epic saga will last six weeks.  Despite confirming that he is about as exciting as a plank of wood (see video, below), Keir Starmer's odds have shortened to record numbers.  He's been odds on with most bookies since New Year and those odds have gradually shortened as the contest has dragged on.  He is now at 1/10 with Ladbrokes, William Hill and Coral.  Odds on a hard left victory have lengthened with Rebecca Long-Bailey now on 10/1, while Lisa Nandy's odds have shortened to 12/1.


Latest leadership odds (Ladbrokes)

Keir Starmer 1/10
Rebecca Long-Bailey 10/1
Lisa Nandy 12/1

LEFT LOSE IT OVER TEABAGS

"Nothing like a good Yorkshire brew" - Rishi Sunak

The unbridled hatred of leftist keyboard warriors found a new target recently following an innocuous tweet from the new Chancellor of the Exchequer.  On Friday Rishi Sunak posted a picture of himself on Twitter posing with a large bag of Yorkshire Tea.  There's nothing particularly out of the ordinary about this as Sunak represents the Yorkshire constituency of Richmond.  There was no suggestion that Yorkshire Tea were sponsoring Sunak or the Conservatives, or that the company had any prior knowledge whatsoever - in fact it didn't.  However, none of this could deter the reactionary headcases of the left and social media outrage ensued, ironically just a week after many of the same culprits were using the hashtag #BeKind in response to the suicide of Caroline Flack.


Such was the leftist outrage that Yorkshire Tea responded publicly several times over the weekend and yesterday noted that Rishi Sunak was not the first politician to pose with their brand.  Jeremy Corbyn had done so in 2017.


Presumably there was no outrage when magic grandpa posed with the brew?  Funny that.

CORBYN DISMISSES GROOMING GANGS

Corbyn appears to give the interview in a corner shop

A video has emerged online of Jeremy Corbyn being asked about the Pakistani nature of paedophile grooming gangs in England (and now Scotland, too).  The video dates from 2017, just after the departure of Rotherham MP Sarah Champion from the front bench.  When it is put to Corbyn that the problem in Rochdale, Rotherham, Newcastle and Oxford (to name but a few) was Pakistani men the Labour leader refuses to acknowledge that ethnicity is a factor: "The problem is the crime is committed against women from any community.  Much crime is committed by white people, much crime is committed by people of other communities as well".

Corbyn's answer harks back to his reluctance to refer to Islamist terror attacks as 'terrorism'.  He is happy to use the word 'terrorism' when the perpetrators are white and likewise in his answer to the grooming gang question he specifically refers to 'white people' when the question was actually about those of Pakistani origin.  He cannot even bring himself to refer to Pakistanis in the same breath as grooming gangs and instead refers to 'people of other communities'.

Corbyn goes on to say that the problem is not the identity of the culprits, but dealing with the "safety and security and vulnerability of often young women".  Firstly, Jeremy, many of the victims are not 'young women' - they are schoolchildren and these are paedophiles we're dealing with.  Secondly, your colleagues across the country have done everything in their power to allow the gangs to operate freely and conceal their activities.  In places like Rochdale, Rotherham and Manchester local authorities under Labour control have been proven to have aided and abetted these gangs.  To sit there and speak about protecting victims from the same gangs your comrades have protected is sick.

The video ends with the interviewer asking about the departure of Sarah Champion.  The Rotherham MP was Shadow Equalities Minister, but was forced to stand down in August 2017 after she spoke out about the Pakistani nature of the gangs.  Officially she resigned, but many suspect that Corbyn gave her an ultimatum following a huge backlash from Labour MPs including Naz Shah.  Shah denounced Champion's statement, stating that "nearly 90 per cent of those convicted and on the sex offenders register are white men".  This is disingenuous as no-one is saying that most paedophiles are Muslim/Pakistani.  There is a very specific modus operandi involved with grooming gang activity and those charged in relation to it are overwhelmingly Pakistani males - to a lesser extent Somali, Afghan, Arab and other minorities, but exclusively from a Muslim background.

The 'most paedophiles are white men' ploy is designed to deflect attention from grooming gang activity, purely for the reason that the gangs are not white.  It's a common tactic deployed by Labour figures, including Sarah Champion herself.  In an interview on ITV News in 2014 she said of the Rotherham grooming scandal:  "Of the 1,400 victims of abuse, I don't how many perpetrators were of Asian descent.  What I do know is 95 per cent of child abusers across the country are single white men".  Of course they are, we live in a predominantly white country.  Champion has since changed her tune, but she remains one of very few to speak out from a party that has been complicit in this national scandal from the very beginning.

You can see the extract from Corbyn's interview below.

Monday 24 February 2020

COUNCILLOR TELLS MP TO F*** OFF

This was the extroadinary tweet that was sent by a Labour councillor in response to Conservative MP Jane Stevenson.


Cllr Paul Sweet represents the Bushbury South & Low Hill ward on Wolverhampton City Council.  On Friday evening the Conservative MP for Wolverhampton North East tweeted about a visit she'd made to Low Hill to meet a local community group.  It wasn't until Sunday morning that Cllr Sweet sent the foul-mouthed tweet, complete with laughing emoji.

He deleted the tweet following a backlash, but referred to it in a follow up tweet:  "The perils of twitter.  Too quick on the keypad sometimes".  He has since been reported to the council's standards committee, but has not yet responded to newspaper requests for comment.

Local Tories were quick to denounce his behaviour.  Wendy Thompson, Woleverhampion Tory group leader said: "Using derogatory language like that, I think he should apologise and provide an explanation".  Neighbouring MP Stuart Anderson said:  "This is utterly disgusting and this kind of behaviour should be addressed".  Jay Singh-Sogal, Conservative candidate for West Midlands Crime Commissioner, was with Stevenson during her visit:  "Absolutely outrageous, our political discourse does not need this sort of language and an elected official should know better and set a higher standard.  Where’s the apology?"

Cllr Sweet

Jane Stevenson herself brushed off the remark, saying she hoped it was an 'accident', as she had always found Cllr Sweet"to be perfectly polite and we share a love of animals".  She overturned a 4,587 Labour majority in December and became the first Tory MP to represent Wolverhampton North East since 1992.

Wolverhampton North East 2019 general election

Jane Stevenson (Con) 17,722 (51.7%) +11.4%
Emma Reynolds (Lab) 13,642 (39.8%) -13.0%
Vishal Khatri (Brexit) 1,354 (3.9%)0 New
Richard Maxwell (Lib Dem) 960 (2.8%) +1.2%
Andrea Cantrill (Green) 603 (1.8%) +0.4%

DIANE BLAMES NEW LABOUR FOR DEFEAT

Diane Abbott's interview with Sophy Ridge on Sunday was a revelation.  Not only did we learn that she is standing down from the front bench, we also discovered who was really to blame for Labour's worst election defeat since 1935 - Tony Blair.  Yes, that's right folks, it was nothing to do with dear old Jeremy.  The real culprit was the last Labour leader to actually win a general election, three in fact, but who left the post 13 years ago.  He's since been replaced by Brown, Miliband and Corbyn, so perhaps Diane will have forgiven us for not having spotted his culpability before now.

Denial is strong in the far left loony bin of the Labour party.  They just got smashed and yet the likes of Burgon, Lavery, McDonnell and co are still telling us how 'popular' their policies are.  If that was the case then what was to blame for their electoral humiliation?  Not Jeremy that's for sure.  They go to extreme lengths to absolve him of any blame - it was Brexit, it was media smears and it was the Blairite scum.  Hatred of Tony Blair is fervent to the point that he has become a 'Voldemort' figure in the leadership contest - no candidate dare speak his name.  Any complement towards his record of being the most electorally successful leader in Labour's history would derail their campaign.

Diane Abbott's interview with Sophy Ridge exposed the deep division and deep shit that the party is currently in.  When she speaks of her backing for continuity Corbyn she says that Long-Bailey's advantage is that she is a "great supporter of the movement", a clear suggestion that Starmer, Nandy and anyone else who doesn't follow the hard left agenda is just a Blairite scab.  When Ridge asks about her second preference vote Diane suggests that she will only vote for 'Becky'.


Labour are screwed as long as the hard left maintains such a strong influence in the party, regardless of whether Long-Bailey wins or not.  Record numbers of hard left MPs are now in Westminster and Momentum is not going to disappear overnight.  As Starmer himself has said repeatedly - divided parties do not win elections.

Sunday 23 February 2020

MOST SHARED: WEEK 253

Any clampdown on immigration is guaranteed to bring howls of disapproval from Labour.  Diane Abbott is one of the party's greatest exponents of open door migration and once scoffed at a suggestion that Labour would put controls on it.  Last week she did the media rounds to make clear the party's opposition to the government's points-based system.

A BTLP original this was shared 2,186 times via the Facebook page.

WOKE ROAD TO NOWHERE

A caller from South Wales has told LBC's Iain Dale that Labour are not going to be winning an election any time soon if it keeps pandering to its membership.  James, from Merthyr Tydfil, slammed the party's identity politics and 'woke' attitude:  "If they want to go and hymn to the minority of the Labour party, the 500,000 people, you will never get into power".  James predicted that Corbyn's successor will be a dead duck and the party won't recover until the next leader after that, at the earliest.  Dale noted that there is some precedent for opposition parties being out of power for three successive leaders - following the 1979 election Labour had Foot, Kinnock and Smith before regaining power with Blair (although it should be noted that Smith died and never faced a general election).  Following 1997 the Tories had Hague, Duncan Smith and Howard before Cameron regained power, albeit as part of a coalition.



Regular followers may recognise James's voice from our popular 'Remoaners' video.  His voice appears towards the end in which he tears into Labour's Barry Gardiner.  Prior to the 2019 general election James predicted Gardiner and Labour would be getting a 'wake-up call' from South Wales.  As it happened the red wall stood tall across the Valleys on December the 12th.  Most of these predominantly Leave-voting seats had never been anything but Labour and just one Labour seat fell, albeit the party's majorities slumped across the region.  Certainly the likes of arch Remainer Owen Smith shared James's expectations as he stood down from his Pontypridd constituency before the election.  Owen could have stayed on - Labour still have a near 6,000 majority in Pontypridd, down from over 11,000.  What will it take for South Wales to ditch Labour?

STATING THE BLEEDING OBVIOUS

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has come under fire for an interview in which he suggested airport security should focus their attention on where the "threat is coming from".  The outspoken Irishman told the Times that terrorists were most likely to be lone Muslim males.  Cue outrage.

"Who are the bombers?  They are going to be single males travelling on their own.  If you are travelling with a family of kids, on you go;  the chances you are going to blow them all up is zero.  You can’t say stuff, because it’s racism, but it will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion.  Thirty years ago it was the Irish.  If that is where the threat is coming from, deal with the threat".
(Michael O'Leary)

Condemnation was swift and predictable.  There were howls of 'Islamophobia' from woke keyboard warriors, Islamists and Labour politicians.  Some went further, calling it 'racism'.  Then there was Naz Shah's response...


'Horrific' Naz?  These are words.  No, actually they're facts.  And it's the facts that lie behind what he said that expose the insidious nature of your outrage.  It's not horrific to point out the bleeding obvious, but you know what is horrific?  Terrorism.  Actual terrorism.  People being killed and injured.

Wreckage of Flight 9268, a Russian passenger plane blown up over Egypt in 2015

The hypocrisy and lack of equivocal condemnation is deafening.  People like Naz line up to condemn terrorism, but only when Muslims are the victims.  Look how quickly Labour politicians pounced on the stabbing of an imam at Regent's Park Mosque last week.  It was instantly condemned as a 'hate crime' by Diane Abbott, although it later turned out to be nothing of the sort.  Yet when Islamists strike she responds by downplaying what she cannot even bring herself to call terrorism.

In those few instances where Muslims are targeted Labour's response is always the same - condemnation, an expression of solidarity with the Muslim community and demands for a clamp down on 'hate speech' to combat the 'rise of the far right'.  What they mean by this is a clamp down on anyone pointing out the facts about terrorism, hence their outrage over O'Leary.

The deadliest terror attacks in Britain and Europe over the last ten years were all carried out by Islamists, with the exception of the 2011 Breivik attacks in Norway and last week's Hanau shootings.   Almost 400 people have been killed, thousands of arrests have been made and hundreds of plots averted.  There's just no comparison between the threat from Islamism and the far right, but any suggestion that Islamists pose a bigger threat is classed as 'hate speech', 'racist' and 'Islamophobic' by the left.  The terror threat from Islamists is very real and it may be uncomfortable reading for those with their heads in the sand, but it comes from followers of Islam.

Labour and their allies are just very keen to stop you from talking about it.

Saturday 22 February 2020

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 16-22 FEB 2020

16.02.20 - Matt Pritchett, Sunday Telegraph
17.02.20 - Morten Morland, The Times
17.02.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph
18.02.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
18.02.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph 
19.02.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph
19.02.20 - David Rowe, Financial Review
19.02.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times
19.02.20 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail
19.02.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard
19.02.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
20.02.20 - Andy Davey, Encompass Magazine
20.02.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph
20.02.20 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail
20.02.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
21.02.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
21.02.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard
22.02.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times