COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 05.09.24

With seven by-elections having taken place on Thursday, it seems as good a time as any to resume our weekly by-election report.  With a backlash against Starmer's nanny state already in progress, local election results can help us form a bigger picture as to how public opinion is shifting.

Three of the seats up for grabs were in Camden, two of which are situated in Keir Starmer's constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.  Turnout in one ward - Kilburn - was just 13 per cent.  Labour held all three, but with a reduced vote share.  In Camden Square and Kentish Town South there were big swings from Labour to Muslim independents, continuing a trend set in the general election and sure to cause Labour huge electoral problems in their old inner city and mill town heartlands as Britain's demographics continue to shift rapidly.

Labour also held a seat in Cheshire, but again with a reduced vote share thanks to a huge swing to Reform UK.  The pattern was repeated in Manchester where they held with a reduced share that went mostly to the Green candidate.  They gained an independent seat in south Wales, but lost a seat in North Yorkshire to the Conservatives, where the swing away from Labour was distributed across various newcomers, but mostly went to the victorious Tory candidate.

Camden Square, Camden London Borough Council

Lab: 465 (47.7%) -27.8%

Ind: 164 (16.8%) New

Grn: 133 (13.7%) New

LDem: 89 (9.1%) -4.9%

Ind: 75 (7.7%) New

Con: 48 (4.9%) -5.5%

Lab HOLD

Kentish Town South, Camden London Borough Council

Lab: 674 (46.8%) -12.0%

Grn: 327 (22.7%) +1.1%

Ind: 289 (20.1%) New

Con: 77 (5.4%) -2.4%

LDem: 72 (5.0%) -3.0%

Lab HOLD

Kilburn, Camden London Borough Council

Lab: 583 (51.5%) -15.2%

Con: 253 (22.3%) +4.2%

Grn: 198 (17.5%) (New

LDem: 98 (8.7%) -6.5%

Lab HOLD

Crewe West, Cheshire East Council

Lab: 553 (43.3%) -18.5%

Ref: 333 (26.1%) New

Con: 217 (17.0%) -0.7%

Ind: 109 (8.5%) -11.8%

Grn: 63 (4.9%) New

Lab HOLD

Baguley, Manchester City Council

Lab: 623 (46.9%) -15.9%

Grn: 282 (21.2%) +8.6%

Con: 243 (18.3%) -1.6%

LDem: 110 (8.3%) +2.4%

SDP: 71 (5.3%) New

Lab HOLD

Bedlinog & Trelewis, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council

Lab: 411 (48.8%) +16.1%

Ind: 314 (37.2%) New

Plaid: 83 (9.8%) New

Con: 24 (2.8%) -2.3%

Ind: 11 (1.3%) New

Lab GAIN from Ind

Longbeck, Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council

Con: 384 (37.9%) +14.9%

Lab: 206 (20.4%) -19.4%

Ind: 119 (11.8%) New

Ref: 108 (10.7%) New

Ind: 105 (10.4%) New

Ind: 50 (4.9%) New

LDem: 40 (4.0%) New

Con GAIN from Lab

Abbreviations

Lab = Labour

Grn = Green

LDem = Liberal Democrat

Con = Conservative

Ref = Reform UK

SDP = Social Democratic Party

Plaid = Plaid Cymru

Ind = Independents and local groups

WHO IS THE PM, KEIR?

Not for the first time at PMQs, Keir Starmer referred to his opposite number as 'Prime Minister' on Wednesday.  However, this time he called Rishi Sunak PM no less than five times.  His frontbenchers didn't bat an eyelid as he repeatedly referred to Sunak as 'Prime Minister' and strangely there appeared to be little response from the opposition benches, either.

It wasn't until his fifth PM reference that Starmer corrected himself, watch the clip below.

Contrast yesterday's bizarre performance from Starmer to the last time he referred to Sunak as PM - just two weeks ago.  There was much laughter as Starmer corrected himself with the quip: "Old habits die hard".  Watch below.

Is he subconsciously blaming Sunak and the Tories for the nanny state tyranny to come...

PRITI FALLS IN ROUND ONE

Priti Patel has been eliminated from the Tory leadership election in the first round of MPs' voting.  Patel finished bottom of the pile in the first of five ballots held to determine Rishi Sunak's successor.  Wild card entry Mel Stride finished fifth, one vote behind the globalists' preferred candidate Tom Tugendhat.  Robert Jenrick topped the poll, six votes ahead of Kemi Badenoch.

A second round of voting will take place on Monday, assuming no-one drops out voluntarily before then.  The distribution of Patel's 14 votes will decide who is eliminated next and with just 12 votes between Stride and Jenrick, mathematically it could be anyone.

Following the Tory conference at the end of this month, a further two rounds of MPs' voting will reduce the field to two candidates.  Only after that do grassroots members get a say.  The system is hardly democratic, with the final line-up decided by 121 MPs - three of whom did not even register a vote in the first round.

TOON TUESDAY #21

A bumper selection this week as mainstream media cartoonists had a field day with Sir Squeaky.  Brexit betrayal, smoking bans and missing Thatcher portraits were the talk of the toons, with a hint of Oasis thrown into the mix...

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Patrick Blower for The Daily Telegraph

Graeme Bandeira for The Yorkshire Post

Ben Jennings for The Guardian

Christian Adams for The Evening Standard

Nicola Jennings for The Guardian

Dave Brown for The Independent

Andy Davey for The Sunday Telegraph

Matt Pritchett for The Daily Telegraph

Morten Morland for The Times

Stanley McMurtry for The Mail on Sunday

MEME MONDAY #2

The nanny state continued its assault on our freedom this past week, testing the water with talk of an expansion to the smoking ban imposed by the last Labour government.  The establishment just cannot close down our pubs quickly enough!

Starmer also deployed the dreaded 'reset' word this week, with regards to our relationship with Europe.  He tried to assure democrats that Brexit was not under threat, but this was coming from a man who spent three years trying to overturn the Leave mandate and led Corbyn up the garden path to electoral oblivion in the process (and then promptly ejected him from the party after succeeding him as leader).

A discarded painting, raving Rayner, phoney feminist agenda and Notting Hill carnage* were also featured in Karl's latest memes.

* Two victims have since died

Mon 26 Aug - 22 Facebook shares.  The algorithm doesn't like X content

Tue 27 Aug - 200 shares

Wed 28 Aug - 315 shares

Thurs 29 Aug - 291 shares

Sat 31 Aug - 165 shares

Sun 1 Sept - 344 shares

Sun 1 Sept - 358 shares

Feel free to save and share our work, without alterations.  Thank you.

A TALE OF TWO RAVERS

Michael Gove and Angela Rayner hit Ibiza two years apart

The political bias of Mirror Group Newspapers has never been in any doubt and it will come as no great surprise to see how Mirror coverage differed so greatly between the Ibiza exploits of a Tory and a Labour MP.

In August 2022 The Mirror reported on Michael Gove's dance-floor antics in Ibiza.  Gove's dreadful dance moves were not the issue for the left-wing rag - they cried foul that he was mocking the cost of lockdown crisis enveloping the nation (ironically a consequence of the actions that The Mirror enthusiastically supported throughout the scamdemic).

The news report refers to Gove's dismissal from the Cabinet almost two months previously, consigning him to the backbenches from where he was clearly no longer involved in government.  Compare and contrast to The Mirror's recent report detailing the current Deputy Prime Minister's dance antics in Ibiza...

There are no political points scored at any point during the Rayner article.  There is no mention of the cost of lockdown crisis, rising energy bills or scrapped winter fuel payments.  Two tier reporting in action.