REGIONAL MAYORS 2024

The results for regional mayors will appear here as they come in.

East Midlands

Claire Ward (Lab) 181,040 (40.3%)

Ben Bradley (Con) 129,332 (28.8%)

Frank Adlington-Stringer (Grn) 50,660 (11.3%)

Alan Graves (RefUK) 49,201 (10.9%)

Matt Relf (Ind) 23,359 (5.2%)

Helen Tamblyn-Saville (LDem) 15,970 (3.6%)

Lab WIN (new post)

Greater Manchester - Awaiting result

Liverpool City Region - Awaiting result

London - Awaiting result

North East

Kim McGuinness (Lab) 185,051 (41.0%)

Jamie Driscoll (Ind) 126,652 (28.0%)

Guy Renner-Thompson (Con) 52,446 (12.0%)

Paul Donaghy (RefUK) 41,147 (9.0%)

Aidan King (LDem) 25,485 (6.0%)

Andrew Gray (Grn) 17,631 (4.0%)

Lab WIN (new post)

Salford - Awaiting result

South Yorkshire - Awaiting result

Tees Valley

Ben Houchen (Con) 81,930 (53.6%) -19.1%

Chris McEwan (Lab) 63,141 (41.3%) +4.1%

Simon Thorley (LDem) 7,679 (5.0%) + 5.0%

Con HOLD

West Midlands - Awaiting result

West Yorkshire - Awaiting result

York & North Yorkshire

David Skaith (Lab) 66,761 (35.1%)

Keane Duncan (Con) 51,967 (27.3%)

Felicity Cunliffe-Lister (LDem) 30,867 (16.2%)

Kevin Foster (Grn) 15,188 (8.0%)

Keith Tordoff (Ind) 13,250 (7.0%)

Paul Haslam (Ind) 12,370 (6.5%)

Lab WIN (new post)

POLICE & CRIME COMMISSIONERS 2024

The results of the police and crime commissioner elections will appear below as they come in.

Avon & Somerset

Clare Moody (Lab) 95,982 (32.3%) +8.6%

Mark Shelford (Con) 91,006 (30.6%) -4.1%

Katy Grant (Grn) 64,623 (21.7%) +5.3%

Benet Allen (LDem) 45,864 (15.4%) +2.0%

Lab GAIN from Con

Bedfordshire

John Tizard (Lab) 40,745 (40.5%) +5.5%

Festus Akinbusoye (Con) 35,688 (35.5%) -6.9%

Jasbir Singh Parmar (LDem) 15,857 (15.8%) -2.7%

Waheed Akbar (WkP) 8,396 (8.3%) New

Lab GAIN from Con

Cambridgeshire

Darryl Preston (Con) 61,688 (38.1%) -4.8%

Anna Smith (Lab) 58,304 (36.0%) +4.7%

Edna Murphy (LDem) 41,984 (25.9%) +3.6%

Con HOLD

Cheshire - Awaiting result

Cleveland

Matt Storey (Lab) 65,418 (52.6%) +23.7%

Steve Turner (Con) 58,977 (47.4%) -6.8%

Lab GAIN from Con

Cumbria

David Allen (Lab) 38,708 (47.4%) +21.3%

Mike Johnson (Con) 24,863 (30.4%) -23.1%

Adrian Waite (LDem) 18,100 (22.2%) +1.8%

Lab GAIN from Con

Derbyshire

Nicolle Ndiweni (Lab) 93,260 (43.6%) +6.1%

Angelique Foster (Con) 65,293 (30.5%) -25.5%

Russell Armstrong (RefUK) 32,944 (15.4%) +11.6%

David Hancock (LDem) 22,540 (12.1%) +2.8%

Lab GAIN from Con

Devon & Cornwall

Alison Hernandez (Con) 131,764 (43.3%) -6.7%

Daniel Steel (Lab) 107,897 (35.4%) +15.2%

Steve Lodge (LDem) 64,790 (21.3%) +3.4%

Con HOLD

Dorset - Awaiting result

Durham

Joy Allen (Lab) 66,852 (56.0%) +12.2%

Rob Potts (Con) 37,773 (31.7%) -11.3%

Nigel Boddy (LDem) 14,678 (12.3%) -0.9%

Lab HOLD

Dyfed-Powys

Dafydd Llywelyn (Plaid) 31,323 (40.9%) -7.3%

Ian Harrison (Con) 19,134 (25.0%) -9.0%

Philippa Thompson (Lab) 18,353 (24.0%) +0.3%

Justin Griffiths (LDem) 7,719 (10.1%) +1.4%

Plaid HOLD

Essex

Roger Hirst (Con) 126,447 (37.1%) -16.9%

Adam Fox (Lab) 116,875 (34.3%) +11.4%

Kieron Franks (LDem) 52,922 (15.5%) +2.2%

Robin Tilbrook (EDem) 34,153 (13.2%) +3.4%

Con HOLD

Gloucestershire

Chris Nelson (Con) 47,838 (32.7%) -8.0%

Martin Surl (LDem) 46,352 (31.7%) +12.7%

Ashley Smith (Lab) 35,069 (24.0%) +7.9%

Matthew Randolph (Ind) 15,240 (10.4%) +10.4%

Con HOLD

Gwent

Jane Mudd (Lab) 28,476 (41.7%) -0.1%

Hannah Jarvis (Con) 21,919 (32.1%) +3.2%

Donna Cushing (Plaid) 9,864 (14.4%) -1.8%

Mike Hamilton (LDem) 8,078 (11.8%) +7.6%

Lab HOLD

Hampshire & Isle of Wight - Con HOLD

Hertfordshire - Awaiting result

Humberside

Jonathan Evison (Con) 51,083 (39.7%) -5.9%

Simon O'Rourke (Lab) 46,846 (36.4%) -3.0%

Bob Morgan (LDem) 30,834 (24.0%) +8.9%

Con HOLD

Kent - Awaiting result

Lancashire - Lab GAIN from Con

Leicestershire

Rupert Matthews (Con) 62,280 (35.3%) -14.0%

Rory Palmer (Lab) 61,420 (34.8%) +1.5%

Aasiya Bora (Grn) 23,649 (13.4%) New

Ian Sharpe (LDem) 22,041 (12.5%) -5.0%

Fizza Askari (OneL) 7,104 (4.0%) New

Con HOLD

Lincolnshire

Marc Jones (Con) 39,639 (36.5%) -23.2%

Mike Horder (Lab) 31,931 (29.5%) +9.5%

Peter Escreet (RefUK) 15,518 (14.3%) +10.8%

Lesley Rollings (LDem) 13,380 (12.4%) +6.4%

David Dickason (EDem) 7,739 (7.2%) New

Con HOLD

Merseyside - Awaiting result

Norfolk

Sarah Taylor (Lab) 52,445 (35.2%) +13.1%

Giles Orpen-Smellie (Con) 50,567 (33.9%) -11.2%

Martin Schmierer (Grn) 23,628 (15.8%) +5.6%

John Crofts (LDem) 22,525 (15.1%) +1.4%

Lab GAIN from Con

Northamptonshire

Danielle Stone (Lab) 43,684 (39.3%) +11.8%

Martyn Emberson (Con) 39,714 (35.7%) -17.5%

Ana Savage Gunn (LDem) 27,799 (25.0%) +9.7%

Lab GAIN from Con

Northumbria

Susan Dungworth (Lab) 176,311 (51.0%) +4.4%

Ros Munro (Con) 78,818 (22.8%) -8.1%

John Appleby (LDem) 58,574 (17.0%) +6.3%

Mustaque Rahman (Ind) 31,773 (9.2%) New

Lab HOLD

North Wales

Andy Dunbobbin (Lab) 31,950 (36.0%) +6.9%

Brian Jones (Con) 26,281 (29.6%) -2.0%

Ann Griffith (Plaid) 23,466 (26.4%) -2.0%

Richard Marbrow (LDem) 7,129 (8.0%) +3.7%

Lab HOLD

Nottinghamshire

Gary Godden (Lab) 119,355 (52.1%) +8.6%

Caroline Henry (Con) 77,148 (33.7%) -14.2%

David Watts (LDem) 32,410 (14.2%) +5.5%

Lab GAIN from Con

South Wales

Emma Wools (Lab) 73,128 (45.2%) +4.2%

George Carroll (Con) 43,344 (26.8%) +2.5%

Dennis Clarke (Plaid) 27,410 (16.9%) -2.1%

Sam Bennett (LDem) 17,908 (11.1%) +6.5%

Lab HOLD

Staffordshire

Ben Adams (Con) 73,500 (45.6%) -10.1%

Alastair Watson (Lab) 70,128 (43.5%) +16.0%

Alec Sandiford (LDem) 17,666 (11.0%) +6.6%

Con HOLD

Suffolk

Tim Passmore (Con) 52,968 (40.2%) -14.5%

Robin Wales (Lab) 41,734 (31.7%) +8.7%

Rachel Smith-Lyte (Grn) 22,488 (17.1%) +3.5%

James Sandbach (LDem) 14,541 (11.0%) -2.8%

Con HOLD

Surrey

Lisa Townsend (Con) 95,538 (36.0%) +2.5%

Paul Kennedy (LDem) 82,213 (30.9%) +10.2%

Kate Chinn (Lab) 42,813 (16.1%) +0.2%

Alex Coley (Ind) 42,052 (15.8%) New

Con HOLD

Sussex - Awaiting result

Thames Valley - Awaiting result

Warwickshire - Awaiting result

West Mercia

John-Paul Campion (Con) 73,395 (34.3%) -21.0%

Richard Overton (Lab) 63,082 (29.5%) +5.5%

Sarah Murray (LDem) 33,782 (15.8%) +0.2%

Julian Dean (Grn) 22,021 (10.3%) New

Henry Curteis (EDem) 21,645 (10.1%) New

Con HOLD

West Midlands - Awaiting result

Wiltshire - Awaiting result

LABOUR GAIN BLACKPOOL SOUTH

Chris Webb is the new MP for Blackpool South

Labour have taken another Westminster seat from the Conservatives with a huge swing in Blackpool South.  It was a tough ask for the Tories to hold here - they were defending a marginal 3,690 majority from 2019 - but the scale of the defeat was stark.  The swing to Labour was 26.3 per cent and gave new Labour MP Chris Webb a 7,607 majority he would expect to easily defend in the forthcoming general election.

The seat had been vacated by Scott Benton after he was caught out in an undercover sting by reporters from The Times.  As a result he lost the Tory whip and was suspended from the Commons, triggering a recall petition.  With the writing on the wall, Benton chose to resign rather than face the result of the petition.  He had gained Blackpool South in 2019, a seat that had been held by Labour since 1997.

His successor in Blackpool South is a rarity among the Westminster gravy train - Chris Webb is actually born and bred in the town he now represents.  He is a university graduate, which seems to be the norm for Labour these days, and had previously stood for Westminster in 2017 and 2019.  He was runner-up on both occasions, losing out to the sitting Tory for Blackpool North and Cleveleys.

In Blackpool South there was a very strong show for Reform UK, who easily held on to their deposit and almost pipped the Tories for second place.

Turnout was 32.5 per cent.  This is lower than one might expect, but as there were no council elections taking place in Blackpool overnight, perhaps no great surprise.

Blackpool South Parliamentary By-Election

Chris Webb (Lab) 10,825 (58.7%) +20.4%

David Jones (Con) 3,218 (17.4%) -32.2%

Mark Butcher (RefUK) 3,101 (16.8%) +10.7%

Andrew Cregan (LDem) 387 (2.1%) -1.0%

Ben Thomas (Grn) 368 (2.0%) +0.3%

Stephen Black (Ind) 163 (0.9%) New

Kim Knight (ADF) 147 (0.8%) New

Howling Laud Hope (Loon) 121 (0.7%) New

Damon Sharp (NonP) 45 (0.2%) New

Lab GAIN from Con

Abbreviations

Lab = Labour

Con = Conservative

RefUK = Reform UK

LDem = Liberal Democrat

Grn = Green

Ind = Independent

ADF = Alliance for Democracy and Freedom

Loon = Monster Raving Loony

NonP = New Open Non-Political Organised Leadership

GETHING NO SHOW SPEAKS VOLUMES

David Neal and Vaughan Gething: The convict and the politician

With Humza Yousaf on his way from power after just 13 months, attention has quickly refocused on Britain's other first minister.  Vaughan Gething has been at the Cymreig helm for just six weeks and an issue which dogged his leadership election campaign is being brought to the fore once again.

Gething received two hefty donations during that campaign, totalling £200,000, from a company run by convicted criminal David Neal.  Gething had previous dealings with Neal and his then company - Atlantic Recycling - dating back to at least 2016 when he was a Welsh government minister.  Neal had been convicted of illegally dumping waste on a conservation site in 2013 and ordered to clean up the mess, but Gething later repeatedly lobbied Wales' environmental regulator to suspend work on that site.

Neal was convicted again in 2017 for failing to clean up the site and Gething stepped in again a year later, writing to Natural Resources Wales on Neal's behalf.  Gething also stood for the Welsh Labour leadership later that same year and received a £38,000 donation from companies linked to Neal.  Something stinks, and it's not just David Neal's fly tipping!

Things are now complicated further by a planning application that has been put in by another of Mr Neal's ventures - Dauson Environmental Group.  It was in Dauson's name that the most recent donations of £200,000 were made to Gething's leadership campaign.  The size of the planning application, which is for a 'solar farm', would require Welsh government approval and as we know - Mr Gething is now the most senior figure in said government.  What's more, the money to fund the purchase of the site came from the Development Bank of Wales - a public body overseen at that time by none other than the Welsh minister for the economy, one Vaughan Gething!

With an obvious conflict of interest and a stench of corruption, the Welsh Conservatives tabled a debate in the Senedd that took place on Wednesday.  However, there was a notable absentee from said debate - the First Minister and the person at the centre of the debate no less!

Watch below as Tory leader Andrew RT Davies opens the debate by asking whether they 'should wait for the First Minister'.  He then reacts with dismay as he is told that Gething has not even provided a statement, much less actually show his face.

This is not the behaviour of a political leader responsible for governing a nation.  By refusing to attend and take responsibility for his actions, Gething has portrayed himself as a coward with something to hide.

During the debate, Gething was heavily criticised by one of his own colleagues.  Lee Waters remarked: "For me, this is not an issue of confidence, but it is an issue of conscience.  We look to our leaders to model behaviour we want to see, to reflect our nation and to set an example.  The first step to solving any problem is to acknowledge that there is a problem.  And it would not be a sign of weakness to say that it was a mistake to take the donation and, now all the facts are known, to give it back."

Waters is well known throughout Wales as the main architect of the despised anti-motorist 20mph scheme, so his diatribe in this instance did not carry the weight he may have hoped.  In any case, the Tory motion was defeated by 27 votes to 25.  Gething finally appeared in the dying minutes of the debate and did not speak.

Gething will face questions about his dealings with David Neal and it could yet prove his downfall.

STARMER'S CERVIX U-TURN

Having previously denounced one of his own female MPs for stating that 'only women have a cervix', Keir Starmer performed yet another u-turn on Tuesday's edition of Good Morning Britain.  When asked by presenter Susanna Reid whether Rosie Duffield's statement was right or wrong, Starmer responded: "Biologically, of course she is right about that".

That is another full 180 for Sir Squeaky.

Asked three times by Reid whether he now owed Duffield an apology, Starmer repeatedly dodged the question.  He was then asked his thoughts about what might happen to trans individuals who don't wish to be put on hospital wards alongside people of their own sex (as if this is a completely new and pressing issue for 2024).  Starmer waffled on about 'dignity and respect' before admitting that trans people presented 'a small number of individuals'.  Yes!  So why is it that you and others on the left and centre tie yourself up in knots over an issue that affects such a tiny fraction of society and which the overwhelming majority of people find patently absurd?

Watch the exchange below.

Tory frontbencher Kemi Badenoch was among those who criticised Starmer's trans approach, while quite rightly defending single-sex spaces in hospitals.

With an election around the corner, Starmer knows that trans nonsense doesn't wash with the electorate - but don't for one minute expect his apparent change of heart to continue once Labour are in power.  A two year prison sentence awaits for misgendering a tranny!

LABOUR TO GOVERN BY RACE

Labour frontbencher Anneliese Dodds has offered a glimpse into how her party might govern after the general election.  Last week she posted a racially divisive tweet, bemoaning the plight of black, Asian and ethnic minority-run businesses 'held back by the Conservatives' economic chaos'.

Just non-white businesses, Anneliese?  Needless to say, the tweet drew a furious response from Twitter users, exasperated by Labour's descent into an openly anti-white entity.

Dodds, who was briefly shadow chancellor, attached an article from the Birmingham Mail.  The article detailed Dodds' meeting with black and minority ethnic (BME) business leaders in the city, reporting that Labour would single out BME entrepreneurs by scrapping business rates and replacing them with 'a new system of business taxation to create a level playing field'.  That doesn't sound discriminatory at all, does it?

Just as the US Democrats have weaponised race to divide Americans, it seems their UK sister party is on track to do the same in government.  Five years of Labour could see critical race theory entering the curriculum and other openly anti-white legislation on the books.  This is what the Democrats refer to as 'positive discrimination'.

Twitter users vented their dismay at Dodds' tweet and many of these replies were eminently more popular than Dodds' original tweet.  Despite being seen over a million times, her tweet garnered barely 250 'likes', compared to thousands for some of the responses...

We are about to enter an age of racially divisive politics from the very people who accuse their opponents of racism.

As for Britain's economic 'chaos' referenced by Dodds, she repeatedly voted for the policies that caused the cost of lockdown crisis.  Each and every one of the crippling draconian restrictions during the scamdemic was strongly supported by Labour.  The Tories may have initiated the policies, but Labour were absolutely complicit.

GETHING REPLACES DRAKEFORD

Vaughan Gething has won the contest to become Labour's next leader in Wales, inheriting the role of First Minister in the process.  Gething narrowly defeated his opponent, education minister Jeremy Miles, with 51.7% of the vote.  Welsh Labour are very secretive about their membership numbers, so the exact number of votes was not released.  This was Gething's second punt at the leadership, having contested the previous leadership contest, in 2018.  Gething finished second of three candidates and some way behind the victor, Drakeford.

There was little to choose between the candidates, with both dedicated to the net zero plan to enslave humanity.  Both acknowledged the widely despised blanket 20mph policy during the campaign, but both stated they would not reverse it.  The war on the motorist in Wales will continue with pay per mile technology, to be implemented by the end of the decade.  There is nothing to suggest Gething will waive this policy either.

The media heralded Gething's victory as 'the first black leader of Wales', or 'the first black leader of a European country'.  Racist twaddle, which ignores the fact that Gething is the product of a Welsh father.  Born in Zambia and raised in Dorset, Gething joined the Labour party in 1992 and later studied law at Aberystwyth University.  Despite qualifying as a barrister, Gething decided to follow a career in politics.  He was an unsuccessful Labour candidate in the first Welsh Assembly (as it was then known) election in 1999.  He later became a councillor on Cardiff City Council, before successfully entering the Welsh Assembly in the 2011 election.

Gething would become a mainstay of the Welsh government, under the leadership of Carwyn Jones and Mark Drakeford.  He was minister for health during the scamdemic and recently appeared before the UK Covid Inquiry, where he described missing WhatsApp messages as a 'real embarrassment'.  Like their Scottish counterparts, Welsh government ministers - including Drakeford - could not provide their WhatsApp messages to the inquiry.  As for Gething, he claims that his messages were 'wiped' when he handed his phone in for maintenance in 2022.

Gething's missing WhatsApps are far from the first controversy to afflict the minister.  During the first lockdown in May 2020, he was photographed with his family eating chips at a picnic table in Cardiff.  This act contravened Gething's own lockdown rules, but Drakeford's government defended him and declared that as this was a 'takeaway meal' it was permissible.

During the same period, Gething was also caught swearing about one of his own colleagues, MS Jenny Rathbone.  Gething failed to mute his microphone during a video call and was heard to say: "What the f*** is the matter with her?", much to the amusement, bewilderment and horror of the participants (video below).

In 2017, Gething was being interviewed by ITV Wales and walked away after the reporter asked him about his failure to hold an inquiry into allegations that a hospital worker had sexually abused vulnerable patients.  Background checks had not been carried out prior to the man's employment and he would later go on to murder his next door neighbour.

More recently, Gething was found to have received a £200,000 donation towards his leadership campaign from controversial businessman David Neal.  Neal had been convicted twice of illegally dumping waste and Gething had earlier lobbied on his behalf, namely to get regulators to ease restrictions on Neal's company, Atlantic Recycling.  The whole affair stank of more than just waste.

Gething Walks Away Mid-Interview

Gething Swears During Video Call

Vaughan Gething is expected to be sworn in as First Minister next week, but will not face the electorate until 2026, when the next Senedd elections are due to be held.  With all three of Great Britain's main political leaders now from a non-white background, it remains to be seen whether the hysterical left will continue to portray our nation as 'institutionally racist'.  Of course they will!

FAREWELL GAB

Following the despicable co-ordinated assault on free speech social network Parler in 2021, alternative platforms rose to prominence.  Our attention was drawn to Gab, quite possibly the most liberal site with regards to free speech.  The site was also easy to navigate, with a simple layout and a total lack of censorship.  Three years on and almost two thousand posts later, we have not experienced a single 'fact check' or a warning for our 'Gabs'.  Richey has gabbed off almost daily, despite amassing our smallest social media following on any site - we maxed out at 147 for the best part of 18 months, having tired of trying to persuade Facebook followers to join the network.

Last week Karl found that he could not attach one of his memes to a post and it soon became clear that Gab had decided to go down the subscription route.  This meant that we would have to pay ten dollars per month in order to post memes and videos to the site.  With 146 followers at that point, we quickly decided that our time with Gab should come to an end.  With thousands of articles and millions of hits, our priority has to be this website, for which we have to pay a fee each year and which we mostly pay out of our own pockets.

Our Gab profile page will remain online and you can view it here any time.  As we say farewell to Gab, we can now donate more time to another free speech platform - GETTR.

BY-ELECTIONS 29.02.24

George Galloway is the new MP for Rochdale following one of the most bizarre by-elections in Westminster history.  The Workers Party leader polled almost twice as many votes as his nearest rival, the surprise second placed local independent David Tully.  The disavowed Labour candidate Azhar Ali finished a distant fourth, despite the Labour party name and logo still assigned to him on the ballot paper.  He also appeared first on the ballot, courtesy of the alphabet, but the ovwhelming majority of voters skipped past his name and went for one of the other ten candidates.

The result was a particular disappointment for Reform UK, who chose former Rochdale's former Labour MP as their candidate.  Like Azhar Ali, Simon Danczuk did not even hang around for the result.  Reform finished sixth, behind even the Lib Dems, albeit they saved their deposit.  Reform leader Richard Tice issued a furious tweet prior to the result, alleging that his activists had been subjected to death threats and racist abuse during the campaign.

The rest of the field was made up of mostly independents and a Green candidate, but only on paper as he, like Ali, had been disowned by his party during the election campaign.  The Green Party instead got behind a Just Stop Oil activist, Mark Coleman, who appeared to throw orange confetti towards Galloway during his victory speech.

What a clown show.  It remains to be seen whether Galloway will be able to hold off Labour in a general election, but rest assured - he will continue to sow division and whip up the local Muslim community between now and then.

Rochdale Parliamentary By-Election

George Galloway (WPB) 12,335 (39.7%) New

David Tully (Ind) 6,638 (21.3%) New

Paul Ellison (Con) 3,731 (12.0%) -19.2%

Azhar Ali (Lab*) 2,402 (7.7%) -43.9%

Iain Donaldson (LDem) 2,164 (7.0%) N/c

Simon Danczuk (RefUK) 1,968 (6.3%) -1.9%

William Howarth (Ind) 523 (1.7%) New

Mark Coleman (Ind) 455 (1.5%) New

Guy Otten (Grn*) 436 (1.4%) -0.7%

Michael Howarth (Ind) 246 (0.8%) New

Ravin Rodent Subortna (Loon) 209 (0.7%) New

WPB GAIN from Lab

* Candidates not endorsed by their own parties

There were also five council by-elections on Thursday.  The Lib Dems held both the seats they were defending in East Yorkshire, while Labour defended a seat in Great Yarmouth.  The absence of an independent in the latter appeared to benefit the Tory candidate marginally more than it did Labour.  In West Sussex two seats changed hands.  The Greens gained an independent seat, while the Conservatives gained a seat from the Lib Dems.

Minster & Woodmansey, East Riding of Yorkshire Council

LDem: 1,438 (50.7%) +8.6%

Con: 706 (24.9%) -1.9%

Lab: 495 (17.4%) -9.4%

Grn: 198 (7.0%) New

LDem HOLD

Tranby, East Riding of Yorkshire Council

LDem: 958 (55.3%) +4.4%

Lab: 408 (23.6%) +2.7%

Con: 268 (15.5%) -4.2%

Grn: 97 (5.6%) -2.9%

LDem HOLD

Central & Northgate, Great Yarmouth Borough Council

Lab: 482 (52.6%) +6.5%

Con: 296 (32.3%) +7.7%

LDem: 139 (15.2%) +3.3%

Lab HOLD

Henfield, Horsham District Council

Grn: 668 (44.2%) +19.8%

Con: 569 (37.7%) +12.9%

Lab: 215 (14.2%) -5.2%

LDem: 59 (3.9%) -2.4%

Grn GAIN from Ind

Southwater North, Horsham District Council

Con: 618 (49.0%) +11.2%

LDem: 388 (30.8%) -13.0%

Grn: 162 (12.9%) +3.8%

Lab: 92 (7.3%) -2.0%

Con GAIN from LDem

Abbreviations

WPB = Workers Party of Britain

Con = Conservative

Lab = Labour

LDem = Liberal Democrat

RefUK - Reform UK

Grn = Green

Loon = Monster Raving Loony

Ind = Independents

DARE WE SAY IT? ALI WAS RIGHT! PROBABLY...

Next week's big Westminster by-election could turn out to be a damp squib thanks to Labour.  They were favourites to hold Rochdale, but that was before they disowned their candidate.  On paper, voters have a Labour candidate named Azhar Ali, but it's a wasted vote as he won't represent Labour if elected.  It's a laughable situation and the bookies have since installed George Galloway as the new favourite.  Galloway is standing for his hard left Workers Party of Britain, with the politics of the Middle East at the forefront of the campaign - such is the depth to which Britain has sunk into the multi-cultural abyss.

Meanwhile, Azhar Ali's Labour career is destined to remain in the local politics of the quasi-Islamist towns of south Lancashire and Greater Manchester.  His election would merely give him an independent seat in the Commons for the remainder of this year at best, or just a matter of months depending on which date Sunak goes to the polls.

Ali's career floundered upon a media exposé of his supposedly 'anti-Semitic' views.  Starmer acted to suspend him after a couple of remarks leaked, ostensibly a reference to 'Jewish quarters' in the media and a boast of having persuaded several Lancastrian towns not to parade the colours of the Israeli flag in the wake of the Hamas attacks.  However, he was not suspended for the initial Daily Mail exposé in which he voiced his firm belief that Israel allowed the Hamas attacks to proceed unhindered, thus giving them the justification to attack, invade, occupy and potentially even annexe Gaza.

This 'conspiracy theory' sparked 'outrage' claimed the Mail.  How on earth could a state allow the massacre of its own citizens to justify a war?  Of course, this faux outrage takes place in the established world where us mugs are supposed to believe that the Americans did not do exactly the same thing in September 2001 and used those attacks to justify carnage across the Middle East that continues to this day.

Now bear in mind that the mainstream media is constantly involved in psychological warfare against its own consumers, lurching from one scare story to the next, often creating contradictions in the process.  Lo and behold, it was none other than the Daily Mail itself that was among many news outlets that alleged that Israel deliberately downplayed prior warnings of the Hamas attacks.  The following headline appeared online in November.

The Mail report is based on an actual news story from Israel itself, and so it is remarkably shortsighted that in the space of three months such a significant revelation has become a tinfoil-hatted conspiracy while still - at the time of writing - freely available on the Mail website.

The mass media are so invested in the arrogant belief that its consumers are so stupid they won't ask questions.  Question everything they tell you, because what they tell you is almost certainly not in your own interest.

BY-ELECTIONS 15.02.24

Labour have struck a double blow to Rishi Sunak with two huge Westminster gains in Thursday's two big by-elections.  In the Gloucestershire seat of Kingswood, Labour required an 11.4 per cent swing and achieved 16.4 per cent.  In Northamptonshire the result was even more impressive.  For victory in Wellingborough, the party required at least 17.9 per cent and they smashed it with a whopping 28.5 per cent.  Election guru Professor John Curtice says the latter was the second biggest swing from Tory to Labour since the Second World War and says the results show the government is in 'deep, deep electoral trouble'.  Keir Starmer 'still looks on course to be Britain's next Prime Minister', he added.

As the Tory vote plummeted, Labour were not the only beneficiaries.  Reform UK came from nowhere in both seats to easily hold onto their deposits.  The Lib Dems lost both of theirs.

The two Labour victories may be short-lived - boundary changes mean both constituencies will disappear at the next election - but even so, these results are a devastating reminder that a Labour government is almost certainly on the way.

Kingswood Parliamentary By-Election

Damien Egan (Lab) 11,176 (44.9%) +11.5%

Sam Bromiley (Con) 8,675 (34.5%) -21.7%

Rupert Lowe (RefUK) 2,578 (10.4%) New

Lorraine Francis (Grn) 1,450 (5.8%) +3.4%

Andrew Brown (LDem) 861 (3.5%) -3.5%

Nicholas Wood (UKIP) 129 (0.5%) New

Lab GAIN from Con

Wellingborough Parliamentary By-Election

Gen Kitchen (Lab) 13,844 (45.9%) +19.4%

Helen Harrison (Con) 7,408 (24.6%) -37.6%

Ben Habib (RefUK) 3,919 (13.0%) New

Ana Gunn (LDem) 1,422 (4.7%) -3.2%

Marion Turner-Hawes (Ind) 1,115 (3.7%) New

Will Morris (Grn) 1,020 (3.4%) -0.1%

Kev Watts (Ind) 533 (1.8%) New

Alex Merola (BritF) 477 (1.6%) New

Nick the Flying Brick (Loon) 217 (0.7%) New

Andre Pyne-Bailey (Ind) 172 (0.6%) New

Ankit Love Jknpp Jay Mala Post-Mortem (Ind) 18 (0.1%) New

Lab GAIN from Con

There were also five council by-elections on Thursday and proceedings largely belonged to the Lib Dems with two strong holds and a gain from Labour.  The Tory vote was down in the three elections it contested, with Labour having mixed results, albeit they gained an independent seat in south Wales.

Tring West & Rural, Dacorum Borough Council

LDem: 899 (62.7%) +12.9%

Con: 303 (21.1%) -3.0%

Grn: 122 (8.5%) -9.6%

Lab: 109 (7.6%) -0.3%

LDem HOLD

Four Marks & Medstead, East Hampshire District Council

LDem: 1,212 (62.2%) +18.9%

Con: 736 (37.8%) -2.3%

LDem HOLD

Avenue, Hull City Council

LDem: 1,186 (45.7%) +4.3%

Lab: 1,029 (39.7%) -8.4%

Grn: 198 (7.6%) n/c

Ind: 139 (5.3%) New

Con: 43 (1.7%) -1.3%

LDem GAIN from Lab

Briton Ferry East, Neath Port Talbot Council

Lab: 287 (52.4%) +8.0%

Ind: 234 (42.7%) -1.9%

Grn: 27 (4.9%) New

Lab GAIN from Ind

Rhos, Neath Port Talbot Council

Ind: 494 (52.1%) New

Plaid: 242 (25.5%) -29.1%

Lab: 137 (14.5%) -30.9%

LDem: 60 (6.3%) New

Grn: 15 (1.6%) New

Ind GAIN from Plaid

Abbreviations

Lab = Labour

Con = Conservative

RefUK = Reform UK

Grn = Green

LDem = Liberal Democrat

UKIP = United Kingdom Independence Party

BritF = Britain First

Loon = Monster Raving Loony

Plaid = Plaid Cymru

Ind = Independent

LABOUR AT THE DOUBLE?

Labour candidates are hoping to succeed outgoing Tory MPs Chris Skidmore (left)
and Peter Bone (right)

Labour cannot now win in Rochdale next week, but they are still odds on favourites to pick up two morale boosting gains from the Conservatives this week.  These imminent Westminster by-elections centre on two shire towns - Kingswood in Gloucestershire and Wellingborough in Northamptonshire.  Labour victories here would be short-lived as both constituencies will cease to exist at the next election thanks to boundary changes.  Kingswood is being abolished altogether and Wellingborough will be redrawn as Wellingborough and Rushden.

The Kingswood constituency will bow out in its fiftieth year, having spent 23 years with a Labour MP (1974-79, 1992-2010) and 27 years with a Tory (1979-1992, 2010-2024).  From 2010 the seat has been represented by Chris Skidmore, a net zero fanatic who wanted to make the ultimate protest statement by resigning before his seat was abolished.  His claim to fame is that he was the minister who signed the government's net zero pledge into law.  That was back in 2019 under the premiership of Theresa May and since then he has become increasingly focused on net zero and so-called 'climate change'.

Skidmore departs the Westminster gravy train with his rattle firmly thrown out of the pram in protest at Rishi Sunak's relaxation of key net zero targets - the PM's 'greatest mistake' according to Skidmore.  The electorate clearly disagree, as we now see Labour too rowing back on their own insane climate pledges.  Is there an election around the corner?

For Labour to win in Kingswood, they require a swing of 11.4 per cent to overturn the Tory majority of 11,220.  There are six candidates in total.

Kingswood Candidates

Sam Bromiley (Con)

Andrew Brown (LDem)

Damien Egan (Lab)

Lorraine Francis (Grn)

Rupert Lowe (RefUK)

Nicholas Wood (UKIP)

The Wellingborough vacancy came about by way of a successful recall petition against its Tory MP Peter Bone.  Since the Recall of MPs Act in 2015, this mechanism has been used five times across the UK, four of which have reached the minimum 10 per cent of signatures required to dismiss the MP in question.  Bone is the second Conservative to be kicked out this way, with 13.2 per cent of his constituents as signatories.

Bone's downfall came after repeated allegations of bullying and sexual misconduct were upheld by an independent body set up specifically to tackle complaints against MPs.  The male complainant contacted the body in 2021 after the issue had been raised with former PMs Cameron and May without success.  The panel recommended that Bone be suspended from the Commons, an outcome that was upheld after appeal.  The suspension triggered the recall process and Bone was stripped of the Tory whip, although he still denies the accusations.

Bone gained the Wellinborough seat from Labour in 2005 and built a solid majority from 2010 onwards, the largest of which was in 2019 and stood at 18,540.  The selection of Bone's lover Helen Harrison as the Tory candidate means that he could still potentially retain the seat by proxy.

At 17.9 per cent, Labour require a bigger swing to win here.  The ballot paper will be a crowded affair, with eleven candidates and a couple of intriguing names.

Wellingborough Candidates

Nick the Flying Brick (Loon)

Ana Gunn (LDem)

Ben Habib (RefUK)

Helen Harrison (Con)

Ankit Love Jknpp Jay Mala Post-Mortem (Ind)

Gen Kitchen (Lab)

Alex Merola (BritF)

Will Morris (Grn)

Andre Pyne-Bailey (Ind)

Marion Turner-Hawes (Ind)

Kev Watts (Ind)

LABOUR DEBACLE IN ROCHDALE

Azhar Ali and Keir Starmer in happier days

In a bizarre turn of events, next week's Westminster by-election in Rochdale will be defended by a Labour candidate who has been suspended from the party.  Azhar Ali was suspended on Monday after comments came to light regarding Israel and Jewish media influence.

The initial 'revelations' about Ali came in the Mail on Sunday, that had obtained a recording in which Ali addresses a Labour meeting following the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel.  In it, he suggests that Israel 'allowed' the attacks to proceed in order to justify their invasion of Gaza.  As media interest in the story grew, Ali issued several grovelling public apologies on social media and Labour initially stood by their man, saying that he had 'fallen for an online conspiracy theory'.

"The Egyptians are saying that they warned Israel ten days earlier.  Americans warned them a day before: 'There's something happening'.  They deliberately took the security off, they allowed the massacre of 1,200 innocent people and that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want."

(Azhar Ali, Lancashire Labour meeting, October 2023)

However, the Mail had more ammunition in reserve and on Monday morning released further audio transcripts, including details of how Ali and colleagues put pressure on local councils to not co-operate with Rishi Sunak's decree that all government buildings be decked out in the colours of the Israeli flag.  Ali asserts that the exercise would 'cause community problems and tensions' and says: "We do not want the Israeli flag flying from the town halls at Nelson, Burnley, Accrington, [inaudible, possibly Blackburn], Preston."

Ali goes on to defend hard left Labour MP Andy McDonald, who was suspended from the party following a speech he made at a pro-Palestine rally last year.  Ali then refers to the media response to McDonald's speech from 'certain Jewish quarters'.

Keir Starmer finally bucked to media pressure on Monday afternoon and all Labour campaigning on behalf of Ali was ordered to cease that evening.  Later, having announced that the party had 'withdrawn support' for Ali, it was confirmed that his party membership had been suspended.  It was too near polling day to remove Ali as the Labour candidate altogether and his name will still appear on the ballot paper as a Labour candidate, although if he is elected he will enter Parliament as an independent.

It is unclear as to how this clown show will influence the result of the February 29th by-election, but the bookies have now made George Galloway odds on favourite to win a seat in which the Muslim vote appears to be the only one that matters.

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 08.02.24

It's been a while since we looked in on council by-elections, but with a big month for Westminster by-elections coming up we thought it was time to look in and see what's happening around the country.

This week there were four council seats up for grabs - two in England and two in Wales.  Every seat changed hands, with a gain each for the Tories, Plaid and Lib Dems.  The Crewe Central result raised a few eyebrows in the Twitterverse with the Conservatives taking a seat off Labour with a huge swing.

Ebbw Vale South, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

Ind: 239 (60.4%) New

Lab: 124 (31.3%) -11.0%

Grn: 33 (8.3%) New

Ind GAIN from Ind

Crewe Central, Cheshire East Council

Con: 335 (43.3%) +19.8%

Lab: 277 (35.8%) -18.9%

CFst: 128 (16.5%) +1.2%

WEP: 22 (2.8%) New

Grn: 12 (1.6%) New

Con GAIN from Lab

Criccieth, Cyngor Gwynedd Council

Plaid: 381 (71.9%) +30.3%

Ind: 129 (24.3%) New

LDem: 11 (2.1%) New

Con: 9 (1.7%) New

Plaid GAIN from Ind

East Hunsbury & Shelfleys, West Northamptonshire Council

LDem: 820 (38.8%) +15.8%

Con: 746 (35.3%) -16.9%

Lab: 547 (25.9%) +1.1%

LDem GAIN from Con

Abbreviations

Lab = Labour

Grn = Green

Con = Conservative

CFst = Crewe First

WEP = Women's Equality Party

Plaid = Plaid Cymru

LDem = Liberal Democrat

Ind = Independent

LABOUR'S SHOCK URDU VIDEO

The death of Labour's Tony Lloyd last month sparked a by-election that was rapidly scheduled for the 29th of February.  Labour hit the ground running, selecting Rochdale councillor Azhar Ali as their candidate before Mr Lloyd was even cold.  Nomination papers are already in for all candidates, weeks ahead of Lloyd's funeral.

Last week Cllr Ali appeared in a video posted to Twitter, alongside Manchester Gorton MP Afzal Khan.  Ali addresses the camera in English, which is followed by a translation from Khan into Urdu.  This shock video formed the basis of our latest YouTube effort (click below).

Labour's reliance on the block Muslim vote is well documented, but for a candidate to produce a video in the national language of Pakistan for a by-election in England shows a damning lack of integration for a community already viewed with suspicion following repeated rape gang convictions.

Labour are odds-on favourites to win the Rochdale by-election, a seat they have held since 2010.  Prior to that the seat changed hands several times between Labour and the Lib Dems throughout the 90s and 00s.  Labour's majority in 2019 was 9,668 over the second placed Conservatives.

Second place this time around is anyone's guess, with George Galloway out for revenge and likely to whip up his own Muslim support by putting the politics of the Middle East front and centre of his campaign.  Galloway is not the only former Labour MP standing with vengeance in mind.  Eyebrows were raised when Reform UK selected Simon Danczuk as their candidate.  Danczuk was Labour MP for Rochdale between 2010 and 2017, although he had the party whip withdrawn in 2015 after it emerged that he had exchanged explicit messages with a 17-year-old.

The full roster of eleven candidates is as follows.

Azhar Ali (Lab)

Mark Coleman (Ind)

Simon Danczuk (RefUK)

Iain Donaldson (LDem)

Paul Ellison (Con)

George Galloway (Workers)

Michael Howarth (Ind)

William Howarth (Ind)

Guy Otten (Grn)

Ravin Subortna (Loon)

David Tully (Ind)

KATE OSAMOR SUSPENDED

Kate Osamor has become the latest member of Labour's Socialist Campaign Group to fall foul of the Starmer regime.  The MP for Edmonton was suspended on Sunday evening following a tweet she sent out on Friday.  The tweet referred to the invasion of Gaza as a 'genocide' and suggested it should be commemorated on Holocaust Memorial Day.

Osamor wrote: "Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day, an international day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the millions of other people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups and more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and now Gaza."

Osamor deleted the tweet the same day and apologised in another: "I apologise for any offence caused by my reference to the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza as part of that [Holocaust Memorial Day] period of remembrance."

She later rewrote her earlier tweet, replacing Gaza with Darfur.

Her attempts to make amends for the perceived slight fell on deaf ears and Osamor now joins hard left colleagues such as Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn outside the Parliamentary Labour Party.  Momentum,Owen Jones and the usual assortment of Palestinian flag shaggers were quick to defend Osamor.  Jones called her suspension a 'moral disgrace'.  Momentum insinuated that race was a factor in Osamor's suspension, writing on Twitter: "We call on all in Labour to resist this shameful and opportunistic attempt to hound another black woman out of the party."

There are now ten MPs elected for Labour now sitting as independents, having had the whip suspended.  Of these, three are black women - Osamor, Abbott and the absurd Claudia Webbe.  Webbe's replacement in Leicester East has already been selected, while Abbott is expected to be replaced as Hackney North's Labour candidate.  Whether Osamor will join them on the permanent scrapheap remains to be seen.

NETFLIX SPECIALS UPSET THE LEFT

Some light relief with our first YouTube video of 2024, courtesy of stand-up routines from Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais which have upset the woke mob.  Comedy will die if the left have it their way, but thankfully it's not easy to cancel ultra wealthy established comics who are featured on what is already one of the most woke platforms there is - Netflix.

The jokes that have upset the left are both featured in our video, hosted as usual by Richey.  Watch below or on YouTube (eight minute watch).