CAPLIN'S POWERFUL FOLLOWERS

Just a few of the prominent faces who follow Caplin's sordid X account

*** UPDATE *** Caplin deleted his X account on Thursday afternoon

Earlier this week we exposed the sickening debauchery of Ivor Caplin's X feed.  It was a small microcosm of something that would take Caplin hours, if not days, to delete now that he has been released from custody.  While it's not yet clear if he has been charged or released on bail, we know that he began using his X account again on Wednesday, because he retweeted several (non-pornographic) posts.  If no charges are brought against Caplin it would be an outrage, as the self-styled 'paedophile hunters' who snared him will have supplied police with all the proof they need.  Furthermore, police officers are known to have raided Caplin's Hove flat while he was in custody and according to neighbours the search 'took several hours'.

However, we also know that Caplin has powerful friends.  As soon as news broke of his arrest, X users began to make notes of who followed his account and the names were huge...

The official Labour party X account was following Caplin's account at the time of his arrest, although it was quickly unfollowed after the news broke.  Many other high profile Labour figures also followed Caplin on X, some of whom have since unfollowed him - including the likes of Yvette Cooper and Wes Streeting - but not before eagle-eyed X users screenshot their names.

At the time of his arrest, serving Labour MPs who followed Caplin's X account included Luke Akehurst (North Durham), Phil Brickell (Bolton West), Liam Byrne (Birmingham Hodge Hill), Jim Dickson (Dartford), Clive Efford (Eltham & Chislehurst), Fabian Hamilton (Leeds East), Sharon Hodgson (Washington & Gateshead South), Dan Jarvis (Barnsley North), Gerald Jones (Merthyr & Aberdare), Alison McGovern (Birkenhead), Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North), Fred Thomas (Plymouth Moor View), Gareth Thomas (Harrow West), Matt Turmaine (Watford), Paul Waugh (Rochdale) and Catherine West (Hornsey & Friern Barnet).

Serving Labour ministers who follow or followed his account include Janet Daby (Lewisham East), Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South & Penarth), Nia Griffith (Llanelli), Andrew Gwynne (Gorton & Denton), Peter Kyle (Hove & Portslade), Luke Pollard (Plymouth Sutton & Devonport), Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge & Hyde) and last, but not least - Yvette Cooper, Dave Lammy, Angela Rayner, Rachel Reeves and Wes Streeting.

A fairly recent photo of Caplin with his local MP and current frontbencher Peter Kyle

At the time of writing, Caplin's account is also followed by Lord (Michael) Cashman, Baroness (Janet) Royall, Baroness (Jacqui) Smith, former MPs Wayne David and Julie Elliot, former PM Gordon Brown and the despicable Alastair Campbell.  However, the name of most interest is that of the deceased former MP Jack Dromey, who - along with Patricia Hewitt and his wife Harriet Harman - were involved in the PIE scandal of the 1970s.  P.I.E stands for the Paedophile Information Exchange, which campaigned for the abolition of the age of consent and was linked to a libertarian group of which the trio were prominent members.

For those who suspect that the total lack of media coverage over the weekend from the major news channels is perhaps indicative of some kind of conspiracy, it will surely be of interest to note that many journalists follow Caplin too - including the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, the senior editor of Newsnight, the i newspaper's Benjamin Butterworth, Dan Hodges of The Daily Mail and many more.  If they were able and/or willing to report freely, why did none of them expose the disgusting content of Caplin's X feed?

Finally, to cap it all off, Caplin's account is followed by the official X account of the Crown Prosecution Service.  It will be of no great surprise to anyone if no charges are brought...

EX-LABOUR MINISTER ARRESTED

A former minister in Tony Blair's government has been arrested after a sting operation by self-styled 'paedophile hunters'.  Ivor Caplin was the MP for Hove between 1997 and 2005.

Caplin was collared by the activists after he allegedly arranged to meet a 15-year-old boy for sex.  The clip below shows an exchange between the former MP and his captors just moments before Sussex Police officers arrived and apprehended him themselves.

The sting took place in Caplin's home town of Brighton.  The former Veterans' Minister was suspended from Labour in June last year over 'serious allegations'.  Those allegations were not made public.  Caplin is openly gay.

His last prominent role in relation to Labour was as chair of the Labour affiliate group the Jewish Labour Movement.  He spent a year in that role before being voted out in 2019.

Sussex Police have released the following statement:

"We are aware of footage circulating on social media showing a man in Brighton being detained on suspicion of engaging in online sexual communications with a child.  Officers can confirm that a local 66-year-old man was arrested on Saturday January 11 and currently remains in custody.  This is an ongoing and active investigation."

EDDIE LOOKS SOUTH FOR NEXT FAILURE

Perennial Labour failure Eddie Izzard has launched a fresh bid to get selected as a general election candidate.  Izzard, who is now bizarrely referred to as she/her in mainstream media, is seeking the nod for Brighton Pavilion, currently held by the Green Party.  Eddie was last seen trying to get selected for the safe Labour seat of Sheffield Central.  He came a distant second in a ballot of local members.

Izzard has tried multiple times to gain official status in the party.  He twice failed to get elected to Labour's ruling National Executive Committee, although he briefly managed to sit on it by default, after the resignation of Christine Shawcroft in 2018.  A few months later he was voted out.  A bid to be Labour's candidate for London mayor also came to nothing.

Izzard launched his latest bid to join the Westminster gravy train in a video posted on social media.  Ironically, he signs off by copying the famous MAGA slogan of the hated Trump: "Let's make Brighton Pavilion Labour again".  The constituency hasn't had a Labour MP since 2010 when Caroline Lucas of the Green Party took it.  Since then she has increased the Green majority with each successive election, which currently stands at an impressive 19,940.  Although Lucas is standing down, her replacement will be former party leader Siân Berry and Izzard will have his work cut out to overturn such a commanding lead - that's if he even manages to get the nomination in the first place.

Brighton Pavilion, 2019 General Election

Caroline Lucas (Grn) 33,151 (57.2%) +4.9%

Adam Imanpour (Lab) 13,211 (22.8%) -4.0%

Emma Hogan (Con) 10,176 (17.5%) -1.7%

Richard Milton (Brxt) 770 (1.3%) New

Citizen Skwith (Loon) 301 (0.5%) New

Bob Dobbs (Ind) 212 (0.4%) New

Nigel Furness (UKIP) 177 (0.3%) -0.8%

IRA BANNER IN MANCHESTER

This was the sick banner hung on a canal bridge in Manchester over the weekend as Conservatives gathered for their party conference.  The banner references the IRA statement released following the Brighton bombing in 1984, an attack that killed five people attending the Tory party conference.

For previous Tory conferences in Manchester effigies were hung from bridges beneath banners reading 'Hang the Tories' and '130,000 killed under Tory rule, time to level the playing field'.  A red flag was painted on one banner, not that the political motivation of the culprits was in any doubt.  Red flags were very much on display on Sunday as several far left groups protested outside the conference.

The Young Communist League is the youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain, one of whose slogans is laughably 'peace and socialism'.  With their faces covered behind a resistance banner, they looked anything but peaceful.

Other groups protesting included the youth wing of the Green Party and various anti-Brexit balloon heads including Drunk Steve and Femi Izawally.

On day two of the conference two prominent Tories were confronted in the street by people shouting 'Tory scum', echoing the words of Angela Rayner during the Labour conference.  Jacob Rees-Mogg was pursued and surrounded by several individuals, including one waving an EU flag and one waving an Irish tricolour.  In a separate incident Iain Duncan Smith was pursued by a group, one of whom is alleged to have swung a traffic cone at his head.  Five people have been arrested in connection with the latter incident.

There are still two days of the conference left.

HYPOCRITE COUNCILLOR'S BLM SPEECH

Last weekend there was a Black Lives Matter march in Brighton that was attended by up to 2,000 people (local news) or up to 5,000 (national news).  Note the discrepancy.  The march ended in a city park where protesters listened to speeches that included Labour councillor Nick Childs.  His speech was so extreme it could have come from any of the Marxist organisers of BLM.  He railed against capitalism, linking it intrinsically with (anti-black) racism.  He criticised the police and urged marchers to 'challenge police violence' and make things 'intolerable' for them.  He also urged white people to 'read' and challenge their 'own inevitable racism'.

Watch below.

Note that Childs doesn't say 'some' white people when he's referring to 'inevitable racism'.  He objectifies white people as a collective, an act of demonisation that is in itself racism.  This was just one of many ironies in his speech.  Just a few weeks after Gandhi's statue was vandalised in London by BLM supporters who designated him a racist - Cllr Childs opts to finish his speech with a quote from... Mahatma Gandhi.

It was also breathtaking how this patently middle class latte lefty chose to paint himself as one of the workers.  Last year it was revealed that the Corbynista sends his daughter to the most expensive private girls' schools in the country - the £40,000 a year Roedean School.  The revelation was brought to the attention of the public after the newly elected councillor had campaigned prominently against school privatisation.  When the Daily Mail approached him for comment he confirmed that one of his children attended a 'local independent school', but that this was 'not up for public debate' and his own views on privatisation 'should not be confused with my family's personal decision'.  Sound familiar?

Diane Abbott, Emily Thornberry, Shami Chakrabarti, Cllr Nick Childs - it never ceases to amaze how many of those who so publicly rail against capitalism secretly reap its benefits.

Cllr Nick Childs with local Labour MP and fellow Corbynista - Lloyd Russell-Moyle

RUSSELL-MOYLE QUITS

Lloyd Russell-Moyle

The hard left continue to cancel themselves as another member of Starmer's front bench departs.  Lloyd Russell-Moyle has stood down as Shadow Minister for Natural Environment and Air Quality blaming the 'right-wing media' for causing him 'stress'.  His appointment to Starmer's front bench raised a few eyebrows at the time given his past behaviour.  In December 2018 he grabbed the ceremonial mace in the Commons and marched off with it before handing it back and being thrown out.  A year later following his re-election as the MP for Brighton Kemptown he gave an extraordinary acceptance speech in which he ranted and raved like a lunatic.  In the last few weeks he has issued two apologies - one for a spat over trans rights with JK Rowling and the other for comments on Jewish claims to Israel.

Russell-Moyle has released the following statement on his resignation.

Russell-Moyle is the second double-barrelled departure in less than a month following Rebecca Long-Bailey's sacking.  The mini-exodus leaves a tiny handful of Corbyn loyalists on Starmer's front bench, the most senior of which is Andy McDonald (Shadow Secretary of State for Employent Rights and Protections).

Corbyn critic and former Labour MP Ian Austin mocked Russell-Moyle's decision on Twitter, calling it 'heartbreaking'.  The Jewish Labour Movement also welcomed his departure, releasing the following statement.

BRISTOL MOB REPLACE COLSTON

The Colston plinth has a new statue, a sculpture of Black Lives Matter
protester Jen Reid who stood on the plinth after Colston was toppled

The erection of a Black Lives Matter sculpture in place of the Colston statue should come as no surprise to anyone.  The Bristol mob has been empowered at every turn ever since Avon and Somerset Police allowed them to topple Colston and drag him down to the harbour.  Despite the incident being filmed and broadcast to the world, the local police have not charged anyone.  An 18-year-old who handed himself in was merely given a caution and absurdly told he must attend a meeting to discuss the future of statuary in Bristol.  So a man who took part in an act of vandalism against one statue gets a say on the future of other statues?  This is a reward, not a punishment.

Following the removal of the Colston statue there followed a blitzkrieg on all references to him across the city.  Street names were painted over and institutions swiftly moved to rename their buildings.  Within four days of the fall of the statue the owners of an office block called 'Colston Tower' removed his name from the building.  One pub changed its name while another hastily covered up its name and erected a Black Lives Matter sign outside as a way to placate the mob and try and protect his business from attack.  Stained glass windows in honour of Colston were removed from one church while the Diocese committed to removing others saying that the toppling of Colston was a "signal for it to act".  Despite Bristol having benefited from the philanthropy of Edward Colston, his name will probably disappear altogether by the end of this year at the behest of a mob.  This is a shameful act of historical revisionism that should concern us all.

Colston Street was one of many vandalised signs in Bristol

The dawn erection of a BLM statue on top of Colston's plinth is the latest episode of this worrying saga.  However, it is not the first time a sculpture has appeared at the site since the toppling.  Last month leftists dumped a sculpture of a white working class male on top of a wheelie bin opposite the Colston plinth.  This vulgar act failed to draw the attention of the national media, but they were there on cue to celebrate the erection of a black power monument in the early hours of Wednesday.  Channel 4 News didn't just turn up to see it erected, they had such advance warning they had made a mini-documentary showcasing its construction with a voice-over from the sculptor.  "In with black power" they announced on Twitter...

Out with the slave trader, in with black power.

The statue of Edward Colston has been unofficially replaced with a sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester. pic.twitter.com/32kst0HOjr

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) July 15, 2020

Other news channels followed suit with a number of interviews, all of which were supportive of the new statue and all of whom wanted it to stay.  "Hope flows through her" announced the sculptor in an interview with The Guardian.  No, hate flows through her.  That's what Black Lives Matter is built on - hatred and division - although you'd never have known it from the one-sided coverage of the mainstream media.  Their propaganda has been tangible throughout this Marxist insurgency and their gleeful coverage of the new sculpture will only serve to embolden the mob further.

The mainstream media should be careful what they wish for.  CNN in America followed the same pro-BLM narrative and ended up having their headquarters in Atlanta trashed by the mob.  When protests re-erupted several weeks later CNN put up fencing around their building to protect it from the same violence they helped foment.  And for those who think this is just a passing fad for Britain and we will not suffer the same fate as so many US cities have done, this is the incendiary speech a BLM activist gave in London only last weekend...

The protesters have not gone away and we are only half way through our summer.  In addition to the London event there was a huge BLM march in Brighton on Saturday after a black man was restrained by officers in the city last week.  Media coverage of the march conveniently failed to mention that a missing vulnerable teenager had been found at the man's property leading to his arrest.  A Labour councillor who addressed the Brighton crowd told them that white people needed to "challenge our own inevitable racism".  Cllr Nick Childs also condemned capitalism as the source of racism and left the marchers in no doubt that to defeat racism they needed to overthrow capitalism.  These are dangerous people.

It remains to be seen as to how long the new statue stands on Colston's plinth, but Bristol's elected mayor has confirmed that permission was not given for it.  Labour's Marvin Rees did not explicitly state that the new sculpture would be removed, only that the "future of any plinth and any memorial must be decided on by the people of Bristol".  Rees has previously justified the toppling of the Colston statue.  Would he justify the toppling of the BLM statue?  Would Avon and Somerset Police be as forgiving to anyone who attempted to topple it?  It's there illegally after all.  It simply must come down, otherwise the mob will win yet again and who knows where they will go from there and what they will do next.

LABOUR ACTIVIST LED LOCKDOWN DEMO

Piers Corbyn is not the only left-wing figure leading coronadeniers onto the streets in protest at the lockdown.  Earlier this week a demonstration was held in Hove and was led by a senior Labour activist.  Louise Creffield sits on the executive committee of Kemptown and Peacehaven Labour and the local newspaper reports she is a former employee of MP and shadow minister Lloyd Russell-Moyle.

On Monday Creffield addressed an assortment of coronadeniers on the seafront, many of whom voiced opposition to 5G and a potential coronavirus vaccine.  Sussex Police escorted the protesters along the promenade, but no arrests were made despite the group's refusal to adhere to social distancing.  The following clip was filmed by local journalist Sam Gruet.

Creffield is listed as the 'Women's Liaison Officer' on the website for Kemptown and Peacehaven Labour.  Russell-Moyle, MP for Brighton Kemptown and also her former employer, lambasted her actions: "I’m afraid what she is doing is tantamount to bonkers.  By going on protests about this, linked with 5G, it’s so bonkers that you have no credibility in political discourse in my view".

Coming from him, this is a bit rich.  Russell-Moyle is one of the daftest MPs in Parliament right now.  A member of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, he has exposed himself to ridicule on several occasions.  In December 2018 he seized the ceremonial mace during a Commons debate and got himself suspended for the rest of the sitting.  When he was re-elected in 2019, Russell-Moyle gave one of the most extraordinary victory speeches, ranting and raving like a lunatic.  After the election a series of text messages was leaked in which he referred to MPs calling for Corbyn's resignation as "c****s".  Earlier this year he assessed the trans row enveloping Labour by declaring that gender "was not binary".

Yes, the likes of Louise Creffield are a little bit bonkers, but the loony left that backed Corbyn to the hilt are in no fit shape to judge.

LABOUR COUNCILLORS IN SPAIN NIGHTMARE

You may have seen the video that circulated online last week of an ignorant British tourist being dragged out of a Spanish swimming pool after violating the country's coronavirus lockdown.  It turns out that the woman involved is a Labour councillor from Norfolk.  Cllr Joanne Rust is not only Labour's deputy leader on King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council, but she has stood as a candidate in the last three general elections.

In the video Cllr Rust is shown flouting Spain's strict lockdown procedures by swimming in the hotel's outdoor pool in Tenerife.  She is filmed and jeered by fellow holidaymakers from their balconies overlooking the pool.  Two police officers demand she exit the pool, but she refuses.  One of them dives in to physically drag her out, before she is arrested and dragged away screaming.  Listen to the applause from her fellow guests as she is led away.

53-year-old Rust has since admitted that her actions were 'foolish', but lashed out at Spanish authorities and her tour operator.  Speaking to the Daily Mail she said: "I find the whole thing really quite upsetting and so I don’t want to engage in a discussion about it.  What I know is I went on holiday to a place for which a tour operator gave me no information and as a result of that I had a lost holiday".  She was held in a cell overnight following her arrest and appeared in court the day.  She was reportedly charged with a public order offence and bailed, although she has denied this in today's Sun newspaper, saying that the charge was dropped after she apologised.  She flew back into the UK over the weekend with her husband, also a Labour member according to the Daily Mail.

After being exposed in yesterday's Mail, Cllr Rust went into a lockdown of her own and has disappeared off social media, deleting both her Twitter and Facebook accounts.  Before she deleted her Facebook account she wrote: "So, we’re back in the UK after a failed holiday in the Canary Islands.  Our tour operator and Ryanair flew us out knowing the whole of Spain was in a national state of emergency.  I tried to research whether it applied to the islands but could find no news. Wasn’t entirely sure what ‘lockdown’ would mean either. I foolishly assumed if our tour operators were still sending us, it might be ok. Also, it was hard to contemplate losing all the money we’d spent on it. So, we went and had to spend literally all the time in our hotel room. The social distancing was rigidly enforced and the police were out in force to deal with it. Pushing people up hotel stairs and shouting get in your rooms. It was scary when Ryanair cancelled our flights home. We had to spend more money to get an alternative that came home a day early".  No mention of an arrest there.

In today's Sun newspaper she made a contradictory statement: "Nowhere were there signs saying ‘This is a national state of emergency’, which there were at the hotel we later moved to.  The idea that everyone was already in isolation in their rooms is absolutely untrue."  However, in the video she is the only person outside, while everyone else appears to be observing the lockdown.  Furthermore she clearly refuses to leave the pool when ordered to do so.  She told The Sun that the policemen were 'very hostile' and she was 'scared'.  Some of those sharing the video online have suggested that she must have been drunk.

Cllr Rust's profile on King's Lynn & West Norfolk Council website

If Cllr Rust had done her 'research' properly, she would have known that Tenerife was a confirmed Covid-19 hotspot as early as 24 February.  The virus was traced back to an Italian tourist.  The Spanish government declared a national 'state of alarm' on 14 March, before Rust and her husband travelled.  Ironically her most recent campaign leaflet read: "Truth is a very important principle to Jo (both in life and in politics).  So many of our politicians hide behind lies and deceit which is why Jo firmly believes that a good MP should be transparent, truthful and honest".  Oops.

Cllr Rust and Jeremy Corbyn in a picture taken from her now deleted Facebook page

Cllr Rust is a Unison official and a Corbyn loyalist.  She stood for Parliament in the same constituency in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 elections, finishing second each time.  Last December she haemorrhaged almost 5,000 votes as the Tory incumbent increased his majority from 13,788 to 19,922.

Norfolk North West 2019 general election

James Wild (Con) 30,627 (65.7%) +5.5%
Joanne Rust (Lab) 10,705 (23.0%) -9.0%
Rob Colwell (L Dem) 3,625 (7.8%) +4.9%
Michael De Whalley (Green) 1,645 (3.5%) +1.8%

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Canary Islands is another Labour councillor - Peter Atkinson of Brighton and Hove City Council.  He flew out to Gran Canaria the day that Spain began lockdown proceedings.  Cllr Atkinson hasn't been in any trouble with the police, but has been whingeing to his local rag The Argus.  He and his wife have been confined to their hotel since the lockdown began and he's very unhappy with his tour operator (with some justification): "What really vexes me, what I’m really angry about, is that I spent a lot of time on the phone the day before I left.  I said ‘are you sure it’s OK to travel’ but they kept saying yes.  They were telling me and others that ‘if you cancel now then you won’t get any money back".

Covid-19 was already confirmed in Gran Canaria prior to Cllr Atkinson's flight, but he was placed in a tricky situation by tour operator Tui - stay home and lose his money or risk flying out to one of the worst affected countries in the world.  Oh well, at least the weather's nice out...

Cllr Atkinson's profile on Brighton & Hove City Council's website

BIZARRE HUSTINGS MOMENT

There was a bizarre moment at yesterday's deputy leadership hustings when one of the candidates suddenly burst into song.  Rosena Allin-Khan was told she still had 25 seconds to spare in order to answer a question and decided to fill in the time by belting out the opening verse of Cher's If I Could Turn Back Time, much to the amusement of Dawn Butler.  To be fair, she's got a cracking voice - watch below.

The latest leadership hustings were held in Brighton at the Grand Hotel.  The party held its 2019 conference at the same venue, although it is better known for a Conservative party conference.  In 1984 the IRA bombed the hotel during the Tory conference in an attempt to wipe out the government, killing five people.  Two weeks after the atrocity backbench MP Jeremy Corbyn invited two IRA members to Parliament and in 1986 he was arrested outside the Old Bailey during a protest in support of the Brighton bomber Patrick Magee.  Last year Corbyn chose to launch the party's manifesto in Birmingham on the 45th anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings.  There is no shame in this party.

ROLF HARRIS LOOKALIKE ON THE LOOSE

Lloyd Russell-Mole is one of the daftest MPs currently sitting in Parliament, like a child desperate for attention.  Last year he grabbed the ceremonial mace, this year he launched himself across Bercow's lap when Parliament was prorogued.  It's as if the Monster Raving Loony Party got a candidate elected at the one millionth time of asking, but stuck a Labour rosette on him.  To be fair, the balloon head has wasted no time in getting down to business for the forthcoming election and had dozens of activists letter stuffing on Wednesday night.  If you turn the sound down on this video, all that's missing is a wobble board.  Can you tell who it is yet?

Mole was among the same 2017 crop of candidates as the disastrous Fiona Onasanya and Jared O'Mara, perhaps he too wasn't expected to win.  Except he did.  It was an impressive win in fact and he currently sits on a majority of almost 10,000 having taken Brighton Kemptown from the Tories last time round.  However, he could be in trouble come December 12th.  Here's why.

He achieved his impressive 2017 victory on a ballot paper featuring a narrow field of just Lib-Lab-Con candidates.  UKIP had stood here for years, as had the Greens.  UKIP polled at almost 10 per cent in 2015 and despite its liberal reputation, Kemptown was not exactly a landslide for Remain in 2016.  So what happened to all those UKIP voters?  Well, they didn't flock to the Tories in 2017.  They shifted over to Labour (as did the Greens).

This brings about a curious situation.  While all the focus of the proposed (and desperately needed) 'Leave Alliance' is on Brexit Party/Tory candidates standing aside for each other, this seat could actually benefit from both parties fielding candidates.  If the Brexit Party can swipe those former UKIP voters back from Labour and the Tory vote holds up, who knows?  The Greens have already selected a candidate so it is likely the ballot paper will return to a full field as it was pre-Russell-Mole.  The Lib Dems are also on the rise again following their coalition slump of 2015 and could possibly take a few Remain votes from Labour.  Definitely one to watch...

Brighton Kemptown 2017 general election

Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Lab) 28,703 (58.3%) +19.2%
Simon Kirby (Con) 18,835 (38.3%) -2.4%
Emily Tester (Lib Dem) 1,457 (3.0%) N/c
Doktor Haze (Ind) 212 (0.4%) New

Brighton Kemptown 2015 general election

Simon Kirby (Con) 18,428 (40.7%) +2.7%
Nancy Platts (Lab) 17,738 (39.2%) +4.3%
Ian Buchanan (UKIP) 4,446 (9.8%) +6.6%
Davy Jones (Green) 3,187 (7.0%) +1.6%
Paul Chandler (Lib Dem) 1,365 (3.0%) -15.0%
Jacqueline Shodeke (Socialist) 73 (0.2%) New
Matthew Taylor (Ind) 69 (0.2%) New

JEW HATE COMING TO BRIGHTON

The Labour conference begins tomorrow and ends on Wednesday.  We can expect five days of lunacy and not a Union flag in sight.  Infighting has already kicked off before a single delegate has even set foot in Brighton, with rows over Brexit, the student wing and Clause IV.  Having said all that, a conference characterised by lunacy certainly hasn't done the Lib Dems much harm.  They appear to be enjoying a bounce following their insane anti-Brexit conference and have overtaken Labour according to the latest YouGov poll.

Labour's conference is taking place at the Brighton Centre, facing the seafront.  The venue just happens to be right next door to the Grand Hotel that was bombed by the IRA in 1984, killing five and injuring dozens.  Corbyn was famously arrested outside the Old Bailey protesting in support of the Brighton bomber.  Could they not have chosen somewhere a little less offensive?

Speaking of offence, Labour MP Louise Ellman is worried about another phenomenon, that which has dogged Corbyn's hard left Labour since he won the leadership.  The following video appeared on Twitter yesterday.  We considered sharing it on Facebook, but given recent censorship from the humour-devoid moderators in Dublin, we decided against it.

WILLIAMSON HUMILIATED IN BRIGHTON

Chris Williamson's planned rally in Brighton had to go ahead on the seafront last night after three venues cancelled on him.  Currently suspended from Labour, Chris is still wandering around the country spreading the Corbyn gospel.  Following years of 'no platforming', hounding political opponents and forcing venues to cancel events, the loony left finally got a taste of their own medicine.

The Brighthelm Community Centre was the first to cancel Williamson's booking following the intervention of local Labour MP Peter Kyle (so much for solidarity).  Organisers then moved the event to the Holiday Inn, but after being bombarded by complaints that venue also cancelled.  Williamson's third and final throw of the dice was to approach the Quakers and book their Meeting House, but that didn't last long leaving Chris up shit creek without a paddle.

However, nothing was going to stand in the way of our intrepid revolutionary and the event went ahead... in a park!  Williamson claimed afterwards that 150 people attended, although the photos tell a different story.  Although the rally was titled "A Democratic, Socialist Economy", this didn't stop one young attendee wearing a USSR t-shirt, complete with hammer and sickle, and being placed at the front of the 'big' (heavily-cropped) group photo.  Then again it was Lenin himself who said that the goal of socialism is communism.

Despite the speaker's attempt to show that Williamson is 'Jew-friendly', a raffle was due to be held in which the top prize was a cartoon depicting Tom Watson as an anti-Semitism witchfinder.  The cartoon was signed by its artist, Brighton-based Steve Bell, whose work has been published in the Guardian for many years.  However, the newspaper refused to publish this particular cartoon (pictured below), leading to it's star slot at Williamson's rally.

Top prize at Williamson's rally was a signed copy of this cartoon

A small group of protesters gathered outside the town hall, one of whom told the local rag:  "If it had just been Chris who was to come down, it would have been offensive.  But the fact it’s Chris and the auctioning of the cartoon, it feels like an exercise in Jew baiting".  Williamson claims that he is being lined up for expulsion by Labour and is currently taking legal action.  Stunts like this won't exactly work in his favour, regardless of how many Jewish communists spring to his defence.

Williamson with the artist and raffle prize

YOU ARE NOT BLAMELESS, YOU ARE TO BLAME

Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle has leapt on the victimhood bandwagon today with claims that someone "tried" to assault him.

A minory will fall for hate or division of May but attack’s like this afternoons will not make me frit. Only by standing up & not pandering will we gain decency for our nation. One way to stand up to fear is to join the march on Saturday & demand a #FinalSay and @Another_Europe

— Lloyd Russell-Moyle (@lloyd_rm) March 21, 2019

The remoaner MP was in his Brighton Kemptown constituency at the time of the "assault".  Russell-Moyle immediately linked the incident with Theresa May's statement last night in which she pointed the finger of blame at MPs for the Brexit stalemate.  Remain MPs have expressed fury at her words, including the likes of Liz Kendall, Wes Streeting, Lisa Nandy and Caroline Lucas.  Speaker Bercow added his weight to their cause in the Commons today when he kindly and smugly exonerated them of any wrongdoing.

Trying to paint themselves as the 'victims' in all of this is going to do them no favours.  After all it's not May who has pit them against the country, they have done that themselves by their own shameful actions.  If this country doesn't leave the European Union a week tomorrow - yes May has to take a big chunk of the blame - but we must never forget the role in which Brexit blocking MPs have played with their endless amendments and stalling votes.

BRIGHTON TURNS BLUE

The exodus from Labour has resulted in one of the most rare defections - Labour to Conservative.  While the floor-crossing activities of local councillors doesn't make the national news, one of the latest has had a very significant effect on Brighton & Hove City Council.  Before today Labour had 21 seats and the Tories 20.  The defection of Labour's Anne Meadows to the Tory group this morning tips the balance the other way.

The Tories are now poised to take control of the council from what is now a minority Labour administration.  However, with local elections not far off they could wait for the outcome.

Local Labour MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, denounced Cllr Meadows - "This is nothing but a barefaced career move from Anne, she wasn't selected to be a candidate for Labour at the upcoming election, so she has betrayed the party for her own self preservation".  Quite right Lloyd, the opposite of your Parliamentary colleagues who are just so desperate to leave your disgusting party they are sacrificing their careers by becoming short-lived independents.

Cllr Anne Meadows (right) is welcomed by Cllr Mary Mears of the Conservatives

UPDATE

Tory MP Maria Caulfield just raised the Brighton defection in PMQs.  Watch Corbyn's face as she bemoans the anti-Semitism of his Momentum footsoldiers!