ABBOTT DEFENDS CORBYN (SURPRISE)

A somewhat dishevelled Diane Abbott spoke to Sophy Ridge this morning and unsurprisingly defended Jeremy Corbyn against accusations that he was somehow to blame for the election disaster.  Asked about where the party goes from here, Diane reeled off the same speel that Corbyn trotted out on Friday about Labour's 2019 manifesto being so 'popular'.  Ridge responded: "They weren't popular though were they?  They led to your worst defeat since 1935!"  Ouch.

Diane did have a reasonable comeback for Peter Mandelson when Ridge put his anti-Corbyn remarks to her: "We won Hartlepool twice under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership".  Asked about whether Labour's woes were in part down to its London-centric dynamic, Diane was defensive: "I'm speaking to you from east London and we have as much child poverty as anywhere else in the country".  Such an attitude only validates the problem that Ridge was trying to convey.

Click below for the full interview.

Diane looked arguably worse for wear during this interview, but then this was a morning show and it's not a weeknight, so we shouldn't be too judgemental!

BACKLASH OVER RAYNER SACKING

The scapegoating of Angela Rayner has gone down like a lead balloon across the Labour Party and looks set to backfire on Starmer.  The timing, coming the day after he promised to take 'full responsibility' for the election disaster, has particularly rankled Labour activists.  On top of existing discontent from the left, concerns are now being raised by figures on Starmer's own centre ground.

On Friday senior Blairites were blaming Jeremy Corbyn for the disaster.  Just 24 hours later the smart ones (therefore ruling out Lord Adonis) would surely have doubted the wisdom behind sacking one of the few prominent working class women in the party - and a northerner, just to add insult to injury.  They may not be voicing their concerns in public like big-headed Burnham, but they will be questioning Starmer's judgement for sure.

Watch Starmer loyalist Ian Murray desperately trying to spin the sacking as a 'promotion' on Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

At the time of writing it's not clear if Rayner has been offered a new role and if true, whether she would be prepared to accept it after having been hung out to dry so publicly.

The chief political correspondent at The Guardian claimed that Labour MPs 'across the board' were flummoxed by Starmer's actions.

As her name trended on Twitter, the platform was full of ridicule for Starmer.

Some claimed inside knowledge, including LabourList editor Sienna Rodgers.

Labour is going to eat itself for some time to come.

HAPLESS REEVES & REED

Floundering in the opinion polls, Labour are desperate for any angle to attack the Tories.  The David Cameron scandal has provided such an angle, only it is fraught with accusations of hypocrisy from a party whose last stint in power was marred by persistent accusations of sleaze and cronyism.

Labour frontbenchers Steve Reed and Rachel Reeves were happy to point the finger when interviewed by Sophy Ridge and Andrew Marr on Sunday, while repeatedly failing to provide any substance as to what Labour would do about the current lobbying rules.  Reeves stammered her way through tricky questions from Marr over similar accusations of sleaze against the former First Minister of Wales, Labour's own Carwyn Jones.

This is Labour right now, just huff and puff (no pun intended, Steve) - devoid of any ideas, guilty themselves of the things they accuse the government of and seen by many as just a pale imitation of the establishment stooges opposite.

Steve Reed on Sophy Ridge on Sunday

Rachel Reeves on The Andrew Marr Show

If only Labour had taken a stand against the never-ending coronavirus restrictions - instead of waving them through every time - then there would be no end of angles from which they could attack the government.  Unfortunately for them, Starmer's party defaulted to its natural nanny state position and will forever be tied to this disastrous policy.  Shame, losers.

ANOTHER MAN UTD POLITICAL PUNDIT

Following months of media-driven whining from Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford, we have now been afforded the political insight of one of his predecessors.  Retired defender Gary Neville spoke to Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday and lashed out at the UK government's coronavirus tier system.  Neville is a native of tier 3 Greater Manchester.  However, his criticism was not limited to the government and he slammed Labour's decision to abstain when the Commons voted on the measures.  "You've got to take a position and be bold and go against it, you cannot abstain", explained Gary, adding: "When you're elected, when you're in that seat in Westminster - you take a position".

Watch below.

The lockdown tiers vote may not be the last time Labour abstain this year.  Starmer, reportedly keen on backing a Brexit deal, is facing a frontbench revolt and major backbench rebellion if he whips MPs into doing so.  You wouldn't bet against him bowing down and sitting on the fence again for that vote - assuming that a deal is struck in the first place.

SOME MOTHERS DO AVE EM

Labour's Jonathan Ashworth suffered yet another embarrassing mishap in a live TV interview this morning.  Speaking to Sky's Sophy Ridge he'd somewhat questionably decided to do the interview outside during some dreadful weather.  After his umbrella blew inside out, the lighting equipment fell on him.  Watch below.

Earlier this year Ashworth's young daughter gatecrashed a BBC interview and his laptop fell over during another interview.  For all the criticism of Matt Hancock, bear in mind that Ashworth is the alternative!

Incidentally, while Ashworth argues against mandatory vaccination, one of his party colleagues has refused to rule it out for Wales.  Health minister Vaughan Gething said he wouldn't rule anything out in an interview with ITV News in September.  Regardless of your view about vaccines, this is incredibly disturbing.

LABOUR'S MENTAL HEALTH HYPOCRISY

Rosena Allin-Khan has gone on an offensive about mental health this weekend.  As Labour's Shadow Minister for Mental Health it is her remit, but the timing leaves the party open to yet more accusations of hypocrisy.  For how can Labour bemoan the poor mental health of the nation at the same time as demanding another full national lockdown?  By her own admission, Allin-Khan says that the pandemic has dramatically impacted mental health, so how on earth can she simultaneously support calls to lock people up in their homes - again?

While the Office for National Statistics manages to get Covid-related figures released almost instantaneously, the data for suicides is much harder to obtain and we may have to wait until next year to see the full impact of the pandemic - in particular the debilitating effect of lockdowns on loneliness, depression and suicide rates.  Sky's Sophy Ridge touched on the issue when she interviewed Allin-Khan on Sunday morning, but the frontbencher defended Labour's call for a so-called 'circuit-breaker' suggesting that this proposed 2-3 week lockdown would magically resolve everything.  Now that this drastic action is currently taking place in Wales we will soon be able to find out whether it would have any significant impact on the virus, while the experiment lays waste to the high street, hospitality industry and people's mental health.

The truth is that Labour don't care about mental health, local businesses or people's jobs.  All they are interested in at the moment is making political capital out of a bad situation, something which several party figures have publicly admitted during momentary lapses of concentration.  Labour's support for perpetual lockdowns (the Welsh government has already threatened another after Christmas) will backfire on them.  People have had enough.

WOODEN LEONARD DEFIANT

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard spoke to Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday and struck a defiant note in the face of the determined campaign to dislodge him.  As Leonard quite rightly pointed out, he easily won the leadership contest of 2017 and is mandated to take the party into the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.  However, the hard left regime of Corbyn and Momentum are no longer in control and Starmer's centrists want him gone before that election.

Leonard struggled when Ridge pointed out that Labour continued to languish in third place in a part of the UK which as recently as 2015 held 41 of Scotland's 59 Westminster seats.  It now holds just one.  On current polling Scottish Labour look set to fall further behind both the SNP and the Tories in next year's election.

While there's no doubt Leonard is a non-entity and, like Starmer, is devoid of charisma - a change of leadership now will surely only lead to yet another change next May when Labour are stuffed by the SNP.  Leonard is the fifth leader of Scottish Labour in the last decade and no amount of chopping and changing has halted the party's decline north of the border.

Watch the full interview below.

STARMER BACKED BEGUM'S RETURN

There has been a deafening silence from the Labour front bench over the return of Shamima Begum since the appeal court ruling last Thursday.  However, when Keir Starmer was previously asked about the case he expressed support for Begum's return.

On 10 March last year Starmer appeared on Sophy Ridge on Sunday and was asked if he thought Shamima Begum had been 'failed by the government'.  His immediate response was to denounce the decision of the then home secretary Sajid Javid: "Well I think the decision by the Home Secretary was the wrong decision and I think it was a rushed decision".  Starmer tried to evoke sympathy for Begum by twice referring to the death of her child.  He didn't refer to the ethnic cleansing or any other atrocities carried out by the organisation that Begum was breeding children for.

Starmer made it clear that he wants Begum to return and if there is not enough evidence to prosecute she could be made liable to a prevention order.  Of course this will all come at great expense and as we have seen in the past - to deadly effect - our police and intelligence services are already overwhelmed by the sheer number of dangerous Islamists at large in Britain.  Why does this one individual matter more to Labour than the safety of the British people?

As with his reprehensible support for Black Lives Matter, there's no escaping from his support for Begum either.  Watch below.

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.

CORBYN "MADE MANY GAINS"

Hard left balloon head Richard Burgon spoke to Sophy Ridge this morning and was asked about his suggestion that Jeremy Corbyn could make a front bench comeback after the leadership election.  If you didn't know better, listening to Burgon's glowing tributes you'd think that Corbyn was the frontrunner to win the leadership and he was jostling for favour, but Corbyn is past tense.  Not in Burgon's daft head:  "It's not the end for Jeremy Corbyn, he's got a long political career ahead of him".  Jeremy's 71 in May.  Burgon also says Corbyn "made many gains in the Labour party".  Presumably he's referring to Momentum's battle to take control of the party, he can't surely be referring to electoral gains - Putney was the only seat Labour gained on December the 12th.

BUTLER DEFENDS BULLY BERCOW

Deputy leadership contender Dawn Butler told Sophy Ridge this morning that denying John Bercow a peerage is "a form of bullying".  Not really clever wordplay and almost as spectacularly ill judged as Diane Abbott's recent controversial tweet.

First Diane, now Dawn - who'd have thought two of Labour's biggest race baiters would be the only Parliamentarians to spring to the defence of a middle-aged white guy?

SOFT ON TERROR

Labour are desperately trying to turn an Islamist terror attack into a political point scoring exercise against the government.  Laughably the party of terror is trying to somehow suggest that it would never have happened with them at the helm.  Yet only this morning Jeremy Corbyn told Sky's Sophy Ridge that he didn't believe terrorists should serve a full prison term.

Yvette Cooper also tried to make capital out of Usman Khan's deadly rampage, but was publicly humiliated by the Home Secretary on Twitter.

Because legislation brought in by your government in 2008 meant that dangerous terrorists had to automatically be released after half of their jail term. Conservatives changed the law in 2012 to end your automatic release policy but Khan was convicted before this. https://t.co/8fCm880MSK

— Priti Patel (@patel4witham) November 30, 2019

Priti Patel also lashed out at Corbyn himself.

The Parole Board could not be involved in this decision @jeremycorbyn. Your party changed the law in 2008 so that Khan was automatically released irrespective of the danger he posed. Very concerning that you want to be PM but don’t understand this.https://t.co/uqUBggmEbg

— Priti Patel (@patel4witham) November 30, 2019

The truth remains that with Corbyn in Number Ten the terrorist threat would go through the roof.  He would undermine our intelligence services, cut back our armed deterrent, tie the hands of the police and weaken an already limp-wristed judicial system.  Not to mention he would open up our borders allowing the fifth column to grow exponentially!

McDONNELL VS RIDGE

John McDonnell's eyebrows were working overtime this morning as he got a thorough grilling from Sophy Ridge on Sky.  An array of bizarre facial expressions were on display as he faced tough questions on the costing of Labour's absurd Britain-busting manifesto.  He was also challenged on Labour's second referendum and confirmed that he would oppose the deal that Labour negotiate, perhaps leaving Jeremy Corbyn as the only member of the Parliamentary party to be left sitting on the fence.  Asked whether he would put money on Labour winning the election, the Quartermaster dodged the question by saying he's "given up on gambling".  Watch below.

WRONG-BAILEY EXPOSED BY RIDGE

Labour's Rebecca Long-Bailey was interviewed by Sophy Ridge this morning and rather unsurprisingly it didn't go well.  First up on Ridge's agenda was the question of Brexit and Scottish independence.  Asked directly whether these two topics would be put to referenda again in the event of a Labour government, Wrong-Bailey stated categorically "No".  She then proceeded to confirm that Labour would hold a) a second EU referendum and b) would not stand in the way of a second Scottish referendum.  Contradictory much?

Ridge then went on to discuss the cloudcuckooland of Labour's election pledges.  Watch the full interview below, if you can stomach all the lies.

IF CORBYN GOES, WHO NEXT?

A couple of days ago John McDonnell stated that he and Corbyn would stand down were Labour to lose the next election.  However, on Sophy Ridge's show this morning Corbyn himself was somewhat evasive when she put it to him...

While the opinion polls suggest another Labour defeat is on the cards, a lot can and will happen between now and then.  Britain's failure to Leave the EU at the end of this month could open the door for him and a coalition ally, namely the SNP.  This is precisely why Labour refused to hold an election sooner rather than later, hoping to capitalise on discontent among voters, either with another Brexit delay or the fallout of a no deal exit.

However, the vultures are already beginning to smell blood.  Yesterday the hideous narcissist Jess Phillips threw her hat in the ring for a leadership election.  A wee bit premature Jess, but if an election is to be held next month and Labour are beaten, there could be a new leader in place by the spring - if Corbyn stands down that is.  No-one is taking Phillips seriously, despite McDonnell's assessment that the next leader should be a woman.  There are plenty of other potential female candidates and in any case the next leader will almost certainly come from the hard left.  Corbyn and McDonnell haven't spent the last three years slowly purging the party of moderates only to surrender it back to the 'Blairite scum'.

It's highly likely that in any leadership contest there would be a 'continuity Corbyn' candidate that would romp to victory on the back of what is now an overwhelmingly hard left membership.  One potential name who fits that bill, and is also a woman, is Laura Pidcock.  She only has two year's Parliamentary experience and is only 32, but she is constantly touted as a 'future leader' and would be unencumbered by the historical scandals that have dogged the leadership of Corbyn.  Definitely one to watch, as is Rebecca Long-Bailey.  She is not seen as hard left as Pidcock, but has consistently backed Corbyn throughout his leadership and has three year's front bench experience.

The only other hard left name in the frame is Clive Lewis, but Corbynistas will not have forgotten or forgiven his rumoured plotting against Corbyn's leadership two years ago (supported by no less than two-faced turncoat Owen Jones).  The current bookies favourite to succeed Corbyn is the painfully dull Keir Starmer, but he is neither hard left or Corbynista.  He is, of course, a hardcore Remainer, but then so are most of the other potential runners.  So let's look at how the bookies currently see the field...

4/1 - Keir Starmer (Holborn & St Pancras since 2015)

6/1 - Rebecca Long-Bailey (Salford & Eccles since 2015)

10/1 - Emily Thornberry (Islington South & Finsbury since 2004)

11/1 - Angela Rayner (Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015)

12/1 - Laura Pidcock (North West Durham since 2017)

16/1 - Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford since 1997)

18/1 - Clive Lewis (Norwich South since 2015)

25/1 - Tom Watson (West Bromwich East since 2001)

33/1 - Lisa Nandy (Wigan since 2010)

50/1 - Dawn Butler (Brent Central since 2017)

66/1 - Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South since 2011), Hilary Benn (Leeds Central since 1999), Jess Phillips (Birmingham Yardley since 2015)

TORIES 'EXTREME RIGHT' SAYS CORBYN

Corbyn gave a lengthy interview to Sophy Ridge yesterday in which the porkies were flowing thick and fast from the off.  Corbyn began by repeating his socialist mantra that Labour would bring about 'equality'.  That's right, equality for all unless you're hard working, wealthy or Jewish.  He then claims that he doesn't make 'personal abuse', but his party is currently involved in slandering the Prime Minister by labelling him racist, hard right and fascist.  Indeed, a little later in the same interview Corbs describes Johnson's cabinet as "extremely right-wing".

When Sophy discusses Brexit she struggles to get any straight answers out of him and says that "her head starts to hurt" when trying to figure out exactly what it is he wants.  When she raises anti-Semitism the mood changes and she is met by a stern glare.  Sophy persists and he is clearly getting agitated to the point that he sighs and rolls his eyes.  That will ingratiate him to the Jewish community!

One of Corbyn's biggest fibs during this interview was his claim that the shadow cabinet is "extremely diverse".  Not compared to Johnson's 22 per cent minority ethnic cabinet it's not.  Corbyn has only half that number at 11 per cent which is less than the minority ethnic share of UK population.  He ends by saying that Labour represents "all parts and all communities of this country".  He save the biggest lie until last.

LATEST BURGON CAR CRASH

The Shadow Justice Secretary was interviewed by Sophy Ridge yesterday in yet another car crash interview.  It started off excruciatingly as Dickie broke into a broad smile greeting his interviewer who promptly spoke over him and his face dropped like a lead balloon.  He then goes on to talk about the Gulf crisis, getting in a couple of customary digs at Donald Trump before he is asked about the dodgy candidate Labour is putting up against Boris in Uxbridge.  The interview ends dreadfully with an exchange in which Dickie attempts to get the better of Ridge and comes off looking like the second rate politician he is.  Check out Sophy's steely glare on 7:46 as she responds to him and leaves the poor lad dumbfounded.  Why even bother trying it sunshine?  You're a loser.

Watch the full interview below.

BENN SHAMES BENN

An excellent interview by Sophy Ridge today with Labour Remainer Hilary Benn.  Presenting the same old tired arguments against a no deal Brexit and pushing for a second referendum (with the discredited Remain as an option, obviously), this guy heaps shame on the legacy of his own late father.  Tony Benn argued for democracy, but his son argues for the opposite.  If Hilary's motives are not purely driven by a desire to stop Brexit then why doesn't he promote a referendum that respects the first one ie. Deal or No Deal.  Remain lost in 2016, to argue for its inclusion is an affront to democracy.

Now let's hear a clip from Tony Benn, another prime example that shows that the act of Leaving the European Union is neither 'left or right' and that both sides of the political spectrum can unite behind one goal - Brexit.

LONG-BAILEY ON RIDGE

Labour's Rebecca Long-Bailey was virtue-signalling to Green voters this morning, in line with Labour's sudden fascination in 'climate change'.  As we've written previously, this is all about garnering extra votes for the European Elections, where Labour is terrified of losing to Farage's Brexit Party.  See the full interview below, including a big eye-roll at 12:55 when she is asked about the possibility of her leading the party someday...

A PAINFUL INTERVIEW

Loudmouth fake feminist Jess Phillips was the focus of an in depth Sophy Ridge interview on Sunday.  The interview was full of the usual bullshit one would associate with a remoaner MP, such as a claim that Jaguar/Land Rover is threatened by Brexit.  Total bollocks love and you know it.

Sophy's face at this point suggests she smells bullshit too.

Ridge presses Phillips on her Brexit stance, which is at odds with her 60% Leave voting constituency, to which Jess shrugs and claims that barely a soul has challenged her about it.  Sophy's voxpop at the beginning of the video tells a different story.  You'll need a strong stomach to watch this toe-curling virtue signalling self-promotion all the way to the end...

One more thing that became apparent from this footage is that Jess Phillips appears to employ exclusively Muslim women in her office.  This is at odds with the ethnic mix of her constituency, but something that we would come to expect from a Labour MP who styles herself as one of the greatest feminists of all time, while at the same time making excuses for Muslim rapists in Cologne and saying absolutely nothing about the industrial scale rape of English children by Muslim grooming gangs.  There is a pattern.

Jess Phillips' exclusive workplace demographic