THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 2-8 FEB 2020

02.02.20 -  Bob Moran, Sunday Telegraph

02.02.20 - Matt Pritchett, Sunday Telegraph

02.02.20 - Patrick Blower, Mail on Sunday

03.02.20 - Morten Morland, The Times

03.02.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

03.02.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

03.02.20 - Steve Bright, The Sun

04.02.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

04.02.20 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail

05.02.20 - Dave Brown, Independent

05.02.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

06.02.20 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail

06.02.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph

06.02.20 - Dave Brown, Independent

06.02.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times

07.02.20 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail

07.02.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times

08.02.20 - Morten Morland, The Spectator

08.02.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times

08.02.20 - Graeme Bandeira, Yorkshire Post

AND THE NOMINATION FROM ISLINGTON NORTH GOES TO...

Keir Starmer.

No, this is not a joke.  What's more, Jeremy Corbyn's constituency also ignored leftist candidates in the deputy leadership race, opting for Angela Rayner.  What an embarrassment for the Great Leader.

Another humiliation for Jezza

Islington North backed its MP for leader in both the 2015 and 2016 leadership elections and was expected to endorse his natural successor this time round - Rebecca Long-Bailey.  Constituencies represented by other senior hard left MPs had already endorsed Long-Bailey, including Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Diane Abbott), Leeds East (Richard Burgon) and Wansbeck (Ian Lavery).

This is a total humiliation for Corbyn.

DALE'S OWN GOAL

When Little Owen walked off Sky News in 2016 the right rejoiced.  Jones's bizarre hissy fit will follow him around until the day he dies, but yesterday its impact was diminished somewhat.  Iain Dale's cringe-making walkout on Good Morning Britain was immediately seized on by the left in exactly the same way Jones was brutally mocked in 2016.  While many have sprung to Dale's defence and it's fair to say he was harangued to the point of being silenced, the hissy fit is never a cool look.  Watch below for the full exchange and make your own mind up.

Tory MP Mark Francois made an appearance on the same programme recently in which he was persistently shouted down by odious 90s has-been Terry Christian.  However, whereas Dale walked off and granted victory to the hard left, Francois persevered with the interview and eventually it was cut short making Christian look like a dreadful bully.  If Dale had only weathered the storm yesterday things could have turned out in a very similar vein.

His walkout was win-win for the left, but it clearly went to the head of Grace Blakeley and she appeared intent on turning victory into a defeat.  Firstly the Corbynista seemed to forget her devotion to socialism by bragging about the financial rewards of media appearances, then she flat out lied about Iain Dale's behaviour off screen.  Responding to a tweet from the Brexit Party's Martin Daubney, she claimed that Dale had shouted at a producer.  After Dale called her out she deleted the tweet, thereby handing a small victory to him.

Blakeley's now deleted tweet

This morning Blakeley announced that she enjoys "making fun of old men online", providing further evidence that the Labour party is populated by spiteful hard left bullies.  If Iain Dale had persevered on Good Morning Britain he could have exposed this fact far better than by storming out.

LABOUR WOULD HAVE BEGUM BACK

It's well documented that the Labour Party is more than sympathetic to many terrorist causes around the world.  It's no surprise then that whenever the issue of Daesh returnees raises its head, senior party figures immediately spring to the defence of the Islamists.  As far as Labour are concerned, the human rights of killers, rapists, torturers and terrorists trumps the rights of law abiding British citizens to live in a safe environment.

Shamima Begum made her bed and she is unrepentant about it.  If she wishes to continue living in an Islamic society, free of the vile kuffar way of life that she despises - let her go forth to Bangladesh or rot in the desert.  Either way, most British people are fine with that.

CRUEL IRONY FOR KERRY

There was a minor kerfuffle in the corridors of Westminster yesterday as a four-legged intruder somehow managed to infiltrate the building.  Labour MP Karl Turner tweeted a picture of the prowler with a 'witty' quip.

Karl's tweet backfired somewhat when it became known that foxy chose to leave a filthy gift outside someone's office.  However, it wasn't quite Boris Johnson or even a Tory MP that received a number two outside their door - it was Labour MP Kerry McCarthy.  An even bigger irony is that McCarthy is a fierce opponent of fox hunting and the former vice chair of the League Against Cruel Sports.  She tweeted a picture of foxy's gift, but it's far too graphic to show here.

Kerry McCarthy (Lab, Bristol East)

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 06.02.20

Just one council election last night, a Labour-held seat in Cheshire.  Labour held the seat, but curiously failed to take any advantage of the 15.2% vote share picked up by the Lib Dem candidate last time out.  The Tories were the main beneficiaries, while the Labour vote was down.

Burtonwood & Winwick, Warrington Borough Council

Lab: 753 (58.9%) -3.1%
Con: 469 (36.7%) +13.9%
Ind: 56 (4.4%) New

Lab HOLD

LIAM GETS WEST MIDS NOD

Liam Byrne

Liam Byrne has been selected as Labour's candidate for the Mayor of the West Midlands.  He defeated two hard left candidates in a Labour ballot of local members.  The anti-Semite Corbynista Salma Yaqoob finished last and was eliminated in the first round.  She only joined Labour last year, but quickly rose to prominence and was backed for the candidacy by both Momentum and Len McCluskey's Unite union.  All this despite a well documented litany of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli statements over the years.  Naz Shah, the odious Labour MP for Bradford West, released a video last year in which she made various allegations against Yaqoob relating to the 2017 general election.  Yaqoob had stood against Shah as an independent.  Forgive us Naz, but no-one's shedding any tears for you either.

Voting in Labour's ballot was as follows.

First Round (50% required to win outright)

Liam Byrne 3,105 (44.9%)
Pete Lowe 2,034 (28.9%)
Salma Yaqoob 1,809 (26.2%)

Run-Off

Liam Byrne 3,530 (56.5%)
Pete Lowe 2,720 (43.5%)

Runner-up Pete Lowe was backed by several trades unions including Unison.  Byrne's victory could be held up as an example of the diminishing of the hard left, although it should be noted that the vote was split between two hard left candidates.  The opposite could happen in the party leadership election where the moderate vote will be split between Starmer and Nandy, potentially handing victory to the hard left Long-Bailey.

If the name Liam Byrne sounds vaguely familiar, the Birmingham Hodge Hill MP was a minister in the Blair and Brown governments, but you'll know him for writing one of the most infamous letters in political history.  He was the man behind the letter to the incoming coalition government of 2010:  "Dear Chief Secretary, I'm afraid there is no money".

Liam Byrne's infamous letter

The West Midlands mayoral role was introduced in 2017 as one of six directly elected mayors for combined authorities in England.  The West Midlands covers the largest population for a combined authority outside Greater London and carries a salary of £79,000.  The inaugural 2017 election was narrowly won by the Conservative's Andy Street.

NUGEE'S PASSING, KEEP THE LIGHTS ON

Most MPs have second homes in order to carry out their work both in their constituencies and Westminster.  These are funded by the taxpayer.  Some openly abuse the system and buy up second homes despite the fact their constituencies are close to Westminster, the most prominent of these is Barry Gardiner.  His Brent North constituency is less than ten miles from Parliament.  Gardiner has profited from this scam in the past, while others have merely used their existing wealth to make property investments.  One example is Emily Thornberry.

She and her husband - High Court judge Sir Christopher Nugee - own three properties reportedly worth almost £5million.  Despite Labour's policy on abolishing the Right to Buy scheme, they made a cool £500,000 profit after purchasing from a housing association.  This property was bought for Thornberry's brother.  Another property was purchased for her mother.

Lady Nugee spoke to Victoria Derbyshire on Wednesday about her own proposals for Labour's housing policy.  It was tough talk from Thornberry as she declared owners of empty properties would have them seized by local authorities.  She bemoaned developments along the Thames where none of the lights were turned on at night.  "State-sanctioned theft" was how one viewer described it. 

Towards the end of the piece Derbyshire puts the awkward question to Thornberry: "How many properties do you and your husband own?"  Emily's no-nonsense demeanour disappeared instantly and she was on the back foot.  Funnily enough, there was no mention of a housing association when she provided her answer...

Further reading

Pigs At The Trough:  Barry Gardiner

ON THIS DAY IN 1989, CORBYN'S MATES...

The Provisional IRA attempted to plant a booby-trap bomb underneath a van belonging to an RUC reservist.  The terrorist was attaching the device shortly after 23:00 hrs in the village of Drumquin, Co Tyrone.  The bomb exploded prematurely leaving him with severe injuries.  He lost both arms and an eye, his injuries so severe that his father struggled to identify him as he lay dying in hospital.  He was pronounced dead in Tyrone County Hospital the following day.

The bomber was Glasgow-born James Joseph Connolly, from Castlederg, 8 miles to the north of Drumquin.  The 20-year-old builder worked for the same construction firm as his target, a part-time RUC man who was reportedly a plumber.  He was treated for shock at the scene of the bombing.  A pistol found nearby was later shown to have been used in two IRA murders the previous year, that of an RUC reservist and a UDR reservist.

The IRA confirmed Connolly was a member of its West Tyrone Brigade and his funeral in Castlederg was attended by both Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.  In paying tribute to the dead terrorist Adams bizarrely blamed the British state for his death saying it was a "terrible indictment".

In 2014 Sinn Fein held an event in Castlederg to mark the 25th anniversary of Connolly's death, but drew sharp criticism from his family.  The family wanted to hold a non-political memorial and had repeatedly requested that the republican event be cancelled, but said Sinn Fein did not even respond and proceeded anyway.  Sinn Fein were also accused of adding Connolly's name to a republican monument without consulting the family.

IRA bomber James Connolly

BORIS SURPRISES DAVID FROM BOLTON

The Conservatives have released a charming little video in which Boris Johnson surprises an unsuspecting first time Tory voter.  Former Labour voter David, from Bolton, was discussing his decision to switch, but unbeknownst to him Boris was waiting behind a screen Jeremy Beadle-style.  After the surprise is sprung and David's shock subsides, the pair engage in a warm chat about the north-south divide.  If Boris is as attentive to the north over the next five years as he was with David, Labour are truly screwed.  Watch the full video below.

DAFT DIANE DELETES BERCOW TWEET

Diane Abbott has now deleted her controversial tweet we reported on earlier.  She posted it at 08:36 and removed it less than two hours later at 10:31.  Er, it's a bit late dear...

Daily Express - Diane Abbott sparks backlash saying Bercow COULDN’T bully Black Rod as he’s ex-military

Daily Mail - Diane Abbott faces furious backlash for 'ridiculous' claim that former Black Rod David Leakey could not have been bullied

Independent - Diane Abbott criticised after suggesting former military commander could not have been Bercow bullying victim

Mirror - Fury as Diane Abbott says it's 'unlikely' ex-Army man was bullied by John Bercow

Telegraph - Diane Abbott under fire for saying it was 'unlikely' David Leakey was bullied

The Times - Diane Abbott blasted after defending ‘bully’ John Bercow

BREXIT DAY MUG

The Brexit Day logo is now available on a ceramic mug (see below).  Priced at £9.99+p&p you can buy here.  Sale items are also still available to buy at a reduced rate via the Facebook shop.

DIANE BACKS BERCOW

While John Bercow's friends in the Westminster bubble continue to shrink away and bite their tongues, only a blind loyalist or an idiot would come forward and defend him right now.  Step forward the Shadow Home Secretary...

"Bad take", "ill judged" and "poor taste" were just some of the many comments in response to Diane's tweet, all comments that could have been levelled at her party leader for his outlandish and offensive nomination of Bercow for a peerage.  Having just been thumped in the old Labour heartlands - territory that also forms the Brexit heartlands - how best to further humiliate your traditional voting bloc by endorsing a man who did all he could to undo the Leave mandate?  What's more Corbyn's trivial motive in doing so was merely to spite the victorious Conservatives.

The advent of all the bullying allegations has proved a huge backfire for Corbyn and is undermining his decision.  Diane Abbott probably had her leader in mind when she tweeted this morning, rather than any thought for Bercow himself.  However, her clumsy attempt to intervene has rightly opened a can of worms for herself.  As she states in the tweet, the latest claims have been made by a former very senior military officer with a distinguished career behind him.  She is not just questioning David Leakey's honour, she is questioning his honesty.  Very poor indeed considering the angry shouty little man on the other end of his allegations has very little to be proud of by comparison.

LABOUR RACIST BANNED FROM TWITTER

Leftist race-baiter Lee Jasper had his Twitter account suspended last week.  The ban followed one of his most sickening tweets yet (see below).

It's not known if the above tweet prompted Twitter to act, but it understandably created uproar and disgust.  Jasper is well known for his provocative rhetoric and anti-white outbursts.

Despite being of mixed race heritage, he is obsessed with scapegoating what he sees as a racist white establishment for every single ill suffered by the black community.  While bemoaning the lack of diversity he paradoxically deems black people who work for or with said establishment as not "real black people".  He has also been particularly scathing about the police and in 2018 was accused of inciting violence against them with a tweet directed at white "undercover racist cops".  In the same year he referred to a Labour LGBT group as a "gay KKK night out" - because all the people in the photo were white.  A year earlier he told a Twitter user that "we're colonising Europe... you [white] man can't breed. We can".  In 2015 he told another Twitter user that "we don't hunt in packs like white boys" while a contradictory tweet declared that "the white man is the most violent ethnicity in world history".  He has also announced on several occasions his belief that "white boys have a thing about black men's tackle".  In 2011 he compared the then London mayor Boris Johnson to Norwegian far right terrorist Anders Breivik.

Jasper's persistent victim mentality led him to conveniently declare in 2012 that "black people can't be racist".  Bear in mind what you have just seen and read above.

So who is Lee Jasper anyway?  Well, he was a senior policy advisor to Ken Livingstone during his second term as mayor of London, specialising in policing, equalities and race relations - once again bear in mind what you have just seen and read above!  He resigned in 2008 following allegations of corruption.  He later turned up as a candidate for the hard left Respect Party, but rejoined Labour in 2018 after an earlier application was rejected.  He was allowed to rejoin after an NEC ruling chaired by Andy Kerr, a Corbyn loyalist.

With members like Lee Jasper, no wonder Labour is currently being investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.  If he's allowed to retain his membership by the next administration it's a damning indictment on them and the party itself.

Lee Jasper

NOMINATIONS UPDATE 04.02.20

There are now ten days to go until nominations close for Labour's leadership elections.  Since our last update the only major development is that Dawn Butler has made it onto the ballot for the deputy leader's role.  She qualified over the weekend via the CLP route.  Ian Murray is close to joining her, while Rosena Allin-Khan is some way off.

In the main leadership race Emily Thornberry is still struggling.  She is the only candidate in either contest not to have received any affiliate nominations and still requires 23 nominations to qualify via the CLP route.  At the Cardiff leadership hustings on Sunday she made a desperate plea for backers.  It has largely fallen on deaf ears, although since the last update she has now received a handful of nominations from north of Watford.  With more than 400 CLPs yet to nominate it would be unwise to write her off just yet.

To qualify candidates require either 33 nominations from Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) or 3 nominations from Labour affiliate groups, two of which must be trade unions.  Here are the latest standings.

Leadership election

Keir Starmer: 144 CLPs + 6 affiliates (qualified 20.01.20)

Lisa Nandy: 27 CLPs + 3 affiliates (qualified 22.01.20)
Rebecca Long-Bailey: 64 CLPs + 4 affiliates (qualified 29.01.20)

Emily Thornberry: 10 CLPs

Deputy leadership election

Angela Rayner: 149 CLPs + 7 affiliates (qualified 20.01.20)
Richard Burgon: 22 CLPs + 3 affiliates (qualified 29.01.20)
Dawn Butler: 37 CLPs + 1 affiliate (qualified 02.02.20)

Ian Murray: 25 CLPs + 1 non-union affiliate
Rosena Allin-Khan: 12 CLPs + 1 non-union affiliate

DIANE DRIFTS OFF

As MPs gathered on Monday to discuss the events in Streatham, many eyes were drawn to the somewhat worse for wear Shadow Home Secretary.  Not for the first time Ms Abbott appeared a little distracted and could barely stay awake as fellow front bench clown Richard Burgon spoke at the despatch box.  At one point Corbyn looks across and appears to glare at her as she dozes.  Oh well Jez, not long before the pair of you return to the back benches and obscurity...

Was it a case of a few too many with Lady Nugee and Baroness Shami on Sunday night?

JEZ & DI'S TERROR WORDPLAY

We know from years of experience that the left has a huge blind spot when it comes to terrorism.  If the bombers are Ulster loyalists or white right-wingers then of course there is outrage.  However, there is often a failure or inability to even refer to terrorist attacks when they are carried by Islamists or Irish republicans.  The same can be said for child sexual exploitation.  While Labour's former deputy leader was happy to pursue elitist paedophiles (that didn't even exist), he and his colleagues have been almost exclusively silent about the national scandal of Muslim grooming gangs.  In fact such is the conspiracy of silence that the only frontbencher to speak out about the issue got sacked for doing so.

It will come as no surprise to many that the Labour leadership's response to the Islamist attack in Streatham yesterday followed this same pattern of denial.  Both Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn could not bring themselves to call it terrorism, instead referring to it as an "incident".

This wasn't merely a case of the facts not having yet been established.  As you can see from the Met's statement contained in Abbott's tweet - the incident has already been "declared as terrorist-related".  Corbyn tweets 93 minutes later, during which time it is even clearer what has happened.

This is almost an exact copy of previous responses to Islamist attacks and they use the same word - 'incident' - each time.

Now let's compare their response when Muslims are the targets and not the terrorists.

When Muslims are the victims of terrorist acts it is no longer merely an "incident", but a full blown "terror attack".  Gone is the appreciation for the emergency services, instead they are making political statements about solidarity, security reviews and bigotry.  Where is the solidarity and urgent security reviews when it's Muslim bigots doing the bombing, shooting and mass stabbings?

ANTONEONAZI DELETES GAMMON TWEET

Following our blog article and accompanying Facebook meme (pictured above), the Labour MP for Gower has now deleted her racist Brexit Day tweet.  She removed the tweet at around 07:52 this morning.  It's a wee bit late dear...

MOST SHARED: WEEK 250

Last week was predictably Brexit-heavy and our best week on Facebook since the election.  The most shared post was our remoaner compilation video, but the most shared meme was sent in by one of our followers and therefore not a BTLP original.  This remoaner/Lineker meme was shared 3,639 times via the Facebook page.

ANTONEONAZI'S RACIAL SLUR

While most (if not all) Labour MPs were desperately sad to see Britain leave the EU, one of them went into a full on racist hissy fit on Twitter.

Tweeting minutes after Britain's departure, the MP for Gower appeared to have been watching TV coverage from Parliament Square.  Some Twitter users called out her casual racism, but she doubled down with the following reply.

One would have expected her to later quietly delete the tweets, but at the time of writing they are still up for all to see.  It seems that racial slurs are acceptable in the Labour party, as long as they are being directed at white people (or Jews).  Ironically Antoniazzi has previously called out racism in the Brexit Party.

Antoniazzi gained Gower from the Conservatives in 2017, but saw her narrow majority dip further in the recent election.  She lost two and a half thousand votes in all, with the Brexit Party and Lib Dems the main beneficiaries.  With any luck she'll be binned in 2024.

Gower 2019 general election

Tonia Antoniazzi (Lab) 20,208 (45.4%) -4.4%
Francesca O'Brien (Con) 18,371 (41.3%) -1.4%
John Davies (Plaid) 2,288 (5.1%) +1.4%
Sam Bennett (Lib Dem) 2,236 (5.0%) +3.0%
Rob Ross (Brexit) 1,379 (3.1%) New

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 26 JAN-1 FEB 2020

26.01.20 - Bob Moran, Sunday Telegraph

26.01.20 - Scott Clissold, Sunday Express

27.01.20 - Ben Jennings, The Guardian

27.01.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

27.01.20 - Rich, Guido Fawkes

27.01.20 - Steve Bright, The Sun

28.01.20 - Morten Morland, The Times

28.01.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph 

28.01.20 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail

29.01.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

29.01.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times

30.01.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph

31.01.20 - Ben Jennings, The Guardian

31.01.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph

31.01.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

31.01.20 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail

01.02.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph

01.02.20 - Graeme Keyes, Irish Daily Mail

01.02.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

01.02.20 - Steve Bright, The Sun

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 30.01.20

Just two council elections on Thursday, both Tory held seats in Suffolk.  The party held both, while the Labour share was down in both.

Newmarket & Red Lodge, Suffolk County Council

Con: 893 (50.1%) -0.4%
Lib Dem: 315 (17.7%) +8.8%
Ind: 248 (13.9%) +2.4%
Lab: 198 (11.1%) -4.5%
Green: 123 (6.9%) New

Con HOLD

Newmarket North, West Suffolk Council

Con: 309 (42.4%) +6.9%
Lib Dem: 130 (17.9%) New
Ind: 118 (16.2%) -27.2%
Lab: 73 (10.0%) -10.9%
Ind: 54 (7.4%) New
Green: 44 (6.0%) New

Con HOLD