Brexit
Telegraph
Nigel Farage has demanded a seat at the Brexit negotiating table and warned Labour and the Tories his party’s victory in the European Parliament elections “is just the beginning”. The leader of The Brexit Party said winning 28 seats at a national poll after launching in April demonstrated the level of voter anger over the Government’s failure to take the UK out of the European Union. Mr Farage said he and his MEPs stood ready to “take responsibility” for Brexit and join negotiations with Brussels.
Independent
Nigel Farage has demanded a seat on Britain’s Brussels negotiating team for the Brexit Party after it pulled off a major victory in the European elections on Sunday night. The new group won the British part of the elections by far, with at least 28 seats – surpassing the former success of Ukip which had won the 2014 elections under Mr Farage’s leadership. The Brexit Party took 32 per cent of the national vote share and topped the poll in nine of the 10 regions declared. Claiming a “big win”, Mr Farage told reporters as the results rolled in: “We’ve got a deadline for 31 October, that’s the date on which we’re supposed to leave the European Union.
TBP
Telegraph
The Brexit Party has surged to a crushing victory in the European Parliament elections as the Tories suffered their worst ever results and Labour was punished by the Liberal Democrats. Nigel Farage’s new party won more than 30 per cent of the national vote and secured a stunning 28 seats from a standing start having only launched in April. The Conservative Party was almost wiped out as it came in fifth place with just nine per cent of the vote and three seats – down 15 on 2014 – with Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, saying the Tories now faced an “existential risk”.
Guardian
An insurgent Brexit party and reinvigorated Liberal Democrats have delivered a harrowing night for the Conservatives and Labour at the European elections, prompting profound soul-searching at the top of both major parties. Nigel Farage’s Brexit party humiliated the Conservatives in their rural heartlands but also made sweeping gains in cities such as Cardiff, Leeds and Sheffield, as well as in Hillingdon, the home of Boris Johnson’s seat where the Tories were pushed into fourth.
Times
Nigel Farage’s prediction of a “big win” for his Brexit Party was proved as it swept through Tory and Labour heartlands hoovering up disaffected voters. The anti-EU party, which was formed only four months ago, won 31.6 per cent of the vote nationally, with Scotland and Northern Ireland yet to declare. It took the most seats in every region except London. The party gained 39 per cent of the vote in the strongly pro-Leave North East constituency, capturing two of the three seats.
Times
Britain’s two main parties suffered a collapse in support last night as Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party scored a sweeping victory in the European parliament elections. With counts in ten of the twelve regions complete, the party topped the national vote share with 31.6 per cent as the country’s Brexit divisions widened. Mr Farage said that the outcome was a “massive message” to the Labour and the Conservatives. “If we don’t leave the EU on October 31, tonight’s results will be repeated in a general election,” he said.
BBC News
The Brexit Party was the clear winner in the UK’s European elections, with the pro-EU Lib Dems coming second. The Conservatives and Labour suffered heavy losses, with the former expected to get less than 10% of the vote. Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said the two main parties “could learn a big message” from the results. Overall, out of 64 MEPs declared so far, Mr Farage’s party has won 28, the Lib Dems 15, Labour 10, Greens seven, the Tories three and Plaid Cymru one.
Labour Party
Telegraph
Labour descended into a full-blown civil war over Brexit as the party was crushed in the European elections. Jeremy Corbyn’s party was on course to finish third, behind the Brexit Party and the Liberal Democrats, sparking public in-fighting between its most senior figures and the leader declaring there must now be a general election or public vote on Brexit. Senior Labour figures said the party had been punished for its ambiguous position on Brexit, while the Lib Dems and the Brexit Party, which represented Remain and hard Brexit, were the big winners on the night.
Mail
Battered Jeremy Corbyn today hinted he will finally back a second Brexit referendum as Labour erupted into civil war after being humiliated in European elections. The Labour leader said ‘this issue will have to go back to the people’ as the shadow Cabinet turned on him – although he again dodged stating whether there should be a general election or a single-issue vote. The desperate fire-fighting came as foreign secretary Emily Thornberry was among those to blast the party’s ‘unclear’ strategy and demand a second referendum after Labour’s thrashing.
LibDems
Telegraph
The Liberal Democrats were “back in business” this morning as the party beat both the Tories and Labour for the first time in a century. As the European election vote was polarised between Remain and Leave voters, the Lib Dems finished second behind the Brexit Party. Sir Vince Cable’s party picked up swathes of votes from disaffected Labour supporters, with a 13.5 per cent vote swing from Labour to the Lib Dems in the early results.
Conservative Party
Telegraph
The Conservative Party has slumped to its lowest national vote share since it was formed in 1834. Theresa May’s party gained 8.8 per cent of the vote in the European Parliament election, placing fifth nationally, behind the Brexit Party, the Lib Dems, Labour and the Green Party. The Brexit Party, which ended up topping the ballot on 33.3 per cent, was driven by support from dissatisfied Leave voters abandoning the Conservatives, as well as those looking to register a protest vote in the elections.
Times
Voters want the Tories to “deliver Brexit as quickly as possible”, the Conservative Party chairman said as he admitted it had been a “difficult night”. Brandon Lewis tweeted the comments after the party managed to avoid the “wipeout” predicted by one of its candidates but remained on course for its worst ever share of the national vote. With all the English and Welsh regions declared the Tories had won only three MEPs. They failed to secure any of London’s eight seats.
Mail
The Tories were facing the threat of electoral oblivion today after plunging to the worst election defeat in their history in EU polls – while Labour was also trounced by Nigel Farage’s insurgent Brexiteers. Despite only being launched six weeks ago, the Brexit Party has won at least 28 MEP seats – with the Conservatives dropping to fifth place across much of the country with just 9 per cent of the vote. The disastrous showing immediately sparked warnings from would-be leader Boris Johnson that things could get even worse for the Tories if the UK does not leave the EU by the end of October – deal or no deal.
Mirror
The Tories tonight suffered their worst election result for almost 200 years as resigning Theresa May was annihilated in the EU elections. With every British region declared except Scotland, Brexit civil war finally obliterated the party of government as it won less than 9% of the vote – landing in fifth place behind the Greens – and lost 15 of 18 seats. But Labour were also knocked into third place by the Lib Dems, losing 8 of their 18 seats as Jeremy Corbyn’s party descended into infighting over its “fence-sitting” Brexit stance.
Mail
Boris Johnson has warned that the Tories face catastrophe unless they heed their EU elections drubbing and deliver Brexit at all costs. The leadership front runner said the rout’ in the polls last night will become a ‘permanent haemorrhage’ of voter support unless the party takes dramatic action to win back furious Brexiteers. After Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party gobbled up votes to come top in the contest and consign the Conservatives to the worst result in their history, Mr Johnson delivered a stark message that they must listen to the ‘millions who voted for change’.
CHUK
Times
Heidi Allen, leader of Change UK, said that the new centrist party was “down but not out” after it failed to establish itself as a political force in the European parliament elections. Ms Allen insisted that its campaign had gone “very, very well” but acknowledged that more formal co-operation with the Liberal Democrats may be necessary. Chuka Umunna, Change UK’s principal spokesman, said on Saturday that it would be sensible for the party to form a pact not to stand against the Lib Dems in a general election.
Guardian
The leader of Change UK, Heidi Allen, has said her party could merge with with the Liberal Democrats, appearing to put her at odds with Chuka Umunna. On Saturday, Umunna, a Change UK MP and spokesman, said the Independent Group should form a pact not to stand against Lib Dems in the next general election. But Allen, who left the Conservatives to join two other breakaway Conservative and Labour MPs to form the pro-remain group, said she would go “one step further”.
EU
Telegraph
Eurosceptic parties enjoyed their best ever results in the European elections on Sunday night as voters flocked in their millions to vote for populist parties and abandoned the two groups that have dominated EU politics for the last 40 years. A total of 169 MEPs were returned from eurosceptic parties across the EU, according to preliminary results based on exit polls and results.
Guardian
The 40-year grip of the two main centrist political groups on the levers of power in Brussels looked set to be broken as voters in the European elections turned out in record numbers to bolster radical alternatives including the Greens and the far right. A populist Eurosceptic surge failed to emerge on Sunday but they were on track to be returned to the European parliament in larger numbers than ever before, with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally celebrating a narrow symbolic victory over Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche in France.
Independent
France’s far-right National Rally party has beaten Emmanuel Macron‘s centrists in a close-run EU election. Marine Le Pen’s party, a rebranding of the National Front, won around 23.5 per cent of the vote to Mr Macron’s allies’ 22.5 per cent, according to vote share projections released on Sunday night. Projections showed Matteo Salvini’s right-wing League Party gaining in strength in Italy with nearly 34 per cent of the vote. He calculated that populist and nationalist parties will control at least 150 seats in the new 751-seat European Parliament.
Green Party
Independent
Europe’s green parties have made major gains across the continent in this week’s EU elections in a “Green wave”, according to results released overnight on Sunday. In Germany, Die Grünen jumped into second place with 20 per cent, solidly beating the historically dominant social democrats, while in France, Les Verts came from nowhere to pull off a surprise third place behind Emmanuel Macron’s outfit.
Express
POPULISTS surged across Europe in EU Parliament elections that finished yesterday, with nationalist and environmentalist parties making dramatic gains in a huge challenge to the Brussels bloc. In both France and Italy nationalist anti-EU parties topped the polls, with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and Matteo Salvini’s Lega both getting the most votes. Far-right parties also made big gains in Sweden and Spain, while eurosceptic populists won the most votes in Poland and Hungary.
Telegraph
Emmanuel Macron suffered defeat at home in the European elections but could console himself with securing a kingmaker role that could determine the next five years of EU politics. The ardently Europhile French president was narrowly beaten by Marine Le Pen’s virulently anti-EU National Rally in the French vote but stands to benefit from a fragmentation in support for the older centrist parties in the European Parliament. Ever since the first European elections in 1979, the centre-right European People’s Party and centre-left Socialists and Democrats have dominated EU politics.
ITV News
Officials at the European Parliament say turnout across all of the bloc’s 28 countries was a 20-year high of 50.5% for Sunday’s vote. Spokesman Jaume Duch Guillot said the turnout was eight percentage points higher than the last Europe-wide vote for the parliament in 2014. He said the figures, which include voting from the UK – which aims to leave the bloc, “shows that European citizens realise that the European Union is part of their everyday reality and future”.
Breitbart
Populist leader Marine Le Pen and her Rassemblement National (National Rally, or RN) have triumphed over sitting French president Emmanuel Macron in the European Parliament elections, according to exit polls. Ms Le Pen declared victory following exit polls showing the RN winning around 24 per cent of the vote, compared to Macron’s La Republique En Marche! (LREM) who, according to projections, has come in second with 22.5 percent of the vote, French newspaper Le Figaro reports.
Tommy Robinson
Telegraph
It was a mixed night for several high-profile candidates in their bid to become MEPs in the European elections. Tommy Robinson blamed Government “interference” with social media companies for his failure to secure a seat in the European Parliament. The independent candidate polled 2.2% of the overall vote in the North West as the Brexit Party gained the largest share with 31.2%. He said he was unable to fight a fair campaign because he was taken off various social media platforms.
Buzzfeed
Two UK far-right internet personalities who launched audacious bids to be elected to the European parliament – anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson, and YouTuber Sargon of Akkad – have failed. On Sunday, results from the European elections revealed Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad) who stood for UKIP, and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson) who ran as an independent, did not get enough votes to become MEPs. A third right wing YouTuber, Mark Meechan (Count Dankula) is running in Scotland, where results are due later. In England’s north west, Yaxley-Lennon came in eighth place with 38,908 votes, standing as an independent.
Away from the European elections …
Tory leadership
Independent
The race to be the next prime minister has descended into open warfare after the chancellor threatened to join fellow Tories in toppling any leader pursuing a no-deal Brexit. Philip Hammond’s extraordinary intervention came after Dominic Raab predicted MPs would fail to stop him taking the UK out of the EU without a deal on Halloween night, if he won the contest. Rival candidate Rory Stewart – who also hinted at joining a no-confidence vote against his own government to block no deal – warned Brexiteers it would ruin Britain’s “400-year reputation” for economic competence.
Express
TORIES have threatened to oust their new Prime Minister in a Government revolt if a no-deal Brexit is forced through. MPs have warned they will topple any new Conservative Party Prime Minister who spearheads a no-deal Brexit in order to avoid leaving the EU without an agreement. Chancellor Philip Hammond announced his plans to join the revolt, and refute the new leader who tries to implement no-deal Brexit. Mr Hammond said any newly appointed Prime Minister who tries to “push through a no-deal exit on 31 October” would immediately face the prospect of having to “leave office”.
Guardian
Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab have been warned that Tory MPs would be prepared to bring down any prime minister backing a no-deal Brexit, triggering a general election, amid fears the leadership hopefuls will veer to the right in response to a surge in support for Nigel Farage at the European election. A string of senior Conservatives, led by Philip Hammond, the chancellor, delivered a sobering message to candidates that many Tory MPs are prepared to take drastic action to stop a no-deal Brexit. “
Express
A raft of announcements are planned on subjects close to Mrs May’s heart, and aides hope to give the country a glimpse of the policies that would have defined her premiership if British politics were not gripped by Brexit. There is a strong expectation that measures to improve mental health provision will be unveiled. The future of tuition fees will also come under the spotlight when a long-awaited report on post-18 education lands. Other issues that could take centre stage include the environment and climate change.
Project Fear
Times
A hard Brexit on October 31 could cause huge disruption to the UK’s flu vaccination programme, one of Britain’s largest jab suppliers has warned. Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical giant, said that the disruption could put thousands in hospital, leading to “huge” financial costs for the NHS. Hugo Fry, Sanofi’s UK managing director, lamented “the interminable wait” for Westminster to decide the nature and timing of Britain’s departure.
Energy
Telegraph
The EU’s most polluting states are pocketing funds earmarked to help wean the bloc from coal-fired power without any plans to clean up their energy systems. A new report will name and shame the states dipping into the funding pots meant to help smooth the transition to a cleaner energy system. It will show that 11 states have no plans to move away from carbon-intensive coal-fired power, despite an EU goal to scrub coal from the energy system by 2030 in line with the climate targets set out in the Paris Accord.
Climate change
Mail
Not everyone is appalled at the thought of complying with the Committee on Climate Change‘s new diktat to turn down their thermostat to 19 degrees on a bleak midwinter’s night. ‘We would have to turn ours right up and even then I’m not sure we’d hit 19 degrees,’ laughs Sir William Worsley as we sit in his office at the back of Hovingham Hall, handsome North Yorkshire home to the Worsley family since it was built by his five-times great-grandfather in 1751.
British Steel
Telegraph
Car giants Fiat Chrysler and Renault are on the brink of revealing a major global tie-up to create the world’s biggest carmaker. The companies are expected to confirm today that they plan to join forces in the face of fundamental structural challenges facing the global car industry. The deal, which is likely to involve the firms taking equity stakes of up to 25pc in one another, with a view to an eventual merger, would create an alliance capable of usurping Volkswagen’s world-leading 10.8m annual sales when Renault’s existing partner Nissan is included.
from PMB again. Re Traitor May still around. Yes she could still be a danger and Hammond has said he is a danger too. Come right out and said he will unseat a PM who backs no deal!
from PMB Hmmm. . . Pretty unanimous vote then. DOWN WITH FARAGE! Will we get to see/hear his performance in the European Parliament? I don’t pretend to know much about that. But I have said before he is good at destroying bodies from within.
The European elections were little more than a trap. Although UKIP would have fared reasonably well it is doubtful that we would have won the elections and this would have given the remain government ammunition to totally fudge and cancel Brexit.
Leave voters and supporters need to unite in a constructive way, we must temporarily forget the smears and put downs by Mr F and make sure we win, we can fall out again after!
Our country needs UKIP a genuine political party that is fighting for true independence and has a full manifesto to our country.
The remain government want our party to fail and be consigned to political history, we must never let this happen and must double our resolve and hang in there for as long as it takes.
Some thoughts on Tommy Robinson’s result:
He gained 38,908 votes, not a bad number for an Independent, but still only 2.24% of the vote share for the North-West England region.
-“Tommy Robinson blamed Government “interference” with social media companies for his failure to secure a seat in the European Parliament. ”
Well he would say that. 😉 Perhaps he may not actually be as popular as he likes to think? Or maybe this is an indication where peoples’ priorities ultimately lie at present, namely that the topic of Brexit is more important than the topic of ‘Muslim grooming gangs’.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, that topic is of course not to be dismissed or brushed aside by any means, but perhaps the electorate-at-large are not yet ready or willing to tackle this matter just yet.
Unfortunately he does have a tarnished and somewhat ‘toxic’ reputation within much of the mainstream media – I’ll let you decide whether that is justified or not – which has probably also influenced the electorate-at-large.
Did that also damage UKIP’s chances? Probably not, despite their protestations The Brexit Party did receive a lot of press and media coverage, even from the BBC, which UKIP did not enjoy. And voters were always likely to be drawn towards a ‘shiny new thing’ and dazzled by Farage’s rhetoric.
Personally, I would hope that UKIP now distances itself from Tommy Robinson, and a new leader can try and breathe some fresh life into the party.
UKIP just needs to keep itself steady, and hold in there, because at some point the Brexit Party’s credibility is going to collapse and the honeymoon period will come to a halt, and UKIP just needs to be there, ready to collect those voters again.
Can UKIP survive until 2022? How will it be financed?
By its members as always.
from PMB Interesting. It does not seem to have occurred to anyone else that it was a good result for an Independent. I agree that Brexit was far more in the voters mind. I also agree that Farage’s light will hopefully dim. But as the next comment says – can UKIP find the funds. Lets face it UKIP are the only honest politicians around.
Labour.
The ambiguous position of Labour had Emily Thornberry, AKA white van woman looking
quite bereft as the results came in, now the fence-sitting must desist, someone in the
Labour party will have to do the permutation on which way gets more votes.
Maybe Diane with calculator.
I will let Nigel Farage, The Brexit Party and all its ‘supporters’ have their moment of glory, and I congratulate them.
But to look at what happens next, all we need do is look back at history.
In 2014, UKIP led by Nigel Farage won the European Elections, with similar rhetoric about ‘shaking up two party politics’ etc.
Since then, what did UKIP really achieve politically of note? The referendum? UKIP may have made a manifesto pledge to hold the referendum, but it was Cameron’s Tories who actually delivered this, though admittedly only due to the ‘perceived threat’ from UKIP.
All I’m saying is that what are people expecting The Brexit Party to actually do that will make any difference this time around?
They still have no MPs in the House Of Commons, so it is all very well Mr Farage demanding a seat at the Brexit negotiation table, in fact I’d like a seat there too!
And a General Election is not scheduled to take place until 2022, although there is the possibility of one being called sooner, this is by no means any guarantee.
The real litmus test will be at the Peterborough by-election next month, where we will see if the voters will go back to tribally voting Labour, or whether they will stay with The Brexit Party and return their first MP.
WHEN we leave the EU having screwed UKIP, what are the Brexit party for? There will be nothing to stop the two-party state. Thanks Nigel!
Yes, it’s great is’nt it? now he has launched a life boat for ex Tories and thrown his old party under a bus, as you say once Brexit has been achieved it will be back to business as usual with the two party state and all the redundant ex Tory MEP’s returning to their original home: The Tory Party (the one that Nigel secretly and desperately wants to belong to).
I for one will happily pontificate about what the Brexit Party are really for if and when we leave the EU. We must focus 100% on Brexit.
The European Parliament is deluded
The European Parliament is something we should still not belong too, these elections are a complete farce and a sham! Costing the nation millions of pounds as well.
Brexit group I have no problem with, farage I have plenty of problems with,Thinking outside the box
I honestly believe that the treacherous ersatz tory party is in the final stages of a metamorphosis process appertaining to the brexit group.
On reflection the farage was a coxswain type leader of UKIP steering us as a party along a tory
PC/Appeasement course, his strong backing for bolton to be used by farage as a conduit for farage
continuing UKIP party input was upset on the 17 th Feb 2018 .
Hence the farage anti UKIP rant, Gerard Batten is his own man.
May one ask, who has a say among the ground floor troops has a say ?
It does seem to me that farage is going into nappy mode.
The evil political demons of the tory party can take on many forms
a new political group would vary well be one.
Ogga – I thing about to have this stuff after the last few years in politics it’s hard to trust anyone or anything. Democracy seems to have become about choosing the least worst option and that is what The Brexit Party is all about, not ideal but better than the other choices. I don’t think we’d want the Conservatives or Labour back, certainly not the Greens or Lib Dems, so The Brexit Party it must be for now.
Sometimes you have to be patient and play a strategic game until someone slips up and you can deliver a knock out punch, that opportunity will arrive, it always does. As Viv says we must keep battling on, I should imagine that in the last two world wars our leaders and generals must have faced despair, imagine the consequences if they’d given up. If the best we can do for now is keep our politicians off balance and on their toes, then so be it, it’ll have to do for now.
Morning Flyer,
Yes I do agree, with an additive that is use & abuse farage as he has done to myself / family
& party leader / membership, poetic justice, he cannot in all honesty , complain.
I have no intentions of giving up, and hope the same can be said of Gerard Batten.
I had two days of intensive pavement pounding, leafleting, prior to the vote.
I honestly see farage as a PC/Appeasement merchant and as such a danger to these Isles.
Verdict, brexit group result good, on farage, his past needs a good coating of looking at
and he should be treated with caution.
TBP joining the same grouping in EU parliament as Salvini, Le Pen etc would really challenge the globalists and prove TBP’s credentials; this group are giving the EU a run for their money at least. But I’m certain that TBP would not join this group.
But I’ve a horrible feeling that this won’t even get as far as being put to the test: Teresa May is still around and dangerous. Jeff Taylor’s latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0cREedBS9A
mary – I’d be very surprised if Theresa May doesn’t try and do this, introduce a bill to stop a no deal Brexit. This bloody deal was never part of the referendum package, just something that was thought up later to foil Brexit and it’s completely unnecessary for our country, no benefit to us whatsoever, a con.
The consequences of this are terrifying, our government would become a totalitarian dictatorship, totally anti-democratic and supressing the people, probably ultimately by force, that it is supposed to represent. As for the EU, they would have staged a coup using our own government against us.
Under such circumstances, there will be no peaceful end to this and unfortunately I’m not expecting it. Very frightening times indeed!
As I always say: ‘when it comes to politics expect the worse and you won’t be far wrong.’
Ogga However you dress up your conspiracies Farage, love him or hate him, is the best hope that we have in ensuring we win Brexit.
UKIP must now get on with its leadership election and see what political identity the candidates offer we members.
JB,
Conspiracies ? the man in his anti UKIP Party rant has called me a member of the BNP
and that was one of his nicer comments in describing UKIP and membership.
His rant came after years of giving him my support / vote / and pavement pounding helping build his political image.
He left UKIP on account of the Tommy Robinson / Gerard Batten personal advisor link whilst
himself in the past using martyn heale an ex National front activist, no double standards there then.
Currently in comparison I prefer leg over clegg, shirttail major, cameron the wretch at least you knew without doubt where they were coming from.
Ogga I share your contempt for Nigel and I have written before that Gerard is a far more trustworthy and decent person than Nigel will ever be. Afraid though, the Brexit Party is demonstrating that it is better able to put pressure on the political establishment to deliver Brexit than UKIP and that is what people are seeking.
As I posted to Flyer I would agree to use and abuse farage, that would be something he could understand and deserve, also a form of poetic justice.
But I do see the people’s once again having their political eggs in one basket, as they did on the 24/6/2016, as in “job done” leave it to the tory’s.
Ogga 1, same here after giving him years of my support as well, he walked off saying he never really wanted to be in politics and he wanted to get his life back!? That getting his life back seemed to consist of running off to America to support Trump (no real problem with that) and being a mediocre radio presenter on LBC, whilst waiting for his friend and benefactor Arron Banks to stump up the money for his ‘great comeback’ in guess what: politics, only this time he has joined up with ex Tories or ones that cannot get elected as Tories just like him.
We are living in politically extraordinary times and If the bounder Farage can win us Brexit then who cares how he does or what he does next.
Like him or loathe him he is the best chance we have got of winning Brexit.
Brexit Party 28 UKIP 0
🙂
Ogga 1, you are so right in your interpretation in what this bogus party represents, but the saddest fact of all is that people have fallen for it hook, line and sinker, and that we who can see behind the facade know where the real truth lies, the fact that Ihave not joined the BP is like wearing a badge of honour to me.
‘I have not joined the BP is like wearing a badge of honour to me’.
Well neither have I, so what? Is the badge like the current Mrs May flag – a white cross on a white background? Hey, I don’t know. Just asking.
What I do see is what smacks of snobbism, just like thespians:
– ”you cannot claim be a real actor making millions on the TV, Darling – you must be poverty struck acting at provincial venues to be a real actor luvvy”.
– ”you cannot be a real party just by mobilising millions to get a referendum, Darling – you must be grubbing about, destitute of seats after elections, to be a real Party luvvy”.
# She was poor, but she was honest . . . ain’t it all the bl**ding same #.