Europe – the continent – is suffering from a heatwave. ‘Europe’ – the EU, in the form of Messrs Juncker and Tusk – have gone to the G20 Summit in Osaka. Here, the BoJo-Hunt is in full swing. The ‘stop Boris’ crowd is gloating that “the public” now prefers Hunt as PM. Looking at the actual poll (see here, you need to scroll down a bit) that ‘preference’ is based on one percentage point. Ah well, every little helps …
Something else has been happening in our political landscape. It’s instructive to note in passing that our MSM operate in the same old fashion: “if it’s in the Times” it’s true and can be copied and spread as ‘News’. Actually, this piece of news is serious and The Times is right to give it such prominence today.
In the circus that is the May Successor Race many, especially remainers, have apparently forgotten that one of the outcomes of those political games they’ve been playing is a GE, resulting in a Labour government and Mr Corbyn in 10 Downing Street.
Taking a closer look at Mr Corbyn and his entourage is therefore important. You can see the reports copied from The Times here, here and here. However, I’ll take a closer look at the original Times articles because ‘sources’ are involved …:
“Senior civil servants have become increasingly concerned about Jeremy Corbyn’s health and warned that he may be forced to stand down as Labour leader because he is not up to the job “physically or mentally”. The future of Mr Corbyn, 70, was openly discussed at an event attended by mandarins this month amid suggestions that he has become “too frail and is losing his memory”. They say they are increasingly worried about the prospect of him becoming prime minister because he is being “propped up” by his advisers and lacks a firm grasp of both foreign affairs and the domestic agenda.” (link, paywalled)
Leaving aside his health and the general suitability of Mr Corbyn, I find it quite extraordinary that Mandarins are leaking their concerns – it’s not just one, it’s several who spoke to the Times:
“One senior civil servant said: “When does someone say [he] is too ill to carry on as leader of the Labour Party let alone prime minister? There must be senior people in the party who know that he is not functioning on all cylinders.” Another said: “There is a real worry that the Labour leader isn’t up to the job physically or mentally but is being propped up by those around him. There’s growing concern that he’s too frail and is losing his memory. He’s not in charge of his own party.” (link, paywalled)
There’s more and yes, it is worrying:
“When the top 200 civil servants met this month, one subject kept coming up over coffee — not Brexit or the Tory leadership but Jeremy Corbyn’s health. The mandarins are nervous about the prospect of Mr Corbyn in No 10. “It’s not just his command of foreign affairs,” one says. “He needs to have a grasp of the domestic agenda in the 21st century rather than living in the past. His advisers can’t shield him from everything.” (link, paywalled)
How bad must it be for Mandarins to become so concerned? Apparently, there have been rumours and ‘health briefings’ from Labour MPs as well – not that we’ve ever heard or read about them. The spectacle of May and the ‘hardcore [insert ‘Remainer’ or ‘Leaver’ according to your own preference] rebels’ was far more, well, spectacular. Meanwhile, it’s our dear Mandarins who worry about our political leaders, leaking like sieves:
“The civil service is more pragmatic. They want to know the protocol. “When does someone say Jeremy Corbyn is too ill to carry on as leader of the Labour Party let alone prime minister?” says one senior civil servant. “Brexit and the Tory leadership contest have meant the Labour Party hasn’t been scrutinised as much as it should have been. At least Theresa May could understand her briefs, even if she couldn’t control her party.” (link, paywalled)
Oooh – that’s not a nice thing to say, is it! While one paywalled article in the Times is full of anonymous observations from Labour MPs, with added speculation of who might follow him – in other words, gossip – the main article has some more substantial observations:
“The party said that Mr Corbyn was in good health and leads an active life, running and cycling regularly. Concerns are being heightened, however, because of the increasing possibility that Brexit will lead to a general election. Times reporters spoke to dozens of Labour figures including members of the shadow cabinet, finding a culture of bullying and intimidation within the leader’s office. A former cabinet minister told of a “moral malaise at the top”. Another leading figure said that Mr Corbyn’s most senior aides acted with a mixture of arrogance and insularity. They compared the leader’s office to Soviet Russia and said that Mr Corbyn’s aides wanted to “purge the party of non-believers”. Another Labour source said: “Jeremy is just a puppet, he can barely hold his head up. He is being manipulated and controlled.” (link, paywalled)
‘Comrades’, aye … While there are more titillating ‘news’ – paywalled – in The Times (here, if you can), about ‘life in the Corbyn Bunker’, reporters of that august paper also took a look at the Party finances. It’s not looking good:
“Labour is […] heading into the red for the first time since Jeremy Corbyn became leader with senior figures suggesting that the membership has fallen to about 480,000, down from 564,000 in December 2017. […] The financial troubles are likely to be compounded by changes to the rules governing the distribution of trade union political funds […]. MPs say this will almost certainly mean a big drop in the amount of money the unions have to give to Labour, making it even more dependent on membership subscriptions. “We are haemorrhaging members, equally balanced between stalwarts who have finally given up because of antisemitism and young idealists who joined because of Jeremy Corbyn and feel betrayed over Brexit,” one MP says.” (link, paywalled)
Let that sink in: Labour is experiencing the same woes as the Tories. Members are fed up with their leaders who are not doing what they said they would: either stand for Leave or stand for Remain, and are leaving the party. This is yet another indication of the changing political landscape.
Our elected representatives have wasted three years playing games amongst themselves in order to prevent Brexit, aided by the Remain MSM and Remain Establishment. Meanwhile their power base is crumbling around them. It’s not just the Remain Tories and Ms May, it’s Remain, anti-semitic Labour and Corbyn who are being punished by their members as well.
There are no redeemers in Labour, nor will either of the BoJo-Hunt winner redeem the Tory Party. They haven’t noticed yet that their game is over. It really is no longer about tribal politics – it’s about ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’.
The time for both Tories and Labour is fast running out. There’s that new player, The Brexit Party. They are holding their “Big Vision” event tomorrow in Birmingham. Tomorrow evening we’ll know more about their policies.
KBO!
It feels strange to me that all commentators appear blind to the prospect of John McDonnell elbowing Jeremy Corbyn aside should Labour win a General Election. I watched them on a train a couple of years ago and it was obvious then who was in charge. From his statements over the years and from his occasional (not to say rare) undisciplined reactions to criticism, I think Mr McDonnell is someone to watch and be wary of.
Just a thought!
Why do I think this Labour antisemetic issue keeps raising its ugly head and refuses to get put to. bed, I’m sure it could be.
It is said a solution would be a victory for the Blairites, who in the Labour Party is mostly pushing the Remain band wagon- the Blairites even now come the next election it seems obvious that Labour will be the Remain party.
On being elected it will be apparent Labour must accept the blame, but I am sure they will not lose much sleep over that; but just a moment is it really in the Labour Party interest to Remain? Won!t immigration continue in Biblical proportions, towns the size of Coventry and Leicester services have to be accommodated and where does all that CHEACP LABOUR go? Yes it drives down the poorest native peoples wages and the big industries just get richer.
Now do you see where I’m going? It isn’t really in the interests of Mr Corbyn for Labour to be the “blame remain party” so what does he do? He uses the continual antisemetic row as a blind and let’s the Conservatives get on with remain (or in hock to the EU forever with a flawed WA).
He’s always wanted to leave anyway, heLl remain if he has to, but meanwhile he’s playing the “daft laddie” to perfection
But, nobody has asked who would replace Corbyn if he is persuaded to stand down. Is the ‘far left’ intending to replace him with a more Stalinist/Marxist candidate and if so, which one? Sonya
The assumption by some pundits is that it’ll be Rebecca Long-Bailey who was involved in the Talks with May over her WA. They think she can be ‘directed’ by the Labour Big Beasts, McDonnell, Starmer, Watson … but who knows …
FYI – I understand from german papers that the Juncker-replacement will definitely not be the German Manfred Weber, the Merkel Protege.
At the G20 Summit, Macron, Tusk and others have ganged up on Merkel to prevent Mr Weber. Tomorrow the EU Heads will meet again in Brussels to decide who it shall be – rumour has it that Macron wants M Barnier to replace Juncker.
I’ll report on all the gory details in Monday’s “Daily Brexit Betrayal” … don’t miss it!
-“Another Labour source said: “Jeremy is just a puppet, he can barely hold his head up. He is being manipulated and controlled.”
That is something I have believed myself for some time.
Labour – as a party – is only interested in getting into power, and they will do ‘whatever it takes’, flip-flop over policy announcements, and just generally go with whatever they feel will win them votes.
Mr Corbyn is being ‘used’ by the Labour party, because of his bizarre popularity with ‘young people’, who have been programmed to believe that socialist ideology is the ‘best’.
But look behind Mr Corbyn, and with the exception of John McDonnell, you’ll see him surrounded by ‘Blairites’ – the ‘Red Tories’. Waiting in the wings, ready to pounce, once they sniff a whiff of power.
It was my belief that if ever Labour got into power on the back of Mr Corbyn, he would swiftly be removed to allow the ‘Blairites’ to take over again fully.
But now I’m starting to see that Labour as a party is confident of winning a general election regardless of who the leader is – thanks in part to the shambles that the Conservative party is in – the Blairites might be getting ready to make their move to install their ‘preferred’ leader.
And of course, ‘ill-health’ is a classic cop-out, it makes people more sympathetic to the party, as opposed to the leader being ‘ruthlessly forced out’.
Not too sure about the Blairite takeover/snatch back of the Labour Party to be honest Stuart. In my opinion the likes of Seamus Milne are in control of the puppet Catweasel and with the backing of the hard left, demented MP’s like Lammy, Abbot, Butler, Williamson etc etc, with the street backing of the Momemtum thugs, The slimy, backdoor Blairites will have a big job on to regain control of that rabble, which the Labour Party has become.
There was a time when the country or at least some of it worked, that the silly season for the media was August, it seems now that it starts in May and runs until October , just as it their ‘hols’ and ‘gap years’ did when at ‘uni’ . Just how you can arrive in your mid forties and behave like a sixth former or uni student is beyond me. perhaps it’s something in the water.
By the way anyone worried that we are all going to fry this weekend should note that the France, Paris actually suffered during the European heat wave on June 2nd 1947 temperatures of 105.6. F. ( thanks to John Horn Tooke commenting on Guido )
It has been described as ‘The Great Political Realignment’. The split between the old Labour socialist ideologies and the right-leaning Conservative policies is being redrawn, with Remainers from both parties joining up to try to stop Brexit, and the anti-EU brigade, also comprising Labour and Conservative members, leaning towards The Brexit Party.
It amazes me that after the House of Commons decisively voted to give the decision on whether to leave or remain in the EU to the people of the UK in a bilateral referendum, how can MPs simply decide to ignore the result? Not only ignore the result but actively campaign against it. The question of trust in our legislative system has been seriously dented and I would imagine the next General Election will see a massive change of those elected to Parliament.
We must keep fighting for the decision made in 2016.
The arrogance is unbelievable actually, who do these people think that they are, they feel that they have the right to undermine the result of the biggest democratic decision made in our history. This is treason and these people need to be dealt with.
Looks like the ‘Glastonbury’ crowed are going to do it for us according to ‘reports’ this morning, the emotion could be felt. Maybe a protest group along the lines of the French Yellow Vests will start. It could be called the Glastonbury Macs or something,
Do what for us?
And wh is “us”?
It is not arrogance. It is terror. Talk to the owners of Nissan.
WHere the hell is UKIP. Deep in social media.
Well T G Spokes, try getting a media platform for UKIP – good luck with that one!
Even our own dear Nigel made sure that UKIP was never even mentioned at Leave means Leave events and wiped from media consciousness, apart from denigrating us at every availble opportunity – and no attempt whatsoever was made to unite in our common aim – something he may eventually come to regret.
I understand your irritation. But despite their blatant suport for the wrong side, these journalists are still journalists above all else.. The reason ukip is not on the box is to at least some extent because. There’s nothing that they know to say or do.
The leadership of ukip has had my wait and see suport for far too long. There is always somrething to do instead of making sorry little speeches. They have to make themselves famous, instead of boring.. If I have to hear !7.4million much longer I’ll go into decline.Leave the thicko headlines to thickos. MSM has some clever people. get advice, if they cant think for themselves. Ask any salesman..Specially in timeshares.
Invent something for heavens sake.Build a dream Anything.We aint just puddens…HO hasno idea what to use members for.if anything.
If my sales department was so useless the lot would go.