‘Tis surpassingly strange: our government and our elected representatives are utterly oblivious of what is actually going on outside their Westminster Bubble. It’s not as if the MSM weren’t reporting on what the rest of us out here are up to. Yes, they do it in their own, filtered and slanted fashion – I’ll bring a striking example below – but nevertheless, they are doing it.
Why have the two main parties stuck their collective heads in the sand, why are they oblivious of what is happening? Is it because they are bent on continuing in their own destruction? For example, Labour’s Corbyn is apparently now being pushed by his colleagues into accepting a 2nd Referendum which is not what a huge number of Labour voters want:
“Asked whether Mr Corbyn would eventually back a second referendum Mr Ashworth [Shadow Health Secretary] replied: “When it becomes obvious that parliament is completely deadlocked — I believe it already is obvious — but when it becomes accepted across the whole of parliament, of course the Labour Party would support a referendum.” (link, paywalled)
Note that there’s no mention of the EP election’s outcome, with the projected win of TBP. It’s as if we plebs out here can do what we want – sing, dance, stand on our heads and wave our legs in the air, shout or even throw milkshakes – it doesn’t matter. “They” know best.
Note that the ‘deadlock’ refers to the HoC and to the PM’s latest ‘WAB’ shenanigans, which Whitehall and Downing Street must by now have ‘finalised’ for the meeting of the Cabinet today. Apparently, the PM will offer ‘concessions’ to Labour even after the broken-down talks:
“The prime minister is said to want to put elements of the offer rejected by Jeremy Corbyn last week in the draft legislation, which is due to be voted on by MPs next month. The offer will include concessions on employment rights and green legislation, alongside a possible proposal for the UK to remain in a customs union with the EU until the next general election.” (link, paywalled)
And finally note that in these last, desperate attempts to get the WAB over the line by twiddling phrases both the government and the opposition overlook yet again that the thing is cast in stone: the WAB is non-negotiable (here). How many times does the EU have to say this? How come that we ignorant plebs know but they, our “Betters”, are oblivious?
Never mind though – the Big Remainers in cabinet are on the case. Phil Hammond will give a speech today to the CBI, arch Remainers all, and he’s helpfully made public already what he will say, for example that No Deal will be a catastrophe and no amount of preparing for it will avert it (here and here).
This warning is not, as one might suspect, meant for us, in the hope that we’ll now dutifully vote for the Tories on Thursday. It’s aimed at today’s cabinet, in order to squash the feeble attempts by the current DExEU minister Stephen Barclay to keep Whitehall staff working on No Deal preparations.
It is also meant for the PM replacement candidates who’ve been busy polishing their credentials, showing that Mr Hammond lives in cloud-cuckoo-land:
“Philip Hammond will warn Boris Johnson and other Brexiteer party leadership candidates they have ‘no mandate’ for No Deal today. The Chancellor will claim that leaving on October 31 without a deal amounts to ‘hijacking the result of the referendum, and in doing so, knowingly to inflict damage on our economy and our living standards’.” (source)
Our unequivocal vote for ‘Leave’ in 2016 will be ‘hijacked’ by demanding it be implemented by No Deal? Implemented by the PM’s successor if necessary since she, Hammond and her Remain cabinet have been unwilling to do so from the start? Only in cloud-cuckoo-land!
Even more interesting is the latest ‘Project Fear’ announcement coming “from Downing Street”. That is the spectre of the Union breaking up if the WAB isn’t voted through. It’s interesting because the perpetrator is named and hopefully shamed:
“Theresa May’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell has reportedly claimed that No Deal would lead to a border poll on the reunification of Ireland, breaking up the UK. Mr Barwell also said that Scotland would also follow, and tensions could rise in Wales, according to the Financial Times.” (link)
It’s interesting because this time, the leaking fearmonger is not a Whitehall Mandarin. We don’t know, of course, if Sir Mark Sedwill had authorised this latest “Project Fear” announcement, but it looks to me like another little straw in the wind indicating that the Mandarins might be on a strategic retreat, leaving the PM sitting in the mess she created with their support.
Now let’s look at the way RemainCentral, a.k.a The Times, managed to combine two events and make it into one fine smear article. These events were the milkshake attack on Nigel Farage and the report that the Electoral Commission will visit TBP head office today to investigate ‘illegal donations’, as demanded by the former PM Gordon Brown.
This is the headline (paywalled): “Nigel Farage all shook up over Brexit Party funding claims”, which is accompanied by the photo of Nigel splattered with milk.
That’s masterful. This combination insinuates that Nigel Farage wouldn’t have been so ‘shook up’ by a simple milkshaking had he not got something to hide about finances.
I’ll refrain from pointing out that the lefty MSM have been complicit in fostering this atmosphere of violence by pooh-poohing the previous attacks on Tommy Robinson and the UKIP candidate Carl Benjamin, by insinuating that they somehow brought this on by themselves. The argument from the Left has always been ‘it’s ok when we do it’.
But what about those finances?
“Critics have claimed that the Brexit Party’s funding model makes it easy for small donations to be made from abroad. The party has registered supporters, not members, who pay at least £25 a head through a Paypal account.” (link, paywalled)
Good grief – using Paypal is now of the devil? Perhaps we should ask if some Russian oligarchs are supporting The Guardian because their cry for financial support allows Paypal ‘donations’ … More:
“Mr Tice said that there was nothing “illegal” about accepting online donations and that the party abided by the Electoral Commission’s rules. Mr Farage expressed anger at the scrutiny of the party’s donations. “This is direct political interference in an election campaign,” he said. “It’s an establishment stitch-up. It’s an outrage.” (link, paywalled)
The hypocrisy is indeed blatant. Nobody seems to ask about how ChUK is financed, or indeed the other parties. And what about other interesting ‘funding schemes’ ? ‘The People’s Vote’, see here, seems to’ve been rather creative … But yeah, ‘it’s ok when we do it’, sez The Left …
Meanwhile, there was a committee meeting yesterday in Parliament which went completely under the radar – yes, me too, alas! It looks as if the government were trying to pull yet another fast one, but what else is new!
Sir Bill Cash got a standing ovation and some rousing speeches were made. You can watch the whole proceedings here. I shall endeavour to do so myself.
Sir John Redwood reports on it in his Diary today – worth reading, as always. Here’s a brief but hot clip of Mr Rees-Mogg as well.
There’s sunshine for those last two days of campaigning. I hope the result will bring sunshine to all of us, as asked for by Richard Littlejohn in his enjoyable article. Results will be coming in late on Sunday because counting must wait until the Sunday-voting EU polls have closed.
I leave you with the ‘news’ that the Tory leaflet for the EP elections doesn’t mention Brexit once …
This whole PayPal business does, indeed, stink. Whilst I am a fully paid-up member of UKIP, I’m holding on to my ConParty membership in the vain hope of getting a vote in the is-it-ever-going-to-happen leadership election. I don’t recall any problems with my monthly payments to the Cons made through PayPal.
On the “No Deao imperils the Union” guff from Barwell:-
1) Northern Ireland has a formal mechanism for Unification under the GFA. The No Deal scenario would be that the Republic of Ireland would put up a ‘hard border’ as demanded by the EU ; so work out how to do ‘re-unification’ from that!
2) Sturgeon and the SNP have never accepted the result of the Indy ref in 2015 – and now won’t accept the EU Ref 2016. So what makes them believe that any other Ref will A) go their way ; or B) that the SNP will accept the result?
3) Wales voted higher proportionally for LeavEU then the other Celts and by a majority like England.
I mentioned in the text above the committee meeting taking place yesterday in the HoC.
I am watching it and can only urge all readers to spend the time watching it:
https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/d7e9d4bc-621c-467a-bf22-42b02969b13b
The explanations by Sir Bill Cash at the start of the proceedings are extraordinarily important and powerful.
This is fascinating to watch but it is a long watch. I am only half way through it.
The subject is the same as the English Democrats’ argument – that Mrs May hasn’t got the authority to keep altering our withdrawal date without the agreement of Parliament. Sir Bill and friends are trying to prove this through Parliament; the EDs are going to court.
Let’s hope one of them is successful.
Well said Debbie. The media are ignoring the English Democrats High Court Action and ignoring when they can, the fact they are standing in the EU Election.
The media were quick enough to publicise the Gina Miller case, but of course that was on the other side of the argument …!
Re Brexit Party funding and Nigel Farage’s gifts from Arron Banks.
There seems to be a bit of indignant hurumphing from TBP and Nigel regarding all this, and now TBP have ‘banned’ Channel Four from talking to them.
Unfortunately for wannabe politicians, journalists are on this planet to investigate, in the public interest, the finances and sources of finance that politicians receive. Farage is no exception.
As David Lammy said ‘ £450,000 is not a gift, it’s a fortune ‘. More of that in a bit. But first, TBP have no doubt received thousands ( sources put it as 110,000 ) of £25 ‘registered supporters’ contributions and thousands of as yet undeclared sub-£500 contributions. IF, as Gordon Brown and Carole Cadwalladr are suggesting, this is in effect laundering – by dint of multiple micro-contributions – foreign money from unknown and potentially sinister influencers that is a very serious allegation.
Moreover IF that has been engineered – and we DO know that ‘Posh George’ Cotrell, a convicted money launderer and a prominent member of Farage’s ‘A-Team’ is involved in TBP, then that really is a matter that deserves intense media scrutiny.
BUT. If TBP is being honest and upfront, and there is no evidence to suggest otherwise, then far from ‘banning’ Channel Four and the Guardian’s Carole Cadwalladr, Surely they should open up the books and shoot their fox?
However, the matter regarding Nigel’s £450 K cannot be so easily pooh-poohed. The EU Questors are on that as we speak and it will not go away. It has been reported to HMRC as well and it is unlikely that even Nigel can escape from a thorough investigation.
Never run from a journalist.
This morning on BBC Bristol with a MEP Candidates debating Brexit, the Greens, Mollie Scott Cato, when asked to sum up her manifesto stated that Farage was a fraudster, that his offices today we’re to be raided and that she had already reported Farage to the EU Parliament for investigation.
Surely this was inappropriate under the circumstances and potentially libellous?
And what about the other Farage mischief making stories coming to the TV and newspapers near you?:
– his Mum and Dad ran a Brothel;
– his ex-wife is due to be investigated for money laundering (again);
– Farage has definite links to Russia / Al Kieda / ISIL / Venezuela / Iraq / IRA etc
– a brother sold arms to South African countries
– a sister was a high price hooker
– race hatred kept quiet on an industrial scale
– connections to neo-nazi organisations in Germany / Hungary / Austria et al
– openly misogynist tendencies as proven by Labour’s racist Diane Abbot
– touched women inappropriately, many come forward after 35 years
– funded a love nest for his prostitute girlfriend Peaches Amore
– tax evasion on secret offshore havens to thousands of millions of euros
Did I miss any other smears in the making?
Never disbelieve a journalist.
“TBP head office today to investigate ‘illegal donations’, as demanded by the former PM Gordon Brown.”
Interesting that Mr. Brown himself has come forth with suggestions of financial malfeasance by a political party.
Brown Bottom anyone?
https://www.google.co.uk/search?source=hp&ei=NbvjXOuGHI2KlwTO1LrIBA&q=brown+bottom&oq=brown+bottom&gs_l=psy-ab.12..0l10.3266.7365..14076…0.0..0.97.845.13……0….1..gws-wiz…..0..35i39j0i131j0i10.fFAtAfp1_nE
Nothing illegal here of course, I would think. It’s just that selling off tons of your country’s gold at record low prices can hardly be described as clever and one would have thought a reasonable degree of cleverness would be required to become PM.
(Although, looking at the performance of the one we have now, maybe not!)
Nigel Farage is right to be critical of his security guards, luckily it was only a milk shake… but what if etc… the truth is these anti democrats are getting desperate, and appear more and more unhinged. Would they condone Vince Cable getting hit with a milkshake, I doubt it. One law for these wretches and one law for everyone else. The typical cry of the elitist. But let’s not worry too much, every milk shake thrown will be a few hundred quid for The Brexit Party… it’s an ill wind…
In my day, whilst on the NEC, Nigel’s security cost a small fortune – I wonder if it’s the same outfit? 3 further thoughts:
1) If you can’t disagree by reasoned argument, but only by throwing sticky stuff, then you’ve already lost.
2) If your actions result in Nigel’s opponents expressing support and sympathy for him, then you’ve not just lost, you’ve bought and paid for a taxi to give him a lift over the finish line!
3) Lastly, on the lighter side, as a former Bexhill candidate (I did the campaign website back then), Nigel must yearn for the days when the worst things people threw were pancakes!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dreaded_Batter_Pudding_Hurler_(of_Bexhill-on-Sea)
😉
Erratum: for “pancake”, read “Yorkshire Pudding”. I’ve been on a low-carb diet for too long 😉
Please let this be fake news: https://leftfootforward.org/2019/05/ukip-candidate-accused-of-calling-greta-thunberg-aspergers-girl/ 😡
It’s certainly fake outrage.
What’s the problem Spon? It’s the truth; and Greta herself widely publicises it.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/aspergers-is-a-gift-says-greta-thunberg-the-child-behind-climate-protests-dkxf9czp2
The spin on the story is pejorative, and gives undecided voters anotther reason to whittle down their shortlist in the voting booth.
Hopefully most voters are normal people who think man-made climate change is a lot of overwrought nonsense and would plump for someone helpfully plugged as a “denier” (the horror) and also not be upset that a girl with Aspergers is described as the Aspergers girl. The left liberal green nutters are so lost in their own bubble they assume everyone else is similarly clutching their pearls as they are. Instead they are thinking this guy sounds more normal than that other lot of mouth foamers.
Hucksters push mentally ill daughter to front climate change panic | Ezra Levant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poPtdZrqtAs