Don’t be fooled: this is a cesspit …

 

 

We’re drifting into the weekend and MPs are jockeying for an invitation to the Sunday TV shows. However, the latest from the cesspit that is the HoC, stirred by the inevitable Westminster Village ‘journalists’, shows nicely that the ‘New Red Wall Intake’ Tory MPs are a bunch of self-important, self-aggrandising political whiners. Meanwhile the MSM ‘Westminster correspondents’ are nudging their readers increasingly towards accepting a Starmer government. 

There are reports about the accusation by the Tory backbench MP, Mr William Wragg, who claims that the dastardly Tory whips were ‘blackmailing’ poor backbench MPs into toeing the line. Gosh – this has never happened before, has it! The current Tory chief whip, Mr Mark Spencer, couldn’t be further removed from the fictitious Francis Urquhart, so wonderfully created by Ian Richardson, in that BBC series of the early 1990s, ‘House of Cards’. That series seems to have left a lasting impression on the minds of MPs, writers and readers. No matter that this was fiction!

It doesn’t seem to have occurred to both Mr Wragg and those ‘pork pie putschists’ that their wails make them look like political snowflakes. Mr Wragg is vice chair of the 1922 committee and not a newcomer to the back benches. Did he speak to the whips about this ‘blackmail’? If not – why not? Why hasn’t he told those ‘new intake’ MPs how whips work?

Why do we learn instead that said MPs now claim they are ‘victims of political threats’ (link)? What are they hoping to achieve? Is there nothing else going on – in their constituencies, in the country? The DM writes: “‘They were comparing notes and discussing whether or not to make public texts and other evidence they have from the whips,’ a source close to the group said.” (link). Do they not even have the strength of their convictions to refrain from staying ‘anonymous’?

Sir John Redwood in his Diary today has this to say about the alleged threats by whips to cut of funding to those ‘rebel’ MPs:

“It is difficult to buy into the idea that whips could credibly threaten to remove grants from constituencies of MPs who were disloyal. Money  is distributed on the decision of Ministers, not whips. Ministers are guided and  supervised by officials when allocating money to ensure the law and budget rules are followed. A Minister cannot make a decision based on favouritism or spite.” (link)

I would humbly suggest that he knows a bit more about the workings of whips and indeed of government than these ‘rebels’. Perhaps it’s true that, thanks to the covid ‘zoom’ parliament, those new, 2019 intake MPs had no chance to chat with grandees like Sir John Redwood. I would suggest that even those ‘grey-haired’ MPs have learned to use whatsapp and stuff and were thus ‘approachable’. Perhaps the newbie MPs believed that they know better, being ‘young and fresh’?

Now they allegedly demand the police should be brought in, to deal with the whips’ ‘blackmail’ – yes, really! They also  ‘want the chief whip’s head on a spike’ (paywalled link). The DT’s writer Ms Tominey – one of the chief driver-outers of Cummings – writes in her piece:

“While older hands might credibly accuse newer MPs of naivety if they don’t expect to be occasionally strongarmed into supporting the Government, their treatment does lay bare the dysfunctionality at the heart of an operation whose very function is to ensure support for the Prime Minister.” (paywalled link)

Note the relevant expression ‘dysfunctional’, something we’ll be hearing in the coming weeks and months. It’ll become the ‘new toxic’ and will be used to show up the Tories while painting Labour as ‘knights in shining armour’. Of course, there’s no mention that Labour also has whips, there’s no mention of any possible arm-twistings by them. I wonder if any Westminster ‘journalist’ will have the round dangly objects to write about that?

And then there’s this quote in Ms Tominey’s piece – a quote showing the utter naivety of those newbies, demonstrating that they’re so utterly preoccupied with their own ‘rebellion’ that they clearly haven’t read the reports in yesterday’s MSM:

“According to one MP from the 2019 intake: “The Wakeford situation was completely mishandled. They should have pulled him back in the tent, but only succeeded in pushing him further away.” (paywalled link)

Since Mr Wakeford was being ‘coached’ in secret for six months by Labour, since nobody at all knew about this – how on earth should the whips have known? Did those ‘rebel’ MPs know? Why then didn’t they talk to him or the whips? However, all is not golden for Labour’s new MP. His new constituency Party is not amused, nor is the Labour candidate whom he beat in 2019. They actually demand a by-election, and some are even saying that they will decide if he should stand (link)!

Then there’s the ‘partygate’ inquiry. We’re told that Ms Gray who leads this enquiry will report by the end of next week. Allegedly, she’s ‘found’ an email by a senior inmate of No 10 (no name given), sent to Mr Reynolds of BYOB fame, telling him that such party might be against the lockdown rulz. Ah – but did he tell Johnson? The Times then writes that Ms Gray:

“[…] is weighing up who to name. She is prepared to name ministers, but there are concerns about identifying civil servants and aides. They would still be subject to disciplinary action but their identity could be protected.” (link, paywalled)

The Times’ editors seem to think this is perfectly acceptable: no dirt must be thrown at civil serpents. After all, these are the ‘sources’ on which they rely to fuel their gossipy ‘news’. They must be protected and never mind their incessant mud-stirring, never mind The Times’ shilling for Labour.

That seems to explain why The Times dedicated a long report on a speech by T.Blair where he “called for the introduction of road pricing and a rethink of the NHS’s structure and funding, warning that Britain is heading for a 1970s-style decline.” (link, paywalled). This, from a man whose party has weaponised the NHS as Tory-bashing instrument for the last decades! Words fail me ..

I leave you with the recommendation to read the opinion piece by Dan Wootton in the DM. under the excellent headline: “If Boris wants to survive he must put an end to green taxes, SAGE, Downing Street incompetents and Carrie’s never-ending chaos” (link).

Amen to that! Now go and read it!

 

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