Anna Soubry speaks for Britain and speaks complete sense; Theresa May should take note
Anna Soubry MP is a rare thing: A politician of conviction and one whose sensible nature is completely clear. Not guided, unlike her grasping colleagues by personal and party politicial ambitions, but instead by a belief in what she thinks is right for the country, here is a lady of logic and stature.
In an article in today’s Mail on Sunday, Ms Soubry states: “My country must come before my party” and adds: “We must face up to the Brexit reality: It is fantasy to think we are going to get a good deal from the EU based on country negotiating strategy. People will soon see how they have been conned by the Brexiteers. All options must go back on the table.”
She adds: “Brexit is a self-inflicted wound; the people of this country hold the knife and they don’t have to use it if they don’t want to. The people, not the hardline Brexiteers, are in charge.”
Ms Soubry is entirely right. Instead of wandering through the Alps for three works, Mrs May should be at work at this crucial time. She should be seeking the best deal for our country and she be putting a stop to the recklessness of ‘Hard Brexit’. It is time this hapless Prime Minister woke up and smelled the coffee.
David Cameron snapped ‘Hugging a Corbyn’ after he’s revealed to have a ‘Calm Down – It’s Only a Recession’ in his kitchen and a £25,000 shepherd’s hut in his garden
David Cameron is plainly enjoying life to the full. Not only has he been rewarded with a huge literary advance after walking away after calling the disastrous and divisive Brexit referendum, but now he’s got time to sit in a shepherd’s hut in his garden and attend posh music festivals.
Not for ‘Call Me Dave’ will it be necessary to put in a presence in a wheat field in Norfolk to support Theresa May and her garden gnome-like hubby at the forthcoming ‘Conservative Ideas Festival’, but instead him and ‘Sam Cam’ are now able to find time to attend parties at Christie’s and holiday in Miami, Florida.
Cameron – who was widely criticised for having a sign in his kitchen that reads: “Calm Down Dear, It’s Only a Recession” – spent time this weekend at the Wilderness Festival at Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire. He was spotted drinking, smoking and even got snapped with his arm casually wrapped around an art consultant named Lucy Edwards. For him it seems, it’s no longer “Hug a Hoodie” but now instead “Hug a Corbyn.” In the picture, Ms. Edwards sported a ‘glitter coat’ emblazoned with a heart complete with the Labour leader’s name.
David Cameron pictured in his Oxfordshire kitchen; the ‘Calm Down – It’s Only a Recession’ sign is circled to his rightIn purchasing the sign, Cameron, shown here with his £25,000 shepherd’s hut, was plainly inspired by the late, great Michael Winner
Enough is finally enough with press coverage about the late Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales has been dead twenty years. It is thus ludicrous that her family continue to have to put up with an endless barrage of articles raking over outdated nonsense about her and though it most definitely suits our government as they can bury yet more bad news about Brexit, the media truly should realise that enough is finally enough.
Whether the late royal said or did one thing or another is quite irrelevant to anyone alive today and though the history books may take note for the future, daily news reporting should move its focus to issues that actually affect our daily lives. The time to stop over-reporting on this saga passed surely in 2007; that it is still going in 2017 is simply outrageous.
Whilst the reasoning for closing the Chelsea outlet of Ralph Lauren Kids is unknown, the firm has joined many other retailers on the stretch opposite Pelham Crescent to board-up shop.
Matthew Steeples, editor-in-chief of The Steeple Times, observes:
“With an ever-declining number of residents in the Royal Borough, ever increasing commercial rents at the behest of greedy landlords and the prospect of the uncertainty of Brexit, sadly, this won’t be the last closure in the locality.”
Thrice bankrupt bigot Viscount St Davids banged to rights and set to be jailed Thursday; he blames Gina Miller as “untruthful” and Matthew Steeples as “an eavesdropper” and accepts utterly no blame for what he did
On Thursday, if he doesn’t turn up at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on time, justice will come knock, knock, knockin’ on Baron Strange of Knockin’s door.
Donald Trump supporter and serial bankrupt Rhodri Philipps (AKA 4th Viscount St Davids, Lord St Davids, Baron Hungerford, Baron de Moleyns, Baron Strange of Knockin and, to the public and no doubt his new jailbird chums, plain old Mr Philipps) – a bigot whose insistence on being called anything other than Mister sealed his fate as the real life representation of Paul Whitehouse’s Rowley Birkin QC – was found guilty Tuesday of two counts of sending menacing messages on a public electronic communications network. After convicting him, chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot warned the aristocrat: “The first port of call will obviously be a prison sentence.”
“I have no doubt the first post was menacing, you were offering money to have [Gina Miller] killed. A reasonable person reading the post would have felt a sense of apprehension at least, if not fear.”
“I don’t accept you didn’t understand the post could be shared. On Facebook users share and have shared any number of others’ posts – nothing is private about a Facebook post.”
“They were not funny, not a joke, they were sent when Lord St Davids was infuriated – they were not meant to be light-hearted comment, they were intended to cause apprehension among some of your Facebook acquaintances, not all as some clearly shared his views.”
“I find you knew when you posted these messages they might create apprehension in a reasonable person reading them in the multi-racial country we live in.”
Represented initially by a chubby dimwit American and Conservative councillor for Kensington (yes, one of them, a member of the worst council in Britain) named Andrew Rinker – a curious creature commonly known as ‘Rinker The Stinker’ in even the most polite circles – Philipps proved himself nothing but a nasty piece of work and a fool in the dock. He tried to blame me for “stalking” and “trolling” him and referenced me “a professional eavesdropper.” He claimed his trial was “political” and motivated because of his multiple titles and whilst his scumbag chum and cohort Tariq Siddiqitargeted me also via social media throughout the period, he was ultimately convicted simply because the Crown was able to prove he is nothing but an inept racist incapable of covering his own vile tracks.
Of the result, Kate Mulholland of the Crown Prosecution Service commented:
“This threat caused extreme concern to Gina Miller and although Lord St Davids claimed his Facebook friends would have been tolerant of his views, they were open to the public.”
“No-one should have these kind of menacing comments made to them or about them and where there is evidence of an offence the CPS and police will bring a prosecution.”
As I said previously, the law must now change: What goes on social media, doesn’t stay on social media. We must all be held accountable for whatever we post.
As Anne Marie Morris offends in describing a “no Brexit” would be “the real nigger in the woodpile”, we remind readers that her partner is a bigot also
A plainly bigoted yet thankfully otherwise little known Member of Parliament named Anne Marie Morris described “no Brexit” as “the real nigger in the woodpile” at a meeting of fellow Brexiteers at the East India Club in London on Monday.
Ms Morris – whose equally noxious partner and agent Roger Kendrick claimed “that the crisis in education was due entirely to non-British born immigrants and their high birth rates” prior to June’s General Election – was rightly suspended by Theresa May and now leaves the Conservatives with a pathetic majority of just 12 in the House of Commons.
Bizarrely described as a “marketing guru” by elements of the media in spite of this and other PR disasters, Morris plainly has a lack of understanding of what is offensive. She is not only our Wally of the Week but guilty of using racist language also; Anne Marie Morris must go.
Former Liberal Democrats headquarters for sale for somewhat reduced but still anything but liberal sum of £36 million (to include a Rodin)
A building that was originally the London office of the North Eastern Railway Company and the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party and then their successors, the Liberal Democrats, between 1982 and 2011 has gone on sale for £36 million ($46.9 million, €41 million or درهم172.1 million) – with all furnishings and a bronze sculpture by Rodin said to be amongst the luxury items included in the price.
Then Liberal Democratic Party leader Nick Clegg outside 4 Cowley Street in 2010A protest outside 4 Cowley Street during the Liberal Democrats’ tenure of occupation
Offered to rent in 2011 for £225,000 per annum ($291,000, €256,000 or درهم1.1 million per annum) and then sold for around £10.8 million ($14 million, €12.3 million or درهم51.4 million), Mansion House – as it has now been rather grandly named – is situated in Cowley Street, Westminster. Constructed in 1905 and Grade II listed, this dark red brick terraced town house was designed by Horace Field and is described as being of “lavish late 17th century style, rather out of scale with its neighbours but with fine Arts and Crafts detailing.”
Consisting of 7,000 square foot of accommodation whilst in use as offices, developers Saigol DDC have expanded the space provided to create an 11,075 square foot residence of mammoth proportions. Aside from 5 reception rooms, 7 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, the 5-storey mansion has an 8-person lift, a wine room, an indoor swimming pool, a gym and a roof terrace.
Mansion House, which is for sale through Knight Frank, was previously listed earlier this year for the higher price of £42.28 million ($54.77 million, €48.22 million or درهم201.21 million). The effects of Stamp Duty hikes, Brexit uncertainties plainly might cause it to fall yet further.
As Theresa May once again proves she has no idea of the concept of “when the time is right”, we join those that suggest the time that she must go is now
Theresa May failed to anticipate the timing of a General Election two weeks ago and got trounced. A week ago, this same self-serving woman didn’t realise that appearing – accompanied by her vast security detail but without bothering to even meet a single victim – for 15 minutes in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy would be perceived as unacceptable. She rightly got savaged by the nation and in a third public relations disaster, yesterday, after Mrs May opted to “schmooze donors” at a Conservative Party fundraiser at The Savoy for 50 minutes, she now again comes under fire for her “appalling lack of judgment”.
Having excused herself from numerous other engagements in recent days by claiming to be “too busy” with Brexit negotiations and preparations for the Queen’s Speech, that Theresa May was able to find the time to rubberneck with captains of finance – including the vastly wealthy Ukranian born businessman Alexander Temerko – shows where her priorities actually lie.
Previously compared to Lady Macbeth due to her sheer cunning dedication to controlling the reigns of power, Mrs May is now increasingly beginning to resemble Marie-Antoinette also. One wouldn’t be surprised if this dead duck Prime Minister is soon heard to say: “Let them eat cake”.
#TimeToGo #BringHerDown #MakeJuneTheEndOfMay
Theresa May with Mark Field MP and supporters at the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association luncheon at The Savoy on Tuesday 20th June 2017.
New Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad fails to join Labour heavyweights showing support for the single market
Prior to her victory, the now newly elected Member of Parliament for Kensington, Emma Dent Coad, clearly and repeatedly said she’d “fight to retain access to the single market”. Yesterday, however, she failed to join a whole array of fellow Labour politicians demanding exactly such and in doing so has left constituents questioning her true commitment to fighting ‘Hard Brexit’.
Aside from the fact that some of the party’s busiest and best known figures – including David Lammy MP, Stella Creasy MP and Chuka Umunna MP – bothered, unlike her, to sign a letter to The Guardian “supporting British membership of the single market after Brexit”, Dent Coad’s previous statement of: “Three in four people in Kensington voted to remain, and I will ensure their voices are heard” is beginning to appear rather hollow.
The electorate of Kensington are primarily ‘Remainers’ and given she also had the backing of Gina Miller’s Best for Britain on her path to power, Dent Coad must now speak up. We understand her priorities at this time must be with supporting the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, but this believer that ‘Hard Brexit’ will lead to “the economy falling off a cliff” could have easily spared a moment to sign a letter that seeks to guide her party’s position on something that will ultimately affect all of her constituents. We join those expressing disappointment in Emma Dent Coad.
Emma Dent Coad’s supposed position on Brexit as set out during the 2017 General Election campaign
The letter sent by Labour heavyweights to The Guardian in full follows:
Jeremy Corbyn has rightly said that Labour’s position on Brexit is to focus on a deal that prioritises jobs first. We are all united behind that goal. For us that means membership of the single market. A country can be a member of the single market without being a member of the EU and we must be clear – “access” to the European single market is both different and inferior to “membership” of the single market. Why? Because if we leave the single market, whatever the level of access is negotiated, working people across Britain will be worse off and revenue to the exchequer will plummet – revenue the next Labour government will need to bring an end to years of damaging Tory austerity.
The single market is not a simple free trade zone. It is, uniquely, a framework of rules that protects people from the worst excesses of globalisation and unfettered capitalism, in addition to easing trade across the continent. If we have mere access to the single market, we are talking about leaving this framework of rules and achieving mere reductions in tariffs for trade with the European Union.
If Britain stays in the single market, we will continue to benefit from EU laws and court judgments that outlaw discrimination in the workplace; deliver vital rights to workers on holiday pay, maternity and paternity leave, the right to join a union, and much more; protect our natural environment from pollution; and keep workers safe through stringent health and safety requirements. Large multinational companies work across borders to maximise their profits to often reduce these protections; the next Labour government, as a member of the single market, can work with other European countries to resist this and advance social justice. If we leave the single market, and ask for mere “access”, we will be compromised in achieving these goals.
This is why so many people in the Labour movement are supporting British membership of the single market after Brexit. Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, has said that “if we leave the single market, working people will end up paying the price. It’d be bad for jobs, for work rights and for our living standards.” The USDAW trade union has warned that leaving the single market “will put at risk hundreds of thousands of jobs”.
And who is leading the charge to junk our membership of the single market? A motley crew of hard-right, pro-Brexit Tories. Michael Gove. Boris Johnson. John Redwood. Iain Duncan Smith. Priti Patel. Theresa May wants us out because her government is totally dominated by its obsession with leaving the single market. They want us to leave precisely because they want to roll back the social protections delivered by single market membership. Redwood authored a plan to cut regulation in Britain by 25%. Patel went one further, calling on the “burden” of EU regulations – those rules that protect working people – to be “halved”. We should not be providing political cover to hard-right Tories who stand diametrically opposed to Labour values.
The argument for leaving the single market is often focused around the need to end the free movement of people. However, we argue, and many experts agree, that changes to our immigration system can be made while keeping us inside it. Within the European treaties, free movement is not unconditional – at the moment we can require EU citizens to leave if they have no job or a prospect of a job three months after their arrival. Restrictions on free movement are explicitly allowed for reasons of “public policy, public security or public health”. Liechtenstein, which is outside the EU but in the single market, perfectly legally imposes quotas on EU migrants. French president Emmanuel Macron’s chief adviser has floated the idea of a “continental partnership” between Britain and the EU that would allow us to restrict free movement.
Another reason often cited for not remaining a member of the single market is that the state aid rules that apply in it stop governments from pursuing active industrial strategies to support their industries. But these have not stopped the likes of Germany having a national investment bank or France and the Netherlands supporting their industries through government procurement spend.
Ultimately, leaving the single market will make it much harder for a Labour government to end these years of Tory austerity. The economic damage it would cause would reduce the tax take, meaning less money could be spent on public services. The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies has forecast that leaving the single market for a free trade agreement could cause a £31bn hit to the public finances, extending austerity even further.
To win next time, Labour must provide a strong opposition to the Tories, stand up for the values of our voters, and continue to fight for the interests of all – not least young people who have the most to lose from an extreme Tory Brexit and who voted for the first time in 2017 for Labour, thinking we would stop the Tories in their tracks. This has to mean fighting unambiguously for membership of the single market. At the very least we should strongly oppose May’s decision to take membership off the table in these negotiations. An ambitious and confident alternative government – with Corbyn at the helm – should not throw in the towel as May has done, but could seek membership with reforms on immigration and the other matters we seek.
Chuka Umunna MP, Phil Wilson MP, Madeleine Moon MP, Maria Eagle MP, Liz Kendall MP, Stella Creasy MP, Wes Streeting MP, Mike Gapes MP, Kate Green MP, Lord Michael Cashman, Anne Coffey MP, Ian Murray MP, Rushanara Ali MP, Karen Buck MP, Stephen Doughty MP, Stephen Timms MP, Lord Spencer Livermore, Catherine McKinnell MP, Lord Peter Hain, Tulip Siddiq MP, Peter Kyle MP, Ruth Cadbury MP, Bridget Phillipson MP, Pat McFadden MP, Ann Clwyd MP, Thangam Debbonaire MP, Chris Bryant MP, Andy Slaughter MP, Daniel Zeichner MP, Alison McGovern MP, Darren Jones MP, Kerry McCarthy MP, Ben Bradshaw MP, Clare Moody MEP, Seb Dance MEP, Luciana Berger MP, Lord George Foulkes, Catherine Stihler MEP, David Martin MEP, Jude Kirton-Darling MEP, Mary Honeyball MEP, Paul Brannen MEP, Richard Corbett MEP, Julie Ward MEP, Derek Vaughan MEP, Lucy Anderson MEP, David Lammy MP, Lord John Monks, Meg Hillier MP, Adrian Bailey MP and Lady Meta Ramsay
Actor and producer Steven Berkoff suggests Her Majesty The Queen should open up Buckingham Palace to survivors of last week’s Grenfell Tower tragedy
Sir
In these grim times, when the shadow of death is stalking us with bitter regularity, an opportunity presents itself for our beloved Queen to actually do some real service for her tragically wounded people. I think of the survivors from that ghastly tower block fire in Kensington. As per usual, the nation’s wounds have her trolling about, nodding sympathetically as she listens with a furrowed brow, or stands stoutly at attention for a minute’s silence. Then back in the limo to Buckingham Palace.
Then it is left to the goofs and goons of local councils to get swiftly to work and rehouse the pathetic victims. This they seem to do with such ineptitude that it beggars belief. Sending some unfortunate hundreds of miles to distant Northern cities. What an insult to injury.
Now, dear Queen, who we all love dearly (although sadly that love has been waning somewhat). Rather than just be a lump of royal flesh being carted around the country and do little more than give the usual and slightly over familiar kindly looks and nods along with the odd moue, do something that really helps those wounded people. Offer them the sanctuary of Buckingham Palace!
I know that will be a hard call, a very hard call but the outcome would be worldwide recognition that our Royal Family really has soul and you will redeem The Monarchy and most of all your good self for centuries to come. Buck House has seven hundred and seventy five rooms including one hundred and eighty eight staff bedrooms.
Even if you took in only a hundred that would ease the burden enormously and what a magnificent gesture it would be, in fact it would endear you to us all till kingdom come. You have the space and you certainly are not short of the pennies for such a modest gesture.
Modest financially but colossal spiritually.
So lend an ear though I know full well that this might be I nigh on impossible gesture for you to make, so perhaps your enlightened grandchildren can gently persuade you. I know it’s hard to change the habits of a lifetime. But do try.
A saintly gesture is what our nation desperately needs right now. And you do have the space.
