Tag: Brexit

Turncoat Tory Predicts Troubles for Theresa

Scandal prone Tory activist turned Jared Kushner employed journalist Andre Walker claims Theresa May is fearful of electoral disaster due to MPs from her party likely being jailed

A widely criticised one-time Tory activist turned journalist with links to the party’s dubious 2015 ‘battlebus scandal’ has claimed that “a criminal investigation is the real reason Theresa May called the General Election”.

In an opinion piece, Andre Walker – currently a columnist for Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s The New York Observer and formerly part of the team that established the far-right Breitbart London news network – referenced a widely reported story about thirty senior Conservatives facing prosecution for electoral fraud but went far further than most in adding: “In all likelihood, there will be MPs standing for re-election on 8^th June who are also facing jail”.

Referencing the Conservative Party’s controversial 2015 election buses that toured Britain under the banner the ‘Road Trip’ campaigning group, Walker pointedly remarked:

“It is illegal to make a mistake – accidental or otherwise. In any case, failure to remember that you had five buses traveling to every key area of the country stretches credibility”.

Curiously, in his article, the hard Brexiteer made no reference to his own connections to that scandal and nor did he make mention of his long-term friend and founder of ‘Road Trip’, Mark Clarke – a disgraced individual who has since been expelled from the Conservative Party and banished for life.

In 2010, The Telegraph revealed Walker – a larger-than-life figure with 59,000 followers on Twitter – was forced to resign as political aide after been caught plotting to smear a deputy council leader in Windsor in a clip posted on YouTube. Subsequently, in 2016, in an interview for the BBC’s Sunday Politics, Walker claimed to have been the boyfriend of Elliott Johnson, an activist who committed suicide in 2015, leaving a note suggesting he’d been “bullied by Mark Clarke and betrayed by Andre Walker”.

May 1, 2017
Breaking with Boris

Breaking News – Rachel Johnson explains why she ditched the party of her Foreign Secretary brother Boris and defected to the Lib Dems

On this morning’s Andrew Marr Show on BBC1, Rachel Johnson was interviewed about her decision to defect to the Liberal Democrat Party.

Explaining her rationale for ditching the Tories and the party of her Brexit supporting Foreign Secretary brother, Boris Johnson, Rachel Johnson commented:

“This is single issue election. We could be going over a cliff on a hard Brexit… Everything on the table from last June is now off the table. Business needs to stay in the Single Market. It’s all lose, lose, lose… A second referendum gives the country another go”.

Answering a question about whether she plans to stand as a candidate herself, Johnson, a columnist for the Mail on Sunday, remarked:

“This is my paper making mischief to embarrass me… [But I am] not ruling anything out”.

Later, in the segment, she tempered this further by adding:

“I am very tempted to campaign in my constituency of Kensington and Chelsea”.

Given her comments, The Steeple Times urges Rachel Johnson to join with us to support Gina Miller’s Best for Britain tactical voting campaign and suggests she also throws her campaigning efforts behind the Liberal Democrats’ Annabel Mullin for Kensington and Louise Rowntree for Chelsea & Fulham.

#BritainDeservesBetter #MakeJuneEndOfMay

Louise Rowntree (left) pictured with Matthew Steeples of The Steeple Times and Annabel Mullin in Chelsea last week

The Johnson clan – Stanley Johnson (far left) with his children: Rachel, Boris and Jo

April 30, 2017
Advertorial – City Relay

Matthew Steeples takes a look at the services offered by City Relay, a hassle free short-term rental management company

Established three years ago and based in Earl’s Court, City Relay offer the very best guest and host management services for over two hundred apartments and houses in Central and West London.

Primarily focused on taking away the hassle of managing bookings through marketing services such as Airbnb, City Relay’s 5-star hospitality team deal with check-ins, key holding and guest support. The firm also have their own property maintenance team to ensure properties are kept in immaculate condition between change-overs and can organise housekeeping services and supply fresh hotel quality linens also.

Of the firm’s services to those with apartments and houses to rent, the company’s Mathilde Le Bault comments:

“Brexit has brought a bonus for landlords and has encouraged many to opt for short-term rentals to tourists and business people rather than leaving their properties empty in a declining long-term market. Higher yields follow and with the ease and convenience of dealing with just City Relay’s team, we make it much easier to navigate the Airbnb process”.

“City Relay’s reception desk is located at 62 Kenway Road, London, SW5 0RD and the many international, mostly European clients we deal with find that having someone they can actually speak to and meet in person most useful”.

For further details about City Relay’s services, click here. Alternatively, telephone: +44 (0) 20 7993 5693.

April 30, 2017
Video of the Week – Mocking May

Comedian Jan Ravens’ impersonation of Theresa May is utterly brilliant

With the election campaign under way, a little humour is definitely required and a comical video shared on YouTube provides just such.

Featuring the actress Jan Ravens’ take on Theresa May, the 2:45 minute clip has over attracted over 70,000 hits – and even Tory supporters have celebrated its sheer brilliance.

In it, Ravens mocks Mrs May’s enthusiasm for grammar schools and remarks on her having put an alternative to the Chuckle brothers in charge of Brexit. She speaks of us “now [being] the cautionary tale other countries tell their electorates to stop them doing anything so bloody stupid in the future” and adds: “We are now the global ghost of Christmas future: Asymmetric neckline, bad blow dry, tense mouth”.

April 29, 2017
Another Corbyn Calamity

Matthew Steeples reports that Jeremy Corbyn’s attempt to enthuse a child in Harlow didn’t go down well; children and politicians should never mix

Yesterday, Jeremy Corbyn headed to Harlow, Essex. He gave a speech to an assembled audience – including a woman with an upside down Labour poster – and then picked up a child and tried to charm it.

After I noted on Twitter that “the poor kid’ll be scarred for life #Awkward”, the child’s mother, Chloe Pullara, responded: “That’ll be my baby. It was an honour to meet @jeremycorbyn”.

In a video also shared by Ms Pullara, Corbyn is seen asking the child: “Are ya’ alright then?” It hid behind its coat and did not look in the slightest amused.

Chloe Pullara, a lady whose Twitter handle features the caption “proud to be the 48%”, plainly ignores the fact that Jeremy Corbyn’s party is backing Brexit as, in another tweet, she then added:

“So I just got to meet our future PM @jeremycorbyn. The most wonderful man who made time for each and every one of us”.

The incident, which comes in the wake of Theresa May being caught grimacing at children in a classroom, is yet another reminder of only one thing: Children and politicians should simply not mix.

April 28, 2017
Wally of the Week – Sir Michael Caine

Actor Michael Caine claims to be “a socialist” in spite of having been involved in a tax avoidance scheme and previously leaving Britain to avoid the top rate of tax in the 1970s

Sir Michael Caine, CBE is a man who flip-flops like no other and whose political views are best described as “chaotic”. Though a man known for fleeing Britain for America to avoid high taxes in the 1970s and a man named as an investor in a tax avoidance scheme named Liberty in 2014, the pro-Brexit actor has this week called himself a “socialist” and went as far to say: “I wouldn’t live in a country that didn’t pay income tax”.

In an interview with the Catholic newspaper The Universe, Sir Michael remarked:

“I’m a socialist, basically. I want as much money as possible for poor people, to help whoever’s in trouble. I wouldn’t live in a country that didn’t pay income tax”.

“What you have to do is keep emotion out of it. You can’t say: ‘We hate these rich people, we’re going to tax them to smithereens’. You’ve got to have them stay in your country and pay the tax”.

A public supporter of Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron and even Tony Blair, Sir Michael was forced to pay a significant sum to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs after being exposed as part of the Liberty scheme and also made a fool of himself in another regard. The actor also told The Universe:

“In order to do something good, I don’t just do work which is no good. I don’t do commercials’.

In 2013, he was paid a six-figure sum to film a commercial for Sky television. How conveniently the man forgets.

April 25, 2017
Beating Borwick

‘The Steeple Times’ urges readers in Kensington to vote tactically to unseat Victoria Borwick

Victoria Borwick, in spite of representing a constituency that was home to a greater proportion of EU nationals than any other London borough in 2016, was a firm advocate of Brexit. In the months since the disastrous vote, she has continued to ignore the fact that 69% of residents of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea voted ‘Remain’ and on that basis we urge readers based in the locality to vote against her in the forthcoming general election.

Though Theresa May supporting Lady Borwick has a majority of 7,361 (21.1%), the best way to unseat her would be a high turnout and for voters to unite behind one candidate. Whilst Labour have previously come second, most will be unable to engage with the thought of backing Jeremy Corbyn and on that basis, the only option is the Liberal Democrat candidate Annabel Mullin.

Annabel Mullin is the only candidate who can realistically unseat the Tories in Kensington

Victoria Borwick does not represent the views of her constituents on membership of the European Union

April 25, 2017
Mugged by May

Theresa May’s gamble to go to the country will likely pay off, but is it good for Britain?

Theresa May supposedly decided to go call a snap election after a trip to church and a walking holiday with her garden gnome-like husband, Philip, in Wales over Easter. She has taken a gamble but given that Sky News are projecting the Tories are likely to win 44% of the vote against Labour on 23%, it is one that will likely pay off.

Unsurprisingly and in a coward-like fashion, Mrs May has declined to partake in television debates but given her opponent Jeremy Corbyn is so hopeless, it would take only a calamity to unsettle any chances of her winning. Only the left-leaning Mirror is backing Corbyn and in spite of the Liberal Democrats likely to make a number of gains in the south-west, May will certainly hit Labour hardest.

Mrs May, however, is not good for Britain. Since taking office last year, she has performed eight U-turns on policy and as Home Secretary she was a total disgrace. One only has to remember that this is the woman who closed the police stations and this is the woman who closed the fire stations. This, also, is the politician who wastefully funded her friends Gerry and Kate McCann’s search for their missing child to the tune of £11 million and this is the woman whose inquiry into historic abuse has cost £100 million and delivered nothing.

Lady Macbeth-like May is a self-serving woman and she is not a good premier. This power grabbing vicar’s daughter’s about turn on Brexit is bad for Britain and her harshness towards immigrants is bad for business. She must be stopped and we urge our readers to vote for anyone but her on 8^th June.

April 19, 2017
Banished by Brexit

HSBC to relocate 1,000 key jobs from London to Paris because of Brexit

Theresa May, a woman more interested in getting het up about Easter eggs than the fate of the British economy, should take note. HSBC are planning on relocating as many as 1,000 of its traders and salespeople from London to Paris due to Brexit.

Representing a section of the firm’s staff that generates a most significant 20% of its revenue, the move accompanies news that the bank’s clients “are asking to book more of their trade and foreign exchange activity in their French operation through [the firm’s] Paris office than their UK” divisions.

On Wednesday, Noel Quinn, head of global commercial banking at HSBC Holdings Plc, told Stephen Morris of Bloomberg Markets:

“Some companies are also evaluating whether to ‘flip’ their regional head offices to European cities from Britain. This would require them to reclassify the UK branch as a country office that would become a subsidiary of the continental headquarters”.

April 13, 2017
An MP’s Manor

Norfolk manor house owned by anti-Brexit Conservative politician Lord Prior of Brampton for sale for £3 million

David Prior – now The Rt. Hon. The Lord Prior of Brampton – undoubtedly was a decent and able Member of Parliament. Educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge, he became first an investment banker with Lehman Brothers and Lazard and then subsequently represented the Norfolk North constituency between 1997 and 2001.

A Conservative but one with a belief that “the role of the market is hugely limited in health and social care” and that Brexit will be “a terrible mistake”, 62-year old Mr Prior – whose father was the “Tory wet” Jim, later The Rt. Hon. The Lord Prior PC (1927 – 2016) – acquired Swannington Manor, ten miles north of Norwich in 1990 with his wife and has recently put it up for sale for £3 million ($3.8 million, €3.5 million or درهم13.8 million).

Standing in 96.5 acres, Swannington Manor is a Grade II listed red brick built house that dates to around 1700. It retains many period features, extends to 7,519 square foot and includes 5 reception rooms, 8 bedrooms and a self-contained annexe. A 3 bedroom lodge – let on a protected tenancy – stands beside the property’s entrance gates and aside from various outbuildings, barns and stores, there are formal and informal gardens, a kitchen garden, a heated outdoor swimming pool and a hard tennis court.

Primarily to the south and west of the house are grazing meadows, water meadows, a trout stream, a series of ponds and areas of woodland. These have been maintained with conservation and duck flighting in mind and form what the selling agents Savills describe as “a small sporting estate”.

Surprisingly, given his comments about Britain leaving the EU, Lord Prior of Brampton was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 21^st December 2016.

April 13, 2017