George Freeman MP denies he wants to create a Tory version of Glastonbury; imagining Theresa May boozing with Liam Gallagher definitely would be hard
Theresa May, Dizzee Rascal and Liam Gallagher would certainly make for unlikely bedfellows but now a Conservative MP, George Freeman, wishes to replicate Jeremy Corbyn’s success in such company at Glastonbury and in September will host his own festival in Norfolk.
Former biotechnology entrepreneur Mr Freeman, chairman of Mrs May’s policy board, asked: “Why is it just the left who have all the fun in politics?” and has received support for what he calls a “friends and family event” and a “cross between Hay-on-Wye and the Latitude festival” from a number of sponsors and venues.
Expected to be called the “Conservative Ideas Festival,” the event was remarked on by one unnamed fellow MP as: “Very trendy” but needing “a lot of expensive booze” for him to attend. One might argue seeing Mrs May drunk in one of her beloved wheat fields might amuse many, but in reality this idea sounds nearly as bad as when the party put William Hague in a baseball cap at a theme park in 1997. Theresa, a word of advice: Don’t do it.
In taking three weeks off for a holiday with her ‘Garden Gnome’ hubby, Theresa May has shown where her priorities lie
Whilst orchestrating the most appallingly run election campaign in recent history, Theresa May waxed lyrical about her naughty moments wandering in wheat fields. Now, our Prime Minister, at a time when most would consider themselves lucky to get even a few days off, is jetting off a three-week jaunt with her beloved ‘Garden Gnome-like’ husband, Philip.
Described by the Mail Online as an opportunity to “help her recover from the election disaster”, the couple’s trip will take in northern Italy and the Swiss Alps. No doubt Mrs May will release her inner Heidi and yodel as she wanders and no doubt the hills will come alive to her rendition of The Sound of Music.
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.
A 20-question interview with Sandra Howard – novelist, former model and wife of Conservative politician The Rt. Hon. Lord Howard of Lympne
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
Seeing the upside of life and what’s to laugh at.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
Perseverance pays.
Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2017?
Kim Kardashian’s bottom.
Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?
Talking to my mother – She was a sage and a wonderful rock.
What might you swap all your wealth for?
A continuing, happy, healthy marriage.
Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the state of the financial system?
That’s too taxing for my ‘small bear’ financial brain. Well above my pay grade.
What phrase or word do you most loathe?
“At the end of the day” and I’m not mad about: “You know what?” (Jeremy Corbyn’s favourite phrase).
In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?
It should begin at home and continue overseas. I’d hate to see our foreign aid budget cut. I support Addaction (to help people off drugs), Youth Epilepsy and Hospice UK.
The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?
They rule our lives, sometimes for better and frequently for worse.
If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?
All my closest (bridge-playing and witty) friends.
If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?
Fresh crab, Dover sole, some delicious smelly cheese and a ripe mango. I’d eat it on Grand Anse Beach in Grenada, slipping in a last swim in that glorious clear sea.
What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?
A Buck’s Fizz at breakfast isn’t a bad start to the day.
A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?
A cup of tea.
Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?
Other peoples’ – I’m a mess of nerves when giving one of my own.
Who is the most positive person you know?
My husband – Most of the time.
What’s your most guilty pleasure?
A day (or more) entirely to myself to write in peace and privacy, not doing any of all the stuff, emails etc. that gets in the way.
If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?
A black cat – I think I’ve had lots of luck in my life.
If you were a car, what marque would you be?
A Mini Cooper is about my marque – fast, but I hope not flashy.
Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.
I’m a passionate supporter of Liverpool Football Club.
What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?
Family photos, a pair of china cockerels and a vase of lovely lavender freesias.
Sandra Howard has quickly established herself as a successful author and journalist. She has written six novels; her latest, ‘The Consequence of Love’, is published on 13th July. She was, in the 1960s, a leading photographic fashion model and lives in London and Kent.
1964 Mini Cooper S hatchback designed to carry the golf clubs of the much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster Ernest Marples for sale
Twice married and born in Levenshulme, Manchester, Ernest Marples – later Lord Marples – makes the very worst of modern politicians look like relative babes in arms. He can, however, be credited with commissioning a rare thing – the first ever Mini hatchback. Two were made in total and one, which was eventually transferred to the ownership of the politician in 1968, is to be auctioned in July.
Pictured left: (Alfred) Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) with his secretary turned second wife, Ruth Dobson. They married in 1956 and he became The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC in 1974. Pictured right: Lord Marples in his ‘Marples Mini’ (date unknown).
Marples, whose upbringing was within the Labour Party and whose love of eccentric orange-brown shoes and blue suits was well known, worked as a miner, postman, chef and accountant before a stint in the Royal Artillery between 1941 and 1944. He then joined the Conservative Party, was elected Member of Parliament for Wallasey in 1945 and took his first ministerial post in 1951. Promoted by Churchill, Macmillan and Douglas-Home, he rose to become Postmaster General and Minister of Transport and introduced the STD telephone code, the Premium Bond scheme, the first postcodes, the MOT test, roadside single yellow and double yellow lines and possibly, in his most unpopular move of all, traffic wardens.
Aside from his public appointments, controversially, Marples became a director of various companies in the 1940s. Without considering any potential conflicts of interest, he involved himself in firms that built the first motorways and several power stations also and attracted much attention after protestors spray painted a motorway bridge near Luton that his firm, Marples Ridgway and Partners, constructed with the caption: “Marples Must Go!”
Subsequently, Marples brought the government into disrepute through his part in a prostitution scandal and after this was covered up in 1963, he later “cut and run” to Monaco in 1975 to avoid “a substantial tax bill” after being discovered having parked most of his assets in Monaco and Liechtenstein. He spent his final years on his 45-acre vineyard estate in Fleurie, France and died in a Monte Carlo hospital in 1978.
The ex-Ernest Marples 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 will be sold by H&H Classics at their Imperial War Museum Duxford sale in Cambridgeshire on the 26th July. It has an estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900) – a sum that would no doubt, if he were still alive, have money obsessed Marples smiling with glee.
Of the almond green car, which supposedly the hatchback boot was fitted to on the orders of Marples on the basis he wanted to be easily able to fill it with cases of wine and golf clubs, Damian Jones of H&H Classics commented:
“This is not just another Mini. It is history on four wheels. Its former owner, Transport Minister Ernest Marples changed the face of Britain with housing, bridges, motorways. He was a very ‘colourful character’ to say the least. It is fascinating that he chose to buy and use this relatively modest car when going golfing or going to France on holiday. If this car could speak what tales might it tell? It is truly one of a kind.”
Theresa May’s deal with DUP is dangerous, irresponsible and about nothing other than her personal quest for power
Our Lady Macbeth-like Prime Minister has once again proven her personal desire for high office is all that matters to her. In handing over £1 billion and then posing with the DUP’s Arlene Foster looking like someone who secretly knows the cream she’s served is actually sour yesterday, Theresa May saved her skin but sold Britain into a further period of stress.
Referenced as “shabby and reckless” by Labour’s Lady Nugee (AKA Emily Thornberry MP) and “a pathetic little deal” by the SNP’s Peter Wishart MP, the Conservative-Democratic Unionist Party pact potentially puts the Good Friday Agreement at risk and signals that the Tories are happy to do business with a bunch of bigots whose policies on abortion and gay rights, for example, are stuck in the Stone Age. It is anything but “strong and stable”, could fall apart at any moment and has already left Scots and Welsh politicians again questioning the state of the Union.
Theresa May may have clung to power for now, but with a DUP dependent voting majority that could turn on a whim, she’s still in a very perilous position. How long she’ll actually last still remains very much in the balance.
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.
