Tag: Johnson

  • Distraction Dom

    Distraction Dom

    Matthew Steeples suggests devious Dominic Cummings might actually be the best asset bungling Boris Johnson has got left; the king of distraction has made Jennifer Arcuri go away

    Aside from consoling himself with the weak warblings of morose ministers who’ve been drafted out to lackadaisically laud him, most would suggest Dominic Cummings is the loneliest man in politics this Sunday. Instead, in reality – though no one’s got around to publicly saying it (yet) – this modern day Mandelson could still prove to be Boris Johnson’s most useful asset.

     

    Hidden away somewhere deep in Downing Street in his beanie hat, this lookalike of Compo from Last of the Summer Wine crossed with Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper in the House of Cards has achieved one very important thing this weekend: Cummings has made the tawdriest elements of the Jennifer Arcuri story disappear from Sunday’s front pages.

     

    Whilst Cummings’ wife, Mary Wakefield, certainly didn’t help the initial narrative with her clearly confused and contradictory account of how the pair had lived during their time with coronavirus in The Spectator, she certainly set in place curiosity as to where and in the company of whom the PM’s closest henchman had been sleeping. Then, when this Oxford graduate went “off on one” with his arrogant utterings as he clambered into his Land Rover Discovery yesterday, Cummings actually pulled a blinder.

     

    Subsequent revelations as to whether the senior adviser to the Prime Minister attempted a rendition of Theresa May’s “wandering in the wheat fields” and boogied in the bluebells are surprisingly neither here nor there. Aside from quite rightly exciting anger from the public due to his hypocrisy, Cummings, in true Machiavellian fashion, has instead just shifted the news agenda away from BoJo’s very own bedroom behaviour.

     

    In a clear example of the ‘distraction technique’ coming into play, Cummings’ travails have made everyone forget the sordid sexual relations ‘Bonking Boris’ had with the American founder of Hacker House. According to a most reliable source close to Downing Sttreet, Arcuri – a woman whom believes she has “been thrown under a bus” by her former lover – was about to give a “kiss-and-tell,” but has now retreated to her bunker. For now, ‘Bungling Boris’ can stay home and stay safe; the blabbering bird has (for now) been belted-up.

     

    Pictured top: The finest examples of modern day distraction technique spinners in politics (both in reality and in fiction) have to be Dominic Cummings and Doug Stamper.

     

    Distraction Dom – Dominic Cummings wipes out Jennifer Arcuri – Matthew Steeples suggests devious Dominic Cummings might actually be the best asset bungling Boris Johnson has got left; the king of distraction has made Jennifer Arcuri go away.
    (Not So) Sexy Time with Jen and Dom – Jennifer Arcuri’s alleged attempt to kiss-and-tell about her indoor activities with Boris Johnson were supposedly put on hold this weekend due to the outdoor antics of Dominic Cummings dominating the news.

    Elsewhere on social media and taking a break from sharing his enjoyment of Vimto and dislike of Jeremy Clarkson, the “laureate for our fractured times” turned Pan Macmillan published novelist Brian Bilston shared a poem he’d prepared about Mr Cummings. It follows.

     

    Dominic Cummings: The Lockdown Tour

    By Brian Bilston

     

    He’s been locking down in London,

    And a bit in Durham, too.

    Not to mention Barnard Castle,

    Legoland and Bristol Zoo.

     

    He’s been locking down in Stoke-on-Trent

    And Weston-super-Mare.

    He’s spread himself quite thin of late.

    He’s been spreading everywhere.

     

    He’s been locking down in Basildon,

    In Derby, Penge and Frome.

    Wherever he lays his beanie hat,

    That’s his lockdown home.

     

    He’s more spreadable than margarine.

    He’s been spreading far and wide.

    He’ll be locking down in your town soon:

    Spread the word and stay inside.

     

    To support a Change.org petition calling for Dominic Cummings to either “resign or be sacked,” click here.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

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    Twitter: @SteepleTimes and @M_Steeples

     

    Distraction Dom – Dominic Cummings wipes out Jennifer Arcuri – Matthew Steeples suggests devious Dominic Cummings might actually be the best asset bungling Boris Johnson has got left; the king of distraction has made Jennifer Arcuri go away.
    Tweedle Deviant and Tweedle Deviant – Is Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson’s brotherhood of bumbling balls-ups about to be brought to an end? The public are most definitely braying for blood.
  • Sheen Shines

    Sheen Shines

    The ‘Guardian’s’ Rebecca Nicholson’s fascinating interview with the actor Michael Sheen is exactly the kind of reading needed during coronavirus lockdown; he reveals previously unknown details about bizarre encounters with Tony Blair, Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng Murdoch

    It’s hard to find stories to read right now in newspapers that don’t relate to coronavirus and it’s even harder to find compelling interviews that don’t feature bleeding hearts banging on about what good they’re doing (when they’re just actually craving a return to their glory days gaining acres of Alexa Chung-type press acreage).

     

    Gone are the days of the great, the good and the not-so-good actually revealing something we didn’t already know and instead, it seems, COVID-19 has reduced The Telegraph, for example, to unimaginatively asking the chef Jason Atherton: “Powder or piste?” (His 50/50 chance answer: The latter – for those of you actually interested in this kind of inane drivel).

     

    Today, however, the Guardian’s Rebecca Nicholson pulled a blinder with what one reader described as a “marvellous portrait” of the actor best known for repeatedly playing Tony Blair, Michael Sheen. Though ‘Two Tony’s’ – according to an individual who left a comment online afterwards – “sounds thoroughly uncomfortable,” Nicholson coaxed her subject into revealing amongst other things that Wendi Deng Murdoch once asked him to “dress like [Blair]” and “make [his] hair look like him” so she could “bring [him] out and surprise [Blair].” Please don’t throw up whilst considering that rather scary image. Thankfully there’s no mention as to whether Sheen enquired about the alleged extra-marital relations that went on between the ‘real’ Tony and the now ex-Mrs Murdoch, as there would be a detail that’d certainly be nearly as off-putting as what allegedly went on between the wife of one of the most loathed premier’s in history and Carole Caplin (what on earth became of her?) in a shower in Downing Street.

     

    Sheen, a man “fascinated by Blair’s legacy,” but someone who didn’t meet the “wary of [him]” ex-PM until after he’d already played him twice, also shares snippets of an encounter with Rupert Murdoch. Of it, the ex of Kate Beckinsale recalls: “There was a very peculiar moment with Murdoch. I remember standing looking out at the view, and then I realised that Murdoch was standing next to me. It was quite a hot day. I just remember seeing a little bead of black dye, running down his face. I thought, oh, Ozymandias [two sonnets by Percy Shelley about the decline of rulers with their pretensions to greatness].”

     

    Moving on to how he is “astonished” by our current Prime Minister, Sheen observes: “It’s very hard to trust someone who can go so easily in different ways.” Nicholson then concludes the interview with a suggestion: “Part of me hopes [Michael Sheen] might one day take the idea of Michael Sheen MP seriously, after all.” Superb.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

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  • Putting The Police Right

    Putting The Police Right

    Former Chancellor George Osborne is right to call out the police whilst Lord Sumption is spot on in suggesting we should not put up with a “police state” suggests Matthew Steeples

    A former Chancellor and a former Supreme Court judge have both justifiably lambasted Derbyshire Police over their “hysterical” behaviour in relation to the coronavirus outbreak.

     

    In a tweet, George Osborne sensibly pointed out that “so many police officers are doing an incredible job in this crisis,” but then rightly tempered it by adding: “Forces that are stopping shops selling Easter eggs, putting black dye into lakes, setting up check points and buzzing lone walkers with drones have lost all common, and are undermining public consent.”

     

    Lord Sumption, going further, directly called out those policing the Peak District. On BBC Radio 4’s World at One, he remarked:

     

    “The behaviour of the Derbyshire Police in trying to shame people in using their undoubted right to take exercise in the country and wrecking beauty spots in the fells so people don’t want to go there is frankly disgraceful.”

     

    “This is what a police state is like, it is a state in which a government can issue orders or express preferences with no legal authority and the police will enforce ministers’ wishes.”

     

    Lord Sumption concluded by suggesting that Derbyshire Police had “shamed our policing traditions” and turned themselves into “glorified school prefects.”

     

    I join George Osborne and Lord Sumption in their sentiments and surprisingly even, for once (and probably for this one-time only), find myself saluting Peter Hitchens even for spreading the former Supreme Court judge’s comments as widely as possible via Twitter. They deserve to be heard.

     

    Yes, of course, the public must be careful and yes, we should heed the sensible advice of scientists and other experts at this time, but equally we must not pay attention to the exaggerated threat and pure drivel that is spouted by the mainstream media currently on a daily basis. Headlines such as the one we featured Monday where The Mail on Sunday disgracefully accused Michel Barnier of “infecting” Boris Johnson with coronavirus (in spite of the pair not having met since the outbreak began) are prime examples of this false scaremongering. Now that such behaviour has been correctly called out, it is time we all woke up and returned to some sense of rationality. Such will stand us all in far better steed.

     

    Pictured top: A former quarry, now a lake, at Harpur Hill, Buxton in Derbyshire that Derbyshire Police disgracefully dumped black dye into. Unsurprisingly, their irresponsible tactic is likely to backfire as Instagrammers now are supposedly finding it – not as the police intended – “more appealing” for their selfies.

     

    #PoliceState

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

    Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

    Twitter: @SteepleTimes and @M_Steeples

     

  • Tossed in Tonbridge

    Tossed in Tonbridge

    Kentish salad company Southern Salads tosses 260 jobs to the wolves after going into administration because of Brexit

     

    Illustrations of the likely negative impact of Britain’s decision to leave the UK are coming from far and wide and though Nigel Farage may be crowing over an alleged £60 million film deal – though unsurprisingly no particular studio has actually announced such ‘news’ as ‘truth’ – companies are relocating staff abroad and even closing altogether. Even hardline Brexiteers are being heard to remark: “There’s going to be a heavy price to pay for the complacency… Britain is f***ed” and asking: “What the hell have we done?”

     

    Aside from Bloomberg revealing “London could lose 10,000 banking jobs and 20,000 roles in financial services” to such cities as Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris in an article last month, a more localised illustration of the impact of Theresa May’s appallingly bad handling of this issue was provided yesterday in the form of news that a Tonbridge, Kent based firm, Southern Salads, had gone into administration due to “unprecedented pressure on cash flow in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote.”

     

    Southern Salads, a 30-year old, family run firm which employed 260 people and whose motto was “share the passion”, ceased trading Wednesday and of why it failed, joint administrator Ian Vickers of FRP Advisory told KentLive:

     

    “The sudden decline in sterling was not foreseen by the company, leaving the business grappling with an immediate fall of between 10% and 20% in its purchasing power for overseas-grown salads required for the winter and early spring UK market, which in turn put a severe strain on cash-flow.”

     

    “With insufficient protection from its currency hedging arrangements, pressure increased on cash-flow as the business traded through to this spring.”

     

    “The company was unsuccessful in negotiating any significant changes to its pricing terms with its suppliers in mainland Europe, while also being unable to pass on its cost increases to supermarkets and its other customers.”

     

    “The company relies on European suppliers for fresh vegetables and fruit from the Netherlands and Poland in the north to France, Italy and Spain in the south.”

     

    It’d be fascinating to know what Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Theresa May thinks about that.

     

  • Breaking with Boris

    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

     

    Breaking with Boris – Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel Johnson defects to the Lib Dems – The Steeple Times urges her to support Gina Miller’s Best for Britain campaign and Liberal Democrat candidates Annabel Mullin for Kensington and Louise Rowntree for Chelsea & Fulham
    Louise Rowntree (left) pictured with Matthew Steeples of The Steeple Times and Annabel Mullin in Chelsea last week

    Breaking with Boris – Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel Johnson defects to the Lib Dems – The Steeple Times urges her to support Gina Miller’s Best for Britain campaign and Liberal Democrat candidates Annabel Mullin for Kensington and Louise Rowntree for Chelsea & Fulham
    The Johnson clan – Stanley Johnson (far left) with his children: Rachel, Boris and Jo

  • Quote of the Week: Grassing Miliband

    Quote of the Week: Grassing Miliband

    Boris Johnson surmised the views of the nation in a Facebook post on Thursday (more…)

  • Jack Duffin

    Jack Duffin

    Jack DuffinHillingdon based Jack Duffin was selected to stand as UKIP’s candidate in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in the May 2015 General Election. (more…)

  • Independent of independence

    Independent of independence

    Orkney and the Shetland islands could remain part of the UK even if Scotland votes ‘yes’ to independence (more…)

  • Putting the ‘Great’ back in Britain

    Putting the ‘Great’ back in Britain

    Mr Gus Instinct calls for Britain to wake up and respect itself once more (more…)

  • Picture of the week: Downing Street’s “shocker” parodied

    Picture of the week: Downing Street’s “shocker” parodied

    David Cameron and Nick Clegg as Titanic stars and an analysis of the “sensational love affair” shocking Westminster

     

    The talk of Westminster and Twitter is the Mail on Sunday’s story about the identity of a mystery pair who have been involved in a “sensational love affair” that has “potentially significant political implications” for David Cameron and his government.

      (more…)