The Steeple Times

Tag: Westminster

  • Brenda from Bristol

    Brenda from Bristol

    Pearl clad pensioner ‘Brenda from Bristol’ became the Gillian Duffy of the 2017 General Election when she shared her views about politics with a BBC reporter. This 75-year old retired secretary spoke for the nation in remarking: “You’re joking? Not another one!” Oh for God’s sake, I can’t honestly… I can’t stand this. There’s too much politics going on at the moment. Why does she [Theresa May] need to do it?” and later added: “There’s hardly anybody in any of the parties that you’d put your life on the line for. We need somebody who’s got a little bit of guts to get us all going”. Brenda is entirely right: It is time that politicians stopped bothering us.

     

    #BrendaForPM

     

    Brenda from Bristol – The voice of the nation, 2017’s Gillian Duffy – Pearl clad ‘Brenda from Bristol’ became the Gillian Duffy of 2017 General Election when she shared her views about politics with a reporter.Brenda from Bristol – The voice of the nation, 2017’s Gillian Duffy – Pearl clad ‘Brenda from Bristol’ became the Gillian Duffy of 2017 General Election when she shared her views about politics with a reporter. Brenda from Bristol – The voice of the nation, 2017’s Gillian Duffy – Pearl clad ‘Brenda from Bristol’ became the Gillian Duffy of 2017 General Election when she shared her views about politics with a reporter.Brenda from Bristol – The voice of the nation, 2017’s Gillian Duffy – Pearl clad ‘Brenda from Bristol’ became the Gillian Duffy of 2017 General Election when she shared her views about politics with a reporter.

  • The Busy Borwicks

    The Busy Borwicks

    Son of Kensington MP Lady Borwick’s curious connections to the people who ensured both Brexit and the election of Donald Trump revealed

     

    On Sunday, Carole Cadwalladr of  The Observer published a lengthy and well researched article that, amongst other things, examined the connections between The Hon. Thomas Borwick – the son of the Conservative hereditary peer The Rt. Hon. The Lord Borwick and Kensington’s Member of Parliament Lady ‘Call me Victoria’ Borwick – and the controversial US hedge fund titan and backer of Donald Trump, Robert Mercer.

     

    A director of a multitude of companies, in spite of being just 29 years old, “new media expert” Thomas Borwick – whose mother was forced to apologise “after using City Hall resources to promote her husband’s [now defunct] electric vehicle business” in 2009 – it now transpires, was not only Vote Leave’s chief technology officer but previously worked with SCL/Cambridge Analytica and AggregateIQ. Borwick currently touts himself to his 202 followers on Twitter as the founder of a political canvasing consultancy named Kan.to, an organisation that he boldy claims “will out-organise, out-plan, out-leaflet, out-twitter, out-work and out-vote all of its opponents”.

     

    Mercer, one of the owners of the far-right Breitbart News Network as well as being a major shareholder in Cambridge Analytica, is a man whose “sinister” connections to both Trump and Nigel Farage have rightly been widely criticised. On that basis, that the son of fervent Brexiteer Lady Borwick – a woman whose constituents voted 69% to ‘Remain’ and whose domain was home to a greater proportion of EU nationals than any other London borough in 2016 – has links to this billionaire and his activities should only encourage the voters of Kensington to ditch her and her out-of-touch party.

     

    We urge Kensington based readers to support Annabel Mullin of the Liberal Democrats on 8th June. This principled lady is the only person who can realistically unseat Lady Borwick and she is the only candidate who will support the beliefs the majority in this constituency continue to hold dear.

     

    #DumpLadyBorwick #VoteAnnabelMullin

     

  • Backing Borwick

    Backing Borwick

    K&C resident Justin Downes shares his reasons for supporting Victoria Borwick, the Conservative Party Parliamentary Candidate for Kensington

     

    It is sad that politics has become – if it ever wasn’t – such a filthy business. It is sadder still when a politician noted for integrity, hard work and compassion becomes the subject of a barrage of lies and politically motivated vilification.

     

    Reading some of the remarks about the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Kensington Victoria Borwick in the comments section of a recent article in The Steeple Times, I wondered whether the individual referenced could possibly be same person I have known for so many years.

     

    Could I be prejudiced because I vote Tory? That is doubtful: I haven’t voted Tory for many a year. Maybe, it is because I don’t think I have the political agenda that those attacking Victoria seem to and maybe it is because I believe I actually take people as I find them.

     

    Like many thousands of other residents, I have always found Victoria Borwick ready to help anyone at any time, irrespective of who they might be. Have those authoring these derogatory comments ever met her? I doubt it.

     

    In a world of boring conformity Victoria stands out as her own person. Many will remember the time RBK&C proposed destroying Sloane Square. Victoria – a lady I’ve never known to use the title ‘Lady Borwick’ – stood side by side with residents to the detriment of her political career. It was made clear to her by the then leader of the council, the hideous Sir Merrick Cockell, she would be out in the cold for years to come.

     

    If Victoria faces one criticism, in my view, it’s that she gets over-involved in cases where an overbearing council is bullying the weak. I particularly remember the case of an old soldier, living in the most terrible of conditions, with developers harassing him at every turn. Victoria fought for him like a lioness. She would even pop by to ensure he had food for the weekend.

     

    On a separate but connected note, I have recently been advising a very bright young Conservative candidate (yes, I am politically indifferent). He is facing selection for a Midlands seat: one that overwhelmingly voted ‘Leave’. He, himself, was a dogged and campaigning ‘Remainer’.  He asked me, if asked, whether he should deny the fact.

     

    My question to him was this: “Are you, or are you not, a conviction politician?” He replied he hoped he was. He answered his own question, took his chance and got selected. So, integrity does count in politics.

     

    Justin Downes is a resident of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. He has been a reader of The Steeple Times for a number of years.

     

    The Steeple Times welcomes well-reasoned and contrasting contributions from readers on all subjects as long as they comply with our editorial guidelines. Should you wish to contact us in such regard, please email [email protected]

     

  • Dastardly Diane

    Dastardly Diane

    Diane Abbott MP, a woman unable to grasp numbers, revealed to be perfectly capable of grabbing as much as she can for her very own pocket

     

    Quite capable of whining about supposedly being unfairly targeted by so-called trolls in spite of being in the pay of and thus accountable to the public, Britain’s most hypocritical Member of Parliament, Diane Abbott, has pocketed over £110,000 in licence payers’ money from the BBC since 2003.

     

    Ms Abbott, it was revealed Thursday by the Mail Online, has been paid £700 each and every time she appeared on BBC One’s This Week and in addition has also raked in cash from conferences, corporate events and literary festivals.

     

    As well as getting £2,000 for turning up to a Citywealth Power Women lunch in 2014, this Socialist horror commanded £2,500 for a speech in Jersey and £2,000 for a talk at a BNP Paribas sponsored event later that year. Aside from this, there have been many other additional payments and on this basis, we ask one thing: “How can a self-motivated money grabber like Diane Abbott claim to speak for ordinary people?”

     

    The answer is simple: This numerically challenged woman cannot. Just like we said of Nigel Farage some months ago, Abbott is no longer a woman of the people. She is a woman of the elite.

     

  • Viscount St Davids

    Viscount St Davids

    A statement from Matthew Steeples about the man who, in a London courtroom, called him a “wanker”

     

    Yesterday, in London, in a stained tweed gilet more appropriate to Wiltshire than Westminster, Viscount St Davids – amusingly referenced in court as plain old ‘Mr St Davids’ much to the disgust of him and his and his somewhat pointless American barrister chum, Andrew Rinker – called me a “wanker”.

     

    According to much of the mainstream press – including The Guardian and The Sun – Viscount St Davids has now been banned from using social media and prohibited to contact me. I have yet to be informed of exactly what this means and have not seen any transcript of the court’s decision, but, in view of the fact that this thrice bankrupt individual decided to allegedly “laugh” as he was told of the conditions of granting him bail, I hereby record that I am proud to be the individual who first reported this intolerant individual to the police last year.

     

    I will be very happy to give evidence on 10th July and look forward to witnessing justice run its course. What is posted on social media, in my terribly humble opinion, does not stay on social media.

     

    Comments on this article will be moderated for legal reasons.

  • Picture of the Week – Chippy May

    Picture of the Week – Chippy May

    Images of Theresa May eating chips prove to be her ‘Ed Milliband moment’

     

    Theresa May likes to refer to her “red, white and blue Brexit” and “Corbyn’s coalition of chaos”, but yesterday, the hectoring vicar’s daughter had a moment of madness when she decided to allow herself be photographed eating chips in Cornwall.

     

    The Prime Minister – now the winner of the “most awkward photo of a politician eating ever” – was subsequently  lampooned on Twitter and of the image, one user named @iBreezeblock brilliantly remarked: “Theresa May eats chips like a disturbed seabird eats her own young”.

     

    #Awkward #MakeJuneEndOfMay

     

  • Turncoat Tory Predicts Troubles for Theresa

    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 8th 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”.

     

  • 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
  • Another Corbyn Calamity

    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.

     

    Another Corbyn Calamity – Jeremy Corbyn scares child in Harlow, Essex – Thursday 27th April 2017 – Chloe Pullara @educatedmole

  • Beating Borwick

    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.

     

    Backing Borwick – The Steeple Times urges voters to vote tactically and back Liberal Democrat Annabel Mullin against sitting Conservative Member of Parliament Victoria Borwick MP in the 2016 General Election on 8th June 2017
    Annabel Mullin is the only candidate who can realistically unseat the Tories in Kensington
    Beating Borwick – The Steeple Times urges voters to vote tactically and back Liberal Democrat Annabel Mullin against sitting Conservative Member of Parliament Victoria Borwick MP in the 2016 General Election on 8th June 2017.
    Victoria Borwick does not represent the views of her constituents on membership of the European Union