Who Has Confidence in Jo Swinson?

So it seems that the chance to remove Boris Johnson from office and replace him with a caretaker unity government has fallen...all because of Jo Swinson.

You see, Swinson has an overwhelming contempt for Jeremy Corbyn. Unfortunately for Swinson, Corbyn is the leader of the opposition and so any caretaker government should have him at its head. Swinson can't stomach this because, arguably, she wants power for herself. But she doesn't seem to realise that she doesn't have the numbers. She may be getting MP's from other parties crossing the floor to join the Lib Dems, but these are not actually elected Lib Dem MP's. Therefore not only does Swinson have contempt for the official opposition, she also has extreme delusions of grandeur that her party, with her at the helm, ought to be in that role.

Swinson needs to realise that, if she loathes the idea of a Boris Johnson Brexit, she needs to put aside her hatred of Jeremy Corbyn and commit to a vote of no confidence in our so-called PM. But she won't do this, because in reality, her politics are more in keeping with the Conservative party that alleged PM leads.

Let's look at her voting record;

And incidentally, if Swinson hates Brexit so much and if the Lib Dems are, as she repeatedly says, the only real remain party out there, then where was she during the national day of protest at the prorogation of parliament?

That's right, she was on holiday.

Where was Jeremy Corbyn, a man she repeatedly claims is not interested in Brexit?

That's right, he was out there among the protesters, delivering impassioned speeches.

Perhaps we should be arguing for a vote of no confidence in Swinson and the Lib Dems too?

Lastly, I must point out that the photo of Swinson above comes from the excellent political blog Vox Political. I apologise for anyone who was physically sick as a result of the image. One to put atop the mantlepiece to keep the kiddies away eh?

#FuckBoris

Utterly disgusting display from the alleged PM tonight. If proroguing parliament wasn't about Brexit (yeah right) then how come the Tories are banging on about the supreme court blocking Brexit? FFS, at least Thatcher's mob were actually good at lying. 

But worse was to come. To sit and listen to the impassioned pleas to moderate his dangerous language from Paula Sherriff and Tracey Brabin, and then to dismiss the former with "I've never heard so much humbug in my life" and the later with the idea that the best way to honour their friend and colleague Jo Cox's memory is to "get Brexit done" is shameful, disgraceful, unfeeling and morally bankrupt. Jo Cox was murdered by a far right terrorist who condemned her in his tiny, sick mind as a traitor for her campaign to remain in the EU. Boris Johnson continues to call MP's who do not back his disastrous plan for a no deal Brexit 'traitors' who are intent on 'surrender'. There is a clear line here between his words and some very dangerous actions and he knows that is the case deep down, it's just that he doesn't care. How many people must die or come to harm to ensure that his dream of a hard Brexit and a subservient brown-nosing bromance with Trump comes true?

Every Tory MP who applauded their dictator tonight, every supporter out there who thinks he's standing up for them (he's really not you know) should hang their heads in everlasting shame. This man is sowing the seeds of division and hate across this land and breaking the law. Why? Because it suits him to. It is he and his privileged chums alone who will prosper from a No Deal Brexit not 'the people' they keep referencing who they actually care very, very little about. 

Putting it simply, this man was never a clown. He was never a bumbling oaf. He was never a bit of fun and he is certainly not some kind of champion against the establishment, because he is the establishment. he is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and he is a...

Out On Blue Six: The Clash

This suitably apt song is going out to our alleged Prime Minister, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, pictured above with his pet polecat Dominic Cummings. Sadly those aren't prison bars they're behind...not yet. 

End Transmission

Boris Johnson Must Go

And so it has been found that the alleged Prime Minister's suspension of parliament was unlawful. 

This is a huge victory for the democracy that hard brexiteers like Johnson falsely claimed leaving the EU was about returning to this country. But we need to go one further; we need to show that Boris Johnson's position is untenable. Please sign this petition demanding he resign now.

Johnson's Coup Declared Illegal

Well colour me distinctly unsurprised, but Scotland's highest court, the Court of Sessions, has found that our alleged Prime Minister's prorogation was unlawful and "motivated by the improper purpose of stymying parliament"

Follow this link to both sign Another Europe is Possible's petition and to ask your MP to return to parliament now to hold this tinpot dictator to account.

Word of the Day: Prorogue

Who knew there'd be benefits to living in a fash dictatorship eh? We need to look on the bright side. We've all learnt a new word today, and that word is 'prorogue'

In all seriousness though, we've learnt something else important today; we've learnt just what 'taking back control' actually means.

Taking back control means a man who is not a democratically elected leader of the nation can close parliament down on a whim, because he knows they won't give him what he wants - a No Deal Brexit. Boris Johnson can cite precedence, he can argue that he's doing it for the police and the NHS, all until he is blue in the face as well as politics. The truth is, this is all about getting his own way and to hell with everyone else. Boris Johnson has got far more in common with Hitler, than he has with his hero, Churchill.

Please sign this petition, and this one and indeed this one too, in an attempt to overturn this dictator's decision.

Brexit: BBC News Continues to be Stupid, or Deliberately Wrong

Just sat watching the BBC's North West Tonight to hear their political correspondent Nina Warhurst claim that our region is a hit confused about the EU elections tomorrow because the two main parties have been pretty absent.

Now I know that the Tories don't seem to be putting much into their campaign (as I blogged at the weekend, they are the only party I haven't received any correspondence from) but Labour missing from our region? Erm, here's a picture of Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn speaking to an audience of hundreds in Bootle on Saturday...

Perhaps North West Tonight didn't get the memo?

Warhurst then went on to say that the region is further confused by Labour's vague stance regarding the EU and a second referendum. Again the BBC don't seem to want to acknowledge that Labour has whipped for a so-called 'people's vote' twice now, but there isn't a sufficient majority for it to pass in the House, which is why it isn't happening.

Let's be clear about the second referendum; Theresa May's latest deal (aka the same as it ever was: why is it we have to respect the result of the Brexit ref, yet she will not respect the result of her first, second or even third attempt at getting her deal through?) claims that parliament must have a vote on whether there will be a second ref, but they have to vote on her deal first. It's a ploy to push her deal through and a meaningless sop towards another vote as she knows damn well there isn't a majority for one. The only way we can get another vote is if the PM backs one. 

Meanwhile tonight, Theresa May is sitting behind the sofa of Number 10 with her fingers in her ear and the door barricaded. She is a PM that neither the country nor her own MPs want and, in typical Tory fashion, she's refusing to acknowledge reality. How very strong and stable.

And the European media? Tonight they're discussing the UN Report into UK poverty which estimates a staggering 40% of our children will be living in poverty by 2021 as a result of the Tories austerity policies. Are our media talking about this? Are they bollocks. We just get the same old Brexit chat and the same old lies. Ignore them. Get out and vote tomorrow - and vote Labour - because we need to send a clear message that we can no longer tolerate what this government has done to us and will continue to do unless there's a General Election and a Labour victory.

Return to Sender

It's time to return to the voting booths again this Thursday as the elections for European Parliament take place. Campaigning seems to have been taken up in earnest by most parties and many a letter or leaflet has dropped through the letterbox at the tail end of last week. So far, I've had stuff from Labour, the Lib Dems, UKIP, Nigel Farage's Brexit Party and Independent candidate Stephen Yaxley Lennon (aka 'Tommy Robinson'). Nothing for the Tories though, who clearly know that they are doomed.

I know that it can be really irritating to receive missives from parties you vehemently disagree with. It fair turns my stomach to see something from far right parties personally addressed to me, so here's what I do...

Knowing that returning this mail back to their party HQ's actually costs the party money, I scribble a quick 'Unsolicited Mail - Return to Sender' note at the top of the envelope and pop it back in the postbox. A small victory maybe, but a satisfying one. 

However, before that I like to offer up some sort of reply. UKIP, the Brexit Party and 'Tommy Robinson' all had their leaflets suitably redecorated (nothing too original, just the odd Hitler moustache) and were left in no doubt as to what I feel about them. But it was the Lib Dems that I decided to point towards the truth.

Their leaflet was full of utter lies. This habitually opportunistic party are currently flying under the flag of being the only political force determined to stop Brexit. If that truly was the case then where were Vince Cable and Tim Farron last July on the night of a crucial Brexit legislation vote that could have kept back the hard Brexit mob? They weren't in the House that's for sure and so they did not vote. I can tell you were Farron, the former leader and the man who keeps banging on with 'Where are you Jeremy Corbyn?' at Remain protests, was; he was charging a fiver a head for a lecture in Sherbourne about his faith (or homophobia), but where was present leader Vince Cable? And do they really think we're so stupid that we'd fail to notice how they vote in the House or, more bluntly, when they don't even bother to vote?

The leaflet also goes on to say that Labour refuse to push for a second referendum. Again this is a lie and one that the MSM also seem keen to spread. The fact is that Labour have repeatedly whipped ahead of voting for a second ref or a 'people's vote' but there isn't enough of a majority in the House to push this over the line. 

Cable and the Lib Dems, perhaps more than any other party and politician, deserve our contempt. They sold their soul to share power in 2010 and enabled the austerity that we are still suffering under to this very day. They twist with the wind and are now pretending that they never had any association with the Tories and that they are the only ones with our best interests at heart. They're banking on a resurgence that I think will happen to a degree, but when you're already at rock bottom, there's only one place to go - up.

Out On Blue Six: The Police

This track is dedicated to Theresa May who, in her decision to defer the crucial Brexit vote that was due to take place tomorrow, has revealed that she really can't stand losing

Not since a school sports day in the mid 1980s, when Andrew Sheridan bawled his eyes out because he had been placed in a race he had no chance of winning (and subsequently got re-positioned into a race that I was participating in and had been clear favourite...until he rocked up) have I seen such a clear case of cowardice and manipulation in the face of defeat. 

Unfortunately the real losers here are us, the public because, whether you voted to remain or to leave, it seems no one has got what they wanted under this disastrous Tory government.

End Transmission

Our Contemptible Government

This week, Theresa May the cunt and her cabinet of little cunts became the first in history to be found in contempt of parliament for refusing to publish legal advice pertaining to Brexit. Whilst Paris erupts with the yellow vest protests, the UK seems to meekly shrug and accept this disgusting antics of its government. Why is that?

I mean, I get that we are all sick to death of hearing about Brexit, I honestly do. I am too, but the fact remains that, even if you are happy to accept a government so corrupt as to become the first to openly show contempt for the democratic process of parliament, are you really happy to sit back and accept all the other times Mrs May's government have shown their contempt for this country and its citizens?

What about the contempt they have shown for the UN, rejecting their damning report on the austerity measures the government have needlessly put in force since 2010? Their actions have increased homelessness, child poverty, food bank usage and suicide. Why do we think we can afford to let this continue?

What about the contempt this government has shown towards the Windrush generation? A blatant example of institutionalised racism that they attempted to pass the buck by spurring their right wing press baron acolytes into action with a series of 'Labour are anti-semitic' non-stories.

What about the contempt they hold for the environment, continuing to push fracking in areas that had democratically opposed the introduction of such a dangerous and untested process?

What about the contempt they show for the disabled and the unemployed with their continued pursuit of Universal Credit, despite the facts that the new benefit is harming people and simply isn't working?

And these are just the examples that are still happening. What about those examples of contempt they've shown that were mercifully challenged, such as their defeat in the Supreme Court to sideline parliament and due democratic process to get their Brexit deal passed unchallenged? Their benefit cap which was defeated in court because it impoverished single-parent families for no good reason? Their policy of free labour for Workfare, also defeated by the courts? Their plan to shut down Lewisham hospital, again defeated in court? And their attempts to challenge the condemnation of their track record with air pollution in court for a total of three times, the result of which was £500,000 of public money wasted in their defence?

They may look like it, they may even act like it, but this Conservative government is not a joke. They are corrupt, dishonest, barbaric and cruel and their only desire is to serve their own self interests. The joke is on us, because we sit back and let them do it to us. 

But, if May's Brexit deal is voted down on Tuesday, we could see a vote of no confidence in the house. If that follows, she has just 14 days to form a new government before parliament is dissolved and a general election is triggered. We need to do all we can to say that 2018 is the end of May. 2019 needs to be the year of Corbyn and a government who genuinely want to heal and improve society. Please, do what you personally can; if there is a demo or march near you, go to it. Sign petitions and write to your MP. Join the opposition and turn up at you local branch office and ask what you can personally do. Join Momentum or make a donation to them to prepare them for the likelihood of a general election in the new year. But above all, when (not if) there is a GE, vote. Vote for Labour and make a difference, because remember this - after 18 months of Macron's centrist policies that have attacked the living standards of the French, the people have risen up in protest. In just eighteen months. The Conservatives have been doing the same thing to us for eight years. And we have re-elected them for it twice. Never again, please. Never again.

Fighting Back: Petition to Sign

When we leave the EU, the laws made in Brussels that have protected our rights at work, health and safety, woodland, wildlife and environment, will all need to be rewritten by our government.

This petition demands that these new laws are written democratically, with a proper consultation across parliament and the people, and not done behind closed doors by a Tory government who wish to preserve their own interests. Whether you voted Leave or Remain, we all need a Brexit that works for everyone and this petition will ensure that happens. Please sign it now.

Don't Let Brexit Ruin The NHS

EU migrants keep our NHS going. 1 in 10 doctors are EU citizens. Weeks have passed since that monumental vote was cast to leave the EU but the government have still not made a decision on whether EU medics can stay in the UK or not. The longer this decision goes unmade, the more likely it is we'll see 55,000 staff members within the NHS pack their bags and take their considerable expertise elsewhere - a place where they feel welcome.  

Theresa May needs to realise that without these people, people who make significant contributions to our NHS and society as a whole, we would be much worse off. Please sign this petition  and let her and her government know that we simply cannot afford to lose them.

The NHS was shamelessly used as a political tool in the Leave campaign. We were told lie after lie regarding it. It's time we get some honest answers. Answers we want to hear.

The Eagle Has Flown

Hahaha, hahaaa, haha, ha

Her coup against Corbyn has gone the way of the disgraceful coup in Turkey at the weekend, and it couldn't happen to a nicer person.

Let's look at her disreputable character in the past few weeks and savour the moment that she realised she had little support in the party.

1. Her claims that Corbyn didn't do enough for the Remain camp during the EU referendum. In fact, Corbyn visited ten times more venues than she did. And if she truly believed that, why did she say at the time that Corbyn was tirelessly working to ensure we remained in the EU? "Jeremy is up and down the country, pursuing an itinerary that would make a 25-year-old tired, he has not stopped" Angela Eagle speaking to the Guardian on 13th June, this year. 
"Under your leadership the case to remain in the EU was made with half-hearted ambivalence rather than full throated clarity" Angela Eagle in her resignation letter on 27th June, this year.

2. The fact that she had planned this coup way before the EU result, with an Angela4Leader website being licensed two days before the referendum. So if it really was about Corbyn being unable to sway Labour voters to vote Remain, why had she planned this before the result was announced? 

3. Her constant claims of abuse, both homophobic and those that suggested she would be harmed or even killed. This is something that many anti-Corbyn Labour MP's and workers are now claiming - A disgusting attempt to use the murder of Jo Cox as a concern they all face - and the finger seems to be forever pointed at Momentum. Reports that a Brighton CLP meeting was disrupted by intimidating, hard left thugs has been thoroughly debunked by those in attendance who reported a calm and civil meeting. Johanna Baxter claimed that she was intimidated at an NEC meeting, a claim that has never been corroborated whilst she has routinely failed to provide evidence to support her claim. There were even claims that Wallasey CLP endured homophobic abuse when Angela attended a meeting; a claim that was subsequently proven false by the chair of Wallasey CLP who pointed out that not only was the meeting civil, but that Angela Eagle wasn't even there! Is it any wonder that Wallasey refused to support her? No one reports that Jeremy Corbyn receives death threats himself.

4. The infamous brick through the window of her office. The brick actually shattered the window of a communal stairwell in Sherlock House, a building that houses several interests, one of which just happens to be Angela Eagle's office. Her staff placed a Labour poster there deliberately to suggest that the window was the one to her office. See the following YouTube video

5. Angela Eagle consistently claimed that her intention was to unite the party, yet her idea of unity actually seemed to be a determined, scurrilous effort to tear the party apart. She completely discredited the thousands of new Labour supporters who have become politicised because of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, claiming that a bitter minority, thrown out in the '90s had returned and were pulling the strings. Her hashtag keepitcomradely was the last, hilarious straw. 

6. Angela Eagle never once answered a straight question with a straight answer. Asked about policies and Eagle routinely referred to leadership and long prepared speeches that said absolutely nothing. Her policy ideas could have been summed up by her appalling voting record (which she referred to as 'one of those nasty little memes going around on twitter) Angela Eagle voted for the cuts to welfare, she voted for the Iraq war, she voted to bomb Syria, she voted for tuition fees, and she voted for nuclear weapons.

Goodbye, Ms Eagle. 

Now we just need to see Owen Smith's leadership bid fail.

He's BoJo, He's No Bozo

Boris Johnson. He might look and act like a monumental buffoon, but that's exactly what it is; an act.

The news that Boris Johnson won't be seeking election as the next leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister of the country comes as no surprise to me. Since the EU referendum result last week it became increasingly clear that no one in the Leave campaign that Boris was the figurehead of, actually envisaged being the winning team. How else can you explain the lack of any clear plan ready to be put in place?

Equally, it's become clear that Boris didn't even want the country to leave the EU in the first place. His whole motivation here was to flex his muscles against his old Bullingdon Club mate David Cameron to show the party that he had what it took to be the next PM. His plan of action seemed to be to lead the Leave campaign and then, when the campaign failed (as he presumed it would) to rely on the sour feelings of the Tory MP's around Cameron to stage a coup in much the same way Labour are now doing against Jeremy Corbyn. The result - Cameron out, Boris in and the whole of the UK (a country still aligned to the EU) at his disposal.

Boris is a canny political player. Like George Osborne, who has also ruled himself out of the race, BoJo knows that to become the PM now of a deeply divided country in the midst of a constitutional crisis that can only get worse is nothing more than a poisoned chalice. After all, who in their right mind would want to be the PM responsible for the break up of the United Kingdom? Who on earth would be so arrogant and stupid enough to actually want their legacy to be the loss of Scotland, Northern Ireland, hell even Gibraltar?

Oh yeah, Michael Gove and Theresa May. That's who.

Heaven help us.

How a Safety Pin Can Say No To Racism

The humble safety pin is making a BIG statement of support for immigrants in the UK who have had to bear some terrible incidents of racist abuse since the vote to leave the EU last week. 

BBC News Article

And whilst yeah it's true what the critics in the article above says, how we shouldn't have to show we are not racist and how we should always show our solidarity with people by speaking up for them, I really do think that this will in its own way make a difference for anyone in these dark days facing abuse or is simply scared of the world we now find ourselves in. In all likelihood, to see someone wearing this, pledging support, could lead to conversation and friendships or bonds being formed. Anyway, anything that Piers Morgan calls 'absurd' is alright by me. 

So I'm wearing one. Who's with me?

Which Side Are You On?

Faced with the question of whether the Labour Party will split should Jeremy Corbyn call for another leadership election and win the ballot once more, Margaret Beckett, speaking on today's Daily Politics, decried that that should not happen and that he should resign now.

This is as blatant a statement on how those against Jeremy Corbyn refuse to listen to the Labour Party membership that their lives and job roles depend on as I can see.

Surely they are here to serve their members interests, not their own?

How can they argue that Jeremy Corbyn did not connect with the traditional Labour voters at last week's referendum if they are now so wholeheartedly committed to ignoring them themselves should Jeremy Corbyn go to a vote?

Once again, the Blairites in the party have shown that their only interest is their own. They want to keep their jobs and their security and they don't feel they can do that for Corbyn as their leader.

Yes it would be tragic if an unprecedented split in the party occurs should Corbyn succeed once again as the Labour leader at an election. But surely the issue here is that these MP's against him should listen to what the majority of the membership has to say. If the members want Jeremy Corbyn as their leader then they must serve their memberships interests, and not their own.

This is like the mid '90s all over again when New Labour usurped 'Old' Labour; the party is changing and those MP's who feel out of place in the new political style (a traditional left wing political style once more) need to realise that they have to either go with the change or move out of the way. These people have to listen to what the members want and behave accordingly.

Fighting Back : EU Special

There are lots of petitions that have sprung up in the wake of the result of the EU referendum last week; indeed, Change has a whole page devoted to them which you can view here (though be warned, Change doesn't discriminate between those disappointed by the result, and those who are happy with it) There are some really good ones here, such as the one calling for 16/17 year olds to have the right to vote should a second referendum be held..

Which brings me to the biggest petition at the moment, the one calling for a repeat referendum over on the parliament petitions site. Already, over 3 million have signed it. Please add your name here

Out On Blue Six : Billy Bragg

Brexit said they'd take back our country. If you ask me, Brexit delivered my country into the wrong hands - the hands of racist idiots. The stories of more than 100 incidents of flagrant racism and hate crime across the country since Friday is utterly horrifying. A petition has started on Change demanding the Home Office to condemn the rise and state explicitly what they are doing to tackle it. The country is rudderless and in limbo, at the mercy of a cruel and ignorant minority.

I'm reminded of this track from Billy Bragg's Don't Try This At Home

#Blame Corbyn

So we're in the middle of a constitutional crisis and a time of great chaos since Thursday's shock victory for Brexit and what do the right wingers and 'red tories' within the Labour party want to do? They want to add to the confusion and crisis by ousting their leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

Why?

Because the Blairites in the party want to save their own hides. They wanted to move against Corbyn after the local elections, but he proved them wrong by being a success - not that the BBC actually made that overall success at the polls all that well known. So now they've leapt upon Brexit. They argue Corbyn didn't speak to the heartlands, that he simply didn't do enough to convince them to vote Remain. But guess what? Neither did the past Labour PM's who all spoke up for Remain. Miliband didn't, Brown didn't and neither did that man who the 'red tories' still claim spoke to the nation and had his finger on the pulse; Tony Blair! 

Why? 

Because when New Labour and Tony Blair became a thing in the mid '90s it refused to take the ravaged post-Thatcherite industrial heartlands with them. They reshaped the party to no longer include them as their primary concern, indeed they never once considered their concerns, and they refused to open up lines of communication re immigration to allay their fears. In short they refused to represent them, and those concerns and fears found an outlet in UKIP and even the BNP. The rise of UKIP and its popular jingoistic appeal among many pockets of the working classes is all down to the mistakes of New Labour who concentrated solely on the metropolitan areas which did at least keep 'on message' by voting Remain.

That those very same New Labourites are now blaming Corbyn for their mistake speaks volumes. A week's a long time in politics they say, but the mistakes of the past twenty years are even longer and they hope that we can forget them and only concentrate enough on the past year of Corbyn. It's all about them, keeping their positions of power and keeping the blame squarely away from their door now that Chilcot is in the air and Corbyn's proposed denouncement of and apology for the war in Iraq (as Craig Murray's blog points out here)

Why?

Because Hilary Benn, Margaret Hodge, Ann Coffey and many others still loyal to Blair do not want to be tarred with the brush of war crimes, and that's why they want to move against Corbyn now.

My own thoughts on Corbyn's Remain campaign are that yes, he could have done a lot more, but I do find it refreshing he was honest enough to admit throughout that the EU is in no way perfect. Unfortunately, that got people's backs up; people who believe campaigning has to be black and white these days, people who would rather he promised us all rainbows in the bottom of our gardens if we stayed in, and the bogeyman on every street corner if we left. Once again, it was refreshing to see a leader who actually remained more or less on message with comments he had made in the past regarding a subject, as opposed to performing a complete 360 and opting for the politician's mainstays - lies, hypocrisy and short term memory.

You can blame Labour to a certain extent for the Leave vote, but you can't just blame the current incumbent.  

51.9%

Whoop-de-fucking-doo; A victory for fear and intolerance. 

This isn't my England.