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I felt compelled to respond to Craig’s recent Post on the demise of DfiD; I wrote an earlier Post myself on this subject as Foreign Aid and the situation in the Developing World are subjects I feel really passionate about having worked as a Medical volunteer and once trained with the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to fulfil future assignments. For me the Covert 2019 Rigged Election was not confined to the dystopian nightmare we see unfolding under Boris Man-Baby Johnson in the UK; I knew there would continue to be devastating consequences overseas if we remained under Tory oppression. I firmly believed that Corbyn would drastically alter UK Foreign Policy; away from supplying arms to foreign despots to suppress their citizens or kill and maim children from Gaza to Yemen. So much was possible in proactive peace building as we worked towards a more collaborative green agenda without Trident or a dodgy deal with Trump. I was devastated by the stolen vote, but I am certainly not giving up the fight for justice.
I saw firsthand how much charitable money was squandered when I went out to Aceh Indonesia as a Medical volunteer after the Boxing Day tsunami. I was careful to organize an effective placement not just arrogantly hop on a plane; I joined “SHEEP,” a small Medical affiliate of Walhi, a local environmental charity. Paying my own travel, I came well prepared to hit the ground running with my own Hammock-Tent, a Ketadine water filter and other survival kit. The well funded NGO teams commandeered any of the local houses that were still habitable, retrofitted them with AC units and paid local workers to cook, clean, provide security and drive them around in monster vehicles. When a second major earthquake hit, these intrepid Aid Workers all wanted to be transported to the new epicentre on Nias, but mollycoddled by the UN they were no better prepared than a spare pair of boxers and a toothbrush!
For the six months I was there I remained “NGZero,” an underfunded Maverick, First Assisting in Surgery at the only Hospital left standing in Meulaboh which was closest to the original epicentre. While I stayed in the disaster zone the whole time, only leaving to renew paperwork; most UN and Aid workers were sent to Bali for R&R every six weeks. The volunteers who set up the Internet hub at the UN camp were there well before I arrived so we had excellent communication. However, most of the highly paid charitable Functionaries were not fulfilling practical roles, but doing managerial paperwork and endless assessments that could just as easily have been completed in a fancy office in London or New York. I remember thinking it was really weird to see UN staff and Aid workers strolling along the wood walkways between the UN tents clutching an open Laptop and conversing with the screen, but that was back in the very early days of Skype. An Australian with WHO conducted a comprehensive assessment of Cut Nyak Dhien Hospital where I worked. Although I frequently referenced his work in my appeals to other NGOs, none of the recommendations he made were actioned at the time.
This redundant assessment process was repeated multiple times during my time as a volunteer in Indonesia. At Cut Nyak Dhien Meulaboh Hospital we were seriously short of basic supplies, but although the existence was extremely frugal it was an intensely rewarding experience. I have a picture of our team scrubbed into Surgery wearing those thin, flimsy, see-through, cover gowns, a similar gown covering the back table and another used as a patient drape. Using our precious sutures to within a couple of inches of the swage was a new skill requirement. As the volume of Surgical cases decreased I started focusing my attention on trying to access that seemingly bountiful Aid money to acquire much needed supplies and equipment or fund EMS training for our local staff. I even tried to get a small number of AC units in order to properly seal the sterile core of our two operating theatre Surgical suite, but I had no luck as the creature comforts of foreign staff prevailed.
One day the UN and NGO staff organized an emergency drill out at the UN Camp while my Indonesian Navy Surgeon mentor and I were in the Internet café tent. The patient was supposed to have a serious head injury, but managed to jump down out of one of those high UN vehicles and compliantly lie on a soft stretcher to be rushed across the field. In the US he would be on a backboard with a C-Collar until a c-spine injury was ruled out, but we didn’t have a single backboard or C-Collar in the whole of Meulaboh, something I reminded the UN of after the excursive. The teams ran around barking orders into their fancy walky-talky radios until the chopper arrived to evacuate the patient. My Surgeon friend looked on in amusement, at one point he said “Why they don’t listen to us?” Later I tried to discreetly explain to one of the more pragmatic UNDP functionaries that their mock evacuation was like conducting an abandon ship drill without a life raft; they looked a bit foolish.
The second quake made me think seriously about our Emergency Preparedness, both at the Hospital and in the community. I put together a totally unsolicited proposal that I audaciously presented to the head of WHO in Banda Aceh. Later I was stunned to see an email where he discussed if I could be “taken on,” not as a fully fledged WHO recruit, but possibly paid at the level of a local Doctor. I had not asked for any salary but, despite the ego boost, it was a bit of an insult to local Doctors as I was not a qualified MD; it epitomized the disingenuous way the UN and foreign NGO staff treaded the local professionals. All the Medical staff that I worked with, both local and volunteers, were Indonesian and I really learned to respect them. They were highly intuitive Doctors not reliant on fancy equipment as it was not available; they had good practical skills and were also very resourceful with what little they had. Still all of the sector meetings with the exception of UNDP were in English only.
It was truly heart-warming sixteen years after my secondment following the devastating tsunami that took so many lives, to now look up Cut Nyak Dhien Hospital on the Internet and discover that an NGO I had specifically targeted in an appeal to renovate the facility did actually follow through a few years later. On the Antara Koh Website it said that: “In July 2007, Antara Koh (I) Pte Ltd was awarded the contract by Singapore Red Cross Society to be the Main Contractor to rebuild and upgrade 17 buildings of the Cut Nyak Dhien Meulaboh General Hospital. The upgraded capacity of the Hospital is 146 beds and 2 operating rooms.” I was becoming so disillusioned by the money squandering of major NGOs while the only Hospital languished in desperate need of basic supplies that when I was given time to make a pitch at the morning meeting at the UN Camp I really let rip. Several organization offered support and the one I thought showed most long-term investment promise was the Singapore Red Cross team.
In his June 24th 2020 Post entitled, “Do Not Mourn the White Saviours of DfID,” Craig Murray elaborates on the corrupt slush fund diverting charitable donations to the wealthy elite. I contributed the following lengthy comment offering my thoughts on the subject:
“As this toxic Tory Government lurches from one disastrous plan to the next I have been contributing regular comments on the 2nd Elections Aftermath Discussion Forum where I expound on the Covert 2019 Rigged Election with the dire need to investigate what happened and remove this corrupt Government from office ASAP. Only a few days ago I wrote about the demise of DfiD saying, ‘The Boris Johnson wrecking ball swung into action today with him announcing an extremely poorly timed merger. In a Canary Article that spells out the implications of yet another disastrous plan for gross mismanagement they report that, ‘The prime minister has announced he is to scrap the Department for International Development (DfiD) in a merger with the Foreign Office.’I think the Foreign Aid budget should be maintained as a ring-fenced source of funding, but my concern over this latest harebrained scheme wasn’t because I thought our Foreign Aid budget was being spent wisely on vital projects, but because I fear it will become a lot more like the unhealthy coercive control model used by America to exploit countries in the Developing World. I saw firsthand how much charitable money was squandered when I went out to Aceh, Indonesia as a Medical volunteer after the Boxing Day tsunami. There were far too many highly paid NGO functionaries who expected to be mollycoddled in a disaster battered combat zone while they conducted masses of redundant assessments, many of which were never actually used.
Which country offers effective Development Aid with the minimal demand for pay-back? Without a doubt I would have to say Cuba. With their impressive program of Medical Diplomacy, they have supplied and trained doctors all over the globe and the world’s largest Medical School is in Havana. There are aspects of the Cuban model we should consider emulating in terms of increasing our positive impact overseas. I admit I did a ten country ‘Needs Assessment of Anaesthesia Care in sub-Saharan Africa’ in 2009, but it stimulated my design work and seeing the damage done by our morally bankrupt policy of scavenging Medical Personnel from countries who can ill afford to train them prompted me to devise a more collaborative solution.
Well before the disastrous Brexit vote I was busy writing up a set of proposals for “Collaborative Circular Migration.” The first I worked on involves setting up mutually beneficial Medical Training programs, in stable countries where the cost of living and tuition is low, with UK and locals paired throughout their training. Another involves a concept for “Mentorship Diplomacy;” encouraging people to retire overseas offering part-time skills training via VSO. A third targets a Collaboration involving so-called “Economic Migrants”” in an “Earn, Learn and Return” scheme. Craig some time ago I sent you copies of these proposals; I wondered if you ever had a chance to read them as, given your extensive experience overseas, I would be really interested in your opinion on the viability of these concepts.
A Charity I still support is SCI Foundation, formerly the “Schistosomiasis Control Initiative,” out of Imperial College London. They provide vital humanitarian Healthcare solutions at genuinely low cost with a program targeting the eradication of parasitic diseases in Africa. Recommended as a top charity for International Development by GiveWell, who provide a break-down of how the donated money is spent by each charity listed. SCI manage to devote the maximum of donated funds to practical work on the ground to get a lot accomplished on a modest budget. When I first donated just 50p could treat 2 people once a year for 7 Neglected Tropical Diseases so I save 50p coins! I still poke around charity shops for unusual items, but they are getting so up-market now.
I think we can agree that it is not the Foreign Aid itself that is so pernicious, but the way it is corruptly allocated to divert huge sums of money back into the greedy pockets of our wealthy elite in the UK. I believe that in reality there is a massive unpaid debt that we owe to almost every single one of the commonwealth countries that we plundered in the name of the British Empire. I used to think that a progressive socialist Government here in the UK might be persuaded to implement the “Collaborative Circular Migration” proposals that offer a fair, mutually beneficial solution for the management of migration that would render Brexit totally redundant. Since the Covert 2019 Rigged Election I have been trying to fight back to get this injustice overturned before we sink into decades of Tory dictatorship under Dominic Herd Nerd Cummings after he forces crash-out Brexit on his puppet, Boris Man-Baby Johnson. Procrastinate at your peril as the PM directs his “Covicide” cull and “Democracy” morphs into “Dominicracy;” Take Action and Join our Forum.”
Although I read Craig’s Posts on a regular basis, I have not posted a Link to my languishing online Petition or back to this Forum in quite a while. Is everyone out there single-mindedly obsessed with Covid 19 or are the intelligent readers of this Blog now ready to accept the Covid 19 and the Covert 2019 Rigged Election are inextricably linked causes? The horrific consequences of the Tories “Slaughter of the Sheeple” policy agenda, compounded by a disastrous crash-out Brexit, cannot be derailed without exposing the corruption of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election and removing this dangerous Tory Government before they are able to solidify full dictatorship. Extricating Cummings from his unelected stranglehold on power is priority one as I am convinced he holds all the evidence of the stolen vote and could potentially release that crucial evidence out of spite if he is ousted. I will continue to track down useful Links, data and information while I keep Posting here. Please do not give up the fight: DO NOT MOVE ON!
When Boris Johnson insisted “We’re all in this together,” there was a collective sigh of cynicism as most of the UK population were painfully aware of the chasm between the wealthy elite, like our privileged PM, and the rest of us, who just get to choke it down. The Dominic Cummings scandal was a blatant opportunity to rub our noses in it and force us to accept the grotesque inequality for which this Tory Government is emblematic. We cannot allow time, distance and distraction to let the Herd Nerd Cummings off the hook; each time this tactic works for Johnson it places him and his cronies another notch above and beyond the law, public scrutiny and accountability. The Black Lives Matter protests are still ongoing as the rage has not been satiated by Johnson’s convening yet another inquiry. The PM must be dragged kicking and screaming to a full apology for his racist remarks as well as – fire Cummings. However, it’s not only the wealthy elite that must finally come to terms with Britain’s racist past, because we were all in it together!
The guilt of gold might hide a less than glittering past. Families of the rich, even those no longer so fortunate who know a direct ancestor had money, should summon the courage to determine the source of that wealth. As Slave Owner Colson’s statue was toppled in Bristol I cheered, however, an ominous curiosity took hold: had a similar figure cast a shadow over my own family. It’s fine to say you support ethnic diversity; refugees are welcome; that Black Lives Matter and you are disgusted by prejudice, I even have two sisters and a brother who are half Ghanaian, but would I dare to look on that registry of people who were compensated for their loss of exploited humans in bondage? My surname as a child was “Court” taken from the French “A’Court;” there was also mention of a Baron, a tell-tale sign of privilege that bothered me in this regard. I looked up “Court” – the first person listed was “Charles Ashe A’Court Esq.;” that he was related to the Baron I was told of just confirmed my worst fears: 174 poor souls on St. Kitts!
I am not pure; I feel deep shame, as kith and kin are found to blame.
It was not right; it was not me, but Slavery’s injustice I must now see,
Acknowledge history, our bloody past; Reparations must come at last,
Black Lives Matter is not a game; A scream of rage, collective shame!There is no question in my mind that I was meant to know this wretched fact about my ancestry, to feel the torment of guilt over a reality I had trouble processing, but perhaps that was the unique importance of my discovery. I don’t doubt that many more people would find a similar connection if they dared to look among the names listed on UCL’Legacy of British Slave-Owners website. The impression I got from the program where David Olusoga highlighted the database of claimants uncovered by UCL, was that slave-ownership was not confined to the super rich. It was possibly as ubiquitous as the modern day pension pot and acquired for much the same reason; slaves were considered a sound investment at the time. As horrific as that statement might sound, it is the bedrock of our prosperity as a nation and we have reached a point where we need to come to terms with it. Perhaps a few more of us should dare to seek the truth with the well deserved shame, sadness and regret that it bestows.
The teaching of British history requires a radical review with text books rewritten to reflect the truth and the BBC investing in a lot more of the type of programming championed by David Olusoga in his documentary ‘Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners.’ This reality check would help both young and old to grasp the grisly truth of our colonialism and what building the British Empire realistically entailed for those we conquered. Honesty in our education is key to a fuller understanding of our virtually universal collective indebtedness to the countries and people we once plundered, exploited and enslaved. The realization that we all share a portion of this guilt would help us to realistically reframe what we so disingenuously call “Foreign Aid” as if we as former colonizers were benevolently dispensing largesse among the needy out of genuine compassion when in reality we have yet to compensate for the past. It would be far harder to justify trying to eliminate or exert conditionality on this money if it was recognized as debt repayment.
“After the abolition of slavery, Britain paid millions in compensation – but every penny of it went to slave owners, and nothing to those they enslaved. We must stop overlooking the brutality of British history” writes Kris Manjapra in a Guardian Article entitled, “When will Britain face up to its crimes against humanity?” He tells us that, “On 3 August 1835, somewhere in the City of London, two of Europe’s most famous bankers came to an agreement with the chancellor of the exchequer. Two years earlier, the British government had passed the Slavery Abolition Act, which outlawed slavery in most parts of the empire. Now it was taking out one of the largest loans in history, to finance the slave compensation package required by the 1833 act. Nathan Mayer Rothschild and his brother-in-law Moses Montefiore agreed to loan the British government £15m, with the government adding an additional £5m later. The total sum represented 40% of the government’s yearly income in those days, equivalent to some £300bn today.”
Manjapra writes, “You might expect this so-called “slave compensation” to have gone to the freed slaves to redress the injustices they suffered. Instead, the money went exclusively to the owners of slaves, who were being compensated for the loss of what had, until then, been considered their property. Not a single shilling of reparation, nor a single word of apology, has ever been granted by the British state to the people it enslaved, or their descendants. Today, 1835 feels so long ago; so far away. But if you are a British taxpayer, what happened in that quiet room affects you directly. Your taxes were used to pay off the loan, and the payments only ended in 2015. Generations of Britons have been implicated in a legacy of financial support for one of the world’s most egregious crimes against humanity.”
So why is so little known of this transaction? The writer explains that, “The fact that you, and your parents, and their parents in turn, may have been paying for a huge slave-owner compensation package from the 1830s only came to public attention last month. The revelation came on 9 February, in the form of a tweet by HM Treasury: ‘Here’s today’s surprising #FridayFact. Millions of you have helped end the slave trade through your taxes. Did you know? In 1833, Britain used £20 million, 40% of its national budget, to buy freedom for all slaves in the Empire. The amount of money borrowed for the Slavery Abolition Act was so large that it wasn’t paid off until 2015. Which means that living British citizens helped pay to end the slave trade’.” That fact is truly sickening and needs to be rectified. The article stated that, “The tweet, which was hastily deleted, had the stench of British historical amnesia and of institutionalised racism.”
This Guardian article goes on to report that, “A few days later, the historian David Olusoga wrote: ‘This is what happens when those communities for whom this history can never be reduced to a Friday factoid remain poorly represented within national institutions’.” Manjapra elaborates, “This is how we know the scale of slave ownership of the so-called plantocracy, the super-rich of their age: men such as John Gladstone, the father of prime minister William Ewart Gladstone.” The sums were massive and the names well known, “The Gladstones were paid £100,000 – the modern equivalent of about £80m – in compensation for 2,500 men, women and children they regarded as property. Also in the records of the Slave Compensation Commission are the ancestors of George Orwell, Graham Greene, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Gilbert Scott and David Cameron – all owned slaves and received compensation.” We are told that, “All of this information is publicly and freely available” on the UCL project’s website.
Manjapra notes that, “Someone at the Treasury wisely deleted the tweet within hours. Yet its inaccuracy shows what happens if we as a nation focus on abolition but stay largely silent on the centuries of slave-trading and slave-owning that predated it. It is what happens when those communities for whom this history can never be reduced to a Friday factoid remain poorly represented within our national institutions.” Manjapra criticizes our focus on the white liberators that marginalizes the heroic struggle of the oppressed as in one major uprising he documents. “Shortly after Christmas 1831, an audacious rebellion broke out in Jamaica. Some 60,000 enslaved people went on strike. They burned the sugar cane in the fields and used their tools to smash up sugar mills. The rebels also showed remarkable discipline, imprisoning slave owners on their estates without physically harming them.” This civilized humanity was met with excessive violence by the British Jamaican Government, who killed, “more than 540 black people in combat, and later with firing squads and on the gallows.”
On my first Trans-Atlantic passage aboard sailing yacht Hurricane bound for Recife, Brazil, I would have crossed that horrific grave yard of the middle passage without any knowledge or realization of the unspeakable body-count lying in the depths below. In the frustration of the windless doldrums, slave ships judged how many to sustain and who to sacrifice as worthless! At 21 I was too busy being initiated as a Shellback for ‘crossing the line’ (the equator), enduring the macabre tradition of honouring King Neptune while we remained becalmed. The windless doldrums prompted the jettisoning of live “cargo” to reduce the weaker mouths to feed and water on the grisly passage to a violently oppressive life of servitude. Still in blissful ignorance if the truth, I sailed from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town, South Africa, without the slightest understanding of what apartheid meant as a reality for the oppressed majority. The UK education system sustains the propaganda of Empire; this must now change for the British to learn humility and humanity.
The British are unforgivably slow to learn humility and humanity. In a Skwawkbox Article entitled, “Unite’s Beckett slams ‘disgrace’ of Labour’s abstention on ‘Windrush’ Immigration Act – pays tribute to 6 MPs who stood against it and pledges to renew their fight,” it documents that the wrongly maligned Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and his closest allies were among the rebels. The celebration of Windrush Day this week should not be allowed to wash away proper acknowledgement of the injustices that were suffered by the Windrush Generation or indeed obscure similar prejudice experienced by our citizens from other parts of the commonwealth. The Canary report that the London Mayor has demanded change, “Sadiq Khan: Windrush legacy must see end to ‘Hostile Environment’ for immigrants.” The Guardian Article, “The Windrush review is unequivocal: institutional racism played its part” states that, “Inspector Wendy Williams pulls no punches in her assessment of the ‘hostile environment’ policy – and the anguish it caused.” I would like to see Columbus Day renamed ‘Atonement Day!’
Some nights ago I watched “Sitting in Limbo – pre Watershed version,” described by the BBC as, “A shocking drama inspired by the Windrush scandal. After 50 years in the UK, Anthony Bryan is wrongfully detained by the Home Office and threatened with deportation.” At the beginning of the film it said that, “In 2012 David Cameron’s Coalition Government formed a Ministerial team that became known as the “Hostile Environment Working Group.” Theresa May, functioning in her role as Home Secretary back then, is shown at a podium announcing that, “the Government will soon publish the Immigration Bill, which will make it easier to get rid of people who have no right to be here.” For Jamaican Anthony Bryant and so many others like him who were brought to the UK from the Caribbean as children shortly after WWII, it was the beginning of a Kafkaesque nightmare that almost saw him separated from his family and illegally deported. The film made me weep and I felt deeply ashamed of being British.
The film ends with Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech to the nation in which she said, “This year marks the seventy years since some of the first to arrive in the UK aboard the Empire Windrush. The London Evening Standard carried a photograph of the Windrush steaming past the White Cliffs of Dover; above it was the headline ‘Welcome Home.’ The fact that Britain has always been their home makes the treatment that some members of the Windrush generation experienced in recent years so very wrong. It should never have happened and we are putting it right.” This film could not have been aired at a more opportune time, because those who do not belong to targeted minority ethnic communities need to understand why the protests on our streets are not just in solidarity with ‘Black Lives Matter’ in the US, but in recognition of the racial discrimination that is ongoing and very real here in the UK. Right before the film’s credits went up the following disgraceful details appeared on screen:
• In April 2018, it was revealed that in 2010 the Home Office destroyed the landing cards of thousands of Windrush Immigrants.
• Later that year the Home Office admitted that they were responsible for wrongly detaining at least 850 people between 2012 and 2017.
• In 2019, 83 members of the Windrush Generation were confirmed to have been deported, despite having the right to live in the UK.
• At least 13 of these people died before the Home Office acknowledged the mistake.
• The Home Office revealed in May 2020 that there had been1275 applications to the Windrush Compensation Scheme. Of these, only 60 had received any compensation.
• On the 1st June 2020, Anthony received an offer of compensation for just one part of his application: unlawful detention.Although she was belatedly forced to apologise to the Jamaican Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, at the Commonwealth Summit that she would have much preferred not to attend, in defiance of damning reports on the Windrush scandal fully exposed in the press Theresa May remained determined to dodge any accountability. With a cowardly elitist arrogance, that was to become the Tory norm with regard to totally ignoring justified calls for resignations, she adamantly refused to step down as PM: unashamedly allowing Amber Rudd to fall on the sword that should have pierced her truly gutless frame! In contemptuous disregard for their wanton abuse of public trust, members of the Tory Party have perfected the art of dishonourably clinging to the power and plunder bestowed on them by prestigious Government appointments.
On occasions when the BBC and right-wing media are unable to discredit or drown-out a serious scandal and a token gesture of remorse becomes necessary, but removal from a key Ministerial role will be considered purely temporary in any Tory Government; Patel’s clandestine meetings with Israeli officials while ‘on holiday’ did not stop Johnson from appointing her Home Secretary. When ‘Failing Grayling’s’ gross incompetence costs the tax payer millions in misspent funds, he wasn’t removed in disgrace and it didn’t exclude him from being offered another chance to squander the budget. If a Tory Minister makes openly racist remarks no apology is required; to the Tories forcing the public to tolerate your obscenely abusive insults is a classic sign of strong leadership! When the PM or any Tory Minister is caught out telling blatant lies in parliament; they just double-down on the deception; as Boris Johnson seeks to emulate his political hero Donald Trump, accountability has become a relic of past integrity and British gentility.
Sign the Petition: “Windrush: never again” appealing to Boris Johnson and Priti Patel – Home Secretary to, “Implement and accept all recommendations from The Windrush Lessons Learned review, and do more to protect survivors so this never happens again.”
We seriously need to draw a line in the sand; the ongoing ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests, like a bright beacon of hope, are showing us the way. Fearless individuals are letting this Government know that we are not afraid to take to the streets in protest, despite the infection risk that Covid 19 might pose. We have shown that we will defy the order to send children back into schools that the Government’s shambolic policy dictates despite lack of the necessary preparation to prevent the spread of infection in overcrowded classrooms. We can and we must resist being forced onto crammed public transportation with protective masks an afterthought. We can and we must resist being forced back into unsafe work environments and coaxed into mass gatherings and taking reckless risks on beaches or in parks. The Government should start to worry now as they must realize there will be significant pushback from here on in; those outdoor street protests are a lot less risky that running the gauntlet of packed public transport to get to work.
The increasingly outraged public need to maintain this strong momentum of protest because it will make Governance impossible without serious concessions. We need to see more than just the removal of a handful of offensive oppressive statues; real “heads must roll” starting with the unelected puppet master who arrogantly broke the rules he help draft to constrain the rest of us: Dominic Herd Nerd Cummings has to go. Cummings should never have been allowed to defy the select committee requirement to answer questions that might unravel a few of the illegal anomalies that have warped UK voting since he targeted the British public with weapons grade PsyOps in campaigns of disinformation and downright lies. To then reward this criminality with a privileged position literally controlling our UK Prime Minister was an outrage. I can only hope that if he is ousted, in a fit of narcissistic ego-driven revenge, he might decide to drag this entire corrupt Tory Government down with him by exposing details of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election.
We must demand that the chaotic era of Trump inspired racist and misogynistic insults, constant lying and zero accountability will no longer be tolerated. The hidden segment of the recent Public Health England Report on disproportionate deaths from Covid 19 in the BAME community must be released in full to satisfy the reasonable demands of so many “Black Lives Matter” protestors. Most of the Windrush victims remain uncompensated; many of the Grenfell Tower survivors have not been rehoused and no one has really been held responsible for either of these scandals, despite the decimation of the London Fire Service being the direct result of Boris Johnson’s staggering incompetence as London Mayor. But why stop there? Before the December vote there was the “Russian Report” that Johnson insisted on keeping under wraps; what might that reveal about foreign influence and the dodgy money that helped leverage this corrupt Tory Government into power? This alone might open up the possibility of a far wider investigation into the Covert 2019 Rigged Election.
Despite the mainstream media treating Keir Starmer with kid gloves, or perhaps at least partially because of it, the progressive Left of the Labour Party are getting seriously worried that their new Leader is intent on reversing all the progress of the Corbyn years and steering the Party back to the neoliberal support of Tory policy. This quest for the mediocrity of the mythical ‘centre ground’ will not rally support for Labour in preparation for an Election in five years time that is highly unlikely to materialize once this corrupt Tory Government has solidified their dictatorship following crash-out Brexit. Unless we can fully expose the fraud that facilitated the Tory stranglehold on power with the Covert 2019 Rigged Election we are destined to suffer decades of oppressive authoritarian rule with future sham votes to appease the masses. Kerry-Anne Mendoza reveals the facts in the video “Keir Starmer Unmasked;” stoking the fake anti-Semitism fire by sacking Rebecca Long-Bailey his only token Left appointment is welcome news to the PM.
Keir Starmer is enabling the Tories agenda with his crusade to destroy the Left and offer only weak or futile opposition to Boris Johnson as he takes a wrecking ball to our democracy At the last Prime Minister’s Questions Starmer began his feeble attempt at scrutiny by saying, “Yesterday, the Government announced the next stage of easing lockdown restrictions. If that plan is to work – and we want it to work–we need an effective track, trace and isolate system. The Prime Minister promised that a world-beating system would be in place by 1 June. The latest figures from yesterday’s press conference hosted by the Prime Minister show that 33,000 people are estimated to have Covid-19 in England. The latest track, trace and isolate figures show that just over 10,000 people with Covid-19 were reached and asked to provide contact details. I recognise the hard work that has gone into this, but if two thirds of those with covid-19 are not being reached and asked to provide contact details, there is a big problem, isn’t there?”
“On the contrary,” said Boris Johnson, refusing to concede there was a problem, he started to paint a fantasy picture of his ‘world-beating’ system with Starmer as an impressed cheer leader! He claimed, “I think that the right hon. and learned Gentleman has been stunned by the success of the test and trace operation. Contrary to his prognostications of gloom, it has got up and running much faster than the doubters expected. They are getting it done–Dido Harding and her team have recruited 25,000 people and so far they have identified and contacted 87,000 people who have voluntarily agreed to self-isolate to stop the disease spreading. I do not think the right hon. and learned Gentleman would have predicted that a few weeks ago. I think he should pay tribute now to Dido and her team for what they are doing.”
It was an elaborate ploy, but Starmer remained unimpressed, he pointed out that, “The Prime Minister just has not addressed the question I put to him. I was not asking about those who have gone into the system–the 10,000–or those who have been contacted; I was asking about the two thirds of the 33,000 with covid-19 who were not reached. That is a big gap. The Prime Minister risks making the mistakes he made at the beginning of the pandemic–brushing aside challenge, dashing forward, not estimating the risks properly. If two thirds of those with Covid-19 are not being contacted, that is a big problem. If we do not get track, trace and isolate properly running, we cannot open the economy or prevent infection from spreading, so let me ask the question in a different way. What is the Government’s strategy for closing the gap between the number of people with Covid-19 and those going into the system–not what happens to those who go into the system?”
The Skwawkbox just released a timely warning of, “R’ rate rises in every English region but one – before Johnson’s lockdown changes,” but stark reality does not deter the PM’s sick agenda to cull the most vulnerable, economically inactive, in a ruthless ‘Slaughter of the Sheeple.’ Boris Johnson dug out an obscure word to baffle those watching from beyond the Chamber, saying, “I hesitate to accuse the right hon. and learned Gentleman of obscurantism. He is misleading on the key point. The number of people with Covid in this country is, of course, an estimate.” The Speaker called “Order,” – “Inadvertently misleading,” quipped the PM, but the Speaker interjected again calling, “Order,” and then telling Johnson in no uncertain terms, “Prime Minister, one of us is going to have to give way and it will have to be you. Obviously, no hon. Member misleads or ever would, whichever side they are from.”
Johnson was like a dog with a bone insisting, “The right hon. and learned Gentleman is inadvertently giving a false impression of what test and trace is doing. The 33,000 cases in the country is, of course, an estimate. NHS test and trace is contacting the vast majority of those who test positive and their contacts and getting them to self-isolate. It is a formidable achievement. Yesterday, the right hon. and learned Gentleman was kind enough to say that he supported our policy and our programme–I seem to remember him saying that loud and clear yesterday. Today–as I say, I understand the constraints of the profession in which he used to work; I know how it works–he seems to be yo-yoing back into a position of opposition. Which is it: is he supporting what we are doing or is he against it?” The Prime Minister was trying to ask the questions as if he was not the one facing opposition scrutiny at PMQs.
Starmer said, “The figures I have, which the Prime Minister says are inadvertently misleading, are the slide at his press conference yesterday and the slide at the Government’s press conference last week–the latest figures. They are the two figures. I do support the next stage of the operation, but the Prime Minister is wrong to reject challenge. Sixty-five thousand people have lost their lives because of covid-19. The Prime Minister should welcome challenge that could save lives, rather than complaining about it.”
Starmer continued by stating, “Another risk to this plan is if local councils do not have the powers and resources to implement local lockdowns. There is a report today that eight out of 10 councils face bankruptcy or cutting services, with many of those in the north-east and midlands, where, as the Prime Minister knows, there are the worst affected areas for Covid-19. The real concern among council leaders is that they do not have the powers or guidance to implement lockdowns quickly if needed. The Conservative leader of Oxfordshire County Council said it would be ‘interesting’ for central ‘Government to confirm what is meant by the local lockdown’ – including – ‘clear guidance as to those powers and what is expected of us.’ Can the Prime Minister tell us when local authorities will get the guidance that they need?” It was an omnishambles beyond the scope of a simple answer at PMQs.
Johnson was going to have to bluff his way through this, but bluffing was a skill he really excelled at, “Everybody understands,” he claimed, “we have seen it already, across the country – that when there are local outbreaks, for instance in Weston-super-Mare or in GP surgeries in north London, there have been local lockdowns and local crackdowns. We have a very effective cluster-busting operation, which is designed to ensure that we keep those outbreaks under control. Local councils understand how to do it, with the local resilience forums backed up by the joint biosecurity centre. That is how it works and that is how it is going to work, and it is a very effective way of keeping this disease under control. I am not going to pretend to the right hon. and learned Gentleman or to the House that this thing is beaten or that the virus has gone way, because clearly that is not the case. We have to remain extremely vigilant, and local councils will be supported in doing their vital work in implementing local lockdowns.”
Starmer launched his next line of attack, “May I now turn to the app? This really matters because unless someone with Covid-19 can name and identify everybody they have been in contact with, the app is the only way of tracing unknown contacts. My hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Peter Kyle) made precisely that point yesterday. He gave the example, ‘How on earth do you trace everyone in close contact at a seafront or in a park without an app?’ Up until last week, the Government maintained that the app was ‘critical’ –another of their slides– but at the weekend the Health Secretary downplayed the app, saying it was only ever additional support. So which is it: critical or not?”
Johnson wanted to start asking the questions to put Starmer on the spot, he said, “I wonder whether the right hon. and learned Gentleman can name a single country in the world that has a functional contract tracing app – there isn’t one. What we have – and what, I am afraid, has left the Opposition slightly foundering – is a very successful NHS test and trace operation, which yesterday they supported. Yesterday, they said it was good enough for this country to go forward with step 3 of our plan, but today they are yo-yoing back again and saying that it is not good enough. They need to make up their mind. They need to get behind NHS test and trace, support it and take the country forward together.”
Starmer answered, “Germany. It had its app working on 15 June and it has had 12 million downloads – I checked that overnight. Twelve million – it is way beyond. The Health Secretary said that we would have the app by mid-May – presumably that was on advice. The Prime Minister said that we would have it by 1 June, but now Government Ministers say that it will not be ready until the winter. We have spent £12 million on this. Other countries are ahead of us. When are we going to have a working app?” Keep bluffing Boris, refute what he says, “I am afraid that the right hon. and learned Gentleman is completely wrong, because no country in the world has a working contact tracing app” Johnson claimed. He needed a rapid re-spin on that app, pretend the objective was always clear…
The PM continued, “I have always been clear – we have always been clear – that the app would be the icing on the cake. If we can get it to work, it will be a fine thing, but there is not one anywhere in the world so far. What we do have is a fantastic NHS test and trace operation that is already up and running, that is going to get better and better, and that will be indispensable to our future success.” If the PM could bully Starmer into supporting it, he shares the failure, “I think that he should support it and, by the way, that he should make it much clearer that he supports our programme going forward. Since the right hon. and learned Gentleman mentions Labour councils and support for Labour councils, perhaps he might clear up the position of yesterday and say once and for all that Labour councils should now be encouraging children in their areas to go back to school. We heard some warm words from him yesterday. Can he now confirm that he wants all children who can go back to school to go back to school this month?”
The PM had laid himself open to Starmer’s attack, “Yes. The only U-turn here was the Education Secretary on 9 June, who ripped up the Government’s plans to get children back into school before the summer break. There is a theme to these exchanges. Last week, I asked the Prime Minister about two claims about child poverty. He said that absolute child poverty and relative child poverty ‘have both declined under this Government’. [Official Report, 17 June 2020; Vol. 677, c. 796.] On Monday, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner ruled that the Prime Minister’s answer was ‘mostly false’. The Prime Minister also said that there are 400,000 fewer families living in poverty now than there were in 2010. On Monday, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner ruled that that was simply ‘false’. He has been found out. He either dodges the question or he gives dodgy answers. Mr Speaker, no more witnesses; I rest my case. Will the Prime Minister do the decent thing and correct the record in relation to child poverty?”
The PM couldn’t possibly admit the truth, he just had to keep bluffing, “I am happy to point out to m’learned friend that actually, there are 100,000 fewer children in absolute poverty and 500,000 fewer children falling below thresholds of low income and material deprivation. This Government, as he knows, are massively increasing universal credit with £7 billion more to help the poorest and neediest families in our country. We are getting on with it. We are taking the tough decisions. He still cannot make up his mind.” It was utter codswallop; he’d get called out, but who expected him to tell the truth? Keep banging on about the schools, “Talking about child poverty, the single biggest determinant of a child’s success is whether he or she goes to school. The right hon. and learned Gentleman still will not say whether children should go. I think it is absolutely infamous for him to come to the House one day and say he supports the programme and then, the next day, not to confirm that he wants kids to go to school now.”
Tory Ms Nusrat Ghani had an important question on mariners, she asked, “Seafarers, global key workers, have given us goods from food to medicine during covid, but that is now under threat. Some 400,000 mariners are stuck on board their ships due to the failure of countries to agree crew changes. The United Kingdom is the world’s leading maritime nation, and we are home to the International Maritime Organisation, which gives us a unique responsibility. Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister agree to meet the Chamber of Shipping to marshal the global community to help to get our seafarers home and ensure that free trade continues to flow?” Johnson respectfully replied, “My hon. Friend knows a great deal about the subject whereof she now speaks. We remain fully committed to the welfare of all seafarers, regardless of their nationality. We ask all states to do the same. I look forward to discussing that in person with her.” She had given the PM the chance to look in control, magnanimous, he was grateful.
SNP Leader Ian Blackford began, “I am sure the whole House will join me in passing on condolences to the family of the three children who sadly lost their lives in a house fire in Paisley last Friday evening, Fiona, Alexander and Philip Gibson – such a terrible tragedy. This morning, we heard growing concerns from medical experts about the real risk of a second wave of covid-19. At the same time, experts at the Fraser of Allander Institute outlined the scale of the economic challenges ahead, with a raft of redundancies and business closures if financial support is withdrawn. They warned that measures that risk a second wave of the virus would delay recovery in Scotland until 2024. The health and economic emergency requires an unprecedented response. On Monday, the Scottish Government’s advisory group on economic recovery, led by independent business leaders, published its initial analysis to secure a strong recovery. Will the Prime Minister welcome those efforts to find a way forward out of this economic crisis?”
A simple request, Johnson was relived to say, “Yes, indeed. I would be only too happy to study the documents to which the right hon. Gentleman refers.” Blackman had another request, saying, “I am grateful to the Prime Minister for that answer, and I am glad that he agrees that we need to take every action to study and aid the economic recovery. I am sure he is aware that the Scottish advisory group has called for an accelerated review of the devolved fiscal framework. Crucially, it has supported a significant increase in access to capital to stimulate an investment-led recovery in Scotland. Scotland can make different choices and invest in a strong recovery, but we can only do it with the necessary financial powers. Our First Minister and our Finance Secretary have already made a request for more borrowing powers. Will the Prime Minister implement the recommendations of those business leaders and give the Scottish Parliament the economic powers it needs to fuel a recovery in the wake of the pandemic, or will he put Scotland’s economic recovery at risk?”
More money, he could start bragging about impressive sums announced that might never materialize, more bluffing was needed. The PM said, “I respectfully remind the right hon. Gentleman that, as part of our UK campaign against the Coronavirus, Scotland has so far received £3.8 billion in Barnett consequentials – a fact that I am sure is seldom off his lips in his discussions with SNP colleagues. We will continue to invest massively in Scotland because Scotland, like the whole of the UK, benefits from being part of the oldest and most successful political partnership anywhere in the world. I congratulate the SNP, by the way, on its U-turn –which could be copied with advantage by our friends on the Opposition Front Bench – on education and getting all kids into school.”
Liz Saville Roberts speaking for Plaid Cymru raised the problem of Covid 19 outbreaks in three Welsh food factories and the paltry sick pay offered to UK workers compared to similar incidents in Germany where “employees get sick pay worth 100% of their salary.” She asked, “Will the Prime Minister now commit to local furlough-like schemes for self-isolating workers?” The PMs was evasive in his answer, bragging of existing schemes and saying “if we have to move back—obviously we do not want to—to local lockdowns, or indeed a national lockdown, nobody should be penalised for doing the right thing. So there is the right hon. Lady’s answer.”
Labour’s Jessica Morden revealing that, “In order to access benefits quickly, people with unpredictable terminal conditions, such as motor neurone disease, are having to prove that they have six months or less to live, and they risk losing their benefits altogether if they live longer than three years. A year has now passed since the Government announced their review into access to benefits for terminally ill people, but there is still no progress. When are the Government going to act?” How can you remove the desperately needed benefits from a person who, just like Steven Hawking, beat the cruellest of odds? The PM bragged about the Tories most discredited benefit saying, “We have massively increased our spending on Universal Credit, but the hon. Lady raises an important point about access to benefits for terminally ill people,” but pledged a written reply. Such perverse situations should never arise in the first place, but in too many instances they are a conscious part of the Tory agenda to torment, abandon and cull the disabled.
The Skwawkbox Article with a Video: “Starmer’s response to Johnson’s lockdown easing – no mention of 65k deaths or high virus incidence” demands a more robust opposition belting out, “The clue is in the job title, Keir. People are still dying, for God’s sake oppose!” They report, “Labour leader Keir Starmer responded to Boris Johnson’s declaration that the coronavirus pandemic is basically over – with a well-done for trying his best and a promise of support.” No wonder Starmer is winning accolades from the fawning Right-wing press; he is a welcome gift at a challenging time. If Starmer had been emphatic that Cummings warranted immediate removal the PM would not have had such an easy time retaining his toxic puppet master, but instead he has unleashed ruthless unwarranted discipline on Long-Bailey. Starmer’s scrutiny is badly misdirected to harm progressive Labour; there will be no investigation of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election on his watch unless there is a major revolt on the Labour Left; we need it now!
The government and the opposition are both using 10,000 and 33,000 as the number of people reached by track-and-trace, and the estimated number of people currently infected.
The 10,000 figure seems roughly consistent with the current average of around 1,000 new cases detected daily, and an infection period of around ten days.
However, the 33,000 figure of total currently infected, detected or not, seems grossly at odds with the estimate from this model:
https://covid19-projections.com/united-kingdom
…which estimates some 190,000 currently infected. Even its lower bound is about 50,000, well above the 33,000 figure. Another predictive model:
https://covid19-projections.com/united-kingdom
…estimates over 6,700 new infections daily, detected or not, with a lower bound of over 4,800. Again taking a ten day infection period, these translate to 67,000 and 48,000 currently infectious, again both higher than the government figure.
I also have anecdotal evidence of suppression of figures imposed by management at a local hospital.
I will try to look into other mathematical models later today, but these initial indications suggest that figures are being suppressed.
Apparently, the following are the estimates / projections that the government is using:
Hopefully I’ll get some better information tomorrow. But even from the government’s own hopelessly optimistic figures, 70% of infections are not detected, so I can’t see track-and-trace being practical.
Take a look at Figure 1 in the current latest release, comparing the bars for “25 May to 7 June” against “8 June to 21 June”. It looks as though infections are now increasing, but the commentary immediately above says:
– “When analysing data for the four most recent non-overlapping 14-day periods (Figure 1), these estimates suggest the percentage testing positive has clearly decreased over time since our first measurement on 26 April, and this downward trend has now flattened. The confidence intervals overlap with the previous two time periods. This suggests that the actual number of individuals testing positive in the period 8 June to 21 June could be higher or lower than in the two previous periods. We therefore do not at this point have evidence that the current trend is anything other than flat.”
…and that is so; the confidence intervals (the black I-shaped lines of varying height) do overlap considerably, so wait and see, but my guess is that the infection rate is rising.
Meanwhile, the WHO says ‘the worst is yet to come’ and the coronavirus pandemic is ‘speeding up’ because some countries aren’t taking it seriously enough:
Clark – You are absolutely right that the Tory Government are trying to fudge the numbers and I am glad to see you are keeping on top of the documentation of this. It does not seem to bother Boris Johnson that the excess death figure is up over 65,000 now and is far more like the realistic total number either killed by the virus or through the collateral damage resulting from our NHS targeting Covid as described in the brilliant article “the Hammer and the dance.” This is the intended pattern of control and release spreading the impact of a colossal death toll out over many months in successive waves as described in the video presentation in this Skwawkbox Article. Another Skwawkbox Article exposes the complete sham of their traffic light system of so-called alert levels that they completely ignore and totally disregard “the Science!” They reported the climbing numbers right before the easing of lockdown restrictions was announced and the Skwawkbox Article on the ramping up of morgue capacity offers a stark warning to us all.
Boris Johnson was absolutely desperate to detract from the consequences of his shambolic Coronavirus policies and the chaotic lockdown messaging that the ‘Herd Nerd’ in his own advisory team so blatantly failed to adhere to causing such universal public outrage. He was eager to trumpet his ambitious “shovel ready” Boris-Shit in the hope that such impressive new fantasy promises will obscure the horrendous reality when ‘Get Brexit Dung’ (not a typo) morphs from the much touted ‘sunny uplands’ of generous free trade deals and cheap goods to a festering pile of hapless crash-out horseshit as we become selectively ostracized for our spectacular global irrelevance. Both domestically and internationally Johnson is determined to prove that an Englishman’s word is no longer his bond, but we should be content with castles in the air and constant deception on the ground. Johnson said, “When you’re in a hole as big as this, the only option is to keep digging! Johnson has not hit rock bottom yet, but he is certainly working on it.
The real news was all about Leicester having to re-impose lockdown in response to a huge surge in new Covid 19 cases, a real whopper of a ‘Boris Spike’ with an infection rate three times higher than surrounding cities and towns, accounting for a full 10% of all new cases in the UK and an alarming 6 – 10 Hospital admissions a day. The high number of teenagers and young people testing positive has necessitated renewed closure of schools; that will put a dent in Johnson’s broken-record PMQ rants about getting kids back to school! They knew what was developing at least 12 days ago so it was impossible to postpone announcing it any longer, but alas it was such an inconvenient time to have a ‘Boris Spike’ in Covid 19 cases just before his glorious 4th of July celebrations on US Independence day to honour his American hero Donald Man-Baby Trump. But then the Donald was dealing with his own batch of serious resurgences as were other similarly reckless leaders worldwide like Jair Man-Baby Bolsonaro in Brazil; sadly this would seem to be a consequence of ignorant denial and arrogance shared by the Man-Baby global idiots.
Leadership is about setting a strong example that the public are prepared to emulate. When high level officials flaunt regulations they devised to curtail the personal freedom of the entire population they need to step aside. Only when they want to cling on to their privileged position do we hear an apology or a really feeble excuse like the one offered by Dominic Cummings. But apologies and bogus excuses are just not good enough, because when the public trust is violated no one feels obliged to follow the rules. On the 15th of June the BBC Reported that, “The mayor of Leicester has apologised for ‘an error of judgement’ after it was revealed he broke lockdown rules twice by visiting his partner. Sir Peter Soulsby admitted visiting Lesley Summerland and staying at her house overnight before government guidelines allowed it.” Did he resign? Hell no, and I am sure he takes zero responsibility for the increased infection rate in Leicester, but poor examples have consequences and this just reinforces why Cummings must go.
If you feel as strongly about ousting Dominic Herd Nerd Cummings as I do there is a new Petition gaining traction on the Internet with over 35,700 signatures already: “SPECIAL ADVISERS DON’T DESERVE SPECIAL TREATMENT!”
Speaking to BBC Radio Leicester, the widower said the couple had been separated for five weeks but then “Lesley became ill” with a recurring condition that was not related to coronavirus. He said he spent three nights at her home at the end of April – the peak of the pandemic so far in the UK. “He apologised for the error of judgement and admitted” and he realized “it was setting a very bad example,” However, he then added: “I don’t think anybody would claim that there was anything in my behaviour that ran any risk whatsoever of spreading the virus.” He also said, “It can be certainly interpreted as against the spirit of the lockdown, if not against the regulations.” He said he had been “ready to apologise” unlike “some of the high-profile people who are far more influential in setting policy about this than I am.” Disgraceful considering that the BBC said, “In March, Sir Peter reiterated government advice by telling residents to stay at home and only go to work if their job was considered essential.” …So, do as I say, not as I do!
Boris Johnson suffered humiliation back when as London Mayor his Garden Bridge turned into a massive waste of public funds that had to be scrapped after costing London taxpayers dearly. The PM really doesn’t have much luck with bridges; his concept for building one between Scotland and Ireland drew derision from the public, especially after it was revealed that the build spanned a munitions spoils ground! Today he was forced to accept yet another ‘bridge building’ failure when Greece wisely became the first country to decline participation in the Tory Government’s fantasy ‘Air-bridge’ scheme. In reality the chronically belated quarantine restrictions at UK airports were obviously only implemented very recently to prod tourist destination countries into making a rash decision to protect an industry crucial to their economies. Do countries who managed to get Covid under control really need to risk a new spike courtesy of tourists from Boris’s chaotically out of control Covid EU hotspot? Watch this space other countries will bail!
With a better informed public now obsessing over the genocidal decisions of his wartime hero, Johnson might just have decided to ditch Churchill for FDR; a more palatable champion of the post 1930s US Stock Market crash. As America emerged reeling from the severe deprivation of the Great Depression, Roosevelt committed to investing in huge infrastructure projects to get people back to work. He initiated over 35,000 programs of public works including the Hover Dam, but Johnson is bragging about a modest six billion to maintain and improve Hospitals and schools, upgrade long neglected roads and bridges. The PM has also pledging to plant 75,000 trees a year; just do not mention the environmental assault on our ancient woodlands, destroyed to complete his white elephant HS2! He has targeted 29 roads and 101 town centres and he pledged to rebuild 50 schools, that’s all aside from those 40 new Hospitals. BBC Political Editor Norman Smith described the level of funding as “breadcrumbs in the way of cash.”
If FDR had followed the Tory Austerity model the USA could never have advanced as rapidly as they did or managed to realize the well distributed general prosperity it achieved by the seventies. In Britain too, following the devastation of WWII the progressive path towards recovery required massive investment to rebuild the homes destroyed in the Blitz, not savage cuts to public spending. FDR didn’t just invest in infrastructure he introduced Banking reforms, created social security, brought in higher pay and better working hours laws that boosted the trade union movement. In England after the war it was time to reward those who had fought the Nazi scourge to secure a better future with one of the finest British achievements ever accomplished: the formation of the NHS. The so-called ‘American Dream’ of doing a little bit better than your parents was proving possible here too, but neoliberal capitalist greed has shattered that dream and put decades of progress into a punishing reverse of increasing inequality and destitution.
None of the bold programs instituted by FDR sound in the least bit Tory or Johnsonian; despite his hype about ‘levelling up’ we are all bracing for the Tories to act true to form targeting the poor, the weak and the most vulnerable as they ‘Decimate Down!’ The PM has pledged to offer young people either guaranteed apprenticeship training or a work placement. In reality the current Tory concept of ‘apprenticeship’ is an ultra low paid or unpaid exploitership; their idea of a ‘work placement’ is a minimum wage, zero hours contract job, in fact just a cruel euphemism for indentured servitude. He has promised a shakeup in the planning regulations to speed up approval to turn disused shops into homes. However, Tory Government evisceration of ‘red tape’ has already created thousands of totally unliveable matchbox sized dwelling for the working poor who must readily accept unsafe conditions like those that led to the Grenfell fire. We can expect this stripping away of safety provisions to rapidly accelerate after crash-out Brexit.
Johnson says he wants to, “Put his arms around parts of the country that have felt disconnected and unloved!” I would dread the grisly prospect of a Boris bear hug stifling the life out of me; with the Tory track record, that sounds really painful! Keir Starmer sounded distinctly unimpressed by all of Johnson’s expansive pledges, saying of the New Deal there was, “not much new and not much of a deal” as he claimed the PM was just re-announcing his campaign pledges. Well we have certainly been there before with the Tories, Cameron was going to get thousands of houses built and Theresa May was going to rescue those who were “Just About Managing;” did they deliver? No, we are expected to just move on. In response to Boris Johnson’s quip about Covid, “It’s like a shark out there circling around us,” Norman Smith remarked, “the difficulty is when you have a shark on your tail it’s hard to think about anything else.” We must be the shark on the Tory tail, demanding that Cummings is fired, demanding an investigation into the Covert 2019 Rigged Election to expose the truth, demanding accountability and justice. DO NOT MOVE ON!
Got it. There are three classes of testing:
* Pillar 1: swab testing in Public Health England (PHE) labs and NHS hospitals for those with a clinical need, and health and care workers
* Pillar 2: swab testing for the wider population, as set out in government guidance
* Pillar 3: serology testing to show if people have antibodies from having had COVID-19The Pillar 1 results are published, Pillar 2 are not. For Leicester:
https://www.moonofalabama.org/images10/britaincov2.jpg
Kim – “…as we become selectively ostracized for our spectacular global irrelevance”
…and for being an infection hot-spot. This government may think it is prioritising the economy at “some” expense to the people, but this is folly; the people are the economy, and damage to either is damage to the other.
Clark – This information is rapidly evolving and not showing this Tory Government in a positive light despite Boris Johnson’s desperate efforts to distract talk of our imminent release from lockdown restrictions on July 4th and expansive pledges to, “build, build, build!” He came under serious fire again at Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday which I will report on in a later post. The Skwawkbox Article entitled, “Video: UK government failing to disclose 90% of local positive tests” exposes the shocking fact that, “‘Pillar 2’ data being withheld for local areas, missing 90% of cases in Leicester area.” Another Skwawkbox Article is equally damning regarding the link between schools and the spread of infection in Leicester. They report that, “Howard Beckett is right – the link is obvious, with school transmission studies in France and Germany showing clearly how fast the virus can spread within and from schools – and Hancock was warned, as was his boss. Now he is exposed – yet again – as arrogant, useless and lethal.”
In a recent Byline Times Article entitled, “Johnson’s ‘Science Super Power’ Ignores the Basic Principles of Science,” a writer animalised as the “Secret Scientist” elaborates on “the paradoxical scientific ambition of the Prime Minister and his complete disregard for science itself.” They point out how, “In his ‘bounce-back’ speech yesterday, the Prime Minister spoke avidly of his ambition to make the UK a ‘Science Superpower’ – ironic given that, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has demonstrated a blatant disregard for some of the most basic principles of science: transparency, quality assurance and collaboration.”
Byline Times describes the dedication and frenetically demanding pace of research and analysis focused on Coronavirus since its emergence with multi-disciplinary projects demonstrating an exceptional level of collaboration between those in diverse areas of the scientific community. They say that, “Their efforts to curate open data sets and promote situational awareness stand in stark contrast to those of the Government, for which obfuscation appears to be the modus operandi of choice. Independent scientists and statisticians have continuously called for transparency around both decision-making and data-sharing.” Relaying how the UK Statistics Authority chair, Sir David Norgrove had written to the Government twice highlighting data shortfalls, they say despite warnings from Scientists that, “the lack of transparency is ‘impeding’ their efforts to understand the epidemiology” and that, “the Government appears to continue to distort data to show itself in the best possible light.”
Alternative news sites flagged up how the number of people tested disappeared from daily reports over a month ago when the Government had felt under pressure to meet a pledged goal; this data never returned with the lame excuse of possible double-counting offered as a reason. According to the writer, a retrospective revamp of the prior daily figures saw, “thousands of tests removed from the cumulative total.” There has been no commitment to sorting this out and displaying correct data at future briefings which are now becoming less frequent. While the Tory Government revelled in the self-importance of these excellent daily PR stunts in the early stages, they have become a lot less manageable of late with tougher scrutiny from the press with a multitude of serious flaws and failures exposed.
Byline Times reports that, “In direct contradiction to Scientists warning that the proportion of positive tests remains a key metric in understanding the trajectory of the virus, the Health and Social Care Secretary has claimed that the key denominator “does not add anything” and ‘is not meaningful’. In reality, in conflating completed tests with unprocessed tests, duplicate tests on the same person, and tests that may never have been done, it is the obscure ‘number of tests’ figure that it is meaningless.” The most recent furore to erupt is over the number of people testing positive in the community with lack of access to the ‘pillar 2 data’ which is the component the Government decided to outsource to private companies reporting to the commercially run Test and Trace system.
Panorama just aired a documentary on featuring the commercially run test sites and it was a real eye-opener. There were people administering the test who admitted having had the most minimal of training and not feeling in the least bit supported by anyone on site with clinical expertise. There PPE was limited to a ‘dinner lady’ style apron, gloves and a very basic face mask with the same kit used for an extended period administering tests to multiple people. Every time you turn on the TV this cursory level of kit is on display while in comparison filming overseas shows testers in white full cover jumpsuits, but then supposedly our science is so much better than their science. There have been numerous reports from the people tasked with the track and trace role who have complained about the pitifully low number of cases they have been asked to contact; they feel frustrated that their services are not being utilized, but the Government tries to spin this as indicative of the success of the program.
Despite the lucrative contracts handed out to consistently unreliable private companies, in many ways it seems that our NHS and local authorities are left to do all the heavy lifting in terms of keeping on top of the data and dealing with Covid in general. The article states that, “Public Health England and NHS hospital labs for staff and patients – are now publicly available on a local level, the overwhelming majority of tests are conducted under ‘pillar 2’. In some areas, ‘pillar 1’ data appears to account for as little as 10% of new cases, meaning that local figures may underestimate the true burden by 90%, with no obvious flags accompanying their publication.” They refer to reporting from the Financial Times, “full ‘pillars 1 and 2’ data are being shared with local public health bodies – but not with local councils or local primary healthcare teams. Following the recent spike that lead to the local lockdown in Leicester, its Mayor Peter Soulsby said he had to wait weeks to receive full local data.”
Byline Times say, “If outbreaks are to be pre-empted, the data from commercial laboratories need to be fed into local authorities and primary healthcare teams in real time. Ideally, complete real time local figures would also be made publicly available via the Government’s new Coronavirus data dashboard. As it moves towards a greater reliance on individual judgement, real time population-adjusted hotspot maps would allow individuals to make informed decisions about the risk in their local areas, enabling them to adjust their behaviours accordingly. In the absence of such data, trust and compliance is likely to continue to plummet.” They elaborate on the other type of testing being done to test past exposure to the virus, but warn that “blood tests for antibodies (‘pillars 3 and 4’) have been conflated with nose-and-throat swab tests for active infection (‘pillars 1 and 2’). The distinction is important given that the antibody tests aren’t as informative for monitoring and modelling outbreaks in real time.”
Byline Times stress shortcomings including significant delays in reporting and, “Under ‘pillar 1’, for example, the extent to which positive active cases are primarily patients or staff is unclear, as is the date on which they were swabbed. Under ‘pillar 2’, the proportion of unreturned postal home test kits remains elusive. Under all pillars, the number of void and inconclusive tests is anyone’s guess. Whilst the new dashboard also includes key metrics on healthcare use by COVID-19 patients (hospitalisations and ventilator beds), it does not provide local-level metrics or offer numbers on availability.” Whenever a particular piece of data appears likely to cause embarrassment to the Government or might challenge the speed of their rush to unlock the slide containing that data is omitted from briefings, for example, “Figures for the number of hospitalisations nationally” have gone AWOL.
Byline Times assert that, “Against core principles of scientific integrity, for this Government, data appear to serve a public relations purpose rather than a public information purpose. The aim appears to be to show the largest possible number of tests conducted and contacts traced and, at the local authority level, the smallest possible number of Coronavirus cases.” Examples of this deceptive strategy are obvious, “The Health Secretary’s end-of April target of 100,000 tests was only met by the conflation of tests that had been carried out with tests posted out. His early June statement that 85% of contacts had been traced in the first week of the Test and Trace system ignored up to 75% of new cases that were simply not fed into the system. A more accurate estimate of the figure, based on data from the Office for National Statistics, is 25%.”
When Boris Johnson is challenged at Prime Ministers Questions over the abysmal failure of his Tory Government to get the Covid 19 crisis under control, he just lies and bluffs his way past the established facts. This latest fiasco is emblematic of the deceptive nature of this Tory Government who simply cannot be trusted to put the most urgent priorities of public safety above allocating lucrative contracts to elitist cronies and revelling in their own self-aggrandizement. Johnson has not created a “world beating” track and trace system as it remains a failing enterprise; rather than establishing a “science Superpower” he’s creating a “Disinformation Super Highway!” The more that is exposed about the way this Tory Government is chaotically running this country into the ground while conducting a “Slaughter of the Sheeple” the more urgent their removal becomes. It is not too late to Demand an Investigation into how they stole the Covert 2019 Rigged Election; we must not gig up trying to seek justice as the stakes are now dar too high. DO NOT MOVE ON!
Who will ever forget that Tory propaganda segment on Newsnight after Corbyn demanded caution and evidence in the Skripal Red Flag incident: the Kremlin backdrop and a red tinted image of Jeremy with his hat altered to look like a Russian Bolshevik cap? The Tories have a bad habit of falsely accusing the opposition of misdeeds they are far more guilty of committing themselves; like the distraction over fabricated Labour anti-Semitism from an openly racist Tory PM! The Daily GasLamp just jogged my memory: what happened to that strategically buried Russia Report we should have had a chance to scrutinize before the Covert 2019 Rigged Election? At a time when dodgy deals over planning permission and donations to the Tory Party have opposition MPs calling for Robert Jenrick to go, a heads up on the hornets’ nest of cash for favours was well timed. The Daily GasLamp posted the demand, “Release the Russia Report – MP pressures Johnson over Russia Report” with information gleaned from the Business Insider.
“The wife of a former Putin ally has donated £325,000 to Boris Johnson’s Conservatives as he continues to sit on a report into Russian interference,” reports the Business Insider: “The wife of a former minister in Putin’s government has become the biggest ever female donor to a political party in the UK. Lubov Chernukhin, who is married to ex-Russian finance minister Vladimir Chernukhin, gave £325,000 to the party in the first quarter of 2020, according to the latest Electoral Commission data. This reportedly included £45,000 for a game of tennis with Boris Johnson. Johnson is under pressure to release a report into Russian interference that was completed in October. A Conservative party spokesperson said all donations are ‘properly and transparently declared’ and ‘comply fully with the law’.” If the British public knew all the sordid details they would be in uproar; it just stinks!
The Guardian was also hot on the trail with the headline, “Russia report: UK MPs condemn ‘utterly reprehensible’ delay.” Noting the, “unprecedented underhand behaviour” they say that, “The government’s apparent refusal to release a report into Russian infiltration in the UK and to delay establishing a key scrutiny committee has been condemned as… ‘utterly reprehensible’.” What is considered so unprecedented is that, “The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has not met since before the general election in December – its longest break since it was established in 1994 – and critics say the government has sat on the committee’s report into Russian interference for nine months.”
According to the Guardian, “The former chair of the committee Dominic Grieve said the report had been sent to Downing Street on 17 October and was ready for publication once it had been signed off, a process that usually takes up to 10 days.” They report that, “The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, Alistair Carmichael, said: ‘Given the prime minister has for nine months sat on the intelligence committee report into Russian interference of our democracy, his decision to delay nominations to the committee raises serious ethical questions’.” He also said, “It leaves the public in little doubt that Boris Johnson is avoiding the truth about the Tory party’s funding connections to Russian oligarchs.” The Guardian state that, “Thirty cross-party MPs wrote to the Prime Minister earlier this week urging for the reconstitution of the committee, saying the refusal to publish the report raised serious questions about the ‘transparency and integrity’ of the democratic process.”
It said: “According to the Hansard Society, ‘at nearly six months, the time taken to appoint the ISC on this occasion has now exceeded that taken to appoint the committee after every previous general election since the committee was established in 1994’. It is untenable for you to continue to block the publication of the Russia report. The situation is an affront to democracy.” The Guardian note that, “The ISC is one of the most important committees in parliament, overseeing seven agencies and departments involved in UK intelligence.” They also say that, “The Scottish National party’s Ian Blackford, a former member of the committee, has accused the government of ‘repeatedly and intentionally failing to establish parliament’s intelligence and security committee to escape scrutiny on important security matters’.”
Crediting the Times they relay that, “the holdup to the formation of the intelligence watchdog can partially be explained by the removal of a provisional member, Tory MP Theresa Villiers, by No 10 for disloyalty. She defied the party whip on an amendment that would have banned the import of chlorinated chicken in any US trade deal.” Despite her defiant vote being totally immaterial to the outcome, Johnson was determined to crush even the slightest rebellion among the ranks; this was vital as he moved closer to solidifying his dictatorship. This is seriously unhealthy politics at its very worst with political designations determined not by talent, but in a desperate response to Johnson’s chronic insecurity. With an appointment designed to maximise this complete lack of credibility, Boris Johnson selected the totally incompetent former Transport Secretary, Chris ‘failing’ Grailing, to bring his disaster power into play as Chair of the committee serving with former Security Minister John Hayes as a slightly more logical choice.
In another stunning ‘misappointment’ Johnson has removed the highly respected Civil Servant Sir Mark Sedwill. In the Guardian Article, “Replacement of Sedwill with Frost ‘highly unusual’, says Labour” they report, “Previous national security advisers have been civil servants rather than political appointees. Labour has criticised what it called the government’s ‘highly unusual’ decision to replace Sir Mark Sedwill as national security adviser with a political appointee who has little direct experience of the role, before a parliamentary question on the issue. After a series of former top officials condemned Sedwill’s departure as a sign the government was undermining the impartiality of the civil service, Labour secured an urgent question on the choice of a new national security adviser.” They say, “Sedwill holds that role, as well as being cabinet secretary, the most senior post in the civil service, but will stand down from both jobs during the summer, following weeks of briefings targeting him.”
The Guardian report that, “The search for a new cabinet secretary will begin next month. But Boris Johnson has already said the new national security adviser will be David Frost, who is currently the government’s chief Brexit negotiator with the EU. While he was formerly a long-serving diplomat, Frost has little direct experience of security matters. Also, unlike Sedwill and all other national security advisers since the role was created in 2010, Frost is not a civil servant but a political appointee. Gus O’Donnell, a former cabinet secretary, warned on Monday that political appointees were ‘more likely to be yes men,’ when speaking to the BBC.” The Guardian say that, “Frost will also be made a peer,” but that Downing Street were unable to say, “whether he would take the Conservative whip or speak in the Lords.” So an unelected Brexiteer not only taking charge of a top security role he is unqualified to fill, but also potentially vaulted right into our undemocratic second chamber of Government.
The astonishment and criticism was not confined to the opposition as members of the Tory Party spoke up too. Despite the deference that any former Prime Minister might show towards criticizing the decision of a successor, Theresa Minister took the opportunity of the urgent question debate to register her disapproval of the politicizing of this key role. BBC News reports say that, “Mrs May, who appointed Sir Mark Sedwill to both roles when she was PM, told MPs that during her nine years as a member of the National Security Council, she had ‘listened to the expert, independent advice from national security advisers.’ She asked Mr Gove how Mr Frost’s appointment squared with remarks he made in a recent speech on civil service reform on the need to ‘promote people with proven expertise.’ ‘Why is the new national security adviser a political appointee with no proven expertise in national security?'”
The BBC noted that, “Former Foreign Secretary Lord Hague has added his voice to those concerned at Mr Frost’s appointment, saying it had ‘raised eyebrows’ and possibly ‘sharpened daggers’ within the defence and intelligence communities.” In his weekly column for the Daily Telegraph, the former Tory leader said that,“while the ex-diplomat was ‘highly capable,’ the role was better suited to someone with first-hand experience of security operations. Warning about the danger of US-style politicisation of senior government roles, he added: ‘If we want the most promising people to serve the country, they have to come from varied points of view. All of us who have dealt with US administrations have witnessed the nightmare of changing long lists of officials when a new President comes in, leading to extended vacancies, loss of expertise and serious damage to diplomacy’.” This Tory Government is choosing to emulate the most dysfunctional components of US governance.
In reality the removal of Sedwill and the entire nature of the appointment of his replacement is integral to the grand design of the unelected puppet master Dominic Cummings who is in untouchable and unaccountable control of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This latest development serves to emphasize the extreme urgency of making sure that Cummings is fired as quickly as possible before he is allowed to completely dismantle our democracy. It must also be realized that David Frost already has an active role leading the sham Brexit negotiations, which amounts to backtracking on previously agreed UK pledges and frustrating the entire process with non-negotiable demands until the point of no return leads to a disastrous crash-out Brexit. The fact that his new role is set to begin in August, several months before the scheduled end of the agreed Brexit transition period tells you all you really need to know about this Tory Government’s intentions which definitely do not include going down to the wire for a last ditch deal.
As the furore over politicized appointments evolves, the contentious issues of Cummings, his role, why he wasn’t fired? Plus blocked access to key reports remains. In the Byline Times Article, “The Empire Strikes Back – London Still the Target of Putin’s Corruption and Repression” they report on the efforts of Donald Trump to readmit the Russian Leader to the Washington G7 Summit despite possible postponement of the autumn event due to Covid 19. Russia’s annexation of the Crimea resulted in exclusion from the G7; since then several attempts by Trump on behalf of Moscow to gain readmission have met with consistent opposition by the other Government leaders including PM Boris Johnson and Canada’s Justin Trudeau. Byline say that, “Russian political exiles agree with these Western leaders and emphasize that any Russia’s inclusion in exclusive political clubs not only provides internal legitimacy to the Kremlin but also supplies it with the tools to undermine western democracies and persecute its own dissidents.”
One of the ways that the Kremlin exerts an unhealthy foreign influence over UK democracy is through Russian donations to the Tory Party. Byline Times focus on the plight of Russian exile Olga Litvinenko, noting that she was, “no relation to the former FSB agent and whistleblower Alexander Litvinenko assassinated in 2006,” and that she, “currently lives in London and has experienced the efforts of the Russian system to ‘get to her’ abroad. In 2010 Olga abandoned Russia together with her four-month-old son, Misha, in the wake of a conflict with her father, the Rector of the Mining University in Saint Petersburg, Vladimir Litvinenko, who is believed to be a close friend of Vladimir Putin, and three times headed his electoral headquarters in Saint Petersburg.” They note that, “Olga already had a daughter at the time, Ester-Maria” and that due to her ‘disobedience’ Olga said her father, “simply took custody of the girl and tried to get her son, as well. Fearing to lose her second child, Olga went to Poland in 2011.”
Byline relay how according to Olga, Vladimir Litvinenko falsely declared that she, “had been kidnapped which permitted him to freeze her accounts in Russia and confiscate her property. Six of her assistants on the City Council were convicted under various criminal statutes,” Olga declared that these were all fabricated crimes, but there was worse to come in retaliation for her success in May 2020 when she, “managed to prove in the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) that the Russian authorities violated the principles of property protection by seizing her property in Saint Petersburg in connection with a ‘kidnapping case’.” Within days of this verdict they report she, “received a summons to appear before an Investigative Committee in case of the murder of a certain A.N. Livshits.” In a Manifesto commitment, prior to the Covert 2019 Rigged Election, this Tory Government pledged to remove the UK from the ECHR, which no doubt would win the wholehearted approval of their Russian pay masters.
According to Byline Times, “Olga Litvinenko emphasizes that the fabrication of criminal activities and the attempt to arrest and extradite political exiles, to exploit Interpol, is not the only way the Russian authorities violate international law.” She had told them that, “Now more countries understand that Russia can produce fabrications even on economic grounds that in fact conceal political persecution. However, there are international agreements of mutual governmental assistance on civil and family matters that have also been ratified by Moscow. Russian authorities do not hesitate to exploit them to ‘punish’ those they find objectionable – for example, trying to take away property or children.” The valid concern is that, “the more Western countries accept Russia as a full member of the ‘European Club,’ the fewer reasons they have to refuse to enforce the unjust decisions of Russian courts,” quoting Olga on the fears of the political exile. However, there was more to reveal about Russian attempts to manipulate politics in the UK.
According to Byline, “Olga Litvinenko also notes that various Russian oligarchs are actively trying to turn Great Britain into a hub for money laundering and the promotion of Moscow’s interests.” They focus on the pre-election scandal over the Tory Government’s success in suppresing what they describe as, “a secret intelligence report on Russia’s alleged attempts to influence elections and the referendum on leaving the EU,” saying, “the Times claimed that the report mentions nine Russian Conservative Party donors, and named three of them. The others have yet to be published.” Byline noted that, “According to Olga Litvinenko, her father is one of the people lobbying for Russian interests in the UK.” She had told Byline Times that, “There is now lobbying in London for the commercial interests of a company in which my father Litvinenko holds an interest, FosAgro. My father received shares of this company at about the time the former owner of this company, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was arrested and sent to prison.”
Continuing her damning revelations that could potentially be exposed if we gained full access to the Russian Report, Olga said that, “…in 2019 at the Russian Embassy in London, the Institute for Materials, Minerals, and Mining… signed a cooperation agreement with the Rector of the Mining University of Saint Petersburg – Litvinenko.” The Byline Times interview with the daughter of Vladimir Litvinenko also mentions that her father was one of the beneficiaries of the annexation of the Crimea, having officially received property on the peninsula. “It was for the annexation of the Crimea that Russia was expelled from the G7. However, Vladimir Litvinenko, as one of the actual participants in the occupation not only was not placed under sanction, doesn’t hide the fact that he is creating special structures intended to bring western technology into Russia in violation of existing sanctions. One might only imagine how much all of this activity could grow should Russia be re-admitted to the ‘Big Seven’,” Olga had told Byline Times.
We urgently need to put pressure on this corrupt Tory Government to release the Russia Report as the more evidence that leaks out the further it compromises the legitimacy of their claim to office. We need to uncover the truth about “Russia’s alleged attempts to influence elections and the referendum on leaving the EU” before Boris Johnson and his Machiavellian puppet master achieve crash-our Brexit. I expect that Cummings speaks Russian as he lived there for three years, but we cannot find out while he remains totally unaccountable and refuses to submit to Parliamentary scrutiny. The unelected PsyOps manipulator controlling our PM is potentially dictating appointments as well as policy, beyond discipline or adherence to the law; could the situation be any more dangerous for our democracy? The Jenrick scandal demonstrates exactly how the wealthy elite cling to power; all these issues and the Covert 2019 Rigged Election need to be fully investigated and the corruption exposed to oust the Tories; do not give up and DO NOT MOVE ON!
It was a triple podium Covid PR stunt Friday afternoon as Boris Johnson was keen to talk up his magnanimous gesture of easing lockdown on Saturday the 4th of July. No doubt Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Valance and Chief Medical Officer Chris Witte were both ordered to stay strictly on message in full support of the PM. Johnson wanted to lull the people of the UK into a false sense of security that would be so necessary if he was to successfully launch his second wave mass cull of the elderly, weakest and most vulnerable of the Sheeple. After completing the mundane details, dull statistics and other announcements Johnson was really savouring the culmination of his presentation, “Let me end by looking forward to this weekend.” He said, “Tomorrow, there will be moment of remembrance for those whose lives have tragically been lost before their time. And at five PM on Sunday the NHS’s 72nd Birthday we can all come together to clap those who have worked tirelessly and selflessly to help the nation get through this Pandemic.”
Yes, before the celebrations we would take a moment to reflect on all those who had died needlessly due to his gross ineptitude and the warped eugenics policy of ‘Herd Immunity’ that Dominic Cummings had persuaded him to adopt. It was important that the public were encouraged not to dwell on the delayed lockdown, the ‘Holocaust in Care,’ the failure to provide adequate PPE for NHS staff and Carers who had contracted the virus while treating the sick and so many other Tory Government failures. Truth be told these scandals were not just the simple mistakes of arrogance and poor judgement, but the conscious projection of a glorious Tory vision of reducing the burden of caring for the ‘economically inactive.’ The Social Safety Net of the UK’s bloated state was an increasing burden threatening to reduce the excessive wealth of his elitist Tory benefactors. Corruption costs big money and those Tory donors were the people who had stumped up the funds to make his Covert 2019 Rigged Election landslide victory a reality.
A new Canary Article reported that, “After thousands of coronavirus deaths in care homes, government announces regular testing programme for staff and residents.” They relay that, “Staff and residents in care homes for people over 65 or with dementia will be regularly tested for coronavirus (Covid-19) from week beginning 6 July, the government has announced. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced a new social care testing strategy on 3 July. As part of the strategy, staff will be tested weekly, while residents will receive a test every 28 days. This is in addition to intensive testing in any care home facing an outbreak or at increased risk of a flare-up, the department added.” At the end of April the Independent Reported that, “Nearly a third of all care homes in England have reported a confirmed or suspected outbreak of coronavirus.” If Public Health England had statistical data showing “more than 4,500 care homes across the country may have been affected by the virus,” why did it take so long to act?
The accolades Johnson offers to Healthcare workers and the effusive praise for our NHS does not dispel the sickening truth that NHS staff were brutally abandoned and let down by this Tory Government. As time passes more evidence has emerged exposing the callous indifference and disregard for life shown by towards frontline staff that needlessly took so many precious lives. A recent Skwawkbox Article reveals one more aspect of their deliberate deception. The shocking report says how the, “Tories said EVERY piece of expired PPE for front-line was tested and safe. 85 MILLION had to be withdrawn or destroyed – not just inadequate, but themselves danger to health.” Skwawkbox highlight that, “a Channel 4 investigation revealed at least 85 million pieces of protective equipment were inadequate – and worse. In spite of Tory promise only 49 pieces had been tested out of millions and many were an active health hazard.”
The public were anxiously dreaming of a potential end to the misery he had inflicted upon them; Johnson wanted them eager to recklessly join mass gatherings and spend money. He said, “I know everyone will be looking forward to the relaxation of national restrictions. As lockdown eases we should focus on supporting the livelihoods of business owners and their employees up and down the country all of whom are opening their doors for the first time in more than three months. They are our local restaurants, hairdressers, libraries, museums, cinemas, and yes, pubs. They are also our hotels B&Bs, indeed much of our tourism industry, all these businesses and their workers have put in a heroic effort to prepare their venues for this reopening to work out a way to trade that keeps their customers safe. But the successes of these businesses, the livelihoods of those who rely on them and ultimately the economic health of the whole country, is dependent on every single one of us acting responsibly. We must not let them down.”
Johnson callously continued, “Lockdown only succeeded in controlling the virus because everyone worked together and we will only succeed in reopening if everyone works together again. Because we’re not out of the woods yet. The virus is still with us and the spike in Leicester has shown that. If it starts running out of control again this Government will not hesitate in putting on the brakes and re-imposing restrictions. Anyone who flouts social distancing and Covid secure rules is not only putting us all at risk, but letting down those businesses and workers who have done so much to prepare for this new normal so as we take this next step our biggest step yet on the road to recovery I urge the British people to do so safely. Remember don’t gather in groups of more than six outside or two households in any setting keep your distance from those outside your household two metres if you can, one metre with precautions if you can’t; wash your hands lets all stay alert, control the virus, save lives and enjoy summer safely.”
There questions came thick and fast, first about the risk of a second wave: one of the advisors remarked that “winter may work to our disadvantage” the other talked of creating a “Covid secure society” the virus was “suppressed” and we needed to “keep it suppressed.” Johnson chimed in saying, “we have therapeutics” and “drugs will get better.” He then spoiled the hopeful delusion by bringing up that ailing, failing, outsourced contact tracing service, saying confidently, “we have NHS test and trace, but we cannot be complacent.” Few shared his exuberant confidence let alone felt complacent about the risks! The BBC’s Alex Forsyth asked the PM about “Super Saturday;” what was the priority “Health or the Economy?” Turning to the advisors, she asked, “are you comfortable with the pace?” Amid Johnson’s effervescent babble a solitary nugget of data hit me as still quite shocking, but it didn’t bother the PM as he let it slip: “we are down to just one in 2200 people infected…. we think that this is, is the right time!”
There was criticism for the leaders of the devolved administration who had called his latest quarantine arrangements ‘shambolic;’ Wales and Scotland were not yet towing the line. “Were we going at too fast a pace?” Johnson’s compliant Scientific Advisors were on the spot here, one said cautiously that there were, “really serious risks, either side of the path we are on there were risks…” Not wanting to deluge on Johnsons parade they needed to warn the public, we had to “balance the risks… there wasn’t a risk free next step.” An ITV presented asked the PM to offer a fuller explanation of his vague appeal for people to “use their judgement;” Johnson stressed an undefined hope that people would just, “enjoy summer safely,” whatever that meant? Andy Bell from Chanel 5 asked about quarantine, “was there ever a justification for the blind quarantine.” In a telling answer one of the advisers said, “it makes a difference if it is from a country with an infection rate higher than ours.” No shit Shirlock!
Someone asked about, “SAGE comments on Super spreaders;” here both of the Advisors focused on the risk of “lots of people coming together from different households in a confined space… a crowded indoor environment” and they stressed the need to “maintain social distancing.” There was an obscure question about what posed a danger in cricket. Apparently this had been asked of Boris Johnson earlier in the day and had left him ‘stumped.’ One of the advisors stepped in to rescue the PM saying with the game itself “spitting on the ball” was a problem and general mingling indoors after the game. Johnson pledged to restore cricket by next weekend; it was so taxing being a world beating, world leader. There was a question about children returning to school and it was time for him to obsess over the subject and blame the unions, he was “determined to get all kids back to school…” How else could he boost Covid transmission? The Canary reported the latest Government strategy, “Schools told to keep children apart in year group ‘bubbles’ on full return in autumn.”
Then Kate Proctor of the Guardian had to go and ask awkward questions including one that seriously challenged his integrity and even-handed judgement. She asked, “You have said that you won’t hesitate to slam on the brakes if the pubs reopening doesn’t quite go to plan, would you consider completely shutting pubs if you can see in a few weeks that this isn’t working; is that the kind of handbrake measure you are referring to?” A devastating second question was sure to put Johnson on the spot, “…your father travelled to Greece against non essential travel advice, Dominic Cummings seems to have broken the spirit of the lockdown rules by travelling to county Durham. Why should the public obey all the rules that your putting out right now about the pubs re-opening when it does feel as though those close to you flout the rules?”
Boris Johnson felt seriously challenged on an issue he had officially put to bed; other people were still angry over Cummings and wanted him to go, but now his own father had transgressed and it had reignited the anger over those who were seemingly exempt from following any rules. He would tackle the last question first, at speed and then move on quickly to detract from this contentious issue. His voice dripping with resentment he replied: “Well thanks very much Kate, well first of all on, on er, you know on er, the episode in Durham, the Durham police made it very clear that they weren’t pursuing that. I er, make it er, a normal practice not to comment on er, the movement or doings of, of my family.” His hesitance and embarrassment were obvious, but he had skimmed over the point made and survived the barb. So that was that issue settled; why couldn’t everybody please just let it go and move on? Perhaps because there were expectations of most people obeying the rules; He and his cronies were above the rules, end of!
Johnson confidently launched into a less controversial direction, saying, “but what I can tell you is that, um actually when you look at what the British public have done over the last er, three months it has been a phenomenal effort to follow the guidance and get this thing under control. And people have worked together and they’ve done and absolutely heroic job that’s why we’ve got incidents running so much lower than it was only a few weeks ago, it’s because of the collective effort of the British public. We’ve got to keep that going now.” Singing the praises of the public he was back on safe ground. He lacked the self awareness to recognize the hypocrisy of not even acknowledging the appalling example his chief advisor and his own father had set to a Covid weary public who were still doing their best to abide by his irrational and constantly shifting regulations. They had to understand that these rules were for the plebs, not the privileged elite; they were supposed to have moved on from the Cummings debacle!
Johnson shifted to the question of pubs, saying, “I don’t want to close all pubs at all if we have a further outbreak but what I I’ve tried to say, you want to close all pubs in the country er, er, I don’t want to get back to another national lockdown of any kind we want to deal with local outbreaks with local lockdown measures and were greatly assisted in our ability to do that by the test and trace operation you’ve seen it working in Kirklees, in Ashford, Western super mare and we’ve had to do a big one now in Sheffield but that is the approach that I want to take but you know obviously we have to retain all measures in reserve.” Johnson droned on for as long as possible regarding the pubs hoping to wash over the question of Dominic Cummings and his father’s breach of the rules before shifting rapidly to the next questioner without inviting a comeback.
The Canary Report that, “Boris Johnson’s father Stanley has been criticised by MPs after flying to Greece despite government advice urging against non-essential international travel. The 79-year-old arrived in Athens on Wednesday 1 July to visit his mountain villa. He shared a video of his plane landing in the capital on social media platform Instagram.” According to the Canary “He told the Daily Mail he was visiting the country on ‘essential business trying to Covid-proof my property in view of the upcoming letting season’.” This was at least as outrageous as driving sixty miles to ‘test’ your eyesight. He added: “The Greeks are trying to stop bulk arrivals from the UK but they were quite happy to have me coming in.” The Canary noted that, “…his trip has angered MPs, with shadow minister Rosena Allin-Khan tweeting: Most people have been following the guidelines and socially distancing – not everyone will get a holiday this year. Those closest to the Prime Minister have different rules though.”
The Canary reported that, “He also posted a picture of himself wearing a face mask, which appeared to be taken in an airport. Johnson flew to Athens via Bulgaria, the Daily Mail said, because the Greek government has banned direct flights from the UK until mid-July.” So, he not only broke the rules, he offered a blueprint for how to work around restrictions; what a terrific example to the public during a pandemic! They Canary reported that, “Labour MP Kate Osborne referred to the PM’s top aide Dominic Cummings, who breached lockdown rules in March while having coronavirus (Covid-19) symptoms. She said: Dominic Cummings broke the lockdown rules now it’s @BorisJohnson’s father. One rule for the elite and another for everyone else it seems. They’re laughing directly in the face of people up and down this country. Shame. Labour’s Neil Coyle tweeted: Junior Johnson axes freedom of movement, undermining rights for 60 million Brits. Senior Johnson sneaks to his Greek villa during a global pandemic.”
A Canary Article exposes the Tory Government deception in a, “Warning of Covid 19 illusion amid fears of more local lockdowns.” For the BBC, Reporter Richard Bilton investigated, “the rapid expansion of our Covid-19 testing capacity and asks whether we have got the world-beating service the prime minister promised.” Watch the latest BBC Panorama Documentary: “Has Covid Testing Gone Wrong?” We cannot afford to be duped by snake oil salesman Johnson, lulled into a false sense of security and encouraged to follow the reckless examples of the privileged few this Tory Government fail to discipline for breaking the rules. We must continue to demand the removal of Dominic Cummings and some form of sanction against Boris Johnson’s own selfish father Stanley for flouting the rules. Accountability is long overdue, but if we continue letting MPs and the elite get away with anything the please we will see worse in future. The Covert 2019 Rigged Election needs Investigating ASAP so that we can rid the UK of this Tory scourge. DO NOT MOVE ON!
Like son, like father…
‘Johnson explained the trip saying he had to set up “social distancing measures” at the property. No such rules apply to private properties being rented out in Greece.’
Cimarrón – This is becoming a recurring theme because of the Tory Government response to accountability in general, with their pledges and promises never kept, while blatant lying in office and grossly insulting people has been normalized in politics. Tories have amply demonstrate that an “Englishman’s word is no longer his bond,” as integrity and submitting to public scrutiny have become quaint relics of the past. At one time there was an unspoken rule, for generations those who transgressed, seriously let us down or brought their profession into disrepute, would resign, be fired or lose credibility to such an extent that their career is over. Whenever incompetent performance or reprehensible conduct of a person in a lofty position of trust, responsibility or indeed any position of visible public prominence, not just in the area of politics, but also theatrical and sports icons, there must be appropriate responsibility. This was once true; not anymore, the Tory Party have drastically changed what is the new acceptable norm.
I have absolutely zero interest in football, but when a team loses their edge, not winning any games, the Coach is held responsible and is promptly replaced. When high profile actors have been charged with rape or the sexual abuse of minors they are publically demonized and their career is essentially over. From the least relevant to the most significantly egregious we expect people to take appropriate responsibility for everything from poor performance and even minor lapses in judgement to corruption and criminal conduct. During my NHS retraining in the UK our ODP students ware warned that we should be cautious with regard to what we wrote online as a rash, controversial or offensive posts on Facebook could see us removed from the program for bringing our profession into disrepute.
In stark contrast not a single one of the several demonstrations of gross incompetence and ignorance that cost the British tax paper millions in Government funding saw Chris ‘failing’ Grayling removed from post. Each time he has failed to demonstrate the humility to apologize and resign; no, he expected to be allowed to stay on and fix his blunders or just cause more chaos through his ineptitude. Are the vagaries of football team’s fortune or the thoughtless inappropriate online posts of an NHS student more deserving of serious discipline than an incompetent, offensive or downright corrupt Tory Government Minister, accepting cash for favours, haemorrhaging public money or a PM inciting racial hatred by publishing insulting comments? The Tories want you to believe that the poor quality of coaching or the casual comment of a student should be more severely disciplined than far more serious transgressions by a City Councillor, a Government Adviser, an MP, a member of the Cabinet or ever the Prime Minister. Give them an inch and they will take a mile!
Several of the Cabinet Ministers who were forced out in response to public outrage have since been appointed to top positions in Boris Johnson’s current Tory Government. Priti Patel lost her job for freelancing her dodgy influence with Israeli officials while ‘on holiday;’ but Johnson appointed her to one of the four top Ministerial roles, that of Home Secretary. I have already had a rant on this issue when expounding on the Windrush scandal in a previous post, I wrote, “Theresa May remained determined to dodge any accountability. With a cowardly elitist arrogance, that was to become the Tory norm with regard to totally ignoring justified calls for resignations, she adamantly refused to step down as PM: unashamedly allowing Amber Rudd to fall on the sword that should have pierced her truly gutless frame! In contemptuous disregard for their wanton abuse of public trust, members of the Tory Party have perfected the art of dishonourably clinging to the power and plunder bestowed on them by prestigious Government appointments.”
But, the Conservatives were so determined to break the mould that now, under the disgraceful example of this Tory Government doubling-down on what they can get away with, the elite, the most privileged people of wealth or prestigious connections to public office are demonstrating their utter contempt for society as a whole. Boris Johnson’s refusal to admonish or publically condemn the rule breaking selfish conduct of his father Stanley Johnson is seen by the general public as an endorsement of the abuse his wealth was so easily able to finance. Stanley did not even attempt to behave discreetly and keep his journey to Greece quiet; he shamelessly posted pictures online and bragged in an interview to the press further rubbing our noses in it. Like father like son.
The scandal involving Robert Jenrick is still rumbling on as other dodgy deals might yet emerge, especially if we gain access to the Russia Report, but the PM is eager to have us just move on. In a recent post I wrote, “At a time when dodgy deals over planning permission and donations to the Tory Party have opposition MPs calling for Robert Jenrick to go, a heads up on the hornets’ nest of cash for favours was well timed. The Daily GasLamp posted the demand, ‘Release the Russia Report – MP pressures Johnson over Russia Report’ with information gleaned from the Business Insider.” The squeaky wheel gets oiled and the British public must be loud, forceful and unrelentingly demanding that disgraceful Troy ‘time and distance’ tactic end now. We will keep protesting, demanding accountability and full public scrutiny; we will not accept hidden files remaining buried and disreputable appointees left in place to continue causing harm through their appalling corrupt and selfish conduct. Jenrick and Cummings must go!
Johnson really thinks the Dominic Cummings scandal is over and done with, but we cannot let it go and the more recent breach of the regulations by the PM’s own father must target the importance of the negative impact of such glaring examples of inequality in the UK. The one rule for them, another for the rest of us, is not going away and we shouldn’t let it. We need progressive MPs to recognize the urgent demands highlighted by ‘Black Lives Matter’ protesters that we will not accept the increasing inequality in our country. We need to put an inordinate amount of pressure on our representatives to keep raising the issue of Cumming removal. Achieving this one goal could potentially bring this Tory Government crashing down as I firmly believe that Dominic Cummings was the mastermind behind the Covert 2019 Rigged Election and he’s proud of it. He holds all of the critical evidence capable of fully exposing the corruption that could bring down this Government; if he is ousted his ego will compel him to rat on the Tory Party!
Time and distance will not erase the public perception of injustice and corruption so it must become a regular demand, week on week, until it’s a constant buzz in the media and too embarrassing for Johnson to ignore. The message right now is that Johnson, all Tory MPs, Advisors and appointees are above the law; this is a perfect prelude to decades of dictatorship! Following the as yet still totally unchallenged success of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election there is an even greater need for a strong opposition; without it we will descend into fascism with little or no resistance. It is not too late to demand a full investigation of the highly suspect vote that propelled this Tory Government into office with the claim of a “landslide victory” through “borrowed votes” of disillusioned Labour supporters. The progressive Left must regroup to strengthen their resolve as tenacious resistance is vital; constructive support for a dangerous and corrupt Tory Government is unacceptable and there’s no time for procrastination. DO NOT MOVE ON!
Johnson began Prime Minister Questions on Wednesday by giving our favourite political football a swift kick. His determination to race ahead with the easing of lockdown restrictions has NHS staff bracing for the inevitable ‘Boris Spike’ rolling down the road at top speed. The resurgence of cases in Leicester was not enough to deter his wholesale enthusiasm for getting phase two of the Herd Nerd’s vile eugenics program underway. Cummings remains in post so the ‘Slaughter of the Sheeple’ will proceed as planned, eliminating the ‘economically inactive’ and a few targeted minority groups. Johnson’s glowing praises for NHS workers are shallow words to all the staff who felt so despicably abandoned by this callous Tory Government when they repeatedly begged for adequate PPE supplies as they lost valuable colleagues to Covid 19. The PM had basked in the glory of his Nightingale vanity project, facilities converted at huge profit to his elitist palls but, with no staff to man them, they remain barely used white elephants.
The Tory Government who froze their wages has no shame and the PM who cheered when Nurses were denied a fair pay rise still fails to recognize the hypocrisy of his ‘Clapping for Carers.’ Johnson drew together his next hit on the NHS scheduled to be launched on the day before the anniversary of the inauguration of our NHS. His bluster was unstoppable as he said, “May I start by commending the Together Initiative for organising this coming Sunday what will hopefully be the nation’s biggest ever Thank You Day to mark the birthday of the NHS? It will provide the perfect moment to thank not just our amazing NHS and care workers, but also those key workers who have helped in the national effort throughout our fight against Coronavirus and, indeed, all those across the country who have gone the extra mile for their local communities in these challenging times. I am sure we can agree across this House that the NHS represents the very best of us, and that we will always be there to support it.”
tHEN fellow Tory Richard Graham chimed in saying, “Today is the 72nd anniversary of the NHS and a good moment for us all to appreciate the immense role of the NHS in all our constituencies…” He went on to hype-up Boris Johnson’s ambitious infrastructure and building pledges, in reality a ‘New Steal’ from Labour, only temporarily on offer to placate the masses and distract from the inevitable misery of rampant unemployment and deprivation that will hit the poor the hardest. Graham had his own pet proposal to pitch for an eco park and green energy park plus a “shovel-ready” cycleway project; as if Tories actually understood environmental protection and the looming climate crisis; they will always revert to: “get rid of all that green crap!” But it was just the kind of resounding supportive praise this narcissistic PM so desperately craves and Johnson was ready to reciprocate in the ‘stroking,’ thanking his hon. Friend.
It was time for a more challenging real question, but Keir Starmer started calmly with a subtle dig, perhaps alluding to the paradox elaborated on above, he said, “May I, too, celebrate the birthday of the NHS, as we all will this Sunday, particularly at this time?” Starmer seized the opportunity to attack the weakest link of this shambolic Government’s delayed action plan for Leicester caused by the obsessive centralization of data to stoke the profits of crony capitalism. Going straight for the jugular he asked, “At the daily press conference on the 18th of June, the Health Secretary said, “There’s an outbreak of Covid-19 right now in parts of Leicester”, yet it was only on Monday evening this week that the Government introduced restrictions. That is a delay of 11 days, during which the virus was spreading in Leicester. Why were the Government so slow to act?”
This had been deeply embarrassing for the Government and Johnson needed to muster his ‘Boris-Shit’ and bluster to spin his way out of this with the pretence of decisive action. He said, “Well, actually, the Government first took notice and acted on what was going on in Leicester on 8 June, because we could see that there was an issue there. We sent mobile testing units – four more mobile testing units – shortly thereafter. We engaged actively with the authorities in Leicester, with public health in Leicester and with everybody responsible in Leicester in the way that we have done with other areas that have had similar issues. Unfortunately, in Leicester, it did not prove possible to get the results that we have seen elsewhere, so on Monday we took the decision, which I hope the right hon. and learned Gentleman approves of, to go into lockdown in Leicester. I have been absolutely clear with the House and with the country that we are going forward. We have made huge progress, but, where necessary, we will put on the brakes. We acted decisively, and I think it was the right thing to do.”
Starmer was about to drop the starkest of truth bombs as the discrepancy in reported test results between pillar 1 and 2 was simply staggering. He said, “I do support the Government’s decision of Monday, but I think the 4,000 businesses and 160 schools that are now shut might take some persuading that the Government acted quickly enough. One of the problems in Leicester was that the local authority had only half the data. It had data for pillar 1 Covid tests–NHS and care worker tests, and tests in hospitals–but not for pillar 2 tests, which are the wider tests in the community. That may sound technical, but it meant that the local authority thought there were 80 positive tests in the last fortnight when the real figure was 944. The local authority was given the real figure only last Thursday, so there was a lost week while the virus was spreading. There are now real fears of further local lockdowns across the country. Can the Prime Minister give a cast-iron guarantee today that no other local authority will ever be put in that position again?”
The truth was not about to set him free, but Boris Johnson has always felt really comfortable lying, so he claimed, “I am afraid the right hon. and learned Gentleman is mistaken, because both pillar 1 and pillar 2 data have been shared, not just with Leicester, but with all authorities across the country. We did in Leicester exactly what we did, for instance, in Kirklees, Bradford, Weston-super-Mare or other places where very effective whack-a-mole strategies have been put in place.” When scrambling for who to blame, it was standard Tory policy to coapt the whole House and blame the victims. True to form the PM said, “For reasons that I think the House will probably understand, there were particular problems in Leicester in implementing the advice and getting people to understand what was necessary to do. But, let’s face it: we have had to act and the Government have acted. He wants to know whether we will act in future to ensure that we protect the health of the entire country, and I can tell him that we will, absolutely.”
Starmer couldn’t let the lie stand, he had to clarify, “I spoke to the Mayor of Leicester this morning, and I know the Prime Minister spoke to him yesterday, and he was absolutely clear that he did not get that data until last Thursday – I doubt he told the Prime Minister something different yesterday. The Prime Minister cannot just bat away challenge; these are matters of life and death, and people’s livelihoods. For example, last week, my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Peter Kyle) asked the Prime Minister, ‘How can seaside towns be expected to cope with the likely influx of visitors to beaches and parks during the hot weather?’. The Prime Minister replied, ‘Show some guts’.” Too many of us fail to realize that to create victims ripe for blame the Tories must ramp-up their seriously bold prodding! Did Starmer really expect a humble admission of guilt when he asked, “Two days later, Bournemouth beach was closed; there were 500,000 visitors and a major incident was declared. Does the Prime Minister now regret being so flippant?”
He had been proud of his Churchillian “show some guts” incitement which succeeded in sending the Sheeple flocking to the beach; foolish blame worthy victims to fuel the next ‘Boris Spike!’ Johnson criticized, “I really think the right hon. and learned Gentleman does not distinguish himself by his question, because I was making it absolutely clear that as we go forward with our cautious plan for opening up the economy, it is very, very important that people who do represent seaside communities, places where UK tourists will want to go, should be as welcoming as they can possibly be. That was the message that I think it is important to set out. But it is also vital that people behave responsibly. That is why the scenes in Bournemouth were completely unacceptable and it is why we stick to the advice that we have given. I made it absolutely clear that if people are going to travel to the seaside and take advantage of the easing of the lockdown, they must observe social distancing, and it is everybody’s responsibility to ensure that that is the case.”
Starmer proceeded with his attack saying, “The Prime Minister must understand why this is of such concern. There is a nationwide lifting of restrictions this weekend, without an app, and without clear data for local authorities or the world-beating system we were promised… I do support it, but I am not blind… I support the easing of restrictions but, unlike the Prime Minister, I am not blind to the risks, and I do not think anybody else should be. Last week, I pointed out to the Prime Minister that two thirds of people with Covid-19 are not being reached and asked to provide their contact details. The Prime Minister, typically, said it was all a stunning ‘success’. The updated figures now show that things have got worse; of the 22,000 new cases of Covid infections per week in mid-June, just 5,000 were reached and asked to provide details. So now three quarters of people with Covid-19 are not being reached. How does the Prime Minister explain that?”
Through no fault of the workers involved the Government outsourced track and trace staff are sitting idle while local authorities are doing all the heavy lifting; Johnson will not admit to that. Instead Boris proceeded to brag and tout big numbers to impress. He said, “As the right hon. and learned Gentleman knows very well, the test, track and trace operation is reaching huge numbers of people and causing them to self-isolate in ways that I do not think he conceivably could have expected a month ago when the system was set up. It has now reached 113,000 contacts who have undertaken to self-isolate to stop the disease spreading, and that is why the number of new infections has come down for several days running to below 1,000, and the number of deaths continues to come down. That is a great achievement on the part of the entire population and their willingness to support test and trace.”
Starmer tried to press his point saying, “If the Prime Minister cannot see that three quarters of those with covid-19 are not being contacted and asked for their own contacts, that is a real gap in the system. He cannot just brush it away by referencing those that are contacted. It is a real problem and it is growing; it is going to have to be addressed. The Prime Minister did this at phase 1, brushing away serious concerns.” It was time for another line of attack, he continued, “I want to turn to the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday, if I may. Amid the normal bluster, there was a really striking line in that speech. The Prime Minister said: ‘We…know the jobs that many people had in January are…not coming back’. I fear that this is the equivalent of the line in the Prime Minister’s speech of 12 March when he said: ‘I must level with you… Many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.’ We know what happened next. That is why there needs to be a laser-like focus on protecting jobs, so how many jobs does the Prime Minister think yesterday’s announcement will protect?”
First Johnson needed to establish the false impression that Starmer was not in favour of the job protections he put in place. The PM said, “ The right hon. and learned Gentleman might first pay tribute to the work of this Government in protecting 11 million jobs throughout this crisis. He might draw attention to the fact that we have supported huge sectors of the UK economy at a cost of £120 billion. I am not going to give a figure for the number of job losses that may or may not take place, but of course the risk is very serious, as he rightly says.”
There was no way Johnson was going to quantify the massive unemployment disaster that lay ahead, so what did Starmer expect to accomplish when he asked a question that was bound to elicit copious bragging from the PM over Government projects that may never transpire? There would be more than enough Tory MPs ready to bolster Johnson insatiable ego with non-question ‘stroking’ that easily got the PM spouting fake promises of prosperity, without Starmer joining in the stroking process! Johnson was on a roll with his reply, “That is why we are proceeding with the new deal, the fair deal for the British people, which will be not just massive investment in our national health service – £34 billion in our NHS – and £14 billion more into our schools but an investment in infrastructure going up to £100 billion. We are going to build, build, build and deliver jobs, jobs, jobs for the people of this country.”
Perhaps Starmer had elicited the PM’s bragging to set a trap and Johnson raced right into that trap! Starmer hit him with the facts, “The reality is that the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday was investment equivalent to less than £100 per person across the United Kingdom – 0.2% of GDP. Not much of his announcement was new and it certainly was not much of a deal. Meanwhile, as the Prime Minister was speaking, Airbus announced 1,700 job losses, EasyJet announced 1,300 job losses and T. M. Lewin and Harveys announced 800 job losses. That was just yesterday. There was nothing in the Prime Minister’s speech for the 3.2 million people in hospitality or the 2.9 million in retail. Next week’s financial statement could be the last chance to save millions of jobs. Will the Prime Minister start now by extending the furlough scheme for those parts of the economy that are still most at risk?”
Johnson’s illusionary bubble of generosity just burst, but realizing that he was in a hole, he kept digging furiously, saying, “Let me repeat and remind the House that, overall, the package represents a £600 billion package of investment in the UK economy. The best single thing we can do is get our economy back to health by getting our people back into work and getting the virus defeated and under control, and the best thing that the Opposition could do is stop equivocating – doing one thing one week and one thing another week – and decide that they emphatically support ending the lockdown and emphatically support kids being back in school rather than being bossed around by the unions. We are the builders; they are the blockers. We are the doers; they are the ditherers. We are going to get on with it and take this country forward.” Johnson was trying to sound Churchillian, but his message was falling flat; they had all heard similar hype and empty promises from the Tories before, ho hum!
The furlough scheme had served its purpose well, conveniently spreading the massive Covid driven unemployment crisis out more evenly over several months to reduce public alarm, avoid spooking small businesses while siphoning Government money towards favoured Corporate cronies and major Tory donors. In addition a number of high wage employers had realized there was a great opportunity to move from furlough, to redundancy, to rehire for lower wages and curtailed benefits all under cover of the scheme. The Canary Reported that, “Boris Johnson has said there will be no further extension to the government’s furlough scheme. His comments come despite a fresh wave of job losses across the country. We’ve spent £120 billion supporting people, it’s a huge commitment… But I think people need to recognise that the particular restrictions that furlough places on you are not, in the long term, healthy either for the economy or for you as an employee.”
Also buried in Johnson’s blizzard of rhetoric he recklessly taunted the Labour Leader over caution from Teachers regarding a safe return to the classroom by saying Starmer should, “emphatically support kids being back in school rather than being bossed around by the unions.” It has already emerged that it was in fact a battle over Shadow Education Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey’s safety first, principled stand on Labour’s school return policy that caused Starmer to sack the only staunchly progressive Socialist in his Shadow Cabinet. Despite protestations that he was adhering to a zero tolerance policy on anti-Semitism this feeble excuse has been ridiculed and thoroughly debunked in a Skwawkbox Article covering her sacking. This has signified an unpopular lurch to the right in a bid to oust the entire Left wing faction of the Labour Party and banish them into obscurity, but despite accolades from the media and jubilation from the Tories, there are strong indications that Starmer’s clean sweep will seriously backfire.
In documenting verbatim the exchanges between Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer, the inadequacies of the opposition response are obvious. The admonishing tone of Starmer’s questioning fruitlessly invites a fulsome confession of serious wrongdoing and incompetence that a PM of Johnson’s extremely fragile ego is not going to provide. From examining Johnson’s duplicitous responses it’s clear that all this strategy has ever managed to accomplish is the provision of an open invitation for an extremely accomplished liar to reinforce and embellish his fanciful promises of massive funding and shovel-ready projects that will never reach fruition! Starmer and his team need to make an honest assessment of the validity of this strategy and significantly change tactics. I am not saying that Starmer shouldn’t criticise Johnson and his corrupt Tory cabal, far from it, but this skilled former Prosecutor’s approach must be to entrap the PM with his own rash statements. He must be forensic in exposing and prying open the damaging documented facts that Johnson is so successfully keeping hidden.
In the past when Starmer has announced that he will expect to see a particular piece of data, it puts Johnson on the spot, forced to produce it the following week. Repetition isn’t always redundant; the PM needs to hear that Cummings removal is still an issue and the Russian Report must be published. I must repeat, “Time and distance will not erase the public perception of injustice and corruption so it must become a regular demand, week on week, until it’s a constant buzz in the media and too embarrassing for Johnson to ignore. The message right now is that Johnson, all Tory MPs, Advisors and appointees are above the law; this is a perfect prelude to decades of dictatorship! Following the as yet still totally unchallenged success of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election there is an even greater need for a strong opposition; without it we will descend into fascism with little or no resistance.” Starmer is failing to provide strong opposition, hence the accolades from the BBC and far right media; the progressive Left must regroup to strengthen their resolve. DO NOT MOVE ON!
The second I wake up the words start cascading into my conscious mind, driven by the desperation of our dire national plight. So many Brits are calmly sleepwalking into the solidification of this Tory coup, unaware of the full impact of the dystopian nightmare that lies ahead if we do nothing to derail their rapacious assault on our democracy. It started well before the Covert 2019 Rigged Election, but it will be fully established once we are forcibly extricated from the EU in a chaotic crash-out Brexit. ‘Auntie’ has capitulated, the BBC has already been coapted into a Tory compliant mouthpiece; any mainstream media outlets that have yet to be coerced into reinforcing Tory propaganda are just sidelined and excluded access. I am fortunate to have time on my hands right now; I owe it to the people of our seriously endangered democracy, to use my time wisely in the pursuit of promoting protest and rebellion to seek justice by exposing the truth in the fast diminishing hope that we can eject this rabid Tory Government from office.
But wait, a glimmer of hope just emerged in a recent https://skwawkbox.org/2020/07/03/get-the-tories-out-labour-supporters-publish-new-book-on-socialist-social-media/ entitled “‘Get the Tories Out’ – Labour supporters publish new book on socialist social media.” They promote the new book authored and compiled by Andrew Godsell ‘Get the Tories Out,’ but this leading, well respected, alternative news outlet still accepts the myth of the ‘Tory Landslide’ victory in the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. Getting Skwawkbox to rethink that defeatist stance is crucial to getting the Tories out! Describing the book they say that, “A group of Labour supporters has come together to produce a new book addressing what works and what doesn’t in social media activism to spread the real Labour message – and correcting the skewed Establishment narrative.” A press release by the group explains: “Get The Tories Out! is an impressive book of topical political commentary, written by a group of Labour Party members and supporters. This collection of short essays is rapidly gaining public attention, and independent media coverage.”
Sadly Skwawkbox continues to naively reinforce the Tory propaganda regarding the Covert 2019 Rigged Election, asserting that, “The Conservatives won the 2019 General Election, with a majority of 80 seats, while Labour were reduced to 202 MPs, the party’s smallest total since 1935. This was largely due to the loss of support in areas that voted to leave the European Union – with people disaffected by Labour’s switch to the second referendum policy.” This is not valid. Why would Labour members vote to reward the standard bearer of that controversial shift in policy by appointing him their Leader, if they believed it lost the election? Skwawkbox try to modify the widely accepted defeat by adding, “The scale of Labour’s defeat in 2019 is unparalleled in our lifetimes. Or is it? The significantly low level of seats masked the fact that Labour won 10,265,912 votes at the latest election, two and a half years on from 12,878,460 people voting for a radical programme, shaped by Jeremy Corbyn and a mass membership, during 2017”
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Then Skwawkbox attempt to put the bad news into a more positive context for the accepted loss by introducing past comparisons, “The 2019 Labour vote total was higher than in three other elections in the current century – 2005 (Labour majority), 2010 (hung Parliament led to Con-Dem coalition), and 2015 (small Tory majority). Labour’s vote in 2017 had been exceeded in only four previous General Elections, those of 1950, 1951 (a defeat despite winning a higher popular vote than the Tories), 1966, and 1997.” However, I would contend that such comparisons are totally meaningless if the vote itself was rigged to give the Tories extra postal ballots in the precise amount necessary to take the exact number of marginal seats targeted through Dominic Cummings’s Voter Intention Collection System. VICS allowed him to precisely quantify and target where to steal votes for exactly 80 seats, just as he had promised and predicted. The best information on the Cummings plan is printed in the Daily GasLamp Blog which is a real must read.Skwawkbox then very proudly announce Labour’s more impressive Election results, “The 2017 Election brought an increase in the Labour vote compared to the previous such contest of 3,531,187. This was the second largest gain of votes in Labour’s history. The biggest leap occurred in 1945, when Labour won power with 3,982,758 more votes than in the preceding election. With elections on hold during World War Two, the poll prior to 1945 had been held a whole decade earlier, taking us back to the 1935 result.” It’s highly likely that the 2017 Election was equally corrupted by stolen votes, but that the Tories miscalculated the extent of public support for Corbyn and the progressive Labour Manifesto. Shaken, the Tories knew in 2019 the media campaign had to be a lot more ruthless, the BBC would need to proactively support the Tory disinformation and the assault on postal votes would have to be targeted and comprehensive to win. Sadly the Tories achieved all of their corrupt goals and the truth has yet to be exposed.
While Skwawkbox assert that, “These figures suggest that talk of an existential crisis for the Labour Party is premature,” they still buy into the fallacy that the meaninglessly moronic “Get Brexit Done” message succeeded in haemorrhaged Labour votes to the Tories, by claiming, “Without the concern from 2016 leave voters that Labour was abandoning them…” There was no substance to this claim beyond the fanciful Tory media spin that the Labour Party made no real effort to combat! There is no question that the media onslaught was damaging, so for Skwawkbox to raise it as a factor was not an excuse, but a valid statement of fact. They wrote how if the Brexit impact had not, “combined with the massive mainstream media attack in 2019, Labour could have repeated the historically high vote of 2017. That vote had removed the small Tory majority in the House of Commons, when Theresa May, and her numerous Blue Tick supporters with ipads (who masqueraded as journalists), thought she was on course to increase it.”
Skwawkbox are correct to point out that, “The current crisis for Labour is largely a false construct from the opponents of our party. Sadly this narrative is being amplified by the misnamed ‘moderates’ in Labour. Their zealous nostalgia for Blairite Neoliberalism attacked the resurgent left during 2016, with the ‘Chicken Coup’ and ‘Labour Purge’, notorious failed attempts to break Corbyn and his supporters.” This is a good start as it will be vital for progressives within Labour not to buy into the prevailing concept that their enlightened manifesto was too radical, too ambitious, but most inaccurate of all too Socialist. It is important that left wing progressives are not coerced into thinking that Starmer’s swerve towards the illusive centre ground is necessary in order to make the party electable; it is not! Whenever I hear any talk of the proverbial ‘Centre Ground’ I am overwhelmed by a powerful image of the Monty Python team romping forward with their clip-clop coconuts in search of the Holy Grail; it really is that ridiculously fanciful!
In reporting Godsell’s objectives Skwawkbox said that following the 2019 defeat there had been “an enormous amount of positive activity… inspirational ideas about rebuilding support for the Labour Party and Socialism.” And they reported that many of them, “strongly believe the Tories will fail to deliver on empty pledges they made to win the Election.” While acknowledging that, “The Conservative Party have little or no interest in the working people” the talk yet again reverted to reinforcing that lie about lending the Tories votes to “Get Brexit Done.” They revealed that, “Months before Boris Johnson came up with his slogan, we were saying ‘Get The Tories Out.’ Actually we were often using #GTTO, one of the popular hashtags introduced by Rachael Swindon, a woman who has been a massive influence in putting the Socialist message into British social media.” It would be so incredibly valuable if we could manage to convince Rachael Swindon that the core premise of our demand for justice deserved her promotional support.
Skwawkbox report that “The strong advocacy of continued radical Socialism in the Labour Party, as the best way to challenge and defeat the Tories, gave Andrew Godsell an idea. He suggested, in January 2020, that we should capture some of this excellent content, in a cheap paperback. The response was very encouraging. In the next few days, excellent pieces were sent to Andrew, who put a summary of the developing plan on his Blog. Over the course of a few weeks, more pieces arrived. Meanwhile exchanges among the growing group of writers, via Twitter and email, produced new ideas for content, including some great memes to illustrate the book.” This is exactly the kind of grassroots movement we really need to promote the demand for a full investigation into the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. The only stumbling block is that so many people remain convinced that the result was a valid ‘Tory landslide’ victory; they think that there will be a free and fair election to oust the Tories in five years time!
Skwawkbox report that, “Little more than a month on from the original idea, Get the Tories Out! was published. This enabled the book to be part of a debate on the future of our party, during the Labour leadership election then in progress. The plan was to produce an expanded, and updated, edition after the leadership contest concluded, and this arrived in June. It is a literal Labour of love, with the contributors offering their pieces for free, and a cooperative publication on a non-profit basis – hence the bargain price!” They say that, “The pieces in the book explain the experience and views of individual campaigners, who are working with others – both online and in the real world – to build the collective strength of our movement. Amidst the dark days of Boris Johnson’s Premiership, here are strong messages of hope, as we analyse the reasons for Labour’s historic defeat, and show the way that a radical mass movement can regain the political initiative from the Tories.”
So who’s listed among the books contributors? According to Skwawkbox, “Some of the authors are familiar figures on political Twitter, with Rachael Swindon contributing two chapters. We also have pieces by Wolfie, Chelley Ryan, Rick Evans, Gayle Letherby, and Elaine Dyson.” Andrew Godsell has been writing about politics and history for many years, with ‘Why NOT Trust the CONservatives?’ being his most notable book in this field.” The Skwawkbox editor admitted having, “found it a delight to read a lot of great material from emerging left Tweeters, deservedly building a good audience. Besides essays by twenty different authors, the book includes suggestions for further reading – dozens of Socialist and similar books, plus independent media websites and radical Blogs are listed.” Because they are hoping that increasing numbers of people will be enthused to read the book, and share their message, I have posted most of this promotional article here which I hope meets with Skwawkbox and the author’s approval.
I’ve a lot to learn about the modern Social Media communications medium so I think owning a copy of this book would be a good place to start. For those interested in buying the book it’s listed for sale on Amazon and details posted on the Skwawkbox include the ISBN, “The 148-page book is available in paperback form under ISBN 9798617341746 for a price of £4.99.” I was surprised to see a contact email address for Godsell which couldn’t possibly have been included without his express permission. Few dare to be so bold in these uncertain times, but they write that, “for more information contact Andrew Godsell on [email protected].” I have written a rather lengthy email to Godsell pitching our controversial position on the 2019 Election result. While I hope he will consider our perspective and possibly even visit this Forum; he might just get lost in the weeds of my email. I would appreciate as many other followers of this Forum contacting him with the type of brief, succinct message for which I am not renowned.
All of the contributors to this book will have been in contact with Godsell by email so he will have contact information for all of them. Obviously he cannot pass on contact information without consent; I wouldn’t dream of asking this. However, he could communicate with all of the writers on our behalf and at least alert them to our efforts and our perspective on the election. The major thrust must be centred on the well established fact that our Electoral System is wide open to Industrial scale fraud. This fact was obvious over ten years ago and still hasn’t been addressed. A massive nationwide campaign sowing the seeds of doubt threatens the legitimacy of the Government and puts all future votes under a cloud of suspicion. The unexpected result and unacceptable anomalies in the Covert 2019 Rigged Election, the public outrage over Covid mismanagement and the impending crash-out Brexit will put pressure on the Tories if they do not subject the electoral process to full scrutiny; after December scrutiny will be abolished in the UK!
We have a unique opportunity to corral the support of a group of people who excel in mass communication with a wide audience of well established followers who respect their input. We must change the narrative dominated by relentless Tory propaganda, the focus on accepting defeat, hand-wringing and trying to make the incomprehensible Tory ‘landslide victory’ appear credible. This group of progressive influencers could be encouraged to increase the pressure on this Government to release the Russia Report, fire Dominic Cummings and Robert Jenrick as urgent priorities. Protesters on the street are angry when another inquiry becomes an excuse to shelve important issues almost indefinitely. The Tory Government must start implementing the recommendations of the many reports that have been ignored and people must be held to account for serious failings. The importance of investigating the Covert 2019 Rigged Election will at least expose the flaws in our system, but it might just bring down this Tory Government.
DO NOT MOVE ON!With the furore over sidelining the UK Parliament regarding Article 50 in 2017 outraged citizens were asking questions on Quora: Could the UK become a dictatorship within the next few years? Is the UK losing its democracy? Is it turning into a dictatorship? Could the UK ever become a dictatorship? What steps would someone need to take? What ways would it be possible for Britain to become a dictatorship? Back then it was really hard to imagine a Prime Minister more ruthless and ambitious than the architect of the ‘Hostile Environment,’ but a far worse PM than the hapless Theresa May was to assume control of the toxic Tory Party when her thoroughly incompetent Foreign Minister Boris Johnson came to power. He lacked more than just any credibility for providing strong leadership, his track record as London Mayor was a shameful taste of things to come, when he was selected by the pitifully small Tory membership. What has changed politically between then and now and are we now inching closer to Dictatorship?
Among the replies posted back in 2017, UK Voter Simon Crump wrote that, “There is a well-established method of transforming a democracy into a dictatorship. The first step is obviously to get yourself elected as some kind of premier, be that president or prime minister. The nature of modern democracy is that there will be strict limits on the powers of such posts, so your next step is to extend those powers. You exploit some real or imagined national emergency to justify assuming more control on the basis that swift and decisive action is required.” The Tories never let a good crisis go to waste and the Covid 19 Pandemic is no exception!
Crump declared that, “…the goal is to circumvent parliament and eliminate it from the decision-making process.” That priority will be far easier to solidify once Johnson has achieved his crash-out Brexit and the EU Court cannot intervene. He asserts that, “The final step is to undermine the independence of the judiciary so that it cannot overrule the executive.” This ominous pledge was in written into Johnson’s Manifesto. The Tory power grab will use ‘Statutory Instruments’ the so called ‘Henry the Eighth’ powers to circumvent Parliament with changes to UK laws receiving little scrutiny and only debated after they are already in place. Crump says that, “Having done all this, the dictator simply accumulates more and more executive power until they can make important decisions on their own without the approval of any other branch of government.” This could and probably will include stripping the devolved Governments of powers that they have right now; Johnson’s stolen majority would allow him to get away with all of this.
We need to learn the lessons of history because a repetition of the past is almost too terrifying to be contemplated, but it all started with an election. Crump reminds us that, “This is more or less how Hitler rose to power in the 1930s. He was elected as chancellor (i.e. prime minister), then persuaded his president to sign the Enabling Act of 1933, which allowed him to make executive orders without consulting the Reichstag (i.e. parliament). The Act limited his extended powers to a period of four years, within which time of course Hitler passed more laws to extend the period indefinitely. You can also make comparisons with the way Vladimir Putin has established himself as the only politician in Russia of any real significance, and the first days of Donald Trump’s presidency have already demonstrated his enthusiasm to use his surprise win and control of both chambers of Congress to sign executive orders and arrest dissenting journalists.” Putin just managed to gain support for a lengthy extension of his ability to remain in office!
Crump continued, “May exploited the chaos of the EU referendum to become Prime Minister in an ultimately uncontested leadership battle within the Conservative Party. Despite its complete lack of legal substance, she then presumed that the referendum gave her unlimited power to adopt a hard-Brexit position that she had previously rejected and invoke Article 50 without consulting parliament. When the Supreme Court advised her that this was illegal, proto-fascist newspapers like the Daily Mail ran headlines referring to the judges as traitors and ‘enemies of the people’. Having attempted to grab executive powers she did not have and then successfully turn 52% of the public against the principle of an independent judiciary…” When Crump writes, “The stage is set for you to establish a cult of personality, suppress opposition through the use of lies, legal threats and physical intimidation, and rule until you become so infirm you have to pass power over to a close family member,” one has to wonder if he knew what was coming down the pike!
In August 2018 UK Voter, Andrew Williams offered an interesting and controversial perspective when he wrote that, “The UK is not a democracy as some wrongly assert. A democracy is direct consensus of the people. I can’t think of any examples of a current democracy. We have our dictator: HM the Queen. Yes, she appoints her underlings the Lords, and the Commons to carry out day-to-day affairs, but she is still our supreme ruler. The Monarchy in the past has declined to give royal assent to Acts, and even our current Monarch has effectively ‘blocked’ or ‘vetoed’ legislation. Secret papers show extent of senior royals’ veto over bills. What is the difference between a monarch and a dictator? One has had power passed to him over such a long family lineage that we don’t question it any more, one has not had his origins masked over time yet. They both have the support of the military. Both rule at the point of a gun. Neither is elected.” This is a valid point and why the Labour left want the Monarchy to have a purely ceremonial role.
Williams boldly asserts that, “We should become a Constitutional Republic. We would then have guarantees that cannot be easily revoked by Acts (like happens now, with one previous privilege being taken away on a relative whim). Needing consent of a majority of our States (either counties, or constituent countries) – which is difficult to get the consent of the people to revoke a guaranteed right – is a stable form of Governance.” While I agree on the need for a written Constitution I do not support Williams claim that, “The USA is an excellent model. The people have inalienable rights, and the right to defend themselves against their Government, so know exactly where they stand. Even the most egregious bills could be passed, and the people would still maintain a minimum set of rights, and have the physical force available to take out their Government.” The infamous Second Amendment to the US Constitution established the citizen’s right to bear arms; there is a massive proliferation of guns! I lived in the US for twenty years; there are many flaws in the system, hence Trump is in office.
Sean Keeley, answered as a “former Parliamentary Intern at House of Commons (2015-2016)” He wrote, “Well any country could become a dictatorship. It is an interesting question because the Royal Prerogative has questioned only just recently at the Supreme Court. Because the UK has no constitution, what we would consider to be one, (an amount of documents and laws that have passed) can be changed easily by an act of parliament, if the Prime Minister wanted to become a crazed dictator it would be hard, but I guess the first step he/she would take is to make sure they have a really big parliamentary majority in the House of Commons and maybe start filling the House of Lords with his/her party, that means now the Prime Minister can get some legislation through easily. Or even abolish the House of Lords, but he/she would have to get the support of their MPs…” All parties try to stuff the House of Lords with their undeserving cronies; as an unelected second chamber it remains an affront to democracy.
Keeley then wrote, “One of the core principles of the UK political system is parliamentary sovereignty, parliament can overrule anything with legislation, literally almost everything. However because MPs have a conscience – and this is the important part – the Prime Minister can’t just get anything through the House of Commons, even though the Government usually have a very very strong Whips Office, Whips are also MPs so they will have their own views.” Stunned derision, not all MP have a conscience! He continued, “But still it would be very hard to convince the House of Commons to do anything that might inhibit their chance of personal re-election. Then of course he/she will have to contend with the House of Lords, they more so vote on conscience as they have a weak whips office.” The PM has established a zero tolerance policy for dissent in his Tory Government; no independent thinking, briefing or voting decisions are allowed; I doubt the unelected ‘Vermin in Ermine’ are uniformly guided by conscience.
UK Voter Rinaldo Fezzato wrote that, “People should not think it couldn’t happen because I think it’s nearly happened before. A dictatorship of any kind is always based on military force. The Nazis got into parliamentary power because of an army of thousands of Brownshirts financed by big business. He then got the army onside and set up the SS and got rid of The Reichstag altogether. During the General Strike in 1926, the Tory Government mobilised the army, turned Hyde Park into a massive military camp ready to take over London and machine guns set up on the high buildings in Glasgow and elsewhere.” I am uncertain of the extent of military intervention at this juncture, but the Worker’s Liberty site offers a detailed documentation of the events. Fezzato also writes that, “The Government bureaucracy hate a Labour Government. MI5 and the CIA bugged their own Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. Meanwhile the Treasury cooked the books to make it look as if the UK was in economic crisis had to seek a loan from the IMF.”
Fezzato continued, “I believe that the military and state bureaucracy were prepared for a coup in the ‘name of Queen’ if someone like Benn were to become Prime Minister. They would certainly have had American support. They were OK with Blair because he had turned Labour into a soft Tory party anyway Blair himself became George W’s poodle. I think when Corbyn become PM he will find MI5 and Government bureaucracy – including the Treasury working against him and secret plans made ready for a military takeover. The idea that such a thing ‘could never happen in good old Britain’ is nonsense. It could happen in any country just as the Americans intervened to overthrow a legitimately elected Communist Government in Chile and set up a military dictatorship. The main purpose of all armies is not to protect countries against foreign enemies but to protect the ruling class from its own people.” This was written back in August 2017, a genuinely hopeful time of wistfully imagining of “when Corbyn becomes PM!”
Jeffrey Richardson, answering as, “a Prison Monitor, Museum Guide, History Reader, Economist,” wrote, “It would be easier for a PM to do this if they had gained fame before entering politics, say as a reality TV star.” I would add, perhaps a ridiculous clown caught on a zip-wire or a golden haired naughty boy darling of the elderly. “After this the next steps would go something like this…” He provided a disquietingly accurate list of what Boris Johnson has accomplished in just a few short months:
1. “Create an empty slogan that appeals to people’s sense of better past but without being specific about policies; something like ‘Make Britain Great Again’.” ( Boris Johnson used ‘Get Brexit Done’)2. “Demonise the independent media and promote yourself and your party as the only source of real news.” ( Bully the BBC into functioning as your mouthpiece and only grant interviews or press access to compliantly supportive media! All done.)
3. “Tell big lies openly and brazenly.” ( Boris Johnson really excels at this one; he tells an unbelievably massive lie or makes an impressive pledge, then keeps doubling-down on the lie or false promise until people think it’s true! He never admits that he was mistaken, let alone wrong; he never apologise for disinformation, broken pledges or gross insults.)
4. “Make yourself the focus of everything so that anything that you consider good that happens is your achievement.” (- In contrast blame anything that goes wrong on the victims, the opposition or the most convenient scapegoat at the time! Boris Johnson’s ego is boundless; he craves public adulation, but is oblivious to ridicule. The narcissistic PM named the ‘Boris Bike’ after himself, but the ‘Boris Spike’ in Covid 19 cases he might not be so keen on!)
5. “Surround yourself with sycophants and family members who owe their positions solely to you.” ( Boris Johnson’s ego is so fragile needs his MPs the media and the general public to constantly fawn over him. However, he will ruthlessly throw them under the bus if they embarrass him, criticise him, refuse to support his votes or just outgrow their usefulness and he needs a scapegoat to take a hit over his latest disaster screw-up! )
6. “Politicise the criminal justice and legal systems. Make sure all the key roles are filled by your supporters.” (Johnson has pledged to essentially neuter the Judiciary, eliminate Judicial Review and make Judges political appointees. He also intends to remove the UK from the European Court of Human Rights despite it being a separate entity from the EU.)
7. “Partner with Russia to get the help of its army of hackers in subverting elections and communicating your message.” ( Do not forget those Russian Oligarchs and the huge sums of money they donate to support the Tory Party. This huge slush-fund keeps Boris Johnson clinging to power for the small price of a few games of tennis, subverting Human Rights and helping Putin to destroy European unity! )
8. “Reward the very richest in society so that you are backed by their resources.” ( There will be plenty of Tory controlled largesse and lucrative contracts to satiate the financial demands of major Corporations. The Covid crisis has just made the awarding of these deals without competitive bidding, adequate scrutiny or Parliamentary oversight a lot easier. The Government bail-outs to wealthy cohorts come with ‘no strings attached,’ staff can be fired and rehired for less, profits can still be siphoned offshore and payment of UK taxes will not be mentioned. Tax revenues can be squeezed out of the working poor at a later date as their benefits and basic services are cut yet again.)
9. “Foster a cultural war so that your supporters consider your opponents to be immoral and not true citizens.” ( Another area where Johnson and his Tory cabal excel; demonizing a peaceful lifelong anti–racist campaigner as an anti-Semitic, terrorist, Soviet spy and an existential threat to the security of the nation. This while the Tories refuse to apologise for blatant racist remarks that incite violence and sell weapons to dangerous foreign despots to victimize or kill their civilian population and drop bombs on school children beyond their borders!)
10. “Create and exploit distrust towards immigrants and minorities.” ( Boris Johnson has perfected the art of ‘othering,’ not content to limit his targeting to just immigrants and minorities; he will demonize the poor, those who are out of work, the disabled, unmarried mothers, illegitimate children and anyone he feels like flinging insults at on a whip. In creating a society where everyone has someone to hate, his Tory Manifest also pledged to criminalize the Roma population.)
Richardson writes, “Worryingly this could work;” sadly almost of this has already been accomplished or is right on schedule to be enacted within the coming year. The above list resembles the classic makers of a country heading towards dictatorship, but too many of us in the UK are failing to recognize these dire warning indicators as we continue sleepwalking into the dystopian Tory nightmare being crafted by an unelected Chief Advisor, Cummings, who we have every right to extricate from a position of extraordinary power.
Robert Cameron wrote, “Hypothetically: If he/she commanded a clear majority in the House of Commons, they could pass a bill abolishing elections and giving the government power to act and legislate unhindered.” The Tories accomplished this with the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. He goes on to say, “If the Lords held it up, more compliant peers would be appointed.” Stacking more failed MPs, miscreants and toxic Tory elitists into the packed House of Lords to join the ‘vermin in Ermine’ is an ongoing project, but his next premise is well off the mark, “If the Queen refused to sign, there might be an election on this platform. If won, the Queen would probably abdicate.” He admits that, “The point here is that this is all extremely unlikely, as is a military coup (100,000 troops to suppress substantial proportion of 65 million people is a tall order, even if all obliged).”
Robert Cameron continues, “Governments are repeatedly trying to accumulate unaccountable powers by delegation or appeal to prerogative powers (the fuss over article 50 is just a spectacularly brazen example). They are challenged, often by members of the ruling party. Ultimately, we would only become a dictatorship if a majority voted for it.” In our present situation I would say that it wasn’t that the majority voted for it, but that the majority were conned into believing that they had voted for authoritarian Tory rule in the Covert 2019 Rigged Election and therefore too many British people have failed to realize that the UK is now on the path to dictatorship. He admits that, “Once allowed, it might need revolt to get rid of.” In reality the ousting of a dictator takes decades of resistance, but he naively adds, “Usually, even governing parties manage to get rid of leaders who get delusions of grandeur. Our politicians still have at least remnants of respect for principle over partisanship. When they lose that, you get Erdogan.” Johnson has already established his, ‘my way or the highway’, control of MPs; no question we have now got Erdogan!
Like the ominous ghost of Christmas past these Quora opinion comments on the risk of the UK descending into dictatorship loom large over our current rapidly deteriorating democracy. The roadmap to dictatorship has always been a well recognized catalogue of steps that should be sounding a deafeningly loud claxon horn warning right now before it is too late to derail the freight train to a dire fascist future. We must alert the wider public to this existential threat to our dwindling democracy and it starts by aggressively combating the Tory propaganda of ‘borrowed votes’ stolen in a fake Tory ‘landslide victor’ at the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. We must get the public to recognize the sickening reality of this deception and demand Cummings submit to Parliamentary questioning under oath or face jail. Cummings immediate removal from post, release of the Russia Report and a Comprehensive Investigation into the Covert 2019 Rigged Election will delegitimize the propaganda and get this corrupt Tory Government ejected from office. DO NOT MOVE ON!
A few short years ago a number of regular contributors on Quora weighed in with their opinions on the potential for the UK to descend into dictatorship. The very fact that the question was even being asked was a disquieting indication of the instability of the chaotic Tory Government that was only clinging to power reliant on the fixed term Parliament act and the sheer arrogance and lack of awareness of their pathetically incompetent leader. The commentators expounded on a set of what they believed were radical fault lines that would be strongly resisted both in Parliament and by the British public. Given the widely recognized weaknesses in our electoral system that have remained in place for well over a decade and the increasing impotence of our Electoral Commission in protecting us from industrial scale fraud it was hardly surprising that it just took the stolen votes of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election to unlock the potential for a catastrophic fall into the abyss that will seal our fate if we fail to overturn the corrupt result.
In May 2018 contributor Gabriel Bell wrote, “In theory, anything could happen. But the problem is the PM is just one voice out of 650 MPs. They have no special powers to pass laws on their own, no special powers to declare state of emergencies and no special powers to seize power on their own.” As stated before Johnson was able to establish a stranglehold on power; he ruthlessly removed well respected non compliant MPs. Bell thought, “Everything done has to be done by the will of Parliament – or at the very least by the will of The Commons. And while the government of the day might be a bunch of closet fascists, they are generally not a bunch of actual fascists.” Sadly, this trusting assumption has been comprehensively debunked by the events of the past few months. Johnson and his Tory cabal under the command of a warped extremist the eugenicist Dominic Cummings, are every bit as dangerous to the survival of the ordinary British people being selectively culled by Covid 19 as any fascist uprising in history.
Bell is not alone in her supreme confidence in the integrity and enduring fairness of British democracy, which is why we are in such dire peril right now. She contends that, “Even back in Thatcher’s day and Blair’s day when they had a majority so big they could literally do anything unchallenged there was no hint of anything like this. Britain is a lot closer to a true democracy – where all voices in government are equal – than other countries claim to be. And because of that it is far harder – through legislative means – for anyone person to claim power and screw over the rest.” The key to gaining the ability to “screw over the rest” was accomplished by stealth using the weapons grade PsyOps of Cummings the master puppeteer controlling our narcissistic PM. The problem now is getting the public to recognize the sickening reality of this deception and demand the immediate removal of Cummings following his sworn testimony to Parliament or face jail; plus a comprehensive Investigation into the Covert 2019 Rigged Election.
In late 2017 James Bailey wrote, “The main problem for a PM with autocratic ambitions would be the press. The press effectively controls public opinion. If the PM wanted to become a dictator, then they would have to undermine and control the papers. They would do this with a combination of fake news and attacks on journalists. First, by churning out fake news on social media about members of the opposition, judges, etc, they can influence public opinion, as we have seen with Brexit and Trump. With this shift away from mainstream media, there is an opportunity for fake news to flourish, and affect many people’s views.” Shall we say mission accomplished? Bailey really believed the above set of circumstances presented an impossible barricade; so there was no need for concern. In reality the staunchly right-wing self-serving elitist press were Johnson’s strongest ally and he even warped the once publically trusted BBC by coapting them into a compliant Tory mouthpiece. It is sad to reflect on how gullible we all were.
In early 2017 Clair Jordan had written, “It would be difficult for a PM to do so unless they could persuade the electorate to support them. Without that, the electorate would press their MPs to hold a vote of ‘No confidence’ in the government, and if it passed there would be a new election. If the sitting government refused to abide by that and call an election, that would open a can of worms because the armed forces and the police” Jordan asserts that they, “…owe their allegiance not to the government but directly to the monarch, who is commander in chief. If a government were to set itself against the will of the people and the law to such an extent, it would have great difficulty getting the army to obey it.” Our police are becoming steadily militarized following the US model and both the UK armed forces and our police are being prepared to control protests that will be ‘reclassified’ as riots. We cannot give in to repression, stop our protests and resistance, but it’s vital we delegitimize Tory propaganda to oust this corrupt Government.
In mid 2017 Michael Tyson confidently wrote, “If any prime minister tried that in UK they would be removed instantly. As we live in a democracy not a dictatorship. If she tried there would be demonstrations and country would grind to a halt. So don’t think anyone would be foolish enough to try anything like that.” Later that year, just as blissfully unaware of the very real danger of dictatorship, in December of 2017 Jonathan Frankel wrote that, “Theresa May is a terrible example though, she has close enough no power. Hypothetically the best chance at a dictatorship would have been either under Maggie Thatcher or Tony Blair and it didn’t happen then.” Just because two thoroughly despicable war-mongering past PMs did not attempt to establish a dictatorship does not mean that it isn’t possible here in England right now. In March of 2019, Tom Cotter reminded us of the reality of British history by writing, “Most defiantly we did it once before any other country Oliver Cromwell won the English civil war and we became a dictatorship.”
The disturbing picture that evolves after reviewing these Quora comments is one of believing that the hypothetical potential for our dissent into dictatorship was remote and that we would heed the warning signs and resist. A barrage of pervasive propaganda persuaded the public that the Covert 2019 Rigged Election result was legitimate. We were expected to do the honourable thing and compliantly accept that the loathsome character Boris Johnson, who we had amply demonstrated our distain for with public displays of disgust, had miraculously been voted our PM. The ominous ghost of Christmas past morphed into the nightmare of Christmas present as we contemplated the devastating consequences of what we were persuaded was a legitimate result. If we continue to be duped by the illogical and incomprehensible Tory ‘landslide victory’ our fate is sealed; that remote risk of dictatorship will become the reality of our future for decades to come.
In a Byline Times Article entitled, “’A Hard Rain’ Johnson, Gove and Cummings Drive Britain Towards Elective Dictatorship,” they elaborate on exactly what I have been warning of since the disastrous result of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. They say that, “Britain is changing from a parliamentary democracy towards an elective dictatorship faster than people realise after Boris Johnson’s election victory.” They still classify the result as a Tory victory which I remain unable to accept. They state that, “The announcement that Sir Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary and National Security Advisor, has quit is the most high profile indicator of a revolution that will be sweeping through Whitehall, Parliament and the courts over the next four years if Johnson, Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings get their way.” This dangerous regression is not entirely beyond our control, but it requires our immediate attention and a robust challenge from the left, we must demand day in, day out that Dominic Cummings has to go.
If Cummings is allowed to remain in post he will continue his clean sweep to remove trusted and established civil servants at a critical time when our country is in the midst of the Covid 19 Pandemic crisis. No competent leader would ever decide to risk such a potentially catastrophic disruption by putting new Government functionaries into key roles; during a national crisis familiarity within a strong team, experience and reliability are essential. But then Johnson is ‘no competent leader;’ in fact he is no leader at all as he is totally controlled by his unelected Chief Advisor. Byline say, “Sir Mark will have to be replaced, under Civil Service Commission rules, by another permanent or former permanent secretary – but the new National Security Advisor, David Frost, is currently leading the Brexit negotiations with the EU and is a committed Brexiteer and darling of the Vote Leave movement. Last week, the Prime Minister’s controversial chief advisor Cummings was reported to have warned that a ‘hard rain’ would soon fall on the Civil Service.”
What is not gaining enough attention in the media is that the appointment of Frost at a time when he is supposedly dedicated to negotiating our all important deal with the EU. This is a powerful indication that Johnson, or rather his puppeteer Cummings, has no intention of doing any type of deal with the EU and we are heading for crash-out Brexit. Most of us strongly suspected that anyway, but this is confirmation. The chaos and financial carnage of crash-out Brexit can be neatly obscured within the anticipated economic recession caused by Covid 19. The shambolic mismanagement of the Covid crisis by the Tory Government has not only cost us more in lives lost, but will also guarantee a much harsher economic impact than anywhere else in Europe; we cannot afford to double that recession plummet with the avoidable self-harm of crash-out Brexit. The British public must wake up to this very real threat to the survival of those who, as always, will be hit the hardest: the working poor, vulnerable and disabled.
Byline Times has chosen to remind us of the new crew our ultimate commander in chief wants to bring onboard, writing, “What has not been noticed is that the vast majority of new Whitehall appointments are now going to business and data experts – part of Cummings’ revolution to bring in ‘disrupters’ and, in his words, ‘weirdos and misfits’ into the heart of Whitehall.” While innovative minds might pass as positive disruptors, the attempted early appointment of a hard core eugenicist was a taste of exactly what the Cummings preferred category of ‘weirdos and misfits’ might include. Byline report that, “The search for a new permanent secretary for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) already involves a New York recruitment agency, Russell Reynolds, which states on its website: ‘The organisations that don’t disrupt themselves are the ones that will be disrupted’.” This might not sound so worrying if it were not for the underlying priorities of this warped Tory Government controlled by Cummings.
Byline inform us that, “Now, BEIS is recruiting a new head of behavioural change, data and insight with the aim of using data to revolutionise its communications strategy. A BEIS spokesman said that this will be beneficial: “Our recent Coronavirus campaign activity successfully reached some of the UK’s most disadvantaged groups…” but how might Cummings try to manipulate and control those vulnerable sectors of our society knowing that according to his own observations, “Tories don’t care about poor people!” Further they tell us that, “The Department for Work and Pensions is recruiting 16 business analysts to organise its ‘products’ – benefits and pensions – and nine new software engineers. The current 11 vacancies at the Cabinet Office are mainly data-orientated, with plans for new databases to be created for people with disabilities and black and ethnic minorities, including a new position to run a national location software system.” The long-term enslavement of the poor is destined to follow the Covid cull.
Byline Times report that, “In a speech at the weekend, the Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove – and Vote Leave ally of both Johnson and Cummings – backed the chief advisor’s agenda, praising Cummings’ new £800 million advanced research projects agency which will allow scientists unlimited cash to follow their latest ‘crazy’ ideas. He also attacked the establishment and said that ‘the whole culture of Government, and the wider world of political commentary, is hostile to risk, adventure, experimentation and novelty’. He then laid out the Government’s programme…” The Gove – Cummings team have form here; we only need to look at the massive damage caused to our education system following a crazy transformation that saw qualified veteran Teachers leaving the profession in droves and the harmful impact that loss has had on the children whose lives are still blighted by the unnecessary disruption it caused. We really cannot contend with such massive disruption as we are trying to recover from a crisis.
Byline continue by saying that, “All of this is being accompanied by post-Brexit legislation that is allowing a power grab by ministers at the expense of Parliament and democratic accountability. What was a parliamentary democracy which pooled some of its sovereignty as a member of the European Union is being turned into an executive democracy, in which ministers are taking power for themselves and bypassing Parliament.” They go on to describe the “Henry VIII Powers and the War of Independence,” saying that “Far from ‘taking back control’ of our laws, Parliament – the elected legislature at the heart of our representative democracy – is being demoted. Its main role in passing laws is being undermined by ministers ruling by decree. A report by the House of Lords Constitution Committee has forensically examined every piece of Brexit legislation and discovered extraordinary changes on the way in the next year.” If the public were better informed about the implications of these changes they would be seriously alarmed.
The so called ‘Henry VIII Powers’ might sound quaint and historically British, but in reality they are a repugnant blueprint for full authoritarian dictatorship. Byline explain that, “The Government is using what are commonly known as Henry VIII powers – or statutory instruments – to give it authoritarian powers. These include powers to create new criminal offences, impose unlimited fines on people, overrule in some cases legislation in the Scottish Parliament, and 150 new powers to changes duties and taxes on business and individuals. Even with something as mundane as the granting a road traffic goods licences, ministers have not bothered to even specify to Parliament how they will use the powers.” So in May 2018 when Bell confidently wrote, “…the problem is the PM is just one voice out of 650 MPs. They have no special powers to pass laws on their own, no special powers to declare state of emergencies and no special powers to seize power on their own,” this could not have been more wrong!
They say that the devil’s in the details, but your MP will not be getting a look in before critical changes are written into UK law. The Byline Times explain the extent of Parliamentary exclusion from vital scrutiny saying that, “At most, Parliament will get 90 minutes to debate each change and, in some cases, it will only be able to debate the change after it is already law. In his speech, Gove also took aim at two other powerful bodies that provide accountability: the National Audit Office and select committees. He blamed them for the failure of Whitehall to be bold: ‘Far too often, innovation in Government is treated as though it were a mischief rather than a model. The default mechanism of the NAO, PAC [Public Accounts Committee], other select committees and various commentators is that any departure from the status quo must be assumed to be more downside than upside’.” Expect to see these bodies neutered; Tories just don’t do Accountability. I would say that right now stability is far more important than turning the world upside-down!
Boris Johnson’s pledges on page 48 of the Tory Manifesto gave ample warning of the impending attacks on our Judiciary, but we paid no heed. Byline Times elucidate, “The position of the courts is also alarming. Ministers have taken powers under the EU Withdrawal Act to specify what retained EU law they should follow – not just at the Supreme Court, the final court of appeal in the UK, but also in the lower courts and at tribunals. Ministers have not published how this will be implemented, despite demands from MPs and peers to do so. Given that case law arguments are a key part of any trial, the peers rightly fear that is going to lead to chaos in the courts, with numerous appeals against judgments. Combined with this, the fact that ministers want to reform the judicial review procedure and – if Gove is right – assess the efficiency of judges handling cases, this is a power grab designed to reduce the independence of the judiciary.” We knew this was coming, but will we continue to passively acquiesce?
In conclusion Byline spell out the consequences of all these changes saying, “By the time of the next scheduled General Election in 2024, if Cummings and Gove have their way, Britain will have a smaller, more authoritarian Government. The judiciary will be less independent and Parliament will not have to meet as frequently – because many changes to law will be made by ministers without the need for primary legislation.” Although what is described here is essentially dictatorship or its modern day equivalent, what we politely call ‘Elective Dictatorship’ Byline do not examine the distinct possibility that this Tory power grab will have moved to the inevitable next stage of Dictatorship: removing elections. If a Comprehensive Investigation of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election had not managed to remove Johnson and his Tory cabal from office by 2024, then they might chose to cling to power by repeating the sham election trick. Ending this disastrous charade is an urgent priority as dictators stay in power for decades with no more free and fair elections! DO NOT MOVE ON!
It is shockingly disappointing that Starmer chose to squander his allotted opportunity for scrutiny at Prime Minister’s Questions by decided that the most impactful tactic he should stick to was the failed admonishment model of, “who’s been a naughty boy then?”
While it was entirely right to strongly criticize Johnson’s appalling insult to Care Home staff in blaming them for the failures of his Tory Government, requesting a public apology is not a question. The well deserved Care Home insult rebuke should have been added as an extra barb at the tail end of another genuine question. This same tactic of added pestering could be applied to the overdue firing of Dominic Cummings and the release of the Russia Report as a constant additional dig. There’s so little scrutiny of this Government now without wasting precious avenues like PMQs, especially when everyone knows it will accomplish nothing. Unsurprisingly the response from Johnson was entirely predictable; he is a totally spineless individual: Boris doesn’t do apologies!First out of the gate with an important question was Anne McMorrin asked, “I am shocked and angered at workers in UK clothing factories such as Boohoo being paid a mere £3.50 an hour and being forced to work in totally unacceptable conditions. In the 21st century, there must be no room for exploitation and modern slavery. We must call time on fast fashion for the sake of people and our planet, so my question is simple: what will the Prime Minister do about it?” The Prime Minister replied claiming, “First, it is this Conservative Government who set out laws against modern slavery. It is this Conservative Government who massively increased the living wage—not only instituted the living wage, but massively increased it. We hoped that it would be the Labour mayor of Leicester who would stand up for the interests of the workforce in his community. That is what we will do.” Without actually saying what he would do Johnson seized the opportunity to start bragging about the so called ‘living wage’ that is not enough to live on!
Keir Starmer began his inconsequential finger wagging by stating, “On Monday, when asked why care home deaths had been so high, the Prime Minister said that ‘too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have.’ That has caused huge offence to frontline care workers. It has now been 48 hours. Will the Prime Minister apologise to Care workers?” A really forensic questioner would have blocked off Johnson’s excuse route in advance, exposing the long asymptomatic incubation period of potential transmission for Covid 19 that was widely publicized with the Brighton ‘Super Spreader’ in the first week of February. Asking, with that knowledge, what precise steps were put in place to contain the virus and why were Hospital patients moved into highly vulnerable settings like Care Homes without being tested? Starmer could then have stressed the real reason underlying Care Home deaths and appealed for the PM to have the courage to apologize to staff offended by his remarks.
Johnson started into his “I didn’t do it Gov” reply saying, “The last thing I wanted to do was to blame Care workers for what has happened, or for any of them to think that I was blaming them, because they have worked incredibly hard throughout this crisis, looking after some of the most vulnerable people in our country and doing an outstanding job, and as the right hon. and learned Gentleman knows, tragically, 257 of them have lost their lives. When it comes to taking blame, I take full responsibility for what has happened.” He lied by claiming that the Government didn’t know the dangers, “But the one thing that nobody knew early on during this pandemic was that the virus was being passed asymptomatically from person to person in the way that it is, and that is why the guidance and the procedures changed. It is thanks to the hard work of Care workers that we have now got incidents and outbreaks down in our care homes to the lowest level since the crisis began. That is thanks to our Care workers and I pay tribute to them.”
Starmer stated the blindingly obvious as if he was genuinely expecting a more positive response, saying, “That is not an apology, and it just will not wash.” He reminded the Chamber that, “The Prime Minister said that ‘too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have’. It was clear what he was saying. The Prime Minister must understand just how raw this is for many people on the frontline and for those who have lost loved ones. I quote Mark Adams, who runs a social care charity, who spoke yesterday. He said: ‘You’ve got 1.6 million social care workers going into work to protect our parents, our grandparents, our children, putting their own health and potentially lives at risk. And then to get the most senior man in the country turning round and blaming them on what has been an absolute travesty of leadership from the Government, I just think it is appalling.’ Those are his words. I ask the Prime Minister again: will he apologise to Care workers? Yes or no?”
Johnson defied the call to apologise, saying, “The right hon. and learned Gentleman keeps saying that I blamed or tried to blame Care workers, and that is simply not the case. The reality is that we now know things about the way the coronavirus is passed from person to person without symptoms that we just did not know. That is why we instituted the care home action plan on 15 April. That is why we changed the procedures. Perhaps he did know that it was being transmitted asymptomatically—I did not hear it at the time. Perhaps Captain Hindsight would like to tell us that he knew that it was being transmitted asymptomatically. Of course it was necessary to change our procedures. I want to thank our care workers for what they have done, and this Government will continue to invest massively in our Care Homes and in our Care workers. By the way, it is this Government, as I said just now, that put up the living wage by record amounts, and that is something that we can do directly to help every Care worker in the country.”
In his third wasted opportunity to scrutinize Boris Johnson’s Tory Government the Labour Leader was like a dog with a bone; would Starmer have actually had a genuine question to pose if Johnson had summoned the courage to offer an apology? But no, he kept on going with the same failed line of attack, insisting, “By refusing to apologise, the Prime Minister rubs salt into the wounds of the very people that he stood at his front door and clapped. The Prime Minister and the Health Secretary must be the only people left in the country who think that they put a ‘protective ring’ around care homes. Those on the frontline know that that was not the case. I quote one Care Home Manager from ITN News yesterday. She said this:‘I’m absolutely livid at the fact that he says we didn’t follow the procedures. Because the Care Assistants, the Nurses, everyone in the Care Home, have worked so hard. And then he’s got the audacity to blame us.’ Those are her words. What would the Prime Minister like to say to that Care Home Manager?”
In a reply where Johnson tenaciously clung to his lack of responsibility he had the audacity to demand that the opposition had a duty to support reform the Tories had dithered over for the last decade! He replied, “What I would like to say to the lady in question, and indeed to every Care Home worker in the country, is that this Government appreciate the incredible work that they have done, and we thank them for the incredible work they have done. Let me say further that we will invest in our Care Homes and we will reform the Care Home sector. I hope, by the way, that we will do it on the basis of cross-party consensus and get a lasting solution to the problems in our Care Homes and the difficulties many people face in funding the cost of their old age. That is what we want to do. That is what this Government have pledged to do after 30 years of inaction, and I hope that the right hon. and learned Gentleman will join us in doing it.”
Was it really appropriate to register approval for Johnson’s notoriously empty pledges? Starmer thought so, replying, “I am glad to hear it.” He tried a slightly less aggressive tone to yet again ask Johnson to tell Care workers they were not to blame for the PM’s incompetence and shambolic Tory Government messaging. He said, “I gently point out that his Government have been in power for 10 years, with no plan and no White Paper. Of course we will join in plans for reforming social care, but 10 years have been wasted.” Starmer didn’t demand a time frame for this he moved on with, “The reality is that more than 19,000 Care Home residents have died from covid-19. It is a far higher number when we include excess deaths. Overall, around one in 20 Care Home residents are estimated to have died from the virus. One in 20 – it is chilling. These are extraordinary numbers, yet the Prime Minister has consistently ducked responsibility for this. Will he accept that it is not Care workers who are to blame; it is his Government?”
Boris Johnson smugly replied, “I think the right hon. and learned Gentleman has got the old vice of reading out the pre-prepared question without listening to the answer I have just given. I have made it absolutely clear that this Government take responsibility for everything that we have done throughout this crisis. Of course I pay tribute once again to the work of every Care worker in the country and I thank them, but what we have also done is put forward a Care Home action plan that has helped our Care workers and our Care Home industry to get the incidence of Coronavirus right down in every Care Home in the country to the lowest level, and we are now putting in monthly testing for every resident in our Care Homes and weekly testing for every Care Home worker. That is thanks to the fantastic efforts of everybody involved in NHS testing and tracing—and I think, by the way, that the right hon. and learned Gentleman should pay tribute to them as well.”
Despite widening the scope of his criticism over the Tory Government’s mishandling of Covid 19,Starmer wasn’t deviating from his failed strategy, he protested, “The Prime Minister continues to insult those on the frontline by not taking these issues seriously. The Prime Minister must recognise that huge mistakes have been made. Two months ago at PMQs I highlighted the weakness of the early guidance on Care Homes. The Prime Minister, typically flippant, simply said it was ‘not true’. There were repeated warnings from the Care sector and repeated delays in providing protective equipment – this was not hindsight; they were raised here day in, day out and week in, week out. It was not hindsight; it was real-time for the frontline. It was the same with routine testing. And the decision to discharge 25,000 people to Care Homes without tests was clearly a mistake. Will the Prime Minister simply accept that his Government were just too slow to act on Care Homes, full stop?”
Johnson must have felt relieved by Starmer’s myopic approach replying, “The right hon. and learned Gentleman knows very well – or he should know very well – that the understanding of the disease has changed dramatically in the months that we have had it. When he looks at the action plan that we brought in to help our Care workers, I think he would appreciate the vast amount of work that they have done, the PPE that they have been supplied with and the testing that they have been supplied with. That has helped them to get the incidence of the disease down to record lows, and it has enabled us to get on with our work, as the Government, in getting this country through this epidemic – getting this country back on its feet. That is what this country wants to see. We have stuck to our plan to open up our economy gradually and cautiously; one week he is in favour of it, the next week he is against it. What this country wants to see is a steady, stable approach to getting our country back on its feet. That is what we are delivering.”
His last of six allotted questions and at last Starmer managed to come up with one asking, “Finally, to add further insult to injury, there are reports this morning that the Government are to remove free hospital parking for NHS workers in England. The Prime Minister will know that this could cost hundreds of pounds a month for our Nurses, our Doctors, our Carers and our support staff. We owe our NHS workers so much. We all clap for them; we should be rewarding them, not making it more expensive to go to work. The Prime Minister must know that this is wrong; will he reconsider and rule it out?”
Johnson replied, “The hospital car parks are free for NHS staff for this pandemic – they are free now – and we are going to get on with our manifesto commitment to make them free for patients who need them as well. The House will know that that was never the case under the Labour Government – neither for staff nor for patients.” He must have felt relieved Starmer was so inept at exerting pressure or scrutiny; it was time for him to start crowing and bragging about his empty pledges so he taunted, “May I respectfully suggest that the right hon. and learned Gentleman takes his latest bandwagon and parks it free somewhere else? One week he is backing us; the next week he is not. One week he is in favour of a tax on wealth and tax on homes; the next week he tries to tiptoe away from it. We know how it works: he takes one brief one week, one brief the next. He is consistent only in his opportunism, whereas we get on with our agenda: build, build, build for jobs, jobs, jobs. The House will hear more about that shortly.”
The SNPs Ian Blackford said, “I am sure that you, Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister and indeed the whole House will want to join me in marking Srebrenica Memorial Day, which takes place this Saturday, for the first time happening online. We should never forget the terrible genocide that took place 25 years ago. May I associate myself with the concerns about Tory hospital parking charges? The Scottish National party Government abolished them in Scotland 12 years ago, and I urge the Tory Government to do the same, so that NHS workers and patients will not be penalised.” He asked, “Some 3.8 million people across the United Kingdom could face unemployment when the furlough scheme ends. The job retention scheme has been a lifeline to millions; yet we could see progress unravel as the scheme ends. Millions of people could find themselves out of work, struggling to pay bills and to put food on the table. Will the Prime Minister commit today to extending the furlough scheme? People must not lose their jobs because the Tories refused to act.”
Ian Blackford was skilled in his questioning, reinforcing Starmer’s appeal over NHS staff parking charges and still pitching his own question. But Johnson, elated over the paucity of tough targeted scrutiny so far was on a roll. Why not reinforce that toxic Tory ‘hug’ illusion; the Government dedicated to increasing Covid deaths and ‘decimating down’ wanted us all to believe that they had done more than any other country to help support people during the crisis! He said, “I think that most people looking at what has happened in the UK over the last three or four months around the world have been overwhelmingly impressed by the way that we, as a Government, have put our arms around people, with £164 billion invested in jobs, in incomes and in supporting people. It has been a massive effort.” In reality the UK has become a global outlier, an appalling example of bad practice and poor management that has resulted in the highest death toll in Europe; it will require a lot more targeted economic support to get us out of this mess.
Johnson, was expecting support when he stated, “I know that a lot of people in this House will agree with me that we cannot go on forever with a furlough scheme that keeps employees in suspended animation in the way that it does.” The PM knows there will be massive unemployment; the furlough scheme was only intended to spread the damage out over a longer period. Johnson said, “We need to get our economy moving again. That is what I think the people of this country want to see, in a sustainable and cautious way. I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman is constantly saying this, but I would just remind him that the reason the job retention scheme – the furlough scheme – has worked is because of the power and the efficiency of the UK Treasury. It is the UK Government that have funded the furlough scheme and £4.8 billion in Barnett consequentials to Scotland alone. I am sure that he does not hesitate to remind his colleagues of that.” He ended his bragging with a targeted barb aimed at the SNP.
Blackford countered, “Of course, it is about the future, and it is about making sure that people can be protected. Just this week, we have seen Spain look to extend its furlough scheme into 2021. Research has shown that prematurely ending the job retention scheme risks higher unemployment and weaker productivity, with a potential loss of up to £50 billion to GDP. The Resolution Foundation is calling for £3 billion to £5 billion to be spent on extending furlough payments for the hardest-hit sectors, and the TUC is warning of the effect that ending the furlough scheme early will have on people who are shielding and in difficulties. This is about not throwing away the benefits that we have accrued. The Prime Minister seems intent on sinking the lifeboat that has been keeping so many people afloat. If the Prime Minister will not extend the furlough scheme, will he give Scotland the powers so that we can do it ourselves?” Sadly the PM is more likely to place further restrictions on the devolved Governments after Brexit.
Johnson was able to bat off this question rather easily as unfortunately, it was a repetition of the initial question from Blackford, he just said, “I think I have answered the right hon. Gentleman’s question already. I believe it is absolutely essential that we invest in our people and protect them from the effects of this epidemic, as we have done at huge expenditure, quite rightly, but it is also essential that we get the economy moving, including in Scotland. I hope that he supports that objective as well.” At least Blackford had asked a real question which was highly relevant considering Richi Sunak was about to announce more Government spending.
SNP Angela Crawley asked about, “Hundreds of my constituents have been excluded from the furlough scheme or support for the self-employed due to gaps in the legislation. Barriers to that support include real-time information cut-off dates and the 50% cap on non-trading income. The Government’s solution for those constituents is to take out loans, which for many is untenable and will lead to unemployment and bankruptcy.” Labour’s Catherine West, asked, “230,000 renters are going to be at risk of homelessness or eviction as we emerge from lockdown. Will the Prime Minister urgently, today, lay legislation so that, on a cross-party basis, we can support those people at risk of homelessness before we break up for the summer recess?” As ‘Rich Richi’ Sunak prepared to splash the cash, it was businesses prepared to continue exploiting young people with below poverty line wages, home buyers and those able to afford the luxury of eating out who profited; the working poor would be left to rot. The PM was not offering a lifeline.
I copied the full transcript of both Starmer and Blackford’s interventions at PMQs which so often pass unnoticed by the public. This offers a unique insight into the abject failure of Labour Leader Starmer. Amid all of his valiant, but entirely worthless protestations on behalf of Care Holmes Starmer really only managed to ask a solitary question on Hospital parking for NHS staff. This was a free ride for Boris Johnson who, entirely predictably, just repeated his pathetic denials several times over. When so many vital points needed to be raised it fell to backbench MPs, who will not be reported in the media, to ask about the gaping holes in the Tory Party Pandemic safety net. If Starmer had raised these issues ahead of Sunak chucking money in the wrong direction the public would be focused on the real betrayal of the most vulnerable swirling the ‘Sunak Sluice’. In reality there will be no justice until this Tory Government are removed from office, Investigating the Covert 2019 Rigged Election is a priority, firing Cummings might just pull the pin on a truth grenade! DO NOT MOVE ON!
Following PMQs on Wednesday the Chancellor of the Exchequer took another opportunity to ‘splash the cash,’ with a ‘Summer Statement.’ Stepping up to the dispatch box to deliver what was not quite a budget, ‘Rich Rishi’ under the tight control of the supreme minder, Dominic Cummings, was there to uphold Tory values on keeping wealth in the grubby paws of the wealthy and deciding who should be washed down the ‘Sunak Sluice.’ He began by claiming that, “We have taken decisive action to protect our economy, but people are anxious about losing their job and about unemployment rising.” The picture was bleak, “People need to know that although hardship lies ahead, no one will be left without hope… Where problems emerge, we will confront them. Where support is justified, we will provide it. Where challenges arise, we will overcome them.” ‘Justified’ would be the operative word!
Sunak reverted to Tory bragging saying, “We put in place one of the largest and most comprehensive economic responses in the world. Our £160 billion plan protects people’s jobs, incomes and businesses. We supported more than 11 million people and jobs through the job retention and self-employment schemes, alongside billions of pounds for the most vulnerable.” Sunak had a barb for those tetchy devolved Governments hankering for independence from the doom of Tory rule and crash-out Brexit; they had dared to deviate from shambolic Tory policy on important issues exposing the PM’s failures. He said sarcastically “No nationalist can ignore the undeniable truth: this help has only been possible because we are a United Kingdom.” He said, “World economic activity has slowed, with the International Monetary Fund expecting the deepest global recession since records began. Household consumption, the biggest component of our economy, has fallen steeply. Businesses have stopped trading and stopped hiring.”
Sunak said, “I want every person in this House and in the country to know that I will never accept unemployment as an unavoidable outcome.” He had to reinforce the lie that Johnson’s Tory Government was committed to ‘levelling up’ reversing the disgraceful reality of a decade of Tory austerity cuts, rising inequality and ‘decimating down.’ Continuing the big lie Sunak claimed, “The Prime Minister has set out our vision to level up, unite the country, spread opportunity, and repair and heal the wounds exposed through this crisis.” He said, “Furlough has been a lifeline for millions, supporting people and businesses to protect jobs, but it cannot, and should not, go on forever.” It was probably only put in place to spread the massive unemployment out over a longer period so that the impact of dwindling public confidence in the Government would be more manageable. So cutting to the chase what was on offer to replace the Furlough scheme? These were the new pledges of support offered by ‘Rich Rishi.’
1. “If you are an employer and you bring back someone who was furloughed, and you continuously employ them through to January, we will pay you a £1,000 bonus per employee. It is vital that people are not just returning for the sake of it; they need to be doing decent work. For businesses to get the bonus, the employee must be paid at least £520, on average, in each month from November to January, the equivalent of the lower earnings limit in national insurance.” The BBC report that, “HM Revenue and Customs boss Jim Harra wrote to Mr Sunak to express concerns about paying firms a £1,000 bonus to retain furloughed staff.”
2. The next incentive plan fails to mention that the targeted age group are paid less than the living wage due to a discriminatory policy. “The kick-start scheme will pay employers directly to create new jobs for any 16 to 24-year-old at risk of long-term unemployment. These will be new jobs, with the funding conditional on the firm proving that the jobs are additional. These will be decent jobs, with a minimum of 25 hours per week paid at least the national minimum wage, and they will be good-quality jobs, with employers providing kick-starters with training and support to find a permanent job. If employers meet those conditions, we will pay young people’s wages for six months, plus an amount to cover overheads. That means, for a 24-year-old the grant will be around £6,500. Employers can apply to be part of the scheme from next month, with the first kick-starters in their new jobs this autumn.”
3. “We can do more for young people. Traineeships are a proven scheme to get young people ready for work, and we know they work, so for the first time ever we will pay employers £1,000 to take on new trainees, with triple the number of places. What is more, to help 18 to 19-year-olds leaving school or college to find work in high-demand sectors, such as engineering, construction and social care, we will provide £100 million to create more places on level 2 and 3 courses.” Although this looks like a policy to assist youth employment, they will earn less than the so called ‘living wage’ due to their age; they represent cheap labour.
4. The same applies to the next incentive as since the meaning of the term apprentice has expanded to encompass areas of work that have never traditionally required training. The pay is as low as £3.50 an hour not enough to allow independent living and many of the programs would be more accurately described as ‘exploiterships.’ Sunak announced, “…For the next six months we will pay employers to create new apprenticeships. We will pay businesses to hire young apprentices, with a new payment of £2,000 per apprentice, and introduce a brand new bonus for businesses to hire apprentices aged 25 and over, with a payment of £1,500.”
5. “I am investing an extra £1.2 billion in the Department for Work and Pensions to support millions of people back to work.” Most who have had to deal with this toxically manipulated department will cringe at the prospect of what new tortures, blame and shame will be inflicted as a component of ‘support’ in getting back to work; the Tories have a disgraceful track record of cruel inhumanity towards the unemployed. A bit more Tory bragging and a few more expansive promises were in order as Sunak rehashed old pledges with a new spin on urgency, “At the Budget, I announced £88 billion of capital funding this year, and last week the Prime Minister announced our plans to accelerate £5 billion of additional investment projects. We are doubling down on our ambition to level up, with better roads, better schools, better hospitals and better high streets, creating jobs in all four corners of the country.”
6. We all know what happened to “that Green Crap” under the Tories in the past, but Sunak was upbeat, “As well as investing in infrastructure, we want to create green jobs. This will be a green recovery, with concern for our environment at its heart, and as part of that, I am announcing today… a new £2 billion green homes grant. From September, homeowners and landlords will be able to apply for vouchers to make their homes more energy efficient and create local jobs. The grants will cover at least two thirds of the cost—up to £5,000 per household—and for low-income households we will go even further, with vouchers covering the full cost, up to £10,000. On top of the £2 billion voucher scheme, I am releasing £1 billion of funding to improve the energy efficiency of public sector buildings, alongside a £50 million fund to pilot the right approach to decarbonise social housing.”
7. “We need people feeling confident, confident to buy, sell, renovate, move and improve. That will drive growth. That will create jobs. So to catalyse the housing market and boost confidence, I have decided today to cut stamp duty. Right now, there is no stamp duty on transactions below £125,000. Today, I am increasing the threshold to half a million pounds. This will be a temporary cut running until 31 March next year.” Undaunted by the bankruptcies, rocketing unemployment, mass evictions and destitution of the masses ‘Rich Rishi’ offered a Stamp Duty holiday for those wealthy enough to consider buying property. This largesse is not limited to first time home buyers, it will benefit those set to acquire a second home or invest is rental properties, thus increasing the pressure to evict the newly unemployed destitute!
8. “First, at the moment, VAT on hospitality and tourism is charged at 20%, so I have decided, for the next six months, to cut VAT on food, accommodation and attractions. Eat-in or hot takeaway food from restaurants, cafés and pubs; accommodation in hotels, B&Bs, campsites and caravan sites; attractions like cinemas, theme parks and zoos—all these and more will see VAT reduced, from next Wednesday until 12 January, from 20% to 5%. This is a £4 billion catalyst for the hospitality and tourism sectors, benefiting over 150,000 businesses and consumers everywhere—all helping to protect 2.4 million jobs.”
9. “For the month of August, we will give everyone in the country an eat-out-to-help-out discount. Meals eaten at any participating business, Monday to Wednesday, will be 50% off, up to a maximum discount of £10 per head for everyone, including children…. we can all eat out to help out. A VAT cut to 5% and a first-of-its-kind Government-backed discount for all, that is the third part of our plan for jobs.” The final ‘sweetener’ was reminiscent of the cheap deals touted on that annoying junk mail that cascades through your door on a regular basis. With mass unemployment and turning to food bank to survive this was like a sick joke taunting the newly impoverished with a discount that would only be of use to those who could already afford to eat out.
Rishi Sunak concluded by reminding us all of what was now on offer, “A £1,000 jobs retention bonus; new, high-quality jobs for hundreds of thousands of young kick-starters; £1 billion to double the number of work coaches and support the unemployed; more apprenticeships, more traineeships and more skills funding; billions of pounds for new job creation projects across the country; a £3 billion plan to support 140,000 green jobs; and, in this vital period, as we get going again, VAT cut, stamp duty cut and meals out cut—all part of our plan for jobs worth up to £30 billion.” The man who was appointed so that Dominic Cummings could have stricter control over how the budget was allocated then tried to convince us he was more than just a compliant yes man. Pitching strong principals he said, “For me, this has never just been a question of economics, but of values. I believe in the nobility of work.”
Labour Shadow Chancellor, Anneliese Dodds responded cautiously saying, “The Government have had to take big decisions too; we acknowledge that, but today should have been the day when our Government chose to build a bridge between what has been done so far and what needs to be done to get our economy moving again. It should have been the day when the millions of British people worried about their jobs and future prospects had a load taken off their shoulders. It should have been the day when we got the UK economy firing again.” Putting the harsh reality into perspective she said, “we have one of the highest death rates in the world and among the deepest economic damage in the industrialised world from coronavirus. So the very first thing the Chancellor must do is prevent additional economic damage due to the slow public health response of his Government.”
No escaping the evidence of shambolic Tory mismanagement, Dodds continued, “Despite all their talk, the Government have failed to create a fully functioning test, track and isolate system. That has damaged public confidence and, in turn, harmed consumer demand. Despite all their talk, the Government have failed to produce a clear system for local lockdowns. The Government’s contracts with outsourcing firms amount to almost £3 billion, but we still have not got test, track and isolate working properly in the UK, as it is in many other countries, and the Government still have not got a grip on the low value and limited scope of sick pay, risking people’s ability to self-isolate. Fear is corrosive. Fear is hurting our economy. The Government have got to get this right. So please, Chancellor, work with your colleagues so our public health response catches up with that operating in other countries.”
Probably referring to the devastating deindustrialization wrought by Margaret Thatcher’s Tory Government Dodds said, “The levels of unemployment that this country saw in the past were not just an economic waste; they ruined lives. We are seeing the same impacts again, the same devastated high streets and communities robbed of their pride and purpose.” The north was never helped to recover from the damage of that time. Dodds continued, “Of course the re-employment bonus announced by the Chancellor is necessary, not least because his Government refused to put conditions on the use of those funds related to employment. But, first, how can he ensure that that money will not just go to those employers who were already planning to bring people back into work and, secondly, what will he do for those firms that lack the cash flow to be able to operate even with that bonus?”
There were gaping holes in the Tory proposals laid out by Sunak and Anneliese Dodds felt compelled to point them out by saying, “Related to that, the Chancellor still needs to abandon his one-size-fits-all approach to withdrawing the job retention and self-employed schemes. We also need a strategy for the scheme to become more flexible so that it can support those businesses forced to close again because of additional localised lockdowns. We need action to ensure the support needed for key sectors of our economy, for our small and medium-sized enterprises and our manufacturers.” She said, “it appears that there will be no solutions for SMEs who cannot take on additional debt until the autumn,” and warned, “This risks many SMEs going to the wall.”
Dodds continued, “Until now, the Chancellor has described a targeted, sectoral approach as the Treasury ‘picking winners’, but the necessary public health measures have created losers. As the Chancellor himself said just now, the Government required many businesses to shut down to prevent the spread of this disease. Supporting businesses that are viable in the long run but currently starved of cash flow is not a matter of ‘picking winners’: it is about protecting our country’s economic capacity for the future.” Dodds took credit for one part of the Tories ‘New Steal’ when she said, “Labour repeatedly called for the Government to match the ambitions of Labour’s future jobs fund and Welsh Labour’s Jobs Growth Wales programme, and finally the Government have come forward with a scheme apparently modelled on them: the kick-start scheme. The Conservatives cancelled the future jobs fund, of course, and it has taken almost 10 years for them to catch up.”
Dodds empathised with and wanted to articulate the concerns of many people throughout the country who understandably fear job loss due to the horrendously punitive functioning of DWP and being forced to subsist on Universal Credit payments that are so low that destitution and eviction become very real prospects. She said, “The Government must also recognise the specific challenges faced by older jobseekers, many of whom are becoming unemployed for the first time, and those based in especially hard-hit places. Reimposing sanctions now is punitive and counter-productive when jobseekers need support.” The Tory Government strategy of deliberate cruelty, blaming and shaming job seekers under threat of sanction to bully them into finding work was always totally unacceptable, but even more so now that there were so few jobs.
Dodds was not impressed by the extent the Tory Government’s investment, she said that, “However, core elements are missing. For example, £50 million to support retrofitting in social homes is just a seventh of what the Conservatives said they would be spending every year. The muddled confusions over stamp duty over the past 48 hours reflect a broader lack of strategy when it comes to house building, particularly for genuinely affordable and social homes. Overall, the UK’s green investment package barely touches the sides of other countries’ commitments. Even with what was announced today, it only equates to just over the value of Germany’s investment in one green technology alone: hydrogen. The Committee on Climate Change has indicated how far behind the UK is in the race to decarbonise. Failure to heed its recommendations is not only damaging to our planet, but it also cuts us out of leading the development of the key technologies of the future.”
Dodds was also alarmed by the total lack of conditionality, saying, “The Conservatives are still refusing to impose conditions on investment to ensure that it contributes to the goal of net zero and that it supports local jobs, uses local firms, leads to sustainable skilled employment in local areas and prevents the use of tax havens and other forms of asset stripping.” This is a serious concern given this Tory Government’s track record of abysmal spending decisions based on the desire to placate wealthy Tory donors at the tax payer’s expense.
Dodds was determined to insist that there would not be a return to the pain and hardship of austerity. She said, “If the Chancellor really wants to ‘build back better’, he must prevent a rerun of the past. From 2010 onwards, we have seen how families’ resilience has been eroded. We entered this crisis with a quarter of families lacking even £100 in savings. In a typical classroom of 30, nine children are growing up in poverty, and our economy is the most regionally unequal in Europe. Our local authorities continue to be cut to the bone, with many standing on the brink of bankruptcy as we speak, and rather than the promise that our NHS and social care services would get whatever they needed this winter, to weather a potential second wave, those words were conspicuously absent from the Chancellor’s speech just now.” Dodds attacked Tory hypocrisy saying, “Politicians in this House have gone out on our doorsteps to clap key workers, while the lowest paid have struggled to keep a roof over their heads.”
Dodds was adamant in her demands, “We must have a new settlement for the future: an end to poverty pay for our social care workers and those who clean our hospitals and deliver our groceries. We want a recognition of the value of the work of those who have been taken for granted for far too long.” She warned that, “There were some initial press reports that the Government were due to announce generalised tax increases or cuts to services this autumn, which were contradicted by the Prime Minister, who rejected whatever had apparently been briefed out by the Treasury; that has happened quite a few times. I say to the Government that, if they do increase taxes during the recovery and cut back on the public services that we all rely on, it will damage demand and inhibit our recovery.”
The Labour Shadow Chancellor was cynical about Tory grandstanding saying, “the Prime Minister, tried to claim the mantle of FDR;” but it had elicited a few embarrassing comparisons. Unlike the phrase coined by FDRs successor Dodds captured the more fitting Tory ethos, “The buck stops anywhere but here!” She concluded by reiterating the Tory Government’s most serious flaw in dealing with the Covid crisis, warning, “they cannot escape their responsibilities: to govern is to choose. It is to choose to finally sort out test, track and isolate, to prevent unnecessary additional unemployment and to build the green jobs of the future.” It seemed almost incongruous for the Chancellor to thank his opponent for her robust criticism of Tory policy, but it was well deserved.
Sunak defensively claimed that, “Those are the values of this Conservative Government;” as if compassionate conservative were not an oxymoron. He pledged that, “We will make sure that no one is left behind during this time of national crisis, and we will ensure that those who are most vulnerable get the support and protection that they deserve.” ‘Rich Rishi’ justified his colander of conditionality and the broad brush approach with the desire for speed of implementation; a few restrictions and other details were to follow… Offended by the Labour assertion to have initiated the future jobs fund scheme that the Tories closed, Sunak insisted his kick-starter scheme was bigger! In reality what was offered could best be described as a ‘damp squib’ and a serious distraction from the dire state in which our nation finds itself following the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. We need to Investigate the Vote and remove Cumming. He is still running this shit show, but extricate him and it might just pull the pin on the Tory Government grenade! DO NOT MOVE ON!
Stepped up to the dispatch box under the rigid control of his minder Dominic Cummings Sunak’s Summer Statement splashed the cash in all the wrong places. True to Tory form he reinforced the gaping inequality of Covid support plans; Rishi for the rich with a pittance for the poor will drop millions of the most vulnerable through the Social Safely net to be washed down the ‘Sunak Sluice!’ The vacuous Tory tabloids all featured the crumbs of special deal dining that those relying on food banks to survive cannot afford to contemplate; it was a cruel teaser to tempt the better off into deserted eateries on an alternative day of the week. While this was rightly maligned as ‘deadwood,’ ‘Rich Rishi’ diverted megabucks to a Stamp Duty giveaway. Rich Rishi prioritized largesse to fund the wealthy acquiring a second home while the homeless will be forced back onto the streets; he sponsored a buy-to-rent bonanza to incentivise future slumlords to evict indebted renters who he denied a bailout! The poor are destined for Rishi’s ‘Sunak Sluice!’
In a Tax Research.org Article they describe how, “Rishi Sunak’s business support package fails at almost every single level – not least because it will be illegal for many businesses to even apply for it.” They explain how, “In addition, given the very low capital base of most UK businesses many that now need support will already be facing insolvency. In that case, it is illegal for a company director to take on a loan because they cannot guarantee repayment: it would be fraud for them to take the loan in that situation, and so they cannot do so.” They say, “Sunak has completely failed to take into account the requirement of UK company law when offering this absurd package.” They conclude that, “What he is very obviously seeking to do is keep this business support package off the government’s spending account, and instead is seeking to describe it as a loan, which then means that he can put it on its balance sheet.” But many other MPs shared their concerns over the support package offered by Sunak on Wednesday.
Even some Tory MPs had raised issues that were not covered; Mel Stride praised the plan, but expected more support for SMEs. He described the plan for jobs as “characteristically thoughtful, creative and bold, and I firmly welcome it.” Adding, “He has rightly said that we look to businesses to grow the jobs of the future, yet we know that many hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises will emerge from this crisis saddled with significant amounts of corporate debt, and we will look to them at that moment to be investing in jobs and growth, rather than being concerned about de-leveraging and shoring up their balance sheets.”
Alison Thewliss speaking for the SNP was determined to focus on the poorest, who have once again been ignored, washed down the ‘Sunak Sluice’ Rishi rescues the rich! She said, “A report by the Social Mobility Commission last week warned that UK child poverty is projected to increase to 5.2million by 2022, with Covid19 adding to this problem. Now is the time to strengthen measures to reverse rising child poverty, including a £20 per week increase in the Child element of Universal Credit and Child Tax Credits. That will help families put food on the table and clothes on children’s backs at a time when many are struggling. These parents are not eating out. Some of these parents are barely eating at all. The Tories must also scrap the callous Two-Child Cap, re-establish Child Poverty Targets, introduce a Real Living Wage for all ages and roll out an emergency basic payment plan to protect families. We want to see investment in a national debt plan to support businesses, families and individuals who have been struggling.”
She also asked, “Will live events also see a VAT reduction in their ticket sales? Gigs and theatres would benefit hugely…” But the SNP offered other incentives, “a 2p cut we are calling for to employers’ national insurance contributions, to protect jobs and reduce the cost of hiring staff.” Thewliss also targeted the unfair pay discrepancy that makes leaving home for independent living so very hard; I lived alone at 17. She said, “Our bright, talented young people are worth so much more than 25 hours a week on minimum wage, rather than a real living wage, with age discrimination baked in. For many of those young people, it will not be so much a kick-start as a kick in the teeth to be told to go to work for so little money. Those aged between 16 and 24 have bills to pay too, and they deserve fair pay for their work. I note that the Chancellor cited the higher band of pay for a 24-year-old, not the £6.45 an hour for younger people or the £4.55 that 16 and 17-year-olds get, an absolute pittance. There should be a real living wage for all.”
Labour MP Margaret Greenwood revealed that, “This week saw the first meeting of the ExcludedUK all-party parliamentary group, an APPG for the excluded, the estimated 3 million people who have missed out on Government support and are facing real financial hardship. I note that the Chancellor has avoided answering questions on this matter so far today.” She had no intention of letting Sunak evade scrutiny, saying, “May I explain to him, the excluded include people on zero-hours contracts, the directors of small companies paying themselves through dividends, and many self-employed people? In my constituency, that is taxi drivers, joiners, beauticians, childminders, care workers, driving instructors, IT consultants, the list goes on. Will the Chancellor look again at providing support to the excluded, so that they, too, can play their part in the recovery?” Sunak’s answer was basically, no!
Chris Stephens SNP, had questions about DWP having seen Job Centre closures in Scotland and all around the country, asking, “He will know that DWP management have asked for 30,000 additional posts, so will the doubling of work coaches be new posts or redeployments? Will the jobcentre closure programme be suspended as a result of his announcements, and will he build an attractive terms and conditions package, given the high staff turnover in the DWP?” Sunak failed to really answer the question. SNP Kenny MacAskill focused on the working poor saying, “As others have mentioned and the Chancellor has acknowledged, the least well-off have suffered disproportionately from the health effects of the virus and must not pay the price of the economic consequences. Will he therefore ensure that the cost of these measures is borne not by the poor and low-paid, but by those with wealth and assets, whether in land and property here or in tax havens abroad, as so many chums in the Cabinet seem to have?”
Labour’s Catherine West wanted proper scrutiny to protect the public interest, she requested, “Given the emergency nature of the statement, will the Chancellor lay out exactly what kind of impact assessment will be made of each of the funding pots, so that we can ensure value for money, look at the impact of each measure on the environment and avoid any corruption or fraud?” Tory Tim Laughton spoke compassionately of the single most vulnerable and least mentioned group when he said, “I welcome the emphasis on young people, but may I ask my right hon. Friend not to forget the youngest people? Some 200,000 babies have been born during lockdown and we have seen a higher incidence of perinatal mental illness, with new parents unable to access extended family support and health visitors. What steps can he take to make sure that this cohort is helped to catch up as well?”
Labour’s Paula Barker raised a controversial issue of Care Homes saying, “The Coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the deep and systematic inadequacies of the current Social Care system and revealed the true extent of the impact that underfunding, structural issues and market instability have had on the system’s ability to respond and protect older people at a time of crisis. Despite the Prime Minister seeking to flagrantly blame our incredible Social Care sector for excess deaths this week, when will the Government get serious about caring for our most vulnerable and fund local authorities properly to bring social care services back in-house?”
Labour’s Kevan Jones wanted to know about the money pledged to local Councils, he stated, “At the beginning of this crisis, the Chancellor said that the Government would do ‘whatever it takes’. Local government finance is in crisis, but it was not mentioned in his statement today. Durham County Council has spent £62 million on its Covid response and it has had £33.2 million from the Government, leaving £28.8 million for the taxpayer locally to pick up. When will he bring forward a comprehensive settlement for local government, which is being called for by all political parties in local government? Without it services will be lost and jobs will also be cut.” Sunak’s reply basically established that central Government would set the regulations and make additional restrictive demands, but Councils would be expected to share the financial burden of the chaos that shambolic Tory policies had created.
Labour/Co-op MP Stella Creasy brought up childcare asking, “One word that has not been mentioned so far is childcare, yet we know that two thirds of women who want to return to work in the next couple of months cannot because they cannot get any, and that 71% of our voluntary sector childcare agencies are already operating at a loss, risking their closing in the coming weeks. So can the Chancellor set out what funding he is providing now to make sure that parents can get back to work?”
Again Labour raised local Council funding, with Sir George Howarth reminding Sunak that, “In response to an earlier question, the Chancellor said that everything in the garden was rosy with local government finance, but he will know that local government faces a catastrophic loss of revenue next year as a result of Covid-19, and that that will have a devastating effect on jobs and services. Knowsley Council alone faces a loss of income of £90 million, and the Liverpool city region faces a loss of £112 million, so will the Chancellor give a firm commitment that Councils will receive full funding for the collection fund shortfalls in 2021 and 2022?”
Labour MP Emma Hardy wanted Sunak to rescue Universities that faced closure, presenting the harsh facts she stated that, “The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that 13 universities could go bust as a result of covid-19. That will not only reduce choice and opportunity, but create unemployment and damage the local economies where they reside.” She asked, “Can the Chancellor state his commitment to build back better and support social mobility by confirming that no university will be allowed to collapse?”
The Green Party’s solitary MP, Caroline Lucas, exposed the reality of the Tory hypocrisy with regard to the climate crisis. She pointed out that, “The Chancellor says he is proud of the Government’s green record, yet the green measures announced today will cut just 0.14% of UK emissions; not only that, but this is a Government who are still committed to spending £27 billion on new roads.” In her brief question slot Lucas couldn’t cram in that new runway at Heathrow, public money wasted on costly Nuclear Power and the environmental damage being cause by the HS2 build taking out irreplaceable ancient woodland. She had a few important pointers for Sunak before the Tories can claim that eco-friendly green mantle, “If he wants to have a green record that he can genuinely be proud of, will he start by cancelling the roads scheme, put the money into public transport and broadband, and introduce a new rule for the UK economy to ensure that all spending and taxation is in line with the Paris agreement and restoring our natural world?”
Labour MP Beth Winter raised an issue that makes Tories squirm, she revealed that, “Richard Murphy, a professor of political economy at City University in London, says that the Government have the potential to raise £174 billion a year if wealth was taxed at the same rate as income. That could cover the cost of the job retention scheme for over 12 months, according to the latest estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility. Does the Chancellor believe that the time is right for a radical overhaul of our taxation system in order to fulfil the Prime Minister’s levelling-up promise, or is the truth that we are not really ‘all in this together’?” We most certainly are not! Labour MP Jessica Morden revealed that, “According to StepChange Debt Charity, 4.5 million people have lost income and accumulated £6 billion of debt in arrears on household bills during the pandemic. Will the Chancellor ensure that economic recovery plans also include a strategy to support people in unavoidable Coronavirus-related financial difficulties?”
Labour MP Darren Jones although focused on a local issue exposed a far wider failing by noting that, “The Chancellor failed today to set out sector-specific help for British manufacturers. In doing so, he is gambling with an important industry and making the UK less competitive compared with countries such as Germany, France and the United States. Perhaps the Chancellor can set out for the House today what it is that he has against British workers making British aeroplanes, British cars and British steel?” One part of ‘take back control’ I wholeheartedly agree with is that we need to bring utilities, core infrastructure and vital resources in house. Our trains should not be nationalized by another EU country, a major utility should not be outsourced to the French and the Chinese should not be building us a Nuclear power station or irreplaceably involved with our broadband access. Yes collaborate with the EU on the Galileo project, that makes sense, and doesn’t compromise our basic security or ability to keep functioning.
Tory Graham Brady pleaded the illogical saying, “The Chancellor spoke about finding a new balance between safety and normality. Is it not time to look at moving away from the guidance that people should work from home if possible towards guidance that they should go to work if it is safe to do so?” Tories still don’t get it, Pandora’s Box was opened and businesses have now discovered that they can cope really well with employees working from home; so why pay for all that costly office space? The new normal is here to stay, but can anything change for the exploited working poor? Labour MP Barbara Keeley joined Dodds in, “urging an end to poverty pay for our Care workers. Today’s interventions in the job market are welcome, but there is still no recognition in pay for the fantastic job done in this crisis by our Care staff. Rather than blaming Care staff, as the Government have done this week, will the Chancellor commit to showing them some parity of esteem with NHS staff and pay them a real living wage of £10 an hour?”
Labour veteran Hilary Benn was the third MP to reinforce the reality of funds the Tories pledged to Councils, “Given that councils have a statutory responsibility to set a balanced annual budget, even the further help announced last week will not be enough for Councils like Leeds and many others. I urge the Chancellor to look again at what the Treasury can do to help fill the remaining gap, which in the case of Leeds is £63 million, because without further assistance the Council will, by law, have to start cutting jobs, and those could include non-statutory services that have been so important in providing support to communities affected by Covid.”
Sunak’s seemingly huge Tory Government stimulus amounts translate to a paltry sum in targeted capital investment expenditure as exposed by Labour MP Liam Byrne, who said “My observation, though, is that of the money he has brought forward, the capital is only about 5% to 6% of the budget that he has earmarked for the next four or five years. What that means in my region is 50p per person per week invested in so-called shovel-ready projects. That is not enough. But crucially, there is a gaping hole in today’s announcement where support for manufacturing should be. We have 330,000 people across the west midlands on furlough in construction, manufacturing and the car business. I believe that the sharp ends to the furlough arrangements will put many people out of work, and there is no subsidy scheme for new cars of the type that has been announced in France and Germany. We want to be the capital of green manufacturing. I fear that, from today, we are now looking at manufacturing meltdown.”
SNP’s Margaret Ferrier said, “The community access to cash scheme recently announced at Cambuslang in my constituency is going to become one of the pilot areas, bringing back much needed payment facilities to our community, which has lost several bank branches. The Chancellor has promised legislation to improve access to cash, which is needed urgently in the light of the economic downturn caused by the Coronavirus. When will he bring forward that vital legislation to protect cash use, support small business and boost the recovery of our high streets.” The elderly and the poorest in society still need access to hard cash! Tory MP Mary Robinson spoke of the need to, “cut down on fraud and corruption. As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on whistleblowing, I am very keen that we do that. Will he join me for our webinar tomorrow, when we will be looking at ways that international Governments are tackling this through programmes, so that we can deal with the problem of corruption and fraud?”
I was shocked Labour’s Clive Efford welcomed Rich Rishi’s Stamp Duty cut without suggesting limitations, saying only, “but without an injection of new houses it risks forcing up prices, making it harder, not easier, for first-time buyers to buy homes. This statement should have been taken as an opportunity to inject capital into the housing market, and also into social housing, building houses that people can afford to live in, and creating opportunities for new jobs, new apprenticeships and new skills that people can use in the future, so will the Chancellor go away and have a look at putting some money particularly into building social housing?”
Labour/Co-op MP James Murray highlighted the truly disgraceful conduct of British Airways towards their staff, stating that, “On 25 June, a Treasury direction in relation to the coronavirus job retention scheme made it clear: ‘Integral to the purpose of the CJRS’ is that the grant ‘is used by the employer to continue the employment of employees’. Will the Chancellor therefore confirm that British Airways would be liable to pay back any taxpayers’ money used to furlough staff the company chose to put on notice of redundancy during that furlough period?” This was just one massive loophole that the Tory Government left wide open for their Corporate backers to take advantage of their workers and the taxpayer. Under this Tory Government the wealthy elite are the real benefit scroungers as conditionality is reserved for DWP dealing harshly with the unemployed, the working poor and the disabled.
The SNPs Drew Hendry returned to those excluded from any Government support, saying, “The Chancellor said at the beginning of his statement that “no one will be left without hope”, so what does he say to the hundreds of thousands of businesses and sole traders excluded from support during this pandemic crisis? Many of them are in seasonal businesses facing, in effect, three winters of trading. They cannot afford extra debt, so is now not the time to convert some of the money put aside for loans into grants to support the sector? Big Corporations will receive bail out grants while SMEs are legally obligated not to take on debt they cannot repay. ‘Rich Rishi’ gives the rich a cut in Stamp Duty on that second home, less VAT on costly travel to a luxury vacation and a discount on dinner out. The staggering debt of rent arrears during prolonged unemployment, food bank reliance, homelessness and destitution for those relegated to the ‘Sunak Sluice!’ Investigate the Covert 2019 Rigged Election: we must Get the Tories Out! DO NOT MOVE ON!
Sunak says you get a limited time offer ‘Meal Deal’ in August, while the Tory Corporate elite sop up the big bucks in mega deals that no longer go out to tender and don’t require any knowledge of, or assets in, the products and services they are contracted to provide! If it sounds like Tory Government corruption it most probably is… Surely Tory Ministers wouldn’t pull that trick yet again? Wasn’t it embarrassing enough when the Transport Secretary awarded that Brexit ferry contract to a company that had no ships? According to a Guardian Article, “Seaborne Freight’s £13.8m deal” was allegedly to provide, “support for new UK businesses…” Sure, like the unicorn trade! That was back then under the notorious loser ‘Failing Grayling.’ But this is now and the Tories are laughing all the way to the bank, because the duped British public simply never hold them to account. The Canary Article entitled, “The £5.5bn PPE scandal that goes to the core of government incompetence – and that’s just for starters” really opens up this can of worms.
The Canary report that, “A multi-million pound personal protective equipment (PPE) contract awarded by the UK government to a family-run investments firm has set off alarm bells.” Shockingly this is not an isolated incident; they also document, “Recipients for similar contracts include a recruitment agency, a sweets manufacturer, and a business that specialises in pest control products.” They say, “A Labour MP has raised questions about one of these contracts and litigation against the government has commenced.” The Canary, “has conducted its own investigation into these matters.” They say, “What has been highlighted so far may well be just the tip of the iceberg.” This is doubly distressing when we have heard of legitimate, highly experienced and appropriate companies, eager to offer good quality PPE products to the Government’s procurement team, who are turned away and then feel compelled to start selling their PPE to countries overseas despite the desperate shortage in our NHS Hospitals and Care Homes!
The Canary elaborate on a few of the dodgy details on Ayanda Capital Ltd (ACL), which they describe as, “an investments firm that specialises in ‘currency trading, offshore property, and private equity and trade financing’;” revealing that they were, “awarded a contract by the UK government worth £252.5m to supply face masks.” This despite the fact that the Canary say, “their ‘business lines’ suggest no history that this ‘London-based family office’ produces or provides PPE.” The Canary revealed that, “Ayanda is run by former Kleinwort Benson director Tim Horlick. It’s owned by the Horlick family via Milo Investments, a holding company registered in Mauritius,” a notorious offshore tax haven for the wealthy elite. They expose the fact, “Ayanda senior board adviser Andrew Mills is also an adviser to the government’s board of trade (which is chaired by international trade secretary Liz Truss).”
The Canary detail a number of other dubious connections that indicate our tax money is being misappropriated and not just poorly allocated but heaved sideways to crony Capitalists with tax haven bolt holes where they can hide the trousered cash. That is tax revenue that will in future need to be recouped; it will no doubt be squeezed back out of ordinary citizens in higher bills to cover diminished public services. Charitable Investment Funds, Including one for the Church of England, have recouped lost revenues during the Pandemic; they are also implicated in this evolving scandal. Canary report that, “The government awarded PPE contracts to a number of firms that also appeared to have no history of sourcing or providing PPE that’s suitable for the NHS. For example:
• Aventis Solutions, which was awarded an £18.5m contract to supply face masks. Avensis is an employment agency.
• Clandeboye Agencies Limited specialises in nut and coffee products, chocolate, and confectionary. It’s based in the north of Ireland and was awarded a £108m contract to provide PPE. It also trades as Crunchcraving. The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor are seeking a judicial review in regard to the contract.
• A £108m contract was also awarded to Crisp Websites Limited, trading as PestFix, a firm that specialises in pest control. The Good Law Project is suing the government regarding this contract and is seeking a judicial review. In an update, the government clarified that the PestFix award is actually £32m and covers isolation suits, though there are ‘a number of further contracts’.”The Canary say, “the firms quoted above are only the tip of the iceberg.” The article includes a shocking list, “as of 8 July, of all single-bidder contracts awarded by the UK government, with costs totalling just under £1bn.” Considering the legal challenges in this area of Government corruption re awarding of contracts, it is blindingly obvious to see why Boris Johnson’s Tory Government are so eager to follow through with their manifesto pledge to eliminate the potential for Judicial review ASAP! The level of Tory accountability is already dismally poor, but the opposition aren’t exactly putting this corrupt cabal under robust scrutiny. It is the emerging scandals like this that make Starmer’s pathetic performance at the dispatch box during the last PMQs so frustrating; five out of six highly publicized interrogation opportunities wasted begging for an apology does not constitute even a moderate level of challenge! Will Starmer wave through the abolition of Judicial Review and the neutering of our Judiciary without a serious fight?
An iNews Article report exposed, “Details of the deal, published on the European Union’s Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) website, reveal that only one tender was submitted for the lucrative contract. Officials have been able to award contracts directly without prior publication and therefore without adhering to the usual procurement timetables in certain circumstances, one of which is for reasons of ‘extreme urgency’.” They say, “The latest cases were highlighted in a series of tweets by Jolyon Maugham QC, director of Good Law Project, which is seeking the judicial review.” He told iNews: “The fact that a £250m PPE contract has gone to an opaque family fund owned through a tax haven poses serious questions about how this Government has gone about procuring protective equipment for frontline staff during this pandemic.” He said, “Enormous sums of public money have been dished out on the basis of a highly unusual process that breaks all the normal procurement rules. To protect public funds and to try and prevent further PPE procurement failures, we intend to get answers.”
iNews reported that Shadow health minister Justin Madders said: “The Government’s response throughout the coronavirus crisis has been to hand more and more contracts to companies with no expertise or a poor record of delivery. From PPE to the test, trace and isolate system there have been a series of glaring failures from private companies who are found wanting on performance and value for money.” Madders said, “We need answers from the Government about why and how these companies can be awarded these contracts; we know existing suppliers have been dropped at the last minute, costing them thousands of pounds and wasting theirs and the taxpayers time. We need cast iron guarantees that the companies selected are genuinely the best for the task in hand and that they have no existing connections to Government.” It’s shocking to hear that ‘existing’ suppliers are being discarded!
iNews were told that, “The contracts awarded were in response to the public call to action issued by Government to support the increased requirements of PPE and do not include UK manufacturing contracts. Officials say proper due diligence is carried out for all government contracts and that they take these checks extremely seriously. The DHSC said it is prioritising companies that can provide large volumes of PPE at a fast pace, while ensuring all new PPE undergoes rigorous checks to ensure they meet the safety and quality required.” However, this statement entirely loses credibility when you realize that responsibility for the integrity of the supply has been outsourced to a company with no knowledge or experience of Healthcare or safety needs. Lack of oversight and the devolved responsibility of these outsourced supply chains invite serious problems, as occurred with protective gowns first delayed in shipment from Turkey and later failing to meet safety standards after they finally arrived. Who pays for these mistakes?
iNews said of DHSC that, “When asked if the Department was aware when it awarded the contract that ACL’s ultimate holding company is based in a tax haven and of Mr Mills’s role with the Board of Trade a spokesperson said it does not comment on individual company business operations.” They said, “We have a robust process which ensures that orders are of high quality standard, meet commercial due diligence and checked for risk and fraud.” Right, that would be after the kit has arrived in the UK and is found to be not fit for purpose or safe for protecting NHS staff.
The Canary say that, “With regard to a possible legal challenge by the Good Law Project (GLP) and Every Doctor Ltd (EDL) to how the contract to PestFix was awarded, the government’s legal department stated: [PestFix] did not hold itself out as a manufacturer, but rather as an agent with the ability to source PPE stocks from producers in the Republic of China, where it had good contacts. It offered a range of products in substantial quantities, including isolation suits which could be available in as little as seven days.” The Tory Government are overly keen on this outsourcing model where responsibility is dissipated and diminished through multiple layers, who must each take a cut, while the quality of the products purchased is devalued to enable a profit to be made at every level. How much better off would we be if we had contracted directly with reliable, experienced and appropriately knowledgeable UK manufacturers while depending on a significantly well maintained emergency stockpile to meet our most immediate needs?
Canary report that, “The government’s Legal Department also took the opportunity to provide a detailed rebuttal of the criticisms levied against the PPE procurement programme: Rather than focusing on the identity of the potential supplier, the validity of the offer was the key focus, thereby allowing smaller suppliers with strong contacts in PPE supply to offer the support the Government urgently needed. Equally, past experience in PPE supply was not considered a prerequisite, as other businesses (of whatever size) might also be able to leverage their manufacturing contacts to engage with foreign enterprises converting existing facilities to PPE production. While it was of course possible for DHSC to continue liaising with existing large-scale suppliers during this period (and indeed it did so, through NHS Supply Chain), the nature of the changed market conditions required the development of alternative sources of supply and it was appropriate not to impose unnecessary hurdles in the way of securing that objectives.”
The Canary also reported on a written question to Health Secretary Matt Hancock from Labour MP Justin Madders, who requested that, “further details of the PPE supplies arrangement with Ayanda be published.” In addition Madders had expressed his specific concerns regarding the unacceptable working conditions in some overseas factories, wanting to determine “as to whether PPE is being manufactured under conditions of modern slavery.” The Canary cite, “A Channel 4 News investigation revealed the shocking conditions in which migrant workers making PPE items in Malaysia were forced to work. They were employed by Top Glove, which has over 40 factories worldwide and supplies the NHS via Polyco Healthline. Similar allegations were made against Supermax, the European arm of another Malaysian firm.”
According to a Guardian Article, “Malaysia is the world’s largest producer of rubber gloves, but the industry has been accused of grossly exploiting its workforce, mostly impoverished migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal. Illegal recruitment fees, long hours, low pay, passport confiscation and squalid, overcrowded accommodation are commonplace, workers have claimed. Experts say such conditions leave them vulnerable to forced labour and debt bondage, which are modern forms of slavery.” If the Tories could totally destroy the unions and legally impose slave labour conditions here in the UK we would be sourcing from British manufacturers!
This scandal the Canary say, “dramatically shows the extent of the government’s lack of long-term planning” reporting that, ”As regarding PPE preparedness, Labour MP and chair of the Public Accounts Committee Meg Hiller commented: What has emerged …is a shocking gap in the UK’s planning in this emergency. We saw all of this coming, for months and in fact years. We could have planned for emergency procurement too in; reality there should have been no need to resort to rushed awards of potentially dodgy contracts. It’s not good enough to say, as seems to be the official line now, that the future will judge. The pandemic is still active now and we’re at risk of a second wave. Indeed, the real scandal is about not only how PPE contracts were awarded. It’s about the tens of thousands of lives that might have been saved had the proper equipment been available in the first place. These include the thousands of patients sent back to Care Homes where there was little or no PPE. Sadly, it’s a tragedy that’s still unfolding.”
While buying up cheap PPE supplies at the lowest possible cost overseas despite the unacceptable delays that left frontline staff unprotected, at the opposite end of the scale there was serious money to be made in the procurement of high tech equipment like ventilators. The Brexiteers favoured Corporate cronies were there to offer tangential expertise; Dyson could reinvent the vent in record time for a hefty fee. The Tory sponsored gravy-train was boundless, with newly converted ‘Nightingale’ emergency Hospital facilities popping up right across the country. The seriously beleaguered NHS lacked the staff to man the rapidly expanded ward capacity so the Nightingale’s remained virtually unused. Meanwhile, without Covid testing, elderly were transferred to Care Homes to seed the virus among their vulnerable residents and unprotected minimum wage staff. Johnson blaming the unprotected Care Home staff for the alarming death toll was despicable, but Starmer targeting Tory failings was a priority: Jonson will not apologise!
The ‘Holocaust in Care’ was an entirely avoidable cull of the ‘economically inactive’ population receiving costly care: an expense that this Tory Government was eager to ruthlessly eliminate. This consciously manufactured tragedy was pursued by greedy Tory Ministers focused primarily on profits and rewarding the Corporate donors who bankrolled the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. But the cruel ‘Slaughter of the Sheeple” evolved from a discredited perversion of ‘Herd Immunity’ under the warped direction of the same unelected Chief Adviser, with an extreme eugenics agenda, who masterminded the stolen election. Cummings, universally loathed by the public at large, has seriously transgressed and should have been removed. Balking at such accountability, the PM has tried to fob us off with a meal deal, a break on VAT and newly permitted freedom to visit a pub. The PM is scared that Cummings might expose the crimes of this Tory Government, we must demand he goes: Cummings is the grenade, oust him and you pull the pin! DO NOT MOVE ON!
Do we have the detailed vote breakdown for 2019 yet? I still can’t find all of the info, if anyone has it please drop a link here.
J – I am not sure but the information should ve on the Electoral Commission site first.
The massive furore over Huawei with demonization of China is serving to distract us from the reality that we will rapidly become a seriously authoritarian Electoral Dictatorship within the coming year. As MPs compliantly grovel to US pressure and rant about the unquestionable Human Rights abuses of the Chinese state there is a glaring hypocrisy in the foe outrage of the declaration, “Is this the type of country we want to do business with? Victoria Derbyshire tried to elicit comparative criticism of Saudi Arabia who we directly supply with an arsenal of horrific weapons to bomb the children of Yemen, but it was swiftly brushed aside; the target was China, no deviation allowed. The BBC also started touting a second peak in Covid with warning threats of an even higher death toll of 120,000; prepare the Sheeple for the coming Slaughter! Despite genuine concern over China’s targeting of the Uighurs and the clampdown in Hong Kong we cannot ignore the imminent demise of UK democracy. Is this the type of country we want to become?
The Canary Article entitled, “While we’re distracted by coronavirus, Priti Patel quietly introduces new draconian powers” warns us o an ominous threat to our Human Rights in future as treacherous Home Secretary Patel is set to expand the Tory Government’s ability to criminalize and incarcerate the UK population. They say, “While we’re all focussed on dealing the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Priti Patel is quietly introducing a raft of new draconian terrorism powers.” However, “lawyers, academics, journalists, researchers, and activists are taking action to ensure these new powers don’t become law without a fight. In a joint statement, they argue that the government’s new counter-terrorism and sentencing bill ‘must be opposed by everyone’.” They say, “The statement, released by Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC), argues that the greatest risk is for innocent individuals to be caught up and their lives seriously torn apart by the powers in the bill”. The CAMPACC Statement is printed below.
“CAMPACC statement: New Counter-Terrorism And Sentencing Bill Aims To Ratchet Repression
The new Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill 2020, will not enhance public security. On the contrary it will:
• Extend punishment without trial, including even internal exile, renewable indefinitely;
• Turn ordinary crimes into ‘terrorist’ ones, as subjective grounds for more severe sentences;
• Incentivise racist stereotyping of ‘non-violent extremism’ to justify those two powers;
• and thus go further in criminalising communities.
In the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown, the Home Secretary has tabled a draft bill on 20 May when any serious parliamentary and civil society scrutiny is well nigh impossible.This is the eighth Counter-Terrorism Bill following the founding Terrorism Bill 2000 which made emergency powers permanent and became the basis of subsequent bills which were put in after significant terror attacks. CAMPACC have always argued that criminal law had sufficient provisions to deal with any terrorist threat. The creation of separate terrorism laws severely undermined civil liberties, the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression, the rights of association and criminalised communities. It has created a securitisation infrastructure that provides for funding and career advancement of securocrats. It has produced a burgeoning surveillance network. It has framed the ‘enemy within’ particularly Muslims to justify the involvement in wars and counter insurgency abroad.
The Bill follows in the wake of the terror attacks at Fishmongers Hall on 29 November 2019 and in Streatham on 2 February 2020. The draft bill claims to aim to protect the public better by ensuring that serious and dangerous offenders are locked up longer enabling more time for their disengagement and rehabilitation. When outside custody, it aims to monitor and manage the risk posed by the offenders. In all such terrorist incidents there were intelligence failures. Instead of tackling such failures which have happened too often, the government aims to ratchet up further repression. The greatest risk is for innocent individuals to be caught up and their lives seriously torn apart by the powers in the bill.We, together with a coalition of other organisations, fought the control orders, a system of indefinite house arrests introduced by the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2005 over four years. The Act was repealed and replaced by the Terrorism Prevention and Investigative Measures (TPIMS) in 2011. Although repressive in every way, TPIMs had a term limit of two years. This act removes the two year limit and hence make TPIMs with annual renewal indefinite. Furthermore, it allows the government to relocate an individual to any place within the country, without due consideration of his family and community relationships. This is akin to internal exile used in the British colonies, where individuals were totally isolated.
TPIMs are imposed by the Home Secretary. Previously the evidence for imposing this was subjected to ‘balance of probabilities’, a proof used in civilian law. That has been swept aside. They can now be imposed if there was a reasonable grounds of suspicion, which is an arbitrary judgment made by officials. So, as with previous counter-terrorism measures, individuals suspected of non-violent extremism, who have committed no crime, could fall in the net without any recourse to a fair trial. Individuals who have not committed any crime at all, would have their lives ripped apart by this measures. We are especially concerned in the way that the bill widens its application to common law offences where determinations will have to be made whether each case has a ‘terrorist connection’. Under this, whether a crime like stabbing is considered to be a ‘standard’ crime, a ‘gang-related’ crime or a ‘terror-related’ crime will leave it open to discriminatory decisions with the outcome likely to depend on whether the perpetrator is black or Muslim, respectively.
The bill defines a range of serious terrorist offences which intend to cause serious harm and introduces the Serious Terrorism Sentence for the most serious and dangerous terrorist offenders. This sentence carries a minimum of 14 years to be spent in custody, with an extended licence period of up to 25 years. It also increases the maximum sentence that the court can impose for three terrorism offences (membership of a proscribed organisation, supporting a proscribed organisation, and attending a place used for terrorist training), from 10 to 14 years, properly reflecting the seriousness of this type of offending.
Proscription of political associations is already a serious issue for many British communities. The bill would have a chilling effect on the Kurdish community who have a long history of resistance against the authoritarian Turkish state. Their organisations PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) has been proscribed since 2001. The law outlaws political activity and organisation within the Kurdish community. The community members have never been involved in acts of terror in Britain. The recent Belgium Court judgement that the PKK was not a terrorist organisation but a party in conflict is notable. It is about time PKK was de-proscribed. Its continued proscription has always given the Turkish state an excuse to ratchet up repression and deny Kurds of any of the political and human rights.
The Tamil community will be similarly intimidated. It is a community recovering from a genocide and defeat and subjected to repression by the Sri Lankan state. The Basque, Somali Baloch and Palestinian community are in a similar situation with their main political organisations banned. The truth that the government has not confronted, is that, for two decades its counter-terrorism strategy has failed. We have seen sporadic terror attacks where critical intelligence has failed to pick them up. No level of repressive measures eroding civil liberties and the rule of law in the name of security has protected the public. The government has failed to recognise that its unjust wars and support for repressive regime has led to increased threat of terrorism.
Lord Steyn’s critical observation when discussing the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 remains true in 2020: ‘…it is the first duty of Government to protect citizens from harm ….but it does not excuse the endless excesses and acts of lawlessness committed in the name of the war on terror… Surely, objectively speaking, the Bill can be seen to be an attempt to lead the public to think that it is a serious attempt to improve security. It does nothing of the kind.’ More powers for cops, spooks and judges are not in the interests of ordinary people—the bill must be opposed by every one and every organisation who are defending civil liberties and are fighting against the criminalisation of innocent civilians and vulnerable communities.”
On the 17th of January a Guardian Article entitled, “Greenpeace included with neo-Nazis on UK counter-terror list” highlighted the broad net that this Tory Government is prepared to cast to eradicate all areas of potential public protest against the increasingly authoritarian regime. They report that, “Extinction Rebellion and Peta also named in anti-extremism briefing alongside Combat 18 and National Action. A counter-terrorism police document distributed to medical staff and teachers as part of anti-extremism briefings included Greenpeace, Peta and other non-violent groups as well as neo-Nazis,” the Guardian has learned. “The guide, produced by Counter Terrorism Policing, is used across England as part of training for Prevent, the anti-radicalisation scheme designed to catch those at risk of committing terrorist violence. Last week, police said documents uncovered by the Guardian that listed the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR) alongside far-right extremists and jihadists were a local error.”
An impressive list of signatories added weight to the CAMPACC Statement above, but this could easily be ignored by the Tories determined to pursue increasingly repressive measures to hobble British protest. The Canary report that, “This bill follows on from the 2019 Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act. Amongst other provisions, this Act widened the offence of ‘inviting support to a proscribed organisation’ to: cover expressions of support that are reckless as to whether they will encourage others to support the organisation. The 2019 legislation also included a new offence of streaming or viewing material useful for terrorism online even if it’s not downloaded and outlawed travelling to ‘designated areas’. The new bill extends the maximum prison sentence for the offence of supporting a proscribed organisation from ten years to 14 years. Other offences that will see the same increase in sentencing powers include: Being a member of a proscribed organisation – Attending a place used for terrorism training.”
The Canary article focuses on the ominous potential of these ill-defined expansions to ant-terrorism laws stating that, “In reality, there are questions over what the bill will mean for Kurdish people and their supporters in their everyday lives. For example, will someone on a protest, holding a flag of PKK leader and political prisoner Abdullah Öcalan, face 14 years imprisonment for supporting a proscribed organisation?” Referring to the peaceful establishment of Kurdish communities with strong female leadership in Rojava and Bakur, they say, “What will it mean for those of us who support one of the biggest women’s movements in the world? And will British citizens who fought with their Kurdish comrades against Daesh in Syria also face 14 years in prison? Where is the line drawn?” The powerful Israeli lobby in the UK have already used their undue influence to pushback hard against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign protesting Palestinian oppression; the Tory Government will likely target BDS.
They feature, “Nik Matheou, a solidarity organiser with the Kurdish freedom movement in the UK,” saying that he previously told The Canary the proposed new legislation is “particularly scary” and that: “These laws have been accumulating since 2000 and removed more and more civil liberties each time. But up to this point, it’s been easier for a lot of people to be able to ignore some of these laws because of the way in which they’ve targeted particular communities associated with particular movements…But now we’re really at the point where anyone who associates themselves with these movements, anyone who does really important and necessary solidarity work for criminalised communities here is at risk themselves of being associated with the category terrorist and having all of their civil liberties taken away.”
The Canary say, “The government is slipping through this bill at exactly the same time as a worldwide pandemic. Patel and the others were perhaps hoping that we wouldn’t notice. Or that we were just too busy worrying about our families’ and communities’ health to care. But this sinister bill criminalises the same communities that we have been looking out for, delivering medicines to, and organising mutual aid with.”
Focusing on policy failures they report, “as the CAMPACC statement points out, the government needs to take a hard look at its own incompetency: The truth that the government has not confronted, is that, for two decades its counter-terrorism strategy has failed. We have seen sporadic terror attacks where critical intelligence has failed to pick them up. No level of repressive measures eroding civil liberties and the rule of law in the name of security has protected the public. The government has failed to recognise that its unjust wars and support for repressive regime has led to increased threat of terrorism. But of course, the government is not going to admit that its wars for oil and control in the Middle East are anything but just. The public is becoming more and more agitated by our government’s institutional racism and colonial policies, and we’re seeing mass movements on the streets. This new bill shows us what the government is really scared of: the people, rising up for real, radical change.”
An Article in the Independent entitled, “As Priti Patel quietly expands Prevent, let’s talk about why we shouldbe defunding it instead” raises serious alarm over the ramping up and expansion of the failed Prevent Program, but offer a progressive way forward. They say that, “This is not just about opposing a policy or programme, it’s about a systematic rethink of how to rebuild society, replacing ingrained suspicion with solidarity. Protesters demand that racial profiling and targeted violence by police must stop, they want to see an end to Tory austerity cuts, restoring youth programs and provision of positive alternatives to hanging out with gangs. The Independent expose the disquieting fact that, “With thousands on the streets for Black Lives Matter and increased attention on policing, there was a quiet announcement over the weekend that Priti Patel, the home secretary, was expanding the government’s Prevent programme in its largest shakeup since 2003.”
The Independent believe that, “Part of the rationale for this appears to be that there is a growth in individuals engaging with left-wing movements and environmental campaigning. With ‘counter-extremism’ historically being used as a tool for surveillance, discrimination and political repression – and Boris Johnson referring to Black Lives Matter protests themselves as being ‘hijacked by extremists’ – now is the time to connect calls to defund the police and making the case to defund and abolish Prevent and the wider ‘counter-extremism’ surveillance apparatus.” They say, “Many in the UK, especially on the left, have been unwilling to take on arguments on policing and counter-terrorism for fear of being “soft on crime” as the Labour leader’s comments this week show, but this silence has come at great cost to our collective freedoms and civil liberties, and weakened our commitment to anti-racism. Now is the time to reimagine what looking after each other looks like without a punitive system of surveillance and retribution.”
The Independent reveal that, “Prevent has been criticised since its inception but in its latest iteration, since 2015, it has flagged the drawings of 4-year-olds, trained young people to spy on each other and has been used to crack down on activism relating to the climate catastrophe. Activists in Extinction Rebellion fell into the crosshairs of Prevent, and guidance from regional Counter-Terror Policing teams identified groups with extremist potential to watch, including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition and Campaign Against Nuclear Disarmament. Indeed, the criticisms above led to the concession of an independent review. But the review, which was due to report to Parliament next month, has not begun, and the government is seeking to extend the review timeline indefinitely.” Never-ending reviews that fail to produce actionable conclusions: zero accountability or scrutiny!
Tories rant about the danger Huawei pose to our communications network, ignoring other Chinese contracts and multiple foreign powers in control of our critical infrastructure, utilities and transport. Probably both the security concern and the recent crackdown in Hong Kong are less relevant than the US demand that we pick a side: China has overtaken Russia as most vilified nation. But, some Human Rights are more equal than others, so innocent children in Yemen and Palestinians evicted from their stolen land are of no concern in UK foreign policy strategy, especially where profits from selling arms are involved. The public are being ruthlessly manipulated and primed to accept more restriction to our freedoms and a winter ‘Boris Spike’ as the Covid cull, a ‘Slaughter of the Sheeple,’ is ramped up as the Tories consolidate Dictatorship, unless we demand an Investigation to overturn the injustice of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. Target the evil, unelected, mastermind; Cummings is the grenade, oust him and you pull the pin! DO NOT MOVE ON!
Build, Build, Build, Johnson has been told by his minder, Dominic Cummings, to put a positive spin on investment in infrastructure, before the public have a chance to realize the ominous implications that the major target for construction is in jails and morgues! As unemployment soars and the public brace for the avoidable harm of crash-out Brexit, the sickening expansion of anti-terrorism laws to encompass a crackdown on anticipated protests as civil unrest accelerates will be critical. Inevitably there must be space to warehouse the newly criminalized plus those targeted by immigration sweeps. The Nightingales were prepared for a temporary role in the conveyor belt of carnage but, by year end there will be an urgent need for increased morgue capacity to handle all the bodies resulting from the strategically engineered ‘Boris Spike’ as the next stage of the ‘Slaughter of the Sheeple’ gets under way. Strong evidence of this gruesome Tory Government strategy is writ large in Law, BBC touted warnings and the build already under way.
British jails are already overcrowded, but the arbitrary expansion of what qualifies as terrorist activity and lengthening of sentences aren’t the only demands on incarceration; the Tory manifesto pledged to target Gypsies and the Brexit clampdown will require more immigration detention centres. In the Independent Article challenging the warped misdirection of UK policing that has been steadily building since Blair’s illegal war and jingoistic ramp-up, they warn of, “The capture of more and more areas of social life by systems of ‘counter-extremist’ surveillance in Britain – from healthcare to education to social work – also indicate the urgent task at hand for those opposing policing and state violence: we need to be both moving towards the abolition of formal policing, and to resist the outsourcing of policing to other sectors. Understanding the context of policing and state violence in Britain cannot ignore the growth of so-called ‘counter-terrorism’ over the last 20 years, and abolitionist campaigning cannot fail to tackle this sector head-on.”
The Independent report on hopeful signs that, “In the US, organisers responding to the meek #8CantWait model which advocates for a ‘reform’ approach such as banning chokeholds (which are already banned in most places but continue to be used) and requiring a warning before shooting have created an ‘8 to Abolition’ framework, which is gaining ground not just in the US but here in the UK too. Within this 8 to Abolition framework, organisers in Minneapolis where George Floyd was murdered, have connected the dots from racist policing to racist countering violent extremism programmes impacting communities, including Minneapolis’ Black Muslim community. Under the 8 to Abolition framework, we can link the calls for the defunding of policing to defunding programmes like Prevent and the wider security apparatus which has eroded civil liberties and freedoms for years. In doing so, we can draw upon the work of organisations that have been organising against Prevent and the wider surveillance systems for years.”
The Independent point out that, “In the UK, we have seen the absolute withering of funds associated with youth work, the creative arts or bringing communities together, all replaced with Prevent or other ‘counter-extremist’ funding streams, such as the ‘Building a Stronger Britain Together’ fund. This has been made available for communities and organisations in the context of austerity, but comes with the strings of surveillance and monitoring attached for recipients, sowing distrust within communities.” They say it will entail, “a systematic rethink of how to rebuild society, and replace ingrained suspicion with solidarity. If we are to build a world within which state violence is eradicated, we need to take this battle head-on. The near-annual spectacle of new counter-terror legislation being introduced has done nothing but criminalise more and more communities – similar to the approach to immigration which saw successive pieces of legislation passing year on year creating an impossible maze to navigate…”
Another Independent Article entitled, “Government accused of ‘putting profit over human dignity’ with plan to build prisons and boost economy,” refers to a comment where they note Bell Ribeiro-Addy a, “Labour MP accuses government of ‘Americanising’ jail system amid drive to use infrastructure projects to bolster coronavirus recovery.” They note that, “A government pledge to build new prisons has been criticised as ‘putting profit over human dignity’ after the Ministry of Justice heralded the scheme as being designed to boost the nation’s economy. The MoJ announced four new sites would be built across England in the next six years amid a drive to fulfil a Conservative manifesto pledge to develop 10,000 new prison places.” They stress, “the department faced accusations of using state punishment as a means of boosting the nation’s financial wellbeing after announcing the measure was designed to ‘help local economies’, and ‘support the construction industry to invest and innovate’ in a post to Twitter.”
In the now standard pre-speech announcement of Boris Johnson’s ramping up of expansive infrastructure spending pledges with a newly created taskforce to fast-track new build of Schools, Hospitals and Prisons, claiming that this would combat the economic downturn caused by Covid 19, it is all too easy to recognize where the urgent need for lengthy incarceration will require expansion. The fate of two partially finished new Hospital remains in limbo two years on from the demise of the private contracting giant who abandoned the project exposing the fragility of Tory outsourcing that has continued at pace. A Guardian Article revealed back in January that, “Two hospitals held up by Carillion collapse are delayed further.” Scheduled to open in 2017 at an estimated cost of £746m the 646-bed Royal Liverpool is now expected to cost £1bn to build and run while the 669-bed Midland Metropolitan, due to open in late 2018 will run £300m over the original £688m budget with both facilities now not expected to be complete before 2022!
The Guardian emphasize that, “The delays and extra costs to the taxpayer have been seized upon by Labour and unions as the fault of Conservative ministers who were ‘asleep at the wheel’ when the outsourcing giant went into liquidation in January 2018. The hospitals were intended to be up-to-date medical facilities. They were funded by PFI, the controversial model where private firms are contracted to complete public projects and take debt off the government’s balance sheet.” The article cites, “significant construction problems” had caused delays even before work stopped, “while the hospital trusts, government and private investors attempted to rescue the projects.” Will these two over budget and chronically stalled new builds be boastfully re-spun as two of the PM’s pledged 40 new Hospitals? The Guardian say Carillion is “described as a story of ‘recklessness, hubris and greed’, and the sudden disappearance of its services disrupted more than 400 contracts across almost every area of government….”
Meanwhile the expansion of our prison system should alarm us all as there is no investment in our disillusioned youths. Backbench Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy is quoted in the Independent accusing the department of ‘Americanising’ the UK prison system. They elaborate further that this remark was, “a reference to the system of for-profit jails operated by private companies in the US under government contracts.” The depressing US facilities are run as profit making enterprises, thus creating an incentive for increased incarceration with zero regard for rehabilitation of offenders or protecting the public from the threat posed by dangerous criminals. The Guardian note Ribeiro-Addy’s awareness of this flaw, she wrote on Twitter, “These plans don’t focus on safety or rehabilitation. They prioritise profit over human dignity, in a justice system that perpetuates inequality.” We should all ask why such full throated criticism of Tory Government policy isn’t being voiced by Labour Leader, Keir Starmer or anyone in his shallow Shadow Cabinet?
The Independent report that, “The government’s pledge includes commitments to build two sites in the southeast of England and one in the northwest – with the ministry currently working to identify locations for each. The fourth site, to be built alongside HMP Full Sutton in Yorkshire, is the only one to have its location confirmed – and was first announced by Liz Truss during her time as justice secretary under Theresa May in 2017. The government is also yet to announce who will operate the prisons. A number of jails in the UK are currently outsourced to private firms. Announcing the measure, the Ministry of Justice said it intended that at least one prison would be managed by the public sector.” I well remember when I lived in Baltimore in the US and a new Youth Detention Centre was being touted in similar terms as providing much needed jobs. In a more cynical take, a local reporter told me it was a logical infrastructure investment; he described incarceration as “the only growth industry in our city.” Are we there yet?
Announcing the pledge, prisons and probation minister Lucy Frazer QC MP was quoted as saying: “These new jails form a major part of our plans to transform the prison estate, and create environments where offenders can be more effectively rehabilitated and turned away from crime for good.” I was saddened to see the Independent report that, “not all Labour MPs felt as Ms Ribeiro-Addy did, shadow justice secretary David Lammy welcomed the plan as a means of tackling overcrowding in the nation’s prisons.” More like you build them; we will fill them to capacity and beyond! Was Lammy so easily duped by the Tories professed good intentions? They quote his response, “Prisons in England and Wales are overcrowded and understaffed after a decade of underfunding by successive Conservative governments. Measures to ease pressure and ensure offenders can be punished and rehabilitated more effectively should be welcomed. However, we note that the ‘new’ prison in Sutton has now been announced on multiple occasions.”
Our limp Labour opposition are leaving it to backbenchers to show some spine, but the Independent reports on disquiet from other quarters, “…figures from the world of prison reform have urged the government to redirect funding into tackling the root causes of crime, instead of growing its stock of jail cells. Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: ‘In the face of furious local opposition, the government plans to squander hundreds of millions of pounds on building more prisons, which will soon be squalid cesspits of violence and drugs. Rather than dusting down old policy announcements that repeat the mistakes of the past, ministers should be showing us how they will tackle the bigger issues that drive crime –health inequalities, homelessness and a shrinking economy. Put short-term political gain to one side and come up with solutions that will reduce crime, make us safer, and take the country forward.” Starmer and his team appear set to enable a huge expansion of detention!
In America arrests are incentivised to supply the thriving industry within privately run ‘for profit’ jails. A cheaply maintained labour force of workers are stripped of their rights after minor offences get them locked away for lengthy prison terms. A wealthy socialite might get a light-touch caution if caught snorting cocaine, just as Gove has openly admitted to here in the UK. However, in the US, where cheap crack cocaine is the misery salve of the poor and minority ethnic population, an entirely different schedule of harsher sentencing is applied. Police choppers circle menacingly over black neighbourhoods in the hope of spotting a drug transaction going down; they are not there to protect the community, but to size up likely victims to catch in the dragnet that helps populate US jail cells. The BBC Report that, “Prison rates in the US are the world’s highest, at 724 people per 100,000.” Although England and Wales have 145 per 100,000 of the population behind bars, that is a higher rate than China; do we really want to emulate the US?
So what other potential building projects have this Tory Government got in mind as they relentlessly prepare for the resumption of Cummings eugenics ‘Herd Immunity’ program with an engineered cull of the ‘economically inactive’ and the working poor? Before you jump to the conclusion that this is just ultra alarmist scare mongering, it’s important to realize that it was the https://skwawkbox.org/2020/05/14/exclusive-as-govt-claims-peak-passed-and-eases-lockdown-it-is-busy-tripling-temporary-mortuary-capacity-in-preparation-for-huge-new-spike-in-deaths/ of concern as the Government claimed the ‘peak’ had passed just as the Tories were ramping up capacity to deal with an escalation in Covid 19 dead! They reported that, “The government has claimed this week that its decision to relax England’s lock-down could be taken because the country has passed the peak of infections and deaths – and denied that the resulting flood of people back onto public transport and into public spaces will create a new peak.” They rightfully claim that, “the Tories are planning for the actions they are taking – and those they are failing to take – to fuel a huge new spike in cases and deaths.”
A MailOnline Article reported a, “Super morgue in east London built to hold coronavirus victims TRIPLES in size and can now hold 3,000 bodies.” They list: “Epping Forest super morgue has its capacity increased to 3,000; The government has expanded morgue capacity nationwide to 30,000 places; Officials had claimed that 20,000 Covid-19 victims would be ‘a good result’ So far, more than 26,000 people in Britain have fallen victim to coronavirus.” That was May 1st but we are well past that now! “A super morgue set up in east London to hold victims of Covid-19 has tripled in size in the last month as the Government extends capacity across the country to cope with 30,000 bodies.” Epping Forest site has been extended three times. They add that, “Several other temporary mortuaries around Britain have also been set up in Manchester, Birmingham and Essex. In the UK, provision has been made for up to 1,000 corpses to be stored in Manchester, 2,000 in Birmingham and in Essex there are 916 temporary mortuary spaces.”
MailOnline reported that, “Before the coronavirus crisis, Britain had space for 20,000 bodies in mortuaries, but the Government has brought the figure up to 50,000 and made it a top priority to ensure the dead are cared for with the ‘utmost dignity.’ A Cabinet source said the Prime Minister was adamant there would be absolute respect shown to the dead and everything done to avoid grim cases such as yesterday’s incident in New York where 100 decomposing bodies were found stored in two lorries. The Government initially said it would be a ‘good result’ if the UK only suffered 20,000 deaths but the number of victims stands at more than 26,000 with the country still very much in the middle of the crisis.” The Covid cases and fatalities have steadily escalated to the point where the UK has the highest death toll in Europe, second highest globally with the most medical staff to perish from the disease while providing care. Don’t forget the video presentation featured on Skwawkbox showing Covid was to be “turned on and off like a tap!”
This alarming MailOnline article elaborates on the grisly details regarding these depressing facilities noting that, “Finishing touches to the third extension of the Epping Forest site – the size of two football pitches – were made today with industrial diggers and workers installing racking and refrigeration. The area has been hit by the threat of rat infestation and more than 50 black rodent bait boxes, laden with poison, have been placed along the perimeter fencing,10 meters apart. The super morgue, which was originally designed for 1,000, was forced to expand after another temporary mortuary at nearby Leyton, which was built to care for 700 bodies, was suddenly shut down.” However, MailOnline say that, “As mortuaries are expanded, special counselling lines and ‘welfare advisors’ are being set up to offer support to staff and undertakers overwhelmed by the amount of death they are facing.”
MailOnline say that, “Epping Forest mortuary is situated on a section of woodland bordered by the busy A116, a cut through which leads traffic towards the North Circular Road, close to the City of London crematorium and cemetery. There is a constant flow of vehicles entering and leaving at all times of the day. ‘The area is floodlight at night and it is then the eerie hum of the generators can be most clearly heard.” When, “Asked about the latest capacity increase at Epping Forest, a spokesperson for the Strategic Coordination Group told MailOnline: ‘It is crucial that London has adequate facilities to ensure an effective response to the current COVID-19 outbreak.” Other sites are being sought, they note that, “A spokeswoman said: ‘We already know that they’ve arranged almost 30,000 additional funerals, over and above the tens of thousands that they would normally expect to see at this time of year, and this figure continues to grow with every day that goes by.” UK Funeral Directors must now brace for the coming ‘Boris Spike.’
Recent decisions and proposed changes to the law herald the terrifying future we will face. Boris Johnson constantly brags of his pledge to build, build, build, but two abandoned Hospitals still remain unfinished and throughout the country dangerous cladding is still in place on high rise buildings like Grenfell. Instead we are painfully aware that to increase prison terms and criminalize a larger number of people within our population will ultimately require more jail space and we already know that the Tory Government have prioritized building additional morgues so the dystopian nightmare ahead is clear! As stated before, “The public are being ruthlessly manipulated and primed to accept more restriction to our freedoms and a winter ‘Boris Spike’ as the Covid cull, a ‘Slaughter of the Sheeple,’ is ramped up as the Tories consolidate Dictatorship, unless we demand an investigation to overturn the injustice of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. Target the evil, unelected, mastermind; Cummings is the grenade, oust him and you pull the pin!” DO NOT MOVE ON!
A Sky News Analysis of the latest power play from number 10, over their pick for the powerful Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of parliament, may expose further evidence of Dominic Cummings obsession with control over all aspects of Johnson’s Tory Government. In Sky’s piece entitled, “Why Boris Johnson’s brutal revenge could make a bad situation much worse,” they say that, “One Tory MP blames Dominic Cummings for a decision that many in parliament believe is a massive overreaction by Number 10.” At any other time, expecting members of the strategically important ICS to elect ‘failing Grayling’ as their Chair would have been seen as dangerously misguided, but we have come to expect compliant MPs being moved into positions of influence; if Johnson is hurtling towards absolute dictatorship such control is essential. Placing the notoriously blunder prone MP, who has no experience in either the Intelligence or Security sectors, as Chair of the ICS was a serious error corrected by concerned committee members.
Emily Maitlis dutifully read out the BBC prepared headline on Newsnight announcing that, “The Prime Minister loses control of the Intelligence Committee after a plot by opposition MPs. What does this mean for the long-awaited publication of the Russia Report?“ What that propaganda headline failed to address was that the PM had no right to attempt control of the Intelligence and Security Committee, the ISC were correct to agree on an eminently more qualified candidate for such an important committee Chair; they would not have needed to act in such a seemingly clandestine way if this Tory Government wasn’t so determined to deviously strengthen its vice-grip on power! In addition there is widespread agreement that Boris Johnson had absolutely no right to block publication of that controversial report due for release before the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. But the BBC tried to paint a totally different picture with Nick Watt warping the public perception in favour of the righteous Tory Government stymied by evil plotters.
Maitlis said, “It’s a plot that owes more to a Westminster box set than the minutia of a nine person ballot. But tonight after what’s been described as a last minute coup, opposition members of the Intelligence and Security Committee have installed their man as chair confounding Number 10s plans to cement former Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, in place.” Bypassing Grayling’s renown incompetence, she said, “He was beaten by the independent minded Conservative MP Julian Lewis who has now found himself on the wrong side of his party. Why does all this matter? Because the Government no longer has a guaranteed majority on that committee, meaning Number 10 may lose control of the publication of the long awaited, and much anticipated Russia Report. As a long standing critic of Russia Julian Lewis may be keen to get it out and Newsnight has learned we could see the report made public as soon as next week.” Maitlis described it as “a day of high drama” before handing over to BBC Political Editor Nick Watt.
Watt began with the quip that was supposed to be funny, saying “It’s a case of House of Cards meets Freddy Forsyth;” he then proceeded to present a lurid tale of political skulduggery. He continued, “with meetings, clandestine meetings in the corridors of Westminster; so in the last few days some Labour figures went to Julian and said would you like to be Chairman because if you would like to be, we can guarantee that there will be the votes for you because all the opposition members of the committee will vote for you. That was agreed and they all kept quiet; one Labour figure said to me, they joked to me, that we basically kept Julian Lewis under house arrest for 48 hours. So when Julian Lewis went for the security clearance that you have to have for this committee, he went there this afternoon, he said he would like to stand for Chairman of the Committee and the first that Chris Grayling knew of this was when the Clark of the committee said that there were two candidates for the election.”
Watt continued, “…the first that Chris Grayling knew that it was Julian Lewis was when he saw his name on the ballot paper. Now there is absolute fury on the Tory side and as you say Julian Lewis has had the whip, the Conservative whip removed from him. A senior Tory source is saying Julian Lewis had actually seen the Chief Whip, Mark Spencer, and said that he would support Chris Grayling as Chairman. He then colluded they say with Labour to install himself and did not tell the Chief Whip, and they say that that is showing deep disrespect to the Chief Whip and to his staff. Now tonight we have also had a bit of a fight-back from the Grayling camp and friends are telling me that he never thought that the job was in the bag and it is completely wrong to say that he was a placement of Number 10 and Dominic Cummings because he had not exactly the warmest of relations with Dominic Cummings when they were on the same side in the Brexit campaign.” Not true; it was well reported he was nominated for the post.
Maitlis interjected, “The bigger question to all this is where it leaves the publication of the Russia Report; what are you hearing?” Watt replied that, “Well as you were saying Emily this means that the Government no longer has a guaranteed majority on this committee and Labour is confident that Julian Lewis will support the publication of that report next week possibly on Wednesday. Now they believe, that without Julian Lewis as Chair there was no guarantee of when and how this report would be published. Downing Street has consistently said that there is a very simple reason for why this report has been delayed, its that the committee had to be collapsed for the General Election; they also say the report, when we do see it, is going to be underwhelming. But one source, familiar with that report, told me there is enough in the report to cause trouble for the Conservative Party.” Of course that is why the Russia Report has remained under wraps for nine months to protect the Tory Party from serious accusations of corruption!
Emily Maitlis hosted Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, Conservative MP, Tobias Elwood and former ICS Committee Chair and Tory rebel, Dominic Grieve, who was one of the 21 Tory MPs ruthlessly purged from the party by Boris Johnson for defying the Whip over Brexit. Elwood spoke first. As Maitlis asked for his response, he waffled on about the urgent need to get the committee up and running and the important work that needed to be done. He said, “It provides a unique and critical function with oversight of our clandestine agencies,” but I gagged when he said, “effective scrutiny is not just good for our democracy it actually helps raise the bar…” This was the extreme height of hypocrisy coming from a Tory MP representing a Government determined to eliminate all scrutiny who had stifled a critical report for nine months to protect their electability and their powerful interests. Maitlis tried to steer him back on track, but Elwood was focused on damage control, he had to scupper that Russia Report bombshell.
Maitlis tried again, “What we’re seeing today is a silent coup by opposition members; we’ve heard that the whip has now been removed from Julian Lewis: it looks like a setback for the Government. I’m asking for your comment on the drama…” Aside from saying it was “unfortunate” Elwood tried hard to detract from questions posed by Maitlis and downplay the relevance of the Russia Report as if it could be ditched… things had moved on. Maitlis returned to Julian Lewis and the heavy-handed tactics of Number 10, “the lack of respect they’ve show Parliament has done them no good.” Maitlis wanted to know if Elwood sympathised with the Chief Whip or Julian Lewis? Elwood had to admit that as his predecessor on the Defence Committee, “Lewis had a lot of relevant experience…” He certainly couldn’t claim Grayling was more qualified to take the Chair and his track record in Ministerial roles was abysmal. This debacle was far more succinctly articulated by Dominic Grieve when he had his chance to clarify the situation.
Grieve voiced his incredulity saying, “What it does tell me is that this Government does not understand what the Intelligence and Security Committee is there to do. This is a nonpartisan committee and I think I’m right in saying it has never, ever had a vote in its history. It proceeds by consensus. If you were to attend its meetings, obviously they take place in secret, you wouldn’t know who’s a member of which political party. So the idea that there’s something wrong in Julian Lewis getting support from Labour or SNP MPs to become the Chair cannot be right because that is to politicize it in a party political way, whereas the statute that sets this committee up makes quite clear that it is for the committee members at their first meeting to elect their Chair. It doesn’t say the party that is biggest will get the Chairmanship. Indeed, in the past, even with nominated Chairs there have been times when it has been an opposition MP who has been the chair of the committee when the Government of another party is in power.”
Grieve continued, “So what troubles me about this episode, quite apart from its utter absurdity and now withdrawing the whip from Julian, who is indeed highly respected, is the mindset it gives about what on earth is going on in Downing Street. Why did they try to manipulate this process? They shouldn’t have done; the committee can only exist, the committee be respected in the way that Tobias wants if it is seen to be nonpartisan and independent and on the whole in its previous years of existence it has succeeded in doing that.” Maitlis replied, “you will know that Chris Grayling denies that he was being manipulated or was there as a stooge of Number 10 and as we heard from Nick that the problem with Julian Lewis was saying one thing to the Whip and doing something else.” Grieve’s response was clear, “Well I think what I’m saying is that the Whip should never have asked him that question.” It was yet another classic example of this corrupt Tory Government trying to solidify their total vice-grip control over everything.
Grieve provided more insight into how the committee had traditionally always been selected. He elaborated saying that, “ultimately the Prime Minister has a considerable exercise of veto on this committee because the Conservative Party members who go on it will be nominated by him and the opposition members, he has to agree to them as well for security reasons, and he negotiates that with the Leader of the opposition. Once he’s done that, once the list has been ratified by the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the Prime Minister and Number 10 should be playing no further part in trying to steer or manipulate this committee. It should be left to its own devices to get on and history shows that when you do that it can do some good work.” So why doesn’t this Tory Government want to pick the single most qualified person for the job? Grayling was just a useful idiot that Cummings could easily control and that was more important than his experience or credentials; to secure the dictatorship they needed a loyal stooge!
Maitlis shifted back to the Russian Report and Grieve was right to point out that it was ready for release before the Covert 2019 Rigged Election, which begged the question why was it suppressed? The suspicions grow stronger with every manoeuvre that the Tories pull to keep the information hidden, but Elwood sticks to his, ‘old news, redundant, nothing to see here’ lame, guilty stance.
Maitlis was under orders, she has been slapped down in the recent past for daring to ‘tell it like it is’ in her presentation over the Dominic Cummings breach of lockdown. The public outrage over the gross injustice of Cummings remaining in post led to a really forceful push-back as people rallied in support of Maitlis concerned over her unscheduled absence from Newsnight. The BBC had not anticipated such a strong reaction which escalated into a huge embarrassment for the BBC. She got a strong warning; her wings clipped as they couldn’t just fire her, but the strength of the public response may mean Maitlis is no longer totally gagged.However, according to Sky, “Mr Grayling and the government whips had both made a major blunder. Neither had sounded out the senior Tory backbencher Dr Julian Lewis and made sure that he was going to vote for Mr Grayling.” When asked by the committee Clerk, “if there were any more nominations for chairman, Dr Lewis nominated himself and was immediately backed by the three Labour and one Scottish National Party member.” Sky revealed that the, “Result: 5-4 to Dr Lewis, leaving Mr Grayling – cruelly lampooned as ‘failing Grayling’ after his accident-prone cabinet career – and the prime minister humiliated, and the Number 10 machine who were so desperate to see their loyalist nomination elected absolutely furious. ‘Grayling is the only person ever to have lost a rigged election,’ said one Tory MP.” Sky News claim that, “Chris Grayling thought he had the chairmanship in the bag.”
Sky said, “Mr Grayling had been ambushed. It had been a bloodless coup. But that was about to change. Within an hour of the decisive vote in the Macmillan Room, it emerged that the committee would meet again at 10am the following morning and almost certainly agree to publish the committee’s long-suppressed report on allegations of Russian meddling in UK politics. Dr Lewis had the whip withdrawn government sources told Sky News, ‘for working with Labour and other opposition MPs for his own advantage’. The decision sent shockwaves through Westminster. ‘This is gangster politics,’ one member of the committee was reported to have said. The consensus among many MPs was that Number 10 was guilty of a massive overreaction which has made what was only a moderately bad situation much, much worse. Dr Lewis has suffered the fate of the 21 pro-Remain Tory MPs who defied Mr Johnson in Brexit votes last year, including – in a delicious irony – the former chairman of the ISC, Dominic Grieve.”
Sky News report of one senior MP saying: “Removing the whip from Julian also massively strengthens his authority and boosts his independence from the government. ‘He is also very popular with the Tory old guard on the backbenches, the old knights of the shires, the Thatcherites and the veteran Brexiteers. He’s one of them and they won’t like it.” Sky concur that, “Dr Lewis is indeed popular with MPs on both sides of the House. He was a successful chairman of the Defence Select Committee for four years. He is independent-minded and, despite being a Brexiteer, was a big defender of John Bercow during the former speaker’s battles with Mr Johnson last year.” According to Sky, “MPs blame the prime minister’s controversial adviser, Dominic Cummings, for Number 10’s brutal revenge on Dr Lewis. ‘This isn’t the Chief Whip’s decision,’ one senior MP told Sky News. ‘It’s Cummings, and it’s absolutely bonkers.’ Number 10’s retribution against Dr Lewis may not be over, however.” Cummings must be removed ASAP!
Today there was a clumsy pre-emptive strike with the regurgitated accusation that Russia had leaked details on the US Trade deal to the Labour Party during the Election campaign. This was a blatant attempt to convince the public that the ‘Russian interference’ in UK elections was all about Labour gaining an unfair advantage with help from Putin. It was really important to get that accusation in well ahead of any revelations that Russian Oligarchs are bankrolling the Tories and buying their support for the destabilization of the EU; an agenda that has successfully gone into overdrive with Brexit. Cummings, who spent three years living in Moscow and almost certainly speaks Russian, is hip deep in this scandal; so will he be exposed? Cummings must submit to questioning and we need a full investigation into the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. Spoiler alert: an angry Tory Lion is on the prowl; anticipate a really massive ‘Dead Cat’ to detract from the damage of the Russian Report. Cummings is the grenade, oust him and you pull the pin! DO NOT MOVE ON!
Swiftly blasting into the media headlines an attack on Russia perfectly timed for the propaganda spinners desperate to negate the looming exposure of the long-buried Russian Report. This is pre-emptive damage control specifically designed to redirect the focus of public outrage away from the corruption and lies of the guilty Tory Government and spread the smear around as if the intended beneficiary was their favourite enemy Jeremy Corbyn. We fully expect the Russian Report to expose the slush fund flowing directly from Russian oligarchs into the coffers of the Tory Party with all the corrupt implications that would have with regard to the illegal funding of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election, but would it be enough to challenge the legitimacy of the result? What if this highly controversial report exposes Russian manipulation of the Brexit Referendum? Considering millions of EU citizens would be illegally stripped of their rights, would we have a case to bring before the EU court to secure a reprieve from the crash-out Brexit disaster?
The Tories pulled out all the stops to engineer that fake ‘landslide victory’ and get it done in time to beat the EU exit deadline; they probably think if it’s done it’s done and even if they come undone there is no turning back on Brexit and they will still try to cling onto power. Does this delightful dossier have the inside scoop on Dominic Cummings that could extricate him from his powerful post as the PM’s puppeteer? As I have said before, Cummings spent three years living in Moscow and probably speaks Russian, but what contacts and connections could he have maintained and whose bidding was he doing by striking the Brexit blow to help weaken the EU? Our media is rigorously Tory controlled, however, worrying revelations are voiced a lot more freely overseas; in November the Sydney Morning Herald wrote, “Australia, the US and the rest of the Five Eyes countries should be ‘extremely concerned’ about Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief of staff accessing its top-secret intelligence, a British MP has warned.”
The Sydney Morning Herald Article reveals that, “Dominic Cummings’ security clearance has come under scrutiny in the British press, following reports he had been ‘developed vetted’, or given the highest security status, enabling him access to the highest levels of intelligence.” That would be the same British intelligence that Cummings wanted to keep a very tight rein on through his compliant stooge Chris Grayling with his appointment to Chair the Intelligence and Security Committee, a move that thankfully was thwarted by the caution of wiser members of the committee who just wanted the best qualified person as Chair. Revealing a highly irregular move, the article said that, “…it was also reported that officials have been withholding classified material from Cummings because of the time he spent in Russia during his 20s, when he is alleged to have cultivated relationships with prominent backers of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Downing Street said it did not comment on the security clearance of individuals.”
The article says that, “Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, MP Ben Bradshaw said the reports were concerning for allies in Five Eyes, the intelligence-sharing network that comprises the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.” Adding the quote from Bradshaw, “If I we’re one of the UK’s Five Eyes allies I would be extremely concerned about this unprecedented arrangement.” They commented, “Boris Johnson’s chief of staff, whose account of his time in Russia is apparently full of gaps and inaccuracies, is granted inexplicably the highest level of security clearance yet is not given full access to secret intelligence. For our Five Eyes system to retain our partners’ confidence it has to be based on completely consistent and fail-safe rules for vetting and information sharing. That would not seem to be happening under the Johnson premiership.” They tell Australian readers that Cummings headed Vote Leave and “was the strategic mastermind of the pro-Brexit campaign.”
It is sad when foreign media appear to show more concern over the demise of British democracy than the sensationalist rags that pump propaganda out to the UK public. However they say, “The Sunday Times reported that a whistleblower had approached senior Labour politicians ‘to raise questions about the ‘relationships’ that Johnson’s chief of staff may have developed with people involved in ‘politics, intelligence and security’ when he worked in Russia between 1994 and 1997’.” Referring to the withheld Russian Report they add, “Labour’s foreign spokeswoman Emily Thornberry accused the government of withholding the report’s publication because of the questions it would raise about Cumming’s time in Russia.” Quoting Thornberry, “Questions about the Prime Minister’s chief aide Dominic Cummings, his relationship with the Oxford academic Norman Stone and the mysterious three years he spent in post-Communist Russia aged just 23.”
Highlighting points raised by Thornberry in the Commons focusing on concerns over, “…the relationships he allegedly forged with individuals like Vladislav Surkov, the key figure behind Vladimir Putin’s throne,” Sydney Morning Herald go on to describe Surkov as a, “personal advisor to Putin, is widely regarded as the creator of post-truth politics where facts are relative. He recently said that Putinist system of government would be the ‘ideology of the future’ and said that Russia was ‘playing with the West’s minds.’ He is more recently seen as the point-man for Russia’s operations in eastern Ukraine.” Quoting directly they document a Commons grilling, “What have you got to hide?” They say, “Thornberry asked of junior Minister of State Christopher Pincher who was sent into Parliament to respond to MPs questions. Pincher dismissed her concerns as ‘paranoid fantasies’ and said the report would be delivered ‘in good time’ but with the government now in Purdah, it will not be released before the election is held on December 12.”
The Covert 2019 Rigged Election came and went with our tabloids insulting ‘Commie Corbyn,’ but a full six months further on we are still awaiting a chance to read that potentially damning report. In another Sydney Morning Herald Article they say, “The British government has dismissed allegations of links to Russia as “smears and conspiracy theories” after it was accused of suppressing a national security report on Russian influence in the UK. Rebel and opposition MPs alleged Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his chief aide had links to Russian intelligence, and that Russians have contributed to the 2016 Brexit campaign and Conservative Party finances. At the moment, the only official information released about the report is its title ‘Russia’, the fact it is 50 pages long and a statement in late 2017 that it would concern ‘Russian activity against the UK’. Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said the failure to release the report was “utterly unjustifiable, unprecedented and clearly politically motivated’.”
Thornberry’s bold attack in the Commons delivered barely a blip on the media radar here as our press fawned over Boris Johnson and his corrupt Tory Government and thoroughly failed to provide the scrutiny delivered by intense pressure that instead targeted discrediting the Labour Party. She is quoted ranting in Parliament, “This is nothing less than an attempt to suppress the truth from the public and from Parliament, and it is an affront to our democracy. There are questions about the relationship between the FSB [Russian intelligence]-linked Sergey Nalobin and his ‘good friend’, the current Prime Minister.” Right to the heart of Government it threatened Tory legitimacy, but few noticed in the UK when Thornberry said, “There are questions about the amount of money flowing into Conservative coffers from Russian émigrés, about the sources of money that paid for the Brexit campaign, and about the dubious activities of Conservative Friends of Russia.”
The article reported, “Conservative David Davis said withholding the report was creating “a vacuum for paranoid fantasies,” but also focused on the more relevant concerns of Dominic Grieve describing him as the “former Conservative attorney-general but now an independent MP after rebelling over Brexit,” saying that, “Number 10 had taken ‘unprecedented’ action by making sure the report did not see the light of day ahead of the December election.” They said, “Grieve, who chairs the Intelligence and Security Committee, warned the Prime Minister ‘does not have carte blanche to alter our reports or remove material from them’. He called Number 10’s explanation for the delay ‘plainly bogus’. The ISC had completed its report in March then worked with security agencies and the Cabinet Office on a ‘process of correction and redaction’. That process was finished in early October.”
The article reports on how Grieve further elaborated on the process and its normal timetable, saying, “when the agencies and the national security secretariat indicated that they were happy that the published form would not damage any operational capabilities of the agencies’, Grieve said. The report was sent to the Prime Minister for final confirmation on October 17 under a ‘long-standing agreement’ that he would respond within 10 days. ‘It is unprecedented that we should have had no response at all explaining why any further delay is required in this case,’ Grieve told Parliament. Minister of State for Europe Christopher Pincher said the report had not been with the government for an unusual length of time. “The impact of releasing sensitive information must be carefully considered by the Prime Minister on the advice of civil servants. We cannot rush the process and risk undermining our national security.” He said there was “no evidence of any successful Russian involvement in the British electoral cycle.” We will now see!
Here comes the moggy!!! I knew that the second there was even the slightest hint of getting this document released there would be a typical Tory ‘Dead Cat’ and this Skwawkbox Article captures the hypocrisy best here, “Video: Tories receive millions from Russians and hide Russian interference report – so MSM doorsteps JEREMY CORBYN about a bona fide report Labour found online.” They say, “So today, the ‘free and fearless’ UK media have doorstepped… Jeremy Corbyn. The excuse for this disgrace is a claim that a Tory trade document Labour exposed during the general election campaign was obtained by Russian hackers. It wasn’t given to Labour by Russian hackers – Labour accessed it online as did thousands of others – but was supposedly originally hacked by them.” They add, “Labour were late to the party, exposing the documents in November 2019 – but the right-wing Telegraph newspaper had them four months earlier, in July 2019,” and they show the headline in the Telegraph as proof.
Skwawkbox say, “The facts are obvious and easily verifiable. Yet a video released by Corbyn’s wife Laura Alvarez today shows right-wing media ‘doorstepping’ Corbyn and demanding to know whether he ‘regrets’ using the document; the document that he found online while Boris Johnson was busy burying the report on actual Russian interference in UK politics.” Forget all the billions pouring into Tory coffers donated by Russian Oligarchs, with political strings attached; hey, ‘nothing to see here.’ No the media have already ruthlessly trashed the reputation and political career of the most inspiring PM we never had, but that was not enough. Skwawkbox are spot on with their observation, “We are – and have been for a long time – well and truly through the looking glass and into the Orwellian territory on the other side, where Dominic Cummings bounces a dead cat to distract from Johnson’s guilt and the whole so-called ‘mainstream’ media gleefully collaborate.”
Despite this obvious ‘Dead Cat’ ploy I fear there will be a lot worse mud getting hurled and it will take a really shocking incident to detract from the revelations of that Russia Report. It would not have remained under wraps so long if it did not contain something truly incendiary. It could well highlight the nefarious contacts and disreputable dealing of the ‘Herd Nerd; do not let him off the hook this time: Cummings is the Grenade, oust him and you pull the pin! Starmer the enabler must be forced to actually speak up for the progressive socialist left and demand Cummings removal at last, instead of pathetically asking the PM to look into the matter. The Petition, “Dominic Cummings must be sacked,” is still collecting signatures, over a million so far; just in case you haven’t signed yet. I haven’t given up demanding a full Investigation into the Covert 2019 Rigged Election, but the Russia Report could open up a whole new can of worms. If new revelations challenge the Brexit vote we must protest and appeal to the EU for justice. DO NOT MOVE ON!
