Arch-Remainer Keir Starmer wined and dined with all 27 EU leaders in Brussels last night—fittingly in the same building where Edward Heath signed Britain up to the EEC in 1972. Like Heath, Starmer used the dinner to push for deeper ties with Brussels. He called for an “ambitious security partnership,” backing more collaboration in research and development, military mobility, logistics, efforts to “prevent state threats”and “greater cooperation on missions and operations”. Most concerningly, he also pushed for deeper “industrial collaboration”, sending alarm bells ringing among Brexiteers…
Nigel Farage, fresh off a YouGov poll putting Reform in the lead, took to the Today programme to hammer Starmer for his Brexit betrayal, saying:
“That was an act of humiliation. It was completely unnecessary, but Starmer went along with it. I think the most alarming thing that came out of last night was the agreement to deepen industrial collaboration. Does that mean we’re joining part of an EU industrial policy? Does it mean, in terms of defence, we’re joining their procurement programmes? There are still a lot of unanswered questions, but I didn’t like the language at all. And the very fact that he was there discussing such things shows you that our Prime Minister is a Rejoiner at heart.”
Starmer insists he wouldn’t side with the EU in a trade war, but the Tories warn his Brexit backsliding risks dragging Britain into one with Trump. As Guido has been saying, the Tories need to kick into gear on Starmer’s Brexit betrayal…
It’s another good start to the week for Farage as a new YouGov poll puts Reform in the lead, polling at 25%, with Labour pulling in second at 24%, and the Tories trailing at 21%. This is the first major national poll – aside from FindOutNow, whose methodology is often sneered at by other pollsters – to put Reform at the lead. Meanwhile Kemi’s net favourability rating has slipped down by 4 points to -29, with Farage now more popular with -27…
The Tories need more than just a CCHQ shake-up to get those numbers back up…
Guido hears that Kemi summoned an all-staff call at CCHQ today, rallying the wider party. After 100 days in LOTO, Kemi’s verdict is that machine “must do better”, saying party members told her during the leadership election they “wanted everyone in CCHQ sacked,” with some even saying they should “burn the whole place down.” At the time she defended CCHQ—now that she’s seen it up close, she’s shifting course…
While praising some staff for their work, she called out others for not pulling their weight warning that if staff don’t believe in the party’s mission, they “shouldn’t be here”. Complaints about poor performance followed—some responses to her requests were “not good.” She went on to say that staff have “two jobs: campaigning and fundraising. If you’re not doing something to make either of those happen, you’re not doing your job right.” Sound words of advice while Reform gain in the polls…
A LOTO source said:“Kemi has a mandate to renew the Conservative Party from top to bottom to ensure we rid the country of this terrible Labour government who are already doing so much damage, and she won’t hesitate in making the changes that are necessary for that to happen.” Meanwhile, if you want to see real political impact, just read Guido…
Leonie Mellinger’s husband is Anthony Burton. Burton chairs the Death Penalty Project, which campaigns against the death penalty. Burton is an active founding director and has been since 11/11/2005. Another man founded it with him…
Keir Starmer was founding director from 2005 until 05/04/2020. Mellinger even tweeted about Starmer’s work for the charity back in 2011. She is quoted in the Times recently:
“Starmer had given a televised speech on Brexit and asked Mellinger for her honest assessment. “I actually asked him a question … ‘I was wondering who you thought you were talking to?’ And that was the beginning of our relationship.”
The links between Starmer and Mellinger’s family look to go back much further than voice coaching…
UPDATE: Starmer was paid £18,000 for legal advice he provided to Burton’s solicitors firm from 2016 to 2019. He also received a £5,000 donation from the firm in 2017.
The Sun’s Jack Elsom shouted at the end of Starmer’s NATO press conference: “Did you break lockdown rules Prime Minister?” Starmer returned to the podium to furiously say: “Of course not.” On the way out he said “all rules were followed.” Starmer will not be a happy man at all right now.
Starmer’s voice coach Leonie Mellinger posted on 22 May 2020 about how all of her training sessions were conducted online:
“The current situation means that all our interactions are now virtual and online… and that led me to thinking about the shift in skill set needed to deal with the current interactions that we’re having I think there’s a danger that people think because it’s virtual they can sit back and not really think about the impact that they’re making on others.”
She made a lot of her remote work. Mellinger tweeted about working from home barely a week after she was in Labour HQ to personally coach Starmer…
Seven months she said all work was online and as London was in strict Tier 4 restrictions Mellinger would travel in person to Labour HQ on Victoria Street to coach Starmer. It has already been established that Mellinger and Starmer had over-the-phone training prior to this. Why did the actress change her online training method to meet Starmer in person under Tier 4? Downing Street is refusing to comment on whether the PM broke lockdown rules in a break from its previous policy and hacks are told there will be no independent investigation “into whether Starmer was working.” Pressure is mounting on Mr Rules…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
