He’s back…

UPDATE:

Interesting, George Galloway chose to affirm rather than swear his oath as newly elected MP.—
Chris Bryant (@ChrisBryantMP) April 16, 2012

Lots of religions say you should never swear…

For the last two months UKIP have been polling ahead of the Greens in London. In March it was 5% to 3%. Tonight Newsnight are inviting the two candidates who have a chance of winning the London Mayoralty on for a live debate, they have also invited two other runners on for good measure. Green Jenny Jones will get national airtime despite the fact that her party has no hope of winning in London. 

The Beeb are repeating a mistake they have made before. In the Norwich and Bradford by-elections they gave the Greens plenty of airtime and ignored the Eurosceptics. In both cases UKIP beat the hippies, and in Norwich they absolutely stuffed them. UKIP have managed to secure a small piece to camera, but the editorial logic is warped and is not supported by the facts. You read it here first…

Things are getting steamy down on the ground in Bradford with George Galloway threatening to sue the Labour Party for texts that are being bombarded to voters. There is no proof the Labour campaign had anything to do with them and they deny the accusation. Now today Galloway supporters are fighting back and a message urging people to vote Respect is doing the rounds with some bitter words for the Labour candidate:

“Muslims of Bradford! Watch the Sunday Politics yorkshire and lincolnshire programme on BBC iPlayer (43min-47min) and watch the TRAITOR, and SELLOUT Imran Hussain (labour candidate) support British troops to continue their occupation of Afghanistan, despite his own party leaders position on withdrawing from Afghanistan. See for yourself and vote Respect, the party that is actually speaking up for the loss of innocent muslims lives…”

With Galloway’s odds tightening, polling day tomorrow could be a tense affair…

UPDATE: Ladbrokes have suspended betting on a Galloway win.

“Ordinary people are being forced to pay for the bankers’ profligacy” screamed Tony Benn in 2010. “This government of millionaires says “we’re all in it together” and “there is no alternative”. But, for the wealthy, corporation tax is being cut, the bank levy is a pittance, and top salaries and bonuses have already been restored to pre-crash levels.” It seems his Oxford educated granddaughter got the message. Guido wishes Emily the very best of luck in the Equity Sales and Trading department at UBS…

Video via The Commentator.

Tax dodger turned tax campaigner Richard Murphy has a warped sense of perspective about a lot of things, but it’s rare that he makes it quite so obvious:

BBC News is downgrading budget coverage (and my commentary) for French gunman. Is that really appropriate? Isn't budget more important?—
Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) March 21, 2012

“and my commentary”…

The Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine are actually trying to suggest that Jenny Tonge’s views were taken out of context. If anything, the context they were in made them worse…

In a press release, they fully endorse her views and criticise Clegg’s action:

“This partial quotation would seem very possibly to be deliberate, and has had the effect of fostering a misinterpretation of her views.”

As they note, in the video we put up showed, Tonge did say:

“Israel is not going to be there forever on its present performance”.

This is the only quote that the LibDem group choose to use though. Somehow they miss out the fact that thirty seconds later Tonge said:

“It will not go on forever, it will not go on forever. Israel will lose it’s support will lose its support and then they will reap what they have sown.”

This is the section we were quoting, but there’s not a peep out of them about it, despite them having the cheek to accuse others of misquoting. As Nick Cohen says in Standpoint today, there is a dark core within the LibDems, and they seem to have broken cover again today…

Given that only 200 people ever actually had their benefits removed out of over 300,000 who went through the government’s work experience scheme, is today’s heralded u-turn really much of a u-turn? The 220 who had their benefits removed included shop-lifters and people who committed acts of gross misconduct.

Chris Grayling has successfully pushed the scheme forward and insists “Despite the persistent campaign of the last two weeks we have had contact with over 200 small or medium enterprises also wanting to get involved. The work experience scheme remains and is totally voluntary. The sanction regime remains in place. Employers continue to have the protection with the use of sanctions for gross misconduct. We have used the meeting to explain how the regime applies. It has never been an issue with the programme as only 220 people have been sanctioned since it started.”

You have to laugh at the earnest collection of unwashed trots who are claiming victory today. Given the SWP front group called themselves “Right to Work”, there is a certain irony in their efforts to keep young people on sofas. As Andrew Neil pointed out yesterday, even Lenin would have backed the scheme:

With 200 more companies joing the scheme, meaning that thousands more jobseekers will be working for their benefits, Guido wouldn’t be crowing this much…

A LibDem Peer who was sacked as their health spokesman for anti-Israeli comments in 2010, has struck again. Video has emerged online of Jenny Tonge telling a meeting at Middlesex University last week:

“Beware Israel. Israel is not going to be there forever
…
It will not go on forever, it will not go on forever. Israel will lose it’s support will lose its support and then they will reap what they have sown.”

She also remained silent and did not protest when a fellow panellist, Ken O’Keefe, compared Jews to Nazis. Given Tonge has previous in this area, that includes accusing an IDF aid team of harvesting organs and spinning for Palestinian suicide bombers, Guido had to check whether Tonge still actually had the LibDem whip. She has, but is Nick Clegg really prepared to let her spew this sort of bile while serving under his party banner?

UPDATE: The Commentator has a full witness account of Jihad Jenny’s outburst.

Oh dear, that nice little old lady who took against Andrew Lansley is no stranger to protest stunts. June Hautot, a former Unison rep, told the Workers Revolutionary Party magazine last month:

‘I’m all for occupations. That’s our only ammunition to stop closures’. 

She also once attempted to sue Wandsworth Council over plans to develop Battersea Power Station, but her looney-left activism doesn’t stop there. According to the Glasgow Herald in 1997 she “shared a cell with Mrs Scargill” after she was arrested with Arthur’s wife protesting open cast mines. It was inevitable this seasoned activist was going to have her moment.

Why on earth didn’t Lansley go round the back or through the Cabinet Office?

UPDATE: Even Labour are distancing themselves. Sources get in touch to say that say Hautot is a trot. In 2002 she stood as a “Save our Services” candidate in Wandsworth’s Southfields in a bid to try to defeat the Tory cabinet member for care services, Jan Leigh. Of course Leigh easily won and all Hautot did was collapse Labour’s vote.