The day’s finally here: that one day in December that brings joy and delight to all – the 2021 parliamentary by-election for Old Bexley and Sidcup. Voters head to the polls today following the political parties throwing in the kitchen sink in an attempt to repeat the upset of Chesham & Amersham. Well, when Guido says ‘the parties’, one has been less conspicuous…
What has Labour been doing? For starters, Sir Keir has never tweeted the word Bexley, let alone visited the constituency during the by-election. On the day of Sir David Amess’s Westminster funeral, the party ceased campaigning for the entire day, while the Tories just downed their clipboards and leaflets for 80 minutes.
Another absence is arguably less excusable: Sadiq Khan’s. Despite Bexley being a London constituency, Sadiq apparently being Labour’s most popular asset down south, and it being a mere 30 minute train ride from City Hall, the mayor’s made no appearance during the campaign. Does Southside, in fact, know Sadiq’s popularity struggles outside the centre of the city? Or does the mayor not have much love for London’s outer ring?
Bexley is currently facing a triple whammy of the Outer London Tax, the ULEZ expansion and his failed tri-borough policing strategy. Still, he’s been less absent than his boss. Sadiq did at least find time to do some campaigning, via the phone:
With just two days left till the Old Bexley & Sidcup by-election, good to hit the phones for @danfrancis02 tonight.
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) November 30, 2021
Daniel would be an excellent champion for the community. If you live in Old Bexley and Sidcup - this Thursday - #VoteLabour 🌹 pic.twitter.com/d5UFDztTJe
If Labour improves on their 23.5% vote share from 2019, it won’t be anything to do with their effort on the ground…
To quote the man himself, Burgon’s useless, Burgon’s rubbish, Burgon doesn’t know what he’s doing…
GB News scored a genuinely impressive global exclusive last night with former President Donald Trump’s first international interview since the 2020 election. Speaking with Nigel Farage in Mar-a-Lago, Trump addressed many of the big questions that have loomed over him for the past year: his election defeat to Joe Biden, the Capitol Hill riots – he still insists “the insurrection took place on November 3rd [election day] – and of course, his plans for 2024. Yes, it looks like he’ll run again…
Trump also gave his typically unvarnished views on topics like Net Zero, climate change, and his relationship with Boris and the Queen. On Boris’s energy policy, Trump didn’t hold back:
‘I’m surprised that he would allow that to happen because you’ve got one of the most beautiful countries in the world and you’re destroying it with all these wind turbines all over the place. In Aberdeen they built this ugly wind farm in the ocean. It’s so disgusting to look at it, it’s a shame.”
He still had some kind words for the PM:
“I like him, I like him. I get along with him, I’ve always gotten along with him.”
Although he also added that Boris has “gone a little on the more liberal side.” Trump did, at the very least, know how to cut taxes…
It’s almost a year exactly since Guido broke one of the most-followed up media stories of the pandemic: Kay Burley’s lockdown-breaking birthday bash, a story that resulted in a six month suspension for her, and a three month suspension for fellow party-goer Beth Rigby. This year it appears the broadcasting elite are being much more Covid-cautious.
Over at Channel 4, Guido hears Jon Snow’s leaving bash for the conclusion of his 32-year career has been canned over Omicron fears. A spokesman for the broadcaster said:
“Channel 4 News has taken the sensible decision to delay Jon’s Snow’s leaving party until we know more about the Omicron variant and how serious it is to people’s health.”
They do, however, promise he’ll be getting “the send-off he deserves when it is safe to do so”. Thankfully, Guido is yet to see any signs of cancellation of SW1’s other Christmas socials…
The fun and games in woke Whitehall continue. After revealing earlier this week how FCDO mandarins were receiving lectures on “trans and intersex inclusion” during working hours, Guido has now been sent another internal document showing that the DHSC held an “intensive five-day training course” last month in which officials were given talks from “senior speakers” with “top level advice on policymaking“. Not only were staff treated to lectures about “intersectionality” and “health inequalities“, one of these “senior speakers” was Nannette Youssef from the Runnymede Trust: a Green Party councillor and self-described socialist who accused the government of having “far right backing”, “anti-Muslim” policies, and just months ago, tweeted “Fuck #PritiPatel”.
https://twitter.com/NannetteYoussef/status/1375935733295415301According to the document, Youssef was invited on behalf of Runnymede to “provide a perspective from an external organisation“. The online talk lasted a full hour, and once again, taking place at the start of a working day. Presumably the perspective of a self-described socialist and “intersectional feminist” is exactly what health department officials need at 9am on a Tuesday – not to mention in the midst of a pandemic.
A government source tells Guido:
“With backlogs building up, DHSC should know better than clocking off for this nonsense. But doing it in the name of diversity and indulging someone who maligns one of the most senior British Asians in public life, and a close colleague of their boss, is a bad joke.”
Doing it at the taxpayers’ expense isn’t a great joke either. The document also stresses – in caps – that the event programme was “NOT SEEN BY MINISTERS” and “NOT A STATEMENT OF POLICY”. That the civil service is being trained in this gobbledegook nonsense leaves Guido with little hope that the advice they go on to give will be sound…
Read the full document below…
