Starmer didn’t like being asked if he was 100% confident in Angela Rayner. He told ITV‘s Andrew Misra in Blackpool to not “play a game on this” by asking for his view. How can he be confident if he hasn’t seen the “expert” advice?
“Wilfull blindness, also known as conscious avoidance, is a judicially-made doctrine that expands the definition of knowledge to include closing one’s eyes to the high probability a fact exists.“
He then he tells the journalist what questions he should be asking instead. It doesn’t work like that…
There appears to be more trouble over at Sky towers. This time, over Sky News‘ reporting of the Cass review which concluded that the current policy of supplying hormones to children (to change gender) from 16 should be urgently reviewed. One Sky staff member is particularly unhappy about this…
Self proclaimed trans activist Adelle Barker, who is head of LGBTQ+ at Sky and is also Customer Service Team Manager has expressed their outrage over Sky News’ reporting of the matter, taking to the Sky UK staff intranet to express their “disappointment” with the coverage. They have since told everyone that they will be contacting Sky News’s journalists & management to make sure the story is done to their satisfaction. It’s worth noting their own lack of journalistic and healthcare expertise…
They’ve helpfully told staff to “write to their MPs” about Cass “being discussed in parliament”, even providing a template from Mermaids, as well as also advising the children of staff to contact Mermaids if they want support for being “distressed”. A reminder: Mermaids is currently being investigated by the charity commission…
Guido hears that Sky News staff are appalled that trans activists have a direct line to management and editorial in attempts to bully them into submission over how they conduct their media coverage. “The home of independent news”…
Labour infighting over the Israel-Gaza war has been a long time theme, and it doesn’t look like it will go away in the run up to the local elections either. Carina Smith, Labour’s council candidate for Fareham Park has been making some eyebrow-raising posts on social media. In one particular post, she called US Secretary of State Antony Blinken a “Zionist bought and paid for cretin“. Blinken is himself Jewish…
She also went on to post that she “doesn’t believe a word Israel says anymore“, while denying that UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Hamas attacks, despite UNRWA immediately terminating contracts of those staff allegedly involved. And Starmer still says Labour’s a changed party…
You might think that while the ‘evil plotters’ plan moves to replace Sunak before the election, other Tory factions are resting on their laurels. No chance…
Guido hears Tory wet think tank Onward is quietly preparing a major polling and focus group project whose aim is to blame the Tories’ loss of the election on the right wing of the party and lay the groundwork for a leadership bid. That’s while their personnel gun for safe Tory seats this election…
Onward, founded by No 10’s Will Tanner, is reportedly set to hire pollster for the Remain campaign and Best for Britain James Kanagasooriam or Theresa May’s old pollster James Johnson to take up the project. With a six-figure price tag, the report will include extensive polling and focus groups – set to be published after an election defeat. Guido hears donors are being approached to fund the centrist putsch’s starting gun…
Onward doesn’t deny the plans: “As part of our Future Politics programme, we conduct regular opinion research and we’ll be doing the same again for the 2024 election, just as we did in 2019“. A senior Tory insider tells Guido: “There are real concerns about a plot to frame the post-election narrative and make sure a standard-bearer of the left is in pole position for the next leadership contest.” Sticking in the centre hasn’t worked so far for Rishi…
Another day, another reason to be pleased that Britain doesn’t contribute toward EU funds anymore. Authorities are peeling back the layers of a potentially huge fraud web entangling €2.5 billion in EU post-pandemic funds allocated to only 10 companies in Greece, according to Politico. Last month, the Greek competition commission raided the three Greek telecom titans – Cosmote, Vodafone, and Nova – alongside five IT firms and two consultancies. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has also launched an investigation. This isn’t the first scandal to have hit the EU’s pandemic recovery fund either…
Recently there’s been a flurry of arrests across Italy, Austria, Romania, and Slovakia after a plot allegedly siphoning €600 million from the fund in Italy alone was revealed. This latest probe shines a torch on these dodgy backroom dealings, with companies accused of cosy collusion, aiming to strangle competition, hike up expenses, and fleece EU taxpayers. Even staunch Remainers have to be glad not to be wrapped up in this…
It’s not a good day for leftist journalists. As OpenDemocracy executes mass layoffs of its newsdesk, a reporter for Byline Times, the Waitrose shopper’s Skwawkbox, has found himself in hot water for his antics. A regular contributor to North East Bylines and anti-Ben Houchen fanatic, Ray Casey has been reported to the police for allegedly vandalising Tory MP Jacob Young’s office in Redcar. The reporter has purportedly been turning up and plastering windows with industrial grade anti-Tory and anti-Houchen stickers. Uneasy staff have to pay to get them removed as they don’t peel off…
Vandalism directed at MPs’ offices isn’t uncommon, though you usually expect it from deranged civilians, not political journalists. Gives “make your own stories” a new meaning…
