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Illegal Lions Rugby Streams Published on Labour MP’s Website

A Labour MP has published multiple illegal streams of the Lions rugby tour on his website. On 10 June, Mike Kane’s website published a stream of the British and Irish Lions versus Crusaders match, which was aired on Sky Sports. Kane’s site also returns Google results for illegal streams of other Lions tour matches over the last few weeks. The rights for the tour are owned by Sky. Publishing non-subscription streams online is against the law…

Seems to Guido that Kane surely cannot have done this himself. Was it an enthusiastic staffer? Or was he hacked? We’ve tried to contact Kane all morning but no one answered the phone at his office. Perhaps they were watching this morning’s big game…

June 27, 2017 at 12:24 pm

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Lefties Duped By “Why Socialism Works” Guide on Amazon

Spare a thought for any socialists searching on Amazon for their summer reading. On the face of it, ‘Why Socialism Works‘ by Harrison Lievesley seems a sensible purchase for wannabe Jez fans. Most reviews are very positive, indeed the vast majority give five-star ratings. One calls it “a proper left wing economic primer”, another says “Absolutely gripping, I couldn’t put it down”.

Enough to convince budding lefties to order the £7.99 paperback. Cue disappointment when, upon taking delivery of ‘Why Socialism Works’, readers found every one of its 169 pages reads: “It doesn’t”.

Jane Collins was not impressed:

Truth hurts…

June 27, 2017 at 11:31 am

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Boris On Glarstonbury

Boris Johnson on “Glarstonbury” pic.twitter.com/055kTZ1LI2

— Esther Webber (@estwebber) 26 June 2017

Boris is bang on about Jez’s “Orphic spell“.

And he’s been pronouncing it GlAARstonbury for years:

The place has been full of poshos for decades…

June 27, 2017 at 10:42 am

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Bloomberg: City Safe Despite Brexit

Bloomberg – a £250,000 donor to the Remain campaign remember – has declared the City of London “safe despite Brexit“. In a hugely enjoyable volte-face, the site today published a piece concluding that the City will be fine even in the event of a no deal Brexit:

“Despite Brexit, London’s place as a leading global financial center looks safe. Ever since Britain voted to leave the European Union, analysts have debated the City’s fate… Fortunately for the U.K., Brexit itself won’t erode the significant advantages London currently enjoys. Perhaps more importantly, neither will it help European rivals build up similar advantages… These conditions aren’t easily replicated… [London’s] competitive advantages are substantial — and won’t be easily eroded even by a hard Brexit.”

The article goes onto list the comparative advantages of London over alternative European financial centres, long adduced by Leavers: strong institutions, the pound, English law, the language and lifestyle. It’s a far cry from Bloomberg’s previous analysis on Brexit, the most extreme of which was the now infamous “71% of economists” survey which predicted a post-Referendum recession in 2016. Guido crowns this the King of Despite Brexit stories…

June 27, 2017 at 10:01 am

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Select Committee Chairmanship Runners and Riders

If it weren’t for the Russians (allegedly) MPs’ inboxes would be constantly pinging with emails from colleagues canvassing for support for select committee chairmanships. The hotly-contested elections take place in July, as ever Guido gives you your runners and riders…

The big bunfight is the Treasury select committee, where MPs are jostling to fill the not inconsiderable shoes of Andrew Tyrie. Jacob Rees-Mogg has sat on the committee for two years, is well-respected on the Tory benches and would be a popular appointment. Nicky Morgan is running on a thinly-veiled continuity Remain ticket, talking up her ability to provide “necessary scrutiny and challenge” to the Brexit negotiations. NiMo is the preferred candidate of Labour Remainers, which says it all. Also running are the experienced Leaver Richard Bacon, who already has the signatures he needs, and Stephen Hammond and John Penrose, both Remainers with experience in the City. Would be a shame if the Mogg didn’t get it.

There’s also a tasty battle brewing for the Foreign Affairs committee chairmanship. Incumbent Crispin Blunt – who has faced embarrassment over the committee’s reports on Saudi Arabia and Libya – is being challenged by John Baron, who thinks Britain should work with Assad, Russia and Iran. Blunt is hardly sound and the committee is already stuffed with wrong uns. Though MPs will be concerned about some of Baron’s views too.

There is a vacancy as BEIS committee chair after Iain Wright stepped down from parliament. It’s between Rachel Reeves, Liam Byrne and Ian Lucas. Louise Ellman has quit as Transport committee chair, Geraint Davies is running to replace her. Quite a few battles bubbling away behind the scenes…

June 27, 2017 at 8:33 am

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Lammy Suggests Grenfell Cover-Up By Police and Emergency Services

“I am being honest about what people are saying to me” @DavidLammy on the number of people thought to be killed in #GrenfellTower fire pic.twitter.com/cbb6m8NXlr

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) June 26, 2017

In his defence it has been a stressful couple of weeks. But peddling conspiracies about the government and police is not exactly responsible…

June 26, 2017 at 11:01 pm

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Hundreds of Fire Doors Missing From Camden Blocks

‘There were hundreds of fire doors missing’: @sajidjavid reveals the scale of recent fire safety inspection failures in Camden tower blocks pic.twitter.com/gTJP4lnWJx

— ITV News (@itvnews) June 26, 2017

Will Corbyn and McDonnell want to politicise this? Hundreds of fire doors were missing from tower blocks in Labour-run Camden following recent inspections. You can bet if it were a Tory-run council Labour MPs and the Corbynista online army would be a lot more vocal…

June 26, 2017 at 8:22 pm

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Nigel Dodds Threatens to Publish Labour’s 2010 and 2015 Correspondence With DUP

Well this would be a lot of fun at the expense of hypocritical Labour MPs this afternoon. Go on Nigel, you know you want to…

June 26, 2017 at 5:12 pm

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Jeremy Cor-Bling T-Shirts Selling For £37

Trapstar are outfitters to those wannabees seeking that Corbynista chic. Their t-shirts are available from Harvey Nic’s, so mumsie will be able to stock up in the school holidays for the public school Jez fans in the People’s Republic of Kensington. At £37 maybe Jez is right to say austerity is over…

For the younger Corbynistas we have an updated edition of The Corbyn Colouring Book – now with even less austerity. It includes a prescient rendering of the well-known grime-artist-cum-socialist-politician, Corbzy:

The Corbyn Colouring Book (New Austerity-Free Edition) is available from tax efficient Amazon…

June 26, 2017 at 3:53 pm

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Labour MPs Condemn McDonnell’s Grenfell Remarks

Shadow housing minister John Healey and veteran Labour MP Margaret Hodge have condemned John McDonnell’s remarks on the Grenfell tragedy, which he described as “murder” caused by “political decisions“. Hodge said on the Daily Politics: “that is language of the hard left which is not done in my name”. Still, good to rile up the nutters online.

June 26, 2017 at 3:19 pm

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May Tells EU Citizens: “We Want You to Stay”

Theresa May says no EU citizens currently living in the U.K. lawfully will be asked to leave https://t.co/kLq8uTYnEl pic.twitter.com/nQrlhOnI0i

— Bloomberg (@business) June 26, 2017

June 26, 2017 at 2:57 pm

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MayDUP Ban! Papers Refuse Paddy Power Arlene Kissing Theresa Advert

Paddy Power attempted to run this print advert offering a bet on the Conservative-DUP alliance to NOT survive 2017. Sadly it went almost as badly as Theresa May’s election campaign, after getting the heave-ho by not one, not two, but all of Britain’s newspapers. The advert in question pokes fun at the alliance, as well as at the DUP’s controversial stance on gay marriage, through an image of Theresa May and Arlene Foster kissing outside 10 Downing Street under the line: Unholy Union? Conservative-DUP Alliance To Not Survive 2017 – 3/1

You can’t blame them for their failed negotiations though – even the best would struggle. Isn’t that right, Theresa?

Following May’s dismal performance in the General Election earlier this month – which could be the kiss of death to her leadership – the British PM had been scrambling to secure a deal with the DUP to form a minority Conservative government. That deal was finally secured today but, with the alliance built on weak and wobbly foundations, Paddy Power are offering odds of just 3/1 (25% chance) for it to end this year.

Guido’s anonymous source on the Paddy Power marketing team says:

“After almost two weeks of negotiations, it looks like May and Foster have finally agreed on a deal, and what better way to seal it than with a kiss? Joking aside, we were surprised the newspapers didn’t take up our offer, as the subject matter has been on the nation’s lips ever since the general election.”

Newspapers were surprisingly prudish about this kiss ‘n tell story…

Content produced and sponsored by Paddy Power.

June 26, 2017 at 2:32 pm

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Cameroons Disagree on DUP

David Cameron tweeted his endorsement of Theresa May’s deal, ordering Tory MPs to get behind the PM:

Task facing PM, given the circs, is to deliver the most stable govt possible – today’s DUP deal helps achieve that. All Cons should support.

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 26, 2017

Seems Dave’s old team didn’t get the memo. Here’s George Osborne’s front page:

Guido can give you Photoshop lessons, George. Meanwhile Cameron’s old comms chief Craig Oliver is also slagging off the arrangement:

This DUP deal will be unpopular in the rest of the UK – and not really solve the problem. Still only needs a few Tory rebels for chaos. https://t.co/9e7dTqXEjl

— Craig Oliver (@CraigOliver100) June 26, 2017

Not listening to the boss anymore…

June 26, 2017 at 2:19 pm

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Labour Promised More Cash For Northern Ireland in 2010

Labour are complaining today that Northern Ireland should not get more funding than other parts of the UK and that May has given them a deal “to help her cling to power”.

“Where is the money for the Tory-DUP deal coming from? And, will all parts of the UK receive the much needed additional funding that Northern Ireland will get as part of the deal? This Tory-DUP deal is clearly not in the national interest but in May’s party’s interest to help her cling to power.”

Almost gotta admire the hypocrisy…

In 2010 Gordon Brown wrote to the DUP seeking a deal to help him cling to power. He guaranteed money for Northern Ireland and implied Northern Ireland would need more cash than the rest of the UK:

“I am writing to confirm my continued commitment to the block grant for Northern Ireland for the current financial year and to confirm the financial settlement for the budget of the newly established Department of Justice… As you know, I believe it is an imperative to stabilise the economic recovery in Northern Ireland…. I recognise that the legacy of the past will make this more difficult to achieve in the coming months than we may expect in other parts of the United Kingdom. This is a challenge we must all meet. The achievements made by you and the political leaders of Northern Ireland have been an example to us all. I remain firmly committed to doing all I can to support this momentous progress and you can count on my continued support.”

In 2015 Labour under Miliband did the same. Read Gordon’s letter to the DUP, there are lots of similarities with May’s words today…

June 26, 2017 at 1:52 pm

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Leave Tories Support Time-Limited “Soft Landing” Brexit

Tory Leavers will support the government on interim Brexit arrangements lasting two or three years so long as the period is strictly time-limited and cannot be extended. Leave-supporting ministers and MPs say they back the government’s plan for a so-called “softer landing”, arguing it is both sensible and necessary to achieve a proper Brexit outside the single market and customs union. Yesterday leading Brexiter and Open Europe chairman Lord Wolfson called for a “smooth” rather than “rushed” departure process. The feeling among Tory Leavers is that the destination is the same – a clean, open Brexit – but there will be a “softer” journey to get there.

Suella Fernandes, the new head of the influential European Research Group of 80 Leave Tory MPs, tells Guido:

“It is entirely pragmatic and sensible, as we do with other legislation, for there to be a strictly time-limited interim implementation phase, but by no means should that be read as a cover up for staying in.”

Leave MPs have two main conditions for supporting an interim arrangement. They say it is crucial the period is “time-limited” – that an irrevocable departure date is set and cannot be extended. Their fear is that without a time-limit continuity Remainers and civil servants will aim for “permanent transition” or repeated delays to ultimately keep the UK inside the EU. Leavers also want Britain fully out of the single market and customs union within two or three years, well in time for the next election. Tory MPs are concerned that the public will want to see progress on immigration and trade deals by the time they next vote. One of David Davis’ main reasons for lobbying Theresa May to call a snap election was so Brexit could be fully completed by the next election. This means an interim period of two or three years, over well in time for 2022.

The Remain media’s focus on “soft” versus “hard” Brexit has been misleading. Everyone in government including Philip Hammond agrees on a destination outside the single market and customs union. It is the journey that is interesting – Hammond and Leavers now agree on a “softer landing”, so long as the transition is short and time-limited. Expect UKIP to complain (they have to, or else they have nothing to say). But so long as Leave MPs’ conditions are met this seems to Guido a sensible approach for a smooth, real Brexit…

June 26, 2017 at 12:45 pm

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Deal Done! May Hands DUP £1 Billion

Arlene Foster drives a hard bargain, especially considering the Tories didn’t need a formal deal for the government to survive. £ rising on the news…

UPDATE: You can download and read the deal in full here. Additional details of UK government financial support for Northern Ireland have also been released. It is intended to last for the entire length of the parliament…

UPDATE II: Key details:

+ £400m for Northern Ireland infrastructure

+ £150m for superfast broadband

+ £100m for immediate health and education pressures

+ £200m for health service transformation

+ £50m for mental health

+£100m for relieving deprivation

UPDATE III: TaxPayers’ Alliance slams the deal:

“Taxpayers resent politicians cooking up deals behind closed doors that invariably end with their cash being thrown wherever is politically advantageous rather than where it could be best spent. The unfair way in which money is allocated between the Home Nations has been clear for decades, best illustrated by the significantly higher levels of public spending in Scotland than in considerably poorer parts of England. But until there is a major decentralisation of tax raising powers, Westminster politicians will always have ultimate control of the purse strings and be able to dish out taxpayers’ cash in a way that benefits them more than the general public.”

June 26, 2017 at 11:09 am

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McDonnell: Grenfell Victims Were “Murdered”

Guido has got hold of the video of Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell telling a Glastonbury crowd that the Grenfell victims were “murdered“. In fact he says it twice. Worth watching for the awkward audience reaction when he repeatedly drops the M-word.

“Is democracy working? It didn’t work if you were a family living on the 20th floor of Grenfell Tower. Those families, those individuals, 79 so far and there will be more, were murdered by political decisions taken over recent decades. The decision not to build homes and to view housing as only for financial speculation rather than meeting a basic human need murdered those families. The decision to close fire stations and to cut 10,000 fire fighters and then to freeze their pay for over a decade . They were political decisions.”

So does McDonnell think the many, many Labour councils who also approved unsafe cladding are attempted murderers?

June 26, 2017 at 10:05 am

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Rich’s Monday Morning View

Ministers Want Philip Hammond as Caretaker PM

June 26, 2017 at 8:49 am

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Theresa May and the Holy Grail

After a tough couple of weeks for the British PM – what’s next? Here’s @rabbitandcoffee with ‘Theresa May and the Holy Grail’. #auspol pic.twitter.com/P7Pnb0vwMo

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) June 25, 2017

Via Insiders ABC

June 25, 2017 at 11:21 pm

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Coyne: Danger of Purges in Labour Party

.@gerard_coyne warns there is a "real danger" of purges in Labour and says the electorate will never forgive them if this happens #bbcsp pic.twitter.com/oRQ0jESL37

— DailySunday Politics (@daily_politics) June 25, 2017

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