This is the discussion in the Tory MPs’ WhatsApp group this evening after Chris Chope blocked the upskirting bill. The most unpopular man in the Tory party tonight?
Tory dinosaur Christopher Chope has plumbed new depths by blocking a bill to make upskirting a criminal offence. Not sure how he plans to justify that to his wife and daughter. Chope has a tedious habit of blocking Private Member’s Bills supposedly on procedural grounds. In reality he just obstructs and prevents good ideas. He says it’s principle but the truth is he lets his mates’ bills through…
In addition to the upskirting bill, Chope has also blocked:
- Pardoning Alan Turing (which was supported by The Queen);
- Same-sex marriage;
- An investigation into Bercow bullying allegations;
- The use of wild animals in circus performances;
- Blocked free hospital car parking for carers;
- Making revenge evictions an offence.
What a bloke.
UPDATE: Not content with blocking the upskirting bill, Chope just blocked another government-backed bill to make it a specific criminal offence to attack police dogs and horses.
Guido can reveal Olivia Robey has been hired as Sajid Javid’s new Special Adviser. Robey is a rising star in Tory circles, she was the former head of CCHQ’s political section before being made a director at the well-connected PR agency Hanbury Strategy. She will be starting shortly as a policy adviser with responsibility for crime, vulnerability and policing. A savvy appointment from Saj and a much-needed hire to strengthen his team following his move to the Home Office. Congratulations…
Let Guido know any updates…
The TaxPayers’ Alliance is joining the think tank revival and ramping up its presence in Westminster with two new hires this afternoon. Lynton Crosby protege James Roberts will join as Political Director from CTF. His job will be to make sure the TPA’s campaigning on the ground is reaching the corridors of power. He’s already in with plenty of MPs.
Also coming on board is Phil Basey as Editorial Director. Basey was responsible for whipping the UKIP 2015 manifesto into shape – he will be overseeing the research team. The TPA has been doing well recently, with Chloe Westley emerging as a rising star on Question Time and James Price touring the studios fighting for taxpayers. At a time when the statist Tories in Number 10 are backing new taxes, the TPA’s voice is more needed than ever…
Entries in the comments…
Police were called to Parliament’s Sports and Social bar last night after a man was challenged over a ‘fake’ House of Lords pass. Scottish Conservatives and SNP researchers spotted a man in the bar wearing what they described as a counterfeit parliamentary pass. One told Guido:
“It was obviously a fake pass. The red lines were the wrong distance apart, the numbers were the wrong size and it wasn’t double sided… When he was challenged he hid the pass in his pocket and then fled the parliamentary estate… others also saw him earlier this week on the terrace.”
A Met Police spokesman said there were no arrests. Witnesses said the police took statements. A House of Lords Spokesman said:
“The Police attended the Sports and Social Bar last night in relation to an access issue. It was not in response to a disturbance or breach of the peace.”
The incident comes weeks after a man was arrested after breaching Parliament’s security fence and attempting to climb scaffolding on the building. Management of the troubled Sports and Social is due to be brought “in house” after summer recess. Another Parliamentary security scare…
“No one was talking to me and no one was talking to him so I went over and had a word with him” @JohnMannMP on his meeting with the former leader of North Korea Kim Jong-il #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/SARQfUz4ke
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) June 14, 2018
John Mann tells Question Time about the time he met Kim Jong-il. His verdict: “Strange family…”
“What evidence is there that the Russians had any influence on the Brexit referendum?” @afneil asks @acgrayling #bbctw pic.twitter.com/6naHoWv7MS
— BBC This Week (@bbcthisweek) June 14, 2018
Carole Cadwalladr and The Observer won plaudits from Twitter’s maddest Remoaner, AC Grayling, on BBC This Week last night. Alas he went on to admit there was no evidence the Russians had any influence on the Brexit result. With an endorsement like that…
At last it could be an interesting one!
Labour Live organisers are handing out free tickets as fast as they can be printed. In the rush to get as many as possible to attend (Labour planned for 20,000, but just 3,000 tickets have been sold), few checks are being carried out on applicants. As such, hundreds of free tickets have been issues to Kim Il-Sung, Tony Blair and Leon Trotksy:
I’m sure I’ll find something to do with 23 free tickets for Labour Live in the name of Kim Il-Sung pic.twitter.com/JM0SkNoE1o
— Ido Vock (@idvck) 14 June 2018
Delighted to have got 60 tickets for Labour Live this weekend pic.twitter.com/6Pf6WOm95p
— Piers Mitchell (@1totalprat) 14 June 2018
Labour Live! is now giving away free tickets through Unite. Just been emailed 18 in the name of Tony Blair c/o HMP Belmarsh pic.twitter.com/HXFVsua5Bi
— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) 14 June 2018
Looking forward to Saturday…
Lembit Opik is among a group of British politicians who have been elected MPs in the Parliament of Asgardia, the first ‘space nation’. Asgardia aims to be the first nation state in space – enthusiasts launched a (small) satellite into orbit containing the data of thousands of its citizens, but apart from that it exists mainly online. There are 200,000 ‘citizens’ of Asgardia who have signed up online from countries around the world. It is unclear how many still live in their mum’s spare bedroom. One day the Asgardians hope to have a fully functioning space colony, where Lembit will be making the laws…
Doesn’t this disqualify Nigel Evans as an MP? You can’t be a member of a legislature outside of the Commonwealth
— Ned Donovan (@Ned_Donovan) 14 June 2018
The first meeting of the Asgardian Parliament is set for 24 June in Vienna. Others involved include former Lib Dem Leicester South MP Parmjit Singh Gill, and, interestingly, sitting Tory MP Nigel Evans. This may not be allowed…
Commenting on the opportunities presented to British citizens by Asgardia, Lembit Opik said:
“As the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, the country is liberated to invest in a truly global space community, and the Government has recognised this with substantial investment in the UK space sector. Asgardia welcomes British citizens who share the dream of human opportunities in space for all countries, not just the privileged few who can afford a presence in space. There was a time when only the British Upper Class could travel abroad. Now it’s possible for all to do it.”
Cosmic…
Ryanair will open a huge new operations base at Southend Aiport next April. The airport will become Ryanair’s hub for eight countries, flying 16 routes including the extremely popular Barcelona, Corfu, Milan and Venice services. More than a million Ryanair passengers will pass through the terminal on 55 flights a week. The project will create 750 jobs. A big vote of confidence in Brexit Britain…
Oh, wait. David O’Brien, remoaning Ryanair chief commercial officer, said of his own plans: “Don’t confuse this great news as some sort of vote of confidence in the future of UK aviation, it’s a vote of confidence in Southend airport… [it was not] a reversal of opinion on the merits of Brexit”. Not sure they’re even convincing themselves with that line…
Carole Codswallop has done it again. The top Observer sleuth has been forced to delete yet more error-strewn tweets after launching an unhinged attack on the BBC. During her meltdown last night about Isabel Oakeshott being invited onto Question Time, Codswallop launched a pile-on against the Beeb’s head of live political programmes, Rob Burley, demanding an explanation. Her tweet tagging Burley was retweeted more than a thousand times. For hours Burley was under attack from hundreds of tweets from Codswallop’s crazy legion of followers. Just one problem: Burley has nothing to do with Question Time, which is produced by the independent production company Mentorn.
12 hours later, Carole deleted the tweet and apologised.
She also tweeted claiming that, during her Marr appearance with Oakeshott, they didn’t ask her about her Observer story about Shahmir Sanni. They did. That has now been deleted. This is basic stuff…
DExEU Brexit Questions banter from @Keir_Starmer to @DavidDavisMP: “I’ve done a quick tally, I think this year he’s threatened to resign more times than he’s met @MichelBarnier.” pic.twitter.com/Lqkek7yqzU
— Darren Grimes (@darrengrimes_) June 14, 2018
Banter at Dexeu questions. Those five times Davis has threatened to resign here…
The Tories have counted 103 Labour resignations in nearly three years under Jeremy Corbyn:
Tristram Hunt: Post-leadership contest
Jamie Reed: Post-leadership contest
Chuka Umunna: Post-leadership contest
Emma Reynolds: Post-leadership contest
Rachel Reeves: Post-leadership contest
Caroline Flint: Post-leadership contest
Chuka Umunna: Post-leadership contest
Yvette Cooper: Post-leadership contest
Chris Leslie: Post-leadership contest
Shabana Mahmood: Post-leadership contest
Liz Kendall: Post-leadership contest
Mary Creagh: Post-leadership contest
Stephen Doughty: Revenge reshuffle
Jonathan Reynolds: Revenge reshuffle
Kevan Jones: Revenge reshuffle
Naz Shah: Anti-semitism
Lord (Norman) Fowler, a onetime newspaper hack who is now the not unpompous Speaker of the House of Lords, has been given ‘leave of absence’ today by the EU-loving House of Lords – to go on an EU-sponsored freebie. Fowler is attending the two-day annual piss-up important seminar of the Association of European Senates in Bucharest at one of the Ceaușescu‘s old palaces. This is an EU-backed outfit which aims to ‘strengthen European identity and awareness’.
Sitting on the Woolsack all day, Fowler may not have noticed or actually believe we are leaving the EU. How much is his freebie costing the taxpayer? And have you noticed how these foreign shindigs always happen at the end of a week, allowing participants to stay over for a few extra days of fact-finding/knees-upping? Sănătate!
Former Europe Minister @CarolineFlintMP says Michel Barnier “would bite the hand off the Prime Minister” for the EEA/Norway model as it is so clearly the “worst deal” for the UK.
Anti-Brexit Tory MP @Anna_Soubry cries “shame!” from the benches opposite. pic.twitter.com/dBcq8FsQ7v
— BrexitCentral (@BrexitCentral) June 13, 2018
Caroline Flint demolishes the arguments of Labour Remainers and Anna Soubry that we should join the EEA. She says the EEA is the worst possible Brexit other than no deal, that free movement must end to respect the referendum result, and that Leave voters have been “insulted” by her colleagues for years. There are some Labour MPs who respect the will of their constituents…
Arron Banks issued a legal letter to Guy Verhofstadt last night ordering the European Parliament Brexit co-ordinator to retract a tweet accusing him of being a “Putin cheerleader”. Banks’s lawyers say the bizarre tweet from arch-Europhile Verhofstadt defames him and that Verhofstadt’s allegations “are false.” Verhofstadt also accused Nigel Farage, who Guido understands is thinking hard about his options in response. Tough claim for Verhofstadt to defend, he’ll surely have to retract…
Mhairi Black is always one to get stuck in – and here she is digging deep on College Green after the SNP walked out of PMQs. Euuughhh…
Remoaner Labour MPs led by Chuka Umunna are rebelling against the leadership with a doomed amendment this afternoon attempting to keep us in the EEA. This is what Chuka used to say about the EEA model during the referendum: it “pays into the EU budget, accepts free movement, must obey EU laws with no say” and “would hurt the UK”.[…] Read the rest
