A few weeks ago James Chapman was talking up his apparently ongoing relationship with David Davis, briefing journalists that he should be the Prime Minister and regularly appearing in newspapers as an “ally” of DD. In an interview appropriately conducted by Jeremy Kyle, today Davis has diplomatically distanced himself from his former aide. Chappers has not taken it well, calling Davis a lazy, drunk liar on Twitter. Which makes those newspaper stories quoting him as a source last month look a bit silly. Meanwhile DD would not be drawn on Commando Chappers…
The Times and FT predictably report today’s proposal for a temporary customs union with the EU during the transition period as a victory for Philip Hammond. Is this true? Back in June Guido told you what most Tory Leavers want:
“Leavers 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.”
DD’s proposal clearly meets the requirements of Tory Leavers so long as the transition period is short, time-limited and trade deals can be struck well in time for the next election, so voters can see evidence of progress in Brexit Britain. Guido has spoken to various Leave Tory sources this morning who support today’s plan so long as the implementation phase is as brief as possible and those trade deals can be struck with time to spare. As has always been the case. Backbench Brexiter Bernard Jenkin sums up the view of Tory Leavers:
“Anything that smooths our exit and gives business reassurance is good but it depends how long this transition period is. We must not look hobbled in our trading relationships with non-EU countries.”
Privately Tory Leavers feel these “victory for Hammond” headlines on policies they also support are a price worth paying to help build consensus. Last month Remain papers called the transition itself a victory for Hammond, even though the vast majority of Tory Leavers support it. The reality is a transition has always been sensible and inevitable, supported by Tory Leavers so long as their conditions are met. Today’s proposal meets those conditions on paper, over to the EU…
Two days after blaming “all sides” for violence in #Charlottesville, Pres. Trump says KKK, Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists are “repugnant” pic.twitter.com/20QgYaLzVc
— CNN (@CNN) August 14, 2017
James Chapman, founder of the new anti-Brexit party “the Democrats”, is worried about lost marbles. Well, quite.
Let’s catch up with how things are going in the UKIP leadership race. Peter Whittle is the bookies’ favourite, followed by anti-Islam feminist socialist Anne Marie Waters. Third in the running is David Kurten, who has been dubbed a “homophobic tw*t” by Iain Dale for his comments about homosexuality and child abuse. UKIP sources point out Kurten’s campaign chief is Alan Craig, a somewhat old school chap whose more memorable quotes include his opposition to the “Gaystapo” and “gay rights storm troopers” with “pink jackboots”. Both Whittle and Waters are openly gay, you have to wonder what they think about Team Kurten. And please no one ask fourth favourite John “gay donkey” Evans for his thoughts…
Margaret Hodge is calling for people to join her in boycotting Amazon over their tax arrangements:
“I hope people take a leaf out of my book and stop using Amazon. I don’t use them at all… If we stop using Amazon then they may understand how angry their customers are.”
You can read more about Hodge’s strong and principled views on Amazon in her book Called to Account, for sale on Amazon:
“I don’t use them at all…”
As a Remainer and famous critic of the government, Nicky Morgan (along with Anna Soubry) was top of the list of potential defectors for those seeking to form a new anti-Brexit party. Just one problem. Nicky thinks it’s a terrible idea and won’t be having anything to do with it. She dismisses “The Democrats” as a self-indulgent silly season “fantasy” in a withering article for ConHome:
“The silly season is clearly in overdrive this August, with speculation about the time having arrived for a new UK political party to be formed. This would be a very bad idea for many reasons. Just ask those who were involved in the SDP: are any of them saying that a new centrist party is a good idea? … The national interest now demands that we stop indulging in political and ideological fantasies about new parties and start focusing on how we shape the rest of the 21st century in which the Conservative Party should want to be in Government with a broad base of support in the country.”
Ouch. Which leaves the current membership of “The Democrats” as pretty much just this:
Anti-Brexit Protest on Whitehall Last Night [VIDEO] https://t.co/b6O5hyiAtF pic.twitter.com/PadLxdDoBb
— Euro Guido (@EuroGuido) March 28, 2017
That’s that then.
It isn’t just Jeremy Corbyn who deserves scrutiny for his links to the murderous Venezuelan regime. UK PLC has approved millions of pounds worth of arms export licences to the country over the last decade. Meanwhile, “reputation management” PR specialists Bell Pottinger worked for Venezuela’s state-owned oil company in 2014. Petroleos de Venezuela is one of the key arms of Nicolas Maduro’s regime and needed help cleaning up its image after being hit with sanctions for trading with Iran. It has been accused of “gross mismanagement” and sacked workers who didn’t support Venezuela’s leader, pretty much summing up how the Venezuelan government does things. The book ‘Crude Nation‘ tells how Bell Pottinger conducted surveys for the Venezuelans about the concerns of their foreign partners. At least Jezza didn’t actually take Maduro’s petrodollars…
Bell Pottinger could do with some reputation management of their own at the moment. Aside from Venezuela, they are in front of the PRCA this week over allegations they helped stir up racial tensions in South Africa. Other recent clients have included the brutal regimes in Bahrain and Egypt, the dictator of Belarus and the wife of Syrian butcher Assad. Of course, those following Bell Pottinger’s newest recruit on Twitter know they are not exactly fans of democracy…
Arch-Blairite John McTernan, February 2016: “The idiots in Momentum will destroy themselves before they destroy Labour… It’s war. Well it was always a war, really… Trying to sneak enemies of the Labour Party in through the back door as Momentum plan is the surest way to find out that the “the broad mainstream of Labour Party grassroots” do not welcome collusion with their electoral enemies. It is indeed a golden rule of politics – never underestimate the stupidity of your opponents.”
Top Corbynista John McTernan, August 2017: “Momentum is within the Labour Party, it’s made up of members of the Labour Party… there’s lots of energy amongst Momentum members… They’re adding something, some richness to the Labour Party that’s not in any other political party in Britain or even in Europe at the moment so it’s a very interesting initiative… I’m a member of Momentum myself, I joined it because of the energy around that movement.”
Watch to the end for a killer plot twist.pic.twitter.com/LlcK1o6oBS
— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) August 12, 2017
“The struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother…”
Should come as no surprise that John McDonnell’s PPS, the new Labour MP Karen Lee, is a fan of a mass-murdering dictator who put homosexuals in concentration camps. Meanwhile, after Corbynistas spent the last two weeks trying in vain to distance Jez from the thugs in Venezuela, the geniuses at the Morning Star write “Corbyn is our Chavez”.
Morning Star gets it right shock…
Back in June, Guido told you a consensus was forming between Hammond, Fox et al on a time-limited 2-3 year transition outside the single market and customs union. As other publications breathlessly reported on Cabinet splits and Brexit coming off the rails, we wrote:
“Everyone in government including Philip Hammond agrees on a destination outside the single market and customs union… Hammond and Leavers now agree on a “softer landing”, so long as the transition is short and time-limited… this seems to Guido a sensible approach for a smooth, real Brexit.”
Yesterday Hammond and Fox dashed the hopes of the less reality-based Remainers, writing a joint article for the Sunday Telegraph confirming what Guido readers already knew:
“We will leave the customs union and be free to negotiate the best trade deals around the world as an independent, open, trading nation. We will leave the single market, because there was a vote for change on June 23rd and that is what we will deliver… We believe a time-limited interim period will be important to further our national interest and give business greater certainty – but it cannot be indefinite; it cannot be a back door to staying in the EU.”
A lot of what is being published by the FT, Guardian and Evening Standard at the moment is wishful thinking, and sometimes just plain wrong. For weeks they reported the government was being torn apart by splits over the transition. Then Osborne’s Standard praised Hammond for securing victory on the transition and said the government had made the “right call”. Today Remainers are moaning Hammond has “caved in”. The reality has been clear for some time for those willing to see it: a time-limited 2-3 year transition outside the single market and customs union. As Guido readers have known for months…
This week 170,039 visitors visited 524,366 times viewing 783,974 pages. The top stories in order of popularity were:
- Owen Jones Gets Owned Over Venezuela
- Maduro’s Thugs Executing Opponents
- BBC Silent on Arch-Remainer’s Background
- Rees-Mogg vs Chapman
- Private School Quota Would Cull Guardian‘s Columnists
- Owen Jones In For Nawaz on LBC
- Cameron Ambushing Corbynista’s Coat Costs £300
You’re either in front of Guido, or behind…
The UKIP NEC has determined that all eleven declared leadership candidates will be on the ballot. They are:
David Allen
Henry Bolton
David Coburn
Jane Collins
David Kurten
Marion Mason
Aidan Powlesland
John Rees-Evans
Ben Walker
Anne Marie Waters
Peter Whittle
Yikes!
The Island of Guam, which is a US territory, is in missile range of North Korea. At a press conference today the island’s governor has said there’s no imminent threat to the island. Nevertheless Guam Homeland Security has issued a new fact sheet, which the agency says will help residents prepare for an imminent missile threat. Enjoy the weekend…
Remoaners have lost their battle to derail Brexit as the public overwhelmingly backs a ‘hard’ exit from the EU. A major new study from the LSE and Oxford University shows even remain voters now generally reject the ‘soft’ Brexit policies advocated by the remoan lobby. The findings refute the often-repeated claim that Britain is deeply divided over Brexit: in reality, both leavers and remainers are broadly united behind a ‘hard’ Brexit on almost every major issue. The study, seen by BuzzFeed, shows:
- 67% of people surveyed prefer the so-called “no deal” outcome to a ‘soft’ Brexit
- 68% of people surveyed would choose a ‘hard’ Brexit over a ‘soft’ Brexit
Remain voters tend to support so-called ‘hard’ Brexit positions on most major negotiation points:
- The majority of remain voters oppose the continuation of free movement. Instead, they tend to back ‘some’ or ‘full’ control over UK borders, even if that means lower EU immigration levels than now;
- Remain voters do not want the UK to be subject to ‘all EU laws and all ECJ decisions’;
- Remain voters tend to support paying a smaller rather than larger divorce bill to the EU, and would support paying no bill at all;
- Remain voters do not support continuing massive payments to the EU;
- Labour, SNP, Plaid Cymru, and Lib Dem voters only marginally preferring a ‘soft’ Brexit to a ‘no deal’ outcome (by around 60/40).
Professor Sara Hobolt of the LSE said:
“Overall… there is on aggregate higher levels of support for outcomes that resemble the ‘hard Brexit’ position put forward by the government. Remain voters are willing to acknowledge that there are key negotiation outcomes – e.g. limits to freedom of movement – that they may not like, but that these outcomes still respect the referendum vote and are therefore legitimate. In other words, Remain voters concede that the features that lead them to prefer a particular negotiation outcome do not, in fact, respect the referendum.”
The study will be seen as a bodyblow to the metropolitan remoan class whose views are evidently not shared by the country as a whole. This exposes die-hard remainers as having the extreme position relative to the ordinary population. In all but 11 of 42 possible Brexit scenarios presented to the 3,293 participants, remain and leave voters were within five percentage points of one another. Conclusive proof that the public backs Brexit…
This morning James Chapman tweeted that “I don’t often wear pants”. This is evidenced by his revealing Kardashian-style Instagram account which has shocked the ladies (and gents) who were his former colleagues in the Lobby.
Wittiest winning entry will receive a copy of “Why Vote UKIP: The Essential Guide“ by Suzanne Evans. Entries only accepted in the comments…
Andrew Adonis is furiously tweeting about the Office for Students, the new universities regulator, whose first Chief Executive was appointed last month. Adonis is alleging that the body, and its new head Nicola Dandridge, will be subject to regulatory capture:
This may or may not be true, there is always that danger with vested interests. Speaking of which, shouldn’t Adonis disclose when criticising the oversight of the ‘Office for Students’ that he went for the job of Chairing the Board… and didn’t get it…
James Chapman, the former pol-ed, turned SpAd turned lobbyist putting the potti into Bell Pottinger, claims that the Tories will never win an election again and that Cabinet ministers sympathise with setting up a new centre party, “the Democrats”. Chappers sounding crackers…
The City’s envoy to the EU has slammed the “bewildering” approach of Brussels to Brexit negotiations. In a dossier of dispatches seen by City AM, former LibDem Home Office minister and City of London Corporation special representative Jeremy Browne wrote:
“The inability of Brussels to comprehend British politics, or read the British character at the most elementary level, is bewildering… [there is] a recognition of the scale of the City of London, and acknowledgment that inflicting excessive harm on London would have negative consequences for the EU27 as well as for Britain”.
Browne said that EU efforts to pick on the City were motivated by:
“[a] supervisory and quasi-nationalistic desire to prevent business continuing as usual in London post-Brexit… they are affronted by the idea of London remaining brazenly unaffected.”
Tough…
A Labour MP’s trip to Paris was paid for by an Iranian exile group which has been described as the front organisation for a ‘bizarre cult’. Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins accepted £800 worth of accommodation, meals and transport from the France-based National Council for Resistance (NCRI) in Iran for a two-day trip in July.[…] Read the rest
