Further to Guido’s report this morning, three Tory MPs asked point of orders in the chamber this afternoon, all directed at the fake claims made by Chris Bryant on the night of the 19th October.
Former whip Mark Jenkinson, who was interviewed about the supposed fracas, accused Labour MPs of haranguing Tory MPs off the back of Bryant’s rule-breaking photo posted to Twitter.
Brendan Clarke-Smith asked for clarification on such photography rules; and Chris Clarkson asked whether the Deputy Speaker would call for Bryant to return to the chamber to correct the record – as Guido suggest he should, to avoid charges of hypocrisy.
Bryant was apparently too busy to turn up. Guido’s sure we’ll hear from him at some point. He is not a man to suffer in silence…
As the Tory leadership battle gets back under way, Boris’ supporters have been first to mobilise. Guido couldn’t help but admire the articulate case put forward by red wall MP Brendan Clarke-Smith. Boris is the Conservatives’ only proven election winner…
In the interests of kinder, gentler sketching Guido can only say that Yvette Cooper made a pig’s ear of her urgent question. It was an attractive pig with endearing qualities, but a pig’s ear is a pig’s ear.
She – Yvette – wanted to unpack the outgoing Home Secretary’s various unsympathetic policies and she listed them at length. Migrant boats and Rwanda sort of thing. But Brendan Clarke-Smith wasn’t paying attention. He wasn’t even taking notes. He couldn’t remember all the questions she was asking, surely? He didn’t have to. None of it was his business because he wasn’t from the Home Office. The Home Secretary had been fired for infringing the ministerial code. The ministerial code was the responsibility of the Cabinet Office. He was from the Cabinet Office and had no view on migrants, boats, flights to Rwanda or pigs’ ears, come to that.
It was a rare display of governmental competence. They managed to say nothing of interest, and say it convincingly. It’s a low bar but they cleared it comfortably. Is this the start of a Conservative revival? There’s a wee way to go, if it is.
Brendan Clarke-Smith’s learned friends have been working overtime for the past few weeks. Ever since the Twitterati shared false claims about this now infamous photo – taken at a charity event ten years ago, not during the pandemic – Clarke-Smith’s lawyers have kept the postman busy with a raft of legal letters to lefty celebrities caught on the wrong side of the truth. Alastair Campbell and Sue Perkins have already issued their grovelling apologies…
Luckily they’re in good company. Nish Kumar has now joined in with the grovelling, tweeting:
It has been drawn to my attention that a Tweet I recently retweeted about Brendan Clarke-Smith MP was incorrect. It was of an image of Mr Clarke-Smith taken in 2011 when he was raising funds for charity, but was described as mocking NHS staff during the pandemic.... (1/2)
— Nish Kumar (@MrNishKumar) July 26, 2022
Kumar wasn’t alone – the “progressive citizen journalists” over at Yorkshire Bylines also put out a mea culpa last night:
Important notice:
— Yorkshire Bylines (@YorksBylines) July 26, 2022
Solicitors acting on behalf of Brendan Clarke-Smith MP have requested that we publish the attached apology in full via this screenshot.
Please RT 🙏 pic.twitter.com/eFKFm46LTT
“Please Retweet” – Guido’s happy to oblige…
Guido understands newly-appointed education minister Brendan Clarke-Smith is preparing to post a raft of legal letters to high-profile celebrity lefties who spread false claims about a photo of the MP that appeared over the weekend. The photo, which showed Clarke-Smith posing in a thong, was taken over ten years ago during a waxing fundraiser for the British Heart Foundation and Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance. It made the rounds recently when the Twitterati baselessly declared it showed Clarke-Smith mocking NHS staff during the height of the pandemic…
Comedian Sue Perkins has already posted a grovelling apology and promised to donate to both charities:
1/ I messed up & want to offer a correction. I retweeted a post about @Bren4Bassetlaw without fact-checking. The picture of him was not taken during the pandemic, nor was he mocking NHS staff. He was fund-raising. I’d like to offer him my sincerest apologies for any upset caused.
— Sue Perkins 💙 (@sueperkins) July 11, 2022
That makes one, although there are still plenty of others out there who Guido understands can expect to hear from his lawyers soon…
UPDATE: Campbell apologises. Whoops…
It has been drawn to my attention that a tweet I recently retweeted about Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith was misleading and defamatory. It was of an old photo of Mr Clarke-Smith in which he posed to raise funds for charity. It was described as having been taken during lockdown 1/2
— ALASTAIR CAMPBELL (@campbellclaret) July 12, 2022
It appears that when it comes to helping residents with the cost of living, Labour-run Bassetlaw council is something of a fair-weather friend. At their latest meeting, Labour councillors Sue Shaw and James Naish proudly proposed a new pet policy of installing new free-to-use “sun protection factor 50 sun cream dispensers” in towns around the district, including Retford, Tuxford and Worksop. At the council meeting the deputy leader said the policy was necessary due to the cost of living crisis, otherwise residents wouldn’t be able to afford it. To be fair to the council, they’re not the only ones to have introduced the policy…
Down in Leigh Town Council they also installed a dispenser in the town. There’s just one difference: Leigh is a south-of-England beach resort, Bassetlaw is a two-hour drive from the nearest beach and a landlocked Nottinghamshire council…
Local Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith joked to the Express:
“I’m not sure how many people intend on sunbathing whilst they are out shopping in North Nottinghamshire and the last I checked we don’t have any beaches either.
“Never mind having public suncream dispensers – local people will assume the Labour council is the one taking the Piz.”
Looking at the Met Office website, local climate stations show Leigh receiving 367.75 hours more sunshine than Bassetlaw, and 60mm less rainfall per year. The best part is Guido understands the plan is uncosted. It seems for Bassetlaw council’s finances at least, they’re not saving anything for a rainy day…
