George Freeman’s lefty remain tent has become so broad it now apparently covers environmental extremists. His ‘Big Tent Ideas Festival’ has announced it is “unbelievably excited” to be “partnering with Extinction Rebellion”.
Unbelievably excited that #BigTent19 will be partnering with @ExtinctionR!!!✊🌎
They’ll be in our #EnviroTent proposing that the UK’s current net zero target of 2050 needs to be revised to 2020/2025
Incredibly excited – not one to miss! Tickets here: https://t.co/HCClmxwv8b pic.twitter.com/16IeLWz1QR
— Big Tent Ideas Festival (@BigTentIdeas) August 12, 2019
But just last month the think tank Policy Exchange published a paper on the group by Counter Terrorism experts which outlined that Extinction Rebellion:
- rejects both our representative democracy and the liberal free market economy and explicitly seeks to overturn both.
- originates in the anti-globalisation Occupy Movement, and promotes ‘post-capitalism’ ‘de-growth’.
- espouses a ‘civil resistance’ strategy of mass protests involving large numbers of the public who are encouraged to break the law, cause serious social and economic disruption and place a burden on police resources.
- emphasises the importance of achieving economic damage to a city.
- believes that the economic costs of protest increase exponentially day by day.
- has groups behind the campaign with social media accounts that reveal notable examples of extremist content including conspiracy theories, including “concerning instances of anti-Semitism”
- has a leader who has spoken about people dying for its cause, having said “we are not just sending out e-mails and asking for donations. We are going to force the governments to act. And if they don’t, we will bring them down and create a democracy fit for purpose… and yes, some may die in the process”.
There is no doubt that Extinction Rebellion is an extremist organisation. What is Government Minister George Freeman playing at..?
Despite Boris’s insistence that all Ministers have to be on board with leaving the EU on the 31st October, deal or no deal, it seems not all of his new appointments are quite so enamoured with his policy. Transport Minister George Freeman this morning appeared on the Huffington Post podcast ‘Commons People’ and launched into an anti-no deal rant, claiming that “WTO long-term” would be an “absolute disaster that would leave my party out of office for decades”. Not exactly the Downing Street line to take…
Freeman freestyling on message doesn’t seem to just be confined to podcasts, his Big Tent Ideas Festival this year has a rather unexpected lineup for an event originally billed as coming from the “small c, pro-enterprise, innovation and reforming branch of Conservatism”. Guido is struggling to tell it apart from a Labour fringe event:
- Seema Malhotra. Labour MP
- Lisa Nandy. Labour MP
- Darren Jones. Labour MP
- Peter Kyle. One of the chief agitators for a second referendum
- Ash Sarkar. Literally a communist
- Damian Collins. Former Carole Cadwalla-borator-in-Chief
- Nora Mulready. Former Change UK Candidate
- Ayesha Hazarika. Former Brown, Harman and Miliband advisor
- Isi Daley and Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson. Full-time Remain activists
- Miatta Fahnbulleh. CEO of nutty hard-left think tank NEF
- Jacqui Smith. Former Labour Home Secretary
- Erica Ramos. NUS and second referendum supporter
- Rory Stewart. One of the most right-wing people there…
In Freeman’s defence there are some Tory Brexiteers going including Bob Seely, Penny Mordaunt and Liam Halligan, although they’re firmly in the minority. He’s going to need a pretty big tent…
Looks like Rory Stewart’s ‘unique’ style of campaigning hasn’t done him too much harm, he’s managed an improbable jump into second place in the latest ConHome leadership survey. He’s still going to need at least another eight votes if the fun is going to continue. He tells The Sun he is still “one or two votes short”…
Raab and Gove have both been pushed down a place and fall under 10% for the first time in months, Hunt has closed the gap slightly while the Saj has managed to put a bit of distance between himself and the remaining candidates. Hancock looks to have cleared the 16-vote bar with George Freeman’s switch from Gove yesterday, the other three all have work to do. The membership won’t be too distraught either way, it’s just 2% for McVey and Leadsom while Hancock and Harper don’t even muster 1%…
It’s all a bit academic anyway, these are all molehills compared to Boris Johnson’s towering peak – breaking the 50% mark for the first time. His smooth launch yesterday failed to offer any kind of gamechanging gaffe his rivals need to dent his imposing lead. It’s increasingly starting to look like a race for second place…
A new survey by ConservativeHome has found that 61% of Conservative Party members believe that “Theresa May should resign as Prime Minister and Party leader.” Just 36% think she shouldn’t…
This chaos can’t continue. Something has to give. We need an orderly Brexit on Mar 29. If, to get the votes for that, the PM has to promise that she will go after the Withdrawal Treaty is secure, to allow a new leader to reunite the country and oversee the next stage, she should.
— George Freeman MP (@GeorgeFreemanMP) March 14, 2019
This comes as the former chairman of Theresa May’s Downing Street Policy Board, George Freeman, has openly called for a fresh leadership contest as a condition for getting her deal over the line. Guido reckons this is the first time the centre of the party has started to float an idea that has been motivating ERG circles for a while…
George Freeman on Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit Position:
“The Leader of the Opposition’s Position is crystal clear – he’s for Leave up north and Remain down south.”
George Freeman flip-flops on “No Deal”…
“… with just 6 weeks to March 29th, we urgently need an orderly Brexit. So, with a very heavy heart, I will vote for the Withdrawal Agreement.”
