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May Attacked Blair and Brown for Not Releasing Iraq War Legal Advice

Pressure is mounting on Theresa May to release the full legal advice given to her over the Irish backstop. Senior Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash sums up the issue succinctly, drawing a parallel with his own battle as Shadow Attorney General in the 2000s with Tony Blair over the legal advice he had received on the Iraq War:

“The Attorney General’s advice on critical constitutional issues is for Parliament and the country, not just for the Government. As shadow Attorney General I successfully pressured Blair and the Attorney General to produce legal advice on the Iraq war and it should happen again.”

In 2007, Theresa May herself wrote to Gordon Brown with a dossier of 100 accusations of breaches of the ministerial code under Blair’s government, including this particular entry:

“It emerged in April 2005 that Mr Blair did not tell his Cabinet about crucial legal advice on Iraq. The Prime Minister was forced to disclose the thirteen-page memorandum he received from Lord Goldsmith on the legality of the war. It was never shown to Cabinet or MPs, as Mr Blair should have under the Ministerial Code.”

Constitutionally, the Brexit deal is going to be of greater lasting significance than the Iraq War. If May refuses to release the full legal advice she will be doing exactly what she castigated Blair and Brown for…

November 7, 2018 at 4:35 pm

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Brown: Corbyn Is A Phase

A very relaxed-looking Gordon Brown gives Corybn a gentle kicking, agreeing that he is “a phase”. Brown continued: “we’re all phases… politicians have a short shelf life in terms of life at the top”. He would know…

June 10, 2018 at 10:15 am

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Maybot Dodges Gordon Brown Takeaway Trap

Asked by Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby if she ever kicks her shoes off and orders a takeaway, the Maybot malfunctioned and was unable to answer. Could have been worse, at least she didn’t do a Gordon. “I like English food, I like British food…”

February 19, 2018 at 12:37 pm

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May on Brown: “Control Freak… Meaningless Soundbites… Absolute Disaster”

Back in 2007 the Shadow Leader of the Commons, one Theresa May, wrote a cutting assessment of Gordon Brown’s first six months as PM for ConHome. Ten years on, the ironies are quite something…

Meaningless soundbites: “Brown is the master of the meaningless soundbite, an initiative a day… Well, if as Chancellor he was the master of the meaningless soundbite, as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has surpassed himself.” Not so strong and stable eh…

Control freak: “It’s a controlling thing – [Brown] thinks he has to control everything… Charles Clarke might have said this in public, but I’m sure David Miliband and Lord West are saying just the same thing in private. Can you think of any other foreign secretary who has had his speech torn up and re-written by Downing Street? Can you think of a minister who has had such an obvious dressing down as when Lord West said that the case for extending 28 days had not yet been made?” Ministers serving under May’s own control freak regime will find this particularly hilarious…

Psychological flaws: “You know Gordon, he feels so vulnerable and insecure. He has these psychological flaws… When Gordon Brown let the speculation about an early general election get out of hand, only to back down when he saw the opinion polls, there must have been much mirth amongst the Blairites. The arrogance, the dithering, followed by the pathetic climbdown was just the sort of behaviour they had predicted.” Because Theresa would never make an arrogant decision about an election based on opinion polls…

Macavity quality: “The Chancellor has a Macavity quality. He is not there when there is dirty work to be done… Macavity the Cat has been at it again this week. Knowing that the public hate the renamed European Constitution, and knowing that he has broken his manifesto promise to hold a referendum, Gordon Brown really didn’t want to be photographed signing the treaty with the other European heads of government. So, he agreed to go to the Liaison Committee for his evidence session, knowing it clashed, and deliberately double-booking himself.” Not like May to go missing at important moments…

Team player? “The idea that he’s a team player is utterly ludicrous’ (former Permanent Secretary)… in his regular press conference, the Prime Minister studiously refused to back Harriet Harman – deliberately using her as a human shield.” Another one that will have Cabinet ministers laughing. Penny for Philip Hammond’s thoughts on the press conference reference…

Absolute disaster: “It would be an absolute f*cking disaster if Gordon Brown was Prime Minister’ (government minister, reported to be John Hutton)… Well I probably wouldn’t use the same language as John Hutton, but with the first run on a British bank for 140 years, the HMRC lost data fiasco, and his own Party facing a criminal investigation, it’s pretty hard to disagree with the sentiment.” Ahem.

Bring back Blair: “Looking at the opinion polls, I don’t think another Labour leader is what the general public want – but it seems clear that they can’t stand that Gordon Brown.” Now it is Tory MPs who are privately joking “bring back Dave”…

Funny how things work out…

June 29, 2017 at 3:51 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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Labour Repeatedly Tried to Do Deals With the DUP

Labour have boarded the outrage bus over the Tories doing a deal with the “bigots and terrorist-sympathisers” in the DUP. They have some nerve…

In 2010 Labour tried to do a deal with the DUP. Gordon Brown wrote a letter to the DUP leader trying to buy his support. The then Northern Ireland Secretary Shawn Woodward worked on an “economic package” to secure DUP support. This morning Alastair Campbell said a deal with the DUP could undermine the peace process. On May 7, 2010, Campbell sat in a meeting where a Labour-DUP deal was proposed. Glorious hypocrisy from Bad Al…

Ed Miliband last night blasted the Tory-DUP deal as a “coalition of chaos”. Yvette Cooper this morning says it is “troubling“. Owen Jones says: “If Labour had ever done a deal with the DUP I would have been out there protesting it”. According to the DUP’s Ian Paisley Jr, Miliband’s Labour also tried to do a deal with the DUP in 2015:

Don’t buy the rank hypocrisy of Labour’s faux outrage this morning…

H/T @wallaceme

UPDATE: Caroline Flint slaps down Yvette Cooper over her hypocrisy:

June 11, 2017 at 10:55 am

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Taxpayers’ Alliance Updates Iconic Tory Debt Poster

Remember this?

The crisis is worsening so the Taxpayers’ Alliance have updated the poster:

Now every child in Britain is born owing £26,500.

What is Phil Hammond going to do about the Tory Debt Crisis?

May 18, 2017 at 10:25 am

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Guido’s Davos Fashion Report

George Osborne has turned heads with his suit, jumper and trainers combo at Davos this week, complete with a white sole trendy some time in early 2016. He’s with Amal Clooney, fighting injustice in a Chanel haute couture ivory dress on sale at £9,875, styled with a pair of Paul Andrew “Escarpins en daim”, which retail at £290. David Cameron sits back and chillaxes in his natty suede boots, perhaps a new purchase paid for by his speeches in Switzerland this week. Then we have Gordon Brown, who has grown his grey locks long for a slightly Beatles feel. He’s chatting to Shakira, her Latin roots showing through her wavy honey blonde hair with sun-kissed highlights and strawberry blonde lowlights, kept healthy with sulphate-free shampoo. She also poses with Jamie Oliver, slightly out of place with his spivvy over-gelled hair and flasher’s mac. It’s the place to be seen…

January 19, 2017 at 2:16 pm

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“Corbyn” Surges By 50% as New Baby Name

“Corbyn” has surged in popularity as a new baby name in the last year, ONS data has revealed. The Labour leader’s surname, which means “raven haired”, increased in popularity as a boy’s name by 50% since 2014. There were also three Korbyns and 19 Corbins. “Corbyn” was 36% more popular than “Blair” in 2015…

Who cares if he is 65 points behind Theresa May in a Survation favourability poll? He’s more popular than Blair!

H/T Jon Stone

September 2, 2016 at 4:39 pm

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Campaign Report: 10 Days to Go

Leave message: Three quarter of a million new EU citizens now have the right to come to the UK.

Remain message: Gordon Brown says Brexit would be bad for jobs.

Cut through: Nothing really.

Leave social media count: 484,206 likes, 58,937 followers.

Remain social media count: 472,414 likes, 37,955 followers.

Odds: Remain 4/7, Leave 9/5

Latest poll: Remain 45% (+3), Leave 50% (+5) (ICM, phone). Poll of Polls is now Remain 48% (-3), Leave 52% (+3).

June 13, 2016 at 6:34 pm

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Campaign Report: Day 27

Leave message: Boris’ Brexit bus tour begins, and the nasty banks back Remain.

Remain message: Boris’ bus is foreign and would be more expensive if we leave.

Cut through: Gordon’s intervention.

Leave social media count: 353,842 likes, 40,301 followers.

Remain social media count: 392,261 likes, 27,263 followers.

Odds: Remain 1/3 Leave 9/4

Latest poll: Remain 44%, Leave 46% (ICM, online). Poll of Polls is now Remain 50%, Leave 50%.

May 11, 2016 at 5:25 pm

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Gordon’s Popularity Plummeted Since 2007

The above graph illustrates the number of babies named “Gordon” in the UK since 2007, according to ONS figures. For some reason, Gordon’s popularity plummeted in the years from 2007 to 2010. Not sure what happened to make it go out of fashion. Other than the curse of Jonah…

April 21, 2016 at 4:55 pm

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Gordon Dooms Yvette (?)

Absolutely fantastic to have the support of Gordon Brown! #labourleadership #YvetteForLabour #VoteYvette pic.twitter.com/Amgcvmxttm

— Yvette For Labour (@YvetteForLabour) August 24, 2015

The former Prime Mentalist has endorsed the wife of his one time economic adviser, including a preference for every candidate except Corbyn. The only surprise is that Brown didn’t back Cooper in his speech two weeks ago:

One cannot help but feel the nomination is doomed to failure. Still no word from another former Labour leader from the recent past…

August 24, 2015 at 5:29 pm

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Gordon Brown in the Manner of Benny Hill

By popular request…

August 17, 2015 at 5:00 pm

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Gordon Prowls

https://twitter.com/rosschawkins/status/632906665180987392/photo/1

BBC cameraman Neil MacIntosh is the hero of the day tracking a prowling Gordon Brown. Shorter speech: “Anyone But Corbyn!”

August 16, 2015 at 2:41 pm

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Gordon’s Aliveeeeeee!

The former Prime Mentalist will be giving a speech in London on Sunday titled “Power for a Purpose – The Future of the Labour party.”

Presumably it will be about the importance of appealing to the electorate.

Could it be the final Curse of Jonah, and the most dangerous of them all?

August 14, 2015 at 2:33 pm

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Sepp Blatter Resigns

“I have been reflecting deeply about my presidency and about the forty years in which my life has been inextricably bound to FIFA and the great sport of football. I cherish FIFA more than anything and I want to do only what is best for FIFA and for football. I felt compelled to stand for re-election, as I believed that this was the best thing for the organisation. That election is over but FIFA’s challenges are not. FIFA needs a profound overhaul. While I have a mandate from the membership of FIFA, I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football – the fans, the players, the clubs, the people who live, breathe and love football as much as we all do at FIFA. Therefore, I have decided to lay down my mandate at an extraordinary elective Congress. I will continue to exercise my functions as FIFA President until that election.”

Doomed.

June 2, 2015 at 5:47 pm

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FIFA Was Doomed

Only a matter of time for Sepp Blatter now…

May 27, 2015 at 9:20 am

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Quote of the Day

Gordon Brown loses all sense of irony. The BBC report he says:

“David Cameron is planning to “cling on” in Downing Street after the election.”

May 5, 2015 at 12:00 pm

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The Graph That Ruins Miliband’s Argument

Even after Labour’s manifesto mea culpa about fiscal responsibility, Ed would still not say he thought Labour spent too much before the crisis. He had his audience cheering as he yelled “absolutely we were right to invest in those things”: