While the Tories tear themselves apart, Labour is hardly behaving like a happy harmonious family. This morning on Sky News Shadow Climate Change Minister Kerry McCarthy was asked what she thinks about MPs joining picket lines, as opposed to just speaking to striking workers as Lisa Nandy did:
“I think there’s a performative element of standing on the picket line holding up signs when you’re not on strike”
This line may have worked if not for the fact two other members of the front bench broke Starmer’s no strike policy yesterday, doing exactly that: standing on the picket holding up signs while not on strike. Meaning McCarthy levelled quite an insult at two of her colleagues…
Out supporting BT & Openreach @CWUnews members this morning on the picket line at Heaton Moor telephone exchange in Stockport.
— Navendu Mishra (@NavPMishra) August 1, 2022
It's a disgrace that some in the workforce have to rely on foodbanks to survive #FoodbankPhil pic.twitter.com/1NACev8CVQ
Proud to stand in solidarity with Bradford's @CWUnews members & workers fighting for better pay & conditions in the middle of a soaring cost of living crisis.
— Imran Hussain MP (@Imran_HussainMP) August 1, 2022
Like many workers in the UK, their bosses take home record profits whilst they're given breadcrumbs. pic.twitter.com/XR7CxQaQHm
Guido gets the impression Labour is just hoping to ignore Navendu and Imran’s breaches of LOTO rules…
Kelvin Hopkins has given another interview to Skwawkbox apparently preempting an imminent Guardian story making new allegations about his conduct. Hopkins says fellow Labour MP Kerry McCarthy has made complaints about him:
“I have been again been put under further pressure by two press organisations claiming to have received complaints about me from my parliamentary colleague, Kerry McCarthy MP. This has caused me immense personal hurt and utter dismay.
I have known Kerry McCarthy MP personally and professionally since about 1993. She was Chair of my Constituency Labour Party. She sat on a joint local Labour Party Agency Committee with me. We both stood as selection candidates for Luton North in 1995. She became a MP in 2005 and has been a member of the Shadow Cabinet. She is a person of substantial standing on the national stage and I counted her as a friend.
If it is true that my Parliamentary colleague and long time friend has made a complaint about me via the press, then I am deeply saddened by this. I cannot understand why a Parliamentarian of such experience and standing, who is also such a long term friend, would not have told me that she was unhappy with any aspect of our friendship rather than going straight to the national press.”
Story coming tonight?
UPDATE: Kerry McCarthy alleges she has received unwanted attention from fellow party MP since mid-1990s:
“None of it is very tangible. If I had told anyone, it would have just been like gossip, instead of a complaint – you’ve seen what it is. But it is really inappropriate.”
Kelvin made overtures to her which were not rude, lewd or physical, just unwanted.
As the year draws to a close in Wesminster, Guido can’t help but notice a distinct lack of Christmas cheer and jollity on the cobbled streets of SW1. First Labour leader Jebeneezer Corbyn refused to issue a traditional festive Christmas message in a most deplorable display of humbug, instead delaying his salutations till the New Year. How miserly to refuse the merry Corbynites a Christmas message from their leader…
Following this Kerry McCarthy penned a Grinch’s charter on how she is “sick“ of Christmas. Writing on her blog, the Shadow Farming Minister bemoans that Christmas means getting “up close and personal with bits of dead animals”. Guido thinks she should have a word with our festive Prime Minister, who shares no such qualms…
Such mean spiritedness is not limited to the opposition benches though. It appears some newspaper hacks are similarly down in the dumps. Perennial scrooge Zoe Williams has taken to the Guardian to damn Christmas as a mean “prank played on middle aged women”, encouraged by sinister forces like Nigella Lawson. This isn’t the first time Zoe has struggled with Christmas however, having written last year of the Christmas struggle of trying to “formulate an anti-consumerist worldview that doesn’t involve becoming a killjoy”. A challenge those of us with children can all too easily relate too…
Such unhappiness at this time of year concerns Guido, and in the spirit of Christmas cheer there can only be one solution: Hug a scrooge this Christmas.
Do you see a relative sitting glumly at the end of the table, Christmas hat drooping down over their brow, ruminating on Corbyn’s poll scores? A Green Party member, half-heartedly tugging on a cracker, lamenting the lack of vegan options and absence of Greenham Common activists in their family? A Stalinist wracked with guilt at the orgy of decadent Imperialist consumerism that Christmas occasions? Give them a hug, let them know it’s Christmas Time after all…
Guido wishes goodwill to all men (and women) this Christmas eve.
Shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy says…
“I really believe that meat should be treated in exactly the same way as tobacco, with public campaigns to stop people eating it.”
Speaking to Adrian Chiles yesterday, Corbyn’s newly appointed Shadow Environment Secretary Kerry McCarthy was questioned about her veganism:
[gigya src=”https://abfiles.s3.amazonaws.com/swf/audioboom_default_player_v1.swf” style=”background-color:transparent; display:block; max-width: 700px;” flashvars=”image_option=small&imgURL=&link_color=%2358d1eb&mp3Author=acraftyhalf&mp3Duration=26958.4&mp3LinkURL=https%3A%2F%2Faudioboom.com%2Fboos%2F3580516-kerry-mccarthy-mocks-the-beard-and-sandals-left&mp3Time=01.42pm+16+Sep+2015&mp3Title=Kerry+McCarthy+Mocks+the+%27Beard+and+Sandals%27+Left&mp3URL=https%3A%2F%2Faudioboom.com%2Fboos%2F3580516-kerry-mccarthy-mocks-the-beard-and-sandals-left.mp3%3Fsource%3Dwordpress&player_theme=light&rootID=boo_player_1&show_title=true&waveimgURL=https%3A%2F%2Fd15mj6e6qmt1na.cloudfront.net%2Fi%2Fw%2F3343312″ width=”100%” height=”150″ allowFullScreen=”true” wmode=”transparent”]
“If they [the media] want to see it [veganism] as a throwback to the old beard and sandals left well then they can, but I don’t have a beard and I’m not wearing sandals.”
Who would do such a thing…
Jeremy Corbyn’s new Shadow Environment Secretary is a vegan! Kerry McCarthy is a vocal animal rights campaigner who hasn’t eaten meat for 20 years. She might not be able to help farmers with their meat, but at least turnip production will be up 5000%.
Kerry’s not the first non-meat eater to hold the brief, veggie Hilary Benn had the role under Gordon. Guido’s never heard of herbivore…
