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Paul Mason Dismisses Left Wing Bullying on Politics Live

When businesswoman Michelle Dewbury spoke about the abuse she recieved from Momentum activists during the 2017 election, journalist turned hard left activist Paul Mason responded with immediate dismissiveness. The ensuing argument continued while a VT played, when things got even more heated…

“You have been deeply rude to me in the break, you find that funny… when I just called you out on that you just sat and laughed.”

Sadly the BBC has told Guido that it will not be releasing the unseen footage…

UPDATE: In a series of tweets Michelle has explained what happened off-air: “I offered Paul Mason evidence. He replied “I’m not interested” and laughed…” Now she’s calling on the BBC to release the footage…

For the record, I am 100% happy for @BBCPolitics to release footage of my off-air ‘debate’ with @paulmasonnews and I hope they do…

I’ve had enough of this bullying, condescending, misogynistic attitude from some in @UKLabour

I’m not “offended” by it, I am saddened by it…

— Michelle Dewberry (@MichelleDewbs) March 11, 2019

March 11, 2019 at 1:39 pm

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Street Fighting Mason or Handbags at the Hague?

Members of CIJO, a Dutch youth organisation which actively fights racism, discrimination and prejudice with a focus on antisemitism, last week welcomed Corbyn to a meeting with this banner. Corbyn spoke last Thursday night in The Hague at the invitation of PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher. The PvdA is Labour’s sister party.

The banner mocking the official Labour slogan was hung on the balcony during Corbyn’s speech. After a few minutes, several people present, including someone from the organisation, physically challenged the CIJO members. CIJO chairman Hidde van Koningsveld claims he received a few blows. After Corbyn’s speech, the CIJO members were asked by security officers to leave.

Hidde tells Guido that fists were flying and he was abused. Subsequently he identified “the most violent” of the challengers as being Paul Mason. “We pressed charges on Tuesday and his name has been forwarded to the Dutch police.”

Guido spoke to Masson and he categorically denies being violent, he says he went over to find out what was going on and who they were, because he thought their banner was anti-Semitic. He says it was he who was verbally harassed and physically intimidated, adding that he got elbowed for his troubles.

David Garcia, who tweeted the above picture, sympathises with Paul Mason, saying it was a “vicious banner attacking Corbyn when he addressed the Dutch Labour party in the Hague. Paul Mason who was also present was understandably furious and tried to pull it down. The banner was later removed by security.” Guido put this to Mason and he also denied making any attempt to pull the banner down.

Who to believe in this case? One for Detective Van Der Valk…

July 12, 2018 at 4:55 pm

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Paul Mason’s Coming Home to England

Orwell had the Guardian columnists of his time in mind when he wrote in “The Lion and the Unicorn”:

England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during “God Save the King” than of stealing from a poor box.

On seeing Paul Mason’s tweets and flag-emblazoned cheeks last night John Denham pulled him up “Remember: no one made you say ‘I do not want to be English’” Mason retorted that “It’s still my position – My ethnicity is British – my nationality proletarian”. Which is of course bollocks. “British” is not an ethnicity and proletaria is not a place. Rather than knocking Mason let’s celebrate his coming home to that most English of things – football. His emotional connection to the flag and the national sport shows that, underneath the buzzword-laden ideological ramblings, he is still a human…

July 4, 2018 at 3:39 pm

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Civil Service Workshops With Paul Mason and AC Grayling

Where do the civil service get all their brilliant ideas? Perhaps from the workshops they run for mandarins billed as “bringing the world’s leading thinkers to Whitehall”. On 30 May the Treasury is inviting in AC Grayling, number one on Guido’s list of 10 people who’ve been driven mad by Brexit, to address staff. Twitter’s nutty professor, who has called Brexiters “vermin“, sought a general strike to oppose Brexit and alleged other ultra-Remainers were being “silenced” by forces of the state, will be speaking as part of the Treasury’s “Thought Experiment” series. The Treasury tell Guido their speakers are balanced. Grayling certainly isn’t being silenced by forces of the state, they’re giving him a platform.

A few days earlier, on 24 May, civil servants at BEIS will be addressed by Paul Mason. The mad Corbynista is giving a speech titled “Economic History” as part of the department’s “Alternative Approaches to Economics” series. Yes, the leather-jacketed revolutionary hero of the insurgent left will be coming in to share his wisdom with the heart of the government machine. These events are taking place during the working day. Don’t civil servants have anything better to be doing?

April 30, 2018 at 1:42 pm

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Profundity of the Punditry: Amber Rudd Edition

Some absolute classics from Fleet Street’s finest over the weekend. The usually sagacious John Rentoul’s Saturday column for the Indy declared Amber Rudd to be in a “surprisingly strong position”:

Dan Hodges at 5:13pm yesterday evening was almost onto something with his view that the latest Guardian story “supports Rudd”:

Top prize however goes to Paul Mason, who confidently tweeted at 9.56pm: “It’s become easier to imagine the end of the world than a Tory minister resigning for probably lying.”

News of Rudd’s departure broke just minutes later. Mason immediately fired off another 20 tweets to bury the take and cover his modesty. Peak neoliberalism? Peak punditry…

April 30, 2018 at 10:56 am

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Paul Mason Goes Full Glenn Beck

Paul Mason has filmed a six minute video in front of a blackboard explaining how the mainstream media has it in for Jez, complete with handy flow chart. Mason has gone full Glenn Beck:

You never go full Glenn Beck.

March 2, 2018 at 5:00 pm

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Corbyn Doesn’t Reject Mason’s Call for Deselections

Jeremy Corbyn does not reject Paul Mason’s suggestion that Labour MPs should have the threat of deselection “hanging over them”. Quoted in a Guardian interview published yesterday, the Labour leader was asked directly about Mason’s comments and replied:

“Look, [we] will look at democracy within the party and look at the process of selections. We should all be accountable all the time. I’m accountable to my party, I’m accountable to my constituency and I’m quite comfortable with that.”

Corbyn has gradually changed his language on mandatory re-selection. He used to claim to oppose it, but has since hinted several times at ways of bringing it about (using boundary changes as a cover and openly discussing a rule change at conference). Implicitly endorsing Mason’s comments is a step further, and with the Corbynistas in the ascendancy again after the NEC result the issue of compulsory re-selection is yet again the subject of Labour chatter this week (Corbynista influencers are now calling for it more loudly than ever). The purge is only just beginning…

January 19, 2018 at 8:24 am

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Paul Mason “Aggressive and Intimidating” Towards Female LBC Producer

Latest on Paul Mason’s shouty crackers descent into mid-life crisis. Shelagh Fogarty has just revealed on air that the leather-jacked Corbyn outrider this morning “bellowed” down the phone at a female LBC producer in an “aggressive” manner, leaving the woman feel “intimidated“. Apparently he was ranting that LBC want to destroy Corbyn and the Labour Party, which is a bit odd given the previous show was James O’Brien. Calm down Paul, step away from the phone…

January 16, 2018 at 1:24 pm

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Paul Mason: I Want to Have Deselections Hanging Over Every Labour MP

Paul Mason is jubilant after Lansman swept on to the Labour NEC. This morning he again confirmed he would like to see compulsory re-selections for all Labour MPs, adding “I want to have it hanging over every MP that they could get deselected if they don’t do their job properly”. Does that include Jared?

January 16, 2018 at 11:25 am

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Guardian Axes Paul Mason’s Column

Paul Mason’s weekly Guardian column has been axed. Mason announced the move on the day the paper launched its tabloid redesign, saying there would no longer be room for his pieces. Asked by a Twitter fan if his columns would still be on the Guardian website, he replied, “no”. No room on the internet either…

The leather-jacketed Corbynista scribe revealed he will now write for struck-off Novara Media, where he will have to answer to a Tory (does he know that yet?) For observers of the British left, Mason’s weekly sermon has been must-read. Here are some highlights…

On James Bond: “For the Bond genre to survive, Spectre would have to be portrayed, overtly, as the global oligarchy, ripping off the world. Bond would be tasked by MI6 to kill and maim members of the hedge-fund industry, the fracking bosses and the global CEOs extorting financial rent from the rest of us… Bond comes to a swift conclusion: he must target Donald Trump.”

On Michael Foot: “Michael Foot was a dire leader not because he was too old or too leftwing (or wore a duffel coat), but because he was a compromise candidate, constantly torn between the interests of the unions – who were largely on the right – and the membership, which had moved left. His 1983 manifesto was actually well crafted, but they were the right ideas at the wrong time.”

On the 1990s: “You could still riot without a balaclava, walk into a jobcentre with your head held high, and when a whole family could – if it had to – live on the earnings of a dinner lady.”

On craft beer: “BrewDog’s open-source revolution is at the vanguard of postcapitalism.”

On the perfect city:“A massive ecosystem of gay, lesbian, transgender, BDSM and plain old sleazy heterosexual hangouts: clubs, bars, dancehalls, cabarets and all the dim-lit alleyways and grassy knolls inbetween. For it is a truth unacknowledged by those who make the official league tables that Joe Corporate, with his squash racquet and sober suit, and Joanna Corporate, with her nanny and pushchair, really want to live many other secret and parallel lives, and the ideal city is one big, analogue version of Craigslist.”

He’ll be missed…

January 15, 2018 at 2:05 pm

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Corbynistas Board Outrage Bus Over Toby Young Appointment

It seems the way to virtue signal that you are a Tory-hating lefty in 2018 is to jump on the outrage bus about Toby Young’s appointment to the Office for Students board. Some of the abuse and whinging from Corbynistas upset that someone with right-of-centre views has got the job is just unhinged. Paul Mason for example is claiming Toby “despises working class kids”. Not a great attack line given he has helped set up four state schools educating 2,000 children, with more than a third at his secondary school eligible for the pupil premium. What has Paul Mason done to help working class kids?

The next moan is that Toby isn’t qualified for the job and that he is unsuitable because he is of the right. Danny Blanchflower, the economist who always gets everything wrong, has even suggested universities should refuse to have anything to do with the Office for Students until he is fired. Guido supposes he is entirely unqualified apart from having worked at Harvard and Cambridge, being a visiting fellow of the University of Buckingham, a Fulbright Commissioner, co-founder of four free schools and director of the New Schools Network.

And as for being political, lefty tweeters don’t seem to have a problem with the chair of the Office for Students Michael Barber being a former adviser to the last Labour government. Quangos are stuffed with lefties and Labour supporters across the board, it is just hypocritical for them to oppose a mainstream centre-right educationalist taking a position. Philip Blond makes a sensible point:

Most systems should not be regulated by those wholly immersed in them – we need hybrid regulators who are half in and half out of the sector – otherwise the self-interested status quo prevails – hence I think appointing @toadmeister is a good thing https://t.co/W97X3Hrred

— Phillip Blond (@Phillip_Blond) January 2, 2018

Almost as if it’s all faux outrage just so Owen Jones, Paul Mason et al can get some retweets…

January 2, 2018 at 12:17 pm

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Momentum Claims Only a Tiny Fraction of the Hundreds of Thousands it Raised for the Election Were Spent on the Election

The first task facing Electoral Commission investigators probing Momentum will be to unravel the organisation’s complex structure. Guido has taken a look…

Momentum is an unincorporated association – it doesn’t own assets and doesn’t employ anyone, but has an estimated 30,000 paying supporters. It raised £580,000 in membership subs last year alone – and that’s not counting other donations. It’s this unincorporated association that was officially registered with the Electoral Commission as a non-party campaigner for the 2017 General Election (in electoral law these are called ‘third parties’). The address registered for Momentum with the Electoral Commission is the TSSA Union building in Euston. Despite having hundreds of thousands in income, this is the ‘Momentum’ that reported a total spend of just £38,742.54 across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland during the general election’s restricted spending period. That’s a tight £257.46 below the £39,000 limit for non-party campaigners, meaning an average spend of just £60 per constituency.

Momentum says it uses two limited companies to carry on its operations: Momentum Campaign (Services) Ltd (MCS) and Jeremy for Labour Ltd (JFL). JFL is controlled entirely by its sole director, Momentum supremo and founder Jon Lansman, and is registered to his luxury Shad Thames flat. JFL is where the asset value in Momentum really lies: it is the ‘data controller’ which legally owns a huge database of supporter contact details collected during “both of Jeremy’s leadership campaigns, through Momentum’s website and during its campaigns.” It also operates the Momentum website. It must control data used – and collected – during the General Election…

Meanwhile, MCS employs about 15 staff on behalf of the unincorporated association and is registered to yet another office in East London. These must be the paid staff who directly influenced and directed Momentum’s general election campaign activity.

During the election campaign, Momentum boasted about both how much money it was making and how much money it was spending. Check out this fundraising pitch from Paul Mason (“we need money, a lot of it”), attached to a tweet on May 13, claiming Momentum had nearly raised £40,000 in an online crowdfunder:

Today we’re launching our general election crowdfunder. Less than 4 weeks to defeat @theresa_may! Let’s do this 👉
https://t.co/SxkICh4R3P pic.twitter.com/1aEotHEgwg

— Momentum (@PeoplesMomentum) May 13, 2017

Momentum raised £120,000 from the Crowdpac drive alone. Momentum is asking us to believe only a fraction of the hundreds of thousands it raised during the regulated period was spent on general election activities. Either it is lying to supporters about what they were going to do with their donations or it is lying to the Electoral Commission about how the donations were spent…

December 13, 2017 at 1:45 pm

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Paul Mason: Ban Uber and Airbnb

A lesson for young voters that freedom-hating Corbynistas would take away their cheap holidays and travel. Socialism isn’t cool kids…

September 27, 2017 at 8:56 am

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Paul Mason’s Play in 60 Seconds

Paul Mason’s play – starring Paul Mason – was televised by the BBC at the weekend (Channel 4 must have been busy). Just in case you were out on Saturday night, Guido presents a boiled-down version in sixty seconds, preceded by Kirsty Wark’s hilarious introduction. Full Alan Partridge…

July 24, 2017 at 5:29 pm

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Placard Showing May’s Head Impaled on Spike at Corbyn Rally

The People’s Assembly Against Austerity march in London this afternoon was supposed to be the more presentable sequel to last month’s ‘Day of Rage’. Didn’t quite work out like that. Corbyn, McDonnell, Diane Abbott and Owen Jones addressed a crowd of communist flag waving cranks and demonstrators carrying placards calling the PM and her chief of staff “murderers“.

Imagine making these to go on a demo with and not wondering "Are we the baddies?" pic.twitter.com/0xjJj0luID

— Tom Hamilton (@thhamilton) July 1, 2017

This charming lady carried a placard showing Theresa May’s head impaled on a bloodied spike. She claimed to be a Labour Party member from New Forest Gate. Corbyn described the protesters as “the movement that will win the next election”.

Channel 4 News’ Cathy Newman was spotted in discussion with Paul Mason. Jon “F**k the Tories” Snow sitting this one out?

A standard Saturday afternoon out for Jez…

July 1, 2017 at 6:55 pm

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Paul Mason Tells Blairites and Remainers to Set Up Own Party

“If you want a Party that’s in favour of illegal war, form your own Party and get on with it” @paulmasonnews to Progress. Absolute boy. pic.twitter.com/5e61eWdxVM

— EL4C (@EL4JC) June 24, 2017

Speaking at the Progress conference today, Paul Mason told Blairites and Remainers to set up their own party:

“If you want a centrist party, this is not going to be it for the next ten years. If it’s really important to you to have a pro-Remain party that is in favour of illegal war, in favour of privatisation, form your own party and get on with it.”

Labour unity creaking today…

June 24, 2017 at 7:11 pm

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Paul Mason: “Is Theresa May Unwell?”

Paul Mason drops the health bomb on the Daily Politics, asking why Theresa May has failed to turn up to Woman’s Hour and local radio interviews:

“Is there something wrong with her? I think we’re entitled to ask, is she unwell? What’s wrong with her?“

After Owen Jones claimed yesterday that May was dodging local radio stations, senior Corbynistas began to speculate that it is the PM’s health that has caused her to hide away. Worth noting that May is appearing on TV on the Question Time special tonight and there is no evidence behind these Corbynista health slurs. As Mason admits, “They did it with Hillary Clinton” – this is straight out of the Trump playbook…

June 2, 2017 at 1:08 pm

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Paul Mason on Editorialising BBC Journalists

Paul Mason tells Emma Barnett he is furious that a BBC journalist could editorialise. Yes, Paul Mason.

“You repeatedly editorialised in a way no trained BBC journalist would, dropping in your own views / unsubstantiated claims.”

May 30, 2017 at 11:49 am

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Paul Mason: Tory Voters Are Racist

Paul Mason: Tory voters are racist. #Newsnight. pic.twitter.com/UFkK5HHFSZ

— Ben (@Jamin2g) May 5, 2017

That’ll win ’em back.

Vid via @Jamin2g

May 6, 2017 at 9:55 am

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Coming Soon: Paul Mason – The Movie

Following on from the success of his play:

‘MASON’ is a feature length biopic about about the extraordinary life and times of Paul Mason. Directed by Ken Loach (‘CATHY COME HOME’, ‘I, DANIEL BLAKE’) ‘MASON’ tells the remarkable story of an ordinary BBC journalist who went on to fire the starting gun on global revolution.

[…] Read the rest