Former Labour DfID Minister Sally Keeble was having a hard time on Twitter on Friday night, retweeting a picture of a generously-sized male anatomy from the account @DickPicsCams as she prepared for Labour’s East Midlands conference in the morning. Big thumbs?
The former Northampton North MP, who is still Labour’s candidate for the seat despite having failed to retake it twice since 2010, naturally blamed the incident on a “hack”:
Thank you to those who alerted me to the fact my twitter account had been hacked. I’ve now changed the password.
— Sally Keeble (@Sally_Keeble) February 2, 2019
She’s since undone the retweet, yet as of this morning it’s still prominently on show in her Twitter likes. Saving it for quick access later?
UPDATE: After staying up for a solid 48 hours, the prodigious picture has finally gone down from Keeble’s likes…
Labour candidate Sally Keeble on Blair’s money…
“I actually believe that British Politics, and particularly at election time, should be funded very clearly by British money, and I think that the funding from Tony Blair’s organisation would have been from a number of international sources, some of which were ones that personally I don’t agree with, and I don’t find acceptable – so that’s why I turned that down.”
The fallout from Tony Blair’s £106,000 donation to Labour target seat candidates continues as a second candidate refuses to take his blood money. Yesterday Guido revealed in the Sun on Sunday that Northampton candidate (and former Blairite) Sally Keeble was in line to receive Blair’s cash despite being a vocal critic of the former PM. She has now given the money back:
“The £1,000 donations are being offered to key seats – of which we were one. I have emailed them back to say we won’t be accepting.”
Yesterday Labour’s Dundee East candidate also said thanks but no thanks:
Received donation from Tony Blair. Instinct was to not accept. Discussed with team. Dundee East is not accepting the £1000.
— Lesley Brennan (@LesleyEastend) March 8, 2015
To attention seeking Labour candidate rejecting TB money 1. He won more Labour seats than anyone 2. Tories are loaded 3. Do you want to win?
— Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) March 9, 2015
Attention seeking she may be, but it’s not like she lied to start a war, eh Al?
Before he was taking Blair’s cash, Labour’s Norwich South candidate Clive Lewis said of the former PM: “History will be his judge.” He sneered: “Tony, baby – stick to your fluffy Christmas cards. You had your chance.”
Rupa Huq, Labour’s candidate in Ealing, was also a fierce Blair critic, arguing the “legitimacy” of the Iraq War has been “demolished”.
Caitlin Bisknell, who is running in High Peak, admits “we didn’t have the evidence at the time”, while Brighton Kemptown candidate Nancy Platts warns “the Iraq War was the tipping point… some Labour voters, members and activists were lost for good”.
Brighton Pavilion candidate Purna Sen even went on marches in London, Oslo and the Middle East protesting against the war.
Several of the aspiring MPs given cash by Blair have sat in the Commons before: Bob Blizzard, David Drew and John Grogan all voted against the war in 2003.
How many more will stick to their principles and hand back the cash – which Blair is effectively laundering from foreign dictatorships – before the day is out?
