The GLA has this morning released the latest housing figures which show that last quarter only 71 affordable homes were completed. Precisely 2.3% of the 3,000 Khan would have to build to meet his targets…
In the “starts” section, which counts projects that have just begun, Khan tops up his overall figures with ‘open market’ completions which he has nothing to do with, as well as completions from his previous programme. Scraping the barrel…
Rayner has had no qualms rebuking Khan over London’s abysmal housebuilding (while slashing London’s targets) – these latest figures will no doubt add fuel to the fire. Tory assembly member Lord Bailey has written to Rayner asking her to put the Mayor’s Office and GLA in special measures such that they can receive “tailored” (and mandatory) support in actually building some houses. Ouch…
Read Bailey’s letter below:
This week Baroness Stowell, who chairs the Communications and Digital Committee, told the Lords that
“SLAPPs* are illegitimate and aggressive lawfare, used by all kinds of the rich and powerful to silence politicians, journalists and public bodies. They are an abuse of our legal system, and they are a threat to press freedom.”
Stowell reminded them that just before the Dissolution for the general election, they were very close to outlawing SLAPPs in their entirety, through the then Government supporting a Labour MP’s Private Member’s Bill. The legislation had bipartisan support from Labour and the Tories.
She asked the Justice Minister Lord Ponsonby
“Would the Minister ensure that his Government supported another Private Member’s Bill, if another MP was to bring forward a revised version that incorporated all the amendments and agreements reached with the previous Government before the general election? If not, could he commit to the Government bringing forward their own legislation in this first Session of Parliament to outlaw SLAPPs comprehensively?”
He assured her that “the Government are taking the matter very seriously and are establishing working parties, working at pace to try to address this issue.” As well they might given one of their own number is on the receiving end of just such aggressive lawfare, being used by a rich and powerful oligiarch to silence politicians and journalists.
Lord Bailey, Richard Tice MP and Guido’s editor, Paul Staines, are fighting Dale Vince’s lawfare in his attempt to silence us for criticising his equating of Hamas with freedom fighters. He’s already intimidated three MPs who commented on his characterisation of Hamas into withdrawing their words. All of them felt it was fair comment and only backed down under financial duress. Shaun Bailey can’t afford to fight an expensive SLAPP defamation case, yet feels he has to stand his ground no matter the consequences and sleepless nights. For mega-rich Dale Vince it is in his own words, “a bit of fun” suing us.
Anti-SLAPP** legislation isn’t just about stopping foreign oligarchs from abusing the legal system, it is about stopping homegrown oligarchs avoiding scrutiny too. Free speech underpins democracy, it is crucial that rich, political donors with connections to those in power are not able via the courts to intimidate critics into silence.
*Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation
**Dale’s lawyers have written to claim that Guido even opining that Dale’s action is a SLAPP is in itself defamatory. Paradoxically if they really did sue for claiming his action was a SLAPP it would arguably prove beyond doubt that it was indeed a SLAPP.
Dale Vince has briefed the Guardian that he is suing Guido’s editor for daring to publish the actual words he said in an interview with Times Radio’s Stig Abell.
Dale – who retains the services of former Boris spinner Lee Cain – also briefed the Guardian that he is going to block Guido from being read in Britain by getting a judge to order internet service providers to create Dale’s own personal firewall to censor Guido – in the same way the Chinese Communist Party operates a political firewall on the internet. Guido would in Dale’s fantasy become Samizdata, read in Starmer’s Britain only by tech savvy users or on the dark web.
Vince says he is going to have to do this because Guido has kept his servers (and the editor himself) offshore and ignored British court orders for twenty years. Guido could of course continue to do so…
For the first time in twenty years I am not going to avail of that safe haven protection. I will, along with Richard Tice and Shaun Bailey not be going down on bended knee to this thin-skinned, narcissistic bully. We have no intention of apologising for reporting and commenting on his disgraceful equivocation. We’re going to make a stand and defend free speech and our reporting of the actual words he said.
Dale Vince is also suing Reform’s Richard Tice MP and Lord Bailey for commenting on his claim regarding Hamas that “one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist“. Likewise he threatened to sue (now former) Tory MPs Andrew Percy, Mark Jenkinson and Michael Fabricant. The Tory MPs reluctantly agreed a mutual statement on the advice of the Conservative Party’s lawyers rather than risk an expensive legal battle. None of them wanted to, all of them thought their comments were fair and told Guido that regrettably they had to withdraw them under financial duress. Not one of the MPs wanted to back down, they just did not want to risk a costly battle.
GB News made an apology for Shaun Bailey’s on air comments at the insistence of their legal insurers. Lord Bailey is however standing by the truth of his comments. He is a Christian and refuses to be bullied by Dale Vince’s lawyers into making a statement that he believes is untrue.
Dale is not suing any of the many other publications that reported his outrageous characterisation of Hamas as freedom fighters. The Labour Party donor is only threatening his perceived political opponents, using his vast wealth to bully them into not criticising him. This meets the legal definition of a SLAPP – a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. A favourite tactic of publicity shy oligarchs who don’t like scrutiny.
Dale’s been claiming – so far unchallenged – that the clip was edited. It was not edited or manipulated or spliced in any way, it was one contiguous 16 second clip of the only really newsworthy and widely reported part of the Times Radio interview and the context is clear:
While we’re on the subject of extremist donors and returning their donations…https://t.co/rkaxVMJqZR pic.twitter.com/NxHEgrBKKz
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) March 13, 2024
Dale has only just realised that unlike GB News’ insurers or the Tory MPs we are going to stand up to him. We’re not apologising and we’re not settling. We’re fighting to defend our reporting of the truth and his attempts to censor criticism.
Paul Staines
The latest affordable housing figures from the Greater London Authority reveal Sadiq Khan has started building a grand total of just three affordable homes this quarter, and zero under the under the Council Homes for Londoners 2021-2026 programme. A programme for which he received a whopping £4 billion in government funding…
Despite claiming just months ago that building new homes “is key to safeguarding the soul of our city”, the table below shows not a single brick has been laid between April and June for the Homes for Londoners scheme, putting him years behind his target. There’s a lot of “zeros”…
City Hall Conservatives housing spokesperson Shaun Bailey said this morning:
“Sadiq Khan has fallen years behind the latest housing targets and is failing to deliver the affordable, family homes that Londoners need. He has started only three affordable homes this quarter and zero under the current £4bn programme.”
Meanwhile Khan blabbers on about rent controls and “pull out all the stops to crack London’s housing crisis“. Three houses in three months is now considered “pulling out all the stops”…
UPDATE: Sadiq Khan’s team push back, blaming the government for “delayed signing off on funding for [the] Programme until July”. A spokesperson tells Guido:
“Under Sadiq, the building of genuinely affordable homes in London has hit the highest overall level since records began and council housebuilding last year was higher than at any time since the 1970s.
The Government delayed signing off on funding for the Mayor’s 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme until July so it was impossible for any new homes to be started in the first quarter of this financial year. This unnecessary delay has slowed down progress and is disappointing given City Hall’s success in delivering a record-breaking 116,782 homes under the previous affordable homes programme. Given spiralling housing costs there is an urgent need for additional investment in affordable housing in London and across the country – now more than ever.”
UPDATE II: Whitehall sources say they have seen no evidence from the GLA that any specific project didn’t start because of the funding position. Suggestion is any sign-off delay should not have made building “impossible”…
A painfully awkward moment in the London Assembly today, as LibDem Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon quizzed Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley on the investigation into the “Shaun Bailey for London Holiday Party“… while Bailey himself, who remains a member of City Hall’s Police and Crime committee, was sitting just a few rows away from her.
Pidgeon was clearly in a mood to ruffle feathers, reminding Rowley about the new incriminating evidence of the “jingle and mingle save the date” invitations and a leaked video of the raucous event. Bailey said nothing, ashen faced as Caroline threw the cat among the pigeons…
With talk that the PM’s team now firmly believe he can ride out Partygate, it seems the Tories are so confident the public have moved on from the furore they’re willing to put up local election candidates who were caught red-handed. A co-conspirator in Richmond notices that the local declaration forms list the Kingston Tories’ Tudor Ward candidate as Ben Mallet. Albeit spelt ‘Mallett’ for some reason…
Why might the name ring a bell? Ben Mallet was Shaun Bailey’s campaign manager, who when not busy briefing that Bailey was on the verge of unseating Sadiq was snapped front and centre of the infamous Bailey CCHQ party, lying on the ground next to the buffet, complete with wine and braces.
Ironically, the Tory party’s council candidate application form asks “Are there any matters which may cause embarrassment to the Party if they became public knowledge?” Clearly Ben believes not…
UPDATE: The local Tory branch tells Guido, “Ben grew up in Kingston, went to school locally and is a proud citizen of our Borough. He understands the issues facing local residents and will make a fantastic local representative. We look forward to welcoming him to the Council in a few weeks’ time.”
