Guido’s told CCHQ have sold over 500 pairs of their new “Keir Starmer Flip Flops” since launch. The fashionable footwear hit the shelves on 26th May for £16.99, meaning the Tories have grossed roughly £8,500 from the stylish sandals in just under two weeks. The perfect purchase for the upcoming heatwave…
This isn’t the first time a Labour politician has appeared on this sort of merchandise: Sadiq Khan had the honour courtesy of Shaun Bailey’s mayoral campaign back in 2020…
It didn’t work out for Bailey, although it’s clearly it’s a money-spinner nowadays. No wonder the Tories have raked in the dough in the last few months. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…
Straight on from repeatedly denying there is an ongoing Uyghur genocide in China, Vince Cable has made another questionable foreign policy statement: appearing on Alex Salmond’s Russia Today show. Just a day after LibDem MP Jamie Stone slammed Salmond’s continued appearance on the channel…
Cable – still a LibDem member – spends a whole 30 minutes on the show, primarily plugging his new book and patting himself on the back for his Gordon Brown Mr Bean PMQs jibe. Funnily enough, Ukraine isn’t discussed…
UPDATE: LibDem spokesperson: “Vince has many views which the party has always valued, but appearing on RT is wrong. As a leader his strong criticism of the Salisbury incident and Russian oligarchs in the UK are on the record.”
Last night, Young Liberals voted to expel former LibDem leader Vince Cable from the party after insisting on GB News that labelling the Uyghur humans rights crisis a genocide is “hyping the language” . The motion’s proposer, Young Liberals’ International Officer Peter Banks, slammed Cable in his speech, saying:
“Uyghurs in Xinjiang have faced horrific abuse by the Chinese government, including forced sterilisation, torture, restrictions on childrens’ names, destruction of religious sites, forced separation of families, and detainment in re-education camps.”
“These atrocities undoubtedly meet the international definition of genocide, and it’s a disgrace that the former leader of a liberal, democratic party would seek to undermine emerging international campaigns to put an end to the abuses of Uyghurs.”
A Guido source who attended the conference said that roughly 50 people participated in the vote and it passed nearly unanimously. Guido wonders whether Ed Davey, who has thus far been strong on condemning the genocide, will have anything to say about all this…
Cable hit back at the Young Liberals by saying:
“They cannot claim to be Liberals when they demonstrate an unwillingness to debate alternate views. The anti-China campaign is orchestrated by the far right Republicans in the USA and I am surprised to see progressive groups lining up with them.”
Is the CCP looking for a new communications director?
It appears that, not content with destroying the LibDems’ commitment to democracy during his leadership, Vince Cable is back from the dead to now spin for the CCP. On Farage’s GB News show last night, Cable said of the Uighur human rights crisis, “Calling it genocide is hyping the language”.
'Calling it genocide is hyping the language"
— GB News (@GBNEWS) July 26, 2021
Nigel and Vince Cable discuss China's treatment of the Uiyghurs. pic.twitter.com/5Np6SB5w3d
Guido notes Ed Davey, to be fair, has been strong on the genocide, and Cable’s last controversial intervention was slammed by Layla Moran.
There still appear to be some contradictions with the LibDems and China, however, not least over Huawei. Last year, Guido revealed Ed Davey had pocketed £5,000 from the tech company’s chief advisor, only for the party to call for a boycott of the firm over the abuse of the Uighur people months later.
It’s not just Vince Cable either: the party seems to have a problem with ex-leading lights cosying up to the authoritarian country. As pointed out by former member Maajid Nawaz, Nick Clegg’s ex-head of strategy Ryan Coetzee joined the Consortium PR firm in July 2020 to launder China’s image while China was brutally annexing Hong Kong. Since leaving office, Danny Alexander has helped the UK become the first Western nation to join China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). After he left government he became AIIB’s “No. 2 man”, as they fronted China’s $4-8 trillion Belt & Road Initiative. Is it a starry-eyed Coalition hangover from the days of Cameron-led CCP-wooing, or do some LibDems genuinely not have concerns about China?
In tonight’s LIVE with LITTLEWOOD BUDGET SPECIAL
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Joining host MARK LITTLEWOOD will be former leader of the Liberal Democrats SIR VINCE CABLE; Commentator and journalist ISABEL OAKESHOTT; EMMA JONES CBE, the founder of Enterprise Nation; political journalist BENEDICT SPENCE and, from the University of Buckingham PROFESSOR PHILIP BOOTH.
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Vince Cable has long been a staunch advocate of greater Huawei involvement in the UK. From stepping down as Business Secretary in 2015 right up to this year he’s been busy penning op-eds talking them up and defending them in interviews. He even launched a public attack on Theresa May in 2016 over the fact that she demanded more stringent security vetting for Huawei when they were in Government together…
Luckily for Vince all that loyalty hasn’t gone unrewarded, he was happily enjoying Huawei’s hospitality at their Summer Reception in Banqueting House on Whitehall last night. Also on the guestlist were Shadow Business Minister Chi Onwurah and Labour MP Daniel Zeichner, the SNP’s Lisa Cameron and Tory peers Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Michael Bates and David Willetts who gave a speech opposing a blanket ban on Huawei 5G technology. Whether or not they’re allowed to help connect the UK’s 5G network, they’re certainly good at making connections in Parliament…
Is it too cynical of Guido to wonder if old twinkle toes is not thinking about his retirement and that perhaps a few non-executive directorships for the former Business Secretary would be in order. Given Vince’s SpAd at BEIS was Ashley Lumsden, who just so happens to now be head of Government Relations for Huawei, this is more likely than you might think. At least that way he’ll get paid for the service he is now giving Huawei for free…
