The EGM vote for the Qatar APPG chairmanship – sparked following the death of Sir David Amess – turned into a Scotland vs Wales nail-biter, with former secretary of state Alun Cairns beating former secretary of state David Mundell by just one vote at 46-45. The tally took quite a long time to count up as many of the 91 MPs attempting to vote didn’t know how to update to the latest version of Zoom. Apparently leading to dozens of confused Members sending in their votes via frenzied WhatsApps and emails…

What’s surprising is just how many MPs actually showed up to the vote. Usually an APPG AGM would struggle to attract one to two dozen MPs – 91 turning up for the Qatar group’s is extraordinary. As one MP wryly observed, it’s almost as if there’s a World Cup in Qatar coming up this winter…

Last Friday, Guido was alerted to the impending inaugural meeting of a new parliamentary APPG for “Afrikan Reparations”, to be lead by Bell Ribeiro-Addy and take place via Zoom this morning. The co-conspirator raised their eyebrows at the APPG, knowing that rules state a group must have cross-party support. Which Tory would be brave enough to back this hard-left, woke project?

Guido diligently tuned into the Zoom call and can reveal the Tory enabling the group to be none other than Father of the House Sir Peter Bottomley. Ribeiro-Addy thanked Sir Peter for volunteering and allowing the group to get off the ground. After seconding Ribeiro-Addy’s chairmanship, Sir Peter said he was happy to be put down as an “assistant secretary”, joining vice chairs Caroline Lucas and Marsha de Cordova.

The creation of the APPG followed a lobbying campaign by the group Stop The Maangamizi, who want to “address the legacies of Afrikan Enslavement” and:

“make recommendations to Parliament on how to redress the legacies of African enslavement, colonialism and neocolonialism today.”

The group also wants:

• Debt cancellation and repudiation
• Restitution of African cultural property and human remains
• To declare the UN’s ‘International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition’ a public holiday in the UK

During the APPG’s meeting, Ribeiro-Addy thanked Stop The Maangamizi for “providing a view on what could be done in terms of looking at the various issues over time and presenting some discussions and policy moving forward.”. The Labour MPs attending the call – also among them Zarah Sultana, Dawn Butler and Florence Eshalomi – were hardly surprising. Sir Peter’s involvement, however, has already raised some Tories’ eyebrows…

The APPG for Smoking & Health today called on the government to increase the age at which you can buy cigarettes from 18 to 21. The group of nannies believes this will end the “tobacco epidemic” by the end of the decade. Just one hiccup – 60% of MPs on the APPG believe the voting age should be lowered to 16…

Guido has compiled the list of the 9 MPs who believe that 16 year-olds are mature enough to decide the fate of this country, yet won’t be ready for another 5 years until they are 21 years-old to decide for themselves whether or not to smoke:

• Labour’s Alex Cunningham backs votes at 16
• Green MP Caroline Lucas supports votes at 16
• Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine argued that 16-year-olds should decide Scotland’s fate in the 2014 referendum.
• Labour’s Ian Mearns argued that 16-year-olds should vote on Britain’s EU membership.
• Labour MP Nick Smith thinks 16-year-olds should have a say in our leaders.
• SNP MP Owen Thompson believes 16-year-olds should decide this country’s leaders
• Shadow SNP Spokesperson Philippa Whitford wants to reduce the voting age.
• Racheal Maskell fought to lower the voting age in a passionate speech.
• Finally Labour’s Virendra Sharma voted to allow 16-year-olds a say in the EU referendum.

As Guido previously reported, lifestyle restrictions on eating, drinking, and smoking have steadily increased across Europe in the past 4 years. Maybe just let adults decide for themselves… 

Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, who in 2018 was sacked from her frontbench role amid bullying claims, has announced her intention to launch a new All Party Group (APPG) for ‘Compassionate Politics’. Labour are kindly generating English irony even Zionists can comprehend…

The new cross-party group will “work to put compassion, cooperation, and inclusion at the heart of politics” – suggesting Abrahams has had a big change of heart since multiple bullying complaints were made against her and an investigation found she had “engaged in a pattern of bullying behaviour towards her staff.” Her former employees should be the first people brought in to give evidence…

Hat-tip: John Stevens