An entire year has passed since the Labour Party suspended Diane Abbott pending investigation for setting up her own handy racism hierarchy. Soon enough she declared the racism investigation racist…
Guido checked with Labour today that the investigation was still ongoing. They must really be poring over those 126 words…
When Starmer asked Abbott what he could do to help in the wake of Tory donor Frank Hester’s fruity remarks, she said “You could restore the whip.” No such luck. Her chum Angela Rayner has so far been unsuccessful in getting her back into the fold…
Internal sources say she ain’t coming back. Starmer has already called the comments antisemitic. Maybe they could wind up their extensive investigation. Judging by Bercow’s record stint under the spotlight Guido isn’t sure they will…
Redfield and Winton produced a poll that put Tory Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street 14 points behind his Labour candidate rival Richard (Dick) Parker. Locals don’t seem too convinced. One voter asked Dick at a hustings this week: “Why should we vote for someone no one has ever heard of, is that really the best West Midlands Labour can do?” They probably haven’t heard of him because he isn’t from the West Midlands and lives outside the constituency he wants to represent…
His defence was to blame…the Tories, for not talking about him.
“The reason you haven’t heard of me is because you’re believing the nonsense the Tories have been setting out, because they’re so concerned about losing, they’ve been failing or not wanting to identify me as the candidate who’s standing for the Labour Party.“
Host Lewis Goodall was nonplussed. Dick can be forgiven for expecting the Tories to do his campaigning for him, as the Labour Party doesn’t seem to be too keen on it either. Leaflets sent to the region this month don’t mention him at all…
Labour’s dodging Dick while Andy Street dodges the Tories…
Labour’s East Midlands Mayoral campaign is clearly going well. Labour PPC for Bassetlaw Jo White has been putting in the work to campaign for their candidate Claire Ward, proudly taking to social media to boast their successes. White posted a photo of one poster in someone’s window, writing alongside “Good to see posters up for Claire Ward“. The only issue is the person’s house is actually a Labour councillor’s rather than a swing voter…
Labour councillor Josie Potts outed White in the comments: “Lol i thought someone else in Manton has a poster, and its mine”. Perhaps there weren’t any other posters around…
Hat-tip: Brendan Clarke-Smith
Over two entire years – exactly 750 days – have passed since the Labour Party suspended John Bercow’s membership on an “administrative basis” pending an investigation into his bullying. On the same day, Bercow was banned from ever holding a Parliamentary pass after an independent panel upheld the findings of Kathryn Stone, having found him guilty of 21 out of 35 complaints over five years. The panel published a full 89-page review of their probe, revealing Bercow threw phones at staff, displayed “undermining behaviour”, and “lied extensively to try and avoid the damning reality of the truth”.
This report seems not to be compelling enough for Labour. Guido understands the party’s investigation is still ongoing. Why they still haven’t reached a final decision when the “serial bully” can’t even set foot on the parliamentary estate is a mystery. Andy McDonald was welcomed back to the party after only a few months of investigation…
Rest assured, when and if Labour finally reach a judgement, Guido will be the first to report it. As one loyal co-conspirator once said…
If you want to see Bercow in person you’ll have to cough up £188 to watch him talk in Wales about “his vision for the future” at a trendy festival in May. You can still hire him on Cameo, where he claims his age is 33. At least he’s dropped his prices from £92 to £87 since last year. The price mechanism at work…
Rachel Reeves has been doing the self-promotion rounds trying to clarify what her “securonomics” actually is. She’s been pointing to the fact she’s been reading Paul Johnson’s Follow the Money: How much does Britain cost? to convince voters that her policy is sound. She first mentioned she was reading the book on October 7th in an interview with the Sunday Times. Six months later, she’s still saying she’s reading it…
Speaking to the Newscast Podcast on March 19th, she again said she’s currently reading it. The book is only 336 pages long, making that an average of 2.05 pages read a day. And that’s if she finished it. How long will it take her to digest her own fiscal policies?
Labour candidates are not unknown to neglect their due diligence. This time, Labour MP for Bradford East Imran Hussain and their parliamentary candidate for Keighley and Ilkley John Grogan have been passionately endorsing Mohsin Hussain in the upcoming local elections for Keighley Central. All well and good, until one looks at Hussain’s record…
In 2014, Hussain was convicted of a violent street assault with pickaxe handles in Keighley streets which left the victim with “bruising to his head, upper body and legs”, and then sped off when passersby tried to intervene. He was given a 12-month sentence suspended for two years. Perhaps Labour MPs and PPCs may want to do their research before endorsing a convicted criminal at the same time as promoting “tougher sentences” for criminals next time…
