Labour has had to insist that it is “proud” to have the Union flag on their branding after many of their MPs complained that it may “alienate ethnic minority voters“. It looks like Shadow Social Care Minister Andrew Gwynne might have chosen his side…
Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council and Labour councillor in Longsight, Luthfur Rahman launched his re-election campaign this week and chose to drop the Union flag for some more famously Mancunian branding – the Palestinian flag. Gwynne and other Labour MPs like Azfal Khan showed up to pledge their support. Not all Labour candidates object to flag waving…
The US State Department has just confirmed it has blocked further funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) amid allegations that 12 UNRWA employees may have been involved in the 7th of October Hamas attack on Israel. A spokesman said:
“The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them. There must be complete accountability for anyone who participated in the heinous attacks of October 7“.
The EU is said to be “extremely concerned“, though has not announced it will cease funding. The UK in 2022 sent £16,624,272 to UNRWA – the 13th biggest global donor – and has ramped up funding in recent months. Labour’s position when the US last suspended funding was that the UNRWA is “a vital UN refugee agency” and stopping funding was “shameful“. Has that position changed?
Guido has asked the FCDO if it plans to do the same.
UPDATE: The FCDO has released a statement:
“The UK is appalled by allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned.
The UK is temporarily pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations.
We remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it“.
Amanda Spielman, Chief Inspector of Ofsted, has issued a warning to teachers to stop involving students in “divisive” political campaigns. She took issue with students missing school to participate in School Strikes for Palestine last week. During a media briefing following the release of Ofsted’s annual report, Spielman pointed out that teachers are “enlisting” children “to write campaigning letters” and “walk down the high street to support people who are demonstrating”. She cautioned against running “contentious” campaigns within schools because they lead to “unhappy” and “uncomfortable” students. There’s no end to education…
Every councillor in the UK has been sent an email from two Kingston councillors demanding they sign a letter accusing Israel of “war crimes, genocide and ethnic cleansing“. James Giles and Jamal Chahan have organised the effort, giving their 19,102 fellow UK councillors until Friday this week to sign on. Otherwise, they will publish “the names of those who have been invited to sign but choose not to, in the interest of accountability”. Councillors across the country are reacting pretty angrily to the threatening letter…
Guido readers may be interested to hear James Giles is a longtime agent and collaborator of George Galloway, running various campaigns for him including Batley & Spen’s by-election in 2021. Giles previously hosted Galloway’s programme for Russia-owned SputnikTV and Galloway’s The Mother of All Talk Shows when it was aired by the now-banned RT. He also ran his grandmother’s campaign in a by-election for the same council, which the LibDems and Conservatives denounced as “dirty” for attacking their LibDem rival for being an Ahmadiyya Muslim. A pleasant character no doubt…
Meanwhile, Conservative councillor Jamal Chahan is the son of Tory donor and PPE provider Ashraf Chohan. Guido hears he’s on his way through the candidate process to become a Tory PCC. Guido wonders what local Conservative associations will make of that…
UPDATE: A CCHQ source tells Guido:
“The councillor in question has now been kicked out of the Tory group. He’s also not a party member, so any applications from him won’t be going very far….“
Swift action from the new chairman. Not seeing the same from Sir Keir with his own elected MPs…
UPDATE II: The Local Government Association has expelled the pair and sacked them from all positions.
The BBC has been forced to update its latest “counter-disinformation” piece on how fatality figures are calculated in Gaza. Puzzled readers pointed out the story made no reference to the fact the Gaza health ministry is run by Hamas until the last paragraph, where the BBC deigned to quote the IDF who “said the health ministry was a branch of Hamas and that any information provided by it should be ‘viewed with caution‘”. This was after directly quoting figures from the Hamas-run health ministry nine times without caveat. You’d have thought they would have learned by now…
Anything connected to the Israel/Hamas War seems to be fair game for BBC misreporting. Last night’s article on Labour’s ceasefire rebellion got the outcome of the vote the wrong way round. Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity…
Are unpaid interns running BBC reporting?
Looks like Jon Ashworth’s constituents in Leicester South aren’t too happy about his refusal to aid Hamas on the ceasefire vote. They’re gathering to call for his resignation in Leicester. Guido assumes they’ll take the 7-minute walk to his constituency office on Charles Street. He might not be in…
The first of many?
