Uk politics

Wednesday

Steerpike

Gordon Brown’s selective praise

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown is at the Edinburgh International Book Festival today to give a talk called ‘First Among Equals.’ Audience members will be charged £12 to hear Brown’s ‘painfully honest account’ of the ‘highs and lows’ of his political career. Alas, Mr S has reasons to believe though that Brown may be offering a rather specific account when he speaks today. On the festival website he is hailed as ‘one of the most formidable chancellors that Britain has ever seen’ by an unnamed political journalist. It’s a quote Brown has used once before, to promote his book My Life, Our Times which came out in November 2017. But

Katy Balls

How damaging will the latest anti-Semitism row be for Jeremy Corbyn?

Will the latest anti-Semitism row damage Jeremy Corbyn? The row over the Munich memorial rumbles on for another day following the Labour leader’s refusal to apologise for attending a wreath-laying ceremony for members of the terrorist organisation behind the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. Although there are photos of Corbyn holding a wreath near those gravestones – and he previously said that he laid a wreath at the ceremony – he says there were multiple wreaths and multiple people moving wreaths. His wreath was for the victims of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation base in 1985. Not helping matters is the fact that Corbyn appears to have changed his story a number

Steerpike

Momentum’s Boris stunt backfires

Oh dear. As many politicians have discovered, trial by Twitter rarely ends well. And neither does poll by Twitter. Where in a normal poll, factors such as sample size and demographic can be controlled, these thing are taken out of control when you ask the Twitterati to decide. Despite this, many campaigners see this set-up as actually beneficial to their aims – starting polls on issues they believe to know their own followers’ opinions on already in order to prove a point. So, spare a thought for the pro-Corbyn grassroots organisation Momentum. They asked their followers whether Boris Johnson ought to have the Conservative whip withdrawn for comparing women wearing

Steerpike

Watch: Chris Williamson blames BBC for wreath-gate

Poor old Chris Williamson. Jeremy Corbyn’s changing story over whether he did or didn’t lay a wreath on the graves of the Munich terrorists must make keeping up difficult for his loyal and faithful follower. Which perhaps explains why Williamson was somewhat lost for words when he was challenged on the subject on Newsnight last night: Evan Davis: ‘A wreath was laid by your party leader at the graves of four members of Black September – true or false?’ Chris Williamson: ‘Jeremy was there to lay a wreath…’ ED: ‘You’re unable to answer that question and that is why this fuss goes on.’ CW: ‘But no, it’s going on because

D Reilly

Jeremy Corbyn’s not an anti-Semite, he’s just very unlucky

Can you be sure, dear reader, you haven’t inadvertently indulged lately in a spot of Holocaust denial? A little light Jew bashing? The problem with modern life is there’s so much to remember. Have I got my keys? Have I got my money? Have I apparently become a member of an organisation which is vocal in its support of writer Roger Garaudy – who claimed the murder of six million Jews was a ‘myth’? Have I got my shopping list? No one can be expected to remember every last thing at all times. We can, then, surely sympathise with Jeremy Corbyn’s discovery only last week that he was listed on

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

How Corbyn’s opponents made it easier for him to dodge scrutiny

Benjamin Netanyahu’s intervention in the row about Jeremy Corbyn and the memorial wreath has been incredibly handy for the Labour leadership. The Israeli Prime Minister said Corbyn’s presence at the wreath laying for members of the group behind the 1972 Munich terror attack ‘deserves unequivocal condemnation from everyone – left, right and everything in between’. A number of Labour MPs have been calling on Corbyn to show contrition in order to resolve the ongoing row, but instead the party leader decided to hit back, accusing Netanyahu of ‘false’ claims and pointing to ‘the killing of over 160 Palestinian protesters in Gaza’. John McDonnell, meanwhile, who has in recent weeks urged

Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Corbyn turns nasty over wreath-gate

Did he or didn’t he? The question, of course, is whether Jeremy Corbyn laid a wreath or not for one of the Munich terrorists. Given the Labour leader’s shifting position on the subject it’s somewhat difficult to keep track. But Corbyn, it seems, has run out of patience with those confused about his wreath-laying antics. Here he is rolling his eyes at a reporter who tried to question him on the subject: Corbyn: I was there when the wreaths were laid, that’s pretty obvious. There were many others who were witness to that, I witnessed many others laying wreaths. Reporter: Did you lay the wreath? Corbyn: I laid one wreath

Ross Clark

Falling unemployment marks another black day for Project Fear

It is another black day for Project Fear. The latest employment figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show yet another fall in unemployment, to 1.36 million or 4 per cent of the adult population. There have never been more people employed in the UK economy, and the unemployment rate is at its lowest since early 1975. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, according to George Osborne’s crystal ball. In May 2016, a month before the referendum, he warned us all that should we vote to leave the EU we could expect unemployment to rise by up to 500,000 within two years. Admittedly, George himself has bagged a

Steerpike

Owen Jones’s masterclass in ‘whataboutery’

Corbyn cheerleader-in-chief Owen Jones frequently rallies against what he calls ‘whataboutery.’ For those not familiar with the word, it is a technique used to distract people from talking about injustices on your own side by bringing up atrocities elsewhere. Or, in his own words: Given whataboutery is used to deflect responsibility for misdemeanours and crimes committed by ones own side this is a hilarious ironic tweet — Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) April 8, 2018 It is a charge he frequently aims at his critics on the right. But is Jones guilty of it himself when it comes to the Labour leader? Mr Steerpike thinks so. Last night, as Corbyn’s story fell apart

Alex Massie

The myth of Jeremy Corbyn, a kind and gentle man | 14 August 2018

I am relaxed about Jeremy Corbyn being thicker than mince but draw the line at the assumption, all too evidently held by most of his most devoted supporters, that you must be too. If Corbyn wishes to deny the obvious that is his prerogative; the notion you should be prepared to swallow any and every piece of whitewashing nonsense peddled by his fans is quite a different matter.  “I was present” when the wreath was laid “but I don’t think I was involved in it” is, I suppose, a step forward from the Labour party’s previous suggestion that “The Munich widows are being misled. Jeremy did not honour those responsible

Monday

Katy Balls

Wasn’t my wreath, guv

Does Jeremy Corbyn harbour sinister views – or is he the unluckiest man in the world? That’s the question being asked today after the Labour leader gave an interview to Sky News after allegations he attended a wreath-laying ceremony in Tunisia in 2014 for members of the terrorist group behind the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. The official Labour line had been that Corbyn was paying his respects to the victims of a 1985 Israeli airstrike on Palestinian Liberation Organisation offices in Tunis. However, today he appeared to change tack. The Labour leader admitted he was present when a wreath was laid but added that he did not ‘think’ he was

Steerpike

Wreath-gate: Corbyn’s version of events – a timeline

Today, Jeremy Corbyn confirmed that he had been at a ceremony which commemorated the deaths of several terrorists linked to the 1972 Munich massacre. But it seems that Jeremy has had trouble recollecting what actually happened while he was there. So, to help jog Jeremy’s memory and to let our readers make up their own minds up about what happened on that day in 2014, Mr S has compiled every version of Jeremy’s story: 1. In 2014, soon after the visit to Tunisia, Corbyn wrote an article for the Morning Star, which said: ‘After wreaths were laid at the graves of those who died on that day and on the

Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Corbyn’s terror tribute confusion

Poor Jeremy Corbyn, always ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time. After revelations in the Daily Mail that he had laid a wreath near the graves of those involved in the 1972 Munich terrorist attack, he finally clarified what happened. Asked by Sky News if he was involved in the tributes, he answered: ‘I was present when it was laid, I don’t think I was actually involved in it’ Jeremy Corbyn: I was “present” when the wreath was laid “I don’t think I was actually involved in it.” pic.twitter.com/fNL7yXxIdE — Ben (@Jamin2g) August 13, 2018 In fairness, who hasn’t accidentally found themselves at a service where tributes were

Brendan O’Neill

Boris Johnson is a victim of the modern inquisition

The Muslim Council of Britain wants Theresa May to subject Boris to a ‘full disciplinary inquiry’ over his comments on the niqab and burqa. Let’s call this by its true name: an inquisition. This inquiry would be a 21st-century inquisition of a man simply for speaking ill of a religious practice. May must resist this borderline medieval demand that she punish a member of her party for expressing a ‘blasphemous’ thought. She must put aside her Borisphobia and stand up for freedom of conscience against the inquisitorial hysteria that has greeted Boris’s remarks. Burqagate has been mad from the get-go. Reading some of the coverage of Boris’s Daily Telegraph column

Steerpike

Watch: Boris does the tea run

Boris Johnson has been in hot water for the past week over his Telegraph column which compared women in burqas to letter boxes, so it made sense for him to use the restorative powers of a hot drink to try and remove himself from trouble. The beleaguered MP has been on holiday in Italy for most of the furore, where he has been able to dodge questions about his column. But since his return, reporters have been camped outside his UK home waiting for answers. When he finally left the sanctuary of his house, the reporters could be forgiven for feeling mixed emotions. The former Foreign Secretary refused to any

Steerpike

The Conservatives prepare for battle

It’s been all out civil war in the Tory party since the disastrous snap election which saw Theresa May lose the Conservative majority. Now it looks as though the party, tired of all the infighting, might finally be turning their attention to Labour. A job advert on the site w4mp went up over the weekend for a Conservative ‘Battleground Manager’: Key tasks for the role include planning election campaigns, working out target seats, and taking the fight to the opposition. The ideal candidate will of course be a ‘self-starter,’ ‘manage multiple tasks under pressure,’ and have excellent campaigning skills. Based on the Party’s current skirmishes, Mr Steerpike thinks the job

Saturday

John Connolly

Revealed: what voters think of party allegations of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia

Commentators on the left and right have been fiercely arguing for the past few weeks over which political party is more racist: Labour or the Conservatives. Conservatives have pointed out Jeremy Corbyn’s numerous links and associations with anti-Semites, Labour’s refusal to adopt the IHRA definition and Jewish conspiracy theorists on Twitter. In response, prominent left wingers have flung back at them calls by Sayeeda Warsi for an inquiry into Tory Islamophobia and comments by Boris Johnson about women in burqas looking like letter boxes. But what do the public actually think about allegations of racial prejudice within the two main parties, and who do they think is worse? Coffee House

Friday

Steerpike

How the Miliband has fallen

When Ed Miliband was elected Labour leader in 2010, he must have imagined himself headlining Labour conferences for years to come. He would stand on stage delivering the defining political speeches and bold policy moves that would propel him to victory in a general election. Alas, many bacon sandwiches, conference gaffes, and an EdStone later, it didn’t quite end up as he wanted. Miliband can take heart that he is still on the line-up at this year’s Momentum sponsored conference ‘The World Transformed,’ but probably not quite as high up in the billing as he pictured eight years ago. Instead, while the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott strut

Steerpike

Letterbox-gate: who said it first – Boris or the Guardian?

In a strongly worded editorial on Tuesday, the Guardian newspaper did not hide its contempt for what it called Boris Johnson’s ‘tasteless newspaper column joke’ which compared women in burqas to letterboxes. ‘Baroness Warsi was absolutely correct to call Mr Johnson out on this on Tuesday when she called the remarks “dog-whistle Islamophobia”‘, it thundered. All of this somewhat surprised Mr Steerpike. Not because of the sanctimony, but because, as one eagle-eye reader got in touch to point out, the paper had already beaten Boris to the joke. In 2013, it published a column by Remona Aly entitled ‘Nine uses for a burqa … that don’t involve bashing them.’ In

Steerpike

Ken Livingstone: Boris Johnson should be kicked out of the Tory party

Oh dear. Of all the figures to come out against Boris Johnson over his comments comparing women wearing the full face veil to ‘letterboxes’, Ken Livingstone is perhaps the most audacious. Despite his penchant for talking about Hitler and zionism at every broadcast opportunity, Red Ken has today declared that Johnson has gone too far and must go. Speaking on LBC, he said: ‘He isn’t really a politician, he just wants to be a famous celebrity. Frankly, I think the Tory Party should dump him.’ Not the most obvious candidate for taking the moral high ground…