Monthly Archives: March 2023

The worm eats its own tail: Keir Starmer is attacked for ever having supported Jeremy Corbyn

Ian Austin: he’s attacking Keir Starmer – and let’s hope this spat goes the distance.

This is hilarious.

After Keir Starmer had his party’s National Executive Committee ban former leader Jeremy Corbyn from ever standing as a Labour candidate in a future general election, rabid anti-Corbyn activist Ian Austin attacked him.

That’s right – now two right-wingers who both oppose Jeremy Corbyn are at odds. The Corbyn-haters have fallen to fighting each other.

Austin published his opening shot in rabidly anti-Corbyn rag the Jewish Chronicle. He stated:

He could have taken the opportunity to address concerns about his support for Jeremy Corbyn during the period when antisemitism poisoned the party.

After all, in 2019, he said, ‘I do think Jeremy Corbyn would make a great Prime Minister’.

When Louise Ellman said that Corbyn was ‘a danger to the Jewish community’, Starmer insisted: ‘I don’t accept that. I don’t accept that’.

And in 2020 during the leadership election, he even attacked those who campaigned against him, saying: ‘The attacks on Jeremy Corbyn were terrible, they vilified him.’

His supporters insist it is not necessary for him to apologise personally, but his challenge is not to persuade the already committed. He needs to reach out to those who still harbour doubts and concerns about his support for Corbyn.

He does need to account for his support for Corbyn’s leadership and his absence from the fight to tackle the racism that poisoned the party under his leadership.

Of course, it’s a load of nonsense.

Starmer had no option but to support Mr Corbyn in 2019 because Mr Corbyn was not responsible for the accusations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party at the time and had done everything he could to tackle any genuine anti-Semitism that was there.

Many of the accusations were false, or were falsely upheld, remember. Right-wing factionalists in the party at the time seized on these and built them up, while at the same time slowing down the process by which they were handled, in order to make Mr Corbyn look bad.

He put a stop to that in 2018 when he installed his choice of general secretary and she in turn installed new measures to speed up the handling of complaints.

Starmer supported Mr Corbyn in 2020 – although that was more likely to be a brazen attempt to dupe the hundreds of thousands of Corbynites who were still in the party at the time to vote him into the party leadership.

But then he changed his tune, because he now had the power of the party leader and could do what he liked.

So he started throwing left-wingers out – including left-wing Jews. He justified this by claiming they had broken new rules he had made or were anti-Semites (yes, even the Jews).

And while this makes him two- or even three-faced: he supported Mr Corbyn then – he doesn’t now; he said anti-Semitism accusations against Mr Corbyn were unfair then – he doesn’t now; and he claimed to support left-wing values then – he doesn’t now… that doesn’t mean he should apologise for supporting Mr Corbyn.

It means he should apologise for turning against Mr Corbyn.

Neither of these fatheads will accept that they need to stand down, so hopefully we’ll see them butting heads for long enough to ruin them both in the eyes of the public.

Let’s hope it goes the distance.

Source: Starmer can’t erase his former support for Corbyn – The Jewish Chronicle


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My fellow carers: check now to find out if you could qualify for the cost-of-living payment

This doesn’t affect me, despite being a carer, because I don’t qualify for other benefits and live in a household with someone who’ll get the cost-of-living payment anyway.

But if you are a carer and are not currently thought to be eligible for the payment, the advice is: use an online calculator to see if you qualify for a means-tested benefit, because then you might get the cost-of-living payment too.

Here’s the important stuff:

In May last year there were 936,766 people receiving weekly payments of £69.70 for Carer’s Allowance.

Carer’s Allowance will rise in line with inflation next month and increase from £69.70 per week to £76.75, however, claimants will not be eligible for the new £900 cost of living payment unless they are also in receipt of a qualifying, means-tested benefit. The £900 payment will be delivered in three lump sums of £301, £300 and £299, with the first payment due between April 25 and May 17, 2023.

Statistically… 60 per cent of unpaid carers are living in a household where someone is in receipt of a qualifying means-tested benefit.

DWP Minister Tom Pursglove, urged unpaid carers to check their eligibility for means-tested benefits to make sure they are not missing out on additional support – which could then make them eligible for the £900 cost of living payment.

“Depending on personal circumstances, carers may be eligible for means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit and Pension Credit. Means-tested benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the Carer Element in Universal Credit and the additional amounts for carers in other benefits respectively.

“We would encourage anyone who is providing unpaid care, and who is not already in receipt of a means-tested benefit, to check on GOV.UK to confirm whether there are other benefits they may be entitled to.”

So, carers: what are you waiting for?

Source: People claiming Carer’s Allowance might not qualify directly for new £301 cost of living payment due in April – Daily Record


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Gordon Brown is yesterday’s man – but he still has good points to make about the Budget

Gordon Brown: his heart is in the right place but his ideas are rooted in an ideology that doesn’t work.

Does anybody care that, according to Jeremy Hunt’s own projections, by 2026 his government will have made us all much worse-off than we were in 2019?

Gordon Brown does – apparently. But the reaction he received from some people when he wrote about it in The Guardian suggests that they think he’s responsible.

Maybe it’s true that his New Labour governments didn’t make the changes that were necessary after 18 years of Thatcher and Major-style neoliberalism, and paved the way for a further 15 years in which the Tories have been able to destroy what was left of the way of life that had made the United Kingdom worth inhabiting.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have anything worthwhile to say.

His factual points are all worth taking in because they contribute to a State of the Nation-style snapshot of what the UK is today. And it is horrifying:

271,000 homeless people

400,000 children who sleep without a bed of their own

14 million condemned to damp or substandard housing

7.5m UK households in fuel poverty

Food prices in the shops have risen 18% in a year, with many basic items shooting up by twice as much – baked beans up 35%, ketchup up 39%, tomato soup up 73%

9.7 million adults already skipping or cutting back on meals

Six in 10 adults unable to afford other basic essentials

A record 2.1 million people are using food banks

There are 14.4 million living in poverty, including 4.2 million children, the vast majority of whom are in families where the breadwinner is on low pay

As Brown put it at the top of his piece,

Poverty will last until doomsday if this Conservative government is all that confronts it.

The so-called “budget for growth” [is] more accurately titled the “budget for growth in poverty”

The point of his piece was that cleanliness is the next thing the Tories have rationed, with hygiene poverty leading to the rise of so-called “beauty banks” to run alongside the already-infamous food banks.

He was calling on retailers and manufacturing companies to offer up surplus goods and to consider special production-line runs of unbranded toiletries to ease the crisis.

But this is just – as current Labour leader Keir Starmer would put it – “sticking-plaster politics”. It’s putting a plaster over the wound but not healing it.

Businesses can certainly do much more to ease the crisis that the Conservatives have deliberately created to distract the young and the poor from their strategy to divert public funds into the hands of the old and the rich.

They can provide better pay and conditions, and opportunities for career growth that make it worthwhile. These tactics will reap huge rewards for them as, freed from the stress of poor health due to bad nutrition and harmful work practices, and unburdened by the mental ill-health caused by continually having to find ways to make ends meet, employees’ productivity will soar.

That is the best way out of the hole Hunt has dug for us. Indeed, it is the only way, as his government is absolutely determined not to help.

Source: Jeremy Hunt has left the UK to rot in poverty. So we must take matters into our own hands | Gordon Brown | The Guardian


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Rachel Riley libel case: why I had to fight

A few of my friends have been – shall we say – teasing me about my court loss against Rachel Riley.

They’ve been playing devil’s advocate, taking her (professed) view that I never had any chance to win. And it occurs to me that others might be saying the same, out behind the tiny Mid Wales town I call my home.

To those other people, and my buddies, I’d like to off these words of the late trade union leader Bob Crow:

“If you fight, you won’t always win. But if you don’t fight, you will always lose.”

I chose to fight, and in the end I didn’t win, due to a decision of a judge that was not based on any discernible facts.

That is a shame. But in fighting, I protected dozens of other people from having to go through the same process.

How many of us did Rachel Riley threaten with court? 60? 70? And in the end she only managed to attack three or four of us, to my recollection.

And she lost against one.

Let’s not forget that her friend Tracy-Ann Oberman also threatened me with court but never followed through on it, and her window of opportunity has now long since closed.

I’m going to count that as a win.

So you see, this fight was worthwhile.

I’m going to repeat my appeal for funds to finish paying my legal team for their work on the application to appeal against that last, fact-free court decision. Please continue to consider supporting me (and them) according to your means, and in the way that has become well-known over the last four years:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

Post a link to Facebook, asking readers to pledge.

On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

And don’t forget that if you’re having trouble, or simply don’t like donating via CrowdJustice, you can always donate direct to me via the Vox Political PayPal button, where it appears on that website. But please remember to include a message telling me it’s for the crowdfund!

I might expand on the reasons for the court’s decision in a future update.

It seems to me that it explains much about British justice.


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Keir Starmer’s Labour is like an abusive partner. Here’s how

Open arms: Keir Starmer will probably welcome you to his events if you have done some door-knocking for him beforehand. But what will he then do for you?

Did you ever have a friend or romantic partner who always wanted you to do things for them, but never bothered to reciprocate?

I mention this because of the latest wheeze from Keir Starmer’s New New Labour:

“Labour is trialling a ‘Queue & Do’ system at the evening rally where attendees will have to sign up to a task – like knocking a certain number of doors – in exchange for their ticket.”

So basically you have to pay your way to get into the event by doing something for Starmer first.

And you don’t know in advance whether you’ll get anything worthwhile back in return.

Yup. Reminds me of a few gold-digger girlfriends from prehistory (Before Mrs Mike).

People who try to get you to do things for them without offering you anything more than a tiny part of their time in return are just using you.

Avoid.


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Corbyn deselection: he talks about democracy – they harp on about anti-Semitism

Motivating the masses: even after three years of sidelining and vilification, Jeremy Corbyn has more social media followers than Keir Starmer and the Labour Party put together (I’m told).

The contrast could not be more pronounced.

After Keir Starmer had Labour’s NEC vote to forcibly deselect Jeremy Corbyn as a party candidate in general elections, not just in Islington North but anywhere, the former Labour leader made his feelings about the matter clear in no uncertain terms:

His position could not be clearer: the vote – and the decision – were an insult to democracy and showed contempt for the Labour Party members of Islington North, whose wishes have been steamrolled by Starmer.

And how do Starmer and his lieutenants justify their behaviour?

They talk about a subject that wasn’t even mentioned in Starmer’s NEC motion.

Here’s Wes Streeting on Robert Peston’s show:

For the record, Streeting was lying. Jeremy Corbyn apologised many times for the focus on anti-Semitism in the Labour Party during his leadership (that he was right to say was disproportionate; anti-Semitism in Labour at the time was lower than in any other UK political organisation); he fully accepted the EHRC’s report and called for its recommendations to be enacted in full (which is yet to happen, as I understand it).

Here’s Wes Streeting on Kay Burley’s Sky News show:

It’s the same nonsense.

Let’s have a balancing view: the Alba Party’s Alex Salmond telling LBC’s Iain Dale where to get off:

That’s the fact of the matter, isn’t it?

Keir Starmer thinks that banning Jeremy Corbyn from standing, and sending Wes Streeting to trot out that fake line about anti-Semitism, will earn him points among the middle class voters of Middle England.

He’s wrong and he’ll find that out for himself in just a few weeks’ time.


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Voters cringe as Keir Starmer launches local elections campaign

Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner: prepare to recoil in horror at their local election launch video.

This was predictable, after Keir Starmer had Labour’s National Executive Committee block Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a party candidate in general elections.

Members of the public were always likely to consider Starmer unkindly; he just made it worse with the kind of cack-handed publicity drive we are more used to seeing from Tories like Theresa May or Liz Truss (heavens help us).

I mean…

Get the picture? That clip alone has managed to wipe away all the points Angela Rayner earned at Prime Minister’s Questions on March 29.

There’s worse, though. The following tweets may speak for themselves:

So if zombies and/or reanimated corpses get the vote, Starmer might have a chance.

As far as the rest of us are concerned – he can whistle for it.


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Rishi Sunak in possible conflict of interest over childcare policy

Akshata Murty and her husband, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak: they’ve been called into question before, over a firm in which she has shares, that has been operating in Russia.

What’s going on here? Did Rishi Sunak know he had a conflict of interest over childcare policy – and not care – or did he really not realise that the policy related to him?

Here’s The Guardian:

Rishi Sunak is facing questions over a potential conflict of interest after it emerged a childcare firm part owned by his wife is to benefit from major changes in the budget.

The prime minister’s wife, Akshata Murty, is listed as a shareholder in Koru Kids, a childcare agency. Koru Kids is likely to benefit from a pilot scheme offered by Jeremy Hunt to incentivise people to become childminders, with £1,200 offered to those who train to become one through an agency.

Sunak did not mention his wife’s interest when speaking about the childcare changes at his appearance before the liaison committee on Tuesday. He was asked by the Labour MP Catherine McKinnell whether he had anything to declare. “No, all my disclosures are declared in the normal way,” he told McKinnell.

It is understood the Cabinet Office was told about Murty’s interest in Koru Kids previously but it was not deemed necessary to appear on the public register of ministerial interests, which was last updated in June 2022.

The register states that Sunak’s wife owns a venture capital investment company, Catamaran Ventures UK Ltd, without going into detail of any of its shareholdings.

It seems clear that Sunak’s family has a financial interest in Koru Kids, which has benefited from a recent change in government policy.

According to the Ministerial Code, members of the government must ensure that “no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise”.

The Liberal Democrats have written to Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial interests, asking him to investigate whether the Code has been broken.

But he cannot open any investigations without the permission of the prime minister – who is Rishi Sunak himself.

You see the problem?

Sunak is saying he hasn’t done anything wrong. But he’s not an impartial judge and this case needs somebody with no interest to judge it.

But Sunak can block that.

So what’s to be done?

Watch this space…

Source: Rishi Sunak’s childcare policy risks conflict of interest with wife’s firm | Rishi Sunak | The Guardian


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What is Keir Starmer trying to do in Islington North?

Overstatement: Jeremy Corbyn is a serious man and is unlikely to have laughed when told the boss of a private healthcare firm was being lined up to replace him in Islington North, by Keir Starmer. Considering the strength of feeling for him in that constituency, though… you have to admit, it is a bit giggle-worthy.

If this, from Skwawkbox, is true, then it suggests that Keir Starmer is out of his mind.

Apparently he thinks it’s a good idea to try to take Islington North – described by its residents as “Corbyn country” – at the next election with a candidate who runs a chain of private health clinics:

Praful Nargund, who runs a chain of fertility clinics with his consultant gynaecologist mother and is also a councillor in Islington, is also listed on Companies House as a current or former director of six other companies, mostly in private health. His website features a picture of him with Keir Starmer and says that Nargund wants to ‘champion a skills revolution’.

Meanwhile, on the day after Starmer had his NEC vote to bar Mr Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate in any future general election – and Islington North Labour Party rejected the decision, top polling firm Survation has stated – well, see for yourself:

Meanwhile Starmer’s lieutenants are doing the media rounds with their story – and it’s more of a fairy tale – about anti-Semitism.

Wes Streeting told the Huffington Post: “If he had accepted the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s damning verdict into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party… things might have been different.”

But Streeting was lying; Mr Corbyn did accept the EHRC’s verdict (which wasn’t nearly as damning as Streeting claimed).

And what of the man himself?

He has thanked everybody who has sent him messages of support, which he described as “kind”.

And he stated: “Those who oppose radical change are attacking our democratic rights for a simple reason: they know that when we come together, we can win”

Considering the challenge Keir Starmer seems to be presenting to him, it seems unlikely that Mr Corbyn will lose in Islington North during a general election.

Source: Private health CEO lined up to try to take Corbyn’s seat for Starmer – SKWAWKBOX


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Disability benefit changes will make it harder for vulnerable people to get support – TORY says

This is an unusual situation: a Conservative MP has said changes to benefits for disabled people will make it harder for the most vulnerable to get help.

Nigel Mills said that people who are unable to work consistently would face a tougher threshold to be entitled to government support.

At a meeting of the Work and Pensions Committee, Mr Mills said:

“It is effectively raising the bar because presumably there are some conditions where I don’t have a disability but I’m not fit for work but [under current arrangements] I would get the existing extra support by being put in the not expected to work group.

Nigel Mills argued there was a risk that people who are unable to work would face a tougher threshold to be entitled to government support.

“Someone in that situation under the new regime will get less and that is what you’re trying to achieve.”

He added: “To get the extra support I would need to qualify for PIP that is not currently the case.”

Katie Farrington – director-general for Disability, Health and Pensions at DWP – responded by saying that the Government was “not trying to raise the bar”.

She said the current Work Capability Assessment system was being removed because it seemed people who want to try work are being discouraged from doing so.

She said: “This is not about… saving money by the back door.”

But when pressed on the number of people who would be affected by the change, she admitted that ministers expect the figure to be around 300,000.

The changes will be imposed alongside plans to toughen up sanctions for people on benefits, that have been criticised by members of the Work and Pensions Committee who say there is little evidence to suggest they are effective in pushing people into work.

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said the Government should not “be shy or retreat from the fact that we have expectations of those to whom we get public funds”.

How sinister is that?

He was saying that a Tory government would expect people who receive sickness or disability benefits to prioritise getting back into work above everything else.

The question on all concerned parties’ lips is: does that mean they should disregard their own health for the sake of a Tory statistic showing progress? Good for Mr Mills, for exposing this.

Source: Disability benefits changes ‘effectively raising the bar’ for vulnerable people to get support, Tory MP warns


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