Category Archives: People

‘Flurry’ of no confidence letters in Rishi Sunak submitted, Tories say

Rishi Sunak: he might not get the chance to seek the public’s approval in a general election, meaning he’ll always be remembered as an unelected, third-choice prime minister.

Yahoo News is reporting that Tory MPs are submitting a “flurry” of “no confidence” letters in the leadership of Rishi Sunak as the party tries to weather a series of broadside blows:

A “FLURRY” of no confidence letters in Rishi Sunak have reportedly been submitted to the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 committee.

The lack of a vote-winning policy in the Spring Budget is thought to have angered a number of MPs and Tory sources have told the i Paper this has caused some to submit letters in the last few days.

Sunak has come under pressure this week to return more than £10 million of donations from businessman Frank Hester who is reported to have said that looking at Diane Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP, made “you just want to hate all black women”.

Downing Street has finally called the comments “racist and wrong” after initially refusing to do so.

Sunak has also been dealing with the defection of Lee Anderson to Reform UK, something which has riled the right of the party.

There is no knowing how many letters have actually been sent but if a threshold of 53 – 15% of Tory MPs – was reached, [Graham] Brady would have to make an announcement.

Source: ‘Flurry’ of no confidence letters in Rishi Sunak submitted, Tories say

Are these the reasons Rishi Sunak won’t call an immediate general election?

Even if he has, he won’t.

Torsten Bell, of the Resolution Foundation, has it right – I think.

In his latest email he states, of the possibility that Rishi Sunak might call a general election, that “If you’re running the country you don’t call an early one after those kind of by-elections results, no matter how many squillions of pounds a racist might have given you for a campaign.”

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There may also be other reasons for waiting to call an election, as described below:

It’s all about greed with the Tories, isn’t it?

Whatever happened to public service.


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The ‘magic money tree’/’maxed-out national credit card’ LIES

Liars: both David Cameron and (now) Keir Starmer have voiced the falsehood that the UK has credit limits imposed elsewhere – it doesn’t. There IS a magic money tree, though – despite their claims to the contrary; it’s called the Bank of England. You won’t find this mentioned by the mainstream media, though – instead you have to come to Vox Political, Another Angry Voice, and Mainly Macro (among others).

Simon Wren-Lewis, over at Mainly Macro, has written a scathing critique of politicians like Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, who are copying the Tories by saying there is no “magic money tree” and that the government has “maxed-out the national credit cards”.

For clarity: there is a magic money tree. It’s called the Bank of England.

And it is impossible to max-out the national credit cards with the amount of debt the UK currently has.

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Professor Wren-Lewis explains:

Keir Starmer, in commenting on the recent Budget, said “Britain in recession, the national credit card maxed out, and despite the measures today, the highest tax burden for 70 years”. The analogy of maxing out the nation’s credit card has been repeated by other Shadow ministers. Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chancellor, has joined many Conservative ministers in saying there is no ‘magic money tree’.

Anyone who knows any macroeconomics understands that these analogies are false. The nation does not have a credit card with an externally imposed credit limit that it can ‘max out’, and the UK government does have a magic money tree because it can create money.

Imagine, for example, if we forced politicians to be more precise. Rather than claiming that the government had ‘run out of money’ and ‘maxed out its credit card’, they would instead have to say that the government had almost hit their self-imposed borrowing limits.

Rather than saying you couldn’t promise to spend this or reduce that tax because there is no magic money tree, politicians instead would need to say that the government could create more money or borrow more, but that would add to aggregate demand which would risk higher inflation and so force the Bank of England to raise interest rates.

Why do politicians say there is no money tree at their disposal? Because they don’t like telling the truth, which is that they don’t want to break their fiscal rule, or they don’t want the additional spending or tax cut adding to aggregate demand and leading the central bank to raise interest rates. That is a trade-off where many voters might take a different view, so it is much easier for them to say there is no money. It is a way of disguising a political choice, and not being honest about these choices.

So ‘there is no magic money tree’ is normally said by Chancellors or Prime Ministers who want an easy excuse for not spending money or cutting taxes. It is a straightforward deception to give politicians an easier life, and therefore it is difficult to defend its use.

The phrase ‘maxing out the nation’s credit card’ is more often used by politicians attacking the borrowing record of others. Yet it too suggests politicians have less choice than they actually have. In this case it perpetuates the idea that governments can only borrow so much, and that they are currently hitting that limit.

This is nonsense. There is a limit to how much UK governments can borrow, but it is way above levels of debt ever historically recorded. (Debt was 2.7 times GDP after WWII.) [1] But it sounds more dramatic to say a government has maxed out its credit card than to say it is leaving insufficient headroom to meet its own fiscal rules.

The use of these false analogies probably wouldn’t matter too much if we had an informed and informing media that was quick to correct these attempts to mislead. Unfortunately the complete opposite is the case. Because much of the media views macroeconomics as too complex and boring for its viewers, it laps up these incorrect attempts to relate fiscal policy to household budgets.

Sometimes this media environment gives politicians little choice but to follow. But that is not the case with phrases like ‘no magic money tree’ and ‘maxing out the nation’s credit card’. No one is forcing politicians to use these phrases. Instead it is their own choice to do so. If they know they are false analogies that just mislead the public they shouldn’t use them. If they don’t know that they are false, I’m afraid that is even worse.

So, when Keir Starmer said those words in response to Jeremy Hunt’s Budget, somebody in BBC/ITV/Sky News or the newspapers should have immediately called them out as lies.

But they didn’t.

This means the media are misinforming the electorate. This in turn means that most of the voting population, at the next general election, will be basing their decision on false information.

That is inexcusable. There should probably be a law against it. But there isn’t, because the law-makers benefit from the falsehoods.


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Andy McDonald’s Labour suspension ends; when will Diane Abbott’s?

Andy McDonald: his Labour Party suspension is over. But why is it looking as though Diane Abbott will have to do a humiliating deal before her own suspension ends?

MP Andy McDonald’s suspension from the Labour Party has been ended after five months and a lengthy investigation which found that he did not break any party rules.

Mr McDonald’s party membership had been placed under “precautionary suspension” after he told a pro-Palestine rally, “We won’t rest until we have justice. Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty.”

Downing Street had said, just a few hours earlier, that the chant, “From the River to the Sea, [Palestine will be free]” was “deeply offensive” to many people. But, of course, that’s not what Mr McDonald had said, as discussed by This Site, here.

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The Guardian reports that a Labour spokesperson said:

“The chief whip has today restored the Labour whip to Andy McDonald MP. This follows a full investigation by the Labour party into complaints received about public remarks that he made in October 2023.

“The investigation concluded that he had not engaged in conduct that was against the party’s rulebook but reminded him of the importance of elected representatives being mindful not only of what they say in public but how their words may be interpreted, especially in reference to controversial or emotive issues.”

But questions remain to be answered here. A “precautionary suspension” is supposed to last just three months. Why did this one continue for five? The Graun also quotes a spokesperson for left-wing campaign group Momentum, who connected the case with that of Diane Abbott, who has also been without the Labour whip – for nearly a year – and who has been the subject of much discussion this week after comments by the Conservative Party’s biggest donor, Frank Hester:

“Why has it taken nearly five months to investigate a speech at a rally? Why has Diane Abbott – a black woman Keir Starmer rightly hails as a trailblazer – been suspended for an outrageous 11 months now, with no end in sight? And why do black and brown MPs like Diane, Apsana Begum and Kate Osamor feel they suffer worse treatment than their white male counterparts?”

Senior Labour figures from across the party have called for Abbott to have the Labour whip reinstated. Harriet Harman, Ed Balls, John McDonnell and Dawn Butler believe Abbott should be readmitted to the party.

McDonald’s readmission into the party will also raise questions on the future of Osamor, who was suspended by the party in January.

These are all left-wing Labour MPs – and party leader Keir Starmer is about as right-wing as one can get. It has been suggested that he is trying to find a way to change these suspensions into removal from Parliament altogether.

This speculation is fuelled by comments like the following:

It is true that, after the Equality and Human Rights Commission investigated Labour for alleged “institutional antisemitism” (and found none), Starmer said the party leader’s office would no longer have any influence over investigations into allegations against members – a criticism that had been levelled against previous leader Jeremy Corbyn.

If Starmer is the one making decisions about Ms Abbott’s future, then he was lying with that claim.

The following suggests that Abbott may be blackmailed into quitting Parliament at the next election in return for having the whip restored until then – with right-wing cronies of Starmer queuing up to take over from her.

If that were true, it would be yet another scandal, opening Starmer’s party to renewed accusations of racism and misogyny, and This Writer would certainly agree with James Foster’s suggestion, below:

Now this information – whether it is right or wrong – is in the public domain, Starmer’s best course of action would be to restore the whip at once, in order to prevent a possible – and highly damaging – backlash.

But he seems to think he is invincible, in spite of the small army of left-wing Independent candidates springing up to take his MPs’ constituencies away from them.

Watch this space to see what happens next.


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A decade after his death, Tony Benn is as relevant as ever

Yes, I met him: Vox Political’s Mike Sivier (right) with the late, great Tony Benn.

March 14, 2024, marked 10 years since the passing of that great left-wing politician, Tony Benn – and he remains as relevant now as he was during his lifetime.

Listen to this passionate speech opposing Tony Blair’s war in Iraq:

“Aren’t Arabs terrified? Don’t Arab women weep when their children die?” These are questions that could be asked of the Palestinians in Gaza today.

“Doesn’t bombing strengthen their determination?” Think about that, and what Israel’s incessant bombing of Gaza is doing to the resolve of every innocent, non-combatant citizen of that enclave.

“Consequences for people who have no part to play in the brutality of the regime which we are dealing with.” The brutal regime could be Hamas, and its brutality on October 7 last year – with consequences for all the people of Gaza who had nothing to do with it.

In the current instance, though, it could also apply to the Israeli government that is committing genocide on our TV screens every day.

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Here’s another nugget of his wisdom – five questions that we should be asking constantly, about the people with power over us:

Finally, there are his words on the two kinds of politician:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Tony Benn was a signpost – he pointed the way for others to follow.

Look at the people we have at the top of our political parties now. Any way the wind blows, the lot of them – with only one or two exceptions who are in neither the Labour or Conservative parties.

Will we ever have representatives of his calibre again? Or will we just keep voting for the Tories or the Labour Party that Keir Starmer has made a pale imitation of the Tories?


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Commons Speaker should resign after hypocrisy over Diane Abbott

Diane Abbott: the latest insult against her has been delivered by Parliament itself.

Prime Minister’s Questions this week (Wednesday, March 13, 2024) was unsurprisingly dominated by one issue: the racist comments by the Conservative Party’s biggest donor – Frank Hester – against a black, female member of Parliament who is currently under suspension from the Labour Party – Diane Abbott.

Questioner after questioner was called to discuss Hester’s transgression with Rishi Sunak, with one notable exception – Diane Abbott.

According to Sky News, she stood up no fewer than 46 times:

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Watch this compilation video, which shows Ms Abbott – in an eye-catching red coat at the back of the Opposition benches – standing in the hope of catching Speaker Lyndsay Hoyle’s attention, so that she could take part in the discussion of her own safety… and being ignored, every time. I include Colin Patton’s remark so you can read it:

Did Hoyle and the others staining the House of Commons think nobody would notice this extreme – and extended – act of disrespect to a woman who has already suffered enough disrespect over this issue – and more disrespect, simply because she is a black, female MP, than everybody else in the building put together?

If they did, they were wrong:

What a shame that Ms Abbott did not follow the example of former MP Bernadette Devlin, in similar circumstances:

Ms Abbott’s response was more dignified:

The decision to ignore Parliamentary tradition has led to an obvious demand – here presented by possibly the most visible person able to make it. Looking at Ms Abbott’s comment, it is entirely possible that she supports this:

Lyndsay Hoyle has, of course, ignored Parliamentary traditions and conventions before. I refer specifically to the moment he allowed a Labour amendment to the SNP’s motion for a ceasefire in Gaza to be discussed, in breach of convention, saying it was because MPs had received threats (I’ve never understood how allowing the Labour amendment that favours Israel negated the alleged threat from “Islamists”).

He said – well, hear it for yourself:

Isn’t it odd that, the other time, he said he was “looking after members”, whereas this time he  was deliberately disrespecting one of them?

Stephen Flynn, Westminster leader of the SNP, said as much in a TV interview after PMQs finished – and echoed calls for Hoyle to be removed:

It’s the hypocrisy that leads This Writer to agree that it is time for Hoyle to go. He has disgraced the Speaker’s Chair, and the office of the Speaker, once too often.

(He won’t, of course, because these people have no shame.)

What’s the result? Well, there’s this on the Tory side of the story:

Worse – and you’re forgiven if you didn’t think that was possible – is Labour’s response, which is to try to make a bit of money off of it, despite the fact that Ms Abbott’s membership of the Parliamentary Labour Party has been suspended for nearly a year:

Here is what This Writer considers to be an almost supernaturally reasonable response to this wave of hypocrisy from the Labour Party:

(Pamela Fitzpatrick is, by the way, standing as an Independent candidate in the currently Labour-held constituency of Harrow West. If you live there, please support her with your vote.)

And in case anybody has forgotten what kind of person she is, let’s give the last word to Ms Abbott’s long-term left-wing Labour colleague – and former party leader – Jeremy Corbyn:


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For Rishi Sunak, it IS over – but not because of Reform UK or Lee Anderson

Lee Anderson: he’s a big supporter of Boris Johnson (left) so he may well be enjoying the turmoil stirred up by Johnson supporters in the Conservative Party as a result of his defection to Reform UK.

How ridiculous – but it’s fun watching the Tories tearing strips off each other:

Supporters of Boris Johnson have launched a fresh bid to oust Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after MP Lee Anderson joined Reform UK, the party founded by Nigel Farage.

David Campbell Bannerman, the Chair of the Conservative Democracy Organisation, told Times Radio it was “over” for Mr Sunak as he claimed a further nine Tory MPs are considering defecting. “Rishi is to blame directly for this and Conservative MPs must wake up now or die politically,” said the former MEP who is a staunch supporter of Mr Johnson. “They must get letters in and remove Rishi rapidly. [It] can be done in one week. Only then can we turn things around.”

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The New Conservatives, a group of right wing Tories that Mr Anderson had been part of, said: “The responsibility for Lee’s defection sits with the Conservative Party… We cannot pretend any longer that ‘the plan is working’. We need to change course urgently.”

Anderson himself is a supporter of Boris Johnson and it is likely that he is hugely enjoying the turbulence he has caused.

But This writer doesn’t think he’ll trigger mass defections to Reform UK.

The former Brexit Party only had half as many votes as the Tories in the Rochdale by-election, and that was an extraordinarily low turnout for the most successful political party in the UK’s history.

Tory MPs know that most people vote tribally – for the brand, rather than the candidate* – and will believe they should stay put, whatever the result at the next general election.

And Boris Johnson remains as far from returning to the Tory leadership as ever.

Tory grandees know that Johnson has lost the confidence of the electorate; based on all the evidence, we think he’s a liar and a crook. He won’t be winning any more elections for them.

*This Writer is trying to change that situation. Voters should judge candidates in their constituencies based on who they are and what they offer, rather than on which party they represent. It is tribal voting that has brought the UK to its current historic low point.

Source: Boris Johnson supporters tell Rishi Sunak ‘it’s over’ as nine more Tory MPs in talks to defect – Mirror Online


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Charlotte Church answers accusations of Israel’s propagandists

Reckless hate is a terrible thing – not least because it leaves the hater as vulnerable as those they attack.

So it should be with those who have attacked the singer Charlotte Church for supporting Palestine on the march in London last Saturday (March 9, 2024).

They’ve called her every name under the sun, apparently, in a flailing attempt to discredit her and what she did.

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But this time they are dealing with someone of higher quality, as is clear from her reply:

Any questions?


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Donor’s Diane Abbott remark highlights racism in both Tory and Labour parties

Diane Abbott: she has suffered more racist abuse than anybody you can name – and now she has to watch Tories scrambling to defend a donor who has allegedly piled more of it onto her, while her own party leader sits on his thumbs rather than supporting her.

A Conservative Party donor, whose business has received huge contracts from the Tory-run UK government, has apologised for passing racist remarks about Labour MP Diane Abbott.

But Frank Hester’s contrition comes too late, as it has demonstrated that both the Conservatives and the Labour Party are now cesspits of racism.

He reportedly said Ms Abbott made him “want to hate all black women”, and that she “should be shot”. That’s not merely insulting to her but racist to every woman in her ethnic group.

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Here’s a neat summary of what happened:

Mr Hester’s apology has proved not to be enough – and his claim that he was not being racist has been dismissed by other Labour MPs of colour. Here’s Dawn Butler:

Ms Abbott herself issued a statement this morning (Tuesday, March 12, 2024), describing Mr Hester’s words as “frightening”.

She said: “It is frightening. I live in Hackney, I don’t drive, so I find myself, at weekends, popping on a bus or even walking places, more than most MPs.

“I am a single woman and that makes me vulnerable anyway. But to hear someone talking like this is worrying.”

There was more to her statement, including an appeal for public support from Labour leader Keir Starmer, as read out by Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain:

Alas, Ms Reid’s hope may be forlorn; if Mr Hester is racist, then Starmer is just as racist as he is. We’ll come back to this.

Conservatives have rallied to support – not Ms Abbott, but their biggest donor. Apparently he can’t possibly be racist because he takes money from people in Jamaica:

Mel Stride, Work and Pensions Secretary, has also come out with much the same excuse.

Here are former Tory chairwoman Sayeeda Warsi and LBC’s James O’Brien with their own opinions about that:

The incident appears to have triggered a crisis within the Tory Party and its supporters, as black people across the UK who may have offered the Tories their vote at the next election now find themselves reconsidering their position:

But Ian Lavery, who is a socialist Labour MP and therefore a close comrade of Ms Abbott, can’t afford to crow too much about this because Labour itself has also treated her abominably.

Press coverage of the story seems to have missed out this vital angle…

Is it because they are backing Labour to form the next government?

Let’s get the facts out in the open, right now, starting with Ms Abbott’s own comments about the racists within her party who backstabbed her for years:

Returning to her appeal for support from Keir Starmer, here’s This Writer’s reason for doubting he’ll offer any: he has spent years doing his best to stifle or ignore any suggestion of anti-black racism in his party, despite the fact that it is clearly riddled with racists:

We can only conclude that Starmer is, himself, deeply racist against black people – at least until such time as he can prove that the words recorded above were never used by Labour staffers and/or that he has acted to ensure that the racists have been removed. I fear we may face a long wait.

I lay the following in support of this belief:

So now, not only the Tories but also Labour MPs and supporters have had to launch a damage limitation exercise. For example, here comes Ed Balls on (again) Good Morning Britain. I tend to agree with the comment by “Teri”:

We judge people on what they do. With the Conservatives scrambling to defend their biggest donor, rather than disown him, take back his contracts and return his dirty money; and with Labour doing almost nothing to condemn the racist discrimination against not only that party’s, but the UK’s, most heavily-abused black female politician, our conclusion must be harsh:

Both parties are racist to the core. Both deserve to be shunned at the next general election.


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UK politicians wishing Muslims a “peaceful Ramadan” are hypocrites

Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak: they’re both quick to wish Muslim voters in the UK a peaceful Ramadan, while supplying – and supporting the supply of – weapons to Israel so it can continue killing Muslims in Gaza.

The hypocrisy of this.

The Conservatives…

… and Labour…

… are wishing Muslims a “peaceful” Ramadan.

Included in those wishes must be the Muslim people of Gaza, who have been subjected to five months of genocide – so far – by their Israeli neighbours, who are using weaponry supplied by the UK, and who are aided by UK naval support.

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A more honest message would have been: “Ramadan mubarak to Muslims everywhere except Gaza. Muslims in Gaza can all die.”

After all, that’s what they have been doing, thanks to the aid the UK gives Israel:

These two-faced fakers in the Conservative Party and Labour should all be kicked out at the next election. I mean, would you vote for any of these liars?


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