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Politicians backtrack fast after court threat over support for Israel

Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak: the accused?

UK government officials could be individually liable for their role in aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes, according to an organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics who aim to protect the rights of Palestinians through the law.

And the warning seems to have cut through – certainly to the Labour front bench, even though it was issued to Rishi Sunak and his Tories.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has written a notice of intention to prosecute UK government officials, for aiding and abetting war crimes in Gaza. Sunak has been issued with the notice of intention to prosecute UK government officials, for their role in providing military, economic and political support to Israel, which has aided Israel’s perpetration of war crimes.

The notice has been handed over to Scotland Yard’s War Crimes Unit, who have requested evidence relating to war crimes in the region – meaning UK government officials could be prosecuted for war crimes by Scotland Yard.

Individuals could also be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.

A press release from the organisation states:

The decision to prosecute comes in response to Israel’s directive to 1.2 million people in Gaza to immediately leave their homes in northern Gaza and move south. This order will result in mass forced displacement which may amount to both a war crime and a crime against humanity. The siege of Gaza, restricting electricity, food, water and other basic necessities, constitutes collective punishment, which is also a war crime under the Geneva Convention. At the same time, Israel has continued to bombard Gaza with massive and indiscriminate airstrikes, killing over 1,799 people, including 583 children.

The UK government has provided military assistance and economic and political support. Now that war crimes have been carried out, continuation of such support and assistance would mean that UK Government officials would be complicit in the commission of war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity. This complicity, formally known as ‘aiding and abetting’ war crimes, may mean that UK government officials are individually criminally liable for breaking international law.

Now you know why all the politicians in the UK are saying Israel must remain within international law.

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But the UK has provided aid to Israel, war crimes have taken place, and they are continuing.

Calls for Israel to hold back have fallen on deaf ears – and now it seems that those making them have their own interests at heart, more than those of the people of Gaza.

And this includes the Labour Party:

It’s hard to see how an opposition party can be complicit in war crimes if it is not in a position to provide material aid to the perpetrator.

Still, Starmer’s words have caused considerable distress to the UK’s Muslim population. Perhaps it’s enough that he has been a cheerleader for Israeli war crimes.

This is a story that has the potential to develop in many interesting directions.

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Politicians want people with Long Covid to work. Is it another cull of the sick?

Long Covid: to sufferers, it is a huge burden they have to carry every day. Now politicians on both sides of the political fence want to force them to suffer that burden AND go to work as well, so they don’t have to take migrant workers from abroad. It will be a death sentence.

Politicians in both main political parties want to push sick people back into work – but isn’t that an indictment of the UK’s political response to Long Covid?

Let me explain, with the help of Samuel Miller:

You have to look behind the headlines, behind what the mouthpieces are uttering, in order to understand what they really mean.

Here’s an example:

How about this now-deleted tweet from broadcaster Jeremy Vine?

It attracted a strong response:

The document contains details of people who have died or committed suicide as a result of government mistreatment of their sickness benefit claims in attempts to force them back into work.

Looking at the evidence, and based on my own experience of government policy over the last 20 years (Tory and Labour), This Writer is moved to ask:

Are we looking at the beginnings of another politically-motivated cull of the sick?

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They say these things and you see red: what’s your least favourite political soundbite?

Here’s a good game for a sunny Sunday.

I found this on Twitter:

I hate it too. It isn’t even accurate because people who don’t have jobs can still contribute to society – for example, by babysitting for relatives who do have jobs.

I’m sure you can think of other ways people without jobs can still be useful members of society. Perhaps that’s a game for another Sunday.

Today, the challenge is simple: tell This Site the phrase you hear from politicians that winds you up the most.

They all have their favourites and we all hate ’em. Let’s make a list.

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Here’s why MPs are so keen on private health companies

Wes Streeting: the Shadow Health Secretary took £22,500 in donations from private health firms last year, according to EveryDoctor’s interactive map. Why would he end NHS privatisation and stop that money from coming to him?

Did you ever hear of an organisation called EveryDoctor?

It’s a group of doctors campaigning to revive the National Health Service in the face of huge political effort – from both main parties – to kill it off in favour of private companies.

And it has compiled an interactive map showing not only the extent of Tory-driven privatisation, but MPs’ interests in private health firms.

Here’s the tweet announcing it:

To provide a taste of what you’ll find if you use the map, the organisation has been tweeting interesting entries on it:

The really important element to grasp is that it isn’t only Tories who are making money from private health. Look at this:

This is the Shadow Health Secretary. Perhaps now Labour’s about-turn on health policy, so it now supports the increased use of private companies, makes more sense.

Here’s another Labour donation – but this one went straight to the top: Keir Starmer took £12,500 from a private health firm.

Do you really think he’s going to bite the hand that feeds him by returning the NHS to the principles on which it was founded and kicking private profit-makers out?

It seems unlikely to me.

Yvette Cooper’s take has been massive:

It seems clear that this is the reason neither Labour nor the Tories want to rid your health service of the private, profit-making parasites:

They are taking donations from those firms.

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Legal action over Russian intervention in UK politics? Let’s hope it happens before Johnson gags the courts!

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Boris Johnson and Evgeny Lebedev: 10 days after saying he saw no evidence that Russians were influencing UK politics, Johnson elevated a Russian to the House of Lords. He says there’s no evidence for an investigation into Russian influence in UK politics, despite a Parliamentary committee producing a lengthy report containing a large amount of it.

A group of MPs has threatened court action to compel the Johnson government to investigate allegations in a report on Russian intervention in UK politics.

Well, let’s hope they follow it through soon because Johnson is acting to stop the courts from having any power over his government.

Yes, that is dictatorship. You voted for it, folks! (Or if you don’t, being good, decent Vox Political readers, your neighbours did.)

It was in the Tory manifesto for the December 2019 election, for everybody to see, on page 48: a plan to forbid the courts from making orders that restrict the government from acting in any way it pleases.

I’m sure Hitler did something similar in Germany during the 1930s.

A group of politicians are threatening legal action unless Boris Johnson orders an independent investigation into Russian interference in elections.

The letter signed by Green MP Caroline Lucas and Labour’s Chris Bryant follows a report which said the UK “badly underestimated” the Russian threat.

The parliamentarians argue the prime minister’s “lack of action” breaches the right to free elections.

The government said the UK had “robust systems” to protect elections.

Johnson has very close personal relationship with very notable Russians based in the UK. But we’re sure that has nothing to do with his reluctance on this matter… aren’t we?

Source: Boris Johnson threatened with legal action over Russia threat – BBC News

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New rules at DWP – to stop benefit claimants getting help from elected representatives

Underclass: If you’re a benefit claimant, the DWP wants to prevent you getting help from your elected representatives.

The Tories are trying hard to turn benefit claimants into an underclass – now they are being forbidden from seeking advice from their elected representatives.

New changes imposed by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) require claimants who have approached politicians for help with a benefit appeal to sign a waiver form explaining why they have done so, rather than going directly to the Job Centre.

The changes also require claimants to state exactly what they have discussed with their elected representative before information can be disclosed regarding an appeal.

To This Writer, the explanation would be simple: they want their appeal to succeed, and it has more chance with a politician helping than with DWP lickspittles who get a bonus every time a claimant is knocked off the books.

Recently it seems an approach to local newspapers can also be rewarding.

Politicians themselves are up in arms about it.

SNP MSP Linda Fabiani was quoted as saying:

The Universal Credit system is fundamentally flawed and needs to be halted. With so many loopholes and barriers put in place to stop claimants receiving the support they are entitled to, it’s no wonder people come to their MSP for support.

Neither the DWP, nor Boris Johnson’s Tory government, has the right to stop people approaching their elected representatives for help and support – that’s what we’re here to do.

This is just the latest extension of the hostile environment introduced by this right-wing Tory government designed to lock people out from receiving the financial support they are entitled to.

Quite right too.

And if this rule is being rolled out across the UK, it is every local politician’s duty to fight it.

Source: Tories Trying to Keep Universal Credit Claimants In The Dark Say SNP – Association of Pensions & Benefits Claimants CIC

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Mainstream news boss says journalists have a right to call politicians liars. She’s right – but a little late

Dorothy Byrne: I considered it wiser to use an image of her than to focus on a lying politician. I’m sure you can think of plenty of them.

Some of us over here on the social media have been calling Boris Johnson, Jo Swinson and their ilk liars for a considerable time.

But I welcome Dorothy Byrne’s call for mainstream media journalists to subject the political class to far closer scrutiny than they get at the moment.

She is absolutely right to say that a politician who has deliberately spoken a falsehood should be challenged over it – immediately.

I look forward to seeing this policy implemented across the BBC, ITV and Sky News, as well as Channel 4 – although I am concerned that Andrew Marr and/or Jo Coburn may choke while trying it.

Channel 4’s head of news has defended the right of journalists to call out politicians for telling lies.

Dorothy Byrne delivered a keynote speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday, calling Prime Minister Boris Johnson a “coward” for not granting news interviews.

She also said he was “a known liar”.

Byrne told the BBC: “If someone has deliberately spoken an untruth and we have evidence, we have to consider saying that what is said is a lie.”

Source: Channel 4 News boss says media have right to call politicians ‘liars’ – BBC News

Tory minister suspended after he grabbed Greenpeace activist by the throat

Attack: Mark Field said he acted in the belief that a peaceful, female Greenpeace protester might be about to do violence. But – in this image – who is attacking who?

If you had not heard of Mark Field before today, nobody could blame you.

The only reference to him on This Site is from 2014, when he was named as one of many Conservative MPs with a stake in private health companies who was therefore likely to profit by allowing those firms to provide NHS services.

It’s a reasonable bet that you’ll have heard of him now, though – he has become infamous overnight after he grabbed a female Greenpeace activist by the throat and forcibly ejected her from the Mansion House, where she was taking part in a climate change protest at the annual dinner for bankers and politicians where Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond was making a speech.

As I type this, it is emerging that (caretaker) prime minister Theresa May has suspended Mr Field from his job as a Foreign Office minister, due to his apparent behaviour in this incident.

Let’s look at the video footage, courtesy of ITV reporter Paul Brand:

Mr Brand’s subsequent thread is worth reading:

Take note of that – he says she did not appear to present any immediate threat. That is important when considering the subsequent protestations of people like Peter Bottomley.

Not half!

No complaint has (yet) been made to the police. But fellow activist Hannah Martin has tweeted this statement:

Some Tories rushed to defend Mr Field’s behaviour, quoting bizarre reasons. Peter Bottomley was quoted by The Mirror as saying it was justified because “a person could be carrying a collapsible truncheon”. Mr Bottomley added: “He intervened. I congratulate him for that. I would have done the same.”

Have a look at the footage again and ask yourself where she could have been hiding a truncheon. In her (tiny) handbag?

Here’s Mike Hurst, who labels himself as a security professional, standing up for Mr Field – and being thrown a truth bomb by another Twitter user:

How about this comment – and the response from a formerly battered wife:

Mr Field himself has released the following statement: “In the confusion many guests understandably felt threatened and when one protester rushed past me towards the top table I instinctively reacted.

“There was no security present and I was for a split second genuinely worried she might have been armed.

“As a result I grasped the intruder firmly in order to remove her from the room as swiftly as possible.”

“Grasped the intruder firmly”? He slammed her against a pillar.

He added: “I deeply regret this episode and unreservedly apologise to the lady concerned for grabbing her but in the current climate I felt the need to act decisively to close down the threat to the safety of those present.”

The “Tory Racism” Twitter account has slowed the footage and added a commentary – making the important point that not one person out of the 350 at the dinner lifted a single finger to help the peaceful protester who was being manhandled out of the room by a man who had gone for her throat:

This lack of intervention has been roundly condemned:

Tim O’Seery tweeted: “I actually find this quite harrowing. He brutalised this young woman while the rest of the Chinless Wonders just sat there and watched. This was assault and people have a Public Duty to prevent this sort of thing happening, if they can.”

Mr Field’s action is even more questionable when one examines his own – expressed – attitude to climate change. In a tweet just two weeks ago, he stated: “Climate security must be at the heart of foreign policy work at a global level. I am grateful for Germany’s action in shining a spotlight on this issue at the Climate and Security Conference yesterday and look forward to continuing our work together.”

To this, ‘Geri the Gerbil’ appended: “As long as they don’t interrupt my dinner.”

Of course there is a political aspect to this:

A petition has been launched to get Mr Field sacked:

Last word on this (for now) should go to Tom Clark of Another Angry Voice:

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Priti Patel received £17,000 payout – from the public purse – after being forced to quit Cabinet role

No wonder she was smirking: Priti Patel leaving 10 Downing Street after being forced to resign.

This is despicable.

The public have been made to pay the cost of a “golden handshake” for Priti Patel, who was forced to leave her job in disgrace.

Ms Patel was told to resign after it was revealed she was trying to carry out her own foreign policy, independent of the Conservative government, holding meetings with senior Israeli politicians while supposedly on holiday.

This Writer thinks a prison sentence would have been more appropriate.

Priti Patel walked away with a pay-out of nearly £17,000 after being forced to resign as International Development Secretary , the Standard reveals today.

She received the sizeable “termination” payment despite admitting she blundered by holding unauthorised meetings in Israel last summer, including with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Brexiteer Ms Patel was humiliatingly summoned back to London from East Africa in November to be axed from the Cabinet by Theresa May. At the time ministers are dismissed or resign, the Cabinet Office refuses to disclose if they are given pay-offs, despite them being funded by the taxpayer.

It still will not say if Boris Johnson received a payment when he quit as Foreign Secretary last month over Mrs May’s Chequers Brexit blueprint, or if David Davis did when he stood down as Brexit Secretary.

But details of the payment to Ms Patel are in the Department for International Development’s recently published annual accounts for 2017-18.

Source: Priti Patel received £17,000 payout after being forced to quit as International Development Secretary | London Evening Standard

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Why isn’t there a statutory penalty against politicians lying to the public?

Liar: Theresa May told Tory-supporting 17-year-old Calum that taxpayers would support students who would become better-paid, under Labour’s plan to axe tuition fees. But everybody benefits from having well-educated professionals, and there would have been no increase in taxes for the low-paid.

Peter Stefanovic makes a good point (in fact, he’s probably re-stating it, as the Tory penchant for lying to us is well-documented).

The answer to the question in the headline is obvious, though – there isn’t a statutory penalty for politicians lying to the pubic because politicians would have to impose it, and they all know they’re going to want to lie to us at one time or another (with the possible exception of Jeremy Corbyn).

So they lie, and lie, and lie again, and hope that we won’t remember by the time the next election comes around.

That’s why it is our responsibility – those of us who operate within the social media – to record these instances, follow their consequences, and remind the wider world at the necessary time.

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