Attempts to deflect blame from Tory politicians for the Grenfell Tower fire reached their nadir yesterday, as the convocation of the irredeemably batshit otherwise known as Breitbart London turned their attention to the subject and responded by doing what they do best - lying. The lead was taken by their alleged editor-in-chief Raheem “call me Ray” Kassam, an appallingly immodest being with much to be modest about.
Raheem Kassam. No, don't laugh
Kassam took to Twitter to talk well, but lie badly, as he asserted “Local Govt: Lab … Planning Cmte: Lab MP … Mayor: Lab … Built under: Lab … Blame? ‘TORRIEEESSSS!!!’” This was yet another routine pack of lies.
Lie Number One: The “local Government”, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, has a Tory majority of impregnable proportions - 40 out of 50 Councillors.
Lie Number Two: the majority on the Planning Committee is also Tory. The Labour MP he mentions, Emma Dent Coad, was not on the planning committee when the refurbishment decisions were taken on Grenfell Tower (and nor was she on the management board of the organisation that looks after the borough’s social housing at the time).
Lie Number Three: the Mayor of London at the time the refurbishment decisions were made, and the work done, was not Labour.
Lie Number Four: Grenfell Tower was built in the early 1970s, and the Westminster Government at that time was Ted Heath’s Tory one. But that is of tangential relevance: the Government responsible for building the tower was the local one, and that was also Tory.
And Kassam does not stop there, going on to claim “Ok I see some people don't understand how local democracy works. Here's who #GrenfellTower residents elected to rep them. 3x Lab”.
Lie Number Five: the majority on the Council, and in the planning committee, is still with the Tories, whatever party voters in individual wards choose.
Could he pull another whopper? He certainly could: “Also I love how some people don't know the new Lab MP was on the planning committee before being elected. Only those who can read get this”. Patronising, much?
Lie Number Six: Emma Dent Coad was on the planning committee in 2013-14. So “before being elected” as an MP, as in this year, she wasn’t.
Then Kassam hands over to one of the Breitbart gofers, for an article titled “Far Left Co-Opts Grenfell Tower Tragedy to ‘Bring Down Government’ with Foreign Cash”, which spins the Kassam whoppers once more, telling “Residents in the area have over the past few days expressed their outrage at the situation. Their three local councillors were all Labour Party members, the Mayor of London is a Labour Party member, and the block was built in the 1970s”. As has been pointed out, either wrong or irrelevant.
So does it recycle Kassam’s lies any further? It certainly does: “The area’s new Member of Parliament, Emma Dent Coad, was even on the housing planning committee which scrutinised work on Grenfell tower as recently as 2015”.
Lie Number Seven: Ms Dent Coad was not on the planning committee when the decisions were made on Grenfell Tower, and certainly not in 2015.
Then, just to put the lid on it, the article talks about a group called Movement for Justice: “Breitbart London revealed last year MFJ is foreign-backed, with close links to the U.S.-based organisation ‘United for Equality and Affirmative Action’ (UEAA)”.
Er, hello Breitbart inmates? You calling out another group for being “foreign-backed”, and with close links to an organisation in the USA, puts you in the draughtiest of glasshouses.
Raheem Kassam and Breitbart London: the finest idiocy money can buy.
7 comments:
Breitbart and Kassam are glaring examples of the moral squalor this country has wallowed in for years.
But there are even worse examples. And they are in government.
Now they have yet another tragedy right in their face on their own doorstep - a doorstep the rest of the country has contempt for - and they are still unable to face the truth.
My bet is the final blame for Grenfell Tower will be placed on the architects and contractors. Most politicians and mainstream media will of course ignore or deny their role in creating the moral squalor.
Just a few months ago that ageing moronic clown Jon Snow was boasting on air on C4 News that London is "A blessed place". And he's one of the milder ones, laughably called "a liberal".
I hope the survivors and victim families will have the same great courage and persistence of the Hillsborough families in fighting for the truth. God knows the guilty parties really have it coming to them......the lot of them - politicians, "journalists", civil service, "entrepreneurs" and outright scum like Breitbart and Kassam.
After the election this will be the first great judge of Corbyn's and McDonnell's ability to deliver social justice and really challenge the guttersnipes who have stolen this country. There's a lot standing on the outcome.
Meanwhile, there aren't enough tears for the victims and their families and friends. But what would people like Kassam know about human tears?
So no foreign cash bankrolls the Tories then?
The Shitebart piece also shows a fundamental ignorance of what a planning committee is for and how decisions are made.
Rule 1 of planning cttee code of practice is decisions are not taken on party lines, only planning matters are to be considered.
It rules on planning matters. This scheme is relatively sraightforward, main planning consideration was probably appearance.
There were certainly no grounds for a refusal.
Construction methods, materials and technique are down to building control, which can be managed by the Council or the contractor's preferred third party company.
Foreign cash?!
Must be the Russians.
The Yanks never bribe anyone. Not ever.
There are no oligarchs in the USA or Britain. Never have been.
I've not taken much notice of this goose before but had a sqizz at his twitter feed. What an utterly despicable creature he is with one tweet alleging Grenfell protestors telling May to go also support the blowing up of teens in the dreadful Manchester bomb. How low can this creature go and as Anon above says "Breitbart and Kassam are glaring examples of the moral squalor this country has wallowed in for years".
How is it possible that such a loathsome vile & repulsive liar can be in the presence of a US president (yes I know Trump is similar) .
I truly despair for Britain and the USA. It's touch & go whether the US survives Trump intact but t and worrying.
Also, surely, it doesn't really matter who was in power when it was built. It didn't burn down then. what matters is what has happened to it since then, especially if the cladding turns out to be responsible for the rapid pread of the fire. This is pure distraction politics. They are bloody desperate, and so they should be.
You See Hes Asian looking and doesn't want to be regarded as a threat or ISIS sympathizer, some times he goes so way over the top or to the RIGHT so as to fit in. Hes irrelevant though, Best Ignored
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