Labour’s Gorton And Denton Shame

And so it came to pass that one of those inconvenient Parliamentary by-elections came along, but this should not have proved an insurmountable task for Labour: the constituency, Gorton and Denton, had been held back in 2024 with a vote share of over 50%. Moreover, Labour had the services of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham on offer as a candidate.

When incumbent Andrew Gwynne stepped down on health grounds, there was little thought that Labour would not only lose the seat, but lose half of that vote share. But that would have been to underestimate the Labour Together cabal now in charge of the party: there is no task that this bunch of clowns cannot royally foul up, and foul it up they did. Royally.

The die was cast early on: Burnham’s offer to run as the Labour candidate was vetoed by a paranoid leadership: if someone genuinely popular were to become leader, what might follow? Being of independent thought, listening to the voters, making a centre-left party a genuinely centre-left party, doing away with the authoritarian control freakery. This could not be tolerated.

So it was that an ideologically acceptable candidate, Angeliki Stogia, was selected. The public were told that only Labour could beat the Reform UK hopeful, professional bigot Matthew Goodwin, representing the limited company of self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage. And it was with representing those opinion polls that Labour began to unravel.

At that point, it was a three-way fight, the third party involved being the Greens, whose candidate, Hannah Spencer, was a plasterer and plumber. In other words, she was a working class woman who worked among the working class. Once upon a time, Labour would have been happy to have folks like her representing them. Not any more. Her presence was ignored.

This, though, was only the start of what developed as a series of smears and other dirty tricks, most of which were eagerly lapped up by the larger part of our free and fearless press, who in turn showed their appetite for low-grade client journalism and guaranteed that the wider electorate will trust them even less, if such a thing were possible, when future contests come around.

It got worse: Labour then leafletted the constituency with a bogus tactical voting claim, going against the genuine tactical voting analysis that indicated voting Green was the best choice. And on election day, a van toured the constituency, and was allegedly parked rather adjacent to at least one polling station, with a smear so blatant as to smack of desperation.

“To all voters … do not listen to these people. Do not vote for the Greens. They want to legalise all drugs and teach our children to use drugs including crack and heroin and let our daughters be used for legal prostitution … No Green madness in our community” it told. Bridget Phillipson later claimed that Labour had fought a “positive campaign”. I’d hate to see a negative one.

So Labour lost. Worse, they came third behind Reform. In turn, there were claims of “sectarianism”, which is code for Scary Muslims. Yes, those followers of The Prophet were so sectarian that they supported a white woman whose party leader is a gay Jewish man. The press was its usual disgusting self, seeing the establishment rejected and whining accordingly.

Keir Starmer was as bad, if not worse. Labour claimed George Galloway was somehow responsible for the Greens’ success. This was tosh. Starmer called Ms Spencer, more or less, a divisive extremist. He claimed - leading a party whose membership is in significant decline - that the Greens could not replicate their success country-wide. Be careful what you wish for, eh?

So much whinging, so many hostages to fortune, and even from the Labour leadership, so much racist dog whistling. They lost, and lost badly. Voters now have “somewhere to go”, to borrow Peter Mandelson’s happy phrase. And all that leadership can do is to claim they’re listening. When they’re not.

Once again: the Labour Together cancer has to be cut out, before it kills a once great party stone dead. Otherwise they will keep losing. That is all.

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Zack Polanski And Anti-Semitism

The Green Party, in no small measure because of its new leader Zack Polanski, is advancing in the opinion polls. One recent survey suggested that Keir Starmer could be vulnerable to losing his seat to a Green opponent. And then, by total coincidence you understand, the nudges and winks began, the first signs of a concerted attempt to pin anti-Semitism on the Greens.

But here a problem entered: Polanski is Jewish. What to do? Fortunately for anyone needing to see the direction of travel, help was on hand from the so-called “Anti-Semitism Czar”, “Lord” John Mann, who is hot on the slightest hint of anti-Semitism, providing someone explains it to him first, nice and slowly. “Lord” Mann suddenly decided to go after Polanski.

In doing so, he revealed the Modus Operandi: “he refuses to deal with antisemitism in his own Party”. Owen Jones spelt out what is likely to happen next. “Expect the state to try and do over the Green Party on bogus claims of institutionalised antisemitism. This could involve John Mann, and certainly the EHRC … whose Commissioners are handpicked by the government”.

And for those whose first thought is to dismiss Jones’ take as a step too far, he added this: “You might think that trying to crush the only political party led by a Jewish person on grounds of antisemitism is just too ludicrous to pull off. But I would not put it past them”. After all, as he observed of “Lord” Mann, “He's not Jewish, and he is lecturing the only Jewish party leader on antisemitism”. Mann, meanwhile, got a little tetchy with Polanski.

“Perhaps you can identify which antisemitism you have dealt with inside your party as leader? And every manifestation of antisemitism that I have chosen to ignore”. Well, apart from not defending Polanski against the recent cartoons showing him with A Really Big Nose, there are other instances.

Like now disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson authoring a novel which “was also criticised for depicting Jews as ‘controlling the media’ and being able to ‘fiddle’ elections, an evidently antisemitic trope”. Like Jacob Rees Mogg referring to Oliver Letwin and John Bercow (who are both Jewish) as “Illuminati”, an old anti-Semitic trope.

Like Suella Braverman talking of “Cultural Marxism”, a Nazi-era anti-Semitic slur. Like Priti Patel using the phrase “North London Metropolitan Elite”. Maybe I failed to notice “Lord” John Mann’s interventions in all these instances. Nor did I notice “Lord” Mann being on the case of Reform UK Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage over recent allegations.

But all those instances were from the right, while Polanski is most definitely on the left of the political spectrum. Moreover, he “has stated that he believes that the Gaza war is a genocide and should be treated as such by the UK government”, thus drawing to the Greens an increasing number of voters who empathise with the plight of the Palestinians and are critical of Israel.

On top of that, “He has expressed the belief that the British government conflates Jewish people with Israel, and that this ‘makes [him] feel less safe as a Jewish person’”, which will infuriate those running the Labour Party, some of whom actively undermined former leader Jeremy Corbyn in an attempt to throw the 2019 General Election.

Polanski has said he could not imagine supporting a coalition Government led by Keir Starmer, which will also infuriate the pro-Starmer cabal. But having “Lord” Mann going after him is risky, especially as “Mann faced criticism for allegedly perpetuating racial stereotypes against Romani people and travellers in a booklet he produced on antisocial behaviour in 2007”.

No matter, “Lord” Mann has carried on taunting Polanski, playing the victim and suggesting a meeting. File under pointless. But, as Mrs Beckermann tells Charlie Croker in The Italian Job, it wasn’t an accident. Whether it is low grade clowns like “Lord” John Mann, or the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press, the smearing of Zack Polanski will get worse.

The Green Party leader needs to learn from what happened to Corbyn. Because Mann has let slip that this is what is intended for Zack.

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And So This Is Christmas

The world is now a more dangerous, more unequal, more unjust, more authoritarian, and more uncaring place. Peace is in short supply, except in the fevered minds of more of those Here Today And Gone Tomorrow Politicians. And you can forget goodwill. Where it will end we know not. But end it will, with the grim certainty of night following day.

Christmas tree in Lisbon's Praça do Comércio

Centre stage is the most corrupt régime of any modern and allegedly democratic nation, that of Combover Crybaby Donald Trump. This only occasionally coherent, rambling, terminally vain, and obscenely unpleasant being is about to start a war with Venezuela. Over oil. It will not end well for the USA. Meanwhile, Trump is driving the economy off a cliff.

Those cheering him on are an increasingly compliant media, and the ranks of the obscenely overmonied, who care about themselves, and not about the 98% who are becoming poorer by the day. The political and media class in the UK also cares, mostly, about itself, and not about the 98%, but imagines itself to be in touch with those hard-working people it likes to talk about.

But it isn’t: our media elite likes not-even-one-dimensional politicians like Wes Streeting, somehow unaware that the voters dislike him intensely. The media class likes political operators like Morgan McSweeney, unable or unwilling to confront the reality of Labour’s poll numbers, and that half Labour’s membership has got fed up and left since Keir Starmer became leader.

Fewer members means fewer people to canvass, leaflet, persuade uncommitted voters, and get the vote out. There were hints of that problem in the 2024 election results. Voters know that they are being taken for mugs by New New Labour; many are backing Reform UK and its self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage. But here a problem enters.

The UK had a congenital liar, racist bigot and con man as PM before, and look where supporting the disgraced Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson got us. Farage, like Johnson, and like almost all the others in the political and media class, does not give a flying foxtrot about the proles. Some in that media class also treat their audience like so many mugs.

Santa driving his tram. Ho ho ho

Who might exemplify this approach? Step forward Gammon Broadcasting News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) to freely pump misinformation, and, indeed, disinformation, to an audience that can no longer tell fact from fiction. GB News’ approach was deliciously busted recently when their “host” Carole Malone, another deeply unpleasant being, was caught defaming live on air.

Sadly for Ms Malone, she had defamed Doria Raglund, whose better-known daughter is the Duchess of Sussex. The “please don’t sue us, we didn’t mean it, honestly” on-air sort-of-apologies were a thing to behold. But a serious point had been made: this illustrated the contempt in which the media class holds ordinary people. A contempt which has been exposed elsewhere.

And that is in the reportage, and associated punditry, concerning the actions of the Israeli Government and its armed forces, mainly in Gaza, but also in the illegally occupied West Bank, Syria and Lebanon. This time, though, smearing those opposed to slaughtering tens of thousands of human beings as anti-Semites is not working. Because the public can see what’s going on.

This, in turn, brings us back to Starmer and the Labour Together cabal that put him in power. They treat the voters with contempt, and are clueless as to how they get those voters to return. Meanwhile, the Greens make steady progress under Zack Polanski, because he is listening to voters, and cares about them. So it is that we reach Christmas 2025.

With a media and political class, many of whom want to pursue policies that will make the 98% yet poorer. A Government like so many rabbits caught in the headlights. An electorate battered by harsh reality, and a tsunami of bad faith media actors. And little prospect of improvement any time soon.

Feliz Natal e Boas Festas, as they say here in Portugal. Eat, drink, be merry, and hope for an end to the period of elite stupidity. That is all.

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Oh Tommy - Now Threatening MPs

Infamously, Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, now self-appointed Oberscheissenführer of Reform UK, claimed after the 2016 EU referendum that the result had been achieved “without a shot being fired”. As so often with the far-right, he was lying: Labour MP Jo Cox had been murdered by a Britain First supporter. And Ms Cox was not the only MP to be killed carrying out their duties.

Tory David Amess was, like Ms Cox, murdered at a constituency surgery, as recently as 2021. Both killers were given whole life sentences. Which brings us to yet another incoherent self-pitying outburst from Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, in response to an MP doing nothing more than asking a question in the House of Commons.

Daisy Cooper, who represents the constituency of St Albans, which returned her to Parliament last year with a vote share of 56.6%, used Prime Minister’s Questions this week to pass adverse comment on Lennon, which, given she enjoys Parliamentary Privilege, and Lennon is so supportive of free speech (ho ho ho), one might think would not cause him a problem.

Here’s what she said. “The far right, hate preacher Tommy Robinson, who is currently on trial for allegedly refusing to comply with counter-terror Police, claimed that his legal costs are being paid by Elon Musk. It is outrageous that a man who has so much control over what people read online every day could be funding someone who stokes far right extremism on our streets. If this was Putin, the Government surely would act”.

Daisy Cooper MP

So what say the great champion of FREEZE PEACH to that? As if you need to know. “WHAT A DISGUSTING PIECE OF SHIT!!! This lying (citation needed), censorious (lie), authoritarian (even bigger lie) masquerading as a liberal democrat is none other than the Deputy Leader of her party”.

Lennon’s schtick is that Ms Cooper has not posted sufficiently, or perhaps that should be “not in accordance with his requirements” about Grooming Gangs. About which he later claimed “the fact that the MAJORITY of 'grooming gangs' are in fact MUSLIM”, which is another lie.

Ms Cooper maintained her stance in an interview with Andrew Marr on LBC. Which only sent Lennon off again. “CALLING OUT THIS LYING, SLANDERING PIECE OF SHIT FOR WHO SHE IS … I don't give a shit about you, you're a crybully and filthy smear merchant … What a piece of filthy shit she is … Her 'values' have led to the industrialised rape and enslavement of generations of British children”. Another one to keep.

Because that last sentence is actionable. And it gets worse: above a video clearly showing Ms Cooper’s Commons intervention, he sniggered “We have them rattled [Elon Musk] just wait till I get my not guilty verdict”. And another one to cut out and keep: that is a nailed-on threat against the MP.

Those of us who have had this SOB rock up on their doorsteps in the dead of night know what that means - either he’s going to attempt to confront Ms Cooper, or he doesn’t mind if one or more of his followers confronts her, or both. Thus the asymmetrical application of free speech in Lennon Land: he can have it, and get away with anything he says, but anyone exercising it to pass adverse comment on him is a legitimate target for intimidation.

So complete is Stephen Lennon’s commitment to keeping women safe (ho ho ho) that he has no problem with threatening, defaming and intimidating them, merely for exercising the same free speech right that he claims to support. But then, he was lying about that one, too. Ms Cooper is probably going to have to step up the security around herself and her staff.

Not that Brave Tommy gives a shit about the consequences of his self-pitying rantfest. In addition to him being a bully, a liar, a racist, and a serial player of victimhood, he’s also a stinking hypocrite. He would be little more than a tiresome irrelevance, except that he is also a malign influence on others, some of whom may take his rant as a green light for more intimidation.

It’s high time that Lennon’s little wild west show ended. This time for good.

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Nigel Farage - Lying Beyond Barking

Our free and fearless press, and to their continuing shame our broadcast media, cannot get enough of Reform UK and its self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, failing to do the kind of job one might have thought journalists should be doing: holding this serially dishonest, bigoted and revoltingly slimy individual to account.

The failure to call out Farage and his increasingly thuggish coterie of aspiring insurgents is exacerbated by the utter failure of Keir Starmer’s team to provide any kind of narrative around which a coalition of voters can coalesce, in turn exacerbated by the shortage of Labour members willing to go in to bat for those who, by their own admission, worked to throw the 2019 election.

Into this vacuum has come Mr Thirsty. So has he shown leadership, any kind of responsibility? You jest: responsibility is far, far away as Farage declines to distance himself from Combover Crybaby Donald Trump’s flagrantly wrong claim that women taking Tylenol (Paracetamol in the UK) during pregnancy could cause autism. This is total and unadulterated crap.

Instead, we get the customary Farage fudge, saying he doesn’t know if the claim is true, meaning that his all too easily persuaded followers will start to believe that there really is something in Trump’s baseless ranting. Stoking the paranoia among the Reform UK faithful is Farage’s own flat-out whopper, claiming that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wants to introduce Sharia Law.

Khan’s number one priority today is a rather more humble one: to oversee the introduction of the Bakerloop express bus service, the first stage of persuading central Government, along with business leaders, to back extension of the Bakerloo Line from Elephant and Castle to Lewisham. He has no intention of introducing Sharia Law. And Farage knows it.

But there he is, allowed to pitch this ridiculous suggestion live on LBC, courtesy of Nick Ferrari, and back it up by asserting that he knows Sharia Law is coming because a taxi driver told him. It sounds plausible enough for his followers - already on a hair trigger on the subject of Scary Muslims™ after years of variously peddled bigotry - to believe.

It gets worse: taking his cue from another deranged Trump whopper, that Haitian migrants to the USA were eating cats and dogs (they weren’t), once again, away goes Farage. Those scary brown people coming to the UK were eating carp and even swans! Ever tried to catch a swan? Clue: swans are more than capable to seeing off anyone so minded.

Worse still, anyone thinking that Mr Thirsty’s latest claims are so ridiculous that they might even drive away some of his supporters have been disabused of that notion by polling showing the distinct possibility that, were an election to be held in the immediate future, Reform UK might even be able to garner sufficient support to score enough MPs to govern on their own.

That should frighten the somnambulant media establishment into waking up and starting to put Farage on the spot, as they do for any other politician. The signs are not good, however: long-term Farage ally Nathan Gill has just pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery by a foreign state (Russia). He is expected to be jailed. Wall to wall media coverage? Nah. Crickets.

Gill is not just any old Farage hanger-on: it was he who introduced the 2019 intake of (then) Brexit Party MEPs to the European Parliament, prominent among them one Claire Fox, unrepentant terrorist sympathiser who, let us not forget, was not held to account for her support for the “armed struggle”. Instead, there were softball media appearances. There, there, eh?

In any case, Farage can bat away criticism by telling his followers that the MSM lies. Look over there at the real liars! And the MSM has a proud history of lying in pursuit of its smear campaigns, and elsewhere. He can also bat off Labour criticism by telling his followers that Starmer and his acolytes lie. And he is, once again, right. Because they do. But that is no excuse for inaction.

One small bright spot: the SDP-Liberal Alliance hit 50% in the polls in early 1982. The following year, they scored just 23 MPs. All is not yet lost.

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Oh Tommy - Bravely Ran Away

Not much time passes before Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, appears in the news, and usually for all the wrong reasons. His latest appearance is no exception: yesterday evening, emergency services attended a man who had been rendered unconscious, in the vicinity of London’s St Pancras station. We know Lennon was involved. He said so.

Paramedics worked behind a makeshift curtain to return the man to consciousness, while treating his injuries, which had left a large pool of blood on the floor. The victim has been transferred to hospital, where his situation has been described as “serious but not life-threatening”. As the news spread, so did the spin from Lennon’s pals, which did not help his cause one bit.

First out of the traps was Avi Yemeni, a deeply unpleasant individual who “reports” from Australia for Ezra Levant’s far-right propaganda outlet Rebel News. He was quite sure what had happened: “Tommy Robinson was ATTACKED at St Pancras Station … Tommy is okay … The attacker not so much”. But he was lying, as Lennon and his pals later admitted.

That, though, was not the point: what Yemeni did was to get the excuses in as early as possible. That Lennon had laid out the unfortunate individual now - hopefully - recovering in hospital was confirmed on video by The Great Man himself, telling anyone who would listen “he’s come at me, bruv”. In other words, he decked the other bloke. As the BBC account makes clear.

“The British Transport Police (BTP) is investigating an alleged assault at St Pancras station in London … It comes after footage emerged on social media appearing to show far-right activist Tommy Robinson walking back and forth near a motionless man lying on the floor at the station … The clip does not show how the man ended up on the floor”. And the BTP want a word.

“The BTP said its suspect was from Bedfordshire. It added that detectives were continuing to investigate the incident and bring the suspect into custody for questioning … In the footage, a man who appears to be Robinson walks next to the person lying face-down on the floor, near some stairs. A commuter looks to be trying to stop the man thought to be Robinson from moving around and calls for help”. And then came another admission.

This time it was a Twitter/X user who calls himself Mike Hacks, who was trying to defend Lennon, but just happened to drop the ball as he stated unequivocally “A pre-emptive strike is totally legal”. In other words, The Great Tommy decked the other bloke, and he also struck the first blow.

And so it came to pass that Lennon let the world know just how innocent he thinks he is: what that BBC report also tells is that “a 42-year-old male suspect had boarded a flight out of the country in the early hours of Tuesday morning”. Running away before the cops interview him, and well before they have the chance to potentially charge him, and remand him in custody.

Worse for The Great Man, he is supposed to be hosting one of his “free speech” - as in freedom for Himself Personally Now to shoot his mouth off, while no such freedom is given to his critics, who can expect him to rock up on their doorsteps and have their addresses doxxed - next month. If he turns up, he gets nicked, and if he appears via video link, admits he’s a coward.

Worse still, given Lennon’s history of violently assaulting others, the cops might just oppose his being given bail, thus ensuring he doesn’t get to headline his own gig. All the BTP needs to do is to cite the flight risk, because flight is exactly what Lennon just did. May have been to mainland Spain, may have been Tenerife, may have been the Algarve. He’s not beyond the law.

And he’ll soon find that if the Guardia Civil come looking for him, or indeed the GNR if he chose the Algarve, there is only so much aggressive gobshitery they will tolerate before moving directly to having the cuffs applied. This time he’s in real trouble, made worse by him and his pals either lying about it, or owning up that he not only did it, but also threw the first punch.

Stephen Lennon could be back in the UK rather sooner than he would like, and in less than luxurious surroundings. Just rejoice at that news.

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Tommy Robinson’s Loadsamoney Lunch

Once again, Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, has been in the news, and for reasons which may cause his latest campaign to develop not necessarily to his advantage. The Great Man, and four of his pals, were asked to leave the Hawksmoor restaurant near Piccadilly Circus in central London, staff and other diners being uneasy at their presence.

Lennon and his associates complied with the request, but later, he kicked off in no style at all on Twitter, X, or whatever Muskrat’s calling it this week, passing severely adverse comment on Hawksmoor, its management, and generally claiming the eatery was being dishonest about why he was chucked out. TripAdvisor had to temporarily disable reviews about the site.

This was most likely due to Lennon’s faithful followers using whatever means they could employ to dump on somewhere they had not visited, probably would never visit, but ejecting their hero just had to be A Very Bad Thing. The sequence of events was all too predictable. “Just been kicked out of Hawksmoor steak house for no reason. Literally juts [sic] had our starters”.

So said Lennon’s pal, former EDL Guramit Singh. Followed by The Great Man himself in full Headmaster mode. “Full campaign coming soon [Hawksmoor] your discriminatory behaviour will not be tolerated, please tell your CEO will beckett to contact me” he thundered. And there was more.

“These are the other companies that are part of the Hawksmoor group , I will be contacting each of them to understand whether they support discrimination against patriots”. But they aren’t part of the Hawksmoor group. On he whined: “How can you say it’s not political when your staff or guests issue could only have been with my political views?” But the real question went unanswered.

And that, for all those who have donated, and continue to donate, to Lennon’s endless appeals for funds, is the question of how much that lunch at Hawksmoor might have cost. Who was paying? Yes, the restaurant waived all charges when they asked the party to leave, but what might have been the final tally had they stayed? Fortunately, Hawksmoor’s website provides us with a sight of the menu, and the cost of all that upmarket dining.

Guramit Singh’s post showed oysters, so, just for illustrative purposes you understand, let’s say each person had three of those. That’s £12.

He also mentions starters. What d’you reckon? Hawksmoor smoked salmon and Guinness Bread, perhaps. Which adds £16 to the bill.

On to steaks: one of Lennon’s posts shows lots of steaks. How about a nice 350 gramme fillet steak? Lovely. And that adds another £57 to the total. Plus an additional £4 for one of those rather upmarket sauces.

Not forgetting sides: we saw chips, too. Beef dripping chips. And maybe some buttered English greens. Each costs £7, so that’s another £14.

What to wash it down with? How about a couple of Hawksmoor Lagers? The least expensive item on the beer menu. Two at £6.75 makes £13.50.

And there’s just got to be pudding. A Chocolate anglaise, perhaps. A snip at just £10. All of which adds up to a total of £126.50. Put the service charge and a tip on top of that, and you won’t have much change from £150.

Anyone out there still thinking that bankrolling Lennon is anything more than spraying your assets up the nearest wall might care to read The Great Man’s superior insights into what is happening on the US West Coast right now, where initially peaceful protests have become rather less than peaceful, after Combover Crybaby Donald Trump sent in the National Guard uninvited.

Cue Lennon pearls of wisdom: “America is being destroyed from within yet again … Soros paid agitators mobilizing the invaders to attack … Round them all up and deport them together, along with the Soros family and associates”. Wibble. Hatstand. Yet he effortlessly takes his followers for marks while being prepared to blow rather a lot of money on Loadsamoney Lunches.

Right now, he’s in the Bahamas. While appealing for money. Er, hello mugs.

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Reform UK - Beginning Of The End

A week, as Harold Wilson memorably observed, is a long time in politics, and that this still holds true has been demonstrated by Reform UK and its self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, riding high in the polls and with rather too many of the media class unable, or unwilling, to point out that Farage is a congenital liar, a racist bigot, and a shameless con man.

It was a trip north of the border that proved that Bridge Too Far for Mr Thirsty, as he rocked up to support Ross Alexander Lambie, the Reform UK hopeful for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. A Scottish Parliament by-election had been triggered by the death of SNP incumbent MSP Christina McKelvie. Our free and fearless press declared the fight to be between SNP and Reform.

Sadly, as Rochdale MP Paul Waugh pointed out, “My former trade got their Hamilton predictions badly wrong. If journalists had actually spoken to voters … they would have known this was a close fight, not an SNP walkover or a Reform revolution … The lazy English media reporting was bad enough but what really shocked me was the poor quality of the Scottish media”.

Do go on. “Putting SNP quotes in headlines as if they were neutral, the class prejudice against a working class guy like Davy [Russell], the confected row over interviews”. As to the BBC also falling short in its reportage, “‘Surprise’ victory … ‘Confounds expectations’ … Confirmation from the BBC that it too went with the herd instead of looking deeper at what people were saying on the ground”. Labour won. Reform came not second, but third.

Worse, Farage was accused of blatantly racist campaigning after Reform put out an advert claiming that Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar “will prioritise the Pakistani community”. Farage was challenged over yet another flat-out lie, and insisted that Sarwar was engaging in sectarianism (no citation).

All of which would have been a mere blip in an otherwise inexorable rise to the top for the Farage fringe. However, and here we encounter a significantly sized however, the bad news kept on coming, as Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf threw in the towel, stating “working to get the party elected was no longer ‘a good use of my time’”. And it got yet worse for Mr Thirsty.

Despite his claim that Yusuf “was ‘a huge factor’ in the party's success in last month's elections, when Reform won a by-election, two mayoral races and gained 677 new councillors”, Farage seems not to have tried too hard to stop him going. Many Reform UK supporters may have thought the departure a good thing, as Yusuf was one of those Scary Muslims™ they all hate.

What not too many were pointing out was that Yusuf had donated a cool £200,000 to Reform UK, and had tried to make the party a more professional outfit. And what many others were pointing out was that, having expelled Rupert Lowe from Reform UK before Yusuf resigned, Farage was not exactly excelling in keeping his team together. It was a total shambles.

But not to worry, Yusuf’s role as head of “DOGE UK” would now be undertaken by Farage’s old pal Arron Banks. Except that, two days after Yusuf walked out, no it wouldn’t. Because Yusuf was now back, as the BBC reported. “Zia Yusuf, who resigned as Reform UK chairman on Thursday, is to return to work for the party in a new role”. Yes? Yes yes? Yes yes yes?

“Yusuf will lead what the party calls its ‘Doge team’ which is modelled on the Department of Government Efficiency set up by US President Donald Trump”. And which has also been a spectacular waste of time and money. So what say Nige? “Reform leader Nigel Farage told the BBC he was ‘delighted’ Yusuf had returned to the party and that he will now take on a more public role for the party in a new role, appearing more frequently in the media”.

Reform UK, aka the Farage Fan Club and very little else, is still ahead in the polls. But with the party’s economic policies being derided as “Truss Plus”, and the media beginning to wake up to its shortcomings, don’t bank on that continuing. This is a clown car with its tyres slowly deflating.

Reform UK was for a time, but not for all time. Just rejoice at that news.

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Oh Tommy Tommy - Back In Court

And so it came to pass that Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, was released from jail early, not because he had scored some kind of victory over the hated MSM and the alleged Deep State, but because he had agreed to withdraw a variety of untrue and defamatory claims against a Syrian refugee - and not to repeat them.

To show how badly he had not been treated during his period of incarceration, Lennon appeared unshaven, as if shaving was banned for those doing a stretch in the old chokey. But he had not forgotten his faithful followers, for whom he teased the prospect of another of those FREEZE PEACH rallies, as in freedom of speech for him, but not for anyone of differing view.

What, then, would attendees as the latest Lennon rally have served up to them? Grok, from the world of far-right hero Elon Musk, has helpfully summarised the narrative. “Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was released early from prison on May 27, 2025, after his sentence for contempt of court was reduced”. There was, sadly, more.

“Upon his release, he immediately resumed his public activities, criticising what he referred to as ‘Islamic rape gangs’ and announcing plans for a large ‘Free Speech Festival’ in London. His release has sparked reactions from both his supporters (only two of them, eh?), who view him as a champion of free speech, and his critics, who accuse him of promoting Islamophobia”.

And, as Jon Stewart might have put it, two things here. One, if he really wants to tackle child sexual exploitation, and indeed, grooming of young people as a whole, he could start in his own back yard. Louise Raw, who you can tell as she’s a doctor, informed The Great Man “While you were away watching movies and going [to the] gym at our expense, even MORE far right men have been exposed as paedophiles”. Rather a lot of them, in fact.

Do go on. “You REFUSE to speak on this. Why are the far right covering up this scandal?” She concluded “you’ll see your one time close friend RICHARD PRICE here. You founded the EDL with him. AFTER he was on the sex offenders’ register, the EDL called him a ‘hero’. WHY WON’T YOU ADDRESS THIS? WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?” Questions Lennon’s rally won’t address.

Moreover, Two, this is just another playing of the “Look Over There” card. As the Guardian pointed out, “Tommy Robinson, the jailed far-right activist, has been charged with harassment of two journalists … is accused of two counts of harassment causing fear of violence between 5 and 7 August last year”.

Oh? Do tell. “He will appear at Westminster magistrates court on 5 June 2025, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). ‘We have authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, 42, with harassment causing fear of violence against two men,’ a CPS spokesperson said”. And there was a coda.

“The far-right figure is facing a separate trial in October next year over an accusation that he failed to provide the Pin for his mobile phone when stopped by Kent police in Folkestone in July 2024”. Out of clinky just in time to appear in court, with the distinct possibility that he gets, er, sent back to said clinky. And I have more bad news for The Great Man.

Having had Lennon rock up on my doorstep in the dead of night - twice - in an act of harassment, I have to tell him that, should the prosecution require more evidence of his modus operandi, I will be more than willing to provide it. There is also the case of his turning up at Lizzie Dearden’s place and harassing her and her partner, for nothing more than reporting what happened in court.

Come to think of it, I can recall another three acts of harassment perpetrated by Lennon in the recent past, all justified by peddling a pack of lies about those he harassed. He lied about Ms Dearden’s reporting. He lied about me. Now, Lennon’s pals claim he is “fighting the [Daily] Mail”. It’s a criminal charge he’s facing. So he isn’t fighting the Mail. It’s just another pack of lies.

But the plea for donations is as predictable, and real, as ever. Except that, this time, Lennon really does face being banged up for a handful. Sad, really.

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Reform UK And The Rise Of Ignorance

Opinion polls continue to show a rise in support for Reform UK, headed by its self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, with the result that the clueless coterie which is claimed to be running the Labour Party has become concerned enough to take action. Their problem is that the ship has already sailed, and no matter what they do, they can’t out-Farage Farage.

Ignorance is strength!

Reform UK may be a shambolic affair, with no shortage of revelations concerning the views of its newly-elected representatives, usually revealing sneering and vicious racism, coupled with staggering ignorance and an inability to understand that Great Britain and England are not interchangeable terms. This last was exemplified by new Lincolnshire Mayor Andrea Jenkyns.

There had, she argued, to be a way to stop the “Pull to England” which brought so many refugees. Perhaps if they arrived in Scotland or Wales, all would be well. No matter though, her pals at Reform UK have diverted the attention of voters with claims that the councils they now control will ban all that Woke Nonsense, although they probably couldn’t define “Woke”.

Richard Tice (he’s not very nice) has gone as far as to assert that Reform UK councils will crack down on planning applications for new wind farms. His problem is that pre-judging such applications is highly likely to lead to those councils being sued and costing a significant amount of public money in the process. He is also dishonestly blaming Net Zero for, well, anything.

None of this deters the voters, though. Nor does the further ignorance displayed by Tice’s unappealing partner Isabel Oakeshott, who recently trilled “[Reform UK] will go to court to close asylum seeker hotels in [Reform UK] council areas. When it comes to ending this scandal, the party means business”. That would be outside a council’s remit. Still, details, eh?

One might have expected an alleged investigative journalist to have thought that through before shooting off their online mouth, but there’s prejudice to spread and ignorance to feed, so off she goes. One incoming Reform UK councillor didn’t seem to know that you can’t obtain British citizenship without being able to speak English. Others will defend anything Farage supports.

The 3D chess ain't making it

So when the Economist looked at Reform UK’s spending plans and concluded that they would result in a worse fiscal shock than Liz Truss’ infamous intervention, there was the Reform UK brains trust claiming that this was only “The MSM” and they always lied about their hero. Farage is a congenital liar, but there are none so blind as will not see.

So what has Labour’s ruling clique done in response? Tried to out-Reform Reform. This is a colossal act of stupidity: Reform UK is a safe haven for racists, and they are not going to jump ship for Labour merely because they are pretending to be tough on all those migrants, which in practical terms means Scary Muslims™. Still, off they went, to no effect whatsoever.

Bringing the unedifying spectacle observed by Adam Bienkov of Byline Times: “Yvette Cooper gives an exclusive interview to GB News about her immigration plans, during which the interviewer tells her that some of their viewers live near asylum seekers and their ‘children can't leave home’ … No push back from the Home Secretary”. That was bad; Kier Starmer was worse.

One hates to go all Neil Kinnock on the PM, but here we had A Labour Prime Minister - A Labour Prime Minister - scuttling round media outlets saying “We risk becoming an island of strangers”. So close to Enoch Powell’s “They found themselves made strangers in their own country” from his infamous 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech as to make no difference.

Who is driving the Labour bus? If, as has been claimed by those close to The Great Man, it is the cabal headed by Morgan McSweeney, maybe he should be the one defending this disgraceful descent into scapegoating and bigotry. And, as a side order, explaining why Labour can’t leave Mr Thirsty to his racism and just improve voters’ lives. Because that’s what they’re there for.

They thought they were so clever in throwing the 2019 election. But the dirty tricks won’t win voters back. Now they are lost. And ignorance is king.

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So Farewell (For Good) Darren Grimes

Never before had fifteen minutes of fame (or infamy) been stretched so far beyond the limits of elasticity. Push was surely destined to give way to shove, and so it came to pass that the not really crafty Darren Grimes was “let go” by Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”), to the great relief of all those who had hoped it might happen rather earlier.

So how is this being spun? “Darren Grimes has announced he is departing GB News in an emotional message to viewers. The Saturday Five host has been a staple of The People's Channel since January 2022 … Announcing his decision to step away, Darren said: ‘This is it my friends, this is my last Saturday Five show on GB News’”. Pow! Zap!! DULL!!!

Sadly, there was more. “It's been an absolute joy to see this show, The Saturday Five, go from strength to strength, especially as I helped launch it two years ago … I think it's unique in the British broadcasting market and I know it'll continue to be a great success with these amazing guys here each week”. You’ll have to imagine him taking out his king-sized onion.

And, sadly, yet more. “And it's a a really bittersweet moment because while I'm excited for what's next, I also want to take a moment to acknowledge what this platform and, more importantly, what you, our brilliant viewers, have meant to me personally”. Wasn’t he supposed to have been finished?

“Over the last few years, I've had the privilege of speaking directly to so many of you as saying the things that far too many in the media are far too afraid to actually say … I feel we've tackled the issues head on, we've laughed at the absurdities of modern Britain and we've stood firm”. And then it got worse.

“Darren shed a tear as he continued his announcement with the other members of The Saturday Five panel - Emma Trimble, Dr Renee Hoenderkamp, Alex Armstrong and Cai Wilshaw - comforting Darren and laying hands on his shoulders”. Who they? Who knows? And, indeed, who cares? Oh, and “I'm off to pursue personal projects, but the fight for free speech, for common sense and for truth, it goes on and it must”.

That would be the “fight for free speech, common sense and truth” that saw Dazza broadcast an interview with crusty old bigot David Starkey, in which The Great Historian talked about “damn blacks”, for which he “had several honorary doctorates and fellowships revoked, book contracts and memberships of learned societies cancelled, and his Medlicott Medal withdrawn”. Grimes could have edited it out. He failed to do so.

Grimes, it should not be forgotten, got off a charge of breaking electoral spending law by claiming that his mis-statements were unintentional - in other words, that he was incapable of filling in a form correctly. He has gone from pro-EU and pro-Lib Dem activist to rabid foreigner-baiting Brexiteer, but not just to score clicks and attention, plus get a berth at GB News, oh no.

His last role at the channel was fronting a show called The Saturday Five, a shameless copy of The Five on Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse). The latter is one of FNC’s biggest ratings successes; its GB News copy hardly registers in that department. Whether that has anything to do with Dazza getting his marching orders I will leave for others to decide.

So what “personal projects”, other than desperately hawking his CV to anyone he can find, will Grimes be pursuing? Who knows, and, again, who cares? He’s just another to be found surplus to requirements at the hugely loss-making broadcaster, after Desperate Dan Wootton, not very good actor and DOA tunesmith Laurence Fox, and poundshop padré Calvin Robinson.

The problem for all of those who have gone before Dazza is the discovery that GB News is, to all intents and purposes, the very lowest rung in the media ladder, and not a place from which mainstream outlets are wont to recruit. This time it may really be the end - so he may end up having to find himself a real job. Big Issue seller? Fruit picker? Tube carriage cleaner?

Whatever. There goes Darren Grimes, finally on his way … out.

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Elon Musk - A Suitable Case For Treatment

Appallingly entitled and obscenely overmonied migrant Elon Musk is yet another example of what happens when there is no-one present during the time he was supposed to be growing up to say NO. Errol Musk, his father, was maybe too busy getting his own step-daughter pregnant.

Son Elon, who has been rambling and ranting about “Grooming Gangs”, had no problem being seen out and about with Ghislaine Maxwell, pal of the now deceased Jeffrey Epstein. Maybe there was, once again, no-one there who could have told him that this was Not A Good Idea.

Musk Junior’s attacks on the UK Government are yet another example of how this supposed genius trusts far-right disinformation, and what looks like a combination of ego, paranoia and ignorance builds on that misplaced trust to show that The Great Man not only does not know what he’s talking about, but also believes that all those bots and trolls backing him are real people.

So it was that he declared “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”. What’s he proposing? Invasion? Who in the UK voted for him? Whisper it quietly, but the most recent poll asking voters their attitude to Musk brought forth a mostly negative response. Also, he had already showed UK voters what a complete clown he is.

Having previously had Reform UK Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage cosy up to him, suggesting that an unspecified number of Musk millions would be deployed in support of Nige’s limited company, sorry, party, he yesterday about turned and told his adoring followers “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes”. Yeah, right.

Reform UK is a one-man band. And that one man is Farage. None of the other Reform UK MPs would have a snowball in hell’s chance of matching the electoral performance achieved by Mr Thirsty, either as head of UKIP in days past, or the Brexit Party in the last European Parliament elections in which the UK participated, or at the last General Election with Reform UK.

Then, overnight, it got worse. On Reform UK, he more or less endorsed Rupert Lowe: “I have not met Rupert Lowe, but his statements online that I have read so far make a lot of sense”. That’s Reform UK stuffed, then. And yet worse. “Starmer must go. He is national embarrassment” he concluded, as he quoted someone talking well, but lying badly. Then came “Starmer is complicit in the crimes”, followed by the opening of a new front, with “Gordon Brown committed an unforgivable crime against the British people”. WHAT?

Musk quotes Radio Genoa (yes, Radio Genoa) claiming that the Southport attacker was a Muslim (he wasn’t), then sneers “Prison for Starmer”. Could he get more unhinged? Don’t ask: “Am starting to wonder how anyone made it through childhood in Britain without severe trauma”. And so he comes to quoting Visegrád24. Another source of far right disinformation.

He quotes Ian Miles Cheong, who is so close to the action in the UK, as he lives in … Malaysia. And, just to be on the safe side, congenital liar and peddler of far-right disinformation Peter Imanuelsen, who claimed for some time to be in Sweden, and calls himself Peter Sweden, but in fact lives in the Not Really Swedish At All town of Northallerton. In the UK.

And now he’s back to defaming politicians. “Gordon Brown sold those little girls for votes” … “British legal system is not serving its people” [there is no “British legal system”, as Scotland has its own] … “Starmer was deeply complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes”. And then came the pièce de résistance, which confirms Musk as totally barking.

Once more quoting Visegrád24 on calls for a new inquiry, he declares “What an insane thing to say! The real reason is that it would show how Starmer repeatedly ignored the pleas of vast numbers of little girls and their parents, in order to secure political support. Starmer is utterly despicable”. But all those bots and trolls back him, so that’s all right then. Except it isn’t.

Elon Musk may be rich. But, sad to say, he can’t recognise reality. End of.

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Musk Stupidity Puts Farage On Spot

Among the few discernible principles to which Reform UK’s self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage is still prepared to cling is keeping his, and his party’s, distance from Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson. The grim memory of what happened to former UKIP leader Adolf von Batten is still fresh.

Yes, Batten cosying up to the Even Further Right Than Kippers, and the party’s vote imploding as a result, still haunts Mr Thirsty. But now he has a problem with that stance: his bestest new pal Elon Musk, the obscenely overmonied and also self-appointed sidekick of the President-Elect, Combover Crybaby Donald Trump, has become enamoured of Lennon.

And thus the problem: Musk has convinced himself that Lennon’s accusations about the violent assault on a young Syrian refugee at a school in Huddersfield are true, despite Lennon having pleaded guilty in a court of law to spreading, and continuing to spread, false claims about the young refugee, notably in what he grandly called a “documentary”.

As a result of his court appearance and guilty plea, Lennon was sent to prison, where he remains. Cue Muskrat: "Why is Tommy Robinson in a solitary confinement prison for telling the truth? He should be freed and those who covered up this travesty should take his place in that cell”. He didn’t tell the truth, there was no cover-up, full stop, end of story.

Or rather, it will never be the end of the story when so many who unquestioningly follow Lennon, Musk, or both of them, are prepared to believe that Bill Gates, George Soros, the WEF, a sundry convocation of so-called “Globalists”, and no doubt others, somehow control the UK, and perhaps all manner of other countries. And so it begins.

Musk has called Lennon’s defamatory “documentary” “worth watching”, and proclaimed “Free Tommy”, on the back of calling himself “Kekius Maximus” on Twitter, X, or whatever he’s calling it this week. His new profile image is Pepe the Frog, and as the BBC puts it, that’s “a meme that has been used by far-right groups”. At least it wasn’t Naughtius Maximus or Sillius Soddus.

So what is Farage to do? Reform UK has its East Midlands conference in Leicester today, but don’t expect Nige to even mention the issue of his own volition. He wants Musk’s money, but knows that cosying up to Lennon will damage his brand as surely as it did with UKIP. But it is an issue he cannot ignore, because Musk’s ranting has gone on to a new level.

What level would that be? Here’s a sample: “[Keir] Starmer was complicit in the RAPE OF BRITAIN when he was head of [The] Crown Prosecution [Service] for 6 years … Starmer must go and he must face charges for his complicity in the worst mass crime in the history of Britain”. This, it must be stressed, has no evidence to back it up, and is potentially highly defamatory.

And it got worse: as ITV has reported, “On Thursday, Musk … called on the King to dissolve Parliament, sharing a post that asks if King Charles ‘should Dissolve Parliament and order a General Election... for the sake and security of the country?’, with the comment, ‘yes’”. Those who believe the Gates, Soros and WEF paranoia have no problem with Musk sticking his oar in.

For them, this is just another Knight In Shining Armour who, like their hero Farage, is merely “telling it like it is”. The problem for our free and fearless press, as well as the Labour leadership, is that they have all been routinely lying to the voters for years, so are on very shaky ground calling out Musk, Lennon, Farage et al for lying, even though in this case they are right.

Added to that is the continuing attempt by the far-right - which includes Farage and his pals - to demonise Muslims, and brown people en masse, by inference. Mr Thirsty is as guilty as Musk or Lennon on that count. Meanwhile, an increasing number of British citizens live in fear, as the bile is poured out and too few people stand up for the actual rule of law.

Nigel Farage can no longer trim and deflect. He must face reality.

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BBC Farage Promo BLOWS BACK

Whether well-intentioned or not, what the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason did, live on air last week, was to polish the political turd that is Reform UK’s self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage to the point of apparent endorsement, or at the very least, acceptance of his legitimacy. It did not take long for reality to intrude on this establishment love-in.

Chris Mason

Here’s what Mason said: “Never before have we seen a man as rich, with a megaphone as large, so willing to get stuck in to politics not just at home but abroad, and that is pretty profound in its consequences. Little wonder Nigel Farage’s domestic political rivals are fretting, frankly, about just how influential he’s proving to be at the moment”. Added to that was another telling remark.

“Nigel Farage is a man who is a master of political storytelling”. The problem with that comment, and Mason should know how serious a problem it is, is that Farage is, as I have concluded after observing so many of his claims, a congenital liar, in addition to being a racist bigot and a con man.

Worse, Mason’s knowledge of media history is woefully lacking. Maybe he never heard of Max Beaverbrook. Or perhaps he forgot about Rupert Murdoch. Maybe he also missed who is handing Farage that large megaphone of which he speaks. That would, whisper it quietly, be the BBC, which has once again given Mr Thirsty a seat at the Question Time table to dispense his lies, bigotry, and worst of all, his false prospectus.

What Farage is so keen to dispense to his all too easily persuaded followers was demonstrated in the aftermath of a deadly attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg. A man drove his car into the crowds attending the market: thus far, five have died, and more than 200 have been injured. The suspect was originally from Saudi Arabia. Cue Farage.

“We have allowed people who hate us and our values into Europe. Christmas is their target. Any guesses why?” he mused on Twitter, X, or whatever his pal Muskrat is calling it this week. He’s not making accusations, you understand, he’s just a concerned citizen asking the kinds of questions that lead those being dog-whistled to the conclusions required by Himself Personally Now.

The problem for Farage was that, although the suspect was Saudi Arabian, he had arrived in Germany to take refuge because he was an ex-Muslim, someone who had renounced Islam. Worse still for the occasional MP for Clacton, the suspect had endorsed German far-right party AfD, and had spoken approvingly of Stephen Yaxley Lennon, aka Tommy Robinson.

This mildly inconvenient fact has been brought to us by, among others, Shashank Joshi, defence editor at The Economist, who has told "German attack suspect: 'I can say from experience, everything that [Tommy] Robinson says, what Musk says, what Alex Jones says, or anyone who is called radical or right-wing extremist by mainstream media - they are telling the truth’”.

Joshi goes on to quote further from Der Spiegel. “The alleged perpetrator A. is obviously a fan of the AfD, according to an evaluation of … his social media accounts by the SPIEGEL. Eight years ago, he wrote on Twitter that he wanted to start a project together with the AfD: an academy for ex-Muslims”. Musk has endorsed AfD. Farage has endorsed them too.

Even former Murdoch editor Andrew Neil has urged caution: “The Saudi doctor behind last night’s deadly Christmas market massacre in Magdeburg appears to be not quite what many on social media rushed to assume”. And why target a Christmas market? Isn’t Christmas a Christian thing? So it is. But Jesus of Nazareth is also a revered prophet in Islam.

So those killed and injured could quite easily be non-Christians. None of this helps get Mason and the wider BBC off the hook, of course: they keep giving Farage the megaphone, then say “look, he’s got a big megaphone”. Overnight, Farage has shown the BBC who they are promoting. Lying, dog-whistle racism, and the con that is Reform UK. Not a good look.

Nigel Farage has scored more than five million views with that Tweet. The dogs have been whistled; more rabbit holes dug. Hello BBC Farage fans.

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Snivelling Streeting’s Dead Cat

Whenever Labour leader Keir Starmer, or one of his ultra-loyal lieutenants, briefs a dead cat to our free and fearless press, one is reminded of a classic line from the mini-series Smiley’s People, which dates from more than forty years ago, in the days when the BBC could be relied upon to produce classic and memorable television. It comes as Smiley grills an old colleague.

He is questioning former “lamplighter” Toby Esterhase, when the latter fires back “Kindly answer me something. Who is speaking here? Is it George Smiley? Is it [senior civil servant] Oliver Lacon? Who is speaking, please?” It is a question that entered yet again at the weekend, when the deeply dislikable Wes Streeting moved to smear NHS staff by inference.

Moreover, he did so in the pages of the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph, under the headline “Streeting vows to root out NHS anti-Semitism … Health Secretary will urge regulators to discipline doctors and nurses expressing ‘racist or extremist views’ about Gaza conflict”.

And so someone - whether Streeting himself, someone on his behalf, or one of the Tel’s luckless hacks - instantly fell foul of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which states that criticism of Israel, as one might criticise any country’s Government and actions, is not in itself anti-Semitic. The thought also enters that Mr S may be chucking the dead cat to distract from his own shortcomings, or that someone else, whisper it quietly, may be speaking.

But let’s see what else the Tel has been told, however predictable and pathetic. “Wes Streeting has called on regulators to strike off doctors who bring extremist views about Gaza into the workplace in a crackdown on anti-Semitism in the NHS” … The Health Secretary told the Telegraph he would enforce a ‘zero tolerance approach’”. Two things here.

One, if there is to be a crackdown on anti-Semitism, it must not only exist in the NHS, but must also not be taken seriously at present. But neither Streeting, nor the Tel, does any more than cite a few personal opinions. And Two, if he’s “calling on regulators”, then it is they who take the appropriate action. So Streeting isn’t going to “enforce” anything himself.

So when the Tel says “A number of NHS medics have been reported for anti-Semitic activities … Jewish doctors in the NHS have reported a surge in anti-Semitic abuse from colleagues since Oct 7 [one assumes that is ‘Oct 7’ in 2023]”, that is for the relevant disciplinary processes to be applied, and the regulators to take decisions as a result, but not for Streeting to interfere.

Which brings us to the question of who is speaking. Is it really Streeting? Is it one of Starmer’s inner sanctum? Is it someone like, oh I dunno, Morgan McSweeney? It was the latter who has been quoted by “sources” not unadjacent to Himself as being involved in actions to discredit former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn by playing the anti-Semitism card. Rather a lot.

And why go running to the Telegraph, a title that has veered so far to the right that it now regularly gives space to Reform UK and its Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, someone who I concluded long ago was a congenital liar, a racist bigot, and a con man? Did Streeting take that step of his own accord? Did other titles turn down this particular Dead Cat Opportunity?

If whoever is speaking is not an elected MP, then perhaps they could rectify the problem by becoming one. Meanwhile, maybe Wes Streeting, or someone on his behalf, could confirm that this apparent attempt to cause voters to Look Over There has nothing to do with what his former opponent Leanne Mohamad had just told her Facebook followers.

“I have sent a letter of complaint this week to the Electoral Commission and Redbridge electoral services outlining serious irregularities on the night of the count on July 5th in Ilford North, raising questions regarding compliance with electoral law and guidance. I have retained Bindmans LLP and specialist King’s Counsel on this issue”. Which could result in a by-election.

A by-election which Wes Streeting may well lose. I’ll just leave that one there.

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