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More news from last weekend will help put the Remainers’ tricks into better context.
BBC bias — Andrew Marr Show
The flagship Sunday morning television news programme is the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
On September 29, 2019, Marr interviewed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, followed by the Shadow (Labour’s) Education Secretary Angela Rayner.
Boris could barely get a word in edgewise, whereas Marr let Rayner speak uninterrupted:
Language humbug
The topic of language used in the Commons on Wednesday, September 25, was still a huge issue for Remainers. The media storm continued into Monday.
Here’s Gina Miller, who is leading anti-Brexit lawsuits:
Boris somehow made dirty words out of ‘humbug’ and ‘surrender’ for them last Wednesday evening.
So did Attorney General Geoffrey Cox earlier that day:
Guido Fawkes had this (emphasis in the original):
Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox, just gave one of the most barnstorming speeches Guido has seen in many years:
This parliament is a dead parliament. It should no longer sit. It has no moral right to sit on these benches… This parliament is a disgrace. They could vote ‘no confidence’ at any time, but they’re too cowardly.
Guido has a feeling this one may go viral…
Indeed. Both the AG and the PM spoke eloquently — and wittily — getting their points across with aplomb.
On the other hand, at least one rebel Conservative used blunt language. Here’s Dominic Grieve:
Grieve was on Robert Peston’s ITV news show last Wednesday. It seems this is acceptable and non-hyperbolic language — as long as it comes from a Remainer:
A few days later, the Scottish equivalent of Gina Miller — another Remainer lawyer bringing similar lawsuits — let rip on the PM:
The women
As America’s Left did with Donald Trump, Britain’s Left — including notional Conservative Remainers — played up two news stories about Boris, involving women.
Jennifer Arcuri
This events in this story took place during Boris’s time as Mayor of London. It is developing and could be politically motivated, especially as Boris and the current Mayor of London Sadiq Khan trade occasional verbal jabs with each other.
It is strange that no one outside the London political bubble has heard of Jennifer Arcuri until now, when a) we are on the Brexit countdown and b) the Conservative Party Conference was starting at the time this news broke.
From the BBC (emphases mine):
It is alleged businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri received favourable treatment due to her friendship with Mr Johnson.
The prime minister was referred by the Greater London Authority on Friday.
Mr Johnson has denied any impropriety, while a government source described the referral as “politically motivated”.
The allegations regarding Mr Johnson’s friendship with technology entrepreneur Ms Arcuri first emerged last weekend in the Sunday Times.
They refer to claims that Ms Arcuri joined trade missions led by Mr Johnson when he was mayor of London and that her company received several thousand pounds in sponsorship grants.
The Greater London Authority’s monitoring officer – whose job it is to monitor the conduct of the mayor and other members – said it had written to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
It said it had referred the PM to the IOPC “so it can assess whether or not it is necessary to investigate the former mayor of London for the criminal offence of misconduct in public office”.
It added that it has recorded a “conduct matter” against Mr Johnson which happens when there is information that indicates that a criminal offence may have been committed.
But it does not mean that a criminal offence is proved in any way, the GLA’s monitoring officer added.
“The IOPC will now consider if it is necessary for the matter to be investigated.”
The reason the IOPC is involved is because the role of the mayor of London is also London’s police and crime commissioner …
Responding to the referral, No 10 said: “The prime minister, as Mayor of London, did a huge amount of work when selling our capital city around the world, beating the drum for London and the UK.
“Everything was done with propriety and in the normal way.”
Charlotte Edwardes
Charlotte Edwardes was a young columnist for The Spectator 20 years ago, at the time when Boris was the magazine’s editor.
Last weekend, she wrote her maiden article for The Sunday Times about the time the 35-year-old editor squeezed her thigh around that time. Interestingly, Ms Edwardes’s current boyfriend is the aforementioned Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor. Timing is everything:
Not surprisingly, the story made the front page of The Sunday Times, which a proud Peston retweeted:
Both the social and the political angles merit explanation.
I remember reading about The Spectator‘s parties at this time. They were legendary. Many celebrities, authors, journalists and politicians hoped for invitations to the magazine’s summer garden party and/or the Christmas lunch.
Writer Toby Young, who also wrote for the magazine when Boris was editor, remembers the atmosphere:
Toby Young might have overstated things a bit, but Boris did have a way with the ladies, so there is probably more than a germ of truth to that.
An 82-year-old lady rang The Jeremy Vine Show (Channel 5) to say she wouldn’t mind an evening out with Boris. I do not think she is an outlier, either. Again, we should consider the timing of Miss Edwardes’s revelation and wonder why she did not come forward sooner:
That tweet makes an excellent point about timing.
Here is more information:
Yes, there was a rumour that Edwardes’s colleague, Mary Wakefield, was sitting on the other side of her and supposedly remembered that Boris touched her thigh, too.
Or, perhaps not.
Interestingly, Mary Wakefield is married to Dominic Cummings, the PM’s chief adviser on Brexit:
The story annoys both Leavers and Remainers:
No. 10 denied the story, and Labour MP Paula Sherriff, who was the first to mention the late MP Jo Cox’s name last Wednesday, offered Edwardes her moral support:
At the Conservative Party conference, the PM’s father, former Conservative MEP Stanley Johnson, defended his son eloquently to Kay Burley of Sky News:
People at home were unimpressed:
Kay Burley isn’t exactly blameless, though. You can see her red hair in the photo below from an old story:
The news story surrounding the photo is about Naomi Campbell’s appearance at Uxbridge Magistrates Court in north-west London in 2008.
Naturally, reporters raced to get quotes from the model and photographers wanted photos. Mayhem ensued, as the Daily Mail reported on June 21 that year:
Sky News presenter Kay Burley clashed with a photographer during the mayhem when Naomi Campbell arrived at court yesterday.
The newscaster, 46, was apparently hit in the cheek by a camera – and was then seen with her hand around a photographer’s throat.
Given the scrum, witness accounts differed:
There were suggestions that the photographer, Kirsty Wigglesworth from the Associated Press agency, had bumped into Miss Burley and injured her badly.
A witness said: ‘We were walking in alongside Naomi and basically, Kay got whacked in the face by a photographer.
‘Kay pushed back the photographer after she had her cheekbone smashed by this person. The photographer’s aggressive behaviour was extraordinary.
But another witness, who saw the second half on the incident, said: ‘Kay Burley had her hands around the photographer’s neck. It was really, really vicious.
‘The only way the photographer stopped her was by pulling her sunglasses off.
‘She has got marks around her throat.’ It is claimed that Miss Burley and the photographer were taken to one side by the police about the incident.
Remainer news
Whilst the Conservatives are at conference in Manchester, with some MPs flying back and forth to London via helicopter because opposition benches refused to adjourn for three days, Remainers have been busy elsewhere.
Not many opposition MPs attended Monday’s afternoon session in the Commons. Speaker Bercow spent only a couple of hours before turning over the rest of the day’s proceedings to a female Deputy Speaker.
Civil servants
Civil servants are under strain after summer holidays to deliver background work on Brexit. They complained of stress earlier in the year. They’re lucky they do not work in the private sector:
Labour and Lib Dem views
Former Home Secretary Jack Straw says that, although he disapproves of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership …
… he will still vote Labour for tribal reasons.
Party before country … not surprising.
Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson plans to block Corbyn’s possible ascendancy as temporary PM:
Rebel Conservative MPs
I am disappointed to read that David Gauke, now an Independent MP, spoke at the Conservatives’ conference:
On Monday, September 30, Sky News reported that Gauke focussed on the language issue (emphases mine):
Ex-justice secretary David Gauke spoke at the Conservative conference in Manchester despite having been effectively expelled from the party – by having the Tory whip withdrawn – for voting against Boris Johnson on Brexit earlier this month.
He accused the prime minister of a “strategy that is about stoking resentment”, with Mr Johnson having recently been criticised by opposition MPs for his use of language …
“Hence we have the language of surrender, of betrayal, of collusion. Because that feeds into a strategy that is about stoking resentment, nursing grievances, provoking anger.
“It means our politics becomes debased, it means the Conservative Party becomes a much more aggressive, much more confrontational, much more divisive party …
“And we cease to follow the traditions of our great leaders. We are no longer the party of Churchill, we are more the party of Trump.”
Dominic Grieve poled up, too, although not as far as a podium. He says he received an unsettling message:
Reading out a message he received on his phone during the event, which he revealed read: “You are a foul traitor”, Mr Grieve said: “This sort of atmosphere, which is being currently – I’m sorry to say it – but bluntly encouraged by the leader of the Conservative Party… is unacceptable behaviour and it is undermining our democracy and [will] smash it up.
“We will all have to live with the consequences – not only in our constituencies but our neighbourhoods and it will extend to each one of us.”
Mr Grieve, who supports a second EU referendum and Remain, added he was “pleased” to have attended the Manchester conference despite having been advised by some not to go.
“Most people here have been rational, pleasant and engaged even when they’ve come up to disagree with me,” he said.
Alistair Burt, another rebel — and the co-author of the Benn-Burt Bill, which attempts to thwart No Deal on October 31 — insisted he was still loyal to the party:
He revealed he recently chose not to stand at the next general election as he could not recommend a no-deal Brexit, which the government insists is still a possibility on 31 October, to his North East Bedfordshire constituents.
Describing how he has been a Conservative Party member for almost 50 years – but has now had the Tory whip withdrawn – Mr Burt added: “I was also parliamentary private secretary to two Conservative leaders: Michael Howard and Iain Duncan Smith.
“I stood behind Iain Duncan Smith at one of the most difficult times in the Conservative Party’s history.
“I don’t need any lessons on loyalty from anyone in telling me what to do for the Conservative Party in the future.”
It’s not as much about the Conservative Party, Mr Burt, as it is for the nation: the 52% of Britons who voted Leave on June 23, 2016.
More to come tomorrow.
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As we know, Greta Thunberg has resumed worldwide calls for children to bunk off school on Fridays in order to call attention to climate change.
Alan Jones, an Australian commentator on Sky News, had a pointed message for ‘little turds’ who should ‘get the facts’ before protesting. A partial transcript follows:
I couldn’t agree more.
Here is the partial transcript:
Also — wouldn’t it show more dedication to protesting climate change if the students got up early on a Saturday morning so to do?
Just a thought.
Most of us thought that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was safe from allegations once he was confirmed and sworn in to office nearly a year ago.
We were wrong.
On Saturday, September 14, 2019, a New York Times article raised the allegations from 2018 once more, calling for Justice Kavanaugh’s impeachment.
The paper invited the two authors of a book about the Kavanaugh accusations, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation, to write a column about them. Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly wrote the book and the article. Part of the article (paywall) has to do with one of last year’s accusers Deborah Ramirez and a classmate, Max Stier, who are said to have witnessed Kavanaugh, a university freshman, at a dorm party. Breitbart has the excerpt of the supposed episode.
Those familiar with Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly’s book have said one must read it until the end to find this gem:
… critics pointed out: “Not only does the alleged victim not confirm the story, she is reported to be denying it.”
Nevertheless, Democrats have been on the attack, including presidential candidate and US Senator, Kamala Harris, from California:
Breitbart‘s article states:
Harris did not mention, or did not know, that the authors’ own book refutes the allegation, which the alleged victim reportedly does not recall. The accuser [Max Stier] — not the victim — also represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment …
During Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, Harris — who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee — was criticized for tweeting a deceptively edited video that made it appear as though he argued against women’s access to birth control.
Some Twitter users, including a co-author of a book on the subject, remember this story from an article in the New Yorker at the time and how it collapsed under scrutiny:
The story of Christine Blasey Ford, the most memorable of Kavanaugh’s accusers, was also resurrected — but earlier, around September 8, before the NYT article appeared.
Here’s the short version:
On September 8, Newsweek reported, in part:
A video circulating on social media shows Christine Blasey Ford’s attorney telling attendees at a feminist conference that her client’s testimony against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a politically motivated move to protect Roe v. Wade.
Conservatives are railing against comments attorney Debra Katz made in April in her keynote address at the University of Baltimore’s Feminist Legal Theory Conference regarding Kavanaugh’s controversial Supreme Court confirmation process. Katz represented Ford, who testified at a public hearing and accused Trump’s nominee, at the time a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, of sexually assaulting her 36 years prior while the two were in high school. Katz’s comments at the conference appeared to confirm many conservatives’ accusations that Ford’s testimony was intended in part to protect the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established abortion access as a constitutional right.
Speaking on the theme of “Applied Feminism and #MeToo” earlier this year, Katz told attendees: “In the aftermath of these hearings, I believe that Christine’s testimony brought about more good than the harm misogynist Republicans caused by allowing Kavanaugh on the court.”
The self-proclaimed “women’s rights and social justice activist” continued: “We were going to have a conservative [justice] … Elections have consequences, but he will always have an asterisk next to his name. When he takes a scalpel to Roe v. Wade, we will know who he is, we know his character, and we know what motivates him, and that is important; it is important that we know, and that is part of what motivated Christine.”
… American Lawyer Magazine reporter Ryan Lovelace authored a book released last week entitled, Search and Destroy: Inside the Campaign against Brett Kavanaugh, portraying Katz as a partisan, politically-motivated feminist who encouraged Ford to smear Kavanaugh.
Another Democrat candidate for president, Amy Klobuchar, US Senator for Minnesota, tweeted her support for Blasey Ford:
Yet, one of Blasey Ford’s oldest friends doubted the veracity of the accusation against Kavanaugh.
This is also in Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly’s book. They were the ones who wrote the recent NYT article.
On Sunday, September 15, The Federalist‘s Mollie Hemingway tweeted:
Interestingly, that same day, the NYT issued a correction to their article. One wonders how many people saw the correction and how many millions more spent time at the weekend listening or reading extensive coverage of the efforts to impeach Kavanaugh:
The correction states:
Mr. Stier, who runs a nonprofit organization in Washington, notified senators and the F.B.I. about this account, but the F.B.I. did not investigate and Mr. Stier has declined to discuss it publicly. (We corroborated the story with two officials who have communicated with Mr. Stier.)
Something must be done about the media in general:
This scurrilous tactic of smearing Kavanaugh again and again, now with the goal of impeaching him, could backfire on Dems in 2020.
This is what a sampling of Americans said on Twitter:
One had a message for Kamala Harris:
So why are these accusations and calls for impeachment being raised now?
Here is another reason why. The Senate is appointing dozens of Trump nominees to US federal courts:
Citizen journalist Tracy Beanz, gives us the perspective of another citizen journalist, Harold Finch. The following thread explains that the Democrats are afraid of losing more of their cases in the higher courts. In retaliation, the Dems could try to discredit decisions from those courts — including the Supreme Court — and ignore them. Dangerous:
There it is — plain as day.
This is just one more reason NOT to vote for Democrats in 2020.
British journalist and television presenter Piers Morgan recently gave an interview to Ben Shapiro about the Left.
He says:
The Left have become unbearable.
This video, which is subtitled and runs just under two minutes and thirty seconds, is excellent. I am not necessarily a Piers Morgan fan but agree with everything he says here:
Being in media, he begins with comedians hosting awards shows. Because people cannot make — and take — jokes anymore, said shows lack hosts or are being cancelled.
Even it that is no big deal, Morgan takes the totalitarian measures of the Left further, calling them a type of ‘fascism’ (his word). He says that if you do not live your life in the way leftists dictate, they go after you in a number of ways, from personal abuse to making sure you lose your job.
Consequently, he says, ordinary people are rebelling by electing populist — he says ‘popularist’, possibly purposely — politicians who are willing to confront the Left. He cites President Trump and says this is happening in Europe, too. (Incidentally, Hungary’s Viktor Orban became prime minister long before Trump was elected. Orban assumed office in 2010, six years before the American president was elected. That said, western Europe has seen a continuing drift towards conservative and populist political parties.)
Here’s the interview in full:
In conclusion, it would be good if Piers Morgan and millions of other people would stop using the word ‘liberal’ to describe leftists. Liberal refers to classical liberalism: free markets and small government.
Let’s call these people what they are: leftists — the most illiberal of people.
A lot of Americans vote Democrat because their families have done so for generations.
A lot of Christians also vote Democrat because a) for Catholics, it was known as ‘the party of the Church’ and b) others, today, view Dems as kind people concerned about the downtrodden.
Below are three reasons why American voters should think again about voting for Democrat candidates.
New DNC resolution
At the end of August 2019, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) adopted a party resolution: ‘Resolution Regarding the Religiously Unaffiliated Demographic’.
An excerpt follows, emphases mine:
WHEREAS, the nonreligious have often been subjected to unfair bias and exclusion in American society, particularly in the areas of politics and policymaking where assumptions of religiosity have long predominated; and
WHEREAS, those most loudly claiming that morals, values, and patriotism must be defined by their particular religious views have used those religious views, with misplaced claims of “religious liberty,” to justify public policy that has threatened the civil rights and liberties of many Americans, including but not limited to the LGBT community, women, and ethnic and religious/nonreligious minorities; and
WHEREAS, the Democratic Party is an inclusive organization that recognizes that morals, values, and patriotism are not unique to any particular religion, and are not necessarily reliant on having a religious worldview at all; and
WHEREAS, nonreligious Americans made up 17% of the electorate in 2018 and have the potential to deliver millions more votes for Democrats in 2020 with targeted outreach to further increase turnout of nonreligious voters …
What nonsense.
Americans, whether religious or not, are more pluralistic at any time since the US was founded. I personally know average families who have embraced gay sons and daughters. Others have welcomed marriages of their children with those of another faith or race.
Therefore, there seems no good reason to adopt this sort of resolution.
The Stream has an article about it: ‘Democratic Party Passes Resolution Against Christianity’.
The author, Tom Gilson, a senior editor of The Stream and author of books on Christianity and modern day living, raises important points about this move. Excerpts follow:
The key paragraph:
Those most loudly claiming that morals, values, and patriotism must be defined by their particular religious views have used those religious views, with misplaced claims of “religious liberty,” to justify public policy that has threatened the civil rights and liberties of many Americans, including but not limited to the LGBT community, women, and ethnic and religious/nonreligious minorities …
The party’s hostility toward Christian beliefs and values was clear enough before. Putting it on paper this way, however, raises the message to another level.
The Democrats want to see Christians on the defense. And they’re good at putting us there. They have special skill with scare words. Even the simple word “particular” makes us look small, small-minded, and off in an intellectual corner somewhere. Of course none of that is true.
They put “religious liberty” in scare quotes, as if the concept of it weren’t in all America’s founding conversations, and in the first paragraph of the Bill of Rights. They speak, too, of “civil rights,” “liberties,” and “minorities.” America has sacralized these words, hardly ever stopping to ask when they apply, and when they’re nice-sounding words that don’t belong where they’re being used.
And there’s no simple response to this. That’s not because the answer is unclear, but because so much needs explaining to get it across. We live in different worlds, as it were. When a party takes aim at the Western world’s moral foundation, it’s no longer making mere political statements. This is a worldview statement.
In the Democrats’ world, “civil rights” are no longer endowed by our creator. They’re human products, human inventions. Gay marriage is example number one: It became a right when five Supreme Court justices said it was …
Christianity gets criticized for aligning with the Republican Party. I’m not comfortable with that myself. There’s great danger in tying ourselves to any political group. But what choice do Democrats leave us now? There are only two major parties. One of them has made its stand. It’s against us. We can’t vote Democrat and hold to our Christian values and beliefs.
Let me repeat that: We can’t vote Democrat and hold to our Christian values and beliefs. That doesn’t mean we have to agree with everything our president does. It doesn’t even mean we have to be Republicans. But for all the options seemingly open to Christians, one of them is shut tight, at least for now — by Democrats’ own decision.
Abuse of Trump donors and supporters
On August 5, Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), released a list of prominent Trump donors in the San Antonio area.
On August 10, Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican Party, responded:
One month later, the tweet is still up.
No, Ronna, Democrats will never be forced to condemn such a heinous move. However, if Republicans did such an unthinkable thing, it would be all over the news 24/7 for months.
On August 10, MSNBC featured a discussion between host and guest about physically harming Trump supporters:
Trending Politics covered the discussion, which concerned a Trump donor’s fundraiser as well as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s harassment outside of his home while he was recovering from a recent injury. Language alert below:
On Thursday, MSNBC host Chris Hayes agreed with a guest on his show, Elie Mystal who said that Trump donors should be met with pitchforks and torches.
“People of color are already targets under this administration,” Elie Mystal said to Hayes. “I have no problem with shining the light back on the donors who fund this kind of racialized hate. I go farther, I want pitchforks and torches outside this man’s house in the Hamptons.”
“I’ve been to the Hamptons, it’s very nice, but there’s no reason why it has to be,” he added. “There’s no reason why he should be having his nice, little party. There’s no reason why people shouldn’t be able to be outside of his house and making their voices peacefully understood that they reject this stuff.”
Mystal’s comments were directed towards billionaire Stephen Ross who recently held a fundraiser for President Trump’s re-election campaign.
“Totally,” Hayes agreed. “There have been peaceful protests outside [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell’s house and I imagine there will be peaceful protests outside [Ross’s house]. Again, it’s all speech.”
The protests outside of McConnell’s house were anything but peaceful. The demonstrations were caught on camera shouting death threats. One liberal even screamed “just stab the motherfucker in the heart.”
“Trump is a bigoted demagogue and we all kind of know that. These people should be ashamed of supporting him. Right? Like, at this point you should basically only be able to contribute to the Trump campaign with bitcoin,” Mystal stated. “But Equinox man is holding an ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ party and he’s surprised the people are getting up in his grill.”
Here’s the video in full:
Can you imagine if Republicans had a conversation like that on Fox News? MSNBC would be dissecting it until Election Day next year.
Do Democrats honestly think that such extremist talk will make Trump supporters falter? Why on earth would Trump supporters want to even vote Democrat after such views were aired?
This is but one example of the hate Democrats have for Trump supporters. Here’s another, from the New York Post on September 1:
Witness Hollywood’s new McCarthyism. “Will & Grace” stars Debra Messing and Eric McCormack could just have boycotted a fundraiser for President Trump next month if they don’t like Republicans.
But that’s not enough for the Tolerance Taliban. They want the names of anyone who does show up at the fundraiser so they can be blacklisted.
“Please print a list of all attendees please. The public has a right to know,” Messing tweeted Friday in response to a Hollywood Reporter story about the Emmy-week function.
McCormack piled on, “Kindly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with.”
It’s sinister that high-profile entertainers could harbor such illiberal instincts and have no shame about displaying them for all to see. But the most damage they do is to their own credibility.
I hope the reporter is correct about the credibility angle. Personally, I am less optimistic.
Number of illegals higher than estimated
Recently, Tucker Carlson discussed a Yale University study that says the number of illegals in the United States is likely to be closer to 22 million than the oft repeated 11 million figure.
Please take one minute out of your day to watch this. It has subtitles, so there’s no need for sound:
Carlson says that the Dems are soft on illegals, because they want all of them to be able to vote in 2020.
He is not wrong. The Motor Voter programmes run in various states practically guarantee that illegals are registered when they apply for driving licences.
Democrats want to go further now and are pressing for all age-appropriate illegals to be able to vote … in a country they, by law, should not even be in.
Such an act would result in millions more added to the voter rolls in overwhelmingly Democrat states as well as in marginal Republican ones.
The higher the population, the more Electoral College votes — and the more Congressional representation — those states receive. Think of California and New York.
Carlson is correct in saying that the Democrats are using this tactic not because they have any particular feeling for illegals but rather to get the votes they need to stay in power for years to come.
Imagine if there were never another Republican president. Some might cheer at that, but once one party is in power for years and years, corruption is sure to follow, not to mention the strong possibility of totalitarianism.
Conclusion
This man, who is not American, has a warning about the Democrats:
Just in case the lady’s tweet gets deleted, here is his message in full:
I could not agree more with his sense of passion and urgency.
I, too, have come to believe that the United States is in a state of spiritual war.
I pray that America recovers. I also pray that this spiritual war does not spread to other nations. No one can afford its costly consequences.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be visiting our European neighbours this week before the G7 conference in Biarritz:
Reuters reports (emphases mine):
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the Westminster parliament cannot stop Brexit and a new deal must be agreed if Britain is to avoid leaving the EU without one.
In his first trip abroad as leader, Johnson is due to meet his European counterparts ahead of a G7 summit on Aug. 24-26 in Biarritz, France.
He will say that Britain is leaving the European Union on Oct. 31, with or without a deal, and that the British parliament cannot block that, according to a Downing Street source.
Despite Parliament’s summer recess, Remain MPs have been in various discussions as to how to stop our leaving, deal or no deal, on October 31:
It is, however, unclear if lawmakers have the unity or power to use the British parliament to prevent a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31 – likely to be the United Kingdom’s most significant move since World War Two.
Sky News reports that No. 10 says Brexit will be but a small part of Boris’s discussions with France and Germany:
… Number 10 said it expects there to be “very little discussion” of Brexit during the visit to Berlin on Wednesday and Paris on Thursday, with other topics to be the focus.
Discussions are expected to centre around the next G7 summit in Biarritz, France, next weekend, with trade, foreign policy, security and the environment set to be on the table.
Number 10 said Mr Johnson would discuss issues such as climate change with his fellow leaders, adding: “The EU are our closest neighbours and whatever happens we want a strong relationship after we leave.”
Thanks to Boris’s leadership thus far, the Conservative Party once again leads in the polls:
British voters believe that Boris would make the best PM:
Nevertheless, Labour MPs think they can overturn triggering of Article 50. Whether this can be done is of some debate:
The Speaker of the House, John Bercow, is supposed to be impartial, yet, he, too, is said to be plotting against No Deal:
Boris’s government tied up one loose end at the weekend:
This was something Theresa May was supposed to instruct Stephen Barclay (pictured) to do — but didn’t:
There were two significant leaks in the past few days.
One was Boris’s Brexit ‘script’, left behind in a London pub, allegedly by a civil servant. Tell me this was not deliberate:
The other was a copy of Operation Yellowhammer, which contains all the worst case scenarios in case of No Deal:
The Sunday Times made this look like news, but Yellowhammer first surfaced on Wednesday, March 20 in preparation for our original March 29 exit date.
That day, the Express reported:
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay told Cabinet ministers in a letter the plan will be implemented on March 25 unless a new exit date is agreed. Operation Yellowhammer is the UK Treasury’s contingency plan for no deal exit from the bloc. The plan drafts what would happen for factors such as money, citizens, trade and customs.
According to the Daily Telegraph, if no date is set by Monday Operation Yellowhammer will be implemented.
In a letter to Cabinet ministers, Mr Barclay wrote: “Operation Yellowhammer command and control structures will be enacted fully on 25 March unless a new exit date has been agreed between the UK and the EU.”
The Guardian‘s story, also published that day, had more information:
With the country placed on a knife-edge by Theresa May’s latest Brexit crisis, the government is preparing for “any outcome” with a decision on Monday on whether to roll out the national Operation Yellowhammer contingencies for food, medicine and banking.
Some measures have already swung into place, including Operation Fennel’s traffic management in Kent.
The Europe minister, Alan Duncan, has also said the Foreign Office staff deployed to its Brexit “nerve centre” are working to help UK citizens in the EU in the event they get caught up in a Brexit mess.
The Department of Health was due to activate emergency supply chain operations, with instructions to medicines suppliers to book space on ferries to ensure they are not caught up in queues from next weekend in the event of no-deal.
They are just two of the 12 Operation Yellowhammer areas of risk the government has planned for in the event of a crash-out, according to a National Audit Office report [pdf]. It will decide next Monday if they should all become operational, enacting no-deal plans in 30 central government departments and 42 local councils, two devolved governments and in Northern Ireland.
Yellowhammer also had measures in place for Gibraltar. Fortunately, the government there was quick to point out that Yellowhammer as published is now out of date:
Interestingly, the week before, the island’s government reminded residents to prepare for a No Deal Brexit:
But I digress.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, Michael Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, tweeted:
Sky News had more about Gove’s explanation:
Sebastian Payne of the Financial Times tweeted:
Boris is also displeased with Theresa May’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, who has been predicting all manner of Project Fear disasters if No Deal comes about on October 31:
However, Germany had an important leak of its own at the same time as Yellowhammer resurfaced in the UK:
Good. I was also heartened to see the view of Boris from Berlin:
Absolutely correct.
I wish Boris Johnson all the best in his meetings this week with our European partners.
Despite record-breaking heatwave this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson lost no time on his first full day in No. 10:
On Thursday, July 25, 2019, he held his first cabinet meeting. The Press Association (PA) reported:
Boris Johnson will preside over his first meeting of his new Cabinet after a brutal cull of Theresa May’s top team.
Within hours of taking office on Wednesday, the new Prime Minister moved to stamp his authority, putting Brexiteers into key Cabinet posts as he vowed to take Britain out of the EU by the October 31 deadline.
He took his pledge to Britain seriously in his first address outside of No. 10 the day before:
Sensible people welcome his approach:
I do hope that journalist Lloyd Evans is correct:
Political pundit Guido Fawkes has been getting record-breaking social media stats:
Even the dress that Boris’s girlfriend wore on July 24 was selling out that same day:
Let’s look at the Cabinet reshuffle, which, for the most part, had me cheering.
In short:
This is also worth keeping in mind:
The new Cabinet will actually carry out the 2017 General Election Conservative Party mandate:
Conservative MP — and former Party leader — Iain Duncan Smith (IDS) says that leaving on October 31 is possible. I already knew this, but for those who do not, there is little danger of ‘crashing out’ with ‘no deal’:
Ultimately, the true nature of our MPs emerged with the stalling this year:
He is not wrong. There was a protest in Whitehall as Boris was preparing to make his first speech as PM. Please pardon the language below, but this has to be shown:
Now for more detail on the new Cabinet — which is diverse. By way of explanation, Michael Howard is also a former Conservative Party leader and Jewish:
Pundits think that Boris’s senior adviser Dominic ‘Vote Leave’ Cummings (in the tee shirt below) …
… had a lot to do with it:
Guido Fawkes posted a comprehensive list on July 24 of firings and hirings. Highlights follow (emphases and red in the original):
Earlier: Hammond, Stewart, Lidington, and Gauke pre-emptively announce resignations.
16:44: Penny Mordaunt sacked as Defence Secretary. Penny drops…
17:00: Liam Fox sacked as International Trade Secretary. Out-Foxed…
17:11: Chris Grayling quits as Transport Secretary. Grayling bailing…
I was really happy about this one:
17:24: James Brokenshire out as Communities Secretary. James Broken-fired…
James Brokenshire fired conservative philosopher Roger Scruton, who was deliberately misquoted in a New Statesman interview earlier this year. Scruton did not find out he had been sacked until he returned home from Paris the evening the article was published. He had been lecturing on architecture in Paris that day. Brokenshire did not even ask Scruton about the interview. Later, he admitted he was wrong in having jumped the gun, but he never rehired Scruton until July 23.
So, Brokenshire is out …
… and Scruton is back!
Incredibly, Brokenshire rehired Scruton the day before his own sacking! Perhaps Brokenshire thought that would put him in Boris’s good books. Wrong!
Scruton’s new boss is Robert Jenrick.
But, wait, there’s more.
Boris’s rival for Conservative Party leadership quit:
17:58: Jeremy Hunt quits as Foreign Secretary after turning down Defence. Shunt for Hunt…
Now for a few names of the new Cabinet members. I’m happy about all except for Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps and Amber Rudd, as I do not trust them nor believe they respect the British people:
18:35: Sajid Javid appointed Chancellor.
18:43: Priti Patel appointed Home Secretary.
18:52: Dominic Raab appointed Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State.
18:59: Stephen Barclay remains Brexit Secretary.
19:10: Michael Gove appointed to Cabinet Office, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, no deal coordinator.
19:26: Liz Truss appointed International Trade Secretary.
19:55: Matt Hancock remains Health Secretary.
20:11: Theresa Villiers becomes Environment Secretary.
20:24: Gavin Williamson becomes Education Secretary.
20:29: Andrea Leadsom becomes Business Secretary.
20:46: Amber Rudd remains at DWP, adding Equalities brief.
20:59: Robert Buckland becomes Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary.
21:07: Alok Sharma becomes International Development Secretary.
21:12: Grant Shapps becomes Transport Secretary.
21:39: Baroness Evans remains Leader of the Lords.
21:51 Geoffrey Cox remains Attorney General.
22:11 Rishi Sunak becomes Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
22:43: Jacob Rees-Mogg becomes Leader of the House of Commons.
23:02: Oliver Dowden becomes Paymaster General and Cabinet Office Minister.
23:58: Kwasi Kwarteng appointed Business Minister.
This is Boris’s brother:
22:55: Jo Johnson returns as Universities Minister in BEIS and DfE.
I’m really happy about this appointment:
22:32: James Cleverly becomes Tory Party Chairman.
James Cleverly replaces Brandon Lewis, who is now Home Office Minister.
Here is the entire set of appointments. You can tell The Sun‘s political editor, Tom Newton Dunn, is not a Boris fan:
Everyone appointed attended Thursday’s Cabinet meeting:
Afterwards, Boris addressed the House of Commons:
He did a splendid job, on the last day that the House of Commons meets before summer holiday. (They return in September.)
This is what happened, as tweeted by Dan Hodges, ex-Labour member — and former actress/Labour MP Glenda Jackson‘s son. He noticed the effect that Boris’s pusillanimous attacks were having on Labour, including party leader Jeremy Corbyn:
As for Jacob Rees-Mogg (JRM), who sat next to Boris during the Prime Minister’s Statement:
Re Brexit and the EU, he said (emphasis mine):
The days of supplication are over.
Well said!
In fact, even the Germans noticed, calling Boris ‘the blond bulldozer’. Wow:
Meanwhile, Theresa May — and some of the cabinet ministers Boris sacked — enjoyed a day of cricket:
Pundits wonder where Boris will travel first: Europe or the United States. Although President Trump hasn’t yet issued an invitation, it will surely come soon:
In closing, for anyone wondering about living arrangements:
According to the comments following that tweet, Tom Newton Dunn has exaggerated about the size of the No. 10 flat, which is larger than he makes it out to be. He has also conveniently forgotten that Boris has children, too: four, to be precise.
We can expect more Boris-bashing and sniping in the weeks ahead. The media and the rest of the Left will make sure of it.
I am cautiously optimistic for Boris’s tenure as Prime Minister.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were in England and Normandy for commemorations of the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
The night before, he hosted Prince Charles and Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall for dinner at the US ambassador’s residence in Regent’s Park, London. The guests at his table were also in Portsmouth the following morning. Theresa May is on the right in the photo:
On Wednesday, June 5, the Royal Family’s Twitter account summarised D-Day’s importance:
Also:
The Allied landings on the Normandy beaches marked the start of a long and costly campaign to liberate north-west Europe from German occupation. #DDay75
This was the scene in Portsmouth, on England’s south coast that day:
A short time later, veterans who had been involved 75 years ago began taking their seats:
The Queen, who served as a mechanic during the war, arrived:
This is a photograph for the history books:
Warm exchanges took place beforehand:
The Queen stood between Prince Charles and President Trump to watch the proceedings:
She addressed the crowd, referencing her father, George VI:
President Trump read then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s prayer for the troops:
D-Day veterans appeared on the dais to grateful applause.
Actress Celia Imrie (speaking in the next video) compered (emceed) the various performances:
The following ABC News video has the Portsmouth commemorations in their entirety:
The BBC has a set of photographs covering the day’s events.
Afterwards, the Queen, Prince Charles and the Trumps met with veterans who so bravely served in D-Day operations:
Trump also met with British veterans as well as US Navy personnel based in England:
The Queen then bade farewell to the Trumps, who were leaving for Ireland, where the president met with the prime minister there that afternoon:
The Trumps went to Normandy the following day for D-Day ceremonies before returning to Ireland, then onwards to the United States.
The Q Tree has the Trumps’ schedule after Portsmouth for the rest of June 5 (emphasis in the original):
2:50pm BST / 9:50am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Southsea Commons en route to Southsea Castle Landing Zone, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
2:55pm BST / 9:55am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Southsea Castle Landing Zone, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
3:05pm BST / 10:05am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Portsmouth, United Kingdom, en route to Southampton Airport, Southampton, United Kingdom, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
3:25pm BST / 10:25am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Southampton Airport, Southampton, United Kingdom
3:35pm BST / 10:35am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Southampton Airport en route Shannon Airport, Shannon, Ireland, Southampton, United Kingdom
~ U.K State Visit Concludes ~
4:50pm IST / 11:50am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Shannon Airport, Shannon, Ireland
5:00pm IST / 12:00pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Shannon Airport en route to Shannon Airport Terminal, Shannon, Ireland
5:05pm IST / 12:05pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Shannon Airport Terminal, Shannon, Ireland
5:15pm IST / 12:15pm EST THE PRESIDENT participates in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Ireland, Shannon, Ireland
5:20pm IST / 12:20pm EST THE PRESIDENT participates in an expanded bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Ireland, Shannon, Ireland
6:00PM IST / 1:00pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Shannon Airport Terminal en route to Shannon Airport, Shannon, Ireland
6:05pm IST / 1:05PM EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Shannon Airport, Shannon, Ireland
6:15pm IST / 1:15pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Shannon, Airport, en route to Trump International Doonbeg Landing Zone, Doonbeg, Ireland, Shannon, Ireland
6:35pm IST / 1:35pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Trump International Doonbeg Landing Zone, Doonbeg, Ireland
The Clare Champion featured their arrival:
At the end of Tuesday, Trump tweeted:
He and his entourage would fly from Ireland to Colleville-sur-Mer in the département of Calvados of Normandy the following morning.
Speaking of Normandy, two British veterans were preparing to re-enact their jumps from 1944. Here is one of them undergoing a refresher course:
This is what happened on Wednesday, June 6:
This is what the Trumps saw as they landed in France that morning:
The following is an excerpt of President Trump’s speech on Omaha Beach:
The Q Tree has his speech in full on Omaha Beach, excerpted below (emphases mine). More than 60 surviving American D-Day veterans flew to France for this important anniversary. Many more Second World War military survivors also attended:
President Macron, Mrs. Macron, and the people of France; to the First Lady of the United States and members of the United States Congress; to distinguished guests, veterans, and my fellow Americans:
We are gathered here on Freedom’s Altar. On these shores, on these bluffs, on this day 75 years ago, 10,000 men shed their blood, and thousands sacrificed their lives, for their brothers, for their countries, and for the survival of liberty.
Today, we remember those who fell, and we honor all who fought right here in Normandy. They won back this ground for civilization.
To more than 170 veterans of the Second World War who join us today: You are among the very greatest Americans who will ever live. You’re the pride of our nation. You are the glory of our republic. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Here with you are over 60 veterans who landed on D-Day. Our debt to you is everlasting. Today, we express our undying gratitude.
When you were young, these men enlisted their lives in a Great Crusade — one of the greatest of all times. Their mission is the story of an epic battle and the ferocious, eternal struggle between good and evil.
On the 6th of June, 1944, they joined a liberation force of awesome power and breathtaking scale. After months of planning, the Allies had chosen this ancient coastline to mount their campaign to vanquish the wicked tyranny of the Nazi empire from the face of the Earth.
The battle began in the skies above us. In those first tense midnight hours, 1,000 aircraft roared overhead with 17,000 Allied airborne troops preparing to leap into the darkness beyond these trees.
Then came dawn. The enemy who had occupied these heights saw the largest naval armada in the history of the world. Just a few miles offshore were 7,000 vessels bearing 130,000 warriors. They were the citizens of free and independent nations, united by their duty to their compatriots and to millions yet unborn.
There were the British, whose nobility and fortitude saw them through the worst of Dunkirk and the London Blitz. The full violence of Nazi fury was no match for the full grandeur of British pride.
There were the Canadians, whose robust sense of honor and loyalty compelled them to take up arms alongside Britain from the very, very beginning.
There were the fighting Poles, the tough Norwegians, and the intrepid Aussies. There were the gallant French commandos, soon to be met by thousands of their brave countrymen ready to write a new chapter in the long history of French valor.
And, finally, there were the Americans. They came from the farms of a vast heartland, the streets of glowing cities, and the forges of mighty industrial towns. Before the war, many had never ventured beyond their own community. Now they had come to offer their lives half a world from home.
This beach, codenamed Omaha, was defended by the Nazis with monstrous firepower, thousands and thousands of mines and spikes driven into the sand, so deeply. It was here that tens of thousands of the Americans came …
One of those men in [Colonel George] Taylor’s 16th Regiment was Army medic Ray Lambert. Ray was only 23, but he had already earned three Purple Hearts and two Silver Stars fighting in North Africa and Sicily, where he and his brother Bill, no longer with us, served side by side.
In the early morning hours, the two brothers stood together on the deck of the USS Henrico, before boarding two separate Higgins landing craft. “If I don’t make it,” Bill said, “please, please take care of my family.” Ray asked his brother to do the same.
Of the 31 men on Ray’s landing craft, only Ray and 6 others made it to the beach. There were only a few of them left. They came to the sector right here below us. “Easy Red” it was called. Again and again, Ray ran back into the water. He dragged out one man after another. He was shot through the arm. His leg was ripped open by shrapnel. His back was broken. He nearly drowned.
He had been on the beach for hours, bleeding and saving lives, when he finally lost consciousness. He woke up the next day on a cot beside another badly wounded soldier. He looked over and saw his brother Bill. They made it. They made it. They made it.
At 98 years old, Ray is here with us today, with his fourth Purple Heart and his third Silver Star from Omaha. Ray, the free world salutes you. Thank you, Ray.
Trump related a few more real life stories about what is known as the Longest Day, unimaginably harrowing. God was with the Allied troops.
Trump concluded:
The men behind me will tell you that they are just the lucky ones. As one of them recently put it, “All the heroes are buried here.” But we know what these men did. We knew how brave they were. They came here and saved freedom, and then, they went home and showed us all what freedom is all about.
The American sons and daughters who saw us to victory were no less extraordinary in peace. They built families. They built industries. They built a national culture that inspired the entire world. In the decades that followed, America defeated communism, secured civil rights, revolutionized science, launched a man to the moon, and then kept on pushing to new frontiers. And, today, America is stronger than ever before.
Seven decades ago, the warriors of D-Day fought a sinister enemy who spoke of a thousand-year empire. In defeating that evil, they left a legacy that will last not only for a thousand years, but for all time — for as long as the soul knows of duty and honor; for as long as freedom keeps its hold on the human heart.
To the men who sit behind me, and to the boys who rest in the field before me, your example will never, ever grow old. Your legend will never tire. Your spirit — brave, unyielding, and true — will never die.
The blood that they spilled, the tears that they shed, the lives that they gave, the sacrifice that they made, did not just win a battle. It did not just win a war. Those who fought here won a future for our nation. They won the survival of our civilization. And they showed us the way to love, cherish, and defend our way of life for many centuries to come.
Today, as we stand together upon this sacred Earth, we pledge that our nations will forever be strong and united. We will forever be together. Our people will forever be bold. Our hearts will forever be loyal. And our children, and their children, will forever and always be free.
May God bless our great veterans. May God bless our Allies. May God bless the heroes of D-Day. And may God bless America.
The Q Tree has full coverage, including this 90-minute video of the day’s commemorations:
This is NBC’s video, which begins with an analysis of D-Day:
French president Emmanuel Macron also addressed the American veterans. I was in France at the time and watched part of his speech on BFMTV. It was highly evocative and really captured the idea of Americana. Whoever wrote it should get a pay rise. I was very moved by it. He spoke, as did Trump, of young soldiers from farms in the Midwest mixing with their comrades from Manhattan and New Jersey, writing their girlfriends farewell letters.
Afterwards, Macron shook hands with all the veterans and spoke with each individually. I’m not a Macron fan at all, but I have to give him credit for that.
Trump tweeted a short video recapping his day in Normandy:
This is the view of the Trumps’ departure, returning to Ireland before flying back to Washington:
Reflecting on D-Day, someone online posted this excellent graphic from Gab:
We should be so grateful for everything that God has given us — especially peace and freedom in the Western world.
However, it would also be prudent to look at how we have squandered the opportunities for our young people in peacetime. The safe space generation is not equipped to deal with the horrors of life such as it is.
May the good Lord grant us the wisdom to get us out of a navel-gazing attitude towards one of genuine progress and ingenuity, such as that of the post-war years.
In closing, let us give thanks to the Greatest Generation for their immense courage and bravery.
Regardless of what one thinks about Theresa May’s premiership, giving her a media kicking on the day she stood down as party leader and imminently as Prime Minister is not a good look.
George Osborne was David Cameron’s Chancellor to the Exchequer.
When Theresa May became PM in July 2016, one of the first things she did was to sack him. He then sat on the backbenches as a Conservative MP until he stood down early in 2017.
As Osborne has somewhat of a journalistic background, the owner of the London Evening Standard hired him as the daily paper’s editor in May 2017.
Since then, the freebie paper’s editorial line has been anti-Brexit — and anti-May.
He tweeted this himself. I bet he could hardly wait to be the first paper to publish this photo last Friday afternoon:
The editorial pages stuck the boot in further.
Here are the first two paragraphs of the editorial, accompanied by another photo of her as above:
Her resignation speech this morning pointed to a premiership that might have been: human, understanding of modern Britain, respectful of the achievements of her predecessors, and straight about the compromise needed if we are to move forward as a country.
Sadly, little of this was on display during her premiership. As a result, the central objective she set herself — leaving the European Union in an orderly fashion — looks less certain than it did the day she entered Number 10 less than three years ago.
Then, there was the political cartoon on the opposite page:
It was good to see that Osborne received a lot of negative Twitter comments on both tweets.
I’ve been reading the Evening Standard for decades. That was when they still charged money for it. The news coverage and journalism were top-notch.
These days, I go straight to the puzzle page and skim the rest.
The Standard used to offer objectivity in its editorial line. Unfortunately, the paper’s standards have fallen significantly in the past few years, and it has become not only politically biased, but also too focused on celebrities. I hold George Osborne partly responsible. If he is able to get his staff access to celebrity news, surely he can get them access to substantial news.
