Guido Documentary “Our Man in Westminster” | RTE
Slavery Claim Slapped Down | Brendan O'Neill
Mehdi v The Cow | Douglas Murray
Lying Clegg | Political Scrapbook
Clegg Is a Muppet | Iain Martin
Mensch Puts Family First | The Commentator
Mensch “Made Quit Decision In March” | Archbishop Cranmer
Hitchens on Hasan | Peter Hitchens
Mensch Resignation Exclusive | Northamptonshire Telegraph
Vietnam’s Blog Shame | Kamila Shamsie
Egalitarian State Comprehensives Fail Kids for Sports | Toby Young
Labour Party Officially Admits “Wreckless [sic] Borrowing”
While the Coalition are at each other’s throats, it looks like someone in Labour HQ might want to have a look at what the party’s Northern Ireland arm is up to. Their official Twitter account declared on Friday night: “nobody disputes the crippling debt left by wreckless borrowing not even Labour”. Some refreshing honesty here:
@LabourPartyNI I have no idea what any of that is supposed to mean. Aside from the implied "two wrongs" at the start.
@mjshilliday nobody disputes the crippling debt left by wreckless borrowing not even Labour I assume the Con Dems have addressed this?
Guido can think of at least two Eds who dispute that claim in no uncertain terms…
LibDem MPs have been out in force this afternoon in an attempt to spin themselves as always having kept their side of the Coalition agreement. First Nick Clegg insisted: “my party has held to that contract, even when it meant voting for things that we found difficult. I am proud that we have met our obligations“. Then Simon Hughes chipped in: “We have delivered everything“. Oh really?
Not for the first time, yellow rhetoric is some way off the truth. On Lords reform 91 out of 305 Conservative MPs voted against the bill, or 29.8%. Yet on tuition fees 21 of the 57 LibDem MPs, some 36.8%, rebelled. On trickier decisions, a greater proportion of Tories have kept their promises than LibDems. Who’d have thought it…
So Long Calamity Kenny
Departing Spinner’s Greatest Hits
Guido’s favourite Labour spinner Kenny Young has departed Team Miliband. Apparently “after five years it’s time to do something different”. Calamity Kenny shot to fame when he was snapped, literally, waiting on hand and foot for Gordon. After being involved in Duffygate he joined Team Ed for the Labour leadership battle and again had some trouble with doors. When Ed won Kenny went from Head of Press to Press Office Manager, but his finest hour was still to come – his now infamous Blackbusters tweet which was written from his boss’ account:
So long Kenny, we’ll miss ya…
Nadine Slams Clegg Despite Him Saving Her Seat
One of the more vocal critics of the boundary reviews was Nadine Dorries, whose seat of Mid-Bedfordshire was set to be abolished. Guido thought he would give her a call to get her views on Clegg’s decision and ended up breaking the news to her that she will still have a constituency at the next election. Though personally relieved, Nads was far from grateful to Clegg:
“It just shows how shallow the LibDems are. If they are dropping this because they didn’t get Lords reform then it epitomises who they are and what they are all about – which is self. Nick Clegg stood up in Parliament and said he supported the changes but now this is about them and not the country. He should be doing what is in the national interest, not his self-interest.”
A view shared by pretty much every Tory Guido has spoken to this afternoon.
UPDATE:
Tory Cabinet minister: Everyone knows we gave LDs AV referendum for boundaries. At the earliest opportunity we must revenge Clegg's betrayal
The Deal Clegg Broke
Section 23 of Coalition Agreement covers Boundary Reviews:
We will bring forward a Referendum Bill on
electoral reform, which includes provision for
the introduction of the Alternative Vote in the
event of a positive result in the referendum,
as well as for the creation of fewer and more
equal sized constituencies. We will whip
both Parliamentary parties in both Houses
to support a simple majority referendum on
the Alternative Vote, without prejudice to
the positions parties will take during such a
referendum.
The Boundary Review had nothing to do with House of Lords reform. It was linked to the AV referendum which the LibDems secured.
Clegg accusing others of breaking promises beggars belief. The LibDems are desperately trying to spin this, but in reality the backbench Tories are the ones to sacrifice political gain for sticking to their principles – however wrong they are to defend the current upper chamber. The prospect of the Boundary Review was keeping the Tories in the Coalition – they were never going to go to the country while it was still in the offing. That lock has gone now…
UPDATE: Just a thought, what is going to happen to LibDem Ministers when it comes to the vote. Will they resign?
Clegg Orders LibDems to Wreck Coalition
Moments after trying to spin his party as mature and suited to government, the Deputy Prime Minister has thrown a massive tantrum live on TV. Clegg has declared that LibDem MPs will oppose Boundary Reforms:
“Coalition works on mutual respect; it is a reciprocal arrangement, a two-way street. So I have told the Prime Minister that when, in due course, parliament votes on boundary changes for the 2015 election I will be instructing my party to oppose them.When part of a contract is broken, it is normal to amend that contract in order then to move on.
Lords reform and boundaries are two, separate parliamentary bills but they are both part of a package of overall political reform. Delivering one but not the other would create an imbalance – not just in the Coalition Agreement, but also in our political system. Lords reform leads to a smaller, more legitimate House of Lords. Boundary changes lead to a smaller House of Commons, by cutting the number of MPs. If you cut the number of MPs without enhancing the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Lords all you have done is weaken parliament as a whole, strengthen the executive and its overmighty government that wins.
So, for these reasons, I have decided, reluctantly to push the pause button on these controversial parliamentary reforms.”
This could get messy…
Côtes du Corby
Labour Candidate Caught Off Guard in South of France
A group of disheartened Labour activists who wanted to hit the streets of Corby today have been found themselves leaderless at the beginning of the by-election campaign. Sources on the ground whisper to Guido that they were blind-sided by Louise Mensch’s resignation this morning. Despite claiming this morning that he was “fired up, ready to go” Andy Sawford, the party’s candidate for the November by-election, is currently sunning himself on holiday in the south of France. Like all good members of the Labour aristocracy…
Deficit Deniers Downed By Debt
Which group of Labour deficit deniers have found themselves in a mountain of debt?
Find out only on Media Guido…
Hollande Left With Oeuf on Face
It turns out President Hollande was all mouth and no trousers last week as he tried to mock Team GB’s medal haul:
“We don’t talk of money, we talk of gold. The British have rolled out a red carpet for French athletes to win medals. I thank them very much for that, but the competition is not over. We will put the French medals into the Europe pot, so that the British will be happy to be European.”
Sixteen Team GB golds later and the cat seems to have got Hollande’s tongue - Britain now has double the number of golds won by the French and are miles ahead of them in the overall medal table.
Boris twisted the knife this morning, delivering the sort of line that Dave dreams of being able to say:
“Well, M le Président, mettez-ça dans votre pipe et fumez-le! Bien je jamais,eh!”
Absolument.
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