Whilst I may have written that there are no "Good" Tories on thursday , i must admit that there are plenty of decent ones and Conservative Jayne Cowan, who represents Rhiwbina in Cardiff seems to be one amd certainly no one deserves to have had rotting fish thrown in her garden and dog faeces smeared on her windows.
She has been given a panic alarm so police can trace her after being sent rape and death threats.
On Wednesday, she called police after getting a death threat and having blood smeared on her car outside her home. South Wales Police said it was investigating. The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) said attacks against councillors were increasing, with reports of arson threats and their children being harassed and intimidated. While MPs and AMs are contactable through constituency and party offices, councillor's personal details, including their home address in most cases, are often available online. A councillor said she is being given a panic alarm so police can trace her after being sent rape and death threats. Conservative Jayne Cowan, who represents Rhiwbina in Cardiff, has had rotting fish thrown in her garden and dog faeces smeared on her windows. On Wednesday, she called police after getting a death threat and having blood smeared on her car outside her home. South Wales Police said it was investigating. The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) said attacks against councillors were increasing, with reports of arson threats and their children being harassed and intimidated. While MPs and AMs are contactable through constituency and party offices, councillor's personal details, including their home address in most cases, are often available online. Ms Cowan, who has represented her ward for 20 years, said she had faced a lot of hate over the years but it had now come to a head: "I've had a sympathy card with 'I hope you die' in it, I've had dead flowers delivered to the house. "I've had cuttings about rape, my car kicked in and tyres slashed, silent phone calls, it's deeply worrying, it's terrifying." On Wednesday, she called the police after blood prints appeared on her car shortly before she chaired a public meeting about school buses - days after she said a man rang her and threatened to kill her. Now she said the council and police were looking at giving her a GPS security pendant, which would be able to tell the police where she was if she pressed a button. "I know this shouldn't happen in this kind of climate, but I think preventative measures have to be put in place now because people's lives are potentially at risk," she said.Skip Twitter post by @JayneCowanJayne Cowan@JayneCowan
Thanks to the person who threw a bag of faeces into the back garden. What is wrong with some people? All incidents will be reported to the Police.
Report End of Twitter post by @JayneCowanMs Cowan, whose family are Jewish, had swastikas drawn on election campaign signs with her name on when she was running for the assembly election in 2016. "It makes me angry - I wish that these people, if they have an issue with me - why don't they just come and speak to me?" she said. South Wales Police said it was investigating a report of blood "being smeared on a parked car in Rhiwbina" and was looking into the possibility it was linked to previous incidents reported by Ms Cowan. Ellen ap Gwynn, spokeswoman for the WLGA, said abuse and threats were getting worse and people thought councillors were "fair game" in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. The Ceredigion council leader said she phoned the police after getting threats and said the abuse women were facing would put people off standing in the future. "It's undermining democracy, somebody should stand up and say stop, its got to come to an end," she said.
It's appalling that Ms Cowan has suffered such abuse and I may have nothing in common politically, certainly think I have far less in common with whoever is responsible for such disgusting behaviour.
I think people are becoming too excited about Boris Johnson's bad week. As Trump has shown, when politics is v. polarised, competence matter for less. People would rather an incompetent who agrees with them than a v. competent leader who does not.
John Crace reports inthe Guardian on Johnston's speech in Wakefield yesterday tells us.
"These are the days of miracle and wonder. The country just laughed when Theresa May promised “strong and stable” leadership. Now it’s beginning to wonder if she might not have had a point. Classic Dom.
Boris Johnson’s speech at a police academy in Wakefield was the shitshow to end all shitshows. It made his dystopian performances at the dispatch box over the previous two days look like models of sanity and coherence. Even May’s P45, loss of voice and collapsing scenery at the Tory party conference weren’t as excruciating to watch as this. The Clown Prince completely out of his head. Acid? Heroin? Cocaine? Or a cocktail of all three? If the UK is to be a failed state, it has found its ideal leader. Classic Dom.
When half the country is shouting, “Stop the coup!” in protest at the prime minister shutting down parliament, choosing to launch your election campaign surrounded by police recruits at a training academy is not the best of looks. Either for the government or the police. But this was Boris. A man for whom other people are mere satellites orbiting his sun. Rushing on his run. He felt just like Jesus’s son. And he guessed that he just didn’t know. Classic Dom.
What followed was a full-on breakdown. Both physical and mental. The narcissistic wound exposed as an infected open sore. Most leaders at least turn up with a speech they have prepared. However deathless the prose. Johnson prefers to wing it. The arrogant stream of pure unconsciousness. The bumbling worked for £25K after-dinner speeches when everyone was a bit pissed. It would work here. Classic Dom.
He was pleased to be wherever it was he had come to. Ah yes, he thought, for the first time noticing the grim faces of the policemen and women whom he’d kept standing around waiting for more than an hour. Police. We needed more of them. Especially if he was going to waste their time like this. Classic Dom.
“I used to be …” His voice tailed off. Boris couldn’t quite remember what it was he used to be. Prime minister? Surely not. That would be ridiculous. Then he had the most excruciating flashback. A wild hallucination of an incriminating laptop and wine stains on the carpet. The last time he had been surrounded by so many police. Classic Dom.
Johnson started rambling, desperately trying to navigate a way back to the present. A caution. That’s what the police had done when he had been collared. “Um … er …” he began. How did it go again? “You do not have to say anything … um … you know how it goes, don’t you?” he continued, turning round to ask the police lined up behind him. They looked blankly ahead, avoiding his gaze. Who was this man? “If you fail to mention … shomefing on swhich shoo later rely.” By now he was slurring every other word. Classic Dom".
Not sure what he means by "Classic Dom" but urely if any other Prime Minister made such a incoherent and inappropriate speech , then the Right wing media would be screaming abuse on their front pages. In the same way Jacob Rees Mogg's argronace in the way he reclined in the House of Commons should come back to haunt him
But he made an even worse gaffe only days later
Jacob Rees-Mogg has apologised after comparing a consultant who helped draw up no-deal medical plans to the disgraced anti-vaxxer . Rees-Mogg told MPs that, in warning about the possible effects of a no-deal Brexit on medical supplies, Nicholl was being as irresponsible as Wakefield, who was struck off the medical register in 2010 after suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Rees-Mogg apologised after intense pressure from the medical profession, as well as Westminster colleague In normal times this would be a resigning issue. But this is not normal times and what we see people who would not even voted or either of the two on to Llantrisant Community Council, because of their Hard Brexit views or rather rhetoric (Johnson probably does not believe it), support him . Just as the powerful evangelical body in the US ignore Trump's long list of infidelities he speaks their language, both Johnson and Rees Mogg leads to some former Labour supporters prepared to back them because of Brexit and it as to be said because they want to see an end to immigration. The issue of course is not helped by our First Past Post electoral system amd sadly an incompetent Jeremy Corbym. We really need to get out of this mess and like Scotland say goodbye to incompetent and contemptuous Westminster politicians . Both Nicola Sturgeon and Adam Price look like real leaders of a nation and not buffoons , who are there because the class system still exists.
“I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are good people and bad people. You're wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.” ― Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
It seems to me that we could easily substitute Tories for people , when considering those Rebel Tory MPs who have be expelled (for how long?) for voting against Prime Minster Johnston No-Deal plans. Certainly there is some disquiet among Liberal Democrats over the r party’s decision to welcome former Tory MP Doctor Phillip Lee into the party.
Doctor Lee crossed the floor of the House of Commons yesterday 3 September from the Tory benches to the Liberal Democrats in protest at the Brexit vote, thereby destroying Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s majority of one.
Jennie Rigg, the chair of the Liberal Democrats LGBT+ group, to resign MsMs Rigg pointed out that Lee had a poor record on LGBT+ rights, was opposed to same-sex marriage and is on record on saying that any immigrants to the UK should undergo an HIV test before being allowed into the country.
Ms Rigg described Lee as a homophobe and a xenophobe.
Announcing her resignation Ms Rigg tweeted: “Folks, I’m not going to join Labour, and I’m not going to join the Tories, and I’m not going to join any other political party.
“I’m just going to mourn the one I thought I had. Sorry to disappoint you".
Those of us on the progressive left should look at the voting record of all the Rebel Tories who are currently expelled from the party.
Brexit may be the most important current issue and for those of us who back Remain or even don't want a disastrous No-Deal , then they stance is welcome and after all there are a number of people on the Left who are enthusiast for leave and support Prime Minister Johnson's plans.
However there are still a number of issues we have seen these "Rebels" backing including the whole Austerity Program, for which even their sacrifice in potentially loosing their seats for which they cannot be forgiven and recent events does not make them "Good" Tories , there is no such things.
The latest bid to stop a no-deal Brexit has taken a step further forward lays night
The BBC reports that
MPs voted 328 to 301 in support of a motion that would allow them to block a no-deal Brexit with 21 Conservative MPs voting against the government. The motion states that "the House has considered the matter of the need to take all necessary steps to ensure that the United Kingdom does not leave the European Union on 31 October 2019 without a withdrawal agreement". Boris Johnson has previously said he would seek a general election if he lost the vote. Following the vote he said Parliament was "on the brink of wrecking any deal" with Brussels after voting to give a cross-party alliance control of the Commons agenda on Wednesday. The Prime Minister then confirmed he was tabling a motion to call for an early general election. The European Union (Withdrawal) (no 6) Bill requires the Government to either reach a deal with the EU by October 19 or gain Parliament’s approval for a no-deal Brexit by that date. If the Government does not do either of these the legislation would then require the Prime Minister to write to the EU to request another extension to the so-called divorce date. The legislation proposes an extension until January 31, 2020.
The Conservative MPs who voted against the Government are:
Guto Bebb
RIchard Benyon
Steve Brine
Alistair Burt
Greg Clark
Kenneth Clarke
David Gauke
Justine Greening
Dominic Grieve
Sam Gyimah
Philip Hammond
Stephen Hammond
Richard Harrington
Margot James
Phillip Lee
Oliver Letwin
Anne Milton
Caroline Nokes
Antoinette Sandbach
Nicholas Soames
Rory Stewartit
Edward Vaizey
That have now had the whip withdraw and presumably those who dod rebel will not be able to stand in any Election.
The Tories are a head in the polls at the moment butas
As the Guardain reports that
1. Boris Johnson’s Conservatives would start any election campaign with an advantage. Johnson’s strategy since entering Downing Street has been to try to unify the leave vote by taking a hard Brexit approach, while hoping that Jeremy Corbyn cannot unite remain voters to the same degree. That appears to have been effective: polling averages show the Conservatives up at around 33%, having taken share from the Brexit party, while Labour is stalled at 25% and the Lib Dems are holding up at about 18%. 2. This could translate into a Conservative majority – although not all pollsters agree. Electoral Calculus estimates, based on an analysis of polling from 26 July, when Johnson became prime minister, to 31 August, that the Conservatives would win an overall majority of 62. The prime minister’s party, with 33.3% of the vote, would win 356 seats, while Labour, at 25%, would take 188. That comes despite the SNP reasserting its dominance of Scotland taking 50 out of 59 seats. The Lib Dems, meanwhile, would win 34 seats. But this forecast rests on the assumption that Johnson can make real inroads into traditional Labour seats in the Midlands and north with his Brexit “do or die” strategy. Other pollsters are more sceptical. Polling conducted by Focus Data, on behalf of pro-EU Conservatives and released overnight, concludes that the Conservatives would only end up with 311 seats, well short of the 326 needed for an overall majority in the Commons, although Labour would also lose ground with 242.TimelineCountdown to an election?Show Sign up to our Brexit weekly briefing More interestingly still, if the pro Brexit DUP retained its 10 seats that would leave pro-Brexit parties on 321. The combined opposition, meanwhile, could reach the same figure: taking Labour’s 242 plus 52 for the SNP, 21 Lib Dems, four Plaid, one Green and Lady Sylvia Hermon, the independent MP for North Down, who has said she is against no deal. A parliament as divided as the current one.
So an election would possibly solve nothing, but reinforce the status quo and see us ending up with a No-Deal because time as run out.
Even if Johnson wins then a 33.3% vote giving you "a majority of 62" then its a hardly a democratic mandate.
But it also means the kie of a No-Dela will continue.
The reality is that the day after we leave with aMo-Deal government minsters will be dispatched to Brussels to seek some kind of Trade Agreement with the RU who will have a united front.
Indeed with absolutely no cards left to play then if we want to trade with Europe then we could end up agreeing to conditions, that in the view of Brexiteers would be worse than any of the multiple "deals" Mrs May attempted to negotiate.
It is also a lie that it Remainers who have prevented Brexit.
There were until May's "Brexit means Brexit" many who accepted the referendum it was the likes of Rees-Mogg and Johnson (a minority but influential one of Tory MPs) himself who insisted on a Hard Btexit and to ignore that effect on Northern Ireland that has prevented us leaving the EU three years after referendum.
The odious Piers Morgan may well have put the nail in the Union's coffin
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was accused of being "unable to accept defeat" in a heated exchange with Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan over a no-deal Brexit.
Appearing on the ITV morning show, the First Minister was asked why any voter would ever choose to vote in a referendum again, if the result of the 2016 Brexit vote could be overturned by Parliament.
Speaking live from Bute House, Ms Sturgeon replied that if the UK did not leave the EU "then the result of the referendum in Brexit in Scotland, will be honoured not ignored."
She added: "I keep having to remind you that 62 per cent of people in Scotland didn't vote to leave, they voted to remain."
Attempting to shout over her, Mr Morgan said "It doesn't matter - you were part of the UK, it doesn't matter, you keep saying something irrelevant."
Ms Sturgeon retorted: "It's not a part strong case for staying in the union to say the views of Scotland simply don't matter and we have to go along with whatever is imposed on us."
Mr Morgan, again speaking over Ms Sturgeon said Scottish views did matter "but you lost - you lost Nicola Sturgeon and you won't accept defeat".
But the First Minister replied: "I didn't lose - we won the EU referendum in Scotland, we voted to remain."
Morgan even you accept that he is a complete prick was expressing , the view of the "Precious Union" in that it is a Union in name only .
If 100% of Scottish voters had voted to Remain it would not matter to Unionist because the views of Scotland are taken in the same way am English Region would be and if Scottish views don't matter just consider how Welsh views are taken.
Scotland will undoubtedly leave the Union and unless we in Wales wake up we will not only "not matter" but we will be carved up and put into the Northern and South West regions where our views will not only not count but not even heard.
First we had Boris Johnson by asking the Queen to prorogue Parliament
. By choosing to prorogue, Johnson's government ensured that opposition members can't cancel the recess to focus on stopping Brexit.
Then Tory minister we have news that Michael Gove has refused to say whether the government would abide by legislation designed to stop the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC MPs would introduce a bill seeking to do that when Parliament returns this week.
But asked if the government would abide by this if it succeeded, Mr Gove said: "Let's see what the legislation says."
Sir Keir described Mr Gove's comments as "breathtaking".
Sir Keir told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "The legislation is intended to ensure we don't leave without a deal, that will require an extension.
"The length of the extension is secondary, frankly. We have simply got to stop us leaving without a deal."
Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday that plans to block a no-deal Brexit will be published on Tuesday.
He said the "ultimate goal this week" was to "ensure Parliament can have a final say".
But when asked if the government would abide by legislation preventing a no-deal Brexit, Mr Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "Let's see what the legislation says.
"You're asking me about a pig in a poke.
"And I will wait to see what legislation the opposition may try to bring forward."
Sir Keir responded on Twitter, saying Mr Gove's response was "breathtaking", adding: "No government is above the law."
Then it appears that reports also emerged on Saturday suggesting Downing Street would stop any Conservative MP who votes to block a no-deal Brexit from standing for the party in a general election.
Aberconwy MP Guto Bebb, seems likely to ignore the threat he has been a vocal opponent of no deal, said the prime minister had shown "signs of weakness" by proroguing Parliament.
He added a no-deal Brexit would be "anti-democratic".
Mr Bebb has already stated that he is standing down at the nexy election so has nothing to fear from the whips or deselection.
However But Antoinette Sandbach, Conservative MP for Eddisbury in Cheshire, told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement programme she would oppose a no-deal Brexit, even if it meant she lost her job.
Ms Sandbach, who was an AM for North Wales from 2011 to 2015, said: "I am very clear that I have to put the interests of my constituents above my political career.
"I am well aware that that means I may lose my job. I cannot allow a 'no deal' to go ahead without trying to stop it."
Mr Johnson has a majority of one and it would even if he can bribe the DUP once again that threats to his own MPs , especially those standing down and who like Mr Bebb are Demob Happy , have the opposite effect.
He could be saved by Labour MPs abstaining or voting with the government, but if defeated has the option of calling a General Election in which only Hard Brexiters will be allowed to stand for his party.
But it seems he is also considering the option of ignoring any vote in Parliament and just carrying on.
Given the recent polls he seems likely to win.
General election voting intention polls
Pollster
Con
Lab
LD
Grn
BXP
Con/Lab gap
Fieldwork
Deltapoll
35% (+5)
24% (-1)
18% (nc)
-%(-)
14% (-nc)
11%
29-31/8
Survation
31% (+3)
24% (nc)
21% (nc)
-% (-)
14% (-1)
7%
29-30/8
YouGov
33% (-1)
22% (nc)
21% (+4)
7%(-1)
12% (-1)
11%
28-29/8
Opinium
32% (+1)
26% (-2)
15% (+2)
4% (-1)
16% (nc)
6%
21-23/8
There is perhaps only one way we can prevent what is a move to a Tory dictatorship and that is the unlikely scenario of the major parties agreeing to not stand against each other and support the sitting opposition MP and who ever was in second place against the Tories.
Small chance of this happening but we may live to regret it.
