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Diary Blog, 16 February 2024, with thoughts about the Wellingborough and Kingswood by-election results, and the death of Alexei Navalny

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Morning music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1tnpLs1lns

I remember that song. 1967; I was a 10-y-o child living in Mosman, a North Shore suburb of Sydney. Different times (look at the comments appended to that YouTube video).

From the mass media

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68305050

“Major French magazine L’Express has revealed that its prominent former editor, Philippe Grumbach, was a KGB spy for 35 years.

He counted presidents, actors and literary giants as close friends. He was a legendary figure in journalism who shaped the editorial direction of one of France’s most successful publications. When he died in 2003, Minister of Culture Jean-Jacques Aillagon said Grumbach had been “one of the most memorable and respected figures in French media”.

But he was also “Brok”, the KGB spy.

Extensive proof of Grumbach’s duplicitous life can be found in the so-called Mitrokhin archive.

Born in Paris in 1924 into a Jewish family, Grumbach fled France with his mother and siblings in 1940 – the year Nazi Germany invaded and Marshal Philippe Pétain took power in Vichy with a collaborationist regime.“

[BBC]

The Wellingborough and Kingswood by-elections

At Wellingborough, a convincing win for Labour. I thought that it might go closer than it did. Labour 45.9%, Conservatives 24.6%, Reform UK 13%. All 8 other candidates lost their deposits; the LibDems came closest with 4.7%. A local Independent, Marion Turner-Hawes, scored 3.7% and probably would have beaten the LibDems had she been the only Independent standing. The Greens, as usual, were nowhere (6th) on 3.4%, and Britain First was even more “nowhere” on 1.6%.

The Conservatives were let down partly by the choice of candidate, the girlfriend of unpleasant former MP, Peter Bone. Having said that, the main reason for the electoral upset was that people want a change, even if it is really not much of a change, or the wrong change. They wanted, also, to stamp on the Conservative Party.

The Conservative candidate tried to make “stopping the boats“, i.e. the continuing cross-Channel migration-invasion, the issue. Of course, the fact is that the cross-Channel invasion is only a tenth, if that, of the main invasion— the enormous influx of “students”, “family-members”, “highly-skilled workers” (Indians that can work a computer) as well as supposed “asylum-seekers” etc.

Also, the “Conservative” governments of 2010-2024 have not even seriously tried to “stop the boats”, let alone the main migration-invasion. Not far short of a million a year now.

Talk is cheap…

Empty words at best, lying words at worst (collusion with the Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalergi_Plan).

A better candidate, and one not tied up with Peter Bone, might have scored higher, maybe well over 30%, and so lost less embarrassingly.

A real social-national party, if one existed, might have won. Turnout was only 38%; a huge 62% of those eligible to vote did not bother, or showed their contempt for the whole system via abstention.

No need to “analyze” the Britain First vote— pathetic. As for Reform UK, it is going to have to do a lot better than that if it is going to start winning seats. Another pro-Israel scam-party by Nigel Farage.

Overall, the result is another nail in the coffin of the Rishi Sunak government, and the Conservative Party (and Sunak himself, of course).

I should be ready to bet that, if voters aged 65+ (many of whom would have voted early by post) were taken away, the remaining Con Party vote would have been no more than 10%.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellingborough_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2020s

Kingswood, north of Bristol and in effect an outer suburb of Bristol, also returned a Labour MP yesterday. Pointlessly, of course, because not only will there be a general election this year but, also, the constituency is being abolished.

The result was Labour 44.9%, Conservatives 34.9%, Reform UK 10.4%, Green 5.8%, LibDems 3.5%, UKIP 0.5%.

Turnout was 37.1%, even lower than at Wellingborough. Almost two-thirds of those eligible could not be bothered to vote, and/or despise the whole circus.

The Labour candidate had the advantage of being of local origin, more or less, combined with not being a Conservative. His unusual personal life (gay, and having converted from Roman Catholicism to Judaism to fit in with his Jewish “civil partner”) seems to have been disregarded by the voters (meaning the 11,176 who voted for him, out of about 80,000; the other ~68,000 were eligible to vote but either did not vote or voted for other candidates).

The Conservative Party candidate came closer than I had expected. His own local origins can probably be thanked for that. The Farage vehicle, Reform UK, came third, but again seems to be —time after time— the “also ran” party…

The Greens saved their deposit and beat the LibDems into 5th place. The rump of UKIP came last, and one has to wonder why candidates for no-hope parties like that even bother.

Yet another nail in Sunak’s political coffin, of course.

Taking away the local aspects of both by-elections, for me the “takeaways” are that this “Conservative” government is toast, that Sunak is toast, and that the Conservative Party is toast. Also, that the LibDems are seen as dull and, except where they have a good tactical chance against a Conservative candidate, unappealing to voters.

More? Well, that Reform UK is not exciting enough people, not yet anyway, to start being a major player. Also, that the Greens only appeal to around 5% of the electorate, if that.

Finally, for me the point is that, in both of these by-elections, only just over a third of people even bothered to vote; without postal voting, that 37%/38% would probably have been nearer to 20%. The voters most interesting to me are those not presently energized to vote.

What do these results say about GE 2024? That Labour must be en route to victory, though a victory not welcomed by all, or even a majority, of the voters. A feeling of dull meaninglessness, perhaps. A hollow victory?

For the Conservative Party, these results must mean that the bulk of their MPs are on the way out. 50 may survive, maybe 100.

Tweets seen

A few days ago. I missed that story.

The time may come when Israel faces thousands of such drones.

I agree with the first bit, but only partly with the second. Many 2019 Con Party voters seem to be switching, in despair, to Reform UK, but that would be only a small minority of the overall electorate. Look at the turnout figures from yesterday. Only a third (just over) of eligible voters even voted. Reform UK, with its limited “conservative nationalism” “cosplay”, its pro-Israel, pro-Jewish lobby attitude, and its semi-“libertarian” economics, will never inspire even a half of the voters. Maybe 10%, maybe 20%. I doubt that it will go higher.

The fact is that, even at Kingswood, where the result scarcely mattered in itself (a general election this year, and the seat then ceasing to exist), Reform UK only gathered in 13% of the votes, i.e. about 5% of all possible votes. The Wellingborough result was similar: 9.4% of votes cast, i.e. about 3% of all possible votes.

Only a fully-credible social-national party might be able to energise and inspire the British people. That party does not exist.

“Today, the Tories are only holding half the people who voted for them at the last general election, in 2019, and only a little more than one in three of the people who voted for Brexit, in 2016. These are supposed to be the party’s core supporters. But many of them are now abandoning Sunak in droves, running for the hills.

And do you blame them? Seriously? Given some of the other events this week it’s not hard to see why. For a start, Sunak’s failure to control Britain’s borders was reflected in the remarkable finding that just 1.3% of the illegal migrants who entered Britain on the small boats since 2018 have been removed from the country.

And then came the latest data on the dire state of the economy, which confirms Britain is in recession and suffering the longest hit to living standards since records began, in 1955. Contrary to Sunak’s pledge to deliver economic growth, this week we learned that throughout his first year in office Britain’s economy grew by just 0.1%, while GDP per capita —which adjusts for population growth — fell by 0.7%.

This, too, will prompt many voters to ask Sunak some tough questions. Where is the growth you promised? Where is the strong economy? And where is the growth the Treasury, the Office for Budget Responsibility, and countless other experts told us would surely arrive if Britain opened its doors to unprecedented immigration?

The answer is it’s nowhere to be seen, partly because rather than deliver the high-skill, high-wage, highly-selective, and highly productive immigration the Tories have been promising since Brexit they’ve instead delivered low-skill, low-wage, non-selective, and unproductive immigration from outside Europe, which has been shown to be a net fiscal cost rather than a net benefit to Western economies.

...more and more [voters] are turning off and tuning out. Just look at the rates of turnout at the latest by-elections. Labour and Keir Starmer are not setting Britain on fire, far from it; the Tories are staying home.

These voters aren’t idiots. They know they’ve been led down the garden path by a Conservative government and a Conservative prime minister which have routinely overpromised and underdelivered.

These voters want decent economic growth and an economic model which prioritises British people. But Rishi Sunak and the Tories have given them more of the same.

These voters want much lower and manageable rates of immigration. But Rishi Sunak and the Tories keep putting mass migration on steroids. And these voters want strong and secure borders and a government which prioritises the security of the British people. But Rishi Sunak and the Tories have lost control of our borders, largely because they refuse to reform laws and leave conventions which make it impossible to remove illegal migrants and foreign nationals who commit crime, as we saw with the shocking case of Abdul Ezedi.“

[Matt Goodwin, on his Substack blog]

In any case, the UK needs no immigration at all. It needs to educate and train real British people to a far higher level, and then provide suitable employment for them. British people, real British people.

Suitable employment, appropriate and decent pay; decent housing; decent transport; decent medical care; decent social care; also, decent architecture and town planning.

Defying the Kremlin can be dangerous. The story that Navalny “felt unwell after he went for a walk” is obviously unlikely.

The daytime temperature in that region today is about -20C. Cold weather for a stroll, even for a Russian.

As to Navalny himself, I knew nothing of him beyond what was occasionally on TV news or in the newspapers. I was unable to understand why he returned to Russia after he had recovered from having been poisoned in Russia and flown to Germany for treatment.

My conclusion (beyond the apparent fact that Navalny was a braver man than me— and a more foolish one, arguably) is that he had a huge amount of egotism. He probably wildly over-estimated his popularity in Russia (in fact only about 5% supported him), and may have thought that arriving in Moscow on a private jet with a horde of Western reporters on board would probably protect him, especially as thousands of his supporters (mostly Moscow-based) would be awaiting his arrival at Vnukovo (one of the four main airports in the Moscow region: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vnukovo_International_Airport).

The plane was diverted to Sheremetyevo Airport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheremetyevo_International_Airport, thus bypassing the expected mass welcome.

I may be wrong, but I think that Navalny may have thought that his return to Russia would be akin to that of Lenin in 1917. However, Lenin was never in any danger of arrest and detention in 1917, and had not only supporters but an armed guard force at his historic speech at the Finlandsky Station in Petrograd. Also, the Tsarist Government had already effectively fallen. There was no-one to arrest him.

Navalny has, by reason of his imprisonment and probable murder, achieved the status of martyr, but had he ever become leader of Russia, might have been as harsh, and probably less effective, than Putin.

I am old enough to remember how the usually-wrong Western msm thought, in the 1980s, that Andropov would be “liberal” (mainly because he was said to like jazz). The same or similar was said in the late 1970s of the African tyrant Robert Mugabe (“well-educated” by Jesuits, and a “democrat” by African standards. So they said…). Indeed, look at how the globalist msm lauded thick-as-two-short-planks Nelson Mandela…

Well, there it is.

One interesting aspect to the news coverage in the UK today is that it has been so extensive. In a way, surprising, when Navalny had no real support base in Russia, and never had a real chance of deposing Putin.

Were I more of a conspiracy theorist than people think I am, I should suspect that the UK TV people are using the Navalny matter to talk less about yesterday’s by-election results.

Also, the Kiev-regime forces are crumbling on the Ukrainian front-line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Navalny.

More tweets seen

Many, even perhaps I myself, might think that a retaliatory strike by Israel on Gaza, immediately after the October 2023 incursion, meaning in the following few days, would probably fall into the “self-defence” and “proportionate” area (leaving aside the behaviour of the Israeli Jews since 1948), but what has happened since then is a cruel slaughter and devastation worse than the much-criticized Reduction of the Warsaw Ghetto by German forces in 1943. The Germans did evacuate most of the non-combatant Jews before killing or capturing the rest (saboteurs, terrorists, and rebels) and then levelling the area.

According to my use of Electoral Calculus, that would still leave the Con Party with 117 MPs. Maybe. One or two points can make a big difference. For example, if the Con/Lab numbers were 23% and 45% respectively, the Cons would have only 97 MPs.

Also, these polls always over-estimate the Green vote. When and where (except at Brighton Pavilion) did the Greens get anywhere close to 8%? 5% is more usual; or lower.

https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/userpoll.html

As to “the best Prime Minister“, terrible for Sunak, but hardly a ringing endorsement of Starmer either.

After Guantanamo, Bagram, Kabul, Abu Ghraib etc, the U.S. Government can say nothing about human rights abuses.

Well, anyone can make a “mathematical error”, as when a number of, say, six million becomes one of four million and then, later, one and a half million…anyone could make such a mistake, I suppose…

Adam Smith wrote about “the hidden hand“, but I don’t think he had this “hidden hand” in mind…

Interesting, but Britain First can never be the party Britain needs. Its pro-Jewish lobby, pro-Israel stance…that alone…

…and here is Emily Thornberry living the high life with a pack of Zionists in London, including the former Israeli Ambassador, Regev (centre of photo):

Labour, “the party for working people”??

For me, the main thing is to break the rigged “two main parties” system (scam). So if the Conservative Party is trampled upon and left almost powerless at GE 2024, good, even though that would be at the cost of a Labour Party “elected dictatorship” for up to 5 years. With one large party reduced to almost nothing, the System’s rhythm will be disrupted. No more the idea that “the other lot” will be better. With the Cons deflated, and the LibDems already on the floor, other ideas, social-national ideas, will come through, one way or the other.

Late tweets seen

So the percentage of complete idiots or outright traitors in this country is now “only” 21%. Still far too high.

My thoughts are with him. He may not be quite my sort of person, but he is a martyr for truth. The UK should ditch the one-sided UK/US extradition law.

The Kiev regime may collect money, but on the front-line its soldiers are being gradually defeated, and the UKR ranks are thinning daily.

Late music

[Schloss Hohenschwangau, Bavaria]
Alt-Right, Boris Johnson, by-elections, daily blog, diary blog, elections, environment, free speech, historical, historical revisionism, immigration, Jewish lobby in UK, Labour Friends of Israel, Liz Truss, MPs, Party Politics, Rishi Sunak, society, Starmer, the Great Reset, Uncategorized, wildlife

Diary Blog, 2 December 2023, with thoughts about General Election 2024, Reform UK etc

22 Comments

Afternoon music

Saturday quiz

Well, this week I scraped another narrow victory over political journalist John Rentoul, with 5/10 as compared to his 4/10.

I knew the answers to questions 1, 2, 5, 6, and 10.

Tweets seen

I feel that, with the passing into history of the late Queen, the Monarchy in Britain has ceased to be of any real relevance.

Charles has become a total —and very obvious— mouthpiece for the international conspiracy.

Please refer to previous comment…

That would result, using Electoral Calculus [https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/userpoll.html] in a massive Labour majority of (about) 352: Labour 501 MPs, Conservatives 74, LibDems 35. The only thing keeping the Con Party going would be its history (now trashed anyway), its assets (if any) and its name-recognition among the public.

I notice that it might also mean an undeserved boost to the LibDems, tripling their number of MPs.

Despite that polling, indicating that Reform UK might still win no seats (despite polling nationwide a point higher than the LibDems; more proof that FPTP voting is not working now in the UK), this may not be the end of the show. I think that political academic Matt Goodwin might be right in predicting a surge in support for the rather pathetic latest Farage vehicle (now notionally led by Richard Tice).

If, as Goodwin predicts might happen, Reform UK does surge to, say, 15%, and if the extra 5 points come from Con Party former voters, then the number of Con Party seats reduces to about 30, but Labour would gain, and not Reform UK, which would still be left without any MPs despite, in that scenario, scoring one and a half times the votes of the LibDems, who would end up with about 43 MPs. The voting system is broken.

The reason of course, is that (as with UKIP in 2015) Reform UK has a fairly even level of support nationwide, without the concentrations of votes in some constituencies that the LibDems have.

In fact, to start getting MPs, Reform UK will have to achieve about 18% across the board. If those votes all came from former Con voters, the Con Party vote would have to decline to 14%. In that unlikely (?) scenario, the Conservatives would be left with about 10 MPs and might fairly be said to have been wiped out.

Incidentally, on 18%, Reform UK would still only get about 1 MP.

If Reform UK can take Labour votes as well, a very different picture. Still a huge Labour majority, but the Conservatives left with a rather more respectable 80-90 seats (and LibDems with about 50). Reform UK would still only get one or two MPs, however. Very unjust (not that I have much time for Reform UK, especially after Farage and Tice recently doormatting for Israel and the Jewish lobby).

I take Goodwin’s point though (I should do— after all, I have been making it for years myself): in a situation where both main System parties are determined to do pretty much the opposite of what most voters want, even sheep-like voters start to think how to protest, in the absence of a credible social-national party. Former Con voters may abstain, or may vote (mainly) for Reform UK, maybe LibDem, or other parties; Labour dissenters who dislike Starmer and his Labour Party may protest by (mainly) voting LibDem or Green.

Both main System parties are signed up to the transnational conspiratorial agenda— funnelling blacks and browns into Europe and other formerly almost-entirely white European societies (Australia, New Zealand etc). Also, signed up to the whole globalization project, to the biosecurity pseudo-health state idea, and to the cashless society idea (thus allowing the “central power” to de-bank people, cut off funds etc at will, eventually, e.g. to punish those who say or write the “wrong” things).

At present, GE 2024 is still a year ahead, probably. The only fairly certain fact is that this Government has run out of road, and is hanging on because it cannot think of anything else to do. Indian money-juggler Sunak is as misplaced in his office as were “Boris”-idiot, Theresa May, and David Cameron-Levita; ah, I actually forgot that ridiculous “ho”, Liz Truss. She too.

Sunak will probably decamp to California by 2025 at latest. Remember that nasty little bastard Nick Clegg? He is now living in an affluent suburb near San Francisco.

We are “ruled” by cosmopolitan poseurs of that sort, totally corrupt, and their venality equalled by their incompetence.

More tweets

Yes, but at present there are nearly a million unwanted migrant-invaders coming to live in the UK every year, even after emigrants are taken into account. That makes a continuing and worsening housing situation inevitable.

In a word, yes…

“Ukraine” (Kiev regime)— a failed state, a non-state.

A considerable part of the Ukrainian population might be fairly described as “blockheads” (even before they get drunk).

Please refer to previous comment.

I do not know the politics of Highgate, particularly, so cannot really comment.

Incidentally, that tweeter, John Edwards, a retired fire chief, at one time quite a few years ago would chat to me on Twitter (a pack of Jews had me expelled in 2018), but later had his ear bent to the extent that he tweeted to people that I was “a dreadful fascist“; yet here I am supporting his right to freedom of expression. #MoralHighGround…

Anyone who votes Labour in 2024 expecting any kind of positive change in the UK from that would have to be a total idiot. However, the present Sunak Government is just so hated and despised by almost everyone (my guess, around 85%+) that, in a basically binary electoral/political system, Labour, despite the fact that it offers —realistically— nothing, is almost certain to win big next year.

Britain is now so screwed, and in almost every way, that only a total change to a social-national rulership, combined with a massive cultural and other purge, will save it, if it can be saved.

Hancock should have been tarred and feathered, along with all those in and around government promulgating the absurd “lockdowns” and other “Covid”-related nonsense.

Instead, he is given hundreds of thousands of pounds to eat snails and witchetty grubs in that ridiculous “Jungle” TV show.

My assessment of Hancock from 2019: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/09/09/deadhead-mps-an-occasional-series-the-matt-hancock-story/.

Well, dear readers, was I right or wrong?

See also: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/scientists-reveal-jewish-history-s-forgotten-turkish-roots-a6992076.html.

“Israeli-born geneticist believes the Turkish villages of Iskenaz, Eskenaz and Ashanaz were part of the original homeland for Ashkenazic Jews.

New research suggests that the majority of the world’s modern Jewish population is descended mainly from people from ancient Turkey, rather than predominantly from elsewhere in the Middle East.

The new research suggests that most of the Jewish population of northern and eastern Europe – normally known as Ashkenazic Jews – are the descendants of Greeks, Iranians and others who colonized what is now northern Turkey more than 2000 years ago and were then converted to Judaism, probably in the first few centuries AD by Jews from Persia. At that stage, the Persian Empire was home to the world’s largest Jewish communities.

According to research carried out by the geneticist, Dr Eran Elhaik of the University of Sheffield, over 90 per cent of Ashkenazic ancestors come from that converted partially Greek-originating ancient community in north-east Turkey.“

[The Independent]

In other words, they have no right (based on claims of ancient settlement) to the lands now known as Israel and Palestine.

There should be an institute somewhat similar to SS-Ahnenerbe which could take DNA and other evidence, in order to investigate such theories and claims.

Should not be too difficult. After all, Zelensky has ripped off tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions, of US dollars, has a $50M villa in Florida, another luxury villa in Italy, probably others as well.

Late music

[painting by M. Lounis]

animal welfare, basic income, Conservative Friends of Israel, Deadhead MPs, elections, MPs, Party Politics, Uncategorized

Deadhead MPs, An Occasional Series: The Therese Coffey Story

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It will be noted that among the names on the above list is that of Therese Coffey MP [Con, Suffolk Coastal], recently appointed as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. The role has been held by deadheads before, idiots such as Iain Dunce Duncan Smith and Esther McVey.

So who is Therese Coffey?

Therese Coffey was born in Lancashire, to parents about whom neither Wikipedia nor her own website say anything at all. She was brought up in Liverpool, according to Wikipedia, which however says that she was at school both at St. Mary’s College, in the small North Wales town of Rhos-on-Sea, and at St. Edward’s College, Liverpool. Both were at the time private Roman Catholic schools. Coffey is a name of Irish origin.

Therese Coffey was awarded a B.A. degree by Oxford University (subject unknown), she having gone up to Somerville College; then (oddly, on the face of it) she acquired a Ph.D. in Chemistry from UCL. Therese Coffey is often referred to as “Dr” Therese Coffey.

[Update, 21 May 2020: since writing the above, I have discovered that, while Oxford’s usual Chemistry degree is a 4-year course leading to a Master’s degree (M.Chem), the University does offer other chemistry-related 3-year science degrees

http://admissions.chem.ox.ac.uk/Data/Sites/21/images/mchem-chemistry.pdf.

http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing]

[Update, 7 September 2022: Wait a minute… it now turns out that Therese Coffey was asked to leave her Oxford college because she was not up to the course academically, and/or failed her exams! See update at foot of this blog post for more]

In England (though not in some other countries, notably Germany) it has always been considered infra dig to use the title “Doctor” unless one is either a medical doctor or some sort of working academic, scientist or clergyman. Unfortunately, there has fairly recently developed in the UK a strange affectation, of people insisting on referring to themselves as “Dr” when all they have is a doctorate in something (other than whatever they do professionally or whatever). So we have “Dr” Julian Lewis MP [Con, New Forest East], who holds a doctorate (D.Phil) in Strategic Studies. Another is “Dr” Louise Raw, “antifa” type prolific on Twitter, who holds a Ph.D. and whose special subject is one particular industrial strike in 1888. Now we also have “Dr” Therese Coffey.

Therese Coffey was awarded her doctorate in chemistry in 1998, at the age of 28. Her own website says that she was at one time a “management accountant”. She worked for Mars, the confectionery company, and for a subsidiary of the same, at which latter she was apparently Finance Director. She also did some work for the BBC. I think that we can assume that Therese Coffey’s non-political career was far from stellar.

Therese Coffey failed to become a Conservative MEP at the EU elections of both 2004 and 2009. She was, however, selected for the Conservative candidature at Suffolk Coastal (despite having been born and brought up in the North West of England, later living in Andover, Hampshire and having no obvious connection with Suffolk or East Anglia).

The expenses claimed by Therese Coffey in her first 6 months as MP were more than double those claimed by MPs in some other nearby seats. She seems to have kept her house and flat in Hampshire, which (it has been said of at least one) are being let.

Therese Coffey was one of the 72 MPs (almost all Conservatives) who both have an income of over £10,000 p.a. from rental property and voted out a bill requiring landlords to ensure that their properties were fit for human habitation! In other words, Therese Coffey is a parasite.

Therese Coffey voted to sell off woodland and forests in public ownership to private interests (the bill was dropped after a huge public outcry).

Therese Coffey has written a position paper recommending that pensioners pay National Insurance. She is a member of the extreme Free Enterprise Group within the Conservative Party.

Therese Coffey has been in favour of both Rupert Murdoch and gambling interests in the past.

Therese Coffey has from time to time bunged her own sister some money out of Parliamentary expenses for work (presumably) done.

Therese Coffey likes a “rock band” called Muse, it seems. I had never heard of them until now. Her interest in rock music seems bizarre, looking at her photographs and thinking of what can be gleaned of her personality (not very much). She certainly looks more like Patricia Routledge’s portrayal of the retirement-age Lancastrian private eye, Hetty Wainthropp, in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. However, Ms. Coffey’s liking for real ale (she is a member of CAMRA) is rather plausible. In fact, Ms. Coffey is only 47 years old, surprisingly, she having been born in November 1971.

I would have assumed that Therese Coffey is a lesbian, looking at this tank-like, Guinness-drinking, cigar-smoking person who likes football, but there is nothing I have found on the Internet to support such a conclusion directly; and she voted against “gay marriage” (and in that alone I support her, inasmuch as I feel that “civil partnership” provided whatever socio-legal comfort was necessary to deal with the inadequacies of the English law as it was in the previous century).

What disturbs me most about Therese Coffey is not so much what she has said, written and done, though that is bad enough, but what I have not seen from her: I have seen no intellectual curiosity that goes outside the box, for example any discussion of the need for Basic Income; neither have I seen anything else of intellectual interest from her. Admittedly, I have only been looking since her elevation to Cabinet (she was only a non-Cabinet minister earlier in 2019, and before that only one of the Conservative whips, traditionally a role for plodders…). If my view changes, I shall update this article, being by nature fair and just.

Therese Coffey may be the Cabinet minister with the lowest public profile. She is unknown to the general public. How long she will remain in Cabinet, I have no idea. If Boris-Idiot falls, “not long” is my guess. It may be thought unfair to dub someone with qualifications in both chemistry and accountancy a “deadhead”, but from the socio-political point of view I think that she well merits it. At any rate, as MP she is not going away, in that Suffolk Coastal is one of the safest Conservative seats.

Notes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffolk_Coastal_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2010s

https://www.theresecoffey.co.uk/about-therese-coffey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_Coffey

https://www.houseofnames.com/coffey-family-crest

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/meet-new-dwp-secretary-who-16912568

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/who-therese-coffey-what-new-20049187

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/09/praise-therese-coffey-single-guinness-drinking-charmingly-outspoken/

https://bylinetimes.com/2019/09/10/therese-coffey-the-worrying-votes-and-views-of-boris-johnsons-latest-right-wing-appointment/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse_(band)

https://womenalsoknowhistory.com/individual-scholar-page/?pdb=982

https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/dr-julian-lewis/54

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Lewis

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/amber-rudd-replacement-work-and-pensions-secretary-therese-coffey-just-nasty

https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/suffolk-mp-defends-claiming-more-than-27-000-expenses-1-792686

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-vote-down-law-requiring-landlords-make-their-homes-fit-for-human-habitation-a6809691.html

https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2019/09/08/bye-then-therese-coffey/

She made extra money this way: https://www.speakers4schools.org/speakers/dr-therese-coffey/ (Why am I not surprised at her cupidity?)

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/new-dwp-chief-lfc-fan-16898413

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Wainthropp_Investigates

Update, 17 September 2019

God, she is a ghastly bitch!

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/therese-coffey-minister-uses-cruel-electric-dog-collar-wshlqs85d

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-chief-therese-coffey-blasted-20083806

Update, 24 October 2019

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/ministers-push-ahead-with-single-face-to-face-assessments-for-disability-benefits/

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/pip-assessor-told-claimant-to-ignore-her-irrelevant-suicide-attempt-then-challenged-her-son-to-a-fight/

Update, 20 May 2020

Update, 6 October 2020

Update, 13 September 2021

The deadhead strikes again, attempting to justify removing £20 per week from some of the poorest in the UK:

Just as well that she does not have the power to give DWP benefits claimants an electric shock via a dog collar…

Update, 6 October 2021

I could comment, but my words would probably be regarded either as “grossly offensive” or as “incitement” to…something or other…

One thing is for sure— standing outside the Conservative Party Conference holding up placards asking for this kind of political criminal to be nicer to people just does not work…

(and what about this?)…

Jesus Christ! Could it get any worse? Do you call for its nurse, or just put it out of its misery?

Update, 6 September 2022

Well, whether you call it “the irony of fate”, a concatenation of unexpected events, or just madness, Therese Coffey has not only survived the fall of “Boris”-idiot, and stayed in Cabinet, but has been effectively promoted to two new positions— Secretary of State for Health, and Deputy Prime Minister.

It seems that —unknown to me until today— Therese Coffey and the —it seems strange to use the words— new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, are rather friendly. I suppose that, in that snake pit, Liz Truss would rather have a few friends around her rather than potential backstabbers who might, however, actually be competent at the jobs occupied.

The Twitterati have not been kind:

As I noted, impliedly, in my blog assessment of Therese Coffey of three years ago, the keywords are callousness and incompetence.

https://twitter.com/BernieSpofforth/status/1566188227760979977?s=20&t=fcWT6CzhbvLO_b8PDPizHw

So there it is. Those who follow my blog, or read it regularly, will know or perhaps can guess what I think (inter alia, that tweeting, blogging, or complaining and protesting, will not rid our country of incompetent, corrupt, or evil politicians). Let’s leave it there…

Update, 7 September 2002

Wait a minute… it now turns out that Therese Coffey was asked to leave her Oxford college because either she was not up to the course academically, and/or failed her exams.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/07/therese-coffey-had-to-leave-oxford-university-but-made-it-to-deputy-pm

So how did she get even a BA degree from Somerville? Or is that a total fabrication, like Iain Dunce Duncan Smith’s notoriously fake CV? Other MPs also have faked or partly-faked CVs.

To my mind, Therese Coffey warrants further and deeper investigation. She may be, or may have been, involved in other fakery, fabrication and/or fraud.

Still, it seems now, more than ever, that she fully deserves the title “deadhead“.

Update, 21 September 2022

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11234871/Health-Secretary-Therese-Coffey-end-8am-Glastonbury-esque-scramble-GP-appointments.html

Update, 4 October 2022

Conservative Party Conference 2022:

Well, there they are— the stupid and ignorant “ho”, Liz Truss, already living on borrowed time as (and merely posing as) Prime Minister, and equally-ridiculous “Secretary of State for Health”, Therese Coffey.

The completely decadent and broken (and Jew-Zionist dominated) British political system, 2022, in a single photograph.

Update, 12 October 2022

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/11/therese-coffey-says-nurses-will-not-get-higher-pay-offer-as-strikes-loom

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/11/therese-coffey-to-drop-smoking-action-plan-insiders-say

https://twitter.com/proeurovegan/status/1579723776207749120?s=20&t=ilxm3f5QkAMcsrfIdcNDeg

Well, I have pointed out, repeatedly, on the blog, that critical words (tweeting, blogging etc) cannot deal with the Therese Coffey type.

https://twitter.com/mjtward19/status/1579778439523217409?s=20&t=ilxm3f5QkAMcsrfIdcNDeg

One wonders about the psychology of Therese Coffey, looking at her, and looking at the state of her. A fat and ugly woman, prematurely aged, who gets drunk, spills beer over herself, and smokes cigars while doing it. “Multiple frustrations” would be my armchair psychologist diagnosis.

What does it say about our system of “democracy”, and our system of MP and ministerial selection, that a ghastly and quite possibly evil woman of that sort can become, by a series of “chance” events, a Deputy Prime Minister?

The same goes, of course, for the stupid and ignorant “ho” presently posing as Prime Minister.

https://twitter.com/JohnDav54466583/status/1579943034309206018?s=20&t=ilxm3f5QkAMcsrfIdcNDeg

Interesting, but not surprising. My assessment of the bitch, from 2019, implied as much.

Had one not seen what has been going on in the governance of Britain since at least 2010, one would perhaps be surprised that someone as totally inadequate, dim, and also amoral as Therese Coffey could ever climb higher than the backbenches.

Look at the bitch! Look at her friend and boss, “ho” Truss, too. They are both embarrassments to this country, as are woolly-head Kwarteng and half-caste thicko James Cleverly.

Update, 23 October 2022

Update, 23 February 2023

The bitch’s latest disgusting statements:

https://twitter.com/RealBlackIrish/status/1628766463958872067?s=20

https://twitter.com/RealBlackIrish/status/1628765898663251978?s=20

Update, 21 May 2023

Indian money-juggler Rishi Sunak may now have taken over as bad-joke “Prime Minister”, but Therese Coffey has survived in Cabinet, unbelievably, and still sits there, stupid, incompetent, but immovable…

5 July 2024

At long last, the horrible woman has been binned by the voters, though narrowly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffolk_Coastal_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2020s

Brexit, Conservative Friends of Israel, Deadhead MPs, elections, MPs, Party Politics, Uncategorized

Deadhead MPs, An Occasional Series: The Justin Tomlinson Story

2 Comments

Background

Here, in my occasional series about those I am pleased to call “deadhead MPs”, I now feature Justin Tomlinson MP [Con, North Swindon]. Tomlinson is unique —so far— in terms of this series, in that he has actually achieved junior ministerial rank (appointed junior minister at the DWP). [*Note: I have previously written about Kate Osamor MP, but until she resigned she was only in the Shadow Cabinet and has never been in government].

As on previous occasions in this series, this MP’s academic and work background do not inspire confidence. His family origins seem obscure. Having been born in Blackburn, Lancs, in 1976, he attended a comprehensive school in Kidderminster, Worcs, before reading History and Politics at Oxford Brookes University (the former Oxford Poly).

Arguably bizarrely, Tomlinson’s only known employed position was as manager of a small nightclub known as Eros, in Swindon: see Notes, below (the photographs show scenes every bit as ghastly as expected, a strange mish-mash of provincial, cheesy, decadent and humdrum. Forget Cabaret, think The Office).

It must remain a mystery as to why Tomlinson, a son of either Lancashire or Worcestershire, and then a student in Oxfordshire, relocated yet further South to Wiltshire. Was the Swindon job (as manager of “Eros”) the only one he could get?

We are asked to believe that Tomlinson also “ran a small marketing business” called TB Marketing Solutions Ltd at the same time (c.2000-c.2010). It must have been “small” indeed. The Companies House accounts summary shows the company’s net worth in 2011 at only £66,000. It seems to have had, at any one time, only one director other than Tomlinson, as well as a company secretary, and to have operated from a privately-owned or rented flat in Swindon. It was dissolved in or shortly after 2011. Still, something to add to the CV, I suppose…

Tomlinson may be short on background but he is certainly not lacking self-confidence, having when a student placed a bet on himself to become Prime Minister!

“Chris Kelly and Justin Tomlinson stand to collect £500,000 from William Hill should either become prime minister before 2038. Tomlinson placed two £50 bets at 10,000/1 when the pair were at university. Both are already Conservative MPs.” [BBC, in 2012]

Chris Kelly stood down as MP in 2015 (returning to his family’s Midlands truck-rental business), which is a pity in that he might have made a good “deadhead MP” for this series, were I able to find anything even slightly interesting to say about him.

Back to Tomlinson. He was a local councillor for several years prior to being selected then elected as MP for North Swindon, one of the two constituencies in the town.

Some highlights from Tomlinson’s Parliamentary career

  • “In May 2015, it was reported by The Huffington Post that his appointment as Minister for Disabled People was controversial as he had previously voted against protecting the benefits of disabled children and those undergoing cancer treatment.” [Wikipedia];
  • “Tomlinson faced calls for his resignation in October 2015 after it was reported that he had leaked information from the Public Accounts committee regarding regulation of short term high cost credit “payday lenders” to Wonga.com back in 2013. Tomlinson accepted he had broken the rules and apologised, stating that his “strongly-held belief that action needed to be taken on payday lenders” had caused his “judgement to be clouded”.[13] Tomlinson arranged £30,000 of sponsorship for Swindon Supermarine F.C., a local football team by the same payday lender wonga.com. The football club’s chairman, Jez Webb, has made donations of £30,218 to both Tomlinson’s and local Conservative Party funds since 2014. Webb stated that he donated in a personal capacity and that the very similar amounts “were coincidental.”[14] Tomlinson was subsequently accused of trying to remove references to previous links to Wonga from his website, including the arrangement of a sponsorship deal with Swindon Supermarine F.C. in 2011.” [Wikipedia];
  • Tomlinson, 42, employs his personal partner, Katie Bennett, 28, as his office manager, on a salary of £50,000 p.a.; Tomlinson was married from 2012-2016 to another lady but is now divorced;
  • “Tomlinson leaked a draft of a public accounts committee report on the credit industry to someone he knew who worked for payday lender, Wonga. And when that person emailed four suggested amendments back, Tomlinson had forwarded them virtually word for word on to the Committee as if they were his own.” [The Guardian];
  • “In November 2018, Tomlinson again sparked controversy, this time by suggesting that families facing penury under the Universal Credit scheme initiated by the Conservative governments of 2010-2018 should “take in a lodger.”

“Tomlinson was apparently unaware that [even discounting the fact that few such families have spare rooms], both private and other (e.g. local council and housing association) leases prohibit any form of sub-letting.” [Evening Standard].

North Swindon

Considered to be a “bellwether” constituency, North Swindon has, since its creation in 1997, always followed the national trend. Tomlinson was elected for North Swindon in 2010, receiving a 44.6% vote share (Lab 30.5%). In 2015, the Conservative vote share was 50.3% (Lab 27.8%) and in 2017, 53.6 (Lab 38.4%). In other words, Labour are creeping back but were still well behind in 2017.

Tomlinson has consistently voted for Leave/Brexit, which may help him hang on.

Tomlinson’s vote in numbers was just under 30,000 in 2017, and his majority about 8,000. If, as a recent opinion poll claimed, half those who voted Conservative in 2017 are not going to vote Con in any 2019 General Election, that would reduce Tomlinson’s likely vote to about 15,000 and render the election of another candidate, probably the Labour one, likely. Labour got over 21,000 votes in 2017.

Conclusion

Well, there he is, voters of North Swindon— your deadhead MP. If you want to kick him out, the only lawful way is to vote for Labour or, if it stands, Brexit Party, next time.

Notes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Swindon_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Tomlinson

https://www.gov.uk/government/people/justin-tomlinson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kelly_(British_politician)

http://www.justintomlinson.com/about/biography

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/16320207.rewind-pictures-from-cairos-and-eros/

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/16320207.rewind-pictures-from-cairos-and-eros/#gallery9

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/04739303/TB-MARKETING-SOLUTIONS-LIMITED/companies-house-data

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem/120514/tomlinson_justin.htm

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18769451

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-tory-apologises-parliament-making-14224350

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/15/justin-tomlinson-shows-sorry-seems-to-be-the-easiest-word

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1434753/mp-justin-tomlinson-announces-love-for-25-year-old-aide-after-divorcing-wife/

Below, Justin Tomlinson’s one-time milieu, Eros nightclub, Swindon, in 2002:

Update, 7 May 2019

Below, Tomlinson making himself look stupid and nasty again…

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-leaves-claimants-waiting-9-15010363

Update, 30 May 2020

In the end, Tomlinson held on at North Swindon rather easily. Nigel Farage stabbed his Brexit Party and its candidates (and supporters) in the back; Brexit Party candidates in Conservative Party-held seats (even where the sitting MP was a Remain partisan) were all stood down so that the Conservative Party could win the General Election of late 2019. Tomlinson thus faced no danger that much of his vote would defect to Brexit Party.

Not that the absence of Brexit Party materially altered the result. Labour’s vote slid substantially, and Tomlinson was re-elected by a majority double that which he had achieved in 2017, both in absolute and percentage terms (majority in 2017 was 8,335; in 2019, 16,171).

His vote share in 2019 was 59.1% (2017: 53.6%); pretty convincing by any standards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Swindon_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2010s

Tomlinson continues as Minister of State (i.e. junior minister) at the DWP, the post he has held since April 2019.

Update, 9 August 2022

Tomlinson was sacked as junior minister in a Government reshuffle of September 2021.

“In February 2022 Tomlinson was accused of bullying and sending inappropriate “unprofessional” and “belittling” messages to employees at Conservative Campaign Headquarters.[32]“

[Wikipedia].

Tomlinson must have blagged plenty of money since 2010 in terms of pay, expenses, and “consultancy fees” from Wonga etc. He may need those monies. On present opinion polling, the bellwether seat of Swindon North may jettison him at the next general election.

Update, 5 July 2024

As expected, Tomlinson was binned at GE 2024. Time for him (and girlfriend/wife?) to get employment of a more useful type.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swindon_North_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2020s

Conservative Friends of Israel, Deadhead MPs, elections, MPs, Party Politics, society, Uncategorized

Deadhead MPs, An Occasional Series: The Karl McCartney Story

12 Comments

This is the latest in my occasional series about those whom I consider to be “deadhead MPs”. The lucky politico this time is Karl McCartney, MP for Lincoln 2010-2017.

I would not usually bother with someone who is no longer an MP and who is very unlikely to be returned to the House of Commons. In McCartney’s case, I have decided to make an exception. The reason is because McCartney’s combination of brash overconfidence, unpleasantness, personal moneygrabbing and expenses blodging, lack of interest in the poorer part of society and unimpressive academic and work background is now, and has become, over the past decades, almost typical of MPs (and by no means only on the Conservative side of UK System-politics). That such people can become MPs is an indictment of the selection and election procedures in place in the UK.

Lincoln is considered to be an “ultra-marginal” and a “swing seat”. In 2010, McCartney and the Conservatives won with 37.5% of the votes cast, as against 35.2% for Labour and 20.2% for the LibDems (BNP 3%, UKIP 2.2%, English Democrats 1.3% and an Independent on 0.5%).

In 2015, McCartney was re-elected: Con 42.6%, Lab 39.6%, UKIP 12.2%, LibDem 4.3%, TUSC 0.7%, Lincolnshire Independent 0.6%. The key points were the collapse of the LibDem vote by 16 points, the non-appearance of the BNP and English Democrats, and the rise of UKIP —by 10 points, though that was modest bearing in mind that the BNP and EDs did not stand. Both Con and Lab increased their percentages.

In 2017, the result was Lab 47.9%, Con 44.7%, UKIP 2.6%, LibDem 2.6%, Green 1.2%, and two Independents (0.6%, 0.3%). A pattern seen in many constituencies: UKIP slumping back to a 2010 or pre-2010 level and the LibDems failing to recover from the 2015 debacle and indeed slipping further. While the Con vote percentage did slightly increase –2 points– in 2017, Lab did far better–8 points higher. That despite the UKIP slump, despite McCartney favouring Leave/Brexit, despite the appearance of a Green candidate likely to impact the Labour vote. It is hard to escape the view that the Con loss was the result of popular judgment on McCartney himself.

McCartney was exposed from 2010-2017, in various ways, as unsuitable.

A lecturer at the University of Lincoln blamed McCartney’s laziness and complacency for the loss (see Notes, below) and was too polite to mention McCartney’s alleged porn-trawling (though that was, admittedly, in 2014), his employment of his wife at £50,000 a year via Parliamentary expenses, or his expenses generally.

“On 28 February 2013 McCartney apologised to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) for the content of notes he had sent to staff. The notes were described by IPSA Chief Executive, Andrew McDonald as ‘abusive’, ‘offensive’ and ‘condescending’. McCartney’s apology stated, “I apologise unreservedly to IPSA for my comments” [Wikipedia]. and

“The following month he claimed that IPSA’s incompetence had forced MPs from all parties to borrow money and that he had had to ask his parents for financial assistance.[30] McCartney also said that he had been told by a “senior IPSA official” that the organisation intended to “damage MPs as much as possible,” a claim that IPSA said was “wild ..simply untrue.” [Wikipedia].

An idea of McCartney’s character can also be gained from the Twitter exchange printed in a local newspaper: https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/lincoln-news/bitter-row-breaks-out-twitter-1447360

The readers’ comments section under that newspaper report was harsh:

“Poor old Karl. He really needs to wipe away those tears and get on with his life. He is an arrogant, rude and bitter loser. And they are his good points. Lincoln and the Conservatives are better off without him. Ignore him Karen.”

and

“Happiest day last year was when he walked away in a huff and refused to speak to anyone or congratulate at the election result which pretty much summed everything up.”

As to what McCartney is doing now, I think that the answer may be “very little”. I notice that, as I write this piece, around 1800 hrs, he has already tweeted or retweeted 29 times today, so far. His website seems to say that he will be the Conservative candidate at the next general election. It is hard to know why. One can only speculate as to why the local Conservatives have chosen him. He was a lay magistrate at one time; he is a Freeman of the City of London (see Notes, below), having “worked with”, his website claims, more than one Lord Mayor in the late 1990s. Freemason? I do not know.

McCartney obviously did pretty well financially in his 7 years as MP: salary of (then) about £70,000 pa, and wife’s salary (paid out of his expenses claimed) £50,000 pa; also possible other (outside) sources of income (I do not know about this). His overall expenses alone over his time as MP totalled well over a million pounds. He does not appear to have a job at present (there is nothing mentioned on his website); perhaps his wife has found another job, now that her well-paid work as her husband’s assistant has gone.

Readers of The Lincolnite (online newspaper) were as harsh as those commenting on Lincoln Live (above):

“A totally useless MP, more concerned about himself and his expenses than he ever was about Lincoln – amazed that they’ve reselected this waste of space.

John Bercow (Speaker, House of Commons) summed him up nicely with this in a parliamentary debate when McCartney let himself (and us) down yet again:

“Mr McCartney, calm yourself. Be quiet, young man. We do not need to hear from you. You add nothing and you subtract from the proceedings.”

Then there were the abusive notes (for which he had to apologise) he sent to the parliamentary expenses staff when they queried his expenses.”

 
and
 
“Unvelievable! [sic] A sure fire way for the Conservatives to lose votes.”
 
and
 
 
“It’s not what you know but who you know ,Roll your trouser leg up, funny handshake and fancy apron crowd.”

 

What are McCartney’s chances of getting back as Lincoln’s MP? Very slight. I have blogged elsewhere about the impact of Brexit Party (and slightly revived UKIP) on the Conservative vote, assuming that Brexit Party contests a general election. That alone would sink the Conservatives in an ultra-marginal such as Lincoln.

Another point is that present Labour MP, Karen Lee, who worked in shops for years before spending 14 years as an NHS nurse, still puts in some shifts at a local hospital, donating her NHS earnings to charity! What a contrast to greedy, moneygrasping and “entitled” McCartney! His work in the City of London in the 1990s was obviously so unimportant that even his own website says almost nothing about it (neither does he seem to have done much outside Con politics in the decade up to his election in 2010).

In addition to all that, Karen Lee is local in origin, whereas McCartney was born in Birkenhead, “Murkyside” (Merseyside), and was educated there and in Wales.

Well, there you are. My latest “deadhead MP”, who is hoping to resume his place at the trough soon. Over to you, voters of Lincoln…

Notes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_McCartney

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2010s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Lee_(politician)

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/11/27/tory-mp-karl-mccartney-tweet_n_6232142.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIKZhoa8XJCbB18xVaaWRBehkKE5w89EpDknuZJaJ8VfUfEduIH82JL8WXecZ0k7u8-GT4528zeaV2gMoMCe7kQ5jN5eBgSwNM6ayc1OQI9PIsXSsHYaEO29QoJ2fz2DE1esHEBaKTjrJD2ZQ9ShET86lXCWEgNmlpCKEmDNbwgz

https://metro.co.uk/2014/11/27/tory-mp-hastily-deletes-twitter-favourites-after-porn-gaffe-4964888/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-30230261

https://labourlist.org/2014/11/tory-mp-favourites-graphic-porn-tweet/

https://politicalscrapbook.net/2014/11/karl-mccartney-mp-and-twitter-porn/

https://www.anorak.co.uk/352433/money/karl-mccartney-shocked-that-politicians-can-be-treated-like-any-poor-sod-waiting-for-benefits.html

https://www.karlmccartney.co.uk/

https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/former-lincoln-mp-karl-mccartney-111161

https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/lincoln-news/bitter-row-breaks-out-twitter-1447360

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24790/karl_mccartney/lincoln/votes

https://adrippingtap.wordpress.com/tag/karl-mccartney-mp/

https://thelincolnite.co.uk/2019/03/lincoln-conservatives-re-select-karl-mccartney-for-mp-candidate/

https://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2019/03/mccartney-selected-as-the-candidate-for-lincoln-his-former-constituency.html

Note re. “Freeman of the City of London”:

“In England, the most established borough freedom is that conferred by the Freedom of the City of London, first recorded in 1237. This is closely tied to the role and status of the livery companies. From 1835, the freedom “without the intervention of a Livery Company” has been bestowed by a general resolution of Common Council, by “redemption” (purchase), at one time for an onerous sum. Now the Freedom can be obtained by servitude, by patrimony, by nomination, or by presentation via a Livery Company. Freedom through nomination by two sponsors is available for a fee (known as a “fine”) of £100, but is free to those on the electoral roll of the City.” [Wikipedia]

Update, 1 May 2019

I am writing this update just after 1400 hrs. McCartney took to Twitter today at about 0600 and, by my reckoning, has, in the intervening 8 hours, tweeted or retweeted at least 52 times (I think that I have left out a few retweets). Quite a few of his tweets and retweets seem to be about “anti-Semitism” in the Labour Party. McCartney must have been part of the “Friends of Israel” crowd (like 80% of “Conservative” MPs). He obviously wants to remain (((onside))). I have no idea whether Lincoln’s deadhead former MP actually has a job at present. I doubt it. He seems an extremely unpleasant person either way.

Update, 18 July 2019

https://thelincolnite.co.uk/2019/07/karl-mccartney-on-lincolns-climate-emergency-fine-words-butter-no-parsnips/

In the article above, written for The Lincolnite (local online newspaper), McCartney again obsesses about “anti-Semitism” in the Labour Party, saying that Labour peers have raised the issue again. Well, about 50 or 60 have, out of 179…

I wonder whether the voters of Lincoln share McCartney’s obsession with speaking out in favour of the Jewish lobby? I doubt it! As for the rest of his article, the Lincolnite needs a sub-editor to correct spelling errors (“buses” is right, “busses” is not) and grammar.

Some of the few readers’ comments on the above article have been unkind:

“FAT303

Why are you giving this failed Tory a voice he spent 1000s on a letter folder, and employed his wife as an assistant on 45k a year. He doesnt give a toss about us he just wants his expenses back…“
 
and
 

“Graham R Peck

I am assuming the Lincolnite has decided to join his very early election campaign hence the article. I assume we will get more of the same until a General Election. As it stands he is a nobody and yet has got 3 times more space than the sitting MP who represents which Party? Well blow me“
 
Seems that McCartney and his wife, a local councillor, are living rather well off the hump, despite having had their joint income reduced since his 2017 election failure:
 
 
 
Update, 3 November 2019
 
Well, it seems that McCartney’s leech-like tenaciousness in Lincoln might (against the odds and all reason) pay off. Corbyn-Labour is suffering a crisis of public confidence, while (by reason of that) Boris-Idiot and the misnamed “Conservatives” are riding high in the opinion polls.
 
People vote (mainly) according to party label and national trend rather than for or against the individual candidate. That plays to McCartney’s advantage here, however unfair that may be. At present, the Conservatives are favourites in the betting to retake Lincoln (1/2) whereas Labour is on 11/8:
 
He remains not universally popular in Lincoln, though:
 
 
Update, 24 November 2019
 
 
Update, 26 November 2019
 
If I myself say so, it was rather prescient of me to have included Karl McCartney in my Deadhead MPs series, inasmuch as the tides have turned, at least temporarily, in his favour, which means that he may well be back as MP for Lincoln (well, MP for His Own Benefit, His Wife’s Benefit, and, maybe, Lincoln) by 12 December.
 
The betting odds have McCartney favourite to retake the seat on Polling Day. That must reflect the general/national public sentiment against Labour, mainly, as well as McCartney’s pro-Brexit stance in a Leave constituency.
 
Brexit Party is standing, but is probably of no great significance now, Farage having shot his own party in the head (now at 3% or so in the opinion polls). UKIP stood at Lincoln in 2017, but only received 2.6% of the total vote.
 
 
Update, 13 December 2019
 
Well, the voters of Lincoln have evidently eaten too many potatoes. McCartney has been elected again as MP. He must be celebrating his return to paid “work”, generous (whatever he says) expenses, and perhaps to getting his wife back on the gravy-train (£50,000 pa as “assistant” or whatever, yet again via expenses), though the rules were changed for MPs elected in or after 2017, so it may be that he at least will be prevented from blodging in that way.
 
McCartney was elected this time because the Brexit Party candidate withdrew on his own initiative. What an idiot…his (guessing) several thousand intended votes probably did it for McCartney, who beat the far better Labour candidate, Karen Lee, by about three and a half thousand votes.
 
 
Update, 5 July 2024
The people of Lincoln have finally removed McCartney, who came a very poor second in the 2024 General Election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2020s

He will have to find another job, if he can.