COMMONS APPROVES FACE MASKS

A small number of actual real conservatives have failed to derail the Tory government's latest Covid restrictions.  19 backbenchers rebelled in Tuesday's retroactive vote on face masks, but the measures were approved by a whopping 433-22.  Despite the imposition of the rule, some Tory MPs still refused to wear them as the Commons debated something that had already been enacted.

The 19 Tory rebels were as follows.

Steve Baker (Wycombe)

Graham Brady (Altrincham & Sale West)

Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire)

Christopher Chope (Christchurch)

Philip Davies (Shipley)

Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock)

Richard Drax (South Dorset)

Mr Mark Francois (Rayleigh & Wickford)

Chris Green (Bolton West)

Mark Jenkinson (Workington)

Pauline Latham (Mid-Derbyshire)

Andrew Lewer (Northampton South)

Karl McCartney (Lincoln)

Esther McVey (Tatton)

Andrew Percy (Brigg & Goole)

Greg Smith (Buckingham)

Robert Symns (Poole)

Charles Walker (Broxbourne)

William Wragg (Hazel Grove)

Phillip Hollobone and Craig McKinlay were tellers for the noes.

Three DUP members also voted against the measures, despite them not affecting Northern Ireland.

69 Tories did not vote or abstained.  The renewed measures were overwhelmingly supported by Labour MPs (156 from 199, the rest did not vote or abstained).

A further vote on new self-isolation measures passed by 431-36.

Tory lockdown sceptic Steve Baker delivered a seven-minute denunciation of his government's latest repressive and over-the-top moves.  His full speech can be seen below.

WHAT A CULT

We haven't mentioned Little Owen for quite some time.  The boy Jones has become increasingly irrelevant since Corbyn's crushing defeat and resignation.  However, we couldn't allow his latest right royal rinsing on Twitter to go unmentioned.

On Monday he was busy attacking Starmer's treatment of Angela Rayner and unleashed a four tweet thread that culminated in the following instant classic...

Cult like followers?  This coming from one of Jeremy Corbyn's biggest tub-thumpers and a leading advocate for Momentum - the cult-like organisation set up purely to worship the Great Leader.

Not a cult

Definitely not a cult

Total cult

Owen's astonishing lack of self awareness did not go unnoticed and he later trended on Twitter.  What a cult.

CAT'S PARTING SHOT

Keir Starmer and Cat Smith in happier times

Labour's Cat Smith quit Starmer's front bench on Monday, after being told she was being kept on in her role as shadow secretary of state for young people and democracy.  Smith thanked Starmer for the offer, but said she wanted to concentrate on her constituency work in Lancaster and Fleetwood.  Smith has a small majority of 2,380 and has watched neighbouring red wall seats fall to the Conservatives one by one.  Her priority is clearly to remain on the Westminster gravy train.

Smith also used her resignation to lash out at Starmer over the ongoing treatment of Jeremy Corbyn.  The party whip remains suspended and he is expected to stand as an independent at the next election if the whip is not restored.  The situation is 'utterly unsustainable' writes Smith in her resignation letter (see below).

Smith has not been replaced by Starmer, suggesting that her post has now been abolished.  The role had been created by Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 and held by Smith since 2016.

STARMER'S RESHUFFLE IN FULL

Yvette Cooper and Dave Lammy are the big movers in Keir Starmer's surprise reshuffle.  Cooper returns to the shadow cabinet after a six year stint on the backbenches, taking on the role she relinquished in 2015 - shadow home secretary.  She replaces the painfully dull Nick Thomas-Symonds, who is demoted to shadow international trade secretary.  Speculation was rife all afternoon that Emily Thornberry was to get the shadow home secretary job, but it appears that Starmer may have realised that the appointment of another wealthy London Remainer wouldn't have gone down well in Labour's forgotten heartlands.

Lammy replaces Lisa Nandy as shadow foreign secretary.  Nandy is demoted to shadow levelling up secretary (yes, that is a real post).

Wes Streeting replaces the hapless Jonathan Ashworth as shadow health secretary.  Ashworth is demoted to shadow work and pensions, which is a shame because his media gaffes were a never-ending source of amusement.

Lord Falconer, Kate Green, Nia Griffith, Luke Pollard and Cat Smith all leave the front benches.  Smith has not been replaced as shadow secretary of state for young people and democracy, suggesting that the position has been abolished.  It had been created by Jeremy Corbyn in 2015.

Starmer's front bench changes can be found in full, below.

Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary - replaces Nick Thomas-Symonds

David Lammy, shadow foreign secretary - replaces Lisa Nandy

Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary - replaces Jonathan Ashworth

Bridget Phillipson, shadow education secretary - replaces Kate Green

Jonathan Reynolds, shadow business secretary - replaces Ed Miliband

Jim McMahon, shadow environment secretary - replaces Luke Pollard

Louise Haigh, shadow transport secretary - replaces Jim McMahon

Ed Miliband, shadow climate secretary - new post, previously abolished in 2016

Lisa Nandy, shadow levelling up secretary - replaces Steve Reed

Lucy Powell, shadow culture secretary - replaces Jo Stevens

Jonathan Ashworth, shadow work and pensions secretary - replaces Jonathan Reynolds

Nick Thomas-Symonds, shadow international trade secretary - replaces Emily Thornberry

Steve Reed, shadow justice secretary - replaces Dave Lammy

Emily Thornberry, shadow attorney general - replaces Lord Falconer

Pat McFadden, shadow chief secretary to the treasury - replaces Bridget Phillipson

Jo Stevens, shadow secretary of state for Wales - replaces Nia Griffith

Peter Kyle, shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland - replaces Louise Haigh

STARMER HUMILIATES RAYNER

It's been a humiliating day for Angela Rayner after Keir Starmer embarked on a major reshuffle without consulting her.  The news broke as she was making a big speech on how Labour would tackle corruption in politics.  By the time she'd finished speaking, reporters only wanted to ask her about one thing - the reshuffle she knew nothing about.

Click below for the moment she is asked about it on Times Radio.

All is clearly not well between Starmer and his deputy.

PLAID ENTER LABOUR COALITION

Plaid's Adam Price and Labour's Mark Drakeford

Plaid Cymru members have voted in favour of a 'co-operation agreement' with the governing Labour Party of Wales. 94 per cent of Plaid's members backed the deal, which stops short of a formal coalition.  There will be no Plaid ministers in the Welsh government, but the wide-ranging agreement ensures that Wales will remain firmly in the grip of the hard left for the next three years.

Despite Labour being by far the largest party in the Senedd following May's election, they were still one seat short of an overall majority.  This was not disastrous for them in the short term, as they could generally rely on their fellow leftists in Plaid Cymru to pass legislation.  However, a divergence between the two parties would cause problems for Mark Drakeford and so - after six months of talks - a deal has been agreed.

There are 46 policies in the agreement, which can be read in full here.  These policies include a tourist tax, the creation of a publicly owned energy provider and the expansion of the Senedd from its current 60 members to either 80 or 100.  The latter is clearly aimed at securing Labour's long term position in government and finally achieving the outright majority that has eluded them since the inception of home rule in 1999.  Most of the extra seats will come from South Wales, where Labour support is strongest.

Plaid have gone into coalition with Labour before in Wales - in 2007.  Plaid's leader Adam Price hailed the agreement as a seed for 'a new society, a new Wales, a new beginning'.  It's a remarkable turnaround for a guy who said prior to May's election that his party 'would not support a Labour government under any circumstances'.  Click below for the clip and note the response of the presenter to Price's seemingly decisive stance...

It took a little longer than a couple of months for Price to be shown up as yet another disingenuous politician, but his u-turn couldn't be clearer.

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 21-27 NOV 2021

This was the week in which all the newspapers - left and right - openly mocked Boris Johnson.  From open borders to his disastrous CBI speech, the unanimous verdict was a Prime Minister who has completely lost the plot.

21.11.21 - Morten Morland, Sunday Times

22.11.21 - Graeme Bandeira, Yorkshire Post

22.11.21 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

22.11.21 - Patrick Cross, Twitter

22.11.21 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

23.11.21 - Morten Morland, The Times

23.11.21 - AF Branco, Daily Torch

23.11.21 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

23.11.21 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

24.11.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

24.11.21 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail

24.11.21 - Graeme Bandeira, Yorkshire Post

24.11.21 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

24.11.21 - Dave Brown, Independent

26.11.21 - Andy Davey, Daily Telegraph

26.11.21 - Kevin Kallaugher, Economist

26.11.21 - Ben Garrison, Grrr Graphics

26.11.21 - Steve Cutts, Twitter

26.11.21 - Peter Brookes, The Times

26.11.21 - Paul Thomas, Daily Mail

27.11.21 - Andy Davey, Daily Telegraph

27.11.21 - Kipper Williams, Spectator

27.11.21 - Chip Bok, Twitter

HULL JOINS GROOMING LIST

Kingston-upon-Hull is among the long list of predominantly northern English towns and cities to be blighted by the vile scourge of Muslim grooming gangs.  Sky News has covered the Hull story this week, with testimony from a young woman who said she had been raped by up to 150 men from the age of 13.  She provided text messages from one of the ringleaders and said that some of the assaults were filmed, with one video captioned: "English girl gets f***** against her will".  Despite the very obvious racial nature of the crimes, Sky does not refer to the Islamic backgrounds of the men once during their coverage.

Sky's opening report can be seen below.

Local news outlets have been less shy about the common link between the perpetrators, the Hull Daily Mail describing them as 'Turkish, Kurdish and Bangladeshi'.  As with all the other towns and cities blighted by these gangs, Hull City Council is run by Labour and they have little to say about the problem at all.  Quelle surprise?

COUNCIL BY-ELECTIONS 25.11.21

It was a busy day for by-elections in England this week with twelve in total, plus an election for the North Yorkshire police and crime commissioner.  The North Yorks PCC vacancy came about after the Tory incumbent resigned following an outcry over remarks he made about the Sarah Everard case.  The Conservatives eased to victory in the contest to replace him, albeit on a disgracefully low turnout of just 13.9 per cent.  The Tory candidate trounced Labour in the run-off, the result of which was almost identical to May's result.

Labour were defending six seats on Thursday and they held four - including a paper thin victory in Wandsworth where they clung on by just one vote.  Earlier this year Labour had a 936 vote majority in that same seat.  The Labour vote also collapsed in two Midlands seats where they lost to the  Conservatives in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Nuneaton.  However, the two Labour losses were compensated for by two Labour gains, both from independents in Allerdale and Wigan.

The Conservatives were defending three seats on Thursday and held two.  In Kent they lost a seat to the Tunbridge Wells Alliance, but this was more than compensated by the two Midland gains over Labour.

The Lib Dems were defending one seat, in the Wirral, which they held easily.

The Lib Dems and Greens did not contest Speldhurst and Bidborough this time.  UKIP did not contest Oxton.

Maryport South, Allerdale Borough Council

Lab: 273 (52.9%) +10.2%

Ind: 149 (28.9%) -10.5%

Con: 94 (18.2%) +11.4%

Lab GAIN from Ind

Lee Chapel North, Basildon Borough Council

Lab: 451 (39.8%) -12.8%

Con: 396 (34.8%) +8.4%

BCRP: 135 (11.9%) New

RefUK: 98 (8.6%) New

LDem: 55 (4.9%) -16.2%

Lab HOLD

Halton Castle, Halton Borough Council

Lab: 373 (60.3%) +9.7%

Grn: 117 (19.0%) New

Ind: 69 (11.1%) -8.0%

Con: 45 (7.3%) -11.3%

LDem: 15 (2.4%) -9.3%

Lab HOLD

Raskelf & White Horse, Hambleton District Council

Con: 288 (55.7%) -2.9%

LDem: 127 (24.6%) New

Grn: 102 (19.7%) -21.7%

Con HOLD

Carnforth & Millhead, Lancaster City Council

Lab: 538 (57.7%) +20.2%

Con: 315 (33.8%) +1.8%

Grn: 54 (5.8%) -5.2%

LDem: 25 (2.7%) New

Lab HOLD

Knutton, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council

Con: 188 (51.1%) +25.8%

Lab: 180 (48.9%) -25.8%

Con GAIN from Lab

Barpool, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council

Con: 508 (55.3%) +14.4%

Lab: 215 (23.4%) -26.7%

Grn: 196 (21.3%) +12.2%

Con GAIN from Lab

Speldhurst & Bidborough, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

TWA: 788 (49.8%) +27.4%

Con: 730 (46.1%) +4.2%

Lab: 65 (4.1%) -4.0%

TWA GAIN from Con

Bedford, Wandsworth London Borough Council

Lab: 906 (40.2%) -9.8%

Con: 905 (40.2%) +5.7%

Grn: 306 (13.6%) +4.3%

LDem: 135 (6.0%) -0.2%

Lab HOLD

Horringer, West Suffolk Council

Con: 257 (47.7%) -21.2%

Lab: 204 (37.8%) +6.7%

LDem: 78 (14.5%) New

Con HOLD

Bryn, Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Lab: 429 (31.2%) +8.2%

Ind: 412 (30.0%) New

Ind: 353 (25.7%) New

Con: 142 (10.3%) +2.1%

LDem: 38 (2.8%) +1.1%

Lab GAIN from Ind

Oxton, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

LDem: 1,666 (68.3%) +8.4%

Lab: 460 (18.8%) -10.7%

Con: 168 (6.9%) +1.9%

Grn: 147 (6.0%) New

LDem HOLD

North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner

(First preference votes)

Con: 34,385 (40.1%) -6.9%

Lab: 18,094 (21.1%) -5.0%

Ind: 14,988 (17.5%) New

LDem: 9,499 (11.1%) -1.5%

WEP: 8,837 (10.3%) New

Final Round

Con: 60.8%

Lab: 39.2%

Con HOLD

Abbreviations

Lab = Labour

Con = Conservative

BCRP = Basildon Community Residents Party

RefUK = Reform UK

LDem = Liberal Democrat

Grn = Green

TWA = Tunbridge Wells Alliance

WEP = Women's Equality Party

Ind = Independents

LAING GETS BETTER OF BUTLER

Commons deputy speaker Eleanor Laing clashed with Dawn Butler this week after the MP accused a Tory minister of misleading Parliament over Covid contracts.  Of course it is the great irony of Westminster that it is forbidden to make accusations of dishonesty in this place of lies.  After Butler doubled down on her initial choice of words, in a third foray she rephrased them in a manner which Laing accepted.

Click below to watch the exchange in full.

This is not the first time that Butler has tested the Commons chair.  Earlier this year she was ordered from the chamber after accusing Boris Johnson of lying.  Acting deputy speaker Judith Commons (herself a Labour MP) made a martyr of Butler on that occasion (click below for video).

Butler's latest dance with the chair comes a week after Laing was defied repeatedly by Butler's comrade Zarah Sultana.  Despite Sultana refusing point blank to withdraw her remark, Laing chose not to have her removed from the chamber.  The martyrdom of being kicked out of the Commons appears to be well sought after by those on Labour's hard left and there will surely be plenty more attempts to rile the chair during the course of this parliament.

ENTITLED STELLA'S BIG SULK

Labour's Stella Creasy is kicking up a huge fuss after she was told that she can no longer bring her baby into the chamber of the House of Commons.  Stella has been doing the media rounds on Wednesday complaining over the airwaves and her Twitter feed is currently wall-to-wall expressions of entitlement.

In one of her media appearances on Wednesday morning, the Walthamstow MP told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire that she didn't have maternity cover and appeared to suggest that misogyny was to blame.  Click below for the clip.

The insufferably smug MP is the epitome of a white middle class 'Karen' who appears to have lost touch with reality.  How many jobs are there out there where employees are allowed to bring their child into work with them?  Furthermore, the House of Commons already caters for childcare needs and has an onsite fully-staffed nursery for up to 40 children from three months up.  Stella's latest baby is thirteen weeks old and would qualify for the service, but this clearly isn't good enough for Creasy.

Numerous female MPs have given birth over the years and numerous female MPs have managed to raise their children without having them clinging to their bosoms in the Commons chamber.  What makes Creasy such a special case?  Her elevated sense of entitlement, apparently.

Her constituency is barely nine miles from Westminster and she earns an £82,000 salary.  It's not as if she cannot afford a nanny for a few hours per week.  And where is the father of the child, of whom little is known?

If nothing else, this is not a great way to raise a son.  Cradled to her bosom 24/7 is going to give him crippling anxieties when he goes out into the real world and he will surely grow up to be a proper mummy's boy - as entitled and out of touch as his mother.

PRIME MINISTER'S QUESTIONS 24.11.21

Watch here from noon.

ANOTHER BAD ROUND FOR ASHWORTH

Labour's hapless health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth did the media rounds on Monday to put forward his party's latest attitude to coronavirus restrictions.  It didn't start well for Ashworth when he failed to realise he was live on Good Morning Britain and began fiddling with his hair as the presenters desperately tried to get his attention.  Ashworth apologised for yet another embarrassing gaffe and proceeded to bat away Adil Ray's suggestion that Britain should enforce mandatory Covid vaccinations for all.

Ashworth later moved to another room in his lavish home for an interview with TalkRadio's Julia Hartley-Brewer.  It was a very different interview as Hartley-Brewer tore into Ashworth over Labour's lockdown stance.  She quite rightly pulled him up after he referred to 'Boris Johnson's lockdowns' as if Labour were in some way exempt from responsibility - despite having voted in favour of all the national lockdowns, plus implementing three of their own in Wales.

Hartley-Brewer also rinsed Ashworth over his party's double standards regarding the wearing of face masks.  Click below for the clip.

LABOUR APOLOGY TO BROKENSHIRE FAMILY

James Brokenshire and Labour election material

Labour have apologised to the family of late Conservative MP James Brokenshire after they addressed a letter to him for the forthcoming by-election in his seat.  An election communication was sent to Mr Brokenshire's family home in the Old Bexley and Sidcup constituency, addressed directly to the deceased MP and urging him to vote Labour.

Mr Brokenshire died last month after a long battle with lung cancer.  The resulting by-election is being held in the London constituency on December 2.  Labour have been the nearest challengers in every general election in the seat since 1992 and are looking to overturn a huge 19,000 Tory majority.  They have selected a long standing local councillor as their candidate.  The Conservatives have also selected a local councillor as their candidate.

Tory MP David Evennett described Labour's Brokenshire letter as 'insensitive' and the Mail on Sunday reported that it caused 'deep upset' to the ex-minister's widow.

In a statement Labour said: "This was the standard freepost mailing that parties get at election time which is sent to all registered electors in the local area.  We sincerely apologise for any distress cause to the Brokenshire family".  Why did no-one involved in the mailshot stop to think that the former MP actually lived in his own constituency?  The Mail on Sunday quoted an unnamed Labour MP describing the incident as a 'dreadful error' and that there is 'no way' it should have happened. 

Old Bexley & Sidcup by-election candidates

Elaine Cheeseman (EngDem)

Daniel Francis (Lab)

Louie French (Con)

Richard Hewison (Rejoin)

David Kurten (Heritage)

John Poynton (UKIP)

Simone Reynolds (LDem)

Jonathan Rooks (Grn)

Richard Tice (Reform)

Carol Valinejad (CPA)

Mad Mike Young (Loony)

Old Bexley & Sidcup 2019 general election

James Brokenshire (Con) 29,786 (64.5%) +3.1%

Dave Tingle (Lab) 10,834 (23.5) -5.8%

Simone Reynolds (LDem) 3,822 (8.3%) +5.0%

Matt Browne (Grn) 1,477 (3.2%) +1.5%

Carol Valinejad (CPA) 226 (0.5%) +0.3%

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 14-20 NOV 2021

14.11.21 - Nick Newman, Sunday Times

14.11.21 - Matt Pritchett, Sunday Telegraph

14.11.21 - Andy Davey, Sunday Telegraph

15.11.21 - Morten Morland, The Times

15.11.21 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

15.11.21 - Bob Moran, Twitter

15.11.21 - Jimbob, Gab

15.11.21 - Steve Bright, The Sun

16.11.21 - Morten Morland, The Times

16.11.21 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

15.11.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

16.11.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

16.11.21 - Guy Venables, Metro

16.11.21 - AF Branco, Flag & Cross

17.11.21 - Gary Varvel, Twitter

18.11.21 - Josh, Net Zero Watch

18.11.21 - Ben Garrison, Grrr Graphics

19.11.21 - Pete Songi, Twitter

19.11.21 - David Simonds, Evening Standard

19.11.21 - Andy Davey, Daily Telegraph

19.11.21 - Peter Brookes, The Times

19.11.21 - Mister T, Cartoon Movement

20.11.21 - Steven Camley, Herald

20.11.21 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

20.11.21 - Peter Brookes, The Times

20.11.21 - Grizelda, Spectator

20.11.21 - Grizelda, Spectator

20.11.21 - Wilbur Dawbarn, Spectator