ALL ABOUT ANGELA

On Wednesday neither Boris Johnson or Keir Starmer were at PMQs, so as is customary their deputies stood in for them.  With Angela Rayner at the helm for Labour it was perhaps inevitable that something dramatic might happen.  And deputy PMQs didn't disappoint with lively exchanges between Rayner and Dominic Raab.

A few minutes in Raab was responding to Rayner when he gave a cheeky wink towards the Labour front bench.  The moment drove woke Twitter into meltdown as leftists immediately took the moral high ground and accused him of misogyny, sexism and 'toxic masculinity' towards Rayner.  Labour's Toby Perkins was among those who took umbrage...

Of course Ange made it all about her, but if you watch the clip back (see below) you may notice that when Raab makes the gesture he is not looking straight ahead.  In fact he clearly glances off to his right - to Rayner's left - where shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray was sitting.  Murray had been in boistrous mood during the session and was personally reprimanded by the Speaker for being noisy.  Raab later confirmed that it was Murray to whom he had made the gesture, in response to one of the MP's outbursts.

Despite Raab's perfectly reasonable explanation, most media outlets have maintained the Rayner angle as it supports their 'misogynist' narrative.

The media also failed to pick upon an early gaffe as Rayner made her opening statement during the session.  Referring to the two recent Tory by-election losses, she pronounced the Devon town of Tiverton as 'Tiverwington'.  No wonder Labour lost their deposit there.

For the full PMQs session click here.

PRIME MINISTER'S QUESTIONS 29.06.22

Boris Johnson is currently attending a NATO summit, so it's a battle of the deputies as Dominic Raab takes on Angela Rayner.  Watch below.

TORIES DENY DEFECTION RUMOURS

Tory MPs, including former Labour councillor Lee Anderson, have ridiculed suggestions they are about to defect to Labour.  According to a report in The Sunday Times, 'at least' six Tories are thought to be considering crossing the floor in order to save their seats at the next election.  However, the report is not derived from Tory sources, it has come from Labour.

In response to the news, Brendan Clarke-Smith (Bassetlaw) tweeted a photo of himself alongside Nottinghamshire colleague Anderson and Ipswich MP Tom Hunt holding up photographs of beer and curry.  Top trolling lads...

One of those to respond to the trio was none other than Bury South's Christian Wakeford - who remains the only Conservative MP to defect to Labour in this parliamentary term.  Wokeford tweeted: "I thought the Inbetweeners had finished?"  That would have been a faintly amusing comeback, only there were four Inbetweeners, not three.  As several people pointed out to him, perhaps the Three Stooges would have been a more appropriate insult.

It may well be that The Sunday Times source was Wakeford himself, with potential deserters reaching out to their former colleague.  Or it could just be some mischief making with little or no basis whatsoever.  Other Tories were also quick to dismiss suggestions they could be leaving the sinking ship.  Two Johnson critics were among them.  Caroline Nokes (Romsey & Southampton North) responded to Bishop Auckland's Dehenna Davison to issue a denial of her own.  Both voted against the PM in the recent confidence vote.

Gary Sambrook (Birmingham Northfield) joked that he was too 'working class to join Labour'.

Only time will tell if any more Tories follow Wokeford across the floor, but it's already been six months since he defected.  We are also still only halfway through this parliament and there remains a faint possibility that Johnson could turn things around or, if things don't improve he could be gone in a confidence vote next year.  Tory backbenchers would perhaps be wise to hang on a little while longer and see if the current car crash can be reversed.

NEIL OLIVER'S MONOLOGUE 25.06.22

In his latest GB News monologue, Neil Oliver lambasts Western governments as they seek to jab younger and younger children with a useless and dangerous vaccine - supposedly intended for a disease that poses almost zero risk to them.  In fact, it is now demonstrably proven that the vaccines pose more of a threat to youngsters than the virus itself.  Furthermore, as Dr John Campbell showed in one of his recent YouTube videos, around 95 per cent of British children already have Covid antibodies - so why then does our government still want to stick them?  And, as Neil points out - the government's own vaccine advisory body estimates that at least two million children would need to be jabbed before a single child is prevented from being hospitalised with Covid.

Something very sinister is going on.

Click below for Neil's full nine minute monologue on Covid jabs for children and what is driving this murderous policy...

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 19-25 JUNE 2022

19.06.22 - Chris Riddell, Observer

20.06.22 - AF Branco, Daily Torch

20.06.22 - Ben Garrison, Grrr Graphics

20.06.22 - Peter Schrank, The Times

20.06.22 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

21.06.22 - Maarten Wolterink, Twitter

20.06.22 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

21.06.22 - Steven Camley, The Herald

21.06.22 - Tina Garrison, Grrr Graphics

21.06.22 - Marian Kamensky, Cartoon Movement

21.06.22 - Jeremy Banks, Financial Times

21.06.22 - Morten Morland, The Times

21.06.22 - Pete Songi, Twitter

22.06.22 - Tom Stiglich, Twitter

22.06.22 - Jimbob, Gab

22.06.22 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

22.06.22 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

22.06.22 - Morten Morland, The Times

23.06.22 - Joep Bertrams, De Groene Amsterdammer

23.06.22 - Michael Ramirez, Counterpoint

24.06.22 - Peter Brookes, The Times

24.06.22 - Ben Jennings, i

24.06.22 - Emanuele Del Rosso, Cartooning For Peace

24.06.22 - Jef McDonald, Gab

24.06.22 - Bob Moran, Twitter

24.06.22 - Jimbob, Gab

25.06.22 - Bob Moran, Twitter

25.06.22 - Ron McGeary, Twitter

25.06.22 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

25.06.22 - Morten Morland, Spectator

THE KINDERGARTEN'S TAKEN OVER

US political commentator Bill Maher is one of the few high-profile American liberals that actually understands liberalism.  While most of the other so-called 'liberals' are in actual fact constantly triggered lefties, Maher abhors cancel culture and political correctness.  It was with his dedication to free speech in mind that he recently delivered one of his finest monologues yet - a searing critique of a triggered reporter at the Washington Post and the Post's response to her warblings.

The furore at the newspaper began when one of its journalists retweeted a comedian who made the following joke: "Every girl is bi, you just have to figure out if it's polar or sexual".  For the rest of the story, please click below for Meher's eight minute demolition of woke snowflakery...

BY-ELECTIONS 23.06.22

The Conservatives were defending two parliamentary seats on Thursday and have sensationally lost both of them.  The Tiverton and Honiton by-election came about due to the resignation of Neil Parish, who was found to have viewed pornography on his mobile phone in the Commons chamber.  The Tories were defending a whopping 24,239 majority in the Devon constituency, but a huge swing to the Lib Dems put them top of the poll with a 6,144 majority.  The Lib Dems finished third here in 2019, but Labour boosted their chances this time around by stepping back from campaigning.  As a consequence, Labour finished third themselves and lost their deposit.

Tiverton and Honiton had been held by the Conservatives since its creation in 1997, the previous Tiverton constituency had been blue since 1924.  This stunning defeat deals another crushing blow to Boris Johnson's leadership.

Tiverton & Honiton by-election

Richard Foord (LDem) 22,537 (53.1%) +38.6%

Helen Hurford  (Con) 16,393 (38.4%) -21.8%

Liz Pole (Lab) 1,562 (3.7%) -15.8%

Gill Westcott (Grn) 1,064 (2.5%) -1.3%

Andy Foan (RefUK) 481 (1.1%) New

Ben Walker (UKIP) 241 (0.6%) -1.0

Jordan Donoghue-Morgan (Herit) 167 (0.4%) New

Frankie Rufolo (ForBr) 146 (0.3%) New

The Wakefield by-election went to Labour, as expected.  Before 2019 the seat had been red since 1932, but Imran Khan took the seat in the last general election for the Tories.  He stood down following his conviction for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.  His 3,358 majority was overturned by Labour's Simon Lightwood who topped the poll with a 4,925 majority - the party's largest majority in Wakefield since 2005.

It was a crowded ballot paper in Wakefield, but only three of the 15 candidates saved their deposits.

Wakefield by-election

Simon Lightwood (Lab) 13,166 (48.4%) +8.6%

Nadeem Ahmed (Con) 8,241 (30.3%) -17.0%

Akef Akbar (Ind) 2,090 (7.7%) New

David Herdson (Yorks) 1,182 (4.3%) +2.4%

Ashley Routh (Grn) 587 (2.2%) New

Chris Walsh (RefUK) 513 (1.9%) -4.2%

Jamie Needle (LDem) 508 (1.9%) -2.0%

Ashlea Simon (BritF) 311 (1.1%) New

Mick Dodgson (Freedom) 187 (0.7%) New

Sir Archibald Stanton Earl Eaton (Loony) 171 (0.6%) New

Paul Bickerdike (Christ) 144 (0.5%) New

Therese Hirst (EngDem) 135 (0.5% New

Jordan Gaskell (UKIP) 124 (0.5%) New

Christopher Jones (North) 84 (0.3%) New

Jayda Fransen (Ind) 23 (0.1%) New

There were also five council by-elections on Thursday with eight seats up for grabs.  The Conservatives were defending two seats and lost them both, mirroring their parliamentary woes with defeats to Labour and the Lib Dems.  In Waverley the Lib Dems were helped to victory by the absence of a Labour candidate this time - the 'progressive alliance' in action again.

Labour held two seats in south Wales, while the Lib Dems gained a seat from an independent in Shropshire.  The Lib Dems also picked up three seats in Kingston-upon-Thames, an election postponed from May after one of the candidates passed away.

Bush Fair, Harlow District Council

Lab: 594 (47.1%) +2.6%

Con: 482 (38.2%) -6.5%

Grn: 109 (8.6%) +1.0%

HAP: 76 (6.0%) New

Lab GAIN from Con

New Malden Village, Kingston London Borough Council

(three seats)

LDem: 1,217

LDem: 1,184

LDem: 1,182 

Grn: 867 

Ind: 724

Ind: 703 

Con: 467

Con: 372

Con: 327

Lab: 436

Lab: 429

Lab: 374

LDem GAIN x 3 (new ward)

Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council

(two seats)

Lab: 914

Lab: 898

Plaid: 367

Ind: 246 

Plaid: 244

Ind: 171

Grn: 46

Grn: 25

Lab HOLD x 2

Highley, Shropshire Council

LDem: 630 (54.5%) New

Con: 279 (24.1%) -9.5%

Lab: 239 (20.7%) +7.3%

Grn: 9 (0.8%) New

LDem GAIN from Ind

Hindhead, Waverley Borough Council

LDem: 526 (54.6%) +7.9%

Con: 440 (45.4%) -1.2%

LDem GAIN from Con

Abbreviations

LDem = Liberal Democrat

Con = Conservative

Lab = Labour

Grn = Green

RefUK = Reform UK

UKIP = UK Independence Party

Herit = Heritage

ForBrit = For Britain

Yorks = Yorkshire

BritF = Britain First

Freedom = Freedom Alliance

Loony = Monster Raving Loony

Christ = Christian Peoples Alliance

EngDem = English Democrats

North = Northern Independence

HAP = Harlow Alliance Party

Plaid = Plaid Cymru

Ind = Independent

A BIT RICH, COMRADE

There aren't many days on which the First Minister of Wales doesn't take aim at UK government policy on Twitter.  Following the failure of the Rwanda policy it was suggested that some of the migrants could be given electronic tags, so that they don't abscond from bail.  They have, after-all, entered the UK illegally.  This was all lost on open borders enthusiast Mark Drakeford who lambasted the very suggestion...

Of course not so long ago the Welsh Commissar effectively closed the Welsh border several times and told, specifically, English people to stay away.  What if they too were 'seeking safety and sanctuary' Mr Drakeford?  Does this sanctuary of which you speak only apply to foreigners?  Or was this merely an opportunity for you to flex your socialist nanny state muscles, an opportunity that no comrade could fail to seize with both limp-wristed hands?

As for treating people with 'dignity and respect'.  Was it not only a few months ago that people in Wales who had not received an experimental and potentially fatal Covid vaccine were largely excluded from society?  They were treated like second class citizens, criminalised and barred from hospitality.  Meanwhile, the compliant ones were forced to present their papers or digital ID in order to participate in society and failure to do so would relegate them to the lowly status of the unjabbed lepers.

Those who may be tagged by immigration officials have entered this country illegally Mr Drakeford.  They may well pose a threat to the security and safety of our citizens - as with the abhorrent bombing of the Manchester Arena that cost so many lives.  What is abhorrent about looking after the safety of your own citizens?  Is that not what you were doing with your over-the-top Covid restrictions?

We strongly suspect it was more likely that you merely leapt at the chance to stamp your socialist authority on the proletariat and when some refused to comply you created an apartheid society.  You will undoubtedly be gagging to do so again, especially seeing as Covid restrictions in Wales are 'paused' as opposed to 'ended'.

An apartheid regime Mr Drakeford, really?  What would Jeremy say?

PRIME MINISTER'S QUESTIONS 22.06.22

With rail strikes crippling the country, it looks set to be a hot topic today - whether Keir Starmer wants to discuss it or not.

Watch below from noon.

LABOUR ON THE PICKET LINE

Keir Starmer is between a rock and a hard place at the moment.  He does not want to discuss the rail strikes - as he wants to remain firmly seated on the fence.  He neither wants to upset the trade unions that bankroll his party, or the millions of workers who will be adversely affected by the strikes.  As the strikes commenced on Tuesday his social media accounts fell silent.  24 hours earlier he banned his frontbenchers from joining the RMT picket lines.  He didn't slap a ban on his backbenchers, because he knew that would be pointless...

Labour backbenchers on the RMT picket line on Tuesday - Beth Winter, Kim Johnson,
Rachael Maskell, Richard Burgon, Zarah Sultana, Ian Byrne, Rebecca Long-Bailey,
Dan Carden and Paula Barker

Diane Abbott and several other MPs were on separate picket lines and the former shadow home secretary tweeted a defiant message to her party leader...

Other Labour MPs on the picket line included Tahir Ali, Ian Lavery, Andy McDonald, John McDonnell, Kate Osborne, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Mick Whitley and Nadia Whittome.  Sam Tarry was on the picket line with a loudspeaker on Tuesday, but his lover Angela Rayner was nowhere to be seen, clearly adhering to her leader's ban.  Clive Lewis hilariously tweeted apologies that he couldn't be on the picket line - as there were no trains running!

THE WAKEFIELD TOSSER

Keir Starmer ran into some public dissent over the weekend in a Wakefield walkabout ahead of Thursday's parliamentary by-election.  Embarrassingly for the Labour leader, a film crew from the Daily Telegraph were on hand to record the incident.  As Starmer walks alongside the party's candidate, a man can be heard shouting "Don't vote for him, he's a tosser".  It's not clear if the jibe was directed at Starmer or his candidate.

Click below for the video.

Voters go to the polls in two big by-elections this Thursday, both Conservative defences and both brought about because of disgraced Tory MPs.

In Wakefield Labour are firm favourites to retake the seat after the incumbent was convicted of sexual assault on a 15-year-old boy.  The Tories had taken the seat from Labour in 2019, making Imran Khan the first Conservative MP for Wakefield since 1931.  The Tories have chosen another Muslim candidate to defend the seat, local councillor Nadeem Ahmed.  Meanwhile, Labour have been accused of parachuting an outsider into the constituency.  Simon Lightwood is from South Shields - 107 miles north of Wakefield.  It's a packed ballot paper for the by-election, with 15 candidates in total.

Wakefield general election 2019 result

Imran Khan (Con) 21,283 (47.3%) +2.3%

Mary Creagh (Lab) 17,925 (39.8%) –9.9%

Peter Wiltshire (Brexit) 2,725 (6.1%) New

Jamie Needle (LDem) 1,772 (3.9%) +1.9%

Ryan Kett (Yorks) 868 (1.9%) -0.6%

Stephen Whyte (Ind) 454 (1.0%) New

In Tiverton and Honiton it's the Lib Dems who are favourites to beat the Tories, despite coming third in 2019.  Labour have taken a step back from campaigning in order to give the Lib Dems the best possible chance of taking the seat.  If the Conservatives lose Tiverton it will be a huge blow, more so than Wakefield, because they are defending a much larger majority of 24,239.

The seat was vacated after the incumbent, Neil Parish, was found to have viewed pornography on his phone while in the Commons chamber.  The Tories have chosen a local candidate by the name of Helen Hurford, a former headteacher who now runs a beauty salon.  The Lib Dems are throwing the kitchen sink at this by-election and have selected ex-squaddie Richard Foord, who is from the village of Uffculme to the east of Tiverton.

Tiverton & Honiton general election 2019 result

Neil Parish (Con) 35,893 (60.2%) –1.2%

Liz Pole (Lab) 11,654 (19.5%) –7.6%

John Timperley (LDem) 8,807 (14.8%) +6.8%

Colin Reed (Grn) 2,291 (3.8%) +0.3%

Margaret Dennis (UKIP) 968 (1.6%) New

We'll publish the results on this website as soon as they are available.

NEIL OLIVER'S MONOLOGUE 18.06.22

A recent report from the UN suggests that the earth's temperatures haven't risen for 15 years.  The damning report should be a major blow to the climate change lobby, but as per usual - with anything detrimental to the globalist elite - the story never saw the light of day in mainstream media.  Step forward our libertarian hero to make it the centrepiece of his latest searing monologue on GB News.

There is little doubt to anyone who's paying attention that the green agenda - whether it be called Net Zero, the Green New Deal, COP26 or Agenda 2030 - we will all be poorer because of it.  All of us, that is, except the elites.  Take Barack Obama, who recently installed huge propane tanks at his coastal mansion.  Not only is that not what he preaches for the rest of us, the very fact he recently purchased a coastal mansion suggests that he is not at all concerned about rising sea levels.

These people preach green for the rest of us, while they enjoy all the spoils of fossil fuels and meat.

Watch Neil's latest piece to camera below.

DYSLEXIC DAVE INVENTS NEW AIRPORT

This is the sleepy village of Stanstead in Suffolk.  The population is just over 300, spread across 140 homes and definitely no airport nearby.  Yes, hot on the heels of his 'Tabilan' tweet, the grammatically challenged Dave Lammy has struck again.  The man who would be our foreign secretary managed to misspell the name of the airport he was using to attack the government...

We used to refer to Lammy as 'Daft Dave', but it's becoming increasingly apparent that he's more like a 'Dyslexic Dave'.  Some of those in the comments sensed an anti-Brexit message in Lammy's tweet.  One of them was his former Labour colleague Kate Hoey, now Baroness Hoey of course and an independent...

Kate's response was by far the most popular response to Lammy, with more than four thousand 'likes'.  It still remains to be explained by Dave and his Europhile posse how Brexit has somehow managed to create travel chaos across much of Europe and spiralling inflation across the West?

It's not Brexit, dummy.

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 12-18 JUNE 2022

12.06.22 - Stanley McMurtry, Mail on Sunday

12.06.22 - Nick Newman, Sunday Times

14.06.22 - Bob Moran, Twitter

14.06.22 - Chip Bok, Twitter

14.06.22 - Patrick Cross, Twitter

14.06.22 - Morten Morland, The Times

14.06.22 - Andy Davey, Daily Telegraph

14.06.22 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

15.06.22 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

16.06.22 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

16.06.22 - Dave Brown, Independent

16.06.22 - Ruben L Oppenheimer, Twitter

17.06.22 - Andy Davey, Daily Telegraph

17.06.22 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

17.06.22 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

17.06.22 - Ben Garrison, Grrr Graphics

18.06.22 - Dick Wright, Cagle Cartoons

18.06.22 - Gary Varvel, Twitter

18.06.22 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

18.06.22 - Peter Brookes, The Times