Just a reminder. Dominic Cummings is unelected, he is not a member of the Conservative Party, he passed no civil service test. He owes his position of power entirely to the patronage of
@BorisJohnson
Personally I don’t accept that « people in Downing Street « worked exceptionally hard compared to the millions of essential workers and others who worked throughout the pandemic.
Many of those now advocating an early lifting of the lock are the same as the people who said
#coronavirus
was nothing to worry about in the first place.
There are people of distinction in
#TheLords
(some friends of mine) but patronage on this scale (potential earnings & a say lawmaking) is corruption which shames UK.
#AbolishtheLords
.
Seems to me
@GaryLineker
is entitled to say what he likes
@Twitter
- he’s not a political reporter. Just like the frequently voiced views of BBC actors.
PS
@GuidoFawkes
I have been in the Westminster Lobby for over thirty years (since before you wer born) and am a former Lobby Chairman. I have never heard of an "inner lobby". This takes blatant attempts to divide and rule to a new level. So please don't lie.
Big props to
@SkyNews
for changing their description of the Momentum activist they interviewed for a package today
It's good to see the
@GuidoFawkes
transparency campaign is working.
Hopefully it won't be too long before other broadcasters follow suit...
Diary of a spiteful exit: 1/ sack Gove 2/ appoint pointless new cabinet 3/ Campaign against Sunak 4/ Suspend Ellwood. 5/ Resignation honours to come. Not a gentleman but we knew that.
ISC
#RussiaReport
in effect puts UK Security services and Cameron, May & Johnson in the dock for turning a blind eye to Russian interference from 2014 on.
The taxpayer-funded BBC has real questions to answer about its role here. It is not to play unbalanced left-wing party politics during a national crisis.
Bercow served as MP for 23 years and Speaker for 9, elected to both multiple times. By the conventions of public life that should make him eligible for a Parliamentary pass and a peerage, whatever his behaviour - just look at the others enjoying these perks.
For only 2nd time in 40 years at
@Conservatives
conference a leader who is also PM is not doing a
@Channel4News
interview on a day they release details of their proposed
#Brexit
deal. Millions of c4 TV & digital viewers will be denied
@BorisJohnson
being scrutinised by
@krishgm
🍒Piers. Darroch did not insult Trump, he gave a private opinion on him. Trump doesn’t care about the UK national interest, why should he? His unsurprising reaction bears out some of Darroch’s analysis.
Let’s be clear. If we are interviewing people about politics their political views are relevant and we say so. If they are talking about a clinical matter like a global pandemic they are irrelevant. I don’t care how my doctor or nurse votes.
Today: a 'helicopter day'; when Sky&BBC put up the chopper to follow cavalcades and lend announcements at No10 a lofty dignity.
But aerial shots don't reflect what broadcasters often neglect on the ground. The millions who feel a debt of loyalty for the Brexit Boris gave them.
'
@BorisJohnson
complaining repeatedly that
@Keir_Starmer
the Leader of the Opposition not giving him unconditional support while not answering his questions. Does that work?
NEWS: Everybody going from hospital into social care will be tested for
#coronavirus
& isolated whilst the result comes through to protect those most in need.
Extraordinary Kate Hoey
@BBCNewsnight
going on unchallenged about « what the people of Northern Ireland voted for » without mentioning that they voted a. Remain b. For the Belfast Agreement.
That’s where you are wrong. The latest drugs are patented and have one manufacturer. If you want them you can’t shop around. The UK has benefited from big purchaser power in the EU. That ends with Brexit.
@adamboultonSKY
Don't be a prat, Adam. If a petrol station charges £1.50/litre and another charges £1.25... who will you buy from? The NHS is not required to buy drugs from the most expensive source. I know because I was switched from felodopine to amlodopine, without problem, because of cost.
PS peerage is not an honour, People’s Peers fizzled out. Botham isn’t there because he is one of 🏴 Greatest cricketers but, like the others, because a party leader likes the cut of his politics.
#AbolishtheLords
Absurd that BBC is trying to turn May/Corbyn Brexit debate into a version of BBC Questiontime. It’s head-to-head or worthless.
@jeremycorbyn
is right on this.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma is self-isolating at home and will be tested for coronavirus after feeling unwell while he was in the parliamentary chamber this afternoon
I’ve reached 200k followers this week which surprised me given the number of t****s I’ve blocked recently. Yes I know Piers has 7.6m and Trump 85.9m but you’re quality. Thank you 🙏.
Vital to learn the lessons of Labour’s
#GE2019
defeat. However, the answers will not be found at the door of New Labour’s architects. Blair’s legacy still hangs around this party like a millstone, especially in the North East. I heard it time & time again:
On testing Why is the UK taking a different course from Apple, Google, Germany, Switzerland and other countries? Esceptionalism has not served well so far.
In all the fury over Article 16 one thing is forgotten. The UK should never have accepted in the first place the avoidance of a hard border as our problem. It was always the EU’s-to protect the Single Market. We should have said: it’s your problem, you sort it. We don’t want one.
In the internet age GB News cannot be shut down. The issue is whether it is fit to be treated as a broadcaster. It isn’t. There are standards in UK media which are worth upholding.
GBNews has some big issues to sort but here we go again - illiberal liberals like
@adamboultonTABB
rushing to censor and shut down alternative voices. Laurence Fox should be fired for repeated offences but closing down the whole station smacks of establishment authoritarianism.
Yet again the alt right, in this case
@Jacob_Rees_Mogg
, trying to turn a simple case of bad behaviour by
@DominicRaab
into a constitutional debate, smearing alternative authorities. Rules for others but not for them.
.
@AngleaRayner
I suppose [exempting Grouse shooting from rule of 8] is alright for the Prime Minister's friend who paid for his Caribbean Chrismas break, funded his leadership campaign and just happens to own two Grouse moors.
No. Leaving without a deal was not a policy or commitment advocated by either the Labour or Conservative 2017 Manifestos. You lot are trying to turn a slogan into a subclause into a pledge. That is dishonest.
Hey
@adamboultonSKY
: Don't you owe the viewers an apology for this blatant lie ... or at the very least for being so woefully uninformed about something so basic?
if Theresa May was as decent as establishment commentators say, she would resign now.
Britain needs a new leader who:
believes in Brexit
understands there's no point 'negotiating' Brexit w the EU
implements a clean break + pro-enterprise policy agenda to counteract disruption
A. Independent Journalists doing their Job. Q. Who do you think you are? Who funds you? Who do you represent? Given that the UK has left the EU why does
@LeaveEUOfficial
still exist at all?
We all have to die sooner or later. If I get Covid and cop it, so be it. My time has come. I'll have had a good life, better than most in this world at any rate. I certainly don't expect the entire nation to bankrupt itself to save my sorry ass.