‘I heard you want your country back - f*ck that’, sang ‘Bob Vylan’ at Glastonbury.
He may be right. The easily-led middle-class crowd that cheered him don’t seem fit to take charge. Maybe it’s to do with
how digital communication is shortening attention span. That affects the ability to think.
But not to doublethink.
The pop-goers joined in with
Pascal’s slogan ‘deff, deff to the IDF’ since Hamas is running a PR campaign representing civilian collateral damage in Gaza as ‘genocide.’ Yet here in the UK Parliament is exposing the
unborn, the
old and the sick to deliberate, personally-targeted death. Where is the chanting against that?
The double standards also apply to influencers. Entertainers like Vylan and Kneecap will almost certainly not be jailed while
despite American concerns Lucy Connolly may not be freed. Standup comedian
Nicolas de Santo quotes an Italian saying: ‘The law is applied to one’s enemies and interpreted for one’s friends.’
Now let’s pass from the mosh pit to the bosh pit…
PMQs opened with Labourites cheering for the Prime Minister, whose welfare reform bill passed yesterday after numerous concessions to his rebels. Starmer’s many recent climbdowns and U-turns begin to resemble a sailor’s dance.
The first question, an invitation to Starmer to celebrate his Government’s achievements against child poverty, earned Paul Waugh (Lab) the Opposition leader’s award of ‘toady of the week’ to much laughter.
- Welfare reform and the Chancellor’s future
Sir Keir and Kemi then exchanged views on his failure to rein in benefit costs and the Conservatives’ past record. The anticipated consequences of the Bill’s weakening were not only economic but political. Kemi said Reeves was ‘a human shield’ for his incompetence - the French might say his ‘
fuse’ as she next asked whether Reeves ‘would be in post until the next election.’
The Chancellor, already looking miserable, wept as the PM dodged the question and
the newspapers noted how the pound fell in response to Reeves’ distress. One might have expected the markets to soar at the prospect of a new tenant at Number Eleven; perhaps they prefer even a sure-fire slump to uncertainty.
The Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey pointed out the unfairness of the revised Bill’s approach to Personal Independence Payments, whereby existing claimants could continue as before but new ones might not qualify. The PM prevaricated, using the ongoing Timms review of PIP as his excuse.
Later, Adrian Ramsay (Green) asked whether Starmer would consider scrapping the two-child benefit cap and the cuts to universal credit for the ill and disabled. The PM countered with the Greens’ unfunded £80 billion General Election tax commitment and, despite their advocacy of ‘change and clean power’, their consistent opposition to infrastructure projects.
Also Victoria Collins (Lib Dem) mentioned a constituent who was ‘set to lose the PIP that they rely on for work’ and had lost a carer through this uncertainty. Starmer referred once again to the Timms review and generalised about reform.
- Governmental transparency
Davey followed up with the issue of the proposed ‘Hillsborough law’ that would impose ‘a legal duty of candour, and for the secondary duty needed to make it practical and effective for investigations and inquiries.’ He said that victims of numerous public scandals feared the law would be watered down. Labour’s Kim Johnson, next on, echoed that concern and said her Party colleague Ian Byrne MP would seek to introduce ‘the real Hillsborough law’ after PMQs. Would the PM back it?
Starmer replied to both questioners that he would support the candour requirement but needed time to ‘get it right.’ Readers may reflect on the implications for the future national ‘grooming gangs’ enquiry, which must also be on the PM’s mind.
Olivia Bailey (Labour) noted the Government’s £15 billion investment in the Atomic Weapons Establishment and its prospects for employment and ‘national security.’ A propos that last, Robert Jenrick MP has said
on Twitter/X (June 26) that in 2001 Starmer defended pro bono a woman who had broken into UK/US air bases 500 times. Had Starmer won that case it might have set a precedent giving a legal defence to the Palestine Action actvists who caused sigificant damage to planes at RAF Brize Norton.
Since, allegedly, Starmer took no fee then contrary to Downing Street’s assertion he was not obliged to take the case as per the Bar Standard Board’s ‘cab rank rule’;
Jenrick has written to the PM to demand he corrects the record.
Does this voluntary assistance show that Starmer is anti-British,
asks the 'Black Belt Barrister.’ Does the Ship of State have a destructive shipworm gnawing at its keel?
Another odd aspect of the Brize Norton break-in is that according to former diplomat Craig Murray the vandalised Voyager refuelling aircraft are owned
not by the RAF but by a hedge fund using ‘a chain of seven cutout companies.’ Murray goes on to say ‘it is plain that the private companies are also providing the RAF ground crew.’ What?
In his reply to the SNP’s Stephen Flynn asking whether the public should believe Starmer’s promise to ‘end the chaos’ the PM berated the SNP’s record on health and said (for the third time today) that his Government had delivered four million extra NHS appointments.
Full Fact offers a more nuanced analysis and comparison with recent years under the Conservatives.
Steff Aquarone (Lib Dem) asked about the threat of closure to a convalescence facility in Cromer. The PM gave a vanilla answer about reform to and investment in the sector generally.
Farms, the family farm tax (FFT), solar and nuclear energy
The Conservatives’ Harriet Cross asked for a U-turn on the FFT and received another generalised reply about the Budget’s funding for farming and the ‘road map’ without touching on the eco policy complexities.
Btw one farm unlikely to be ruined by Labour’s inheritance taxes is
Worthy Farm which has hosted Glasto since 1970. Sadly not all farmers can have such opportunities and exploit them.
Cross’ Party colleague Dame Karen Bradley was concerned about the conversion of good agricultural land for solar farms and battery storage facilities. The PM attempted to argue for both and that renewables would reduce consumers’ energy bills.
Charlotte Nichols (Lab) welcomed the Government’s industrial strategy and asked how it would support the nuclear sector. Starmer promised a ‘golden age’ of nuclear including Sizewell C and small modular reactors. We have to hope it will come about.
David Taylor (Labour) welcomed the Government’s commitment to build more houses. His constituency of Hemel Hempstead was looking at a Garden Communities scheme for 11,000 new homes. The PM said Labour was supporting 47 locally-led garden communities (it seems
Green Belt land cannot escape the consequences.)
- POST PMQs - Chagos raises its head again
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel asked an
Urgent Question on ‘ratification of the UK-Mauritius treaty on the future sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory.’
FCO Minister Stephen Doughty said the deal has secured the base on Diego Garcia ‘well into the next century’, glossing over the fact that
the ICJ’s ‘world court’ ruling is merel advisory and not binding on the UK and so the expensive concession was not necessary.
Was this another nibble of the shipworm?
Doughty attempted to act long-suffering (‘disappointed by the tone’) about the many questions Dame Priti has previously submitted on the subject. He said primary legislation would be brought forward in due course.
However Dame Priti noted that ‘Labour has breached the parliamentary conventions and denied the House a meaningful debate and vote on ratification’ as per the CRaG (Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010) process for ratifing treaties.
Doughty leaves us with yet another impression of the condescending arrogance of power.
We want our country back.
