11 July 2019

Diary of a Corbynista

They all fear Corbyn

by Don Urquhart

4 July

The Tory leadership hopefuls are promising to throw money at resolving the carnage their party has created.  For example in The Sun, Boris Johnson argued that more police were needed to “end the current crime wave” across the UK.

He said 20,000 extra officers would help in “rounding up the leaders of the county lines drugs gangs” and help with “proper stop and search”.

Between September 2009 and September 2017, police forces in England and Wales lost more than 20,000 officers – a drop of 15%.

5 July

The spending promises of Hunt and Johnson have revived media interest in The Magic Money Tree evoked memorably by Theresa May in 2017 to deride a nurse’s request for a pay rise.

While I have no desire to assist the Tory aspirants in any way I think I might have spotted a promising sapling.

Whenever I go into newsagents I get stuck behind a queue of people speaking what appears to be a foreign language.

Go on, give me 5 lucky dips.

I’ll have 10 greens and twenty reds.

Not being funny – it’s a rollover – let’s have a Wednesday.

It all seems to be connected to some very colourful displays dominated by two giant crossed fingers.  Indeed it is people buying tickets and scratch cards for the great national institution we call The National Lottery.

Many times I have nodded approvingly as a sportsperson tells us they could not have got their bronze without the National Lottery.  And there are clearly many great things that have been done with the money.

Personally I have not bought a single ticket since learning that the first week’s income was spent reimbursing Sir Winston Churchill’s family for their largesse in not flogging his letters to Americans.

25% of the punters’ cash goes on good works; 45% is distributed in prizes; 5% goes to the operators (Camelot) and the rest goes to the Government.

So our one nation Tories just need to introduce some more creative branding into the offering to enable them to extract even more from the shuffling lines of poor people.

6 July

In politics there are two hopeless cases at present.  One is Jeremy Hunt, a distant second to Boris Johnson according to the polls.  The other is Jeremy Corbyn, whose party, at 18 % came fourth in a recent Yougov poll.  The latter is of most concern to me, but I take comfort from the Labour Party’s low standing in the polls when Mrs May called a General Election 2 years ago.  When it counts, at a General Election, I think that many more will vote Labour than is currently predicted.   Also I think the Brexit Party will disappear and the LibDems will suffer the just fate of shallow opportunists.  It will be Labour and the Tories slugging it out as usual.

To me the Tory aspirants are equally execrable.  The plus point for Hunt is that Johnson and his backers think they have it in the bag.  Johnson’s plus is that he is the more likely to call an election out of hubris.

7 July

Last week the BBC, ITV, Sky and the Tory press were like dogs with two tails reporting that Yougov had Labour at 18% and in fourth place.  Today, the more accurate polling company Opinium has Labour at 25% and top of the heap.  Stand by for minimal or no reporting of this aberration from our trusted media.

8 July

You had to observe a dress code – suits or colourful blazers, ties and no jeans, nice frocks below the knee, fascinators or Ladies Day hats.  For miles up and down the river there were beautiful people of all ages occasionally glancing across to a stretch where young people rowed for their lives.  The Henley Royal Regatta reminded me of the Long Room at Lords but with women thrown in.  It was massive; possibly all 160,000 Tory members and not a single Corbynista in sight.

9 July

The Tories must be desperate to avoid a General Election.  Once the Brexit dust has settled Labour will eviscerate them for their policies on public services of every kind.  And as for fiscal rectitude, look at the competitive spending pledges being made by Hunt and Johnson in a vain attempt to convince the party faithful that they would be able to defend their one nation Tory credentials to the electorate at large.

10 July

Newsnight majored on three Labour peers resigning the whip, backed up by Dame Margaret Hodge.  All about the Labour Party being institutionally anti-Semitic led by arch anti-Semite Corbyn.  Lord Falconer was quoted in their support.  Earlier in the day Stephen Kinnock had said how upsetting he found it all.  It’s the Blairites joining the Tories in their propaganda war against Corbyn with an election looming.  So far they have been long and loud on assertions and utterly devoid of facts.

Perhaps their latest broadside, tonight’s Panorama will redress this shortfall.