Tag: Labour

Sargon of Akkad: “Never Apologise,” as Police Investigate Joke Video

A UKIP European election candidate is being investigated by the police after he joked that he might rape a Labour MP.

Well-known liberal YouTube personality Carl Benjamin, known online as Sargon of Akkad, recently came under fire for a three-year-old tweet to Labour MP Jess Philips, who had been discussing rape threats on the social media platform. “I wouldn’t even rape you, @jessphillips,” he wrote. His account has since been banned.

Highlighting the absurdity of the liberal media turning a negative statement on rape into a controversy, Benjamin then released a video in which he joked: “There’s been an awful lot of talk about whether I would or wouldn’t rape Jess Phillips. I’ve been in a lot of trouble for my hard-line stance of not even raping her.

“I suppose with enough pressure I might cave. But let’s be honest nobody’s got that much beer.”

A police spokesman said: “Police have received a report of malicious communications relating to MP Jess Phillips. 

“Officers have spoken to Ms Phillips and the comments are being investigated to establish if an offence has taken place.”

Their investigations follow an initial investigation into the original tweet last December. A spokesman for Wiltshire Police told The Independent that in that instance Benjamin was “dealt with by words of advice,” but that they are reviewing a dossier of his social media broadcasts.

Speaking in a pub, Benjamin, 39, has told independent journalist Lucy Brown that he will not apologise for the tweet. “Never apologise. Never apologise,” he said.

“They don’t care about a three-year-old tweet. This is a political attack that they think will be able to stop my candidacy, and they fail to understand that that didn’t work for Donald Trump; I don’t see why it should work for me, and I’m not going to apologise.”

UKIP leader Gerard Batten has dismissed the controversy, pointing out that the original tweet was “satire.”

Conservative Party Tells Theresa May: Just Go!

The British Prime Minister Theresa May has come under increasing pressure from her own party to resign, following her mishandling of Brexit.

Government ministers are currently holding talks with senior Labour Party members in a bid to thrash out a Brexit deal which would secure the support of MPs across the house, thus cutting out the need for Mrs May to rely on the support of Brexiteer Conservative MPs.

However, the move has angered the pro-Brexit right wing of her party, who have intensified their calls for her to set a clear leaving date.

Mrs May is due to attend a meeting of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs this evening, at which the need to set a clear date is likely to be put to her. Sir Graham Brady, chair of the Committee, has already requested “clarity” on her departure.

Leading Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash told the Press Association: “The time has come for her to resign. She needs to be given a date. The sooner the better. But it needs to be done in an orderly manner.”

Mrs May had previously pledged to quit if her Withdrawal Deal gains majority support in Parliament, but with the deadline for Brexit now pushed back to October, it is not clear what plans she has to go if the deal is not passed.

A landslide loss of council seats by the Conservative Party at last week’s local elections has further ratcheted up pressure on Mrs May. Party bosses were quietly touting a figure of 1000 losses as their nightmare scenario – but on the night they shed in excess of 1,300 seats.

The party is expecting similar losses in the upcoming European elections, due to be held on May 23rd. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the 1922 Committee, has insisted Mrs May announce a “road map” for her resignation following the European elections.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage told the Press Association: “I’m amazed she is still there.”

Meanwhile, grassroots Conservatives are planning to vote on a motion of no-confidence in Mrs May on June 15th.

Members of the National Conservative Convention will be asked to vote on a motion stating that “we no longer feel that Mrs May is the right person to continue as Prime Minister to lead us forward in the negotiations” and “therefore with great reluctance ask that she considers her position and resigns”, Conservative Home has reported.

Corbyn Sparks Outrage: Siding with Assad, End to Heriditary Monarchy of Commonwealth and May to Apologize for Britain’s Historic Wrongdoings

By Stefan M. Kløvning

UK – Labour head Jeremy Corbyn has been widely criticized following controversial statements asserted for an interview with BBC News’ Andrew Marr on April 15. One of these was an attempt to push against the opinion tide in favor of the recent airstrikes on Syrian chemical facilities initiated by Mrs. May along with the French and American Presidents by calling it ‘legally questionable’ and suggesting there to be a possibility that Assad was innocent.

He added, ‘If we want to get the moral high ground, as a country with a history of international involvement, then we need to abide by international law.’ Proposing this turned several of even MPs of his own party against him:

Corbyn is also later today expected to call for a vote to have an emergency debate to ask Theresa May to consult with Parliament before initiating military action in the future, with the possibility of MPs from his own party speaking against him in the house.

In a sense, however, he has the British people on his side with criticism against the hasty attacks against Syria. A recent YouGov poll showed that only 22% of Britons supported the airstrikes, 43% opposing, and 34% who’re not sure. This is despite 61% voting that they believed it was probably the Syrian government who stood behind the chemical attacks. As the report of YouGov shows, however, the opinion polls on this can change quick, as when the opinions levelled out after Corbyn condemned airstrikes in Syria in 2015:

This illustrates that the responses of influential politicans can quickly turn the tide of popular opinion, which Corbyn seems to try to take advantage of again now, to see if it works as well as it did two years ago.

He spurred a second controversy in the interview by also proposing that the title as Head of the Commonwealth should not continue to be based on heritage, but rather on a democratic term-based election. In other words, when the Queen finishes her duty, the people of the 53 nations of the Commonwealth should themselves choose who to become the next leader, rather than Prince Charles gaining it by default in succession. He said specifically that ‘The Queen clearly is personally very committed to the Commonwealth but after her I think maybe it’s a time to say well actually the Commonwealth should decide who its own president is on a rotational basis.’

A third matter he spoke of was a call for May to use this week’s summit to apologize formally to the Commonwealth for Britain’s historical wrongdoings. However, as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson pointed out, there has been no suggestion or support for this by ‘any Commonwealth leader, foreign minister or sherpa,’ adding that ‘It’s not a proposal that, as I understand, carries much support amongst the 53. I think it may have emanated from the Labour Party… it’s not a proposal.’ It’s strange how Corbyn should expect May to use valuable time on the summit for such an irrelevant matter without any context whatsoever.

His own party members and MPs turning against him may lead to attempts for a change of leadership at Labour. Supporting a party for its politics whose leader you strongly disagree with doesn’t usually work very well out, and thus calls for a need for a new one whom more adequately embody the party’s values and ideology. It’s yet to early to make such a prediction, but with the scale of these controversies, the possibility is there.