Boris Johnson started into Prime Ministers Questions by resuscitating his favorite ‘dead cat;’ the now infamous Skripal Novichok poisoning, False Flag stunt staged in Salisbury. No doubt the PM gets perverse pleasure out of knowing how easy it was to dupe the British public with that ludicrous fantasy tale as it bodes well for the multiple scandals and corrupt practices that will require a similar fake news maneuver. He said, “It will be three years tomorrow since a chemical weapon was deployed by Russian military intelligence on the streets of Salisbury. All our thoughts remain with those affected, their families and loved ones, and we will continue to seek justice for them. I am sure this House will want to pay tribute to the people of Salisbury and Amesbury, and wish them well for the future.” No new evidence has ever materialized, the Skripals have been conveniently ‘disappeared without need of any explanation, the Russians remain demonized and now new incredulous allegations: Noviock in Alexey Navalny’s undies…
Labour MP Kim Johnson replaced one type of rivalry with another by evoking the PM’s fond memories of Liverpool and whatever delightful mischief he was up to on an earlier visit. She said, “Liverpool is a welcoming city, with the oldest Chinese community in Europe, but in 1946 the British Government ordered the forced repatriation back to China of thousands of Chinese seamen who were living in Liverpool with their British families, causing lasting emotional trauma. Many of their descendants still live in my Liverpool, Riverside constituency. Will the Prime Minister take steps to acknowledge these events, and provide the descendants with a formal apology and the justice they deserve?” Johnson replied with a telling grin not lost on his fellow MPs, “I have happy memories of my own visits to Liverpool, and I can tell the hon. Member…” he paused, “I can tell her that we are certainly very grateful across the country to the Chinese community for their amazing contribution. Her message has been heard loud and clear.”
The first of several Tory MPs to stroke the PM’s ego with “does he agree with me” groveling was John Stevenson who said, “The Pirelli factory in Carlisle employs around 800 people, contributes hundreds of millions of pounds to the local economy and is an exporter. Its location is a consequence of regional economic policy from 50 years ago. Does the Prime Minister agree that, if we are to rebalance the economy and level up the country, we need a modern-day, proactive regional economic policy? If he does agree, will he come to Carlisle to see the old and new in action?” Sycophants had to keep reinforcing the PM’s lies, “Of course,I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for what he says. He will hear more in just half an hour or so, let us try to keep it to half an hour, Mr Speaker, from the Chancellor about how exactly we intend to make sure we build back better across the whole of this country and unleash the tremendous potential of the whole of the United Kingdom, including of course Carlisle, which he so well represents.”
His faithful Trojan Horse Sir Keir Starmer dutifully reinforced the Tory False Flag incident saying, “I join the Prime Minister in his comments about the Salisbury atrocity.” But he had to offer the team a nugget of opposition on behalf of the Labour Party, so he asked, “Does the Prime Minister agree with President Biden that the sale of arms which could be used in the war in Yemen should be suspended?” The PM’s response was entirely predictable, he said, “Ever since the tragic conflict in Yemen broke out, this country has scrupulously followed the consolidated guidance, of which the right hon. and learned Gentleman will be well aware.” Starmer rephrased his question saying, “The trouble is that, while President Biden has suspended arms sales that could be used in Yemen, the UK has not. In fact, we sold £1.4 billion-worth of arms to Saudi Arabia in three months last year, including bombs and missiles that could be used in Yemen.” Ouch! Starmer strayed out of bounds; you don’t question the Tory arms trade gravy train…
But Starmer kept going, “Given everything we know about the appalling humanitarian cost of this war, with innocent civilians caught between the Saudi coalition and the Houthi rebels, why does the Prime Minister think it is right to be selling these weapons?” The PM was quick to justify the horrific carnage of this futile foreign war by claiming international consensus, “The UK is part of an international coalition following the UN resolutions, which the right hon. and learned Gentleman will know well and which are very clear that the legitimate Government of Yemen were removed illegally. Those are the resolutions that we follow, and we continue scrupulously to follow the humanitarian guidance, among the toughest measures anywhere in the world, in respect of all arms sales. He talks about humanitarian relief, and actually I think the people of this country can be hugely proud of what we are doing to support the people of Yemen: almost £1 billion of aid contributed in the past five years.” Tories know how to monetize misery!
Starmer stuck with the same question yet again saying, “The Prime Minister says the system is very robust in relation to arms sales. It cannot be that robust: the Government lost a court case just two years ago in relation to arms sales. The truth is that the UK is increasingly isolated in selling arms to Saudi Arabia, despite what is happening in Yemen, despite Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, and despite the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a murder the US has concluded was approved by the Saudi Crown Prince. So I have to ask: what will it take for the Prime Minister to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia?” Of course, the logical answer to that question from any Tory PM would be ‘when hell freezing over!’ But the PM continued to trot out lame excuses claiming consensus saying, “We condemn the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. We continue to call for a full independent investigation into the causes of his death, and indeed we have already sanctioned 20 people in Saudi Arabia.” Not impressed.
Johnson then tried his favorite trick of coapting the Labour Party for their complicity in past jingoistic foreign interventions. He said “I repeat the point that I have made that the UK Government continue to follow the consolidated guidance, which, by the way, was set up by the Labour party.” Starmer ignored the baiting and stuck with the same criticism, but added an important point about the recent decimation of the UK’s Foreign Aid budget saying, “To make matters worse, the Government decided this week to halve international aid to Yemen, to halve it. The United Nations has said that Yemen faces the worst famine the world has seen for decades, and the Secretary-General said on Monday that cutting aid would be a ‘death sentence’ for the people of Yemen. How on earth can the Prime Minister justify selling arms to Saudi Arabia and cutting aid to people starving in Yemen?”
The PM started reinventing reality, black was the new white, he bragged about huge amounts of money spent; the UK is the most generous country on earth, he claimed. “It is under this Government that we have increased aid spending to the highest proportion in the history of our country, and, yes, it is true that current straitened circumstances, which I am sure the people of this country understand, mean that temporarily we must reduce aid spending, but that does not obscure the fact that when it comes to our duty to the people of Yemen we continue to step up to the plate: a contribution of £214 million for this financial year. There are very few other countries in the world that have such a record and that are setting such an example in spending and supporting the people of Yemen.” Sure, sell weapons to the Saudi regime to bomb Yemen into oblivion, then toss the innocent victims a bit odf aid money…
There was no point asking a question about the budget, there would be time to criticize that later so Starmer stayed on message, saying, “This week the Government halved our international aid to Yemen. If this is what the Prime Minister thinks global Britain should look like, he should think again, and if he does not believe me, if he does not like it from me or the UN Secretary-General, he should listen to his own MPs. Just this morning, the Conservative MP the right hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood) said: ‘Cutting support to starving children is not what Global Britain should be about. It undermines the very idea of the UK as a nation to be respected on a global stage.’ The right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) said this was ‘unconscionable’. Will the Prime Minister now do the right thing and reconsider this urgently?” He knew descent in the Tory camp wasn’t tolerated!
The PM was not on the moral high ground, climbing up would induce vertigo so he regurgitated perverse defensive claims of billions spent, “I repeat: we have given £1 billion since the conflict began; we are in support of UN resolutions; this year we are contributing another £214 million to support the people of Yemen. There are very few other countries in the world that have that kind of record. In these tough, straitened circumstances, bearing in mind the immense cost of the covid epidemic that has affected our country, I think the people of this country should be very, very proud of what we are doing.” The lying Emporer’s nakedness demanded that he cloak himself in ‘the will of the people.” Starmer scolded, “Britain should be a moral force for good in the world, but just as the US is stepping up, the UK is stepping back. If the Prime Minister and Chancellor are so determined to press ahead with their manifesto-breaking cuts to international aid, cutting the budget to 0.5%, they should at least put that to a vote in this House. Will he have the courage to do so?”
Johnson began his spin pitch, “We are going to get on with our agenda of delivering for the people of this country and spending more than virtually any other country in the world, by the way, spending more, still, than virtually any other country in the G7on aid. It is a record of which this country can be proud. Given the difficulties that this country faces, I think that the people of this country will think that we have got our priorities right. The right hon. and learned Gentleman cannot work out what his priorities are. One minute he is backing us on the road map; the next week he is turning his back on us. He cannot even address a question on the issues of the hour. He could have asked anything about the coronavirus pandemic; instead, he has concentrated his questions entirely to the interests of the people of Yemen. We are doing everything we can to support the people of Yemen given the constraints that we face. We are getting on with a cautious but irreversible road map to freedom, which I hope that he will support.”
The PM remarked, “Very shortly, Mr Speaker, you will be hearing a Budget for recovery.” The Speaker sarcastically replied, “I think I already know most of it.” Tory Dr, Liam Fox put the boot in re turmoil in Scotland saying, “My right hon. Friend will be aware that when devolution was established in Scotland, there was no separate Scottish civil service created; we have a UK civil service, with UK ministerial oversight. Given the turmoil in Scottish politics, will he confirm that any civil servants who feel pressurized to behave inappropriately have a mechanism to seek redress beyond the Ministers to whom they are immediately answerable?” Johnson said, “I thank my right hon. Friend, and of course we will support all civil servants. By the way, I thank them for the work that they have done up and down the country throughout the pandemic. I think everybody in this House would agree that now is the time, really, for our civil service to focus on working together to build back better together, rather than on measures that might divide our country.”
Even SNP Leader Ian Blackford bought into the False Flag lie saying, “May I associate myself with the remarks of the Prime Minister on the terrible atrocity three years ago in the town of Salisbury? The situation in Yemen has been called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. One hundred thousand people have been killed, 16.2 million are at risk of starvation, and 2.3 million children, Prime Minister, are at death’s door, facing acute malnutrition. The UK Government’s response is not one of compassion; instead, it is to impose cuts. That is what you are doing, Prime Minister, a 50% cut to international aid to Yemen, a move that the UN chief, António Guterres, has described as ‘a death sentence’. Since the start of the war, the Tories have shamefully backed the Saudi regime through billions of pounds of arms sales and support, despite evidence of war crimes and of the targeting of civilians. Will the Prime Minister confirm that today’s Budget will force through the devastating cuts to international aid?”
This was like a one, two punch from the left; I can imagine Boris Johnson was caught off-guard by the consolidated attack targeting a sensitive issue that had escalated in importance following the US announcement regarding Khashoggi’s murder. The PM was on the defensive, but being steadily worn down by the opposition. He repeated, “I think anybody listening to this debate will have heard me say that this country, this Government, in the last five years has given £1 billion to support the people of Yemen. I can tell the right hon. Gentleman, in case he thinks there is any diminution of our efforts, that on Monday we are going to provide cash support to 1.5 million of the most vulnerable Yemeni households, support 400 health clinics and treat 75,000 cases of severe malnutrition. That is the continuing effort of the British people and the British Government to help the people of Yemen.” There was no way he was going to let the opposition bully him into relinquishing lucrative arms deals or forking out more aid money.
But Blackford persisted, “The reality is a 50% cut to Yemen aid at a time of a global pandemic. The coronavirus has hit poor and vulnerable countries the hardest, threatening decades of hard-won gains while exacerbating existing inequalities. During his leadership race, the Prime Minister made a commitment to stand by 0.7% for aid spending, a position he reaffirmed in June last year at that very Dispatch Box. What followed was yet another U-turn, another broken promise. Why is the Prime Minister breaking his own manifesto commitment, and why are his Government breaking the promises they made to the world’s poorest?”
Johnson enlisted unanimous approval again bragging, “I think most people in this country will know that the Government have given £280 billion to support the people, the economy, the livelihoods and the businesses up and down the whole of the United Kingdom. That has, as you will hear from the Chancellor, Mr Speaker, placed strains on our public finances. In the meantime, we continue to do everything we possibly can to support the people of Yemen, including, by the way, through a massive vaccination program, to which the people of this country have contributed £548 million, the second biggest contributor in the world.”
Boris Johnson’s disgraceful self-serving support for the Saudi war on Yemen, despite appalling human rights violations including the Embassy murder revelations now brutally exposed; he must have felt relieved when the coordinated attack was over. Tories are very selective in responding to atrocities: weapons contracts take precedence. But there was also the dramatic reduction in aid funding so Johnson needed to lean hard on his Media buddies to drown-out this concerted attack from the opposition benches, but the Budget announcements would help. Johnson’s Tory sycophants came to the rescue as an all too familiar pattern returned to PMQs: groveling non-questions to stroke his ego and prompt another advertising pitch in his funding pledge fantasy parade party political PR broadcast as delivered every week. Interspersed with tough opposition questions where scrutiny is easily rejected to ignore, not answer, ridicule or counter with more gushing boasts, the illusion of money spent or empty pledges for future funding.
Two MPS from the DUP, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Carla Lockhart both expressed concern over the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland protocol saying “we are fast approaching the end of the three-month grace period.” They complained of the disruption the protocol was causing to trade between GB and NI; they warned of political instability and damage to the Belfast agreement. They were falsely promised “unfettered access to goods from Great Britain,” but the reality has blocked vital food supplies from reaching NI stores and swamped firms with gobs of onerous red tape paperwork. Lockhart pleaded with the PM to “make this aspiration a reality and ensure that they act in accordance with section 46 of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, which stresses the importance of facilitating the free flow of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland?” The PM said, “Yes, I certainly can do that.” The UK has now unilaterally violated the recently signed international agreement causing the EU to place ratification on hold!
SNP Patrick Grady presented a tricky Catch 22 for Johnson, “We know that the Prime Minister is the proud leader of a British nationalist party, and he says that his no to another independence referendum in Scotland is final, so why are his colleagues in Scotland distributing leaflets that say a vote for the Tories is a vote to stop an independence referendum? If a vote for the British nationalist Tories in Scotland must be accepted as a legitimate vote against a referendum, surely a vote for the Scottish National Party in May must be respected as a mandate for putting Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands.” Johnson was bound to launch into his standard SNP insult over the Party name, despite Grady’s attempt to weaponize it against him. His retort was to say, “I was delighted to hear a sort of acceptance there that the hon. Gentleman is running a nationalist party.” The Tories are counting on the charges threatening Nicola Sturgeon will magically derail calls for Scottish Independence, but anger over Brexit is the last straw.
Labour MP Grahame Morris said, “I would like to ask about a very important domestic issue. The property tax system in England is broken. Council tax places an unfair burden on people living in the poorest communities without generating the revenues needed to fund local services. Does the Prime Minister agree that a proportional property tax, as proposed by the Fairer Share campaign, would create a transparent property taxation system, generate revenues that local government needs, and ease the tax burden on hard-pressed families across the country, including in my constituency of Easington?” The PM Started into a comparative attack rant trying to perpetuate the blatant lie that Tory-run Councils manage to deliver better services despite lower Council Tax than neglected Labour Councils the Government’s punitive cuts have hit the hardest. These are the truly deprived areas that should have been selected for grants from the ‘Towns Fund’ that has been plundered through corrupt Tory Minister gerrymandering.
Labour’s Amy Callaghan was welcomed back after an illness and asked the PM about his promise “that there was no threat to the Erasmus scheme as a result of Brexit.” She said “Charities such as STAND International in my constituency that participates in the program are set to lose 96% of their funding as a result of the UK Government’s decision to pull the plug on Erasmus+.” She reminded the PM of his “Guarantee that charities will receive match funding under the new Turing scheme,” Johnson claimed that his Turing scheme would do more for Students from disadvantaged backgrounds taking an opportunistic dig at the well respected Erasmus program favoring high-income households, but ditching Erasmus was the most appalling betrayal of our young people.
Labour MP Beth Winter questioned the ‘lev..up’ lie (LUL) saying “Eleven years of Tory austerity cuts have destroyed the capacity of our public services to withstand the pandemic…” The PM refuted her criticism, and fearing Wales would soon be clamoring for independence, he bragged that the Barnet formula alone was worth 2.4Bn. He teasingly dropped hints about Freeports and a new ‘LUL Fund’ that Sunak was about to announce in the Budget. But, there is every indication that the Tax Haven Freeports will help secure Tory seats while Labour strongholds will become abandoned ‘Freezeports’ and the new LUL Fund will be just as corruptly misappropriated by Tory Ministers as the ‘Towns Fund’ making it more of a ‘LULabye:’ a sweet tune to placate the easily fooled! We must fight back to end the escalating Tory corruption: protesting, challenging ‘chumocracy,’ taking the Government to Court and finally demanding a robust Investigation into the Covert 2019 Rigged Election that inflicted this Tory Sovereign Dictatorship on us. DO NOT MOVE ON!