Westminstenders: Local Elections Madness

[RedToothBrush]

This week has gone from banging your head against the wall to wanting to bang your head through it.

Labour have voted to support a 2nd ref as their EU election campaign strategy. Only for Corbyn to ignore it. And a row has broken out.

Change UK seem well on track to make everyone else look professional and to look as 'liberal elite' as humanly possible in a real life reverse paraody of themselves.

The Brexit Party is going from strength to strength with the most wtf candidates imaginable and Farage is happy cos his mate is coming to tea with the Queen.

The Liberal Democrats have decided that anti semitism is OK in an effort to keep Labour seats.

And the Conservatives. Where to start? Probably with the Tory Leadership Election infighting which looks suspiciously as if its now breached national security.

As for Brexit. No one really wants to talk about it. Local elections are next week. May is now apparently supporting the Malthouse Compromise. Be warned, it is difficult to see it as anything but a Trojan Horse for No Deal. Not that everyone has worked this out yet. But until we have the blood bath of the local elections over and done with on Thursday, don't expect much to happen.

Then expect the Tories to lose their minds...

He must have had more than one screw loose to suggest sending an aircraft carrier to threaten the Chinese.

I know the Tories were short on activists and money to deliver leaflets but this is taking it a bit far

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-48120288
Marshchapel scouts delivered Tory election leaflets

A scout leader has resigned after getting children in his troop to deliver election leaflets on behalf of two Tory council candidates.

The group leader and other volunteers in Lincolnshire, quit after a complaint was made, the Scout Association said.

According to the Grimsby Telegraph, the scouts were used by Daniel McNally and Paul Rickett in return for a year's use of allotment space to grow vegetables.

Laura Kuenssberg@bbclaurak
Sources close to Williamson say he had talked to Swinford that day, but that absolutely does not prove that he leaked the story, and they are absolutely insistent that he did not.

Never thought I would say this - as I thought he was behind the leak.

But anyone else think this is all a bit fishy? Maybe he’s just a very good liar but I think my days of being shocked at how the govt behaves are long in the past

Gets more Dad’s Army every minute.
Though any scriptwriter would find it difficult to come up with a Gavin Williamson character.
The trouble with this country is down to sitcoms since the 70s.

Sedwillgate.

Katy Balls
@katyballs
Growing unease from Tory MPs over terms of Williamson’s sacking - view that No. 10 need to set out the evidence given he is so strenuously denying

Spoken to Gavin Williamson. He swore on his children’s life to me that he didn’t leak the Huawei news and neither did his staff. Said he believes this is the settling of a vendetta between him and Mark Sedwill

Coming from someone else, I might give the benefit of the doubt, but this is a Tory MP who has leadership ambitions. We know they'd happily sell their own child for that.

Besides it would not surprise me if it doesn't give his leadership hopes a boost as he gets to play the victim and get loads of headlines (and the name recognition that comes with it)

Nick Boles MP @nickboles
No surprise to learn that Gavin Williamson leaked the Huawei information from the National Security Council. Most Conservative MPs assumed it was him. He had the opportunity, the motive and previous form. He has got the comeuppance he deserved.

Say what you think Nick.

Ross Kempsall @rosskempsell
Labour calls for police investigation after Williamson sacked over Huawei leak

Shadow Defence Sec Nia Griffiths: “The Tories are in chaos and incapable of sorting out their own crisis. Conservative infighting has undermined the basic functioning of government, and has now potentially put security at risk. The police must urgently investigate.”

Britain Elects @ britianelects
Shadow Defence Sec Nia Griffiths: “The Tories are in chaos and incapable of sorting out their own crisis. Conservative infighting has undermined the basic functioning of government, and has now potentially put security at risk. The police must urgently investigate.”

More than the 10% threshold needed to trigger the by-election: 19,261 represents 28%

Some by-election turnouts are lower!!! That's nearly more people than elected her. 22,950.

She defeated Stewart Jackson (@BrexitStewart) who got the job as David Davis chief of staff at the Brexit department. He's been very vocal since he and Davis quit - he's a proper no dealer.

He got 22,343 votes for the Tories at the last election.

@woman19 note the lack of feeling he had working for the govt, just the armed forces . It is entirely possible he is a fall guy. Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke . Although, Grayling...

Scouts and child labour for Tory profit . Well, it was on the cards!

Gavin Williamson was sacked at a half hour long meeting in the Prime Minister's Commons office just after 5pm

Arj Singh @singharj
UPDATE: Met Police not investigating Gavin Williamson over Huawei leak potentially breaching Official Secrets Act yet - but will launch a probe if they receive information suggesting an offence has been committed.

Oh.

That's not what Theresa said.

Another example of incompetence - left hand not knowing what right hand is doing. Loads of "It wasn't me! I swear on my last rolo!" together with finger pointing and childish "Oooh well, we ALL knew it was him, such a naughty one him, not like us angels Miss!"

This is giving me flashbacks from Malory Towers.

Lucy Fisher @ los_fisher
NEW: Gavin Williamson has told me he wished there had been a police inquiry into the leak, which he believes would have exonerated him.

The PM offered him the chance to resign, but he said she would have to sack him as he had done nothing wrong.

That's not what Theresa said

@IanDunt
Let's be honest. This is going to be unbelievably fun.

@krishgm
If Gavin Williamson comes out fighting and denying - as his reported conversations with reporters suggest - the gauntlet is thrown down to Theresa May to do something more about her allegation. Either way the stench of infighting is powerful.

Could Farridge be both an MP and MEP? Wonder how Peterborough might affect their EUP plans :they/he seem to have lots of plans as well as money

@JimMFelton
Imagine being so shit you get fired by Theresa May

Frank Gardner @ frankrgardner
Former senior Whitehall official on sacking of @GavinWilliamson and leak inquiry: ‘in any breach of Official Secrets Act the Cabinet Office can call on any agency it needs, eg Police, MI5, GCHQ’

Lewis Goodall@lewis_goodall
Trying to think of an equivalent cabinet level sacking/resignation over a leak like this. Dalton? Profumo? Struggling to think of much else...

Hate to say it, but this has the whiff of the scandal that will bring down the PM, when everyone and everything to do with Brexit couldn't.

SNP now calling for police investigation too.

Great timing given there's the local elections tomorrow... This really encourages people to turn out to vote Tory...

Great timing given there's the local elections tomorrow... This really encourages people to turn out to vote Tory...
Snigger

Civil servant who did the same would be arrested.

Can you be an MP and MEP?

No, a European Council decision of 2002 states that "the office of MEP is incompatible with that of member of a national parliament". An MEP who is elected as an MP, or appointed a Peer, therefore has to stand down from the European Parliament

Being an MP is a bigger prize to win. And although its a risk, its winnable for Farage. But he's a dead cert to win an MEP seat.

Will he take the gamble?

There aren't many better seats for him to go for as an MP.

However Stewart Jackson would be a tough candidate to beat. He's fully no deal and part of the David Davis camp, has been very vocal about his dislike for May, he was MP until 2017 so has some incumbent effect and he's not tainted by being part of this parliament.

And if I were Farage, I'd chicken out over that.

@BethRigby
NEW: .@GavinWilliamson tells me he “wanted a police investigation because I would have been cleared. They would have had to have evidence. That is what I wanted” Tells me he believes this was “a witch hunt from the start” & “in a kangaroo court with a summary execution”

scandal that will bring down the PM
Yup. Yikes.

I'd chicken out over that
Shame. He could do so much less damage rabbiting on in HOC. We could have taken that one for the EU team.

Odd that he took the sacking rather than go quietly?

If this is a stitch up, could have profound implications, shame i'm away for 2 weeks but at least the Govt isn't wasting the lull in Brexit news and is fully committed to providing us all with more scandal and incompetence......
Grayling wasting 10s of millions again, £83 million spent on ferries we'll never need, how many Women's Refuges would that have paid for? or children's centres?

Paul Waugh@paulwaugh
I'm told @joswinson is writing to the Met Police to request a criminal investigation into the Huawei leak.

Thats now Labour, the LDs, the SNP and Gavin Williamson saying they want a police inquiry and there's a bunch of right leaning journalists and pundits going 'something stinks with what Theresa's done.

Is that everyone smelling May's blood an an opportunity to oust her / get political capital or is it a genuine sense of Williamson being an innocent victim.

Answers on a postcard to the head of the met who now has to wade into this political car crash.

Patrick Kidd @ patrick_kidd
Remarkably, Liam Fox is now only the third most disgraced former defence secretary of the past eight years.

Fox, Hammond, Fallon, Williamson and now Mordaunt.

Should we take it that the office is cursed and take bets on when Mordaunt will fall from grace in a scandal?

If there was a criminal investigation could the police just go to The Telegraph journalists and force them to reveal the source ?