Local Authorities: the realities of No Overall Control

The fact is that No Overall Control give third parties with just a few representatives enormous decision making capabilities. They only need to swing from one side to another as they see fit, supporting either the rulling party or the main opposition party, to extract whatever they want.

As an example, Labour had total control of both Lambeth and Southwark. Not anymore. All Greens have a majority in both Lambeth and Southwark, the Greens do not have an absolute majority. This means that the Liberal Democrats, by supporting, opposing or amending any initiative can control the flow of events.

Monday´s extraordinary session at Lambeth Borough Council was a clear example of things to come, There was amendment after amendment and the Liberal Democrats got away with it. Not only that. The number of representatives in each committee went from 6 to 7.

Labour MPs were sitting as part of the audience, witnessing something that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago and that now has become a reality. How will recent electoral changes affect the London Assembly Elections and the next General Election?

Notwithstanding what is happening at local level, all eyes are now focused on the coming by-election in Makerfield where a potential challenger of the Labour Primer Minister Keir Starmer will be seeking a possible return to Westminster.

Politics can change at very short notice and so can geopolitics

Keir Starmer

What happened in the last 48 hours is the equivalent of a political earthquake. Two political figures - Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon have been sidelined or so is that the forces that put them out of the way want to believe.

Nicola Sturgeon was not so much important as the Scottish leader that moved to break down the United Kingdom. She has been the tool used by those in charge of the European Union to put hurdles across the way of the Conservative governmenty in Westminster. She has been the outspoken defender of the EU against the British government. Who will have the political caliber to replace her and will the replacement follow the orders of the European Union? This remains to be seen.

No one apart from Nicola Sturgeon has the profile to play such a role and the Alba Party led by Alex Salmond will surely capitalize on her departure, in spite of the fact that Alex Salmond has been one of those targetted as part of the anti-Russia campaign. 

Some say that the Labour Party in Scotland will benefit, but this remains to be seen. The Labour Party is considered to be a London Metropolitan Party, not a national party, not a defender of Scottish interests at all and whoever has hopes regarding independence will not support the Labour Party.

The command given to Keir Starmer was to erradicate the left of the Labour Party that has been traditionally supportive of Palestine and very critical of Israeli policies in the occupied territories. Keir Starmer might not be Jewish, but his wife is Jewish and daughter of a Rabbi and their children are raised as Jews. Starmer married Victoria Alexander in 2007. The couples's son and daughter are being brought up in the Jewish faith of their mother. Victoria worked as a solicitor and now work in the National Health Service in occupational health. Victoria is originally from Poland and Keir Starmer stated that 'on her father's side there are mitzvahs, synagoques - there's all the traditions'. And also, presumably, all the related geopolitical allegiances that come with it.

Therefore, you don't have to struggle to guess what his views in terms of geopolitics and regarding the State of Israel actually are and this is why just a few hours ago he declared that Jeremy Corbyn will be excluded from the Labour Party and not allowed to stand as a Candidate in Islington, a seat that Jeremy Corbyn has represented for a very long time.    

In recent elections, the Conservative Party won control of the so called Red Wall, turning traditional Labour seats into Conservative seats. I wonder how traditional Labour and in particular Labour areas that have a predominantly Islamic population will react. Keir Starmer is a Metropolitan Londoner. It will be hard to persuade non Londoners and especially Northerners and Middle England. In the north, Andy Burnham, despite his retiscence to declare his aspirations regarding the leadership, has the right age, the right amount of experience and the right profile and as Mayor of Manchester can claim that he is not a privileged Southeasterner when a sizeable number of voters claim that Westminster has forgotten the rest of the country. In this regard, Keir Starmer's allegiance to Israel, his total contempt for the cause of Palestine, his inability to define what a woman is (surely he knows what a woman is, but he is afraid of straight answers that could put him on a collision course with segments of his own political party). To gain some support he will have to stop being a lawyer and become a politician. He will have to show courage and take real risks.

In terms of public image, he hasn't done extremely well. Kneeling down for the cameras was not his best moment. Emulating Boris Johnson by travelling to Kiev was not his best move either. His at best lukewarm support for the trade union movement did not dress him with flying colours either and it must be remarked that some critically important segments of the trade union movement no longer support the Labour Party. Will his charge against Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters win him many votes? Given the present political environment, the next General Election is for Keir Starmer to lose. Having said that, as we never expected Nicola Sturgeon to fall from power so ungratiously and so dramatically, it remains to be seen if Keir Starmer will be Labour leader in 2024. Will Jeremy Corbyn's supporters accept the invitation to leave the Labour Party? Will the Trade Unions that still support the Labour Party continue to support the Labour Party? What if the Labour Party is once again divided? Worse still, what if Labour voters as it has happened in recent times, decide to abstain?  

London under Corona Virus

London under Corona Virus

The lonely bagpiper standing on Westminster Bridge, pretty close to the Houses of Parliament and some of the most visited London attractions.

London is in lockdown. Most shops are closed. Amenities like restaurants, theatres, museums, galleries, and casinos are closed. Big companies are suffering the strain of having to close doors to the public and some have already gone into administration.

People are still dying in big numbers and there is even different versions of events indicating that there could be more than one strain of Corona virus going around. The education system is working at minimal levels and only to meet special needs. Only companies providing essential services are still working.

Another angle of the crisis is the fact that things are dire for those most vulnerable and especially those who have little or financial resources to get by. There are huge issues to deal with. How much social and financial damage would the country have suffered when and if the Corona Virus crisis comes to an end.With borrowing and unemployment going up, it is difficult to assess the repercussionms of the lockdown. Will it be a matter of weeks? Months? Years? The consequences will be long term.

Jo Brand and the BBC: One too many in what constitutes incitement to violence

Jo Brand and the BBC: One too many in what constitutes incitement to violence

Jo Brand and the BBC

Speaking on Radio 4, Jo Brand made a comment that constitutes incitement to violence. We are not going to mention the comment she made because what she suggested is basically promoting criminal violence for political purposes.

Telling jokes is one thing. Using the BBC to promote violence is quite another and nowhere in the BBC Charter it is suggested that the public broadcaster can or should engage giving a platform to individuals to promote criminal activities.

Sooner than later, laughing at the act of throwing milkshakes against people merely because of not sharing their views was bound to lead to what Jo Brand laughed about. We have seen elderly people thrown out to the ground by angry mobs shouting expletives and being insulting.

An NHS nurse lost her job looking after people with mental health problems because she lost the plot right in front of the Houses of Parliament and ended up apologising for what she had done. She had the excuse of being driven by crowd madness but Jo Brand had no excuse whatsoever to say what she said. She knew exactly what she said and the potential repercussion of what she said.

When Jeremy Corbyn's supporters shouted at this young black man holding an Israeli flag and supporting President Trump saying that his black man is racist, Nazi, Fascist and the like, something is very wrong. Who encourages people to engage in such behaviour? We should ask journalists and activist like Owen Jones about it, as one the most vociferous individuals on print, on television and on the streets. His ideological stances go all over the top and this has consequences in an increasingly tense political environment in which unstable individuals can easily get carried away by the messages he is sending out. The careless attitude in terms of what they say and do is something that Jo Brand shares with Owen Jones. They are agitators that don't seem to care about the consequences and especially when other people can get hurt. 

Owen Jones

SNP = there are two dimensions in every vote

There are two dimensions to every vote for SNP Scottish National Party.

In a desperate effort to get momentum going for a new Referendum on Scottish Independence, Nicola Sturgeon called for a coalition with Labour and Liberal Democrats not realising that such a coalition in a General Election would go against the will of Scottish voters in Scotland that not necessarily support Scottish Independence - for starters - and who profoundly disagree with SNP in Scottish politics.

In Scotland, SNP needs the support of the Green Party and in England the Green Party was looking for a similar coalition arrangement with Labour and Liberal Democrats but regarding Brexit.

In both cases, in kind of 'coalition arrangement' was discarded by both Labour and Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats have been trying to benefit for the Labour Party's internal struggles. So there is love relationship between Labour and Liberal Democrats.

Tony Blair's meddling in British politics have had a detrimental effect on the so called Remain campaign with Remain Conservative Members of Parliament leaving what is called Open Britain because of Open Britain's declared intentions of unseat pro-Brexit Conservative MPs.

This has been a bit like the outcome of Karl Marx's call 'Proletariat of the World unite'. Party political loyalties - like national loyalties proved stronger in World War One - have proven to be stronger than any kind of pretend convenience.

At the end of the day, most people will vote along party political lines and Members of Parliament will not put their own interests aside to promote the illusion of cross-party momentary alliances.

In the Constituency where I live, the electoral success of the incumbent Member of Parliament is guaranteed. Whatever other political parties might or might not do in terms of tactical voting doesn't really matter. When I go and vote on June 8th 2017, I will already know the name of who is going to be Member of Parliament.

Things might be a bit different in other constituencies where the incumbents have smaller majorities - marginal seats - but we are talking about 650 seats and a few changes here and there will not change the final outcome of the Election.

In 2015, SNP got 56 out of 59 seats in the House of Commons. Having reached the top of the mountain, the only way forward is downwards and this is something that Nicola Sturgeon might be very much thinking about. She didn't expect that she would have to deal with a General Election so soon while still having to deal with difficulties in the Scottish Parliament. She knows that losing members in Westminster will also benefit her Scottish opponents in the Scottish Parliament.

Arron Banks launches new political party. Same membership limitations?

Arron Banks launches a new political party having left UKIP. In essence, there is talk of attracting floating working class vote and of being a new home for disenchanted Nationalists that find themselves in limbo and without a political home as the political organisations they used to support or were members of have not proven to be reliable or to have any political future.

Since there is only one Electorate with a growing number of disenfranchised voters, the issue of membership limitations is ever present.

UKIP banned former members of the British National Party, Britain First, National Front, English Defence League and of other political parties from joining UK Independence Party. So there is still an awfully big number of people who are basically politically homeless.

Arron Banks

A few months ago, Kevin Layzell, a young political activist that started his political career in the British National Party, went to National Front. The likes of Britain First and British Democrats  and others had their roots in the British National Party although Britain First explicitly rejects - at least in principle - any membership application from former British National Party members and this in spite of the fact that many Britain First members and this includes its leader are former British National Party members.

EDL and Britain First have a very peculiar rapport since they have quite a lot in common, including their activism practices that led them quite often to confrontation with both political detractors and Police.

Within what we could broadly call Nationalism there are all sorts. Despite having some common aims, they have been at odds with each other and hostility has not been the exception but the rule.

Of late there have been news appearances. We have seen British Renaissance and London Forum plus a number of branches like Bristol Forum. They seem to congregate people with very distinct political backgrounds, with both differences and similarities. 

At a recent London Forum meeting in London, British historian David Irving and other well-known personalities were present. At a Bristol Forum meeting, Julie Lake - now former BNP member - introduced Kevin Layzell - former BNP members and now National Front member as a guest speaker.

Kevin Layzell talked about his hopes regarding the rise of a Nationalist Party that could sometimes unite a very fragmented Nationalist scene to be able to win elections and during his speech talked about the rise of the BNP that won two seats in the European Parliament, a seat in the London Assembly, and a multitude of seats across the country - including in Barking and Dagenham where it was the official opposition - before going down all the way with the expulsion of Nick Griffin that was the driving force that led the party to heights many never thought that it was possible to reach.

So, what is going to be the next political chapter? Will Arron Banks seek to unite the Nationalist scene under a new flag, being as inclusive as possible? Arron Banks promised UKIP 2.0. Will it be a completely new version or just another version with a few cosmetic changes?