6th January 2021
…. And guess what¨ That’s right – he didn’t reply to my first letter, ignored my request, ordered his MP’s to support Johnson’s Brexit deal and hasn’t responded to my second letter, the text of which is below:
Sir Keir
I wrote to you on 28th December 2020 in effect pleading with you not to whip Labour MP’s to support Johnson’s Brexit Withdrawal agreement.
I watched the complete debate on TV and was horrified to witness your disingenuous statement that the choice Parliament faced was a simple binary choice between accept the deal on offer or vote for no deal! Given the size of Johnson’s majority how could that possibly have been the case? Your instruction and the callow acceptance by the PLP has completely undermined any future opportunity to hold Johnson to account for the damage he will now unleash on those least able to weather the storm. You had the chance to hold him to account on the record and then allow a free vote or chance to abstain, so hanging the responsibility of the outcome around Johnson’s neck. You failed and now Party members like me have been left with no intellectual or emotional political home. Shame on you all!
I joined the Labour Party nearly 40 years ago, not some Tory-lite organisation and I refuse to be associated with this act of wanton delinquency, Johnson’s or yours. I will not be implicit in the consequences of Brexit, which I truly believe will mean the undoing of the United Kingdom. Unfortunately I paid my last subscription in full so don’t have the option to stop a Standing Order so unless the Membership Department (copied) are able to refund me pro-rata I’ll have to see it through, but rest assured I will not re-join Labour for as long as you remain Leader.
I take no pleasure in this decision. I am now adrift with no political home as Labour are no longer the Party I joined and that I put down to you.
Yours
Jeremy Brookes
So me and Starmer’s Labour Party are through. End of. No argument. And in truth I’m wondering if this rupture should have come sooner. I welcomed New Labour and their promises of a new era – and let’s never forget the good Blair, Brown et al did from the start – but things went wrong when Blair got sucked in by George W Bush and took us in to an illegal war, the consequences of which we – the world – are still suffering. I also believe that whilst Private Finance Initiatives (a Tory policy under John Major) delivered some lovely shiny infrastructure developments New Labour should have been a little bit more careful when they started building the UK around it. The NHS, for instance, are shackled in to long-term contracts that screw ever-increasing amounts of money – our, tax-payers money – out of them which, as can be seen by the debacle of PPE stocks, PPE delivery and other hospital essentials (and dare I say such as doctors and nurses), is money that could be better spent elsewhere.
In my years as a Project Manager in BT we were always ‘encouraged’ to keep a close eye on the Project scope and where the customer wanted anything extra to capture that in a Change Control request and ensure it got billed for (at the appropriate rate as defined in BT’s published terms and conditions). There’s no problem with that but I guess some totally out of his/her depth civil servant had rings run around them by the sharks that get the Government contracts and as a consequence what, back in the good old days would have been done by the hospital maintenance engineering staff is now done at an exorbitant rate by the ‘partner’. We then we had the doldrum years whilst Cameron, Osborne and the Lib Dems unleashed ‘austerity’ on us – difficult, but then Labour and it’s members are more used to opposition than government – and we had something to oppose. The Corbyn days were a disaster if for no other reason than Corbyn himself was most definitely not of leadership material.
I voted for Starmer because I thought he offered a change. I was wrong. He’s a Tory in disguise and didn’t join the Tory party.
So now not only am I lost and alone in France now I’ve got no political spiritual home either BUT with the oncoming disaster that is climate change I am going to investigate the Green Party and see what they have to offer my socialist, democratic principles.
We watched the Andy Serkis film about Ian Dury a couple of weeks ago – Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll – a great film and a reminder of my old school mate Tony Churton (who sadly passed away last year) – a reminder because we went to see Ian Dury and the Blockheads at the Manchester Free Trade Hall back in 1978. It also reminded me of an always favourite Dury song – Spasticus Autisticus – one, because I know I am one part of the title and two my good lady keeps reminding me I’m also the other. Well given we’re all on the spectrum somewhere I suppose she’s got a point as I do tend to be literal o a fault and don’t recognise many (if any) shades of grey – I’m a black and white kind of person – it’s right or wrong, true or false so maybe I am. Whatever – click the link and enjoy the song and dig out the film to understand why it was written.
As the UK struggles into 2021 it is as plain as the nose on Cyrano de Bergerac Johnsons face that the Covid-19 pandemic is anything but under control. People continue to catch, get hospitalised and die from this awful disease at a terrifyingly increasing rate. Try as he might Johnson and his cabinet of all the cretins should not be allowed to avoid the blame, and indeed it is blame that’s required as (on 6th January 2021) the latest figures show:
62,322 new cases
30,451 people in hospital
1,041 deaths in hospital
All of which adds up to a total of 77,346 deaths in the UK down to Covid-19 – and all down to Johnson and his inability to take the awkward, tough decisions. Are you aware that he is responsible for more civilian deaths that Adolph Hitler? I joke not. The UK lost 67,100 civilians in World War 2 – Johnson’s tally is still growing!
OK the vaccinations are rolling out – 1.4% of those needed to be done have been done – but where is the detail about how many doses are there in the UK? How many syringes are there? Each jab needs a syringe and each vaccination needs two injections. How many needles are available? Each jab needs a needle and each vaccination needs two jabs.
Surely you can see where I’m going with this?
Which of Johnson or Hancock’s old drinking buddies or school mates will get the contracts? Chums rates for the chumocracy! And when are the difficult questions about the cost of failure of the Test, Track and Trace system or the PPE mess going to get asked and answers demanded? We need to know, we need to know because when the bills start to get re-paid, as the undoubtedly will one day it will be us, current tax-payers and tax-payers to come – our kids and their kids will be paying off these debts – and so paying for Johnson s largesse greasing the hands of all his old mates.
It’s a disgrace and it needs to be called out. Someone with a better brain and better access to the wheels of government needs to be looking at how we can claim back some of the money so obviously blown away. I’d even say that Ministers need to be held accountable for their failures in accounting for this money and monitoring how it has been spent. Johnson hasn’t got a magic money tree, he’s put the UK into hock for generations and we should be demanding value for money and rebates where we can.
I’m going to close shortly so this is where I wish you all a as safe as possible and as prosperous as possible a 2021 as is possible. 2020 was s##t – for all of us regardless of your position over Brexit and regardless of how hard Covid-19 impacted you, your loved ones or friends. Karen and I have been lucky in that Covid hasn’t killed anyone we know, although my youngest daughter has tested positive for it. Fortunately she’s doing OK and not seriously ill with it. Just as fortunately for us we haven’t got parents to worry about because I don’t know how we’d cope if we did.
So please, please – stay home, stay safe, keep others safe and do what’s needed to prevent the NHS falling over.
For those of you who voted for Brexit I hope you’ve got what you wanted – but if this is anything to go by I think maybe not! Anyway, you wanted it, you’ve got it so suck it up suckers!!
Thanks all
Jem