Bridget Phillipson on Kuenssberg:
“So I think it’s really important to stress that production is being maintained, supplies are being maintained… so people should just carry on as usual. Of course governments will always plan for contingencies.”
“You would expect that this government and government would plan for eventualities where events happen in the world.”
“We want people to about their lives, to enjoy the opportunity to on holiday. And that’s as it should be, because it the responsibility of this Labour government to make sure that the British people are supported.” Camera pans to a headless chicken scene in Whitehall…
Kemi Badenoch on Sky News:
“Why didn’t he tell the police that he was the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff? That’s fishy… It’s a government phone… What if Russia or China had stolen that phone? The Chief of Staff did not tell the police who he was. He told the Cabinet Secretary that he’d lost the phone…that is extremely fishy… when I was a government minister, if my phone was stolen, I would tell the police exactly what was on that phone and why it was a security issue.”
“This is the man who advised the appointment of Peter Mandelson. Something we’ve now seen has been a huge cover-up, lots of lies. The PM saying he didn’t know the extent of the relationship… I don’t know whether he’s lying. I said the whole situation stinks. Why is that when they knew we were going to be asking for documents and all the messages that he sent, his phone mysteriously disappeared, and he didn’t tell the police at the time who he was. That is extremely fishy.”
“It’s not a conspiracy theory. Questions need to be answered, and he should come into Parliament and explain what happened.”
This week 940,272 visitors visited 839,009 times viewing 908,837 pages. The most read and shared stories in order of popularity were:
You’re either in front of Guido, or you are behind…
Greater Manchester police say they have found no evidence of family voting in the Gorton and Denton by-election:
“We’ve concluded our investigation into alleged ‘family voting’ at last month’s Gorton and Denton by-election, finding no evidence of any intent to influence or refrain any person from voting.
Our investigation into alleged influencing of voters at a polling booth (under Section 62C Representation of the People Act 1983 (Ballot Secrecy Act 2023)) began after a criminal report from the Reform UK party following a public statement made by independent electoral observers at Democracy Volunteers.
We have spoken to the four Democracy Volunteers observers present at polling stations on the day of the by-election (26 February) who have shared with us their eyewitness account. This includes some instances of more than one voter going into a booth at the same time, and instances of people looking over the shoulder of voters. The information they have provided to us estimates this may have happened on 32 occasions across 15 polling stations.
The observers do not allege any verbal instruction or physical conduct that indicated one person was directing or coercing another regarding how to vote. This is a crucial part of the legislation to prove such an offence was committed.
Our investigation team, led by an experienced senior investigating officer, spoke to all four volunteers from Democracy Volunteers as part of our enquiries – obtaining a copy of their observations. We also spoke to the Presiding Officers at 15 stations as well as the Acting Returning Officer, none of whom received any reports other than from Democracy Volunteers. We have received no further criminal reports.
For us to investigate allegations, we require an understanding of who the potential suspects may be, and evidence that may corroborate eyewitness accounts. For an investigation to meet the criminal threshold for prosecution, we require admissible evidence of intent or action aimed at influencing the vote.
Continue reading “Manchester Police Find ‘No Evidence’ of Family Voting in Gorton and Denton”
Another moral panic report is out from one of Parliament’s committees – this time on the threat of foreign disinformation. What about the threat of disinformation from Keir Starmer?
Anyway, the document, from the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, cites evidence it received that “Elon Musk’s influence is potentially greater in the UK than that of Russia’s”. It makes that claim alongside similar allegations about hostile states…
The report proposes a ‘National Counter Disinformation Centre’, which would presumably be another expensive quango to police social media and filter information in the interests of Labour ministers. Is that the shredder you can hear?
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”