Tag: UK

I don’t think Princess Nut Nut’s new regime is long for this world, based on the inability of its new Press Secretary to stand up to what can’t even reasonably be described as criticism:

The woman appointed by Boris Johnson to lead his daily press operations was left in tears on Saturday after she claimed to have been the subject of negative briefings by a former No 10 official who resigned last week and made a dramatic exit from Downing Street.

In an extraordinary escalation of feuding involving new and departing aides to Johnson, friends of Allegra Stratton, the new press secretary to the prime minister, said she had been “in tears all morning” as a result of what she believed were critical briefings by Johnson’s former director of communications, Lee Cain.

Stratton, who will be the public face of the government, believes Cain told numerous journalists over the previous 24 hours that she was not the first choice for the job and had not been top of the list of a panel chosen to make the high-profile appointment.

Messrs. Putin and Xi must be laughing themselves sick over what presently passes for the once-powerful governments of the USA and the UK. And the EU is going to be licking its chops over “negotiating” the final Brexit deal with these sacrificial lambs. 

Miss Symonds was said to be livid at a report in The Times which claimed that she no longer liked the animal. She went on Twitter to denounce it, saying: ‘Total load of c***. There has never been a happier, healthier and more loved dog than Dilyn.’

The dispute with Mr Cummings and Mr Cain flared when Miss Symonds apparently asked Mr Cain to make a formal complaint to The Times via the press watchdog, IPSO.

He refused to do so, pointing out that a Covid crisis meeting was about to take place in No 10 that day. Miss Symonds is understood to have contacted officials in Mr Johnson’s office and told them to scrap the coronavirus meeting because she wanted the Prime Minister to help her pursue her complaint with The Times. When Mr Cummings found out, sources said, he stormed in to Mr Johnson’s office and told him to go ahead with the meeting – which took place as planned.

An insider claimed: ‘We were dealing with the extraordinary chaos of Covid, and Carrie f***** the (PM’s Downing Street) private office up for a whole day. All over something trivial about her dog. She went bananas and spent the day on the phone to officials and the PM trying to force the Government machine to IPSO (send a formal complaint to the watchdog) The Times over it.’

So much for those Churchillian aspirations….

First Salvini, now Johnson, have been betrayed by their female companions.

On Monday evening the Prime Minister offered Mr Cain the vacant job of Downing Street chief of staff.

Who else could follow Cummings out the door? 

Many of the most senior figures in Downing Street owe their loyalty to Dominic Cummings from Vote Leave days.

Lee Cain’s resignation on Wednesday night had already caused deep frustration. 

And there are fears that some could follow Mr Cummings out of the door now he has signalled his departure.

They include advisers Cleo Watson, Oliver Lewis – known as ‘Sonic’ – and data guru Ben Warner.

A source has said that while Brexit envoy Lord Frost was unhappy about Mr Cain’s departure, he has no intention of quitting as talks with Brussels enter their final stages. 

The move was backed by both Mr Cummings and the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, who argued that Mr Cain had been fulfilling part of the role for months.

However, news of the appointment was leaked to the Mail – prompting a furious backlash from senior Tories, who feared it would further embolden a Vote Leave faction contemptuous of the role of MPs.

Crucially, it also encountered the wrath of Ms Symonds, who dislikes Mr Cain’s abrasive style. She told her fiancé it would be a ‘mistake’ to give him a promotion.

As news of the row behind the scenes became public, Mr Cain decided his role was untenable.

He will stay in post until the end of the year, when he will be replaced as director of communications by former Mail journalist James Slack, currently Mr Johnson’s official spokesman. However, unlike Mr Cain, who was a political appointment, he will remain a civil servant. 

Tory MPs warned Mr Johnson that the chaos in No 10 was undermining public confidence in the Government.

Sir Roger Gale said it was ‘extraordinary and unacceptable that Downing Street should allow itself to be distracted by internal squabbles’ in the midst of a pandemic.

He added: ‘Frankly this is a distraction… the Prime Minister has got to get a grip on it.’

Other MPs urged Mr Johnson to ditch his special adviser.

One said: ‘If they have got rid of one of the Kray brothers they have got to get rid of Cummings as well. To use a well-known phrase, Boris should take back control and be the real Boris that so many of his genuine friends and supporters believe he can be.’

The Prime Minister also faced questions over Ms Symonds’ role in Downing Street. 

‘The question on everyone’s lips is ”who will she go after next”… it looks like senior appointments now have to be approved by Carrie,’ an insider said.

‘That is a dangerous path for the Government to go down.’

Another adviser said the episode reflected poorly on the Prime Minister. ‘It is disappointing that he has failed to return the loyalty of his most loyal lieutenant when the going got tough,’ they said.

‘It begs the question – who is making the decisions now?’

Looks like Britain has a new Lady Macbeth in the making. Boris Johnson actually looks afraid of her. Once again, the foolishness of placing any confidence in a “leader” who can’t stop chasing women is underlined.

UPDATE: And now Johnson’s best adviser has exited the sinking ship.

Boris Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings has left Number 10 with immediate effect, BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says. Mr Cummings spoke to the PM earlier on Friday and it was decided it was best for him to go immediately after days of turmoil, our political editor said.

Literally sitting on the royal throne, although it isn’t quite what you might not unreasonably assume it to be:

A bombshell photo has emerged that shows child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged “pimp” Ghislaine Maxwell sitting in the British Queen’s throne inside Buckingham Palace, according to reports. Maxwell was arrested by U.S. authorities this week over her alleged role in Epstein’s child sex slavery operation.The newly emerged image shows Maxwell sitting in the throne alongside disgraced actor Kevin Spacey during a private tour of the palace organized by Britain’s Prince Andrew, it has been reported.The photo was obtained by British newspaper The Telegraph and was reportedly taken in 2002.

That’s really not a good look at all, although I suppose it would explain an awful lot about the Jimmy Saville catastrophe. At this point, I’m astonished that Prince Andrew hasn’t been locked up in the Tower of London for the good of the monarchy.

Meanwhile, the British media is attempting to play this off as just “a Palace prank”. It’s just a prank, you see. Not a big deal at all. Don’t even give the matter another thought. It’s just a prank, just a juvenile prank, by a pair of naughty knuckleheads. Let’s just move on…..

The British Prime Minister has been moved into the ICU:

Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care after his coronavirus condition worsened, Downing Street announced tonight. He is conscious and has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise for him. Mr Johnson, 55, has been transferred to intensive care as a precaution should he require a ventilator.

Not to be pessimistic here, but it is generally not a good sign when one’s consciousness is deemed newsworthy. The more conspiratorial-minded will, I imagine, be tempted to view this as some sort of revenge for Brexit.

UPDATE: Can’t say I’m liking Boris’s odds particularly well based on recent developments concerning his possible successors. Although I can’t imagine the British electorate is particularly impressed by the new Labour Party leader’s top priority in light of the current crisis.

1. Dominic Raab is now the UK’s de facto prime minister after Boris Johnson was hospitalised, with the running of the country placed in the hands of a man who has just one year of Cabinet experience…. Mr Raab said karate helped him cope with the premature death of his father, Peter, who had fled to the UK from Czechoslovakia at the age of six in 1938 to escape the Nazis. The Foreign Secretary released pictures during his Tory leadership campaign of his Jewish relatives who were murdered in the Holocaust.
2. New Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has apologised to the Jewish community for anti-Semitism in the party and promised to “tear out this poison by its roots”…. Sir Keir, a QC and former Director of Public Prosecutions, had a surprise for the 750-strong audience. Quizzed on whether he considered himself to be a Zionist — a supporter of the existence of the state of Israel — he answered: “I don’t know how many people know this (but) my wife’s family are Jewish and we have got extended family in Israel.”

A former Corona-chan pessimist is revising his expectations for the better:

Government coronavirus advisors say crisis will be ‘over by Easter’ but warn the next two weeks will see a ‘continuous tsunami of cases’ – as they warn a THIRD of deaths are ‘healthy people’

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Professor Ferguson said: ‘London is going to be very difficult in the next two to three weeks.

‘All I would say is, with the lockdown now in place, those numbers are going to start to plateau. The challenge we have is there’s a lag. The people being admitted to hospital right now were infected a week, two weeks, even sometimes three weeks ago, so without doubt the next one [or] two weeks are going to be very difficult.’

I was wondering why Prof. Ferguson was changing his tune until I looked at the Italian statistics and realized what he also must have noticed. Now, I am no medical expert or epidemiologist, but if we simply apply basic math, logic and statistics, and we assume that the cases of infection will follow the statistical bell curve that many historical epidemics have exhibited, we can derive predictive estimates from the fact that Italy appears to have hit its new cases peak on March 21, with 6557 new cases and 793 new deaths. That was on Day 31 of the outbreak, so we can speculate that the Italian crisis will be largely over by April 22.

If the US situation follows a similar curve – which will probably not be the case due to the much larger geographic area – then the current urban hotspots should be hitting their peaks the week of April 5-11 and seeing the crises more or less come to an end around the first week of May.

On the theoretical downside, if the peak has not actually passed and this four-day statistical decline is just an Elliott Wave-style even countertrend, that would indicate that the Italian situation is at least an order of magnitude worse than it presently appears and the crisis will be extended. So, let’s hope that the new case numbers continue to decline.

It’s going to be an interesting debate for future generations. Who was more stupid, Prince Harry or Meghan Markle?

Meghan Markle has told friends there is nothing ‘legally stopping’ her and Prince Harry from using their Sussex Royal name, despite the Queen banning them from using it, DailyMail.com has learned.

The 38-year-old complained to her inner circle that using the name ‘shouldn’t even be an issue in the first place and it’s not like they want to be in the business of selling T-shirts and pencils,’ the insider said.

They added: ‘Meghan said she’s done with the drama and has no room in her life for naysayers, and the same goes for Harry.’

On Tuesday, DailyMail revealed the Queen and senior officials agreed the two could no longer keep the word ‘royal’ in their ‘branding’, despite the likely thousands of dollars Meghan and Harry have already sunk into their website and trademark applications.

There was nothing “legally stopping” Princess Diana from driving through that tunnel in Paris either….

Her Majesty the Queen of England is observably getting tired of Megan Markle’s antics:

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex must drop their ‘Sussex Royal’ label after deciding to step down as working royals. Following lengthy and complex talks, the Queen and senior officials are believed to have agreed it is no longer tenable for the couple to keep the word ‘royal’ in their ‘branding’.

Harry and Meghan have spent tens of thousands of pounds on a new Sussex Royal website to complement their hugely popular Instagram feed.

They have also sought to register Sussex Royal as a global trademark for a range of items and activities, including clothing, stationery, books and teaching materials.

In addition, they have taken steps to set up a new charitable organisation: Sussex Royal, The Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

It has now been made clear that they will need to ‘re-brand’.

It would probably be a wise idea to steer well clear of Paris, too. Especially if Markle is dumb enough to defy the Queen and use it anyhow.

Congratulations to the British people, who are once again sovereign and free of their would-be masters on the continent.

Queen Elizabeth II was just stared down by a third-rate half-breed actress:

The Queen and Prince Charles decided not to strip Prince Harry of their HRH titles and Duke and Duchess of Sussex rank to avoid looking ‘petty’, it was claimed today.

Her Majesty is said to have considered stripping the couple of their most prized titles and instead referring to them as the Earl and Countess of Dumbarton – putting them at the same level as Edward and Sophie, Earl and Countess of Wessex.

However, the Queen and Prince Charles are believed to have felt preventing the couple from using ‘HRH’ in public and for commercial use – while still officially retaining the title – was a sufficient enough change.

A source told the Evening Standard: ‘The Sussex title is one of the ancient royal dukedoms given to him ahead of his wedding to Meghan, along with other titles. Removing it was seriously considered and discussed at the highest level.’

Amazing. She could have prevented the whole thing by forbidding Prince Harry to marry an obviously unsuitable woman, but she didn’t. Now she’s kowtowing to an actress for fear of looking petty.

Not a good show by the so-called sovereign. No wonder she’s permitted her country to be invaded and occupied.

I knew l’affaire de Markle was going to end badly. But I never suspected it was going to end in such a spectacularly bad manner:

Senior members of the royal family have gathered at Kensington Palace to celebrate the Duchess of Cambridge’s 38th birthday amid an ongoing crisis after Prince Harry and Meghan’s bombshell announcement last night.

Kate was seen arriving back at the palace today along with other royals such as Prince Eugenie, with birthday celebrations set to be dominated by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step back from family roles.

There are expected to be crisis talks today among the most senior family members, who are said to be ‘downright furious’ after learning about the announcement minutes before it broke on television news channels last night.

Royal sources today claimed Prince Harry had ignored crystal-clear orders from the Queen on the subject, after she instructed him not to make announcement about his future plans at this time.

It is understood that Harry had requested a meeting with the Queen at Sandringham as soon as he arrived back in the UK with Meghan and their son Archie this weekend, following a six-week Christmas break to Canada.

The Queen offered to meet the Duke – which was blocked by courtiers – but she still made an explicit request to her grandson that he first discuss his future plans in detail with his father, the Prince of Wales.

But the couple defied the order, going ahead with the announcement and ‘pressing the nuclear button’ on their royal careers, with William and Charles allegedly receiving a copy of the statement just 10 minutes beforehand.

I would definitely recommend avoiding boarding any flight that happens to be carrying Harry, Megan, Andrew, and Fergie. Just, you know, as a precaution. Especially when the British government can so easily play the Lockerbie card and blame the Iranians seeking revenge for General Soleimani.

Royal sources today claimed Prince Harry had ignored crystal-clear orders from the Queen on the subject

One almost wonders if he blames the Queen for his mother’s fate. I find it hard to believe that anyone can be that ensorcelled by a third-rate actress.