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Labour Whips Found Farrelly Guilty of “Aggressive Behaviour” After Four Complaints Last Year

Labour’s Chief Whip made bullying-accused Paul Farrelly write letters of apology to fellow MPs after a whip’s office investigation found him guilty of “aggressive behaviour”, Guido can reveal. Labour whips launched a probe into Farrelly late last year following four complaints to Chief Whip Nick Brown, including one from a non-MP staff member working in parliament. The complaints concerned a series of aggressive outbursts on the day of a crucial Brexit vote. A ‘drunk’ Farrelly was said to have “squared up to” MP James Frith:

‘He jumped in front of Frith, who said, “Er, OK, aren’t we supposed to be in a queue?” Farrelly just started effing, saying, “Don’t you f****** start something with me.”

In a separate incident it was reported Farrelly had rowed with MPs Gareth Snell and Ruth Smeeth. At the time Farrelly denied the allegations, claimed he was victim of a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign and said “I don’t even know who James Frith is”…

Now Guido can reveal the whips did find Farrelly guilty of “aggressive behaviour”. Brown wrote in his findings:

“I have spoken to Paul about the events of Tuesday 14th November 2017. Accounts differ but on the balance of probablity I uphold the complaint of aggressive behaviour but not physical assault. In my view, the best way forward is for Paul Farrelly to write and apologise to Gareth Snell, Ruth Smeeth and James Frith… The member of staff has a right of complaint and anonymity… it would be appropriate for Paul to write a concilatiroy letter to the member of staff, care of ***, who can forward the letter on.”

Labour did not respond to a request made by Guido yesterday to disclose the outcome of the probe. The revelation that a complaint was upheld against Farrelly will pile pressure on the Newcastle-under-Lyme MP after Newsnight reported allegations about his behaviour towards former Commons clerk Emily Commander. Jeremy Corbyn yesterday said he would not suspend Farrelly:

“Obviously the investigation must take place first. If there’s proof of bullying then appropriate reprimands have to take place.”

With an upheld complaint for aggressive behaviour and further allegations of that nature Labour will surely have to suspend him if they are to be consistent…

March 10, 2018 at 10:28 am

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Saturday 7-Up

This week 211,562 visitors visited 750,980 times viewing 1,189,661 pages. The top stories in order of popularity were:

You’re either in front of Guido, or behind…

March 10, 2018 at 7:02 am

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Bercow Promised to Step Down in 111 Days Time

Back in June 2009, when he became Speaker, John Bercow promised he would serve “for no more than nine years in total”. 9 years would be June 22 this year, or 111 days from now.

In light of recent revelations, that sounds about right to Guido…

March 9, 2018 at 4:49 pm

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EU Rule Prevents British Cops Probing MPs’ Finances

British cops are unlikely to probe Keith Vaz’s property empire not least because of a rule protecting politicians from scrutiny placed in UK law at the behest of the European Union. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen asked the National Crime Agency to serve an unexplained wealth order on Vaz. Fortunately for Vaz measures put into the Criminal Finances Act (2017) mean politicians in the EEA can only be served with such an order if there is sufficient suspicion that they are involved in serious organised criminality. The Act states that to impose an order the High Court must:

“Be satisfied that the respondent is a politically exposed person, or there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that—(i) the respondent is, or has been, involved in serious crime (whether in a part of the Uited Kingdom or elsewhere), or (ii) a person connected with the respondent is, or has been, so involved […]

““politically exposed person” means a person who is— (a) an individual who is, or has been, entrusted with prominent public functions by an international organisation or by a State other than the United Kingdom or another EEA State…”

MPs voted to exempt themselves, yet left non-EEA MPs in Africa, Russia and China open to the imposition of such orders, effectively creating a two-tier system of scrutiny dependent on nationality. Odd…

Vaz strenuously denies the claims about his wealth. Not that it matters considering MPs have exempted themselves from scrutiny…

March 9, 2018 at 4:00 pm

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Scrapbook Bercow Clusterf**k

Older readers may remember Political Scrapbook, the Labour gossip blog which died a death a few years ago and now only posts sporadically. Whoever is running it these days has got very confused this afternoon:

Bercow has not resigned. The story has now been deleted. Even Skwawkbox ain’t this bad.

H/T Dan Bloom

March 9, 2018 at 3:43 pm

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Communist Flag Flying Above Stalybridge Labour Club Today

What does local Labour MP Jonny Reynolds make of this?

March 9, 2018 at 3:25 pm

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Liam Young Uses Parliamentary Pass to Flog His Book

Can’t fault the capitalist in Corbynista Liam Young, who is using the parliamentary pass awarded to him as a Labour adviser to get a load of lovely PR photos for his new book. The Speaker would usually take very unkindly to such a blatant attempt to profiteer from privileged access to the parliamentary estate, but Bercow’s a little busy at the moment…

March 9, 2018 at 2:05 pm

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Friday Caption Contest (What’s Your Poison? Edition)

Entries in the comments…

March 9, 2018 at 12:49 pm

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Corbyn Slaps Down McDonnell Over Anti-Semitic Facebook Group

Team Jezza have slapped down John McDonnell for his attempted explanation of Corbyn’s presence in that anti-Semitic Facebook group. McDonnell said this morning on Sky:

“He was added, and then participated in some of the debate, then when he discovered there were some people in it who were expressing anti-Semitic views he immediately came out of that.”

So McDonnell says Corbyn left the group when he became aware of its anti-Semitism in 2015, but did nothing about it and didn’t report the members or the group to the party. That’s not a good look…

Team Corbyn say McDonnell’s statement to Sky was “not right”, that he left a number of Facebook groups when he became leader and claim he wasn’t aware of any anti-Semitism at the time. McDonnell keeps stiching-up the boss at the moment…

March 9, 2018 at 12:13 pm

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Shanker Shocker as Legatum’s Brexit Team Transfers to IEA

Shanker Singham has resigned from the Legatum Institute as Director of Economic Policy and is taking his three-strong team with him from Mayfair to Westminster to join the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). This is the wonk-land equivalent of Manchester City signing Manchester United’s top strikers…

Guido sources say Shanker resigned on Wednesday and the board of the IEA agreed to take him and his team pretty swiftly. The IEA is creating a new International Trade and Competition Unit for Shanker’s team, bringing with him lawyer Victoria Hewson; economist Catherine McBride; and research analyst Dr Radomir Tylecote. The three – who have a wealth of experience from the legal, technology, business and think tank worlds – will take up their roles later this month. Shanker’s team are widely recognised as the top Brexit wonks outside government.

The IEA’s Mark Littlewood tells Guido:

“I have huge admiration for the work Shanker and his team have done at the Legatum Institute. Under Philippa Stroud’s leadership, Legatum have gone from strength to strength, becoming thought leaders in crucial policy areas of which trade is only one. I look forward to continuing our strong relationship with them, and to Shanker and his team continuing their work at the IEA.”

Shanker Singham says: “We look forward to being a resource to all who need us in the trade, competition and regulatory policy space.” It is fair to say that the philanthropists who back Legatum were extremely uncomfortable with the critical political attention that the polarising Brexit work was bringing them and that this was distracting from their greater philanthropic endeavours on other issues. At the IEA Shanker will be at liberty to engage with the Westminster debate and key players more directly…

March 9, 2018 at 11:24 am

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When Tom Bradby Saw the Two Sides of Bercow

This 2009 ITV interview with John Bercow has been doing the rounds in Westminster this morning. Bercow’s mask slipped and Tom Bradby saw the two sides of the Speaker: his polite public persona and his rude and bullying private tone. Also ironic to see Bercow complaining about questions overrunning. If he speaks like this to a senior journalist in an interview, imagine how he treats his staff…

March 9, 2018 at 10:34 am

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‘Lager Lout’ Farrelly’s History of Commons Brawls

Accused alongside Speaker John Bercow in the Commons staff bullying scandal is “lager lout” Labour MP Paul Farrelly. The rugby playing Newcastle-Under-Lyme MP has been implicated in a string of well-publicised scrapes and scraps. Last November Labour said they would investigate claims Farrelly “launched a foul-mouthed tirade” at colleague James Frith MP in one of the voting lobbies. Farrelly denied the allegations. It was claimed Farrelly was also involved in an angry confrontation with fellow Labour MPs Gareth Snell and Ruth Smeeth. A Labour spokesman said: “These are being investigated in line with the standing orders of the Parliamentary Labour Party.” What was the outcome? We’ve never heard back…

In 2010 Farrelly admitted wrestling a member of the public to the ground in a bar brawl on the parliamentary estate. He said he acted in self-defence when it was claimed he punched newspaper vendor Bjorn Hurrell above the eye in the incident outside parliament’s notorious Sports and Social bar. At the time Farrelly was a vocal critic of anti-social behaviour and claimed on his website: “Decent people should not see their lives blighted by nuisance and anti-social behaviour.”

Last night’s allegations concern Farrelly’s treatment of former clerk Emily Commander while she worked on the Culture, Media and Sport committee. An internal Commons report obtained by Newsnight shows the clerk told managers:

“I have been anxious about encountering Mr Farrelly… I have repeated nightmares about going on Committee visits with Mr Farrelly and being criticised by him for having neglected tiny details… After particularly unpleasant meetings I have lost my appetite and have on several occasions been physically sick.”

Further allegations surround a Committee trip to Italy in 2014. One participant on that trip claimed:

“He was a complete and utter bully. He wound her up like a screw and reduced her to tears. The more he upset her, the more he enjoyed it, the more he kept turning the screw. He was very aggressive. It felt like no one had the ability or authority to intervene. Everybody knew it was wrong.”

Farrelly told Newsnight: “In 2012 allegations were made about me having bullied a clerk to the Committee during the compilation of the phone hacking report. These allegations were investigated and not upheld.” If Labour are consistent they will suspend him…

March 9, 2018 at 10:04 am

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Second Commons Employee Quit After Being Told to “F**k Off” By Bercow

Back in 2014 John Bercow was the subject of a formal complaint about his behaviour, told one senior Commons employee to “f**k off” and subjected Commons staff to regular “temper tantrums”. At the time Guido reported how Bercow told the respected Clerk of the House Sir Robert Rogers to “f**k off” at a meeting, with Rogers ultimately taking the decision to leave his post after just two and a half years.

“It’s been very gruelling for him,” said one with a view of the action over the period. “Temper tantrums and childish behaviour every Monday morning. I’m not surprised he’s going, it’s exhausted him.

Another witness said: “I wouldn’t speak to a dog in the way Bercow spoke to X (a senior member of the hierarchy).”

Worth reading this from Michael Fabricant on the Rogers incident:

A well-known public figure, a distinguished lawyer and knight of the realm, said he was astonished to have witnessed an unprovoked outburst by the Speaker. He had gone to the Speaker’s official apartments at Westminster for a meeting with Mr Bercow when Sir Robert popped his cheery face round the door.

According to my dinner party companion, Mr Bercow shouted at Sir Robert: ‘Can’t you see I haven’t finished – just **** off!’

I asked my dinner companion if he was absolutely certain of this and he said, yes, it definitely happened and that he had been shocked by the language and the way he had humiliated the Clerk in front of outsiders, making a bad deal even worse.

At the time Guido wrote of Bercow’s anti-bullying hotline: “It’ll be interesting to see how many complaints it gets from the Speaker’s behaviour”. Last night Newsnight revealed Bercow’s behaviour towards his private secretary Kate Emms forced her out of the job. A Whitehall source tells Guido: “Kate is one of the most respected and trusted civil servants in the Cabinet Office. She is completely unimpeachable and not a flake”. Remember she was signed off sick after enduring Bercow – and he is essentially accusing her of lying with his denials. Level of surprise in SW1 that Bercow is a bad-tempered bully: Zero.

March 9, 2018 at 8:45 am

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Bercow Accused of Bullying Female Secretary Until She Was Signed Off With PTSD

Newsnight has learned of allegations that the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, mistreated an employee #newsnight pic.twitter.com/3X8UVaUsdQ

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) March 8, 2018

A bombshell Newsnight investigation has accused John Bercow of bullying his female private secretary. Witnesses said they saw the Speaker shouting at and undermining Kate Emms, who was signed off with post-traumatic stress disorder and had to take another job elsewhere. Bercow even had Emms painted out of his official portrait. He denies the allegations. MPs Mark Pritchard and Paul Farrelly are also accused of bullying – Jo Swinson has already called on all three to face an independent investigation. In October last year Bercow told the Commons: “There must be zero tolerance of sexual harassment or bullying here at Westminster or elsewhere”. Could this finally be what does for the Speaker?

UPDATE: A Commons source says Bercow has been consulting lawyers over bullying allegations for several weeks.

March 8, 2018 at 11:09 pm

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Who’s On Question Time Tonight?

March 8, 2018 at 8:00 pm

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Draft Starmer Press Release That Shows Labour Working With Brussels

Guido can reveal the existence of a draft Keir Starmer press release that shows Labour has been working with Brussels on Brexit policy. The draft press release, which was written after Corbyn’s speech last week, would have boasted how Labour had “secured EU backing” for their customs union proposal. The statement would have said “it is understood” that the European Parliament’s Brexit Steering Group was set to “adapt its resolution to reflect the wording of Jeremy Corbyn’s customs union policy”. The press release was never sent but it has been leaked to Guido…

Labour secure EU backing for customs union proposal

Brussels officials have given their backing to Labour’s proposal for a new UK-EU comprehensive customs union.

Keir Starmer, Labour’s Shadow Brexit spokesperson, visited Brussels this week following Jeremy Corbyn’s speech in Coventry in Monday.

On Wednesday, Michel Barnier told journalists Corbyn’s proposal to keep UK in a customs union “offers a significant part of the solution for Ireland.”

Later this month the European Parliament is expected to adopt a resolution setting out its demands for the next phase of Brexit negotiations.

It is understood that following the Labour’s leader’s speech the Brexit Steering Group will adapt its resolution to reflect the wording of Jeremy Corbyn’s customs union policy – particularly proposals for a “comprehensive” customs union.

The backing of Corbyn’s Brexit stance from the EU Commission and Parliament will heap pressure on the Prime Minister to provide a credible solution to the border in Northern Ireland.

Why was Labour so keen to “secure EU backing” for their customs union policy? How and when did they secure this backing? How was it “understood” that the European Parliament was set to back their policy? Why was the press release never sent? Was it ditched after media speculation about Labour colluding with the EU? This appears to be evidence that Labour has been working with Brussels to undermine the UK negotiating position…

March 8, 2018 at 4:25 pm

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Tories Optimistic They Have Numbers For Boundaries Vote

Guido hears Number 10 are increasingly optimistic that they have the numbers to proceed with boundary reforms which would cut the number of MPs to 600 and reduce the electoral bias towards Labour. The DUP have softened their opposition to the proposals, with their MPs apparently convinced they won’t lose their seats and may even be able to remove independent Sylvia Hermon. Nigel Dodds is less keen and still fears the reforms could reduce unionist representation. The DUP’s dilemma has been whether to back boundary reform, reduce Corbyn’s chances of becoming PM but risk weakening their position in Northern Ireland, or oppose it and risk handing two Irish republicans the keys to Number 10 and 11. The Tories think a new map presented in January should be enough to convince the DUP to get onside. As one minister puts it: “The fate of the next Prime Minister relies on Nigel Dodds’ vanity…”

March 8, 2018 at 1:00 pm

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Chris Williamson Takes Murdoch Shilling

Chris Williamson is now in the pay of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK. The latest Register of Members Interests reveals the top socialist pocketed a tidy £300 for seven hours hard work promoting his Corbynista views on TalkRadio. Williamson, who regularly tweets “don’t buy The Sun”, is a vocal critic of the British media and has previously singled-out Murdoch titles for scathing criticism.

The vile disgusting S*n is at it again.#VoteLabour today to show them that liars will not win https://t.co/0pkGkNSaYE

— Chris Williamson MP (@DerbyChrisW) 8 June 2017

The Govt has just utterly capitulated to the gutter press with its statement about #Leveson in the House of Commons.
Murdoch, Dacre and the Barclay brothers et al will be popping the champagne corks

— Chris Williamson MP (@DerbyChrisW) 1 March 2018

Surely Chris will be donating the proceeds to charity, how about Help For Heroes?

March 8, 2018 at 12:07 pm

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Guardian Women Protest at Owen Jones: “Even the Spectator is More Feminist Than Us”

The trans versus feminist culture war has a new battleground: the Guardian newsroom. Owen Jones has been leading the fight for self-defining trans people – those who identify as women without any medical change to their gender – to be allowed onto Labour’s all-women shortlists. This viewpoint is extremely unpopular with many non-millennial feminists, who have serious concerns about whether it really advances gender equality. There is increasing angst among feminist journalists at the Guardian who believe that Owen and other men on the trans side are mansplaining all-women shortlists to them. When Owen gloated on Tuesday that feminists had “overplayed their hand”, a few hours later Guardian writer and feminist Hadley Freeman sent what King’s Place colleagues are calling two epic subtweets:

A senior Labour figure told me one of the main reasons the party has updated their position on trans rights is because of the anti-trans backlash.

In other words anti-trans activists overplayed their hand so much, they made Labour *more* pro-trans rightshttps://t.co/POrWr6VZPN

— Owen Jones🌹 (@OwenJones84) March 6, 2018

Love the idea of Labour punishing women for speaking out about an issue that affects them. What a great tactic to win votes among women!

— Hadley Freeman (@HadleyFreeman) March 6, 2018

But really, thank heavens for all the men schooling us silly ladies about how all women’s shortlists should work. How would we cope without your manly guidance?

— Hadley Freeman (@HadleyFreeman) March 6, 2018

Several female Guardianistas believe Owen’s influence and platform pushing the trans issue is causing large numbers of feminists to regard the Guardian as anti-women. They have been sharing Mumsnet chats which show Owen’s campaigning is immensely unpopular among female Guardian readers (Mumsnet, founded by Justine Roberts, the wife of Ian Katz, is at the centre of the Guardianista world). They are noting that this week’s Spectator carries a piece from Judith Green, one of the co-founders of Woman’s Place UK, making the feminist case on all-women’s shortlists. Several Guardian feminists have been arguing internally this week that: “Even the Spectator is more feminist than us”. Owen’s trick of calling feminists who disagree with him bigots is hardly repairing relations with Guardian women who feel feminists are finding it easier to get a platform in the Spectator than the Guardian…

March 8, 2018 at 10:40 am

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Happy #IWD2018

On International Women’s Day, I am proud to serve as Britain’s second female Prime Minister alongside so many other women in vital public positions #IWD2018 pic.twitter.com/jfmZ2fo1xV

— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) 8 March 2018

Maybe one day a woman will be elected leader of the Labour Party…[…] Read the rest