Category Archives: POLITICS

Tory MP Lee Anderson Rinsed Over Tweet Telling Republican Protesters To ‘Emigrate’

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Tory MP Lee Anderson has been accused of trying to “cancel” republican protesters after he told them to leave the country.

The deputy chairman of the Conservative Party told anti-monarchy activists to “emigrate” rather than exercise their right to protest.

He made the comments after dozens of protesters were arrested during King Charles’s coronation.

Sharing an article on the arrests on Twitter, the MP for Ashfield wrote: “Not My King?

“If you do not wish to live in a country that has a monarchy the solution is not to turn up with your silly boards. The solution is to emigrate.”

Twitter users were quick to point out the irony of the hardline MP’s comments given he has previously railed against “cancel culture”.

One person commented: “Telling people who don’t agree with you to leave the country is about as ‘cancel culture’ as it gets.”

Jonathan Harris, a Lib Dem councillor in West Northamptonshire, tweeted: “30 p Lee – Idiot on display. You took the rights away for British people to live and work across the EU, and forget that great democracies are built on and absolutely allow the right to peaceful protest.”

Another described him as being a “liability” when being “this ludicrous” while one drily commented: “If you are leaving your country because you oppose its political system, Mr Anderson will, I’m sure, follow that logic and be the first to welcome you when you arrive at Dover.”

One pointed out: “Deputy chair of the Conservative party rejects freedom of speech.”

Meanwhile, one Twitter user told him: “I think you’re forgetting that the people protesting are the people of this country, they deserve to be able to freely express what they want for their country without being arrested.”

However, some did back Anderson’s view including fellow Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake who wrote: “Quite right Lee Anderson – time and a place for everything. Wrong time, wrong place.”

The Metropolitan Police Service has faced criticism after more than 50 people were arrested for alleged affray, public nuisance and breach-of-the-peace offences.

The arrests were described by human rights organisations as a “dangerous precedent” for a democratic nation.

It is not the first time Anderson has proved controversial, having previously called for the return of the death penalty and claiming people on Universal Credit were not in poverty.

Anderson is a former coal miner who was a Labour councillor in Ashfield before he defected to the Conservative Party in 2018 and went on to serve as a Tory councillor in Mansfield.

He has been dubbed “30p Lee” for claiming that meals could be prepared for that sum and suggesting people using food banks could not budget.

He recently clashed with Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley over the force’s handling of protests, telling him to “leave his ivory tower” to deal with demonstrators in Westminster.

Under the controversial new Public Order Act, protesters who have an object with the intention of using it to “lock on” are liable to a fine, with those who block roads facing 12 months in prison.

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Labour Tries To Shut Down Talk Of A Coalition Government With The Liberal Democrats

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Labour’s Wes Streeting has insisted they are “not entertaining” the prospect of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

The shadow health secretary said he did not think it is the “scenario” the country will be in at the next general election.

However, he did not rule out a coalition with the Lib Dems when repeatedly pressed on the possibility in an interview with Sky’s Sophy Ridge.

In separate interview Lib Dem leader Ed Davey explicitly ruled out working with the Tories but did not rule out a coalition with Labour.

Last week’s council results point to a hung parliament at the next general election. They suggest Labour would be the largest party, but short of a majority.

Former prime minister David Cameron and former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg outside 10 Downing Street in London, on May 12, 2010.
Former prime minister David Cameron and former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg outside 10 Downing Street in London, on May 12, 2010.

AFP via Getty Images

It could be similar to the situation the Tories found themselves in in 2010 when they formed a coalition government with the Lib Dems.

Asked whether Labour would be prepared to go into coalition with the Lib Dems, Streeting said: “We’re not even entertaining that prospect…

“I just don’t think that is the scenario that we are going to be in after the next general election.”

Asked a third time about local election results pointing towards a hung parliament, he said: “This is a process, not an event. We’re not at the final destination yet in terms of the general election.”

Put to him that he was not ruling it out, he gave examples of why “we shouldn’t read the local elections right across”.

He said: “Take Hull, where I saw through gritted teeth the Liberal Democrats did rather well.

“I heard the Lib Dem leader of Hull council the other night saying ‘well, look, locally, people have voted Lib Dem but at the general election people in this city vote Labour’.”

He added: “We’re not complacent about this and there’s so much more still to come.”

When leader Lib Dem leader Davey was asked on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show about a coalition with Labour, he said: “That is a hypothetical question because we don’t know what’s going to happen after the next election.”

Put to him that he was ruling out working with the Tories but not Labour, said: “The focus is on getting rid of Conservative MPs. I make no apology for that.”

His deputy leader Daisy Cooper similarly did not rule out a coalition with Labour when challenged.

She told Sky they had “ruled out” working with the Conservatives because of the “damage they are doing to the country”.

But pressed on a coalition with Labour, she replied: “Everything we do between now and the general election will be about focusing on getting Liberal Democrat MPs elected.”

Thursday’s results were disastrous for the Tories who lost some 1,050 seats and control of nearly 50 councils.

It means Labour is now the largest party of local government – overtaking the Conservatives for the first time since 2002.

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5 Key Moments From Donald Trump’s Bonkers Deposition Video

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Around 45 minutes of video deposition given by former President Donald Trump was released to the public on Friday as the civil trial brought by writer E Jean Carroll began winding down in a New York federal court.

Carroll says that Trump trapped her in a dressing room and raped her at the luxury Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s after a chance encounter. She was able to sue for battery in addition to defamation under a recent state law that gave sexual assault victims a one-time chance to bring lawsuits in spite of any relevant statutes of limitations.

Although Carroll does not recall the precise date of the alleged assault, not having filed a police report out of concern for the negative attention it would bring, she has been able to narrow the timeframe to late 1995 or early 1996.

Her lawyers rested her case on Thursday. Along with the advice columnist herself, they called to the stand friends whom she says she confided in, and other women who say Trump sexually assaulted them.

Trump’s side is not expected to call any witnesses — nor has the former president appeared in court — but US District Judge Lewis Kaplan is giving him until Sunday in case he changes his mind. Trump has consistently denied the allegations and dismissed Carroll as a political operative.

Written excerpts of his deposition have already been made public in the course of the lawsuit, but the video had not been seen outside of the courtroom until several news outlets successfully petitioned for its release.

It is certainly something. Watch below, and read on for key takeaways.

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Trump confused Carroll for second wife Marla Maples in a party photograph.

One of Trump’s main defenses has been saying that he would not have raped Carroll because she was not his “type”. He doubled down on the argument in his deposition.

“The only difference between me and other people is I’m honest,” he told Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan.

Trump was then shown a black-and-white photograph from a late 1980s event showing himself and Maples speaking with Carroll and her then-husband John Johnson, an NBC news anchor. He confused the two women.

“The person you just pointed to is Carroll,” Kaplan told him, pointing out Maples nearby.

She asked: “I take it the three women you’ve married are all your type.”

“Yeah,” Trump replied.

Trump defended his infamous “grab ’em by the pussy” comments.

Kaplan played the 2004 Access Hollywood tape for Trump where he infamously says, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

“Well, historically, that’s true with stars,” Trump told Kaplan afterward.

“It’s true with stars that they can grab women by the pussy?” she asked.

“Well, that’s — if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true,” Trump said.

“Unfortunately or fortunately,” he added.

He claimed he could not remember whether he dated Maples while still married to first wife, Ivana.

Kaplan asked Trump to affirm that he dated women outside of his marriages and official relationships, given that part of Carroll’s story is that Trump told her he was at the store to pick out a gift for an unspecified female friend.

Kaplan asked if he saw Maples while still married to his first wife, Ivana Trump.

“It could be a lapover, but I don’t really know,” Trump said.

His failing marriage and relationship with Maples was thoroughly chronicled in tabloids at the time; a 1990 feature in Vanity Fair reported that Trump had “moved [Maples] onto his luxe yacht” in the summer of 1989. Trump’s divorce from Ivana was finalized in 1991.

He told Carroll’s lawyer that she was not his type, either.

Trump appeared to grow frustrated with Kaplan as she pressed him with questions about some of the other women who have accused him of sexual assault.

He responded with comments on the women’s appearances before shifting focus to the woman in front of him.

“You wouldn’t be a choice of mine either, to be honest with you. I hope you’re not insulted,” Trump told Kaplan. “I would not under any circumstances have any interest in you. I’m honest when I say it.”

And suggested that Carroll enjoyed being sexually assaulted.

Trump brought up an interview Carroll gave to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in 2019, shortly after coming forward with her rape accusation. At one point, she argued that people tend to think of rape “as being sexy” due to sexual “fantasies”, but said that her experience was simply very painful.

“She actually indicated that she loved it,” Trump told Kaplan. “In fact, I think she said it was sexy, didn’t she?”

Kaplan replied, “Sir, I just want to confirm: It’s your testimony that E. Jean Carroll said that she loved being sexually assaulted by you?”

“Well, based on her interview with Anderson Cooper, I believe that’s what took place … I think she said that rape is sexy, which it’s not, by the way,” Trump said.

Asked whether he knew Carroll had been speaking about other people’s views, Trump told Kaplan she would have to watch the interview to see for herself.

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