YOU may not have heard of Tulip Siddiq until this week.
This proper little madam, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate (natch), has not done much to distinguish herself in Parliament.
Ousted MP Tulip Siddiq represents all that is hypocritical about Labour and Sir Keir StarmerRex Features
AFPTulip has now resigned her ministerial job, telling Starmer she didn’t want to become ‘a distraction from the work of government’[/caption]
But she is worth examining.
Because Tulip represents all that is hypocritical about Labour and Sir Keir Starmer. (They’re good friends, doncha know.)
A champagne socialist up to her gills in corruption allegations.
But rewarded with ministerial office by a Prime Minister who has spent the past four years castigating the Tories for corruption.
Siddiq is Bangladeshi by heritage.
Bangladesh is one of the most corrupt countries on Earth.
Now, usually we wouldn’t blame individuals for the failures of the country from which they come.
But with Tulip it’s . . . .well . . . it’s a bit different.
Her family basically IS Bangladesh.
Her grandad founded the country and became its first president.
Meanwhile, good ol’ Aunty Hasina was the prime minister until August last year.
She led what opponents say is a hugely corrupt administration that is now being investigated.
Aunty Hasina is also accused of enormous human rights abuses against her political opponents, of which there were millions.
Some 300 people were killed because they dared to protest about their appalling government.
Thousands were injured and 10,000 people imprisoned.
So what did Tulip think of this?
She stuck up for her aunt through thick and thin.
Said she was a “strong female role model”.
Tulip rents a £2.1million house from the deeply corrupt political party of which her aunt was boss.
And now she has been accused by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission of being involved in some of that chicanery I mentioned.
So, for example, the country did a big nuclear deal with Russia. And somehow four million quid went missing somewhere.
Beaming fit to burst
Easy to miss, four million quid, innit?
The commission would really like a word with her about that, for starters.
Tulip was there, with Aunty Hasina, as the deal was struck with the Russkies.
Beaming fit to burst, she was.
The investigators also have one or two problems about some parcels of land which the Commission alleges she illegally allocated to her mum and siblings.
Given this background — a lot of which was known about for a while — wouldn’t you think the new, morally irreproachable Labour Party would have second thoughts about making her a party candidate, never mind giving her a ministerial job?
Me too. But Sir Keir sticks by his friends, no matter what allegations of corruption are made against them.
And what sort of role did he give her?
Yep, you guessed it.
She had responsibility for rooting out corruption in the economy.
And he resisted all calls to sack her.
Tulip Siddiq, who denies wrongdoing, has now resigned her ministerial job, telling Starmer she didn’t want to become “a distraction from the work of government”.
But doesn’t it tell you all you need to know about Labour and Sir Keir?
Do you remember Starmer ranting about the sleaze and corruption of the Tories?
How a vote for Labour would be a vote for honesty in government?
I agreed with him at the time.
And — forgive me — it didn’t occur that Starmer and Co might be even worse once they got legs under desks.
But just look at Tulip — and marvel.
Tulip rents a £2.1million house from the deeply corrupt political party of which her aunt was bossPA
Good news at long last
SOME good news at last for troubled Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Or “Rachel From Accounts”, as my mate Kevin O’Sullivan calls her.
Inflation dipped a little bit last month.
Not by much, admittedly – but any port in a storm, eh, Rach?
Perhaps we might see an interest rate cut soon, then.
The thing to do now, Reeves, is reduce inflation further by making a few judicious cuts to our enormous benefits bill.
The lower inflation goes, the better off working people are.
Netflix proves Beeb is such a drag
I SEE that Netflix has now overtaken the BBC as the most watched channel in the country.
And, of course, it is substantially cheaper for the viewer than the BBC.
NetflixNetflix has now overtaken the BBC as the most watched channel in the country, pictured hit Baby Reindeer[/caption]
PAThe Beeb released dross comedy Smoogie Queens last year[/caption]
Dear old Auntie has lots of problems.
The relentless bias in its news.
The dismal attempts at comedy.
Its obsession with drag queens.
But the thing that will really do for it is value for money.
It simply cannot compete in today’s market, with a funding model that belongs in the 1970s.
Testing times in Sweden
ACROSS Europe, from Oslo to Athens, countries are getting tough on immigration.
In Sweden they are giving immigrants very strict tests to make sure they respect Western cultural values and the traditional Swedish way of life.
Getty – ContributorIn Sweden they are giving immigrants very strict tests to make sure they respect Western cultural values and the traditional Swedish way of life[/caption]
Their migration minister said: “Girls and boys have the right to swim and play football.
“If you don’t accept that, Sweden is not the country for you.”
Absolutely right – although it’s a little late in the day, isn’t it?
Sweden has been absolutely swamped by immigration in the past ten years.
Elsewhere on the Continent there are parties close to power demanding no more immigration at all and even the repatriation of immigrants.
It is the hot issue – and both the Left and Right know something has to be done.
But it’s not just immigrants coming from the Middle East and North Africa that are causing trouble.
Spain is about to introduce a 100- per-cent tax on Brits (and other non-EU nationals) buying second homes there.
Greece, Portugal and Italy might well follow suit.
Suddenly, the politicians are waking up to the fact that people do not like their communities suddenly taken over by incomers.
No matter how nice the incomers.
And regardless of whether they are carrying a copy of the Quran or a plate of steak-and-kidney pie and chips.
Fed up of Ed
THERE are many things in this short life of ours which give me pleasure.
The dog’s tail thumping when I come downstairs first thing in the morning.
Ed Davey has been labelled a snivelling cretinAlamy
Rabbits playing in the garden.
The look of elation on my wife’s face when I trip over or stub my toe.
But I can’t remember anything that has made me quite so happy as Elon Musk calling Lib Dem leader Ed Davey a “snivelling cretin”.
There’s abuse, and then there’s CLASS abuse.
The term suits him so well he should wear it on a name tag.
Ed Davey – Snivelling Cretin.
Hate for history
TWO policy decisions which tell you all you need to know about how our Government sees British history.
First, giving away the Chagos Islands to end our wicked colonialism.
Second, passing legislation which might enable former terrorist Gerry Adams to sue us all.
We put him in prison and, on a technicality, he shouldn’t have been there.
But, Gerry, nobody wants to go back the Troubles.
We are all grateful the IRA has given up its bombings and shootings.
And the British government has admitted to mistakes, too.
So, in a spirit of reconciliation, why not ’fess up to your connections with the IRA?
And vow not to sue?
Gary is hell of a name
NEWS just in from my home town, Middlesbrough – a couple who called their child Lucifer have been surprised by the adverse reaction on social media.
Parents Jess Bell and Stefan Wake insist the kid was born in delivery room No6, then moved to bed No6 in room No6.
Glen MinikinA couple from Middlesbrough have named their baby Lucifer[/caption]
Now, isn’t that spooky?
Oddly, most of the spiteful comments the couple received concerned not the child’s first name but his middle name . . . Gary.
So, the kid is to be called Lucifer Gary.
Jess said: “We are just normal, loving parents and certainly have no interest in associating our son with the devil – that’s not what this is about.
“Both names really mean something to us and it’s unfair for people to pass judgment.”
Unfair it may be, Jess.
But just down the road in Saltburn, I’m passing judgment on you right this minute.
Like it or not.
Ant and wreck
HAVE you been measuring the cord on your Hoover?
What was it, about eight metres long?
Such a furore after the answer was given as ten metres on Ant And Dec’s Limitless Win
I notice another couple went out of the TV quiz because they reckoned the width of a roll of Sellotape was 25mm rather than 24mm.
Has there ever been a more boring and stupid programme?
Next up for those irritating Geordie munchkins: Ant And Dec Watch Paint Dry.
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