Heroes: Stabbed in the Back 

 

‘All the time, they want to take your place 

The back stabbers (back stabbers)’ 

 
The stab-in-the-back myth was an antisemitic conspiracy theory that was widely believed and promulgated in Germany after 1918. Hitler and the Nazi’s made the conspiracy theory an integral part of their official history of the 1920s. ⁽¹⁾  

It is still much loved by right-wing politicians, as we’ve seen post-Brexit they have continually whinged about ‘remainers’ seeking to undo Brexit. 

For a number of Tories still besotted with Johnson, we have another stab-in-the-back myth; partygate and Sue Gray.  Some Conservative MPs continue to question Sir Keir Starmer’s appointment of Partygate enquiry boss Sue Gray as his new chief of staff. 

This hasn’t been helped as the report released by the Commons privileges committee on Friday into Partygate cited Gray or the findings of her investigation 26 times. 

His allies claimed that it showed Ms Gray’s Partygate probe was a ‘Left-wing stitch-up’ all along. Tory MP Peter Bone said: ‘The privileges committee has today admitted its key witness is none other than Sue Gray. How can she possibly be called before the committee to answer all the points that it makes about her evidence – mentioning her dozens of times? This is a farce.’ 

Johnson himself also came out fighting yesterday after the committee of MPs investigating Partygate claimed No 10 lockdown breaches would have been ‘obvious’. 

The report suggested there was ‘evidence that the House of Commons may have been misled’ ‘all guidance was followed completely’ during the gatherings.’ For his part, Johnson insisted he had been ‘vindicated’ and there was ‘no evidence’ he had lied to Parliament. 
 

‘Johnson insisted he had been ‘vindicated’ and there was ‘no evidence’ he had lied to Parliament’

 
He went on to say it was ‘surreal to discover that the committee proposes to rely on evidence culled and orchestrated by Sue Gray, who has just been appointed chief of staff to the Leader of the Labour Party’. 

Like the original stab-in-the-back perpetrators he is deceiving himself, because he can’t deal with the truth, which, in itself, is a subject he has little affinity with. Equally, he can’t find it within himself that he himself led to his own downfall.  

He isn’t alone is his delusions, which is why I concluded in ‘Are the Tory’s Becoming Credible’, that unless Sunak cleanses the party of the these lunatics they are still unelectable.  

Jacob Rees-Mogg said that Partygate was ‘a leftwing stitch-up against a Tory prime minister‘ by ‘a socialist cabal of Boris haters who were delighted to remove him’. Nadine Dorries said it was an ‘outrageous’ plot to ‘bring down the Brexit-supporting Boris Johnson‘. 

Their aim is to discredit Ms Gray and her report, which will de facto undermine the parliamentary inquiry into whether he tried to cover up Partygate by lying about it to the Commons. The enquiry is being conducted by privileges committee, an all-party group with a Conservative majority, has just published its interim findings, which concludes that there are compelling grounds for charging him with knowingly misleading parliament on multiple occasions. 
 

‘unless Sunak cleanses the party of the these lunatics they are still unelectable’

 
The Gray Report aside, the privileges committee has uncovered new evidence. A witness reports that Mr Johnson told a packed gathering inside Number 10 in November 2020, when strict rules on social distancing were in force, that ‘this is probably the most socially undistanced gathering in the UK right now’. In addition there are WhatsApp messages between Number 10 aides suggesting they were worried ‘about leaks of PM having a piss-up’; and that there is a ‘great gaping hole in the PM’s account’. 

Whatever madness Johnson et al shout, partygate happened. it wasn’t invented by Gray, and Starmer wasn’t supplying the booze. There was no ‘cabal‘, no ‘coup‘ and no ‘conspiracy‘. The only conspiracy is the one Johnson and his allies are concocting to blame someone else for his failings. 
 

‘there are compelling grounds for charging him with knowingly misleading parliament on multiple occasions’

 
From one deluded peddler of conspiracy theories we turn to another, Donald Trump. 

This weekend Trump turned back the clock when he addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference (‘CPAC’) with a fiery speech that showed his threat to American democracy is far from over. He described his 2024 election bid as ‘the final battle‘ for America. He appeared to declare war on his own Republican party to the delight of ardent fans in the crowd chanting ‘Trump! Trump! Trump!’ and ‘USA! USA! USA!’ 

Feeding off the energy of a crowd wearing ‘Make America great again‘ (Maga) caps, and watched by Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, Trump said;  ‘In 2016, I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.’ 

He continued, saying; ‘For seven years you and I have been engaged in an epic struggle to rescue our country from the people who hate it and want to absolutely destroy it. 

‘We are going to finish what we started. We started something that was a miracle. We’re going to complete the mission, we’re going to see this battle through to ultimate victory. We’re going to make America great again.’ 

Trump attacked President, saying;  ‘This is the most dangerous time in our country’s history, and Joe Biden is leading us into oblivion.’ 
 

‘And you’re going to have world war three, by the way. We’re going to have world war three if something doesn’t happen fast’

 
He blamed Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine on the US’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. ‘And you’re going to have world war three, by the way. We’re going to have world war three if something doesn’t happen fast. I am the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent world war three.’ 

He preposterously suggested that; ‘Before I arrive in the Oval Office, I will have the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine ended… I know what to say.’ 

Trump threw the dogs plenty of raw meat: additional border wall construction, an increase in border patrols to stop the flow of illegal drugs, one day voting with paper ballots, a crackdown on trans rights and gender affirmation surgeries. He repeated his own stab-in-the back claim, saying that he won the 2020 election ‘by a lot‘ when in fact Biden beat him by 7m votes. 

He finished on a new low: ‘We have no choice, this is the final battle. If we don’t do this, our country will be lost forever.’ 

Of course no right-wing conspiracy theory is complete without media support. The Daily Mail is Johnson’s chief cheerleader, however it is their comments on Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, and potential presidential candidate that are highlighted here 

DeSantis was, according to the Mail, a ‘big supporter’ of vote ‘leave’, but believes the aftermath has been mishandled, saying; ‘My impression, based on what we get here, is that the Conservative Party hasn’t been as aggressive at fulfilling that vision as they should have been and that maybe they get punished in the next election as a result of that. I do think that, you know, there’s been some disappointment from what I can tell that it wasn’t done more aggressively.’ 

The Mail felt that DeSantis wouldn’t approve Rishi Sunak’s over-hyped ‘Windsor Framework’, which they referred to as the ‘Barbara Windsor Framework’ — all front and no knickers. I hadn’t realised the old blue rinsers liked such raunchy journalism! 
 

‘DeSantis wouldn’t approve Rishi Sunak’s over-hyped ‘Windsor Framework’, which they referred to as the ‘Barbara Windsor Framework’

 
What else did DeSantis offer up? 

Law and order is a big subject for him, with a highly visible public profile and routine patrols by a number of agencies from the local sheriff’s department to the state troopers. When a ‘liberal’ prosecutor in Tampa decided unilaterally he wouldn’t bring charges against people accused of a raft of crimes, DeSantis fired him on the spot. 

The Mail lapped this up, saying; ‘One wonders what he’d make of the British police abandoning the streets and refusing to investigate thefts and burglaries, while concentrating on trendy ‘hate crimes’.’ 

Under DeSantis, Florida is now the most business-friendly state in America. Long gone is the reliance on citrus farming and tourism, now it’s all hi-tech start-ups, bio-engineering, aerospace, crypto-currency companies and financial conglomerates, attracting >$100 billion in investment. 

The reason for this, is that, unlike the Democrat-dominated North-Eastern states and California, Florida has no state income tax. Corporate taxes are just 5.5 per cent. Here we go again, it’s Singapore-on-Thames time. 

And then there is the culture wars, as DeSantis said, ‘Florida is where woke goes to die.’ 
 

‘DeSantis said, ‘Florida is where woke goes to die.”

 
Schools are banned from teaching critical race theory and gender identity. Trans women are banned from competing in female sports in schools and colleges. 

Black Lives Matter, remember that? Well, in Florida they don’t as any attempt at protests sees the streets flooded with riot cops. And her passed an emergency bill protecting historical monuments from politically motivated vandals.  

Even Mickey Mouse wasn’t safe; Disney attacked his stance on trans athletes and woke propaganda being taught in schools, DeSantis threatened to take-away all special tax and planning privileges granted when the created the Magic Kingdom in 1967. Disney refused to back down, and this week, the law removing Disney’s self-governing status comes into effect this week. 

As for Covid, he held out against lockdown, and kept schools and businesses open during the pandemic and resisting mask mandates.  

Then we have global warming, whist DeSantis is supposed to be a committed environmentalist, he thinks the war on fossil fuels is madness and maintains technology is already hugely reducing air pollution.  

The Mail concluded that, ‘If our Conservative Party tried playing a few tunes from the DeSantis songbook, they might just find themselves back in the game. You never know, we might even Get Brexit Done properly.’ 
 

‘Don’t wanna be an American idiot 

Don’t want a nation under the new media’ 

 
Notes: 

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab-in-the-back_myth 

 
A very welcome piece from Philip that suggests that Mr Sunak’s star may only have briefly shone more brightly having finally ‘got it done’, but that it is far less tarnished that Boris’.

It wasn’t so many weeks ago that there was good money being placed on the Blond Bombshell to return, but now it seems there is more chance of Jimmy Saville taking over the morning slot from Ken Bruce.

Meantime, Keir Starmer was given a breakfast show pulpit to put to rest any rumblings of impropriety around the timing of his appointment of Sue Gray as chief of staff; six times Nick Ferrari asked him if anything ‘improper’ had happened and six times Starmer declined to answer. There really is no other conclusion to draw, and the reputation of politicians as ‘public servants’ remains firmly in the gutter. 

I don’t suppose anyone expects Boris to go quietly, but what on earth is bubbling up on the other side of the Pond? 

The reason Philip has upped the frequency of his contributions is that there is just so much going on, and in double-quick time. 

Well, timing is everything, and in the few short hours since we received this, the boy Lineacre has ruffled a few feathers by echoing sentiments that Philip has voiced increasingly over the past few months and even years. I’ll do nothing other than reference it, and very much look forward to his take on things.

Meantime, what was he thinking?:

Without intending it this has turned out to be a follow-up to last week’s ““Are the Tory’s Becoming Credible”.

Really, it just provides further evidence to show why they aren’t. As I wrote then, Starmer purged his party of the madness that was Corbyn and his cronies, Sunak needs to do the same.

Until the ERG are neutered, and spokespeople such as Rees-Mogg and Dorries pensioned off to GB News, the Tory’s remain unfit to govern. As with any cull it has to start at the top, Johnson has to go. If Sunak is lucky the privileges committee will do the deed for him. If not I can foresee civil war breaking-out.

Could Johnson and the ERG join forces with ReformUK? It’s possible, and something I speculated about late last year. However, I think Tice is too canny to be taken in by a charlatan who is fast becoming a spent force.

If anyone doubted that, his decision to knight that old-fool of a father of his should lift the fog from their eyes.

I looked to the US for final proof of right-wing madness. The choice there is a battered, senile, evil old man, or a more polished performer. Both are equally dangerous.

It’s never their fault, you see. Boris didn’t do it, Trump didn’t lose…yawn!

Lyrically, what else could we start with than the O’Jays and “Backstabbers”. To end, inevitably “American Idiot” by Green Day, not a favourite but very apt! Enjoy!

 

@coldwarsteve
 

 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

 

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