bigotry
Questions raised over pro-Trump, anti-BLM, anti-Labour comments of Labour candidate
Joe Johnson’s social media record includes defence of racist comedy, admiration of Thatcher and Trump, support for far-right views and opposition to Labour – yet he has been selected to stand for the party
Sefton council candidate Joe Johnson, from his Facebook profile
A Labour candidate’s social media output has raised serious questions about his suitability to stand – yet he was apparently waved through by Keir Starmer’s party, either without vetting or in disregard of his record, to stand for the party in the St Oswald ward in Bootle, near Liverpool.
Locals have raised flags about what they say are:
- Historic racist views
- Support of Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party
- Admiration of Margaret Thatcher
- Support of Donald Trump
- Support of far right views on social media (TwitterlX: @joejbsg)
- Public opposition to the Labour Party
In 2020, the BBC reported that a Dover footballer, who was racially abused by Hartlepool fans, said that Johnson had implied he earned the abuse by celebrating his goal:
The ref was saying that I sparked it all off with my celebration. As a ref, you shouldn’t really be saying … it’s sort of saying that, because I did a celebration, I should now be receiving racial abuse.
In the same month the BBC was reporting the Hartlepool incident, Johnson was commenting on his social media that police should be baton-beating and tasing Black Lives Matter protesters:
Johnson also defended the police after video emerged of a Black man being kneed in the face – commenting that the police ‘should be allowed to do their jobs’:
Johnson also commented that ‘blackface’ was ‘comedy at its best’:
In 2019, he supported Boris Johnson over Brexit and in 2020 he defended Johnson’s appalling handling of the pandemic and his wilful ignoring of the advice of government scientists:
And on Brexit he went further, supporting a far-right account’s recommendation that Johnson should invoke emergency legislation to force through a hard Brexit:
Johnson needn’t have bothered: the sabotage by Keir Starmer and the Labour right handed Johnson the hardest of Brexits anyway. He was also apparently a fan of the hated Margaret Thatcher, ‘liking’ a post calling her an ‘inspiration’:
Johnson praised far-right former US president Donald Trump more than once:
And his ‘likes’ included an anti-refugee post by far-right political figures Nigel Farage and former Home Secretary Priti Patel:
Johnson’s likes and comments also indicate a deep distaste for Labour under Jeremy Corbyn – and approval for a video mocking Diane Abbott, Britain’s first Black woman MP:
Johnson’s ‘like’ of a post about Abbott
Contacted for comment about his posts an locals’ concerns, Johnson replied:
I am not surprised, although disappointed by putting myself up for local election to help the area that some people would try and shoot me down for past views, beliefs and opinions.
Labour’s regional director for the north-west, Liam Didsbury, did not respond to a request to confirm whether Labour did any vetting before allowing Johnson to become a candidate.
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Labour loses half its support among Muslims who voted Labour in 2019
Support for Greens surges
Support for Labour has collapsed among Muslim voters according to a new poll commissioned by the Labour Muslim Network (LMN), with a huge majority citing Keir Starmer’s support for Israeli genocide as a decisive factor.
In the 2019 general election, 86% of Muslims voted Labour – but that has now dropped to 43%. 85% of those surveyed said that Palestine was either very important (70%) or somewhat important (15%) in deciding how they will vote at the next general election. The poll showed support among Muslims for the Greens, who have made clear calls for an end to the slaughter in Gaza, has rocketed by 900%.
LMN has repeatedly identified huge issues with the rampant Islamophobia in the party under Starmer and reported in 2022, long before Israel’s genocidal assault in Gaza, that more than two thirds of Muslims don’t trust Labour to sort out its anti-Muslim bigotry. The group said of the latest survey results:
For decades the Muslim community has been amongst the most loyal Labour supporters anywhere in the United Kingdom. The findings of this new opinion poll shows a startling collapse of this electoral and communal relationship.
This is a crisis point for the future of the relationship between the British Muslim community and the Labour Party.
These findings come in the context of over 100 days of Israel’s continuous assault on Gaza. Over 25,000 Palestinians have been killed, more than 10,000 of whom are children, and the Labour Party’s response has been unacceptable and deeply offensive to Muslims across Britain. Muslim voters have been watching and are now sending a clear message – they will not support any political party that does not fervently oppose the crimes committed against the people of Gaza.
The Labour leadership must change paths now or risk losing the support of the Muslim community for a generation.
There is no sign of anything but token attempts to camouflage the contempt of Starmer and his faction for Muslims, while their support for Israel’s war crimes appears absolute.
The most astonishing thing in the survey is that Labour voting intention among Muslims has not disappeared entirely. It would surely do so if Muslims had a clear alternative, instead of the two main parties being one group with two rosette colours.
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Video: Starmer claims racism ‘really rare’ in football – as incidents hit record high
He couldn’t be worse if he was actively trying
Keir Starmer has yet again showed how hopelessly out of touch he is – and apparently how desperate he still is to pander to the hard right – during an interview with Sky Sports.
Starmer told his interviewer that racism in football stands is ‘really rare’, but in fact it rose last year by a staggering 65.1% – to a record level:
Starmer couldn’t be worse if he was actively trying to be – and won’t stop pandering to racists and bigots by telling them they’re not racist or bigoted.
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Video: Camden council admits destroying homeless tents after first denying it
Keir Starmer’s local council tried to deny that it was behind the removal and destruction of tents used by homeless people to shelter from the weather – but has been forced to admit it after bystanders recorded its contractors doing it:
Original video by Streets Kitchen
The council all too eagerly complied with a Met Police dispersal order, after then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s order to target homeless people’s tents, claiming homelessness is a ‘lifestyle choice’. After denying involvement, the council then said that an ‘initial investigation’ had shown its ‘operational involvement’.
Camden is run by the Labour party.
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Starmer’s disgusting Gaza amendment – no ceasefire, just longer pauses
Starmer’s victim-blaming amendment still ‘reaffirms’ Israel’s actions but asks genocidal apartheid regime to pause a bit more than four hours
The appalling wording of Keir Starmer’s proposed amendment to the King’s Speech avoids any mention of the word ‘ceasefire’, expresses only a feeble ‘wish’ for less violence and spends far more time ‘reaffirming’ Israel than talking about even the pathetic ‘longer pauses’ in the occupiers’ relentless bombing of civilians in schools, hospitals, refugee camps and homes:
Amendment
Keir Starmer
Angela Rayner
David Lammy
Yvette Cooper
Lisa Nandy
Sir Alan CampbellAt end add – “and submit to Your Majesty that this House wishes to see an end to the violence in Israel and Palestine; unequivocally condemns the horrific terrorist attack and murder of civilians by Hamas, calls for the immediate release of all hostages and reaffirms Israel’s right to defend its citizens from terrorism; believes all human life is equal and that there has been too much suffering, including far too many deaths of innocent civilians and children, over the past month in Gaza; reaffirms the UK’s commitment to the rules based international order, international humanitarian law and the jurisdiction of the ICC to address the conduct of all parties in Gaza and Hamas’s attacks in Israel; calls on Israel to protect hospitals and lift the siege conditions allowing food, water, electricity, medicine and fuel into Gaza; requests the Government continue to work with the international community to prevent a wider escalation of the conflict in the region, guarantee that people in Gaza who are forced to flee during this conflict can return to t heir homes and seek an end to the expansion of illegal settlements and settler violence in the West Bank; and, while acknowledging the daily humanitarian pauses to allow in aid and the movement of civilians, believe they must be longer to deliver humanitarian assistance on a scale that begins to meet the desperate needs of the people of Gaza, which is a necessary step to an enduring cessation of fighting as soon as possible and a credible, diplomatic and political process to deliver the lasting peace of a two-state solution.”
The ‘two-state solution’ is a farce and a fiction pushed by politicians who support Israeli apartheid – what little remains of Palestine is too fragmented and the right-wing extremists running Israel are open in saying they have no intention of allowing Palestinians to operate a functional state. Labour, long dead since Starmer became what passes for its leader, is a rotting corpse poisoning the political waters of this country.
Starmer reportedly avoided Monday night’s weekly meeting of Labour MPs and peers, allowing the woeful Lammy to take the flak at a ‘bin fire’ of a meeting. At least half a dozen, probably more, of Starmer’s front bench are said to be planning to vote instead for the SNP’s amendment demanding a ceasefire. And given the above and the toxic, murderous stench emanating from Starmer’s office, it is the least they should be doing.
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