Kevin Schofield

NEW: The HuffPost UK Bank Holiday Monday read on Keir Starmer's fight for survival – and the leadership chances of Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner, Andy Burnham and ... John Healey? 💥"Where Wes has an advantage is that the cabinet won’t want to hand the party over to Sam Tarry. Where he has a disadvantage is that his colleagues can’t stand him." 💥 Rayner "rapidly losing her base to Andy" 💥 “Andy had a reputation as a government minister for being indecisive and under briefed. So the hope is that his time in Manchester has improved him." 💥 On Healey, a minister says: "He’s from the soft left, is a safe pair of hands and not offensive to anyone." 💥No.10 insider: "The fundamentals haven’t changed. We’ve just got to stay away from all the chatter that’s going around." 💥 But one MP said: "Another year of drift and decline? No thanks." Full story 👇 huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/starmer-…

Green Party deputy leader now spreading the conspiracy theory that there has been no reporting about Essa Suleiman’s non-Golders Green alleged victim.

NEW: The HuffPost UK Bank Holiday Monday read on Keir Starmer's fight for survival – and the leadership chances of Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner, Andy Burnham and ... John Healey? 💥"Where Wes has an advantage is that the cabinet won’t want to hand the party over to Sam Tarry. Where he has a disadvantage is that his colleagues can’t stand him." 💥 Rayner "rapidly losing her base to Andy" 💥 “Andy had a reputation as a government minister for being indecisive and under briefed. So the hope is that his time in Manchester has improved him." 💥 On Healey, a minister says: "He’s from the soft left, is a safe pair of hands and not offensive to anyone." 💥No.10 insider: "The fundamentals haven’t changed. We’ve just got to stay away from all the chatter that’s going around." 💥 But one MP said: "Another year of drift and decline? No thanks." Full story 👇 huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/starmer-…

My monologue from today’s The Times at One with Andrew Neil: As often happens with President Trump, it’s not long before you end up in fantasyland.  Yesterday, in a long and at times incoherent social media post, he suddenly announced the US would start ‘guiding’ — his word —  commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, where they have been stranded by his War on Iran.  On the face of it — at last an effort to unblock this vital supply route for the global economy.  Of course, it turned out to be no such thing. There will be no US Navy escort for stranded ships to go through the Strait in convoy. Or the navies of any other countries for that matter.  Just a so-called ‘co-ordination cell’ involving countries, insurance companies and shipping lines sharing data. Trump has dubbed it ‘Project Freedom’. But there will be precious few ships freed by this latest wheeze.  The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations agency, which works in tandem with the Royal Navy, said this morning the security threat level in the Strait remained ‘critical’. As long as that’s the case ships won’t risk the passage without Iran’s approval.  And that was before we had Iran claiming this morning to have hit a US frigate. America is categorical that none of its ships has been hit.  At first Tehran didn’t deign to respond to Trump’s latest initiative. But this morning Iran warned it would attack any commercial ships or US warships that tried to transit the Strait without its permission, reminding everyone it was in control of the Strait, which, of course, it wasn’t before Trump began his attacks on Iran.  Over 1,600 ships are now trapped on either side of the Strait. Only those of whom Iran approves and prepared to stump up $2m per ship to Tehran are allowed through. The truth is Trump has no idea how to reopen the Strait — or how to bring his war to an acceptable end.  He’s just rejected Iran’s latest peace proposals, which were full of unacceptable nonsense — suggesting the tyrants of Tehran are still in no rush for peace. But what happens next is anybody’s guess.  Mine is that Trump will simply play for time, as he has in Gaza. Last year, to much fanfare, he announced peace had broken out in the strip and reconstruction would begin.  Since when, there’s been very little peace and no reconstruction. But our attention has moved on. Gaza makes few headlines these days, even though it’s still grim on the ground.  Trump will be hoping for the same attention deficit towards Iran. Both sides have stopped raining down missiles, bombs and drones on each other. Not much else is happening. Nothing to see here. Let’s move along.  However, there is one mighty difference with Gaza: the Strait of Hormuz. The longer that stays closed the more the global economy is likely to be crippled. That’s already happening in Asia, where shortages are spreading and economies grinding to a halt.  The same fate is heading our way, slowly but surely. We are heading for shortages and massive price rises in all manner of materials — not just oil and gas — but jet fuel, helium, naphtha, fertilisers  — about which we know little but which are, in fact, vital to normal life.  No jet fuel, no flying.  No helium, no microchips, no microchips, no cars or household appliances, never mind the AI developments currently keeping the US stock market afloat.  No fertilisers, no food.  No naphtha, no building blocks for everything from textiles to rubber to car parts.  If, come June, the Strait is still closed then we will be entering a summer of misery thanks to Trump’s War. The chances grow by the day.  It has dawned on Tehran that controlling the Strait is a far more powerful weapon than a nuclear bomb. Though it’s not giving up on that either.  As the rest of us suffer, Trump will be declaring a fantasy victory. Which makes you wonder: if this is victory, what would defeat look like?

Labour's Deputy Leader Dodges Question About Starmer's Future huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/lucy-pow…

Greens compare Reform's controversial new migration plans to "the Peter Griffiths posters of 1964" huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/zia-yusu…

Except the people in those wards who didn’t vote Green.

Imagine a white supremacist went on a stabbing spree targeting people of colour in London, but before that, he stabbed his white friend, then jumped on public transport for an hour to head to a multicultural area of the city.

@4thjulykid John McDonnell? 😂

@KevinASchofield "Senior Labour source says" John McDonnell should shut the fuck up. 'if you keep repeating the same Labour sources, with the same Qand A, Einstein says it's a sign of madness'.

@andrewwilde2 @QueenCafard @NadineDorries No, but that's clearly what Reform think.

@KevinASchofield @QueenCafard @NadineDorries Are illegal immigrants a punishment Kevin?

This is fair. If you vote green; you are voting for open borders and therefore won’t mind if illegal migrants are housed in your area whilst awaiting deportation.

@CentreLeft_ You're definitely wrong there ...

@KevinASchofield Remove Rachel and watch the markets punish us is not a sensible move. Only someone like McDonnell or in the SCG would make such a ridiculous statement.

A senior Labour figure gets in touch: "If he doesn't reshuffle a couple of senior posts, including Chancellor, he drifts and it is a shambles for weeks to come. If he does, coupled with a Kings Speech, he might buy some time." huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/starmer-…

@j_bmal But that's what people would have voted for.

@KevinASchofield Forget Labour, 5 more years of the SNP and Greens will be an unmitigated disaster for Scotland!

This would be an unmitigated disaster for Labour ...

Two stories juxtaposed on the front page of @thetimes - Brussels tells Keir Starmer to pay £1bn for closer ties to Europe. And no money for new weapons until 2030, former military chief warns…

@QueenCafard @NadineDorries And tough shit for Reform voters who live there as well, presumably?

@KevinASchofield @NadineDorries Tough sh1t unfortunately... but it's nice to see a leftist acknowledge that having migrants dumped in an area is a punishment. Borderline racism from you. What's wrong with illegal immigrants?

@BraidseaQuine OK, thanks for your feedback, Janette. You have a lovely day.

@KevinASchofield You’re a wee sweetie wife,this drivel has all been debunked. Keep up!