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15 Feb 2008: Poor equipment kills British soldier

The first casualty of Britain’s deployment in Helmand was Captain James Phillipson, who died in June 2006 when rescuing ambushed colleagues.

The ministry of defence admitted he lacked “mission essential equipment”, like night-vision goggles.

Today a coroner damningly concluded that Captain James Phillipson was not killed by enemy bullets, but by the poor equipment he was given.

Spelling out what that meant. He said “They were defeated not by the terrorists but by the lack of basic equipment. To send soldiers into a combat zone without basic equipment is unforgivable, inexcusable and a breach of trust between the soldiers and those who govern them.”

Captain Philippson’s father said “The ministry of defence was starved of cash by the then chancellor, now our miserable parsimonious prime minister. It’s a question of money, and they’ve not spent the money and they’ve risked soldiers’ lives and in this case lost a life.”

He added that they’d been hampered in their fight back, as their heavy machine guns weren’t mounted on their Land Rover, vehicles meant for Belfast and eventually replaced amid the roadside bombs of Iraq or Afghanistan.

Today, another inquest in Wiltshire heard two soldiers in Iraq had asked for more armoured vehicles, but were denied them and later killed by a roadside bomb.

Britain does war on the cheap, one officer said. For example, British troops in Basra, Iraq under regular rocket attack from insurgents, slept in breeze block beds. But the Dutch in Afghanistan slept in mortar-proof portacabins that cost £20,000 each.

In southern Afghanistan, Nato countries differ greatly in how much they spend on operations per soldier.

This past year governments spent vastly differing amounts of finance on operations supporting their forces: (Channel 4 News)

USA: £600,000 each soldier.

Holland: £264,000 each soldier.

Canada: £170,000 each soldier

United Kingdom: £94,615 each soldier.

 

 

 

11 Jul 2009: Gordon Brown backs Afghanistan strategy

Gordon Brown said that Britain’s strategy in Afghanistan is working, despite troops suffering one of their bloodiest days since the conflict began.

It was confirmed yesterday that eight soldiers had died and many more were wounded.

The Ministry of Defence named who of the soldiers who died as Rifleman Daniel Hume, 22, from 4th Battalion The Rifles and Private John Brackpool, 27, who was shot while on sentry duty at a compound just outside Laskkar Gar.

In a letter to the senior MPs on the Commons Liaison Committee, Gordon Brown said the “Operation Panther’s Claw” offensive to clear the Taliban from central Helmand was succeeding despite tragic losses.

Morale remained high and the assessment of commanders on the ground is that the current operations are succeeding in their objectives.

They are having a marked impact on the Taliban in central Helmand and will improve security for the population in the run up to the elections, and will allow longer term work on governance and development to begin.”

The deaths took the toll to fifteen so far this month and the overall total during operations in Afghanistan since 2001 to 184, surpassing the 179 who’ve died in Iraq.

The latest casualties include five British soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles who died yesterday in two separate blasts on the same patrol near Sangin, and another British soldier from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment who died near Nad-e-Ali.

On Thursday two soldiers, Rifleman Daniel Hume from 4th Battalion, The Rifles and the other from Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment attached to 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, were killed in separate incidents.

Defence Secretary, Bob Ainsworth said people must not forget the sacrifice those killed had made. But, he warned, there would be more deaths to come.

“It is grim news and we’ve got to feel for all of the friends, all of the families of the people who have fallen.

We must never forget the sacrifice they have made. But we equally have got to remember that we are in Afghanistan for a reason. This country is directly threatened by the insurgency that goes on in Afghanistan and we’ve got to be mindful that our troops have made a lot of progress over this period of time.

It is hard fighting, dangerous, difficult terrain and sadly we’ve suffered a number of losses that were taking on the Taliban in a key heartland area.

We are not in the place that we can afford to lose this country yet. It is going to take time and I can not say to people, and I would love to be able to, that we are going to be able to fix this, we are going to be able to win this in the next few weeks or even the next couple of months, it is not going to happen. We’re going to suffer more losses.” (Channell 4 news)

 

16 Jul 2009: Helicopter shortages put soldiers “at risk”

A report by the Commons’ defence select committee said that overseas helicopter capability is being “seriously undermined” by a shortage of medium and heavy lift battlefield crafts and urged the Ministry of Defence to increase the number of helicopters and train more crew as battlefield operations were being inhibited due to lack of air support.

The group of influential MPs said they were “convinced that the lack of helicopters is having adverse consequences for operations today and, in the longer term, will severely impede the ability of the UK armed forces to deploy. Furthermore, we are troubled by the forecast reduction in numbers of helicopters, which will make this worse.”

The criticisms came in a specially-produced report, amid a furious row over military equipment sparked by the deaths of 15 UK service personnel in Afghanistan in just 10 days.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted “it is absolutely clear” that the heavy death toll recently has not been due to a shortage of helicopters.

But, chairman of the defence committee, the Rt Hon James Arbuthnot, said

“It seems to us that operational commanders in the field today are unable to undertake potentially valuable operations because of the lack of helicopters for transportation around the theatre of operations. We are also concerned that operational commanders find they have to use ground transport, when helicopter lift would be preferred, both for the outcome and for the protection of our forces.”

The report also criticised plans to extend the lives of existing Sea King and Puma aircrafts to bridge the gap in capability. It said

“repairing ageing helicopters at considerable cost is not the best option operationally or in terms of public money and it is no substitute for increasing numbers of the fleet. The committee does not believe that the planned life extension programmes will provide adequate capability or value for the taxpayer. Only a procurement of new helicopters can meet the original objective of reducing the number of types of helicopter in service within the UK Armed Forces.”

Referring to the government’s recent announcement of a strategic defence review green paper in early 2010, Mr Arbuthnot said

“The time has come to appreciate fully the role of helicopters in modern operations. The MoD should seize the opportunity to recognise the importance of helicopters to current and contingent operations, and work towards strengthening all aspects of capability: the number of helicopters in the fleet, the support structure that underpins their operations, manning, both in the air and on the ground, and finally, the training for the full spectrum of capabilities described by the review itself.” (Channel 4 News)

 

 

 

28 Jul 2008: The hidden cost of Britain’s Afghan war?

More than 50 British soldiers have lost limbs in conflict in Afghanistan, latest figures show. As two more British soldiers died in southern Afghanistan, taking the recent death toll to nine in nine days.

The compensation system for injured British soldiers should be overhauled, a leading support group said today.

The demand comes as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) goes to court to cut the compensation offered to a pair of soldiers injured in Afghanistan.

Light Dragoon Anthony Duncan, who walks with crutches after being shot while on patrol in Iraq in 2005, was originally awarded £9,250. The sum was increased to £46,000 by an appeal tribunal.

Royal Marine Matthew McWilliams, who fractured his thigh in a military exercise, was awarded £8,250, which was increased to £28,750 on appeal.

The high court upheld the higher awards, ruling that the MoD argument that there should be a distinction between the original injury and later complications was “absurd”.

The MoD is taking the case to the court of appeal, where its lawyers are expected to claim the two soldiers should be compensated only for the initial injuries and not subsequent health problems.

“On the principle of compensation clearly there needs to be some sorting out as to whether it relates to the injuries sustained at the time, or the consequence of those injuries in later life. That needs to be addressed,” said Jerome Church, general secretary of the British limbless ex-service men’s association (Blesma). Mr Church himself lost a leg in service in Northern Ireland.

Mr Church’s organisation has dealt with more than 50 British soldiers who have lost limbs in conflict in Afghanistan. The grim total, combined with the current death toll of 191, is drawn from the type of combat soldiers are engaged in. He added

“Roadside bombs and gunshot wounds are the key reasons why British soldiers are returning to the UK with horrific injuries. We are dealing with a lot more multiple amputations than we were 20 years ago, and that’s because of the types of explosive devices that the soldiers are facing. It used to be more common for leg amputations to just be below the knee on one side – such as I had – but now it can be much more serious. Multiple loss.”

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed, in response to a parliamentary question that 51 British personnel had undergone amputations after suffering injuries in Afghanistan.

Blesma has worked with 48 of the amputees, as well as six others who lost the use of limbs, and seven others who lost eyes. Twelve of the amputees suffered multiple limb loss. Around 75 per cent of amputations relate to leg injuries.

Church said: “Of course, we see a spike in the number of injuries when the operations intensify. These types of injuries do increase in volume when there is an increase in activity, and we hear there are three or four more we will be meeting some in Selly Oak”. (Channel 4 news)

 

 

 

https://caltonjock.com/2018/06/22/afghanistan-revealed-retired-us-army-general-accuses-uk-general-of-failing-to-protect-soldiers-under-his-command-can-this-the-reason-uk-casualties-were-four-times-higher-than-us-soldiers/

https://caltonjock.com/2018/06/21/446-british-soldiers-died-in-afghanistan-four-times-the-rate-of-us-troops-a-statistical-disparity-which-politicians-at-westminster-have-not-yet-explained-answers-demanded/

 

 

 

 

 

 

20 Sep 2015: The British Army could stage mutiny if labour form a government under Corbyn

A senior serving general has reportedly warned that the general staff would begin directly and publicly challenging a Jeremy Corbyn government if it tried to scrap Trident, pull out of Nato or announce any plans to downgrade, emasculate or shrink the size of the armed forces. He said:

“The Army just wouldn’t stand for a government jeopardising the security of the country and I think people would use whatever means possible, fair or foul to prevent that. You can’t put a maverick in charge of a country’s security. There would be mass resignations at all levels and you would face the very real prospect of an event which would effectively be a mutiny.”
(The Independent)

 

 

 

20 Sep 2015: Corbyn hit by mutiny on airstrikes

Half of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet are prepared to vote with David Cameron for airstrikes on Syria as generals and intelligence chiefs criticised the Labour leader for his views on terrorism and the military.

Senior members of the shadow cabinet have already spoken to Tory ministers, pledging to support bombing of Isis targets in Syria — as long as the prime minister comes up with a coherent plan.

The Labour split comes as:

1. A serving general warned that there would be a direct challenge from the army and mass resignations if Corbyn became prime minister

2. Intelligence chiefs revealed that Corbyn will receive only “restricted access” to intelligence through the police and security services

3. It emerged Corbyn had voted against 13 key pieces of anti-terror legislation. (The Times)

 

About the Generals

A serving general commands an army Division in the British Army, (there are 6 Divisions) and attracts a gross cost + administrative add-ons of £270 – 305K per annum.

There are around 100 serving generals, (despite major reductions in the armed forces). The total cost of retaining this establishment is a very conservative £17.0M – 30.5M per annum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Cowan Rennie – Liberal Democrat

Became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline and West Fife in a by-election, in February 2006. Removed from office in the 2010 GE.

 

 

 

July 2009: Willie Rennie in Expenses sleaze probe

A Parliamentary sleaze probe is to be held investigating expense claims made by Lib/Dem, Willie Rennie MP, who paid his local party £14,000 for an office which had cost them half that to lease.

John Lyon, the parliamentary standards commissioner, agreed to MP’s calls for an investigation into the office rental arrangements of Rennie.

Last month, it emerged that Rennie and Lib Dem MSP, Jim Tolson had paid a total of £21K in rent to the local Lib Dem Party, having paid just £7K to lease the property.

Rennie denied channelling funds to his local party insisting the sums paid were justified since they also included £14K charges (an impossible sum) for telephone and electricity costs which, he said, made up the difference between the two amounts. (Highbeam)

 

 

 

 

May 2010: Former MP Willie Rennie Forced to Repay Fraudulent Expense Claims

The former Lib/Dem MP, who lost his Dunfermline and West Fife seat in the GE apologised for falsely claiming telephone, electricity and rental charges on his local office, premises shared with his local party and an MSP. He accepted the instruction of the parlamentary commissioner that he return nearly £3K.

Following investigation, House of Commons authorities discovered that Rennie, (who now works as a special adviser to the Scottish Secretary) had submitted unjustified claims for the upkeep of his office and equipment from the time of his election to office.

Political opponents said the findings were “deeply embarrassing” for the Lib/Dems accusing Rennie of illegally diverting treasury funds to his Party’s election campaign.

Thomas Docherty, the Labour MP who unseated Rennie in the 2010 general election, said “(Rennie, has been ordered to repay thousands of pounds of money and has had to apologise for the misuse of his expenses. He wrongly directed public funds towards the Lib/Dem election drive.”.

Mr Docherty also questioned the decision to subsequently appoint Rennie to such a high civil service role, adding “Now he has been rewarded with a job as a special adviser, a political appointee who has access to extensive government facilities, the Scottish Secretary must guarantee his new employee does not misuse public resources once again.” (Scotsman)

 

 

 

Comment: Rennie stands accused of using a scam widespread amongst Lib/Dem MPs, renting his constituency office from his local Lib/Dem constituency Party then transferring his campaign costs onto his parliamentary expenses.

It is an act very difficult to prove and Rennie was unlucky to get caught. It was his Campaign Team that had made canvassing telephone calls to Labour activists from a phone number paid for out of parliamentary funds, that was added to his official letterhead that did for him.

According to a report in the “Scottish Sunday Post” he was renting office space from his party meaning that the local Lib/Dem Party was his landlord and taxpayers’ money was being used for Lib/Dem Party campaigning.

 

 

 

 

U.S. General Daniel Bolger (pictured) has claimed his British counterpart was a ‘peppy, pushy fellow’

 

 

https://caltonjock.com/2018/06/21/446-british-soldiers-died-in-afghanistan-four-times-the-rate-of-us-troops-a-statistical-disparity-which-politicians-at-westminster-have-not-yet-explained-answers-demanded/

 

Sir Nick Carter

 

 

17 Nov 2014: British troops died because of UK general, says U.S. chief: Former General claims “young riflemen paid the price” for Sir Nick Carter’s “risk-averse” mentality

A U.S. General has blamed the head of the British Army for the death of troops in Afghanistan saying he refused to carry out air strikes when they were asked for.

Daniel Bolger, who retired last year as a lieutenant-general, said “young British riflemen paid the price” for General Sir Nick Carter’s “risk averse” mentality and fear of causing civilian casualties.

He said that while other generals went to the front line with their men, Sir Nick made only brief helicopter trips to safe positions and instead turned down requests for aircraft and artillery from the safety of his “large, well-appointed command post.”

The American claimed his British counterpart was a “peppy, pushy fellow” and said: “He’s not the type of general I would put in charge of anything.”

The outspoken attack in his new book Why We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, highlights the tensions between senior U.S. and British officers over how to take on the Taliban.

Bolger served alongside Sir Nick at Nato headquarters in Kabul and became exasperated by his strict interpretation of the policy of “courageous restraint” which was meant to cut the number of civilian casualties.

Under the policy, Nato troops were forbidden from firing unless they were fired upon and could identify their attackers and were warned destroying a home or property “creates more insurgents”.

Bolger said: ‘In the First World War you had the chateau generals. Now we’ve got the digital chateau generals where they sit and get PowerPoint briefings and think that told them what the hell was going on.’

He claimed Sir Nick’s attitude was: “Oh, I don’t want to oversupervise my troops, I’ll give them all these rules to follow then let them sort it out on the ground”, but he added that “this is the same guy trying to direct where every single artillery round goes”.

In his book, Bolger refers to a 2010 report by former US colonel Harry Tunnell which claimed Sir Nick showed a “gross lack of concern for subordinates”.

He claimed Sir Nick gave a verbal order that any civilian casualties were unacceptable and “coalition soldiers may have to be killed rather than defend themselves”.

The criticism refers to the time when Sir Nick was the head of Nato’s Regional Command South in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said “In any operation, UK troops always have the inherent right to self-defence and accusations that troops were put in unnecessary danger are nonsensical.” (The Mail)

 

 

 

6 Jul 2010: British soldiers serving on the front line in Afghanistan have said that US Army ‘Courageous restraint’ rules on firing upon the Taliban are putting their lives at risk.

Soldiers in Helmand claim that the “courageous restraint” doctrine (aimed at reducing civilian casualties) introduced by the American commander, Gen Stanley McChrystal is forcing them to fight with “one hand tied behind our backs”.

However, with their own casualties mounting, soldiers say there is an urgent need for a change and for more flexibility in using lethal force to defend themselves.

June 2010 was the bloodiest month since fighting began in 2001.

A senior British Army Non-Commissioned Officer, on his third tour of Afghanistan, said:

“the rules of engagement have gone too far in favour of the insurgents. Our hands are tied the way we are asked to do courageous restraint. I agree with it to the extent that previously too many civilians were killed but we have got people shooting us and we are not allowed to shoot back.
Outrageous restraint is a lot easier to say than to implement.”

In guidance issued in August 2009 Gen McChrystal stated that “destroying a home or property jeopardises the livelihood of an entire family – and creates more insurgents” and that “large scale operations to kill or capture militants carry a significant risk of causing civilian casualties and collateral damage”.

A 21-year-old Royal Marine said the policy was making soldiers think twice before pulling the trigger  which endangers them. “A couple of times I’ve hesitated in shooting someone when I should have done. Some lads have put themselves in danger by allowing a possible suicide bomber too close.”

In one incident an insurgent fired single shots at a base for 15 minutes but was not taken out by a missile as after every shot he put down his rifle knowing he could not be hit if he was unarmed.

A junior officer commanding a small fort in Sangin said:

“It’s a major bugbear for the British Army, it affects us massively. Thank God we have the ANA (Afghan National Army) here because they have different rules of engagement to us and can smash the enemy. The policy has eroded confidence in opening fire to the point that officers have to remind the men that they are entitled to shoot.”

A Royal Marine corporal said:

“We have our hands tied behind our backs when we want to take the enemy out of the equation. This was Gen McChrystal’s policy but he’s been sacked hasn’t he.” (The Telegraph)

 

 

 

Comment:

Politicians dictating the rules of engagement on the battlefield without an appreciation of the prevailing situation, is when soldiers lives are lost.

Political correctness too often, overrides the safety of soldiers lives and the situation is further exacerbated if and when military forces are not provided with weapons, hardware and logistic support essential to prosecute a situation.

Sadly this has been the case for the last 25-30 years failing to replace weapons systems and vehicles and, it is still happening. (Intrepid001)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arlene Foster DUP Leader

 

 

Arlene Foster – Leader of the DUP in Ulster

“Nationalism is narrow and exclusive whilst Unionism stands for pluralism and multi-culturalism, there is no place in Ulster for intolerance in 2018”.

But in her follow up, she confirmed the “narrow and exclusive” policies of the DUP stating: “The DUP will never agree to the introduction of an Irish language act”.

 

 

 

DUP leader’s understanding of Nationalism and Unionism is at odds with the dictionary

Nationalism is described as:

The aspiration for national independence felt by people under foreign domination.(ambition, aspiration, dream – a cherished desire).

Unionism is described as:

Loyalty to the United Kingdom, especially in support of its sovereignty over Northern Ireland.

 

Border crossings

 

 

 

A wee bit of history – 1910 – Liberal Party government pledged to introduce Home Rule for Ireland

The “Irish Party” pressed the Liberals to pledge support for Home Rule or risk losing Irish support in parliament.

Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith told a Liberal rally that he would pursue a policy:

“which, while explicitly safeguarding the supreme and indefeasible authority of the Imperial Parliament, will set up in Ireland a system of full self-government in regard to purely Irish affairs”.

 

 

 

In the 1910 General Election the results were:

Liberals 274, Tories 272, Irish Nationalists 82, Labour 40.

The Irish Nationalists held the balance of power in a fraught parliament, dominated by the issue of the veto of Home Rule by the House of Lords.

The Liberal government decided to face down the Lords and called another election in December 1910 on the proposal to abolish the veto.

Through the constitutional crisis that followed the Irish Unionists in Ulster stood with their Tory allies, who in turn used their opposition to Home Rule to violently oppose the Liberal Government, thwarting peaceful efforts to achieve Irish independence leading to armed conflict and partition.

 

 

Ulster Unionist fear campaign – 1912 Irish Home Rule proposals

Inveterate opponents of Home Rule, the Ulster Unionists, largely dedicated their time and effort to portraying what self-government would be like, depicting the future in the most rich and vivid terms.

The dystopian images depicting Belfast under an Irish parliament incorporated many of the fears expressed by Unionists.

The postcard “Donegall Place, Belfast, Under Home Rule”, shows one of the landmarks of Ulster Unionism, Belfast City Hall, in a derelict and neglected state.

Self-aggrandising statues of prominent nationalists replaced those of Queen Victoria and the glorious dead of the Boer war, and the bustling city of commerce and industry was depicted as given way to pigs, cows and sheep (conventional Unionist symbols for lazy, southern Irish farming practices).

A similar scene was conveyed in another picture “Belfast Under Home Rule” in which, another symbol of the royal connection with Ireland, the Prince Albert Clock Tower, was being demolished, while a replacement, in the form of a statue of an Irish Nationalist, was being wheeled in.

Again, pasture animals were included to show the backwardness of the new Irish government’s economic policy, while the human cost was conveyed by an overcrowded poorhouse and crowds outside the Protestant Emigration Office. (BBC History)

 

 

Comment: The same tactics were used   in the 2014 Independence Referendum campaign, against Scots by the Better Together fear mongering Tory and Unionist Party disgracefully aided by the unionist supporting Labour and Liberal parties.

 

Paisley Junior MP

 

 

 

 

 

Poorly equipped Scottish soldiers deployed to hell on earth, Helmand Province Afghanistan

In April 2006 the Labour government deployed over 3,000 military personnel to Helmand Province, Afghanistan tasked with supporting a US-led force already deployed throughout the country eliminating Taliban militants.

Political and military leaders were briefed, by US intelligence of the dangers with which the force would be confronted but chose to believe that US forces already in the field of war would continue to meet the main challenge of the Taliban.

The “Westminster and Whitehall” mantra was: ” we’ll deal with it if it happens.” The US military command, in Kabul were more than ready to transfer responsibility for policing Helmand Province and the South of Afghanistan to the “Brits”.

John Reid, (start much finish nothing) then Secretary of State for Defence, briefed the world’s press in Kabul that Britain would remain with the Nato joint forces mission for as long as necessary emphasising the importance of preventing the Taliban returning to power.

He said “We’re in Helmand and the South to assist and protect the Afghan people reconstructing their economy and democracy” and, “we would be perfectly happy to leave in three years time without firing one shot.” He then returned to the UK to take up a new job as Foreign Secretary.

the Labour government complacency was quickly dispelled by the shock of cold reality when the ill equipped, poorly armed and inadequately trained young Scottish soldiers came under sustained attack from the Taliban.

The much vaunted “policing” role promoted by Labour Party politicians morphed into a 12 year brutal counter-insurgency campaign resulting in the death and injury of a large number of military personnel. The armed forces of the country were betrayed by successive Westminster governments whose default setting was firmly fixed at: “muddle”

 

 

 

 

 

Casualties of war – 446 British soldiers died in Afghanistan – four times the rate of US troops, a statistical disparity which nobody at Westminster has yet explained

The maximum acceptable level of major combat casualties is 6 deaths per 1000. UK forces suffered 13 deaths per 1000. (The average age of those who died was 22. 31 were teenagers, 200 in their 20s). USA forces suffered 3 deaths per 1000.

3560 soldiers were wounded in action. 29 British soldiers had limbs amputated in 2012-2013. 12 were classified as “significant multiple amputees”.

Of the army veterans who made it home more or less in one piece, suicide was the most common cause of death in 2012.

 

 

 

 

Britain Sent Troops Into Helmand Province With, “Eyes Shut and Fingers Crossed”

Major General Mackay, Greatly respected, Force Commander in Helmand, (in an interview in the Times), not long after he left the Army said;

“Labour’s “complacent” approach to the Afghan mission had proved “very costly”. The genesis of their approach is born of complacency, the thought that, ‘we can deal with it as and when it happens”. It resulted, I believe, in the upper echelons of the Labour government going into Helmand with their eyes shut and their fingers crossed.

“For those who fought and died or suffered injuries in that period, this proved a very costly means of conducting counter-insurgency. The issue is whether or not our politicians, diplomats, intelligence services, civil servants and senior military have done enough, adapted enough, been innovative enough or courageous enough to make tough, and more often than not, unpalatable choices.”

“My answer to that question is that they have not or have failed to do so too often. Muddling through seemed to be the default setting, along with the protection of individual and collective interests”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tory Government – British Army Media and Psychops Elite Unit

The Brigade, named the 77th in tribute to the Chindits, the British guerrilla force led by Maj Gen Orde Wingate* against the Japanese in Burma during the second world war, was formed in 2013/14.

It is headquartered near Newbury, in Berkshire and numbers around 1,500 personnel (including regulars and reservists) who are primarily recruited from military units across the army.

The force endeavours to influence the politics of other nations against a background of 24-hour news, smartphones and social media and has gained excellent working skills from expertise acquired by the the Israel Defense Force (IDF) which is presently active on 30 internet platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

 

*Wingate organized and led the notorious Jewish murder squads against  native Palestinians in the fledgling state of Israel.  His methods were so brutal that Israeli politicians brought an end to it and demanded his banishment from Israel forever.

 

 

 

Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL Group) – The Mission

It’s declared mission was to provide behavioral research and change programmes, strategic communication “data, analytics and strategy to governments, the UK armed forces and military organizations worldwide.

In 2005, the company, went public at the UK’s largest weapons conference, a showcase for military technology, with an impressive demonstration of how the UK government could use a sophisticated media campaign of mass deception fooling the British people into believing a bogus accident at a chemical plant had actually occurred and threatened central London.

A freedom of information request from August 2016, recorded that the MOD twice bought services from SCL in recent years.

Namely:

1. In 2010/11, the MOD paid £40,000 to SCL for the “provision of external training.”

2. In 2014/2015, the MOD paid SCL £150,000 for the “procurement of a “target audience analysis.”

The MOD refused to provide verifiable explanation of the use of the large sum of money.

It was further confirmed that SCL had also been granted “Top secret” clearance as a “list X” contractor for the MOD which allowed the company commercial access to and use of highly classified UK government information.

 

 

Summary:

In 2014 a single political event (possibly manipulation of the outcome of the Scottish Independence Referendum) required an expenditure of £150,000 with SCL by the MOD for the “procurement of a “target audience analysis.”

Evidenced by the dubious activities of the Civil Service in England (see below), it is entirely possible the newly formed British Army Media and Psychops Elite Unit had made use of the comprehensive “target audience analysis” provided.

 

 

 

 Westminster Civil Service, “Devolved Countries Unit” (Dirty Tricks) campaign team won “special” Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service Award

The late, Sir Jeremy Heywood, Sir Bob Kerslake and Sir Nicholas McPherson, the three amigo’s who ran the UK, collaborated and plotted against Scotland, marshalling the full might of the British State, attacking the Scottish government and supporters of the “Yes” campaign.

In the months after the referendum the Civil Service publicly expressed great satisfaction that their “Campaign of fear” had generated “fearties” in sufficient numbers so as to win the day for the Unionist coalition.

An award, in recognition of the civil servant’s outstanding achievement in making a difference on an issue of national significance, (the Referendum) was presented by the ”Cabinet Secretary and civil service head Sir Jeremy Heywood.

The proud team of self termed, strictly impartial, very senior civil servants commented afterwards;

* Paul Doyle:  “This award is for all the hard work that was done by all British government departments on the Scotland independence agenda. In all my experience of the civil service, I have never seen the civil service pull together in the way they did supporting the Westminster government, maintaining the United Kingdom.”

* William MacFarlane, Deputy Director at HM Treasury, (Budget and Tax Strategy):  “As civil servants you don’t get involved in politics. But for the first time in my life, suddenly we’re part of a political campaign.

We were doing everything from the analysis, to the advertising, to the communications. I just felt a massive sense of being part of the operation. This being recognized [at the Civil Service Awards], makes me feel just incredibly proud.”

* Shannon Cochrane: “We’ve learned that it is possible for civil servants to work on things that are inherently political and quite difficult, and you’re very close to crossing the line of what is allowable, but it’s possible to find your way through and to make a difference.”

* Mario Pisani: Deputy Director HM Treasury, (Public Policy): “We all had something in common, we were fighting to save the Union, and it came so close. We just kept the UK intact by the skin of our teeth. I actually cried when the result came in. After 10 years in the civil service, my proudest moment is tonight and receiving this award.

As civil servants you don’t get involved in politics. For the first time in my life, suddenly we were part of a political campaign. We were doing everything from the analysis, to the advertising, to the communications. I just felt a massive sense of being part of the operation. This being recognized [at the Civil Service Awards], makes me feel just incredibly proud.” (civilserviceworld)

 

 

 

Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL Group) – The Board

In a scandal that cut to the heart of British society board members included an array of Lords, Tory donors, ex-British army officers, defence contractors, the Tory Party and the military establishment.

Including:

Mark Turnbull: Provided the “Atlantic Alliance” link. Spent 18 years at Bell Pottinger, heading up a Pentagon funded PR drive in occupied Iraq which included the production of fake al-Qaeda videos. He was the head of SCL Elections and Cambridge Analytica Political Global.

His profile at the University of Exeter Strategy and Security Institute boasted of his record in achieving “campaign success via measurable behavioural change” in “over 100 campaigns in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean”.

Nigel Oakes: An old Etonian, he was the head of the group.According to the website “PowerBase” had links to the British royal family. Rumoured to be an Mi5 spy.

In 1992 he described his work in a trade journal as using the same techniques as Aristotle and Hitler. … “We appeal to people on an emotional level to get them to agree on a functional level.”

Sir Geoffrey Pattie: Former Tory MP and Defense Minister in Thatcher’s government. He was the President of SCL. He also co-founded “Terrington Management” which listed BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin among its clients.

Roger Gabb: A former British special forces officer in Borneo and Kenya the wine millionaire was a company director. In 2006 he donated £500,000 to the Tory Party.

He was fined by the Electoral Commission for failing to include his name on an advert in a number of local newspapers arguing for a Leave.EU vote in the Brexit referendum.

Julian Wheatland: A venture capitalist, he was the company’s chairman. He was also the chairman of Oxfordshire Conservatives Association.

Jonathan Marland: The former Conservative Party Treasurer, was a trade envoy under David Cameron, and a close friend of Tory election strategist Lynton Crosby. He provided financial support to the company.

Vincent Tchenguiz: A property tycoon and Conservative party donor he was also the single largest SCL shareholder for a decade.

Gavin McNicoll: A company director. Founded counter-terrorism “Eden Intelligence” a firm who, at the behest of the British government, ran a G8 Plus conference on Financial Intelligence Cooperation.

Sir James Allen Mitchell: A retired board member, he was the former Prime Minister of the previous British colony St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He is also a privy counsellor on the Queen’s advisory board.

Rear Admiral John Tolhurst: A former assistant director of naval warfare in the Ministry of Defense and aide de camp to the Queen.

Lord Ivar Mountbatten: The Queen’s third cousin, was also named as a member of SCL’s advisory board.

 

 

Summary:

It is evident that SCL was a product of murky alliances formed between venture capitalists, Tory Party politicians and their financial backers and former British military and intelligence officers.

The recent exposure of SCL provided irrefutable firm evidence of shadowy actors that used dirty tricks in order to rig elections. But these characters were not operating from Moscow intelligence bunkers.

Instead, they were British, Eton educated, headquartered in the city of London and had binding ties to Her Majesty’s government.

And the foregoing information barely scrapes the surface of just how deep the tie went between the UK defense establishment and SCL. (Paraphrasing author: Liam O Hare – Bella Caledonia)

 

 

Summary:

The outcome of the 2014 “Scottish Independence Referendum” confirmed that the Tory government utilized every weapon in its formidable arsenal of civil servants and other bodies of state in its determined action against Scots who simply wished to be free of the brutal Westminster control which has bound Scotland to England in an illegal “Treaty of union” for over 300 years.  Alert to the trickery and deviousness of the British State, Scots should ensure counter measures are in place before the next referendum preventing a similar outcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Orange Order of Scotland, supporters of the DUP and the Tory Party in Scotland

The Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland Grand Master Jim McHarg, in a speech in 2017 said:

“The bulk of the Lodge’s estimated 50,000 Scottish supporters are Tories, and more members of the Order are now serving as elected officials across Scotland than at any time in the past two decades.”

 

 

 

 

20 May 2010: Orange Order activist and DUP supporter, Richard Cook, creator of Conservative Future (Scotland)

The former Deputy Chairman of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party stated:

“I believe deeply in our party, its membership and in the need for a centre right party to represent the hundreds of thousands of Scots who believe in the same things we do.

Putting it bluntly, our General Election results were not good. In all but a few seats the people of Scotland turned out to stop the Tories and not to support us despite the worst economic disaster in British peace time history. It is time the Party strengthened Scottish (CFS) Conservative Future.

Conservative Future (Scotland) did a fantastic job of mobilising its members to help in constituencies across Scotland at the 2010 General Election. Now we need to do everything we can to support and grow this organisation.

They move faster, get through more and have a different view on life than our more mature members, and while they bring with them certain challenges they are an essential part of a vibrant political party.

In East Renfrewshire I was blessed to have the support of a large and very dedicated bunch of young people, largely students, who dedicated Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings – right through the bitter cold of last winter – to the canvass activity that helped grow our vote.

Richard Anderson, Ross McFarlane and Colin Taylor, to name just three, did everything they could to coordinate a group of 20+ young activists from Conservative Future branches at Glasgow University, Strathclyde University, Caledonian University and beyond – and what a job they did.

Not that their activities were restricted to canvassing.  There were the numerous thousands of leaflets they dropped through doors and the myriad of new ideas they brought forward to the benefit of our campaign.

These guys are from a generation of people who are among the first to have grown up with Labour as the political establishment. They look at the state of our economy and blame lack of job opportunities on our opposition, not the Tories.

For them the word “Tory” does not throw up bad memories of Conservative government and in seeking to end perceptions of a toxic brand we should be asking CFs members to be active participants in brand modernisation.

How do we help them? First of all we need to ask them what they need in order to be able to continue to grow and prosper.

We are talking about a generation of people who have grown up in an online world and for whom modern campaign techniques are second nature. As a result they have a very different outlook on life and will want to take us in exciting new directions – both in our structure and our campaign activities.

Then we need to help them deliver exciting organisations on the ground. This is particularly the case on University campuses where political celebrity is often used to attract new members.

People like Boris Johnson are extremely popular (hence the range of Boris material produced for CF use at Freshers’ Fairs) and with a young and dynamic new Prime Minister we need to use the positive images we have to their best advantage.

So, we need to help CFs branches organise good local events, with a good profile of speaker, and to support these events in person, where appropriate. Finally we must recognise that, in return for their support of campaigns in our constituencies we need to support them.

I intend to organise a CFs summer get together in Glasgow to thank them for their support of my campaign in East Renfrewshire. More importantly, I hope this will show Conservative Future (Scotland) we value their involvement and want to hear from them what direction they believe our Party should now take. (revivingourparty)

 

 

 

 

2011: Orange Order activists and DUP supporters, the ultra right-wing young conservatives band together under Ruth Davidson and the “Conservative Future” banner

In Scotland, at 2011, Tory Party membership had reduced to around 8000, many of whom were aged between 50-80. This created problems since it was not possible to conduct any meaningful electorate canvassing without troops on the ground and after being appointed leader of the Party in Scotland Ruth Davidson turned away from the “Tory Old Guard” instead preferring to raise the profile of her personally selected “Conservative Future” footsoldiers, so that they would cement and implement her doctrine in all areas of the Party in Scotland.

The Davidson, Orange Order and Unionist Tory Party youth wing in Scotland comprises party members aged 30 and younger. Students participate equally in the affairs of the Party enjoying active participation in the campaigns of their local MSPs, MP or Councillors at all levels of the Party structure

But there is a price to pay for creating a two tier Party and the behaviour of a number of young Tory thugs associated with an increasing number of unsavoury incidents gives warning to the electorate not to provide unfettered support to a political group closely modelled on the ideals of the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (DUP).

 

 

 

12 September 2011: Ross Mcfarlane, Orange Order, DUP supporter and Conservative Future (Scotland) President & colleagues in Drunken Anti-Catholic Rant

Footage has emerged of Ross McFarlane, who was also the MSP’s election agent, setting fire to the EU standard, after a St Andrew’s Day dinner last year while he was wearing Glasgow University robes.

Video footage showed McFarlane and a number of fellow conservatives in Hyndland, in Glasgow’s West End, at 2am after the dinner, which was attended by Ruth Davidson and guest speaker, right-wing Tory MEP Roger Helmer. The footage showed three people, including McFarlane and another individual draped in a Union Flag, trying to burn the EU flag on the pavement. Struggling to set the cloth on fire, McFarlane said “F**k sake”, before adding: “Get a lighter.” An off-camera voice is heard to say: “Douse it.” At this point it becomes clear the group is planning to burn the flag using alcohol and a lighter. McFarlane is then seen to pour liquid on to the flag, prompting an associate to say: “What a waste of vodka, by the way.” A frustrated McFarlane exclaims: “Somebody get a lighter.” The failure to destroy the flag then becomes a source of merriment for a member of the group off-camera. He can be heard saying: “There’s more chance of f*****g seeing the Pope confess to paedophilia.” The group laughs. The same person then says: “There’s more chance of Hugh Dallas telling us he’s a f*****g tarrier.” – a derogatory term for an Irish Catholic. The jibe prompted more laughter. McFarlane finally set the flag alight. The group expressed its approval before one of them started to sing God Save The Queen. The fire petered out and McFarlane said: “S**t disnae burn, lads.”

 

 

 

25th September 2011: Richard Green, Orange Order, DUP supporter and former secretary of Conservative Future (Scotland) posts racist comments online

Stewart Green, Glasgow University graduate and former secretary of Conservative Future (Scotland) and a key figure behind the “Tory Hoose” blog, claimed it was not possible to be racist against “blacks” and said it did not matter how many black people went to university. Green was one of the Tory members previously embroiled in a EU flag-burning row.

Toryhoose.com was formed by senior party supporters in 2011 as a Scottish version of the acclaimed Conservative Home website. The blog described itself as a forum for “fresh thinking” in the Tories and was edited by activists.

Green, the site’s webmaster and “leadership editor” had also posted his controversial views on race elsewhere online. In a post on university admissions on microblogging site Twitter he said:

“Why’s it ‘racist to conclude no blacks good enough’? Wasn’t aware black was a race.” On the same day, he tweeted: “Shock: Oxbridge has only few black students. However, They have zero single armed, black, lesbian mothers. How outrageous.” He later said: “As far as I can see, racism is discrimination against a particular race. So you can be racist against Jews, but not against black people.” Green also tweeted: “An Asian festival is taking place a few doors up, either that or several cats are being strangled. Can’t quite decide which.” On UK Government policy towards Pakistan, he said the Asian country’s “first mistake” was “ending imperial rule”.

Green was also one of those present when a drunken young Conservative, Ross McFarlane, set fire to a European Union flag on a Glasgow street.

 

 

 

13 Nov 2011: Belfast born, Colin Taylor, Orange Order, DUP supporter and former President of Conservative Future (Scotland) praises the activities of the Ulster Volunteer Force

In her first week as national leader of the party, new Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson was embroiled in a sectarianism row after one of her party’s Holyrood staff posted song lyrics on Twitter glorifying Northern Irish terrorist group, the Ulster Volunteer Force.

It emerged that Belfast born Colin Taylor, a Glasgow University graduate and former president of Conservative Future Scotland (CFS),  was employed, at the public’s expense, in the Tory press and research unit in Holyrood had tweeted lyrics from the song “Here Lies a Soldier”, which sings the praises of the Ulster Volunteer Force, an anti-Catholic Northern Irish terrorist group. In his tweets Taylor casually referred to “tims” another offensive name for Catholics.

As embarrassing as such behaviour may have been for Davidson, it was her response to Taylor’s tweets that has earned her the most criticism. Taylor was allowed to keep his position, his punishment for his behaviour being no more than a “warning.” MSPs  called this “insufficient” and demanded  more “disciplinary proceedings” without success.

Peter Kearney, of the Catholic Media Office, said: “The Catholic Church in Scotland condemns in the strongest possible terms any sectarian behaviour or criminality, from any quarter whatsoever, as having no place in a civilised society.” (scottishpol)

 

 

 

20 September 2016: Ulsterman, Ian Donnell, Orange Order, DUP supporter and former chairman of Conservative Future (Scotland) at St Andrews University is guilty of election fraud

An investigation conducted by the Students Association at St Andrews University found that allegations of “election fraud” and other allegations of abuse of authority, against the St Andrews Conservative and Unionist Society Chairman and committee were in fact true.

There were a number of serious allegations including an anti-Roman Catholic sentiment within the Society. Stephan Maier, (member) said that at times there was a “general sentiment” of anti-Roman Catholic feeling in the Society stating that, anti-Roman Catholic remarks were made. He said: “I’m not someone who feels very uncomfortably easily myself, but I believe others would. People would easily be put off by that immediately, I completely agree with that. Certain people would feel their presence was unwanted, and their opinion carried little or no value because they were Roman Catholic. It put off people from joining or attending.”

A spokesman for the membership said: “It is some relief to be vindicated by the Union, and that our claims that the election had been unpleasant and corrupted have been confirmed.” (thesaint-online)

 

 

 

 

4 May 2017: Callum Purves, Orange Order, DUP supporter and former Conservative Future (Scotland) Society President found Guilty of Election Foul Play at St Andrews University elected to the Kinross Council

Purves and Ulsterman, Ian Donnell, (former society chairman and president) were investigated and found guilty of serious electoral foul play.

The odious behaviour of senior officers of the Society, many since promoted to senior positions within the Scottish Conservative Party was symptomatic of the failure, on the part of Ruth Davidson and her colleagues to provide leadership and guidance to younger members of her Party.

It is conjectured that, had the information contained in this article been made available to the Kinross electorate it is doubtful Purves would have been elected to serve as a councillor.

Might be he will do the right thing and stand down and submit himself for re-election. But “pigs might fly” before that happens.(thesaint-online)

 

 

 

 

19 May 2017: Orange Order activist and DUP supporter, Richard Cook, creator of Conservative Future (Scotland), at the centre of a £425,000 (DUP) major brexit funding scandal.

Cook is at the centre of a political scandal raging in Northern Ireland.

Back in February, an “openDemocracy” investigation found that donors had taken advantage of Northern Ireland’s secretive electoral laws to funnel hundreds of thousands of pounds to the DUP’s pro-Brexit campaign.

Under pressure, the DUP revealed that the party had received £425,622 from a group called ‘the Constitutional Research Council.

Nothing much is known about the Constitutional Research Council. It has no formal legal status. What is known is that Cook claimed he was the chairman. And he promised to fund the pro-union campaign in any future Scottish independence referendum, stating “More people with more money are ready to step up to the plate this time compared with the last referendum”.

He did not reveal who the people were.” The DUP refused to say who the backers behind the CRC were. But there is little to suggest that Cook himself is a major donor.   Conservative colleagues described Cook as “a nice but not a rich guy”.

He is also listed as an advisor on “Think Scotland”, a conservative-minded website funded by Scottish unionist businessman Robert Kilgour.

Think Scotland is owned by former Tory MSP Brian Monteith who was the head of press during the EU referendum, for Leave.EU, the campaign group run by Arron Banks. (openDemocracy)

Comment:

Cook has well established links, going back a number of years, with the Canadian registered data collection company, AggregateIQ which intervened plotting against Scots in support of “Better Together” in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum and in subsequent Scottish elections and Voteleave.EU in the Brexit campaign.

It is this company that is the most likely source of the £425,000 donation to Richard Cook.

This is evidenced by the submission, in the expenditure accounts to the Electoral Commission of an AggregateIQ copy invoice for digital advertising, in the name of Jeffrey Donaldson MP for £32,750.73.

But there was no record of the company building any pages for the DUP website at any point.

 

 

 

Orange Order activist and DUP supporter, Richard Cook is allied to a right-wing Eurosceptic pressure group “the Freedom Association”

Cook was the Scottish spokesperson for the Conservative Party, “Campaign Against Political Correctness”, which was closely allied to the Freedom Association, a right-wing Eurosceptic pressure group.

In 2009, Cook and Murdo Fraser addressed the “Freedom Association” at a fringe event at the Conservative party conference in Perth to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 election victory.

Freedom Association Chief Executive Simon Richards later praised Cook as “one of the hardest working PPC’s (Parliamentary Prospective Candidates) anywhere in the country”.

The “Freedom Association” also boasts well established historical links with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland.

Among its original founders was Ross McWhirter, a controversial journalist who campaigned for strict restrictions on Irish people in Britain, including making it compulsory for all Irish people in Britain to register with the local police and to provide signed photographs of themselves when renting flats or booking into hotels and hostel.

McWhirter was shot dead by the Provisional IRA in Enfield in 1975.

In 2007 and 2008, leading DUP politicians Jeffrey Donaldson and Sammy Wilson were involved in “Freedom Association” fact finding events in Northern Ireland.

At the time, the “Freedom Association” said it had taken a close interest in Ulster matters from its earliest days and was keen to strengthen its ties with the province and to demonstrate its support for the Union.

Donaldson was the chair of the DUP’s Leave.EU campaign – his name appeared on the election material that the CRC’s £425,000 donation paid for – and Wilson was a prominent pro-Brexit DUP voice throughout the campaign, regularly appearing in the media.

An SNP spokesperson said: “These are deeply concerning allegations. The fact that we still do not know the source of such a significant amount of cash used to help bankroll the Brexit campaign is unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to continue.

Just as concerning are the apparent links to the highest levels of the Scottish Tory party.

Ruth Davidson must clarify what links she has with Mr Cook, and whether her party has helped itself to money from the same murky sources.” (The Independent)

 

 

 

 

2 Oct 2017: Orange Order supporter, Murdo Fraser Tory (MSP)

Fraser, a well known and unashamed anti-Catholic bigot, tweets sly sectarian driven innuendo almost daily alongside his Sevco tweets and his party never censor him.

The Scottish Tory’s clearly don’t give a toss about their MSP’s openly publishing and voicing anti-Catholic sentiments stirring the sectarian pot, they know their behaviour will not be condemned by the Scottish press and will be embraced by the Orange Order Unionists anticipating that the exposure will increase their vote share allowing them to carry on, and that sums up the Tory “one nation conservatism”.

Fraser tweeted, after the Bayern game about Celtic’s elimination from the Champions League: “Don’t you hate Scottish teams being dragged out of Europe against their will? And on Reformation Day too.”

After an “old firm” match in 2016 Fraser tweeted: “Rangers 5 Celtic 4 – The Queen’s 11 deliver Her Majesty the perfect Birthday present.”

Tweets, designed to increase the pain of losing confirm the mindset of the man who associates Brexit and Protestantism with Celtic’s elimination from the Champions League. And this from a political nobody who has sat in the Scottish parliament for nearly 20 years collecting his taxpayer funded salary as an MSP without ever being elected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

09 December 2007: Murdo Fraser, Tory (List) MSP, for Mid-Scotland and Fife belatedly admits to the theft of a university memorial to Nelson Mandela the late South African President.

As an active member of the Federation of Conservative Students (FCS) in Aberdeen during the 1980s Fraser said he had “appropriated” a plaque honouring Mandela but had recently returned the engraved “trophy” to students.

However, his alma mater’s union has still to see any sign of it. And Fraser’s act has been condemned as “outrageous” and “infantile” by a senior lecturer at the university.

The list MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife graduated from Aberdeen with an LLB in 1986 before becoming the chairman of both the Scottish and UK Young Conservatives.

During that time he gained a reputation as a champion of ultra right-wing causes. And could not resist stirring up controversy when his fellow undergraduates named a room in the students’ union after the South African freedom fighter.

The removal of the plaque sparked outrage on campus but the culprit remained untraced and the metal memorial was never returned. When Mandela was freed in 1990 and then went on to become president in 1994 it became largely forgotten.

Having decided to return the plaque, Fraser, in a talk at a Christmas party organised by current members of the university’s Conservative Association said:

“At one point in time in the 1980s the Aberdeen University Union housed the rather grandly titled Nelson Mandela TV Lounge. One night the plaque to this lounge was appropriated by a person or persons unknown. All that I can say is that it came into my possession and has remained there for around 20 years. This was a bit of a student prank aimed at winding up some of the lefties on campus and there was certainly no malice involved. It was not meant to be taken seriously.”

 

 

 

Dr Michael Dyer, a long-serving member of the university’s politics and international relations department, felt Fraser’s “outrageous prank” was misguided and out of touch. He said:

“By and large at that time there was a recognition across a wide political spectrum that Mandela’s imprisonment was unjust.  Mrs Thatcher, of course, chose to regard him as a terrorist – possibly reflecting the views of her husband and his cronies, her own eccentricity and cussedness towards fashionable liberal causes. Conservative students were few in those days and those that joined such an unfashionable cause deliberately adopted ‘nutty’ right-wing views largely, one suspects, for the hell of it and to out-Thatcher the Thatcherites. Fraser’s action simply reflected the infantile nature of much right-wing student activity.” (The Scotsman)

 

 

Paraphrasing author Ian Smith, who knew Fraser at Aberdeen university and wrote in his (15 Nov 2016 blog

Actually, I will digress for a moment about Murdo Fraser, who only last month declared on Twitter: “I’m British and I’m staying that way.”

I remember him as a fellow student during my college days at Aberdeen in the 1980s, where he was a member of the Federation of Conservative Students (FCS).

When Murdo and his FCS mates weren’t strutting around the campus waving the Union Jack, they were behaving like pillocks towards “GAY” students and singing “Hang Nelson Mandela!” at discos whenever the DJ played the “Free Nelson Mandela” anthem, and making nuisances of themselves in pubs yelling “F*** the Pope!”.

The FCS were an organisation so obnoxiously right-wing that they embarrassed even (on your bike) Norman Tebbit, then the Conservative Party Chairman and a fair bit to the right of Vlad the Impaler in his own political beliefs; and he had them disbanded in 1986. (bloodandporridge)

 

Scottish Home Secretary David Mundell. Supporter of LGBT rights

 

 

Comment: Acceptance of the foregoing provides evidence that for Fraser being a white, hetrosexual, Protestant, Orangeman and British nationalist is all good; whereas being a Scottish nationalist, Catholic or GAY is unspeakably bad.

Quite how his profile gels with the policies of the leader of his party, in particular her high profile support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in Scotland is difficult to comprehend.

 

 

 

The Tory Party in Scotland is structured around two camps:

1. Conservative Future, which includes Party members under 30yo who support the ultra right wing agenda of the Scottish Tory Party and its links with the DUP and Orange Lodge in Scotland but retaining deeply held reservations about the LGBT aspect of policy.

2. Old school conservatives sidelined by Ruth Davidson in favour of her young guns.

Any indication of division within the Tory Party leading to a repeat of the bitter in-fighting it is infamous

for will see a return of the old guard and the demise of Conservative Future and its distasteful objectives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martin John Callanan, (Baron Callanan)

Is an ultra right wing Tory Party politician and UK Government Minister. He was Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North East England from 1999 to 2014 and Chairman of the European Tory and Reformists group from 2011 to 2014.

Failing to win re-election in the 2014 European Parliament elections it was announced that he would be made a Conservative life peer.

Following the 2017 general election, Callanan was made Minister of State in the Department for Exiting the European Union.

 

 

 

20 Mar 2018: Britain will quit the EU ‘without a deal’ if Parliament decides to vote down Theresa May’s final proposals

Speaking in the House of Lords, Tory minister Lord Callanan said that the UK would fall back on basic World Trade Organisation rules if the eventual Brexit deal was rejected by MPs or peers.

His remarks are the clearest yet from any minister of the consequences of losing the “meaningful vote” promised to Tory rebels and Labour last year.

His statement confirms the “yes” answer Brexit Secretary David Davis gave when asked in the Commons for reassurance that the UK would leave the EU on 29 March 2019 even if Parliament rejected the final deal in the debate on the proposed bill.  (huffingtonpost)

 

 

Baron Callanan, Theresa May’s new Brexit minister advocates scrapping EU workers’ safeguards for pregnant women and agency workers.

Callanan, when the Tory MEP for the North East of England – expressed a desire to abolish the whole employment and social affairs directorate during a debate in the European Parliament.

In a video of his speech he told the European Parliament:

“There is one action we could take right now to show businesses our commitment to growth.

One of the best ways for the EU to speed up growth is to scrap the employment and social affairs directorate in the commission, and repatriate its responsibilities to national governments.

Then we could scrap the working time directive, the agency workers’ directive, the pregnant workers’ directive and all the other barriers to actually employing people.” (The Independent)

Video’s here:  https://www.youtube.com/user/MartinCallananMEP