Hello, and welcome back to Blog 22 of the Weekly Digest politics blog, where I try to make sense of the preceding week’s political going’s on in N Ireland, UK and USA. The political fallout from last week’s shenanigans around the EU’s threat to trigger Article 16 showed no signs of abating, we had another local Twitter twit (there’s always guaranteed to be at least one!) embroiled in a racism controversy, as well as a crazy, Q-anon supporting Congresswoman causing a stir. Never a dull moment!
We begin with everyone’s favourite curmudgeonly MLA, Jim Allister. Even if you don’t agree with wee Jim’s politics, and many don’t let’s be honest, I think we can all agree that he is a very effective member of the NI Assembly. This week he secured the final passage of the Functioning of Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which was introduced by the TUV leader a year ago in response to the cash for ash scandal. Remember that?
It creates one entirely new criminal offence – of a minister or spad sending official information to someone for the improper benefit of any person. The bill also makes ministers both legally accountable and responsible for their spads (Special Advisers), brings spads under the civil service code, allows the standards commissioner to investigate complaints against ministers, caps spad pay and reduces the number of the first ministers’ spads from eight to six. Furthermore, it attempts to prevent Sinn Féin circumventing the law by appointing ‘super spads’, constrains ministers’ royal prerogative powers, and creates a legal duty to keep records of when spads and ministers are lobbied. However, a second criminal offence in the bill’s original wording – which could have jailed ministers, spads or civil servants who evaded scrutiny by using private electronic devices or email accounts – had already been voted down by the Assembly at an earlier stage. Despite this, it was a praiseworthy attempt by Mr Allister to apply some retrospective scrutiny and accountability to one of the notoriously shady areas of local politics – the role and powers of Special Advisers! While he may have been motivated by his need to embarrass his political rivals, the DUP, Jim is undoubtedly a stickler for doing things by the book. So, credit where it’s due! Well played, Jim! 👏🏻
And speaking of the DUP? The largest Unionist party in NI is still at the centre of the ongoing furore over the Irish Sea customs border. There has been a serious damage limitation exercise in progress this week, with lots of the party’s big beasts hitting the airwaves, hogging the current affairs tv schedules and filling column inches in a concerted effort to divert blame for the more unpalatable out workings of the hard Brexit they vociferously campaigned for in the first place. The EU were heavily criticised at the beginning of the week by DUP leader, Arlene Foster, for their heavy handed threat to trigger Article 16 of the NI Protocol. Article 16 of the protocol part of the deal allows the EU and UK to choose to suspend any aspects they consider are causing “economic, societal or environmental difficulties”. The EU announced it would trigger the clause and introduce the export controls on its vaccines entering Northern Ireland in a bid to prevent the region becoming a backdoor for jabs to be sent to the UK. It later reversed this decision, but ironically, unionist parties in NI, particularly the DUP, have been urging the UK government to use Article 16 to reduce checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.
The DUP then aimed it’s opprobrium at the Irish government. In a statement released on Tuesday the party stated; “As the largest unionist party at Stormont, we also intend to send a strong signal to the government of the Republic of Ireland that north-south relationships are also impacted by the implementation of a protocol which they supported.” The DUP’s Westminster leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the party “cannot continue in a normal relationship” with Dublin on matters related to the protocol. In practical terms, this could mean the DUP boycotting meetings of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC), and other north-south meetings that are focused on the operation of the protocol. In reply, an Irish government spokesperson said the protocol was “negotiated and agreed between the EU and the UK, and approved by Westminster”. They also reaffirmed their commitment to work constructively to resolve outstanding issues relating to the protocol. Mind you, Sir Jeffrey, without a merest hint of irony, also said this week that he was at a loss when it came to examples of ‘an internal border within a country that separates one part of the country from the other’. Somebody clearly wasn’t listening during his Irish history lessons!🤦🏻♂️
All of this tempted Boris Johnston onto the twittersphere in response.
Fine, but quite possibly hollow words from the compulsively disingenuous Prime Minister. Clearly the DUP aren’t the only ones seeking to deflect responsibility and blame for the need for a NI Protocol in the first place. All of this comes amid alleged ‘heightened tensions’ within the PUL/loyalist community over the protocol and Irish Sea border. Threatening and sinister graffiti has appeared in several locations, targeting customs officials and even Leo Varadkar, the Irish Tánaiste. (Dep PM). The DUP have been accused of deliberately stoking tensions for their own political ends and to apply more pressure on the U.K. Government. This has been criticised as being highly irresponsible by some of the other parties in NI. The Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister, Michelle O’Neill said the DUP was “whipping up hysteria” while others were “calling for calm and resolution”. Deputy leader of the Alliance Party, Stephen Farry, stated – “We should be working together to maximise derogations and flexibilities.”
And so to my Twitter Twit of the week! Well, there is probably only one contender, to be honest, and that is DUP MP, Gregory Campbell. Gregory is no stranger to controversy. Remember the outrage a few years back at his ‘curry my yoghurt’ comments in the Assembly chamber in a mocking pretence at speaking Irish? Well, I think he may have just topped that! Here is his tweet! Brace yourselves!
I actually don’t know where to begin with this one! The fact that Gregory went out of his way to take offence at an episode of a programme about gospel singing (let’s remember where gospel singing originated for a moment – mainly within the enslaved black population in the southern states of America!) because it predominantly featured black people is deeply worrying. Or at least, it should be! I genuinely fail to understand his logic and I genuinely despair at the barely concealed racism on display here. The fact that this comes from a democratically elected representative in NI should be a source of shame and embarrassment for all of us. However, most depressingly, this probably won’t unduly affect his vote at the next election one iota! Welcome to Northern Ireland! 😕
That seems a fitting juncture to leave NI behind and head across the Irish Sea border. Anything to declare? (sorry, I couldn’t resist!) Again, the big good news story is the vaccine roll out. 12m people have now received their first dose. This is undoubtedly very impressive, but don’t let it distract us totally, as the Tory government would like, from the still gut wrenching daily death toll and the sheer numbers of Covid patients swamping the hospital wards all over the U.K. Over 9000 people lost their lives to this dreadful virus in the last week alone!
It should be remembered that this current government has presided over a catalogue of mistakes regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. Their response throughout has been characterised by procrastination, indecision, ineptitude and even alleged corruption. Arguably, that continued this week as it was revealed via a leak to The Times that Boris’ top scientists in SAGE warned over two weeks ago that closing borders, or forcing all arrivals into hotel quarantine, were the only ways to completely stop new Covid variants coming into the UK. SAGE said “reactive, geographically targeted” travel bans couldn’t be relied upon to stop variants like those in South Africa and Brazil reaching the UK. The incendiary leaked minutes are said to be from a meeting on January 21. This has now taken on added significance with the release of a scientific study showing that the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine is less effective against the so called South African variant. Downing Street hit back against the story today, saying the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) did not directly advise Boris Johnston to shut the borders. Why am I not convinced? 🤔
There has also been more allegations of highly lucrative, Covid related contracts being handed out to private companies without tendering this week.
Boris Johnston has been accused of wasting taxpayers’ money on “unreliable” rapid Covid tests imported from China for use by Test and Trace. Despite the Prime Minister’s praise for Britain’s biotech industry, his government is on course to pay well over £1bn to American firm Innova Medical Group for huge supplies of its Chinese-made lateral flow tests. The 30-minute Innova tests have attracted criticism from some scientists and public health officials for their low levels of accuracy. Up to 40% of Covid cases were missed in one pilot study. British manufacturers’ own rival tests have reported a much higher accuracy, as well as being expected to deliver lower costs. Yet record numbers of the Innova tests are being flown into London by Virgin Atlantic Cargo jets on a daily basis from Chinese port city Xiamen, where the devices are manufactured on behalf of the US company. Therefore, it is likely to mean that Innova – which has already been paid more than £950m for tests bought in 2020 – has secured well over £1bn in taxpayers’ cash. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic airline has also been given contracts worth more than £8m to fly the tests from both Xiamen and Shanghai to the UK in January, February and March, according to recently published contracts. A nice little earner, if you’re well connected, eh Richard?
In other bad news for the government, it has been revealed that there has been a 68% fall-off in exports during the Jan period when compared to last year, and about 65%-75% of vehicles that had come over from the EU were going back empty because there were no goods for them to return with, due to hold-ups on the UK side, and because some UK companies had either temporarily or permanently halted exports to the EU. According to the House of Commons library, UK exports to the EU were £294bn in 2019 (43% of all UK exports) while UK imports from the EU were £374bn (52% of the total). The overwhelming majority of exports to the EU from the UK go through ports rather than by air. As part of the Brexit arrangements, the government decided to offer a six-month grace period, meaning the full range of physical checks would not be needed on imports until July.
Trade experts said part of the reason for the sharp fall in exports was the coincidence of Brexit and the pandemic. But several heads of trade bodies fear worse is to come. Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, said: “As we look to April through to July what really worries me is we face a perfect storm.” … “The full Brexit crisis that we were predicting could well come into effect at that point.”
In recent weeks hundreds of UK companies have decided either to halt exports to the EU or to set up warehouses or subsidiaries within the EU so they can distribute goods more easily. Ministers say most of the Brexit-relating issues facing businesses are “teething problems”, although Michael Gove has accepted that those affecting Northern Ireland are more serious. “We do not recognise the figure provided on exports.” …”We will continue to work constructively with the RHA as we adjust to our new relationship with the EU and seize the opportunities of Brexit.” Here we go! He’ll be invoking the misty eyed imagery of those Brexit sunlit uplands again. Don’t you just love the unbridled, blind optimism of the Brexit mindset? 😳🤦🏻♂️
In yet another embarrassment for the government this week, we were reminded that millions of people still languish in homes that are effectively death traps because of dangerous cladding. Labour labelled the revelation “extraordinary”, as they declared that up to 11 million people may live in such potentially unsafe properties, some of whom have been forced to declare bankruptcy after receiving huge bills for remedial works and fire patrols. An Open Democracy investigation revealed that the government has even been accused of an attempted cover-up; the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government reportedly told local authorities that it was “appropriate” to block freedom of information requests about high-rise buildings covered in potentially dangerous aluminium cladding. All of this comes despite the ongoing inquiry into the Grenfell Tower catastrophe highlighting the potentially devastating consequences of using such cheap, inflammable materials. The more cynical among us may suspect that the apparent government inaction may have something to do with the fact that it mainly only affects people from the lower socio-economic groups, ie, the poor!
Finally, it has been revealed that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering tax increases for tech firms and online retailers such as Amazon that have seen a massive hike in profits during the pandemic, according to reports. Treasury officials are believed to be consulting tech firms and retailers to discuss how an “online sales tax” would work, according to leaked emails seen by the Sunday Times. Meanwhile, the Downing Street policy unit is also planning an “excessive profits tax” on companies whose profits surged because of the Covid-19 crisis, the newspaper said. However, neither tax rise is expected in the March budget, but they could arrive later this year. Although this makes perfect sense, the government has been traditionally loathe to take on these multi-national behemoth corporations in the past regarding taxation, so I remain healthily sceptical about this. As they say, the devil is always in the detail!
So, what’s been happening over in America this week? We were due a quiet, slow news week, surely? Well, not entirely!
In a dramatic and fairly unprecedented move, the Democratic-majority House of Representatives on Thursday voted to remove controversial congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee membership in the legislature. She has, therefore, been removed from the Education, Labor and Budget Committees.
Greene, from Georgia, has publicly supported the QAnon conspiracy theories and used violent rhetoric towards Democratic leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Ilhan Omar. In an unprecedented censure, 219 Democrats and just 11 Republicans voted in favour of her removal, while 199 Republicans voted against. “No member ought to be permitted to engage in the kind of behaviour that Representative Greene has and face zero consequences,” Democrat House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told the chamber. Republicans, meanwhile, criticized the vote with members of leadership warning of possible political retaliation should they regain power. “This vote today sets a dangerous precedent for this institution that Democrats may regret when Republicans regain the majority,” said senior Republican Liz Cheney. Cheney said that while Greene’s comments were deplorable, Democrats “have no business determining which Republicans sit on committees.” Committees in the US Congress are designed to be bipartisan no matter who is in office, with each party typically choosing who to assign to which positions.
Shortly before the vote, Greene addressed the House. She apologized for some of her most contentious past comments — for instance saying that school shootings were staged hoaxes, or that no planes had hit the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. “These were words of the past, and these things… do not represent my values,” she said. “I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true and I would ask questions about them and talk about them. And that is absolutely what I regret.”
That’s quite the turnaround, given that only recently she was videoed harassing a school shooting survivor, David Hogg, in the street! Hogg was a survivor in February 2018, when a 19-year-old gunman walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and opened fire, killing 17 students and staff. After the ordeal, a shocking video emerged online of Ms Greene harassing him in the street. In the now-deleted footage she is seen telling him he is “trained – like a dog” and is “an idiot”. The students of Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, reached global prominence with the March for Our Lives protest and Hogg has emerged as prominent voice calling for tighter gun controls in the USA. Greene did not apologise for berating him, nor for seeming to endorse calls for political violence against Democrats. Shockingly, Greene had “liked” Facebook posts that endorsed the execution of Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, before her congress bid. What a charming, compassionate and caring individual she really is! And how noble and ethical of the GOP (Republican Party) to continue to stand by her and justify and legitimise her deeply unpleasant views! A clear indication of just how entrenched and rancorous US politics has become, unfortunately! 🤦🏻♂️
In a US election footnote, a New York judge has ruled that Republican Claudia Tenney defeated US Rep. Anthony Brindisi by 109 votes in the nation’s last undecided congressional race. In a blow to Democrats, who have seen their majority reduced in the House of Representatives, the ruling by Judge Scott DelConte should clear the way for Tenney to be sworn in as the representative for central New York’s 22nd Congressional District, barring emergency intervention by a state appeals court. She previously was the district’s representative for one term, until she was defeated by Brindisi in 2018.
Finally, the focus of the new Biden administration switched to foreign policy this week, an area where President Biden has been keen to stake his considerable wealth of experience and expertise, garnered over many years working on foreign policy committees and serving as VP to Obama for eight years.
In his first major foreign policy speech as President, Joe Biden took significant steps on pulling support for the war in Yemen, sending out a signal about defending LGBTQ rights around the world and removing Donald Trump’s draconian caps on refugees. But on the thorniest of issues — Russia, China, how Biden will honor his vow to save global democracy and what he will do about nuclear programmes in North Korea and Iran, there was a little more ambiguity and less concrete plans outlined, perhaps understandably. For now, it seems, talking tough on not “rolling over” to Putin and sending a destroyer through the Taiwan Strait will have to serve as statements of intent. Thursday’s speech seemed to be more of a setting of the scene for Washington’s philosophical pivot away from “America First” and towards a more traditional stance.
However, perhaps the most significant line in Biden’s speech was not about the rest of the world — it was about America. “There’s no longer a bright line between foreign and domestic policy. Every action taken in our conduct abroad, we must take with American working families in mind,” Biden said, confirming the views of foreign experts who doubt the US appetite to resume its dominant global role.
Oh, just one more thing before I go! If you are drinking tea or coffee right now I’d advise you to put it down, as there’s a reasonable chance you may splutter it all over yourself upon reading this. Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner (and Trump’s son-in-law) and his deputy, Avi Berkowitz, have been nominated for the Nobel peace prize for their role in negotiating normalisation deals between Israel and four Arab nations known as the “Abraham Accords”. I kid you not!
The two former aides to ex-President Trump were nominated by American attorney Alan Dershowitz, in his capacity as a professor emeritus of Harvard Law School. Dershowitz defended Trump in his first impeachment trial last year and told the Wall Street Journal on 20 January that the Senate should dismiss the article of impeachment against the former president, as he was no longer in office. Now, before you throw your hot beverage at the nearest wall in disgust, it might be worth bearing in mind that there are around 300 nominees for the prestigious prize, so their chances are probably pretty slim, to be honest. Aren’t they?🤔😳
I’m afraid that’s your lot for this week, folks! I’m fairly sure there will have been something significant that I will have overlooked, but it’s actually quite hard to collate so many different political news stories and roll them all into one, neat ten minute read on a weekly basis. So, bear with me if there are any glaring omissions! Until next week, then, stay informed, stay tuned in and stay safe! Over and out! 👋🏻
The Weekly Politics Digest! 