Labour MP Jess Phillips has put out what PoliticsHome describes as ‘a string of highly-charged tweets’, including one in which she calls for the sacking of, among others, Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins. She also accuses Hopkins of ‘victim blaming’:
Ms Phillips, of course, is no stranger to using her ‘wing of the media’. In the wake of Laura Pidcock’s statement during an interview with this blog that she had no intention of making friends with any Tory MPs, she was quick to publish an article in the Guardian critical of her colleague’s position.
In the same vein, she also featured in the Guardian’s sister publication as part of an ‘odd couples’ article looking at friendships between Tories and Labour parliamentarians.
And last November, she again took to the Guardian to attack Hopkins – who has not been found guilty of anything – claiming that he should not have briefly held a shadow minister’s post, even though the matter had been dealt with by Labour.
Ms Phillips will almost certainly be aware, of course, that Hopkins’ statements in response to the allegations against him were first broken exclusively by the SKWAWKBOX, so it appears that she considers this blog Hopkins’ ‘wing of the media’ – even though the SKWAWKBOX has never had any contact with him.
Of course, Ms Phillips is no friend of this blog, which recently highlighted her decision to attend – as the only Labour MP – a private party thrown by right-wing media baron Rupert Murdoch.
Her allegation of victim-blaming echoes the bizarre attacks by fellow ‘centrist’ MP Stella Creasy on this blog, in which she made the same accusation on Twitter more than once after we published Hopkins’ statements.
But when Ms Creasy was challenged by Twitter users to show what in the articles constituted any form of victim-blaming, she failed to respond with any evidence – despite repeated requests.
But you've not explained or demonstrated specifically what skwarkbox have done. Can you do that please because you're making quite a strong accusation which could deeply affect somebody's livelihood.
— дэ (@hot_diggity_d) November 11, 2017
Of course, there was nothing she could respond with, since Hopkins’ statements did not blame or criticise either complainant and the SKWAWKBOX articles containing the statements made no comment about the legitimacy or otherwise of the allegations.
This afternoon, we made a similar challenge to Ms Phillips by email, asking her to substantiate her allegation with any specific parts of either Mr Hopkins’ statements or the articles that :
So far Ms Phillips has failed to respond at all, let alone provide specific quotes to back up her claim that any victim-blaming – let alone ‘classic victim blaming’ – took place.
Neither has she defended her call for Hopkins’ sacking – as an MP – before the investigation has reached any findings at all.
Kelvin Hopkins was not available for comment. A decision on whether to refer his case to Labour’s National Constitutional Committee is expected next week.
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Jess Phillips is living proof that an empty vessel makes most noise.
Reminiscent of Piggy Cameron, the way he used to speechify from a lectern outside number ten and never take questions.
Remember how he’d swivel on his trotters on the last word and scuttle back inside to safety before the echo died down?
Like a kid ringing doorbells and running away.
Ahh rent a gobshite strikes again .
This says it all about her “loyalties”
” Of course, Ms Phillips is no friend of this blog, which recently highlighted her decision to attend – as the only Labour MP – a private party thrown by right-wing media baron Rupert Murdoch.”
One hopes Phillips and Creasy will eat humble pie should the case against Hopkins be found not guilty.
Meanwhile the Tories continue to destroy the NHS ,,, what was that Creasy was banging on about recently ,, her campaign re the NHS ,,, funny she has time to piss about with this ,, still ,, aahhh whatever .
Happy to take donations , happy to take membership fees ehhh and happy for those same members to canvas for them under the Labour banner , but hey lets insult them no end when they dare to question their actions/motive .
JP and SC the Tory party is over there to your right ,,,,, go join it and let us real labour folks get on supporting the election of a true Labour Govt that will represent the many and not your few ” friends” .
I suppose philips thinks it’s twitter photo is some sort of self-deprecation?
Sooner the gobshite’s career is laid to rest, the better; same goes for greasy and the rest of the nuckfuggets.
Time to sh*t – or get off the pot.
The only victim in it all was Kelvin Hopkins – ie a victim of lies and fabrication and gross exaggeration and deceit. And Phillip’s is well aware of that, and has been from the outset of course.
All this ‘game playing’ bollocks which the Tory Lites in Labour love to get stuck into should confirm for every Labour and Left activist worth their salt (and that’ll not generally be those who stand for position ’cause, generally, they just end up playing the same games in their sweaty little ambitions to gain popularity rather than actually ‘turn the world upside down’!”) that these ambitious, self congratulatory, smug bastards should not be in Parliament or the Labour Party!
Jess Phillips, a poor excuse for a Socialist Labour MP!
No worries tho, you will be gone come your re-election!
All those who put their faith in you will now know what an outright lair you are regarding what you stood for against what you are!
“A TORY INFILTRATOR OF THE WORST KIND”!
Along with those who side with your views!
The knife you would plunge in JEREMY’S FRONT, WILL BE PLUNGED IN YOURS!
“NOWT WRONG WITH SOME OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE”!
Even if you put to one side the texts that Etemadzadeh sent Kelvin, I wonder if Phillips et al can explain why – after he supposedly held her tight and rubbed his crotch against her (which she found “revolting”) – Etemadzadeh went to the House of Commons a couple of months later and spent a couple of hours with him (having dinner and being shown around). No woman on the planet would do that of course if a man had done such a thing to them previously.
And the point is that Phillips et al know THAT and, as such, know that it’s fabrication, but continue to make hay out of it anyway, and THAT tells you all you need to know about THEM. Abhorrent and inhuman and reprehensible the lot of them. Such people should be barred from ever becoming politicians.
The Tories, and the Rees-Moggs in particular, must be secretly laughing under their breath at Philips’ cretinous antics.
There’ll be plenty time for a more sympathetic reading of Philips’ loud mouthed disintegration *after* she’s deselected.
The allegations made by Ms E against Kelvin Hopkins are obviously false and fabricated (by her and her “moderate” Labour buddies et al), so why is it taking so long for the LP complaints system to reach the only possible conclusion it can come to. Given the texts she sent him that are completely at odds with what she claims happened, even a ten year-old kid could see that she is lying through her teeth. We should all email the NEC and ask them to explain themselves – ie those that deal with such matters. Oh, but of course no doubt they would reply and say they can’t comment on individual cases! But don’t let that stop you, and point out all the glaring disparities and contradictions (even though they are of course completely aware of them).
If I were KH – given that he’s been suspended from the LP in the meantime – I wouldn’t only sue Ms E for every penny she’s got for defamation and making false and heinous allegations, I would also sue the NEC (or the body responsible for investigating the matter) for taking so long to clear him of it all, given that it would take any jury that has ever existed – having seen/heard all the evidence – literally two minutes to conclude that the allegations are false and fabricated.
I agree. It has been an inordinate length of time but it’s not only the case of Ms E… what about Ms K McCarthy MP? IIRC over 20y, there have been only a few cards, not more than 5 or 6 notes … one of which was a 50th birthday card and another a photo which most of us would have passed on. It is absurd to think that that evidences harrassment for anyone, let alone a feisty former minister! Why didn’t she just tell him to bog off?
As you say ‘it would take any jury that has ever existed – having seen/heard all the evidence – literally two minutes to conclude that the allegations are false and fabricated.’ In other words, there are many on the NEC and amongst the LP staff who know perfectly well that KH has been set up…. and must have their reasons for keeping stum.
What I can’t understand though is why Kelvin is allowing this farce to continue. I don’t think skwawkbox covered it, but on Jan 12th it was reported in the media that the case is now being referred to the national constitutional committee. In other words, the NEC clowns are taking it forward. In The Guardian a spokesperson is quoted as saying:
“After consideration of statements provided by the complainant and the respondent, the NEC’s sexual harassment panel has agreed that on the balance of the evidence the matter should be referred to a full hearing of the national constitutional committee.”
It’s a complete and utter joke, a travesty, but then again, the bigwigs at the NEC are fully aware that the vast majority of the British public has been fed a totally distorted version of events by the MSM, and the story couched in a way that omits to mention any of the texts that Ms E sent Kelvin, none of which she would really have sent him had the things she was later to claim happened HAPPENED, or give any semblance of a timetable of events
Every single one of the so-called journalists responsible for writing the articles, and those that interviewed her for the BBC and Channel 4 News etc, obviously knew, and know, that it is inconcievable that any woman who had a man rub his crotch against her would:
1. Send him a text a couple of hours later telling him he’s “a star”, and giving him a “x”.
2. Text him four weeks later to ask him for an address because she’d like to send him a Christmas card, and then send him one.
3. Arrange to meet up with that person a couple of months later at the Houses of Parliament to be shown round by them and have dinner with them there.
It is of course ALL beyond preposterous, but none of these journalists saw the glaringly obvious anomalies in her story, or so we are supposed to believe. The reality is that each and every one of them knows that none of it makes sense AND that the allegations are false and fabricated (and that it wasn’t just Ms E of course), and THEY all distorted the story and decieved their millions of readers and viewers.
Yes, we expect the Sun and the Mail and the Express and the Telegraph and Times to do just that, but for the BBC to do that – ie elements that have ‘infiltrated’ it in the past ten or twenty years that is – to mislead the very viewers who pay the licence fee and fund it, is totally outrageous. And who would ever have believed ten years ago that The Guardian would be a party to such mendacity; in their articles at the time the story broke, and in the article last week.
In the article on Jan 12th the reporter avoids any chronology – ie any timetable of events – because as with all of the MSM, they don’t want anyone thinking to themselves: “Hey, that doesn’t make sense…… what’s she doing going to the Houses of Parliament to meet up with the guy who she claims rubbed his crotch against her a couple of months earlier”, and so they do the following, for example, to avoid THAT happening:
‘Labour whips initially suspended Hopkins over a text message he sent to Etemadzadeh in February 2015, which included the words: “A nice young man would be lucky to have you as a girlfriend and lover. I am sure one such is soon to be found. Were I to be young … but I am not.” She claimed he had pressed his crotch against her.’
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/12/labour-steps-up-inquiry-into-complaints-against-mp-kelvin-hopkins
It’s totally outrageous, and has nothing whatsoever to do with journalism, and everything to do with black propaganda (and if you know the actual story, then you will know that Ms E was flirting with KH and coming on to him from the outset, which is more than crystal clear from all the “x”s in her texts…… but they were the “x”s of a femme fatale, and a very, very nasty piece of work).
Please start legal proceedings against her for defamation and making such odious and abhorrent false allegations Kelvin, and put an end to her lies and this NEC farce!