Yesterday the SKWAWKBOX exclusively revealed that controversial ‘centrist’ MP John Woodcock had flown to Saudi Arabia on what local Labour members have described as a ‘secret’ visit, during the Easter recess used by many MPs for activities in their constituency.
Woodcock’s office team was unable to provide any information about the reason for the trip or what Woodcock would be doing there – but a little more detail is now available – and it’s unlikely to thrill many Labour members.
Woodcock has tweeted in response to news that a missile allegedly fired by ‘Houthi’ rebels in Yemen had been intercepted by Saudi defences above the Saudi capital, Riyadh:
Woodcock’s claim to be there ‘by chance’ was attacked by social media users, who pointed out that, judging by the other images he had tweeted, he also ‘happened’ to have viewed an apparently intact missile – and who both considered his visit to be a propaganda exercise and contrasted it with their perception of his silence on the massive human cost in Yemen:
Mr Woodcock has been reported to Labour’s National Executive Committee by his local members for his recent, persistent attempts to undermine the party’s leader. At least one commenter noted that his latest output might not improve their view or intentions:
Mr Woodcock has a background in PR and used to write a column for PR magazine, but does not appear to be managing his own public relations particularly well. He also claimed that “Nothing will distract me from standing up for our community” in his Cumbrian constituency, but it’s unclear quite how this visit during Easter recess constitutes ‘standing up for [his] community’.
Woodcock is not alone on his trip. A number of other right-wing MPs, including Momentum-hater-in-Chief John Spellar, have accompanied him.
Their members may also be brushing up on the procedures for deselecting their MP.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to reblog this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Miserable, snivelling, rat bastard.
That is all.
I wouldn’t say he was that nicer person mate!
I know – I was feeling generous for a second 🙂
It is now quite clear that John Woodcock is an asset for the headchopping, homophobic, anti-Semitic Saudi dictatorship.
Mr Woodcock’s position is untenable, he is not fit to serve as a Labour MP.
Even he realises he’s doomed as a (labour) politician, so for him it makes sense he should try & rimjob his way into a cushy number with a suitable amoral, unscrupulous regime, without even the nobleness or propriety to consider just who or what they’d be employing.
…And they’re rather welcome to each other.
Hopefully, he’ll take the other rat bastards, like Spellar, with him.
Well, woodcock ‘threatened’ to resign the whip over owen smith’s dismissal from the opp. front bench (knobhead’s STILL there though)
You reckon we’ll see the other rodents flocking to support woodcock in the same manner WHEN he’s binned?
They’ll all do the exact same as the runt. Sure, one or two might ‘threaten’, but like woodcock they’ll point-blank refuse to go off their own bat. All bluff & bluster. Zero substance OR spine, the bleedin’ lot.
What a complete and utter turd he is . FFS just go !
Re Woodcock’s “Houthis Iranian made missiles”. I don’t know about the missiles that did the damage he saw, but a Jane’s Intelligence Review report last year suggests the Houthis are modifying their old stock of Scuds and others for a longer range. To quote Jane’s:
“The rebels have sustained their campaign of ballistic missile attacks at least in part by repurposing missiles from S-75 … SAM systems to create the Qaher-1”
“The rebels have also unveiled new Scud versions, the first being the Burkan-1, which was announced on 2 September 2016. … more than 1.5 m longer than a [scud] … warhead weighs roughly half [of scud warhead]”
“Reaching for Riyadh … Burkan-2 … with ‘shuttlecock’ warhead sections rather than the more cone – shaped and voluminous ones used with [scud] “
So while Iran may be giving technical support and small components, Jane’s said:
“it would be difficult for Iran to ship entire ballistic missiles to Yemen. … blockade that only allows vetted vessels to dock. … The effectiveness of the naval blockade is presumably why the intercepted Iranian arms shipments have consisted of items small enough to be carried across the desert or offloaded from dhows onto smaller boats”
So it seems in summer 2017 at least, Jane’s assessed that Iran was not supplying complete missiles:
http://www.janes.com/images/assets/330/72330/Yemeni_rebels_enhance_ballistic_missile_campaign.pdf