At the beginning of September, Mr Baker branded the group “clowns” after a plaque was erected in High Wycombe’s Town Centre suggesting the MP would be voted out of office in the general election next year and had done nothing more for the community than “have his photo taken”.
The group staged a fresh protest on Friday, September 29, dressed as clowns outside the Wycombe MP’s constituency office in response to the jab.
Image of Steve Baker Watch dressed as clowns after being called clowns by Steve Baker MP
Co-founder of Steve Baker Watch, Gemma Rogers, who described the protest as a “clown-themed vigil” said: “Steve Baker called us, his constituents, ‘clowns’ in the Bucks Free Press a few weeks ago.
“We are concerned that he is a member of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a lobby group working to undermine government action on climate change.
“He is calling for a delay in action, which is the new form of climate denial. We are concerned about the effects of global warming and want an MP who prioritises it. Steve Baker Watch have vowed to continue their campaign of peaceful action.”
Transformative politics and a renewed commitment to democracy are needed if we’re to build a more equal, sustainable and peaceful world, writes JEREMY CORBYN MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party
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Devoid of solutions for the crises they have created, the Tories have resorted to punching down on the most marginalised people in our society.
Rishi Sunak’s speech was an equally spineless charade. Not a word on housing. Nothing on social care. Does he care 4.2 million children live in poverty? Does he know that we’re sleepwalking into climate catastrophe?
Having witnessed this horror show of fear, despair and division, the Labour Party has a choice this week in Liverpool.
Do we let their hatred spread unchallenged? Or do we offer an alternative of inclusion, equality and hope? Do we allow them to convince the British public that inequality and poverty are inevitable? Or do we mobilise around the possibility of a better world?
Unprecedented crises call for bold solutions. That means building a new economy that satisfies human needs, not corporate greed.
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There is a reason why these demands for a more equal, sustainable and peaceful world are not being made by the Labour leadership.
The absence of transformative ideas has been caused by a dearth of democracy. This year marks 50 years since we founded the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.
We did this to empower party members and expand their rights. Today, these rights are under attack up and down the country.
Local branches like my own are being sidelined, party members are being silenced and democracy is being stifled. This is not coincidental to the drastic political shift away from our redistributive programme.
Our transformative policies from 2017 and 2019 were not imposed from the top. They were developed, formulated and defended by members and affiliates.
That is how it should be. Democracy is the foundation of the Labour Party. It is essential to a healthy, creative and collective movement.
And, ultimately, only a movement that empowers its members can generate the transformative policies this country desperately needs.
Green Party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay have delivered their speech to their party’s autumn conference with a call for key public services to be brought into public ownership. The conference speech – likely the last before the next general election – ripped into the failures of privatisation in sectors from water to the health service.
Green Party Co-leader Adrian_Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.
Ramsay told attendees: “Private water companies are dumping sewage into our rivers and seas, while taking on billions in debt to fund dividend payments to shareholders.”
He went on to say: “We’ll have the platform to say what none of the other parties has had the courage to say: that the privatised water companies have failed, that there must be no more shareholder payouts until the water companies stop dumping sewage in our rivers, that the money we pay for our water bills must be spent updating our infrastructure not filling the pockets of shareholders, and that water is run as the public service that it should be, not the profit-making scheme that it’s become – by bringing it back into public hands.”
Ramsay’s comments were met with eruptions of cheers and applause from the audience.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Denyer, meanwhile, highlighted the issues currently facing the NHS. She said: “The NHS and our other public services have been brought to breaking point by 13 years of Conservative cuts – with patients and staff paying the price. Has it ever been so hard to find a dentist? Have we ever had to wait so long to see an NHS consultant? Those that can afford it are forking out for private health care, those who can’t afford it are left behind. And meanwhile, no solutions are being offered.”
She went on to criticise the record and position of both Labour and the Tories on the health service, telling attendees: “The Tories blame medical staff – those frontline workers calling for a long overdue and well-deserved pay rise, and Labour’s promise of ‘reform’ rings hollow given the scale of the crisis – and hints at more privatisation by the back door. We know we can do better than this.”
Finishing her comments on the health service, Denyer called for the NHS to be reinstated as a fully public service – with free dental provision included. She said: “The Green Party believes in an NHS that sits fully in public hands, free at the point of use for all – including dentistry – and with four Green MPs in Parliament, we’ll never let the other parties forget it.
“We know that claps don’t pay the bills. We believe in decent pay and fair conditions for public sector workers and an NHS that provides the health safety net it was designed to all those years ago.”
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Elsewhere in their address, Denyer accused the Labour Party of being “more interested in fossil fuel investors getting their dirty profits” than addressing the climate crisis. She told the conference: “Energy bills in the UK are nearly £2.5bn higher than they would have been if the government hadn’t dismissed climate policy over the last decade. Not content with that, they are now doubling down on their climate vandalism: granting permission for a huge coal mine; failing to get a single bid for vital offshore wind projects; weakening our net zero commitments; and opening up the enormous Rosebank oilfield.
“And Labour are following them every step of the way – willing onlookers to the Conservatives’ climate crimes. Rosebank? ‘The right decision,’ says Gordon Brow[n]. Their reasoning: ‘investor certainty’. Sounds good right? But let us translate: Labour is more interested in fossil fuel investors getting their dirty profits, than in taking meaningful climate action.”
The home secretary ripped up the rule book by forcing through new police powers. So Liberty is taking her to court
Home secretary Suella Braverman is being sued by Liberty for forcing through anti-protest law in the Public Order Act
The home secretary confirmed just how little this government cares about the UK’s long-established democratic systems when in June she overrode Parliament to sneak in even more anti-protest powers that had already been voted down months earlier.
What she did is unlawful, and the High Court has just given us permission to take her to court.
A year ago, people were asked how much they trust the UK government – and the results were stark. Just one in three said they had faith in those in power and only one in five trusted political parties.
In the 12 months since then the government has continued to dismantle our rights and make it harder for all of us to hold it to account. The cruel and inhumane Illegal Migration Act is making it harder for people to seek refuge, voter ID has created barriers to voting, and anti-strike legislation and a raft of new anti-protest laws are stopping people from standing up for their rights. It is getting harder and harder for ordinary people to keep this government – and future governments – in check.
On 14 June, secondary legislation – a way to bring a new law in without having to create a whole new bill – was signed, changing the threshold in the Public Order Act for police intervention at a protest. Whereas before police could only get involved if protests caused ‘serious disruption’ to the community, now they can step in when they deem there to be ‘more than minor disruption’. The change gives the police almost unlimited powers to shut down protests due to the vagueness of the new language.
