George Galloway's Bid in Gorton Election

GEORGE Galloway is set to stand in the Manchester Gorton by-election, it has now been announced.  Writing on Aron Banks' new Westminster website Mr. Galloway says: 
'I have decided to enter the race to succeed my friend for thirty years, Sir Gerald Kaufman, as MP for Manchester Gorton.
'The “All-Asian short-list” hand-picked by Keith Vaz is just not good enough for the people of Gorton one of the most deprived constituencies in Britain. The short-listing, which excluded many better candidates, is the latest in a long line of insults delivered by mainstream parties to local communities. I will run as an Independent candidate and will write a regular by-election diary for Westmonster. This is my initial election statement.
'I have a long connection with the Manchester area – two of my children live here – and with the Gorton constituency in particular. The late Sir Gerald Kaufman was a friend of mine for over 30 years. Our friendship began before I was an MP, continued throughout my near 30 years with him in Parliament and afterwards. His appearance on my television show was his last big interview and will stand the test of time.
'Sir Gerald was a big figure in the House of Commons and was known far beyond it from Hollywood to Palestine and Kashmir. When he spoke people listened.
'I have decided to seek election for Manchester Gorton in the forthcoming by-election precisely because of my admiration for its late MP and I hope to persuade voters of every background that I am the best person to try to fill his shoes.
'I want to continue his work on international issues – which are particularly important in Gorton- especially the issues of Palestine and Kashmir but also the broader questions, the dangerous confrontation between the west and the Muslim world which threatens all of us.
'I would like to be the big voice for Manchester Gorton it still needs. Manchester is great, world class. But Gorton can’t be left behind. Whether it’s jobs -proper jobs – wages public services the NHS and schools. The struggle for students has always been a parliamentary preoccupation of mine.'

For more go to:
 George Galloway enters “Mother of All By-Elections” in Manchester ...
www.westmonster.com/george-galloway-enters-mother-of-all-by-elections-in-manchester    

Keith Vaz's 'financial affairs are [a] mystery'

TODAY's The Sun newspaper reports MP Andrew Bridgen as saying:
'It is clear Keith Vaz’s financial affairs are an enigma wrapped in mystery.
'This raises many questions but we are getting very few answers from Mr Vaz.'
Keith Vaz and his wife Maria Fernandes own a £2.1million family home in London – as well as flats in the city and properties in Leicester.
One of the London flats has been at the centre of a scandal after Vaz paid and met two Eastern European male prostitutes there for sex.
An investigation by The Sun found Fernandes invested in the Goa property nine years ago.
This gated complex, which comes complete with a stunning swimming pool, is situated in the Sunset Meadows development at Betalbatim.
Fernandes owns a three-storey villa that lies 500m from the beach.
A neighbour claims Vaz entertains politicians and celebrities, including Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, at the colourful house.
Anarchists must wonder whether Keith Vaz and Simon Danczuk are the tip of a rather squalid parliamentary iceberg.

Simon Danczuk: 'MPs with real life experience'!

YESTRDAY, the Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, a veteran of sex scandals, told Julia Rampen in The New Statesman that Keith Vaz should ignore calls to resign after allegations about his private life.
Danczuk believes it was right Vaz resigned from his select committee.  He said: “I think he is going to discuss it in more detail with the members of the committee. You have got to remember he is elected by MPs. There should be a discussion about conflict of interest. I think Keith would admit it himself.
“But let’s put it into perspective. As far as we know he hasn’t done anything illegal. We have different moral judgements.”

Danczuk, who has remained MP for Rochdale, despite his suspension, dismissed calls for Vaz to resign his seat.  He said: “I don’t think this will have any effect on Keith’s constituency. He is very well regarded and I understand he is a very good constituency MP.

"In my experience, the reaction in the constituency can be very different from social media.  The benefit of being the MP for Rochdale is people come up to you and tell you exactly what they think. This little old Irish lady came up to me and said: ‘I see you’re up to your old tricks again.’  But then she said: 'I wish the papers would leave you alone. You get on with your day job.’
 "We don’t want cosseted MPs that meet a certain moral standard, we want people who have real life experience and bring it to inform policy. Britain’s a better place by having politicians in parliament who are from colourful backgrounds."
Mr. Danczuk, given his own vivid 'real life experiences', has a vested interest in promoting this tolerant point of view with regard to politicians.

Danczuk defends Mr. Vazeline!

11-hours ago The Sun ran a story by Jonathan Reilly entitled:  'MR VAZELINE Who is Keith Vaz?'

and the Sunday Mirror reported:  'Voters overwhelmingly agreed yesterday that the veteran Labour MP for Leicester East must stand down in the wake of the Sunday Mirror’s revelations that he met male prostitutes .'

AT the same time, the small-time slippery MP for Rochdale, Simon Danczuk, dived-in declaring his compassion for 'Mr. Vazeleine'.  Mr. Danczuk, who has had his own private life problems and is currently suspended from the Labour Party because of communications with a prostitute over the trafficking of toe nails among other things, told to Stig Abell on LBC yesterday:  'It’s not a nice position to be in, under the scrutiny around your personal, private life,' he said, adding that more compassion was needed around these issues.

Yet, The Sun journalist Mr Reilly also reports of Keith Vaz, the Labour MP for Leicester East :  'Slippery MP smeared with 30 years of sleaze – from expenses scandals to poppers and sex with male prostitutes.   Throughout his 29-year political career the veteran MP has been caught up in sleaze and cash scandals.' 

And Mr. Reilly adds:

'Last night he was hoping to perform the greatest Houdini act of his 29-year political career following the sex and drugs revelations involving two male prostitutes.'

Now, Mr. Danczuk calls for compassion for politicians like Keith Vaz and himself, who have been caught out while what some would call 'living the good life' while drawing their expenses.  Both Danczuk and Keith Vaz have form when it comes to expenses:  Today, Jonathan Reilly writes about Keith Vaz: 

'The most notorious probe was in 2001 after two Indian billionaires applied for British passports.  He intervened on their behalf and it later emerged the pair had paid £1,200 to a company run by his wife Maria.  The MP quit as Tony Blair’s Minister for Europe at the height of the row but was cleared of failing to declare the cash to watchdogs.  Eight years later he was engulfed in the MPs’ expenses scandal.  But again he emerged unscathed.'

And the Daily Mirror has recently reported of Simon Danczuk: 'The Rochdale MP claimed for the most first class journeys of any MP in the country - and made the third highest cash claim overall.'  and 'Suspended MP Simon Danczuk claimed nearly £10,000 on train journeys last year...the most of any politician in the country '

No wonder these politicians stick-up for each other.

Dame Lowell Goddard & Child Abuse

LAST night's resignation of Dame Lowell Goddard the chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, has sent shock waves through the media and horrified the child support agencies.  A few minutes ago it was revealed that the chair of the Commons home affairs committee, Keith Vaz  had written to the New Zealand judge, who announced her resignation on Thursday night, to ask whether she would appear before the committee when parliament returns 'to help us in determining what is going to happen in the future'.
The Guardian website has reported that the chair of the Commons home affairs committee, Mr Vaz, has asked Dame Lowell Goddard to appear before MPs to explain her sudden resignation as chair of the public inquiry into institutional child abuse, the third person to quit the role in little over two years.
The Labour MP told Sky News: “She is someone with impeccable credentials, so this is a big shock that she chooses to resign now. I think what’s really important is that we find out the reasons why she has decided to take this course of action.”
Mr. Vaz said he wanted to know more about the reasons behind the departure of Goddard, whose resignation statement said the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, set up in 2014, was beset with a 'legacy of failure'.
Keith Vaz said he had written to the New Zealand judge, who announced her resignation on Thursday night, to ask whether she would appear before the committee when parliament returns 'to help us in determining what is going to happen in the future'.
The Labour MP told Sky News: “She is someone with impeccable credentials, so this is a big shock that she chooses to resign now. I think what’s really important is that we find out the reasons why she has decided to take this course of action.”
Vaz said he wanted to know more about the reasons behind the departure of Goddard, whose resignation statement said the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, set up in 2014, was beset with a “legacy of failure”.

Northern Voices, which took a leading role in the revelations surrounding Cyril Smith in Rochdale, has long thought that this Enquiry into Child Abuse had bitten off more than it could chew.  But politicians such as Simon Danczuk, the disgraced MP for Rochdale, and Tom Watson MP, insisted that this matter could only be approached by a vast overarching public enquiry such as that of Justice Goddard. 

Now child abuse pundits are questioning the remit of the enquiry.                  

Sue Berelowitz, the former deputy children’s commissioner, has called for a review into the inquiry, which was established by Theresa May when she was home secretary.  She told The Guardian:

'There should be a review of where it has got to and how it is doing,” Berelowitz said.  'It seems to me the inquiry has lost its way. The real importance of learning lessons about institutional failings in the past is to stop children being abused today.

'I think there needs to be some reform of the inquiry. I don’t think it was right for it to have been set up as a quasi court for hearing individual cases. In a sense the inquiry has got too specific.'

Meanwhile, Graham Wilmer, who established the Lantern Project, which helps victims of sexual abuse, and was a member of the abuse inquiry panel under its second chair, Woolf, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the existing structure was 'far too complicated'.

He said: 'There are just too many people involved trying to cause difficulties for this inquiry, and I think the best solution now would be not to have a chair but to appoint one of the very capable existing panel members. The infrastructure is superb. It’s a massive inquiry but it has got some massive resources. They just need to be allowed to get on with it.'

Vaz added: “Because although we’ve had ministers and parliament and others involved, she of course has been intimately concerned with establishing this very difficult inquiry, so what she has to say is extremely pertinent, and I don’t really think a resignation letter or a statement is enough.”
Following a brief resignation letter to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, Goddard released a statement that indicated that the controversies and challenges of the inquiry were insurmountable.
Without fully explaining her reasons, Goddard said it had been “incredibly difficult” to take on the job, and leave behind her family in New Zealand. Earlier this week it was reported that the judge had taken three months’ holiday since being appointed in April last year.

Others, like Lucy Duckworth, who sits on the inquiry’s victims and survivors’ consultative panel, are determined to soldier on, insisting the process would continue despite Goddard’s departure.

Readers shouldn't hold their breath for any relevant findings anytime soon.