Chapter 16: ‘Transparently self-defeating policies’

1 One outstanding problem was the £430 million stadium. The choice was either tumbleweed or a further £150 million to secure its future for a Premier League football club combined with a permanent athletics venue. The estimated additional cost for a roof, retractable seats and corporate facilities was £752 million. Since West Ham was the only prospective tenant, there was no alternative but to accept their very low offer of £15 million plus £2.5 million annual rent without paying for its maintenance. To hide the embarrassment, Boris predicted that the rent would cover the costs. His optimism was a fantasy. The annual bill would be £20 million, but the headlines were hopeful.

2 The luxury block was part of a project for 1,400 homes of which 380 were ‘affordable’.

Chapter 18: ‘The next PM will be Miliband if you don’t fucking shut up’

1  Corbyn was closely associated with militant Islamists who he knew expressed outrightly anti-Semitic opinions and, as Labour’s leader, allowed anti-Semitism to erupt for the first time within the party and then delayed the expulsion of outright anti-Semitic party members. In 2012, Corbyn had protested on the grounds of ‘free speech’ after Lambeth council removed ‘Freedom for Humanity’, a large mural painted by an American artist. The mural portrayed Jewish financiers playing Monopoly on a board supported by the naked backs of the world’s oppressed – mostly blacks. Even after a snapshot glance, Corbyn could not have failed to grasp
the familiar caricature of grotesque-looking Jewish bankers engaged in a worldwide conspiracy to manipulate subjugated slaves. In addition, Margaret Hodge, Ian Austin and the Board of Deputies accused Corbyn of anti-Semitism. All of this in spite of an insistence that there is no place for anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

Epilogue

1 The number of deaths in June was over 45,000. At the beginning of August, it had risen to over 46,000 but, at the insistence of academic statisticians, it was reduced to around 41,000 in early August. PHE had classified every person infected by Covid who died subsequently as having died from Covid, even if the person was killed by a bus!