Kmflett's Blog

The late socialist historian E P Thompson in his collection Sir, Writing By Candlelight, regarded letter writers to The Times as representative of rather reactionary and provincial perspectives (Thompson himself was robustly provincial but not of course reactionary)

The letters (28th January) published on ICE and Minneapolis are strongly critical of the far right Times columnist Melanie Phillips.

They do stand up for the rule of law (which ICE certainly does not) and echo what Thompson would have understood as the Freeborn Englishman of the 1820s and 1830s. Someone who expected some liberty of thought, the right to protest and perhaps most particularly the right to be left alone by authority

Bruce Springsteen has released a protest song about Minneapolis. In an earlier age it might have been Bob Dylan or Neil Young but the impact in terms of solidarity is just as effective as Young’s Ohio or Dylan’s Hurricane

While Farage continues to deny allegations that he used racist and anti-Semitic language while a student at Dulwich College one thing has become clear. He did not pay attention in geography lessons.

Speaking at an event in Dubai Farage claimed that most of London now lives there a reference to Reform MP Richard Tice who does in fact live there.

On 27th and 28th January the anywhere but Clacton MP has been in Dubai. He reportedly attended a private fund raising dinner along with Nadim Zahawi, a recent Reform defective. It raises again the issue of non-UK donations to UK political parties and what they are aiming to achieve.

Farage is also due to speak at an event in Dubia hosted by GB News.

Who is paying for his latest jaunt is as yet unknown but the anywhere but Clacton MP is set to return to the UK later this week, having avoided as usual attending Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons, a job he is actually paid to do out of public funds.

Beard Liberation Front

28^th January

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

England cricketer Joe Root faces Prince Harry for Beard of Winter

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that England cricketer faces Prince Harry in the final Beard Off vote for the coveted title of Beard of Winter 2026. Weather forecaster Liam Dutton and actor Idris Elba also made it through the preliminary close shave rounds, shaving Luke Littler and Owen Jones.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we expect hairs to be split in the Beard Off Final

Beard of Winter Final shortlist

Liam Dutton, weather forecaster

Prince Harry, personality

Idris Elba, actor

Joe Root, cricketer

An on-line vote is now open. There have been two preliminary Close Shave rounds and a Beard Off Final. The winner will be announced on 31st January 2026

The Poll on Twitter pinned @kmflett (for those who still use it). Otherwise reply or message here

Graphic: Good Law Project

Sixty years ago on 27th January 1966 Labour won a By-Election at Kingston on Hull North.

Labour’s Kevin McNamara won with 52% of the vote. Labour’s majority following the 1964 Election was just 4 seats and the victory motivated Harold Wilson to call a further General Election which saw Labour get a 96 majority.

Another candidate was Richard Gott (1838-2025)who stood for the Radical Alliance, a split off from CND, He got 253 votes 0.54% and lost his deposit. It did allow Gott to raise the question of Labour’s complicity in the Vietnam War. Tony Benn noted in his diary that he attended a meeting in support of McNamara and was able to overcome hecklers on Vietnam.

Left candidates beyond the Communist Party were quite unusual at this point when Parliament consisted of Labour and Tory MP and a single figures number of Liberals and that was it.

Lawrence Daly, an NUM trade unionist did stand for the Fife Socialist League in West Fife at the 1959 General Election and got 10.7% of the vote.

By the time of the 1970 Election (and after) left candidates at election became a more regular feature

Richard Gott who died in November 2025 was a significant figure in the post-1945 left

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Gott

GB News presenter Matt Goodwin has been named as the Reform candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election.

A former academic Goodwin was a Professor at Kent University until he took severance in 2024.

He wrote a study of UKIP with Rob Ford in 2015 but since then has switched from studying the far right to promoting it.

On the face of it his favourite themes, the Great Replacement Theory, London has fallen and mass immigration is to blame for everything place him very much in the far right political sphere.

Interestingly in December 2025 he was a guest in the first edition of Liz Truss’s weekly video broadcast, suggesting that he is prepared to go where Farage publicly is not

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Goodwin_(author)

What happened when Rishi Sunak sacked Suella Braverman, ‘ten minute diatribe’

Suella Braverman managed to get herself sacked as Home Secretary during Liz Truss’s brief period as PM as she sent sensitive Government information to Tory MP Sir John Hayes using her personal e-mail.

Appointed as Home Secretary a second time she then got sacked by Rishi Sunak. She had encouraged a fascist street gathering in central London while attacking the Met Police.

In his memoir Ungovernable Sunak’s Chief Whip Simon Hart has an account of the exchange between Braverman & Sunak when he informed her of the sacking.

Monday 13^th November 2023

RS rings Suella. After some initial pleasantries all hell breaks loose. He puts her on Speaker Phone in the White Drawing Room upstairs(Mrs Thatcher’s study when she was hear)

…the first minute or two goes ok but then, once RS had made clear his intentions, came this ghastly ten minute diatribe full of vindictive and personal bile.. if ever there was an example of her unsuitability for the office of Home Sec- for any office- it was her response.

26th January

The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research University of London paid tribute to Renee Good and Alex Pretti at a seminar on 26th January. They also sent solidarity to those protesting against ICE in Minneapolis.

LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett opened the seminar by noting that one job of socialist historians was to make sure that those who fight oppression and exploitation are remembered as are what they fought for. He also said that there was a fundamental duty of solidarity with protesters in Minneapolis. History is being made on the streets.

In the seminar Vassilis Fouskas spoke on Cyprus 1954-74 and the role of NATO in intervening in the Country’s affairs and using it as a military base. A summary and recording will be available shortly

Reform now has Boris Johnson’s…

Chancellor (Zahawi)

Communities Sec (Jenrick)

-Culture Sec (Dorries)

Attorney General (Braverman)

Political sec (Kruger)

Skills Minister (Jenkyns)

Northern Powerhouse Minister (Berry)

Health Minister (Caulfield)

Parliamentary Private Sec (Nici)

Assistant Whip (Holloway)

Scottish Minister (Offord)

Source Ben Riley-Smith (Telegraph)