The 'Change Party' Party

Change UK changes its name again and announces first candidates

Boris’ sister or Jacob’s sister? - “There were never such divided sisters”

Annunziata Rees-Mogg and Rachel Johnson - MEP candidates on opposite sides

A slightly tongue-in-cheek look at Change UK

Yesterday the BBC and Sky News gave extensive live coverage to a small party of Remoaners who announced their candidates for the possible EU Parliamentary elections on 23 May. Said list includes Boris Johnson’s sister, Rachel.

The party in question seems to have an identity crisis. They started off as ‘The Independent Group’, which immediately gave rise to the moniker “The Tiggers”. Perhaps realising that this didn’t quite set the right tone for a serious political party, they morphed into ‘Change UK’. Nevertheless this didn’t stop their interim leader using the term ‘Tiggers’ countless times in her cringe-making speech yesterday.

Prior to yesterday’s launch, just the first name change was enough to confuse one of their most vocal MPs, Anna Soubry, who announced in Parliament a few weeks ago: “That’s why we call ourselves Change.Org.” The real Change.org UK are apparently taking legal advice.

Above: Seven of the Labour MPs who left Labour to form 'the Tiggers'

Yesterday it transpired that the new party will in fact appear on the ballot paper as ‘Change UK – The Independent Group’. Just as we were getting used to that, we checked their official website. This has the URL of https://theindependent.group We couldn’t help wondering if the newspaper the Independent are entirely happy with that. Perhaps because they are owned by the same group which owns the Evening Standard (Editor: arch-Remoaner George Osborne) - and both newspapers are for Remain - they are not too bothered.

What do 'Change UK - The Independent Group' believe in?

Undeterred, we went to the new party’s ‘Who We Are’ page. There, readers will find a list of paragraphs purporting to represent what ‘Change UK – The Independent Group’ believes in.

In what must be the ultimate definition of their identity crisis, we found NOT ONE WORD about the EU, Brexit, or even the appalling and anti-democratic ‘People’s Vote’ which they espouse verbally.

On this page the closest that ‘Change UK – The Independent Group’ comes to any mention of the biggest issue of our time is the following:

“We believe in maintaining strong alliances with our closest European and international allies on trade, regulation, defence, security and counter-terrorism.”

With the possible exception of the word 'regulation', this is the equivalent of a politician saying they’re rather fond of babies.

Rachel, sister of Boris, finds a new home

Amongst the candidates announced yesterday was one Rachel Sabiha Johnson, sister of Boris. (Sabiha means ‘morning’ in Arabic.) Her Remainer reputation is impeccable, with a career spanning the pro-Remain Financial Times, the pro-Remain Foreign Office (briefly), and the pro-Remain BBC, before becoming what is known these days as a ‘commentator’.

Last year she was a contestant on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’. Whilst none of the Brexit Facts4EU.Org team have ever actually seen this programme, we understand that it was not a documentary about being the younger sister of the former Foreign Secretary.

True to the spirit of ‘Change UK’, in just eight years Ms Johnson has been a member of the Conservative Party, then the LibDems in 2017 where she tried to be a candidate for MP, and now she is trumpeting the values of her new party home at Change UK. That’s quite a pedigree of change.

“Sisters, sisters. There were never such divided sisters”

Last week the Brexit Party announced that Annunziata Rees-Mogg, sister of Jacob, would be one of its candidates in the EU Parliament elections, should they be held.

Regular readers will know that we occasionally introduce some light-hearted musical references into our less serious work. We couldn't let this one go without reminding you of this:-

We will look on with interest as these two sisters ‘do it for themselves’.

‘Change UK – The Independent Group’ ..... and democracy

Here is what the new party says about democracy:

“We believe that our parliamentary democracy in which our elected representatives deliberate, decide and provide leadership, held accountable by their whole electorate is the best system of representing the views of the British people.”

11 MPs form the parliamentary part of ‘Change UK – The Independent Group’ in the House of Commons. Eight of these were Labour MPs, and three were Conservative MPs.

When they resigned from their parties and continued as MPs, did even one of them think the decent thing to do would be to seek the democratic endorsement of their electorates? Er… no. Not one.

It seems that to be “held accountable by their whole electorate” is not something which should apply to them, only to others. Or perhaps it is simply a vague concept to be thrown around at metropolitan dinner parties?

Observations

The change party party

It seems that the only certainty when it comes to this group is that they believe in change. Changing their name, changing their party, and changing their minds about what is important to them.

The reality of course is that all these people want is power, and to reverse Brexit. They care not one jot about respecting the largest democratic vote in British history.

Finally, we’ll throw them a challenge. Currently there isn’t one single fact on their website which in any way supports Remain.

Instead of writing pointless verbiage on their website, why don’t they publish tens of thousands of researched facts from official EU and national government sources, as we have done for more than three years?

Now that really would be a change...

[ Sources: Change UK – The Independent Group website | BBC | Sky News | Hansard ]

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 24 Apr 2019

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Reader Comments 16

1. Patrick F , Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 06:13:

Change UK? What "change"? You've got your branding wrong, brothers, sisters and others.
The leave vote is about change.
You want to Remain, you don't want to "change." Your "progress" is stasis.
Here's the name that will grab attention and encapsulates what you stand for:
Status Quo.
You could even see if founder member Francis Rossi will let you use the band's music for your conferences, think tanks and village fete openings.
How about these classics?
"In the (EU) Army Now."
"Whatever You Want (vote again)"
"Down Down (with democracy)"

2. BrexMax, Kent , Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 06:14:

I'd like to contribute with some ideas to this party for future usage:
The Misfits, The Screwballs, The Regardless Group, We-Hoover-Up-Your-Waste Party, Hoity-Toities, or maybe the UK Irregulars' Party?
I hope this is helpful.

3. absolutely maddened by the political class. , Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 07:46:

Give me the intelligent Annunziata Rees-Mogg anyday, over the desperate Rachel Johnson who believes it's ok to bare her assets by removing her top on a TV talk show recently.

4. Jenny from Stoke , Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 08:06:

Hilarious thank you. I choked on my cornflakes at one point! I'm sure what you deal with each day from the EU is very dry and boring and it's good to see that you still manage to retain a sense of humour! :)
I'm looking forward to your next one page pdf on the eu army/common defence by the way. Thanks, Jenny.

5. Simon/Tewkesbury , Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 08:41:

I agree with Jenny!
(Except that I don't eat cornflakes.)
Can't remember the last time I saw something funny from a Remainer on Twitter.

6. Chris , Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 11:54:

Off topic, but this article shows just how completely deranged May has become:
https://uk.yahoo.com/financ...
She really should be locked up in an asylum for the criminally insane.

7. kzb , Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 12:27:

On the subject of "Who We Are", at least Change UK, or whatever they are called, have such a page, and we know who they are.
The same cannot be said for Facts4EU, not as far as I can see.
You have no postal address, landline number and no names. It's a complete mystery who you are and where you are based. I wouldn't buy anything from a website with no such details. So can you give us some clues as to "Who You Are"?
REPLY FROM BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG - kzb, we do have an 'About' page. There's a link in our main menu which appears on every page - the last item on the right. Unlike some Brexit organisations our team members do not seek personal fame or fortune. This isn't about us, it's about Brexit and our readers - or should be.
The point we were making about CUK-TIG's 'Who we are' page was not about who they are. We referred to that page because it was the only one which contained their beliefs. Please read our article again and you will see this is the case. Their page should have been called 'Our beliefs' or 'Our policies', but it wasn't. The key point is that their beliefs do not even mention Brexit, and yet their MPs are ardent Remainers.

8. Adam Hiley , Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 13:57:

Change UK an oxymoron if they're was ever one Remoaner losers who still cannot accept they lost the Referendum

9. Gary / York , Thursday, April 25, 2019, 05:52:

Kzb, I'm not entirely sure what exactly you would learn from a postal address? Wanting names and landline numbers is even more puzzling - normally Remainers ask for these so that they can load people with abuse.
And what exactly do you want to 'buy'? The value you can contribute to is in the work of factual research and the published articles, which they've already done by the time you and I read it. So it's not like you won't get your 'money's worth' or something, as you're obviously reading the site, but found an excuse not to contribute.
P.S. No, I won't give you my postal address, phone number, or my wife's name either. ;)

10. Patrick F , Thursday, April 25, 2019, 08:42:

Kzb, the facts speak for themselves.

16 comments, page 1 of 2

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