Jo Cox Incident Periphery; Part Four: Batley & Spen By-Election Special; The forcing of Jo Cox

The Birstall incident of 16th June 2016 (16.6.16) is the psychological operation that keeps on giving. Five years later, more or less to the day, after the apparent murder of Jo Cox, as played by Helen Leadbeater, a by-election is taking place tomorrow in the very same Parliamentary constituency that was at the heart of the operation. Tipping things over the scale in the couldn’t-make-it-up stakes in this entire extravaganza is that the Labour candidate for the Batley and Spen by-election is none other than Kim Leadbeater, Helen’s own sister (purportedly).

The theory promoted at FBEL is that most by-elections are engineered by UK Government so that it can obtain real feedback, or more frequently to have a manipulated voting public send a message that is useful to UK Government in the furtherance of its agenda. The simplest signal to have come out of a by-election is the success of the winners, and the failure of the losers if they were otherwise expected to win. The point of this particular game is to set up expectation for future general election success or failure and, as explained previously hereabouts, the public are currently supposed to gain the idea that Labour’s star is on the rise – notwithstanding the fact that the by-elections thus far in 2021 have not made Keir Starmer look like a winner. If the UK Government (by which is meant the City of London/UK military intelligence amalgam) has not legislated in its plans for low turnout and a growing refusal to legitimise the sham of Westminster, then it doesn’t alter the fact that it is all too evidently intent on a Labour party in office to expunge itself of the naked Covid-19 authoritarianism by having it dispelled from the memories of the Muggles (which is a word famous for its use in the [written-by-committee?] Harry Potter books, but is a representation of how UK Government characterises those it rules – see here), by being carried off by a losing Tory party which will bear the responsibility for it.

Kim Leadbeater is essentially a celebrity candidate, whose fame has been manifested in one of the worst possible ways – she has a sister who is famous for being murdered. While other Labour hopefuls might have had experience of political office, Leadbeater’s appeal comes entirely from representing continuity in the minds of those who feel (rather than think) that the cutting short of Jo Cox entitles a relative or acolyte to become a kind of surrogate to carry on the interrupted political life.

That the Labour candidate in this by-election has been thrust forward to exploit a complex emotional situation is why the act can be called one of pure perverse cynicism that shows how much anxiety there is to have a Labour win. Of course, Leadbeater mirrors her sister in how other people with better credentials were overlooked. In Cox’s case, it would have been to get an operative, or a patsy, in place for a long-planned operation.

When Jo Cox was running to be Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate in Batley and Spen, she would appear in photographs in local papers draped with the Kinnocks (Neil and Glenys, of Brussels gravy train rider fame). Celebrity politician endorsements would do, it seems, in lieu of having any credentials, because Cox had some serious competition that she shouldn’t have beaten. This is the key factor in the theory whereby she is a placed agent that will be sacrificed (whether actually or not in a false flag attack or a hoax) to damage the “Leave” result in the referendum on EU membership which was in the immediate future. Second to it in significance is the timing of Cox’s meteoric rise and all the things required for it in relation to the high-level decision to hold a referendum (it would not have been the then Prime Minister David Cameron’s) and also to stage not only the grand piece of Brexit-related fake terror, which almost certainly would have been okayed at the same time, but the accompanying National Action psyop, which dovetailed into other events designed to garner tolerance if not wholehearted support for UK Government’s criminal military adventures overseas (as part two of this series explains). Eyes would have cast around for a suitable asset to be assigned or recruited. Cox, in her work in “overseas development”, was definitely adjacent to the immediate crucible from whence the scheme would have been plotted, if not already in it. As was pointed out in the previous piece in this series, she was not really to be considered a local girl in Batley and Spen, she was of the metropolis  hundreds of miles away, sometimes working for the Kinnocks and even the Prime Minister’s wife.

It was in February of 2013 when UK Government, through David Cameron, announced that a referendum was to be held “by the end of 2017 at the latest”. One can argue that there wouldn’t have been time to hold a referendum in the 15 months to May 2015 when the general election took place (with Labour setting itself against a referendum in its manifesto, clearly inviting the referendum hungry public to elect the Tories into executive office), but then one needs to square with the fact that it was actually held in the first year of the new parliament, and twelve month from the time when UK Government started to do anything to enable the poll. The least that can be said of the timing is that it allowed new blood to get into the Commons.

Indeed, in August of 2013, the incumbent MP of Batley and Spen found that he had to deny rumours of his retirement. The following is from the Huddersfield Examiner at the time (dated the 24th):

Mr Wood is currently on annual leave but, in a carefully-worded statement, his spokesman said: “Mike has no plans to announce his retirement.

“Nor will he be distracted from the important work he does for the people of Batley and Spen by mischievous rumour and idle chatter.”

A possible exit for Mr Wood would spark interest in the seat from experienced political figures and wannabes alike.

A leading contender is likely to be Batley West councillor and Kirklees Council Cabinet member Shabir Pandor, who has made no secret of his Parliamentary ambitions.

Mr Wood, an MP since 1997, is renowned as a hard-working constituency MP who has never been afraid to go against his own party on issues he feels strongly about.

A Batley Labour insider told the Examiner: “Mr Wood is a very good MP.

“No-one wants him to go but he isn’t getting any younger and may decide the time is right.

“It’s no secret Shabir Pandor is interested.”

What can be deduced is that while there might have been chatter on the ground by hopefuls and their affiliates about when and who would succeed Mike Wood, it is the input of an anonymous source that drives the story. In other words, the chatter could go on all the time, whatever the season, but the issue of Mike Wood’s possible retirement – one that he doesn’t intend on having, quite inconveniently – becomes a matter for the press when it is briefed by God-knows-whoever it is that is whispering into the ear of the Examiner’s editor.

Indeed, another report from a local paper informs that there had been constant low-level intrigue fuelled by ambitious local lifestyle-politicians excited by the prospect of an upcoming general elections, but the reader is asked to notice the very crucial last paragraph of this extract from the North Kirklees publication, The Press (22nd August, 2014):

A source close to the Labour party said Mr Wood is keeping his cards very close to his chest.

“Mike was asked outright what his intentions were by local party members, because people fancying the job were blatantly saying he’d decided to step down.

“He told us that he would give us his decision at the next AGM which is in the spring, but I don’t believe anyone knows quite what he’s thinking.

“Pandor and Malik have been busy beavering away, lobbying the people they think will be critical to the decision-making.”

The Labour member added: “The thing is, Mike is really proud of the hard work he’s done on the ground in Batley and Spen. He really is driven. And if he thought that Malik, Pandor or Mehboob Khan were likely to succeed him, I reckon he’d carry on as MP until he dropped.”

Perhaps Wood thought there was too much of the vulture about Shabir Pandor, Mehboob Khan (Batley and Kirklees councillors respectively), and the ex-Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik, a casualty of the so-called Parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009.

And maybe he was would have been persuadable if he was told that the Labour National Executive Committee had determined that an all-female short-list, which would rule out those he didn’t want to be succeeded by, would be held to select the next prospective parliamentary candidate.

This could be true. Wood announced his retirement on 27th February, 2014, with the Examiner reporting it the next day. With regards to what was to come, there was only brief mention, and a best guess, indicating that real information was as cards being kept very close to a chest:

A selection process to find Mr Wood’s successor as Labour’s candidate will be launched shortly.

A early front-runner is likely to be Kirklees Cabinet member and Batley West councillor Shabir Pandor.

On the 7th March – a mere week later – a report by The Press indicated that the cards had started to be played:

Potential candidates are thought to be waiting to hear if Batley and Spen will have an all-woman shortlist like Dewsbury and Mirfield. Local officials will meet with Labour executives on Monday to air their views, before the National Executive Committee decides.

One candidate sure to be involved is London-based Labour insider Jo Cox, a close friend of Sarah Brown, wife of former Prime Minister Gordon.

Within hours of MP Wood’s decision Ms Cox, who lives on a boat on the Thames and is chair of the Labour Women’s Network, was canvassing local party insiders, plugging her claim to have links with the Batley area.

It is a fascinating piece because it shows that Cox – way out there, hundreds of miles away on the Thames (a piece of information relevant to the discussion in the previous part in this series that indicates that, whether it was in Oxford or in London, the houseboat was the same one, and was Brendan Cox’s) – was ready to campaign as soon as the starting pistol sounding. Juxtaposed with this – so really reinforcing the fact of Cox’s alienation from Batley and Spens and her inadequate celebrity endorsements – in the same piece is lengthy discussion of the credentials, experience and availability of other would-be candidates. Moreover, one must realise when reading this extract that it is expectation management for the imminent announcement of an all-female short-list that was being implemented precisely for electing Jo Cox to the Commons.

The declaration came less than a week later – the Examiner filed a report on 12th March, but the following extract reveals a telling set of information:

The Labour Party will select from an all-woman shortlist for the Batley and Spen seat…

The decision means the Labour Party has put forward women in three of the four parliamentary constituencies in Kirklees.

Binnie Joshi Barr was selected by the Labour Party to contest the Colne Valley seat currently held by Conservative MP Jason McCartney.

Paula Sherriff was selected to contest the Dewsbury and Mirfield seat currently held by Conservative MP Simon Reevell.

The soon-to-be-decided female candidate for Batley and Spen will join the line up that is completed by Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman.

Labour have been selecting from all-women shortlists in a bid to make Parliament more equal.

What happened was that all-female shortlists were had in all Kirklees constituencies where there wasn’t a Labour incumbent. One could argue that this is unusual, but it doesn’t matter as much as noticing that Cox’s all-female shortlist was had in the only constituency that was safe for Labour.  In the end, she won with a margin of 6000 votes (approximately). On the other hand, the Colne Valley seat was a safe for Jason McCartney  and the Tories as Batley and Spen was for Cox. Sherriff actually took Dewsbury – but only by the skin of her teeth (1451 votes).

So, the statement that Labour was having all-female shortlists to make the Commons more equal was bogus, because if that was the case, then Barry Sheerman, who was 74 – and older than Mike Wood – at the time of the 2015 general election, would have been engineered into retirement so that a Labour woman could win a sure bet (Huddersfield was won by over 7000 seats). (Incidentally,  Sheerman is still an MP, Labour’s longest consecutively serving MP, and next in line to become the so-called “Father of the House”).

This is not to forget that each woman on the short-lists would have had to beat other hopefuls who were contesting to first become Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate in each constituency. Cox found herself up against one other contestant –  councillor Alison Lowe; “Birstall-based” Alison Lowe – which suggested that she was an actual resident in the constituency.

There’s been a lot of reference in this piece to candidates being more suitable for office than others, and this needs clarifying before there is examination of Lowe’s credentials as they were in 2014. Using the word “qualified” in respect of who should or should not be elected to office wouldn’t apply, and perhaps the word “deserving” is not appropriate either, although it gets closer to the correct sentiment. If one has spent years on the coal-face of politics, labouring at grass roots level, getting oneself elected a councillor – that sort of thing – then perhaps it could be said of such a person that they had more of a right to a development that could be called a kind of promotion.

Alison Lowe was a Leeds City councillor when she was on Batley and Spen short-list of two… but let us allow The Press to take up the telling of her “qualifications”, and how, indeed, she makes her own case for the job (dated 2nd May, 2014):

Ms Lowe is the executive member for neighbourhoods, planning and support services on Leeds City Council.

She is also chairman of the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, which holds police commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson to account.

Her registry of interests shows she is chief executive of mental health charity Touchstone Leeds.

The group offers support for residents in Kirklees from a base on Wellington Road, Dewsbury.

She said: “The constituency of Batley and Spen is really special. It deserves a candidate that will work hard to keep it Labour and also honour Mike Wood’s legacy by being a fantastic constituency MP.”

“Meanwhile,” as the The Press piece continues, “Ms Cox, 39, is being supported by several Kirklees councillors… [and] is also backed by broadcaster Mariella Frostrup and former party leader Neil Kinnock and wife Glenys, the ex-Euro MP.”

What follows then is an explicit recommendation from old light-bulb head himself:

Mr Kinnock said: “I know Jo well and I’ve seen her fight for Labour values in this country and around the world.

“In my time I’ve seen a lot of campaigners, very few are as impressive as her. She would make an outstanding MP.”

The image below is the one carried under the headline in the article in question, and clearly is meant to reinforce the only way that Jo Cox can be sold – and clearly it is complete joke, and a complete nonsense that Cox was ever selected to run in the 2015 general election ahead of Alison Lowe.

Lowe, for her part, might have understood that she was not up against a serious contestant: one certainly gets this impression when reading what she is reported to have said about her candidacy. The other big clue is the line with which the article opens:

BIRSTALL-BASED councillor Alison Lowe hopes to stop the rise of a celebrity-backed election candidate.

How much of this was words put into Lowe’s mouth, and how much it was emanating from unreported sentiment can’t be known, but clearly there was some consciousness, at the time, about Cox as an implausible and carnivalesque character as ever there could be in the grave circumstances of selecting a candidate to become an MP.