The text that's taken months of officials' blood, sweat and tears has been agreed, at least at a technical level.
Now a paper's being drafted to present to the Cabinet tomorrow ready for the government's hoped-for next step - political approval from Theresa May's team, even though many of them have deep reservations.
Remember in the last 24 hours some of them have been warning privately that what's on the table is just not acceptable, and will never get through Parliament. Some even believe the prime minister ought to walk away.
But the government machine is now cranking into action. With a text ready, their long-planned rollout can begin.
The BBC's chief political correspondent Vicki Young said some ministers had "deep concerns" about the shape of the likely agreement, which critics say could leave the UK trapped in a customs agreement with the EU.
She said they would have to decide whether they could support it, and if not, whether to resign from cabinet.
Leading Brexiteers have already condemned the draft agreement, Boris Johnson saying it would see the UK remain in the customs union and "large parts" of the single market.
He told the BBC it was "utterly unacceptable to anyone who believes in democracy". "Am I going to vote against it. The answer is yes," he added.
And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said "given the shambolic nature of the negotiations, this is unlikely to be the good deal for the country".
'Failure to deliver'
Both the UK and EU want to schedule a special summit of European leaders at the end of November to sign off the reportedly 500 page withdrawal deal and the much shorter outline declaration of their future relationship.
Brussels has insisted it would only agree to put the wheels in motion for the summit if agreement can be reached on the issue of the Irish border.
Ambassadors from the remaining 27 EU states will meet in Brussels on Wednesday.
If a deal is agreed with the EU, Mrs May then needs to persuade her party - and the rest of Parliament - to support it in a key Commons vote.
Conservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said if details of the text reported by Irish broadcaster RTE were true, the UK would become a "vassal state" with Northern Ireland "being ruled from Dublin".
Such an agreement "failed to deliver on Brexit" and the cabinet should reject it, he told the BBC.
"I think what we know of this deal is deeply unsatisfactory," he said. "There seems to be growing opposition to these very poor proposals."
Meanwhile, following pressure from all sides of the Commons, ministers have agreed to provide MPs with a legal assessment of the implications for the UK of the Irish backstop and other controversial aspects of any deal.
Cabinet Office minister David Lidington said Attorney General Geoffrey Cox would make a statement to MPs and take questions ahead of the final vote on any Brexit deal.
MPs, he said, would get to see "a full reasoned position statement laying out the government's both political and also legal position on the proposed withdrawal agreement".
The Democratic Unionists' Westminster leader Nigel Dodds said he was pleased Parliament had "asserted its will" as it was imperative that all parties to the deal were clear in what way and for how long it would "legally bind" the UK.
Chequers minus it is. Whatever happened to no deal being better than a bad deal.
We should have been far more aggressive in negotiations with Brussels. They all but stated immediately after the referendum that they were going to bumrape us for having the temerity to leave, so we should have told them that unless and until they got serious, we'd basically go full on tax haven mode and steal all their big companies - and funnel money and support to Eurosceptics in Italy, Spain, Greece, Poland, and Hungary.
You brits are a funny bunch. Even your politics routinely sound like a monty python sketch. I'm half expecting to see Boris do the silly walk eventually.
You brits are a funny bunch. Even your politics routinely sound like a monty python sketch. I'm half expecting to see Boris do the silly walk eventually.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden defended the UK's 'free and diverse media' after big brands withdrew adverts from GB News following pressure from Left-wing campaigners.
Dowden won't get involved since people can do this. That said he almost certainly is aware of the ex BBC employee involved, this is him reminding everyone that if he catches a direct link there he can and will have them buggered for the amusement of the country.
At the head of Stop Funding Hate is founder Richard Wilson, who supported both the Remain campaign and Jeremy Corbyn when he was Labour leader.
www.dailymail.co.uk
Revealed: The hard left Corbynista zealots campaigning to cancel GB News include vegan professional cat-sitter, a gender and sexuality studies teacher and an ex-BBC executive
Stop Funding Hate insists it 'not linked to, or aligned to, any political party'
But its leadership appear to be left-wing pro-Labour and pro Jeremy Corbyn
SFH founded by remainer Richard Wilson and his cat-sitter friend Rosey Ellum
Remainder of board made up of a 'ethical' investment manager and an academic
BBC journalist's PR firm accused of helping set up boycott GB News webiste
The campaign to sink GB Newsis spearheaded by an anti-press group led by a Corbynista, a former professional cat-sitter, an 'ethical' investments manager and a teacher of gender and sexuality studies, MailOnline can reveal.
Stop Funding Hate insists it is 'not linked to, or aligned to, any political party' — and claims to 'have supporters from a wide range of backgrounds and political viewpoints'.
But its campaigns only tend to be against newspapers which endorsed the Tories and now it has its sights on GB News, the new anti-woke news channel launched on Sunday, with free speech campaigners branding it 'sinister'.
A website BoycottGBNews.org has also been set up with the help of former BBC executive Louise Wikstrom, who told MailOnline today she is 'proud' to be involved.
At the head of Stop Funding Hate is founder Richard Wilson, who supported both the Remain campaign and Jeremy Corbyn when he was Labour leader.
He has 'liked' or endorsed Facebook groups supporting the 'Council of Europe', 'New Europeans', 'Better In than Out', 'I'm Voting Remain,' 'UKtoStay', 'Campaign to Remain', 'We are the 48', 'Environmentalists for Europe,' 'Scientists for EU' and 'Jeremy Corbyn for PM'.
He's also 'liked' the misleadingly named Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, which supports the anti-newspaper lobbyists Hacked Off.
He has run a campaign against the Daily Mail, but has been more than happy to accept money from associating with the Mail in the past. In 2006, when a book he wrote about the murder of his sister in Africa was published, serialisation rights were sold to the Mail for £1,000.
A second senior Stop Funding Hate figure is Rosey Ellum, who, in 2016, came up with the idea of founding the organisation at a dinner party attended by Wilson.
A vegan in her thirties, an NGO worker and a professional cat-sitter, she divides her political allegiances between Labour and the Green Party.
Her Facebook 'likes' include 'Women against UKIP', 'The struggling Vegan'. 'Hackney Greens', 'Fat Gay Vegan', 'Sassy Socialist Memes', 'Womens Equality Party' 'John McDonnell', 'Tower Hamlets Green Party' and 'Jeremy Corbyn for PM'.
On the morning of the 2015 Conservative election victory, Ellum declared on Twitter: 'So sad and depressed today. For selfish reasons and for people worse off than me. We'll keep fighting the good fight!' She's also campaigned against what she calls Israel's 'illegal occupation of Palestine', using Twitter to share petitions on behalf of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which counts Corbyn among its patrons.
According to the Stop Funding Hate website, the third board member is Colin Baines.
He is an Investment Engagement Manager at the Friends Provident Foundation and previously was an Ethics Adviser and Campaigns Manager at the Co-op Bank and Co-op Group.
The fourth and final board member is Alexandra Parsons, who has worked in the charity and voluntary sectors for 16 years.
She is also an academic specialising in researching cultural responses to the HIV/AIDS crisis, and teaches gender and sexuality studies and literature at University College London.
She currently manages the Public Engagement Fund at Wellcome Trust, and formerly worked for organisations including British Red Cross and Child Poverty Action Group.
SFH insist its campaign is 'all about polite and friendly customer engagement' and, to be fair, the social media messages sent on its behalf to big businesses are usually reasonable in tone urging them to become what they call 'ethical advertisers'.
But many of those who are targeting businesses have used the internet on other occasions to troll politicians, journalists, celebrities and other public figures — while also spreading vile slurs about political groups they despise.
Commonly social media users will approach companies and send repeated messages to them saying they will cancel or boycott them unless they distance themselves from media businesses they don't like.
All the big businesses that have pulled GB News ads - IKEA Nivea, Kopparberg, Grolsch, the Open University, Octopus Energy, Ovo Energy and insurer LV - have been targeted in this way.
A website BoycottGBNews.org has also been set up with the help of a business called 'Ripples Campaigning', which according to Guido Fawkes is run by former BBC executive by Louise Wikstrom whose social media posts have previously backed Labour and Jeremy Corbyn.
The website sets out six ways Britons can boycott and sink GB News, which promises it will not be 'yet another echo chamber for the metropolitan mindset'.
In the 'about' section it describes itself as a 'campaigning website from Ripples'.
Guido reports that on Companies House Ripples Campaigning is 'co-founded, and is run, by Louise Wikstrom'.
She worked as a senior content producer for BBC Worldwide for three years until 2015, according to her LinkedIn account.
In a statement she told MailOnline: 'Ripples is proud to take a stand against biased news through this campaign, together with thousands of supporters who have written to GB News' advertisers to make their voices heard'.
MPs, free speech campaigners and business leaders today turned on 'anti-democratic' IKEA and other 'hypocritical' big businesses cancelling advertising on GB News after bowing to 'bullying' from 'sinister' left-wing pressure groups.
Nivea, Kopparberg, Grolsch, the Open University, Octopus Energy, Ovo Energy and insurer LV have also pulled their adverts from Andrew Neil's new channel, prompting calls for a boycott of their services for caving in to 'zealots'.
GB News launched on Sunday promising to be anti-woke, pro-British and cover stories differently to rivals, with prime time shows already enjoying more viewers than BBC News and Sky News. But after just four days on air at least seven big businesses have pulled their adverts after a social media campaign whipped up by Stop Funding Hate.
Tory MP Craig Mackinlay branded the boycott of GB News as 'unbelievable' and 'mad', pledging to fight back against those businesses. He told MailOnline: 'I am now putting together a list of beers and household products that I will not be buying. This is all part of the closing down of free speech campaign which I am afraid we are seeing across our society. It must be resisted. It is an absolute abomination'.
He added: 'Corporates should do what they do – sell things rather than get involved with political debates.'
Fellow Conservative backbencher Andrew Bridgen said: 'This epitomises exactly what GB News was set up to counter. The hard woke left wingers are seeking to cancel voices saying things they don't approve of. Advertisers should do well to look at the viewing figures and remember that those who complain most on social media do not represent the mainstream view'.
Tory MP Andrew Percy said: 'It's completely anti-democratic and an attempt to silence alternative views. The UK has strict media rules which GB News is abiding by. If it's good enough for the UK regulators, it should be good enough for the advertisers. These advertisers are essentially giving in to bullying by the mob.'
Dragons Den star Duncan Bannatyne told MailOnline he was 'shocked' at the hasty decision made by big businesses to pull adverts from GB News – just four days after a very successful launch.
The tycoon said that he would consider advertising his Bannatyne's health clubs and gyms on the news channel because of its 'great viewing figures'. Slamming the cancel culture he said: 'I am just shocked that such big organisations would cancel on a new untested TV news show. Competition is good for all businesses and TV shows need competition, so should be supported'. He added: 'I will never shop at IKEA again - oh just a minute, I never did shop there anyway'.
Trade unionist and journalist Paul Embery tweeted: 'Stop Funding Hate is a sinister group whose ultimate aim is to prevent the dissemination of opinions with which they disagree. Don't let anyone pretend otherwise'.
GB News chairman Andrew Neil has also hit back at IKEA and its 'criminal' former French boss Jean-Louis Baillot. He said: 'IKEA has decided to boycott GB News because of our alleged values. Here are IKEA's values — a French CEO who is a criminal with a two year suspended jail sentence for spying on staff'.
Robyn Williams was sacked after a 36-year career for having a child abuse video on her phone.
www.bbc.co.uk
Robyn Williams: Sacked Met officer wins appeal against dismissal
A highly decorated police officer convicted of possessing a child abuse video has won an appeal against her dismissal from the Met Police.
Robyn Williams was ordered to do 200 hours of community service for possession of an indecent image on her phone in November 2019.
Her trial heard she received the video via WhatsApp from her sister who had been sent the clip by her boyfriend.
A Police Appeals Tribunal on Wednesday found her sacking was "unfair".
The independent panel concluded it was "unreasonable" to sack Ms Williams after her conviction and determined that her dismissal should be replaced with a final written warning.
The full details of the judgement will be published in the coming days.
At her trial, Ms Williams said she had not viewed the 54-second video and did not know it was on her phone.
But prosecutors said there was no way she could have missed it, and cited a response from the officer to her older sister to "please call" as evidence she wanted to discuss the content.
The jury was told experts had not been able to examine Ms Williams' phone properly.
She was sacked by the Met in March last year after a special disciplinary hearing concluded her conviction amounted to "gross misconduct".
The Met found that Ms Williams' actions were likely to undermine public confidence and were not a "trivial lapse".
Met Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said the officer's failure to report the matter could have caused significant further harm to the child.
She said it was "entirely unacceptable" for police officers responsible for enforcing the law to break it themselves.
Return to work
After the tribunal concluded, Ms Williams said: "I am extremely pleased with today's outcome.
"For over a year, before and during the pandemic, I have continued to support local people by working within community initiatives.
"I am therefore delighted to be able to return to the work I love, serving our communities within London."
The Police Superintendents' Association, which supported Ms Williams' appeal, said: "We are pleased that today's panel agreed that her dismissal was unreasonable in light of the complex circumstances surrounding her conviction."
In a statement, the Met said: "We await the full judgement. Once received, we will then consider the ruling and engage with Ms Williams' representatives accordingly."
Condemnation of ‘government power grab’ - as minister claims prosecutions of alleged lawbreaking ‘waste public money’
www.independent.co.uk
Electoral Commission to be stripped of power to prosecute after probe into Boris Johnson’s flat makeover
Condemnation of ‘government power grab’ - as minister claims prosecutions of alleged lawbreaking ‘waste public money'
Boris Johnson is to strip the Electoral Commission of the power to prosecute law-breaking, just weeks after it launched an investigation into his controversial flat refurbishment.
The watchdog has been threatened with curbs ever since it embarrassed senior Tory figures by fining Vote Leave for busting spending limits for the Brexit referendum.
Now ministers have announced that a new Elections Bill will remove its ability to prosecute criminal offences under electoral law – arguing it “wastes public money”.
The watchdog launched an immediate protest, warning the move would “place a fetter on the commission which would limit its activity”.
The shake-up was condemned as a “thinly-veiled government power grab” by the Electoral Reform Society.
Cat Smith, Labour’s shadow minister for democracy, said: “It is not for any government to dictate the priorities of an independent watchdog. This is yet another attempt by the Conservatives to rig democracy in their favour.”
Parliament’s standards chief has stepped back from her own probe into flat makeover – which saw a Tory donor originally fund the lavish redecoration – while the commission does its work.
Amid that furore, it was widely anticipated that the government would back away from changes that would be seen as enfeebling the commission.
But Chloe Smith, the constitution minister, insisted “the proper place for criminal investigations and prosecutions relating to electoral law is with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service”.
“In recent years, the Electoral Commission has sought to develop the capability to bring criminal offences before the courts,” she said. “This has never been agreed by the government or Parliament.
“Having the Electoral Commission step into this space would risk wasting public money as well as present potential conflicts of interest for a body responsible for providing advice and guidance on electoral law to initiate proceedings which might depend on the very advice that was given.”
Jess Garland, the Electoral Reform Society’s policy director, said: “The government is on the one hand creating new rules for the Electoral Commission to enforce – while at the same time reducing its independence, extending political influence over what should be a neutral body,” said.
“The Electoral Commission is the UK’s number one experts on Britain’s complex electoral law, so it is vital it retains the ability to raise alleged wrongdoing in the courts.”
The shake-up will also see a Commons committee – with a Conservative majority – set strategic priorities, in a further perceived undermining of the watchdog’s impartiality.
A commission spokesperson said: “Parliamentary oversight and scrutiny of the commission’s activities are essential in ensuring the commission commands trust and confidence.
“It is important, however, that the commission’s independence is preserved and that it is able to continue to deliver all duties within its remit, including effective enforcement.
“Some changes announced today place a fetter on the commission which would limit its activity. We will work with the government to explore these areas.”
Damn. This is why Britbong media can't have based things.
Pearl-clutching leftists have been threatening to boycott every company who runs an ad on "far right" GBNews... by tweeting at them incessantly to "STOP FUNDING HATE". To this end, at least twodifferent sites have been set up to provide lists of companies to target. And the worst part is that it appears to be working.
View attachment 2268255
(I reported all three of these as spam by the way. Twitter actually lets you report a tweet that 'Uses the reply function to spam' - which these three tossers are definitely doing - not that it will make a difference though. Twitter only cares if you hurt a nigger's feelings.)
The list of companies that pulled their ads is into the double digits at this point.
It's worth noting that most (if not all) these companies bought ad space through a third party agency that opted them into GBNews automatically, so they presumably got cold feet at the first sign of any controversy that might damage their squeaky clean brand image.
Funny because the people who hate corporatocracy conveniently seem to care about a furniture shop's brand image when it's something they can exploit for political power. Just like in the Adpocalypse.
The only whitepill I've found so far (and it's a small one) is that the Co-op has stated they will not be joining the boycott, and laid out three reasons for its refusal to capitulate.
View attachment 2268411
(Note that "our society" refers to the co-operatively owned aspect of their business, and not the Society in which We Live, in case that wasn't made clear.)
It seems an unusual position for them to take, given their reputation as an 'ethical' business and their ties with the Labour Party. Well, not the Labour Party exactly...
Its parent company donates to the similarly named Co-operative Party, a political party that very few people in the UK have even heard about, even though a sizeable chunk of them would have voted for it several times.
Reason being is that the Co-operative Party all but merged with Labour in 1927, yet to this day is still technically a separate party. They seem to be a bit more economically left and a bit less into wokeshit than Labour is, but that may just be wishful thinking on my part.
The terms of the merger are such that every Co-operative MP agrees to also be a Labour MP, in exchange for Labour not running candidates against them. So they sign off on everything Labour does, and are shown as red on the electoral map (despite the Co-operative Party using purple instead of red). So as far as anyone knows, they are Labour MPs.
And I'm pretty sure when most people see 'Labour and Co-operative' next to a candidate's name on a ballot paper, they assume it's just the full name of the Labour Party. A bit like how the Conservatives have a longer name too (which also came about as the result of a merger, except that no part of the original parties remained separate after they merged).
It remains to be seen if based Co-op will stick to its guns, or quietly pull its ads down the line, or indeed whether other companies will follow its lead.
I'm already rather worried that a certain other supermarket might pull its ads from GBN, which is where I do most of my shopping. I don't want to boycott it, but damn, I'll get so MATI that I may as well. I remain hopeful that they'll use common sense just like the Co-op. But their logo is currently set to Pride (I'm one to talk) which is not a good sign.
Also, this isn't really relevant, but there is a significant amount of product placement for the Co-op in old Doctor Who episodes with their current logo and everything (specifically it was part 4 of The Green Death in 1973, the part when Jon Pertwee's Doctor disguises himself as a milkman to get into the secret lab). Considering how hard it was (especially in the 70s) to get product placement approved in the UK, especially on the BBC, I'd personally put this down to the Co-op being seen as not a corporation per se, but more as some kind of workers' union that also happens to run a supermarket.
Update (from someone who's been following this story obsessively for the last 3 days): There have been no new brands to join the leftard boycott of GB News.
Some, including Ikea and Money Supermarket (the guys who use Matt Berry in their ads), have even walked back on their previous promises to boycott.
Co-op is still based. But their sister company the Co-operative Bank is apparently one of the companies boycotting (I've heard nothing about this on Twitter, but Sargon says so, so I guess it must be true).
I'm not sure what spurred the change of heart, but I'd accept any two from:
All the companies that were going to pull their ads have done so already.
They realised most of the Twitter activists aren't actually in the demo that watches TV.
It turns out that Ripples Campaigning (one of two astroturf orgs that started the boycott) is run by a former BBC exec. Oops!
Also, GB News responded to it on air last night, in a confident enough manner that assures me they weren't hurt too badly, which is a relief.
It's pathetic that I even care because, as anyone would know from having watched it, they are only right-wing by broadcast television standards. And when they do make a point to lean right, it's the most boomer-level version of the anti-SJW crowd. It's also been pointed out that face of the station, Andrew Neil, is in favour of vaccination passports.
In my opinion, they are somewhat to the left of TalkRadio and (dare I say it) to the left of Tim Pool... which makes the leftist push to destroy them seem all the more desperate and pathetic.
Oh and remember this guy?
He's a Lib Dem councillor. If ever you needed proof that the Lib Dems are cucked.
Speaking of Lib Dems, there was a by-election.
Everyone will focus on how the Lib Dems stole a Tory safe seat (Chesham and Amersham are full of posh London commuters, but the countryside around them is being dug up to build a high-speed railway, so Tories bad.) but I want to direct your attention towards the fourth row.
Labour at 1.6%, with a vote count in the triple digits.
Inb4 "the leftists voted tactically" - because I've been in constituencies where Lib Dems were the go-to option for tactical Labour voters. And Labour still never poll behind the Green Party.
For context, this is the natural order of things:
Even in Tory strongholds, Labour still comes out ahead of the Greens, and almost always by a significant margin. I can't think of a single exception to this except for that one consituency (AKA British San Francisco) where the Green Party actually wins.
If you can point to any other time in history when the Green Party beat Labour, I'd love to know, because so far I haven't found one. Again, this says more about Labour than it does about the Greens. The latter actually did rather badly in this most recent by-election (down from 5.5% in the previous).
For what it's worth, Labour have kept their deposit (that is to say, they won more than 5% of the votes) in all 631 constituencies of England, Scotland and Wales in the 2017 election. For that matter, so did the Conservatives (with the other seven being in Northern Ireland). Source (archive).
This time they actually lost it. They weren't even close. Which makes this a much, much worse result for Labour than every single constituency in 2017 (Northern Ireland doesn't count).
I don't have the data for other years, but if anyone remembers the last time Labour lost its deposit, I'd love to know.
The next by-election is Batley and Spen next month, Jo Cox's former constituency. I'll be waiting with the popcorn.
Everyone will focus on how the Lib Dems stole a Tory safe seat (Chesham and Amersham are full of posh London commuters, but the countryside around them is being dug up to build a high-speed railway, so Tories bad.) but I want to direct your attention towards the fourth row.
Labour at 1.6%, with a vote count in the triple digits.
Inb4 "the leftists voted tactically" - because I've been in constituencies where Lib Dems were the go-to option for tactical Labour voters. And Labour still never poll behind the Green Party.
Even in Tory strongholds, Labour still comes out ahead of the Greens, and almost always by a significant margin. I can't think of a single exception to this except for that one consituency (AKA British San Francisco) where the Green Party actually wins.
If you can point to any other time in history when the Green Party beat Labour, I'd love to know, because so far I haven't found one. Again, this says more about Labour than it does about the Greens. The latter actually did rather badly in this most recent by-election (down from 5.5% in the previous).
For what it's worth, Labour have kept their deposit (that is to say, they won more than 5% of the votes) in all 631 constituencies of England, Scotland and Wales in the 2017 election. For that matter, so did the Conservatives (with the other seven being in Northern Ireland). Source (archive).
This time they actually lost it. They weren't even close. Which makes this a much, much worse result for Labour than every single constituency in 2017 (Northern Ireland doesn't count).
I don't have the data for other years, but if anyone remembers the last time Labour lost its deposit, I'd love to know.
The next by-election is Batley and Spen next month, Jo Cox's former constituency. I'll be waiting with the popcorn.
My favourite part of this Liberal Democrat win is Ed Davey "demolishing" a wall of cardboard blue bricks with an orange hammer to desperately make this as significant as Labour's recent thumpings.
That he could not take a sledgehammer to actual bricks is the most Lib Dem thing ever.
Also, the reason why this election happened seems to be because the Tory candidate there died. Inspiring. That said we'll see how Wakefield goes.
As regards the GB news stuff it's gotten...embarassing. Especially for Vodafone.
Brands row back on GB News ad boycott: Moneysupermarket, Ikea, Vodafone and Bosch back down on blacklist claims as #GBNewsWins trends on Twitter after Andrew Neil blasted firms who 'cowed to far-Left agitators and cranks'GB News chairman Andrew Neil slammed big businesses who pulled their ads from TV channel
He accused firms including Vodafone and Ikea of 'taking the knee and cowering' to 'far-Left agitators'
Mr Neil claimed 'woke nonsense has reached the boardroom' and called 'capitalists, useful idiots of bigots'
Big businesses pulled their adverts from GB News under pressure from Stop Funding Hate activists
But Moneysupermarket, Bosch and others admit they may soon be ready to return - as ratings continue up
Big businesses today began rowing back on their boycott of GB Newsafter its boss Andrew Neil called them out on air and accused their 'useful idiot' bosses of 'taking the knee' to 'far-Left cranks' wielding 'woke nonsense' to try to sink the channel.
Moneysupermarket, Ikea, Vodafone and Bosch ended an advertising moratorium with the nascent broadcaster following an online campaign by activists led by the 'sinister' Stop Funding Hate group.
Several of these companies said they will now consider resuming media campaigns after caving in to agitators earlier this week, apologising for any 'confusion caused' and 'polarising debate', leading to #GBNewswins trending on Twitter today.
Last night Andrew Neil launched a staunch defence of his new anti-woke, pro-British channel before turning on Stop Funding Hate (SFH), who he said began 'rounding up the lynch mob' to target GB News four months before its launch on Sunday.
He said: 'It is quite remarkable that serious executives and well-established companies can be so easily cowed. They have all taken the knee to Stop Funding Hate. It is important they - and you - realise to whom they are in thrall.
'SFH does not stand for a liberal, inclusive society. It is dominated by far- Left agitators and cranks that push for advertiser boycotts of any media organisation with which it disagrees', adding: 'Woke nonsense has reached the boardroom and corporate capitalism is becoming the useful idiot of bigots bent on censorship'.
But the former Sunday Times political editor, who is chairman and lead presenter of GB News, agreed to calm the war of words if the firms stopped 'playing politics' and halted the boycott.
Mr Neil added: 'GB News viewers are incensed with advertisers who've taken against us. Many have written to tell them so. And their numbers are growing. For three nights in a row this show has been the number one rated show on any news channel available in the UK. Add our audience, friends, allies and sympathisers together and we can muster millions of supporters on social media. Not a good idea to be on the wrong end of them.'
Vodafone, IKEA, Nivea, Kopparberg, Grolsch, the Open University, Octopus Energy, Ovo Energy and LV pulled their adverts from the new TV channel after coming under pressure from Stop Funding Hate activists, who harassed big businesses online to get them to pull their adverts from GB News.
Rowing back on its decision price comparison website Moneysupermarket tweeted: 'Just to confirm that Moneysupermarket is not boycotting its advertising on GB News, sorry for any confusion caused.' Ikea and telecoms giant Vodafone also both made clear that they may restart adverts after a review.
As GB News fought back in in its battle against woke, it also emerged today:
A feminist artist is cancelled by the Royal Academy after 8 complaints about her blog calling a woman 'an adult human female' and criticising Stonewall;
A vodafone worker told a customer in online live chat it was boycotting GB News because new TV channel was 'promising to combat so-called cancel culture' - leading to an apology by the mobile phone giant;
(not in the article but I had to add the source https://twitter.com/WalkerMarcus/status/1405439849109377029)
Tesco, Co-op, Waitrose and Sainsbury's removed 'kaffir' from lime leaves over complaints it is racist;
A Vodafone worker claimed that the mobile phone giant was boycotting GB News because the nascent TV channel was 'promising to combat so-called cancel culture' after big businesses bowed to Left-wing pressure groups and pulled their adverts from the station this week.
A screengrab shared on Twitter by Marcus Walker, a CoE clergyman, appears to show an online chat a friend of his had with Vodafone on the firm's app this morning, in which the company was asked why it had attempted a boycott of the pro-British, anti-woke news channel.
The Vodafone employee replied: 'It is due to this TV channel promising to combat so-called cancel culture'.
Responding to the post this afternoon, a Vodafone spokesman apologised for the comment and insisted it had not boycotted GB News - but added: 'However, we wouldn't choose to advertise on a new channel, preferring instead to wait to make a commercial assessment of its quality and reach. With GB News still in its infancy, we do not have plans to advertise with it at this stage.'
Vodafone, IKEA, Nivea, Kopparberg, Grolsch, the Open University, Octopus Energy, Ovo Energy and insurer LV, have pulled their adverts from the new TV channel since it launched on Sunday.
The corporations bowed to online harassment from Stop Funding Hate supporters who are trying to bring down the fledgling channel that promises to be anti-woke, pro-British and cover more stories from outside London.
Last night anti-GB News protesters hailed 'good news' after Vodafone's official account tweeted that 'advertising [with GB News] has been placed without our permission', adding the business would be 'addressing this'.
But a company source told Guido Fawkes they have 'no intention of boycotting' and a social media person had made a decision 'way above their station', pointing out that GB News is regulated by broadcast watchdog Ofcom.
A Vodafone spokesman told MailOnline earlier today they are not boycotting GB News, adding: 'Political views in the UK are, and have always been, varied. And we have always placed our advertising in a broad spread of media that covers the political spectrum. That won't change. We firmly believe in free speech, while also standing firmly against hateful and harmful content'.
Last year a social media intern at the Co-op declared the business would no longer be advertising with Mr Neil's Spectator magazine, which turned out not to be true.
Today the Co-op decided to fight back against Left-wing calls for companies to suspend advertising on GB News, saying the would advertise where they like and defended the 'editorial independence' of the media.
Last night, Mr Neil was involved in a Twitter row with Octopus Energy's boss Greg Jackson, who pulled its adverts this week saying it did not advertise on platforms 'whose primary purpose is the distribution of hate'. In an extraordinary exchange Mr Neil threatened to cancel his company if they wanted to advertise with them again.
Mr Neil told him: 'Have a look at our content. You'll find no hate. Let me know if you want to advertise. And I'll let you know if we want your ads. Or whether we organise a boycott of you'. He added: 'I resent even the thought that a channel of which I was chairman would peddle hate. You should know better'.
Mr Jackson hit back saying: 'We didn't boycott - I wanted to see the channel and am true to my word', saying he watched Rishi Sunak's interview last night.
As GB News finds itself at the centre of the UK's culture war, it also emerged today:
Children's author Enid Blyton's work is 'racist, xenophobic and lacking literary merit' says English Heritage in 're-appraisal' sparked by Black Lives Matter protests; (oh fuck off do)
The hatred of the Stop Funding Hate fanatics is revealed as they vilified GB News for its content even before it launched;
A number of big name brands including IKEA, Nivea, Kopparberg, Grolsch, the Open University, Octopus Energy, Ovo Energy and insurer LV have pulled their adverts from Andrew Neil's new channel after an online campaign led by groups including Stop Funding Hate.
MPs, free speech campaigners and business leaders branded the companies 'anti-democratic' and 'hypocritical', with Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden declaring businesses 'must not succumb to pressure groups'.
But Co-op has broken rank despite a huge online backlash, saying it will continue to advertise on the new TV channel, the first company to do so.
After being bombarded by activists demanding it suspend its TV campaigns on GB News, the supermarket responded: 'Our advertising approach has three principles.
'We will, one - not seek to affect the editorial independence of publications or channels, two - not undermine the commercial value of our society for our members, and three, ensure our values and principles are clear regardless of surrounding content.'
The response prompted a number of critics to call for a boycott of Co-op while many others praised it for standing up for its principles amid the furore.
GB News launched on Sunday promising to be anti-woke, pro-British and cover stories differently to rivals, with prime time shows already enjoying more viewers than BBC News and Sky News.
But after just four days on air at least seven big businesses have pulled their adverts after a social media campaign whipped up by Stop Funding Hate.
A website BoycottGBNews.org has also been set up with the help of a business called 'Ripples Campaigning', which is run by former BBC senior content producer Louise Wikstrom whose social media posts have previously backed Labour and Jeremy Corbyn.
She told MailOnline: 'Ripples is proud to take a stand against biased news through this campaign, together with thousands of supporters who have written to GB News' advertisers to make their voices heard.'
There's more but that seems most relevant. I also appreciate that they identified at least one person using their social media to stop this toxic propaganda did so before the channel aired.
Take Sam Hill, a Corbynist who tweets as @witshituk.
On Sunday afternoon, he pledged to compile a 'boycott list' of companies whose commercials appeared on the network, urging followers to 'boycott every advertiser willing to support this toxic propaganda'.
There was but one problem: when he first posted that tweet, GB News had not broadcast a single programme. In other words, he was assuming that its output would be 'toxic' without having actually seen it!
I'm friends with some of his victims, and he's just fucking evil.
He'll send thousands of emails and texts a day, ring you all times of the day and night.
He even called one of his victim's elderly mum and tried to convince her that her child was suicidal and needed to be sent to mental hospital.
His main grift is his PayPal, he gets his viewers to send him money "to sue the BBC" when it's gone on clothes, hotels, new technology stuff and paying for thousands of "bot"followers on Twitter and YouTube.
He was chucked off gofundme for fraud, and it's just a general wrong piece of shit.
Jeremy Vine is suing him for libel, as he's accused him of stealing money from the BBC.
And his court case on the 1st July is for stalking and making threats.
Update (from someone who's been following this story obsessively for the last 3 days): There have been no new brands to join the leftard boycott of GB News.
Some, including Ikea and Money Supermarket (the guys who use Matt Berry in their ads), have even walked back on their previous promises to boycott.
Co-op is still based. But their sister company the Co-operative Bank is apparently one of the companies boycotting (I've heard nothing about this on Twitter, but Sargon says so, so I guess it must be true).
I'm not sure what spurred the change of heart, but I'd accept any two from:
All the companies that were going to pull their ads have done so already.
They realised most of the Twitter activists aren't actually in the demo that watches TV.
It turns out that Ripples Campaigning (one of two astroturf orgs that started the boycott) is run by a former BBC exec. Oops!
Also, GB News responded to it on air last night, in a confident enough manner that assures me they weren't hurt too badly, which is a relief.
It's pathetic that I even care because, as anyone would know from having watched it, they are only right-wing by broadcast television standards. And when they do make a point to lean right, it's the most boomer-level version of the anti-SJW crowd. It's also been pointed out that face of the station, Andrew Neil, is in favour of vaccination passports.
In my opinion, they are somewhat to the left of TalkRadio and (dare I say it) to the left of Tim Pool... which makes the leftist push to destroy them seem all the more desperate and pathetic.
It's great because at least one company, Vodaphone, basically had their social media team go rogue, promise to pull the ads from GB news before central corporate told them to shut the fuck up and "clarify" that they were doing the same as the Co-Op. Said media team is full of "purple and blue haired weirdos" according to one source and it seems Vodaphone is now interested in what the fuck their social media team is actually doing.
This is slowly happening in a number of companies who're noticing pushback against their usual pandering bollocks. Hornby recently enjoyed a storm with a truly goppingly awfully designed series of overpriced "Pride" wagons which people told them to piss off with and will probably be on sale before too long.
Everyone will focus on how the Lib Dems stole a Tory safe seat (Chesham and Amersham are full of posh London commuters, but the countryside around them is being dug up to build a high-speed railway, so Tories bad.) but I want to direct your attention towards the fourth row.
Labour at 1.6%, with a vote count in the triple digits.
Inb4 "the leftists voted tactically" - because I've been in constituencies where Lib Dems were the go-to option for tactical Labour voters. And Labour still never poll behind the Green Party.
Even in Tory strongholds, Labour still comes out ahead of the Greens, and almost always by a significant margin. I can't think of a single exception to this except for that one consituency (AKA British San Francisco) where the Green Party actually wins.
If you can point to any other time in history when the Green Party beat Labour, I'd love to know, because so far I haven't found one. Again, this says more about Labour than it does about the Greens. The latter actually did rather badly in this most recent by-election (down from 5.5% in the previous).
For what it's worth, Labour have kept their deposit (that is to say, they won more than 5% of the votes) in all 631 constituencies of England, Scotland and Wales in the 2017 election. For that matter, so did the Conservatives (with the other seven being in Northern Ireland). Source (archive).
This time they actually lost it. They weren't even close. Which makes this a much, much worse result for Labour than every single constituency in 2017 (Northern Ireland doesn't count).
I don't have the data for other years, but if anyone remembers the last time Labour lost its deposit, I'd love to know.
The next by-election is Batley and Spen next month, Jo Cox's former constituency. I'll be waiting with the popcorn.
The left wing vote is fracturing badly between the three main left wing parties, while the Tories have now locked up the right wing vote by shuffling their cards around a wee bit with only lead paint eaters still going for UKIP and ReformUK. If you're a middle class posho or Uni student you've just been turned off by Sir Stammer's cack handed attempt to embrace the british flag (because it represents all the evil racism of the world despite the chances of them seeing a minority being lower than most) so now you vote loopy Green Party. This has started in council seats and if, like the Greens, you build a powerbase from that, you eat into other votes.
If you got confused by Labour's two faced Brexit Policy and actually quite like the british flag, you're now attracted to the Johnsonist shuffle to the left and have fucked off to the Tories because at least they're consistent bastards.
If you were Labour inner city posho or Uni Student again, then again, off to the Greens you might go because you can't quite forgive the Lib Dems for shit like the student charges.
In several areas of the country, more blocks from the Labour strongholds will become squeezed in the crab buckets as each party tries to out-leftwing itself, which is going to increasingly turn off the smaller cities and anywhere without a non-based university (Namely the ones which told the N.U.S to fuck off).
Also, check the data in Chesham and Amersham, turnout was a solid 20% down. So don't expect the "blue wall" to crumble like the Lib Dumbs keep shrieking. When turnout returns to its normal range in the 70s, it will turn blue again. The Lib Dems always do well in bi-elections because they can focus fire on a single spot. When they have 600+ seats to challenge.... they vanish like sea foam and wind up with 15 MPs.
It's great because at least one company, Vodaphone, basically had their social media team go rogue, promise to pull the ads from GB news before central corporate told them to shut the fuck up and "clarify" that they were doing the same as the Co-Op. Said media team is full of "purple and blue haired weirdos" according to one source and it seems Vodaphone is now interested in what the fuck their social media team is actually doing.
This is slowly happening in a number of companies who're noticing pushback against their usual pandering bollocks. Hornby recently enjoyed a storm with a truly goppingly awfully designed series of overpriced "Pride" wagons which people told them to piss off with and will probably be on sale before too long.
The left wing vote is fracturing badly between the three main left wing parties, while the Tories have now locked up the right wing vote by shuffling their cards around a wee bit with only lead paint eaters still going for UKIP and ReformUK. If you're a middle class posho or Uni student you've just been turned off by Sir Stammer's cack handed attempt to embrace the british flag (because it represents all the evil racism of the world despite the chances of them seeing a minority being lower than most) so now you vote loopy Green Party. This has started in council seats and if, like the Greens, you build a powerbase from that, you eat into other votes.
If you got confused by Labour's two faced Brexit Policy and actually quite like the british flag, you're now attracted to the Johnsonist shuffle to the left and have fucked off to the Tories because at least they're consistent bastards.
If you were Labour inner city posho or Uni Student again, then again, off to the Greens you might go because you can't quite forgive the Lib Dems for shit like the student charges.
In several areas of the country, more blocks from the Labour strongholds will become squeezed in the crab buckets as each party tries to out-leftwing itself, which is going to increasingly turn off the smaller cities and anywhere without a non-based university (Namely the ones which told the N.U.S to fuck off).
Also, check the data in Chesham and Amersham, turnout was a solid 20% down. So don't expect the "blue wall" to crumble like the Lib Dumbs keep shrieking. When turnout returns to its normal range in the 70s, it will turn blue again. The Lib Dems always do well in bi-elections because they can focus fire on a single spot. When they have 600+ seats to challenge.... they vanish like sea foam and wind up with 15 MPs.
Amazing how in a few years two of the 3 main parties have self imploded. Remember in the early 2000s when the Lib Dems would get consistently 50 to 60 seats and weren't this complete laughing stock that demands to be taken seriously?
