Will you help my cat, Stan remove a Tory in Gillingham and Rainham? Donate generously now so we can get him onto the ballot paper for the General Election, giving them a genuine and compelling protest vote, splitting the vote and spelling Cat-astrophe for the Tories. Miaaaaooooowwwww.
We have decided to stand a cat for election in June 2024 to get the Tories out in my area of Medway (#GTTO), having done extraordinarily well in 2019 with a similar approach. Read why this is not a batshit or catshit crazy idea here. lease support the project by clicking on the crowdfunder link. We have until THURSDAY 13th June to make a decision to fully fund a mailing to 70 000 people in the constituency and we have no political backers.
GOALS
Stan the Cat will achieve one of three outcomes:
Suppress disaffected Tory voters who will not vote differently by getting them to vote for Stan.
Remove hard Tory voters by switching them toReform UK, thus splitting the Tory vote and allowing the tactical candidate to win.
Moving soft Tory voters by getting them to vote tactically for the recommended tactical voting party.
This is a carefully calibrated tactic based on deep knowledge of the area and expert level skills in canvassing. We will systematically target Tory voting areas and leave people alone who have already made a different choice other than the Tories.
What do we stand for?
Read our CATIFESTO below:
Blue Stan. Other colours are available. Click to BACK a CAT.
We are now registered as an independent candidate in Gillingham and Rainham for the General Election. Our aims are two fold:
To split the Tory vote there and allow the tactical candidate to win.
To make sure that the Brexit elephant in the room remains in on the cabinet table for the next Government to deal with.
We desperately need another £500 of support to fund our leaflet campaign for 70 000 people in the area. Please back us here.
The Brexit Elephant in the room.
Resources
Find our press release, our leaflet and a 250 word local press release below:
UCAT Press ReleaseUCAT Press Release
Peter Cook, Independent
Peter is a self-made Medway-born business-person and professional speaker, from Gillingham. He is standing Stan the cat for election, on the basis that it could do no worse than Rehman ‘n’ Rishi. Although this sounds mad, Peter is deadly serious about the need for a better Medway and better politics. Peter’s policies include:
Expand the Medway Tunnel for bicycle and pedestrian use, to boost the Medway economy.
End Brexit chaos. Apply to Rejoin the EU, to reclaim our seat at the top table, improve trade and our place in the world. Brexit created 4.5% GDP loss to Britain. Our cost of living crisis has its roots in Brexit, like trying to swim the channel with a 4.5kg block of concrete around your neck. We cannot grow Britain without addressing the Brexit elephant (cat) in the room.
Restore broken Medway communities. No new houses without infrastructure: doctors; schools; hubs; pubs etc. Rethink town centres, rather than letting them wither.
Prosecute criminal MPs and water companies. Justice for Post Office workers, contaminated blood victims, WASPI women etc.
Convert the Great Lines to a giant litter tray … oh wait a minute, they already are … let’s green and clean up our towns instead.
Vote for Peter if you are fed up with political incompetence and incontinence, just fed up with politics and politicians in general, or think Britain needs a reboot. As an independent, I have no party to serve, just people who deserve a better Medway.
We need a canvassing team next. I am organising a speakeasy meeting at “UCAT HQ” this coming Tuesday at the Frog and Toad in Gillingham from 7 pm and another on Wednesday, the Mackland Arms in Rainham from 7 pm and the 12 Degrees in Rochester Thursday 20th June from 7 pm.
I bumped into someone I used to know at open mic jam sessions the other week. I knew him as ‘shy Elvis’. A diffident individual who would only perform Elvis songs and then only after extensive rehearsal. At the time (maybe 10 years ago), he seemed intensely nervous and rather shy. He inhabited the persona of Elvis Presley with brylcreemed hair, sideburns and a rockabilly sense of fashion. Rooted in the 1950s but probably born in the late 70s or early 80s, he was something of an enigma.
Pump it up
I was in a local pharmacy where a much older Elvis was haranguing the local pharmacist. I could not help but listen as he had raised his voice considerably. It was clear that he was on a whole cocktail of medicines for anxiety, depression and a palette of what could be described as 21st century malaises. Several items of his medication were unavailable and the pharmacist was patiently explaining this to him. He was shouting “but I have to have medicine x, I have to have medicine y”. He became more aggressive towards the female pharmacist and she went off to investigate the possibility of securing supplies.
Micro Brexorcism
I interjected: “Hello Elvis”.
He did a double take. I reminded him about our acquaintance at jam sessions. He recognised me, so we had just a sliver of rapport.
I went on “Just to explain, she cannot get you the medicines as there are massive shortages due to Brexit”.
He barked back, having not really listened “I don’t care, I just want my drugs”.
I repeated calmly “Brexit is causing your shortages. She cannot help that”. The pharmacist had returned by that time and nodded privately to me.
Elvis then shouted again at her “I just came to get my drugs and I’m now getting a lecture about politics”.
I replied “I’m just trying to explain why you cannot get your medication”. The pharmacist nodded and then asked him to come back in a few days.
I would hazard an educated guess from my previous contact with “Elvis” that he probably voted for Brexit or perhaps did not vote at all and became cross that I had in effect connected his lived experience to the root cause of his problems. This is what we must do as part of a much longer Brexorcism process.
Ask Elvis …
Keep asking Brexiteers difficult questions using every opportunity.
There’s a lot to be done in the next six weeks in the run up to the General Election aka Independence Day. We have a one time opportunity to change the course of the future … this will not wait !! I am spreading my effort across a number of initiatives to meet several goals :
To remove the Tory majority and end the chaos of 14 years of Tory disaster capitalism jet propelled by Brexit.
To introduce more plurality in Parliament and make sure that Brexit and Joining the EU anew remains on the agenda.
To this end, we have several collaborative projects which you must join:
Getleafletting
To get a minimum of 500 000 of our ABC (Anyone But Conservative) leaflets out to various constituencies. Please order yours NOW by mailing me at reboot@brexitrage.com Guide prices : 500 = £42, 2000 = £67, 5000 £100 etc. These are non-party campaigning leaflets, perfectly legal to use alongside regular campaigning. We need a small army of people to get these leaflets out. If you cannot deliver leaflets but want to get the Tories out, please send money so that we can buy the needed leaflets and resource distribution. By sponsoring others, you will get digital copies of the leaflet to use on social media and in other communications.
Mail us to get your leaflets.Mail us to get your leaflets.
Boots on the ground – Epsom, Ewell and Leatherhead
We will support Helen Maguire on the ground and online in Epsom, Ewell and Leatherhead. The area is Chris “Failing” Grayling’s constituency and the new Tory candidate is a Trump supporter with a reliable track record of losing elections!! Having worked on the ground in Epsom, Ewell and Leatherhead for Gina Miller, I have determined that the area is a two horse race between The Lib Dems and one nation Tories. As such and having done some due diligence on the situation I can no longer support Gina Miller’s party in Epsom, as I believe it will split the vote to stop the Tories. To help the Lib Dems to win this seat in the blue wall on the ground, online or both, please mail me at reboot@brexitrage.com
Helen Maguire’s pitch.
I plan a meeting to discuss the GE at the Ewell Tap on Thursday May 30th. This is the same day as BBC Question Time.
Boots on the ground – Rejoin Party
We will support the Rejoin Party in Sidcup and Bexley and in other places where they are standing. Rejoin are fresh from a massive vote in the London Assembly Elections and will publish their target seats soon. Who’s in for this?
Rejoin EU.
Boots on the ground – The Climate Party
The Climate Party are a small party with an excellent strategy to target centre-right voters who are concerned about sustainable development and environment but with a pragmatic view of how Britain may seize the initiative from zero carbon politics. Ed Gemmill leads the party. They seek candidates and volunteers and are willing to pay the deposit for standing in July 4th. See Change the Climate. Ed is himself targeting “Brexit Hardman” Steve Baker’s constituency of High Wycombe, a worthy target for a man who has done so much damage to Britain. If you can help in target seats below, get in touch via info@theclimate.party We are especially interested in candidates in the following areas below but if you have vim and vigour, please apply anyway.
One mission, One vision.
Target Seats,
Swap My Vote
Maximise your vote in an unfair system by swapping it. It’s perfectly legal and decent in a broken FPTP system. Find our more at Swap My Vote.
Collaborate to win
Join us at 8 pm Monday 27 May on ZOOM via this link to discuss plans to change the course of history at the election.
This from Paul Cawthorne in Italy, an economist, international consultant and long-term member of Reboot Britain. Image by Patricia Paton, Editor Bylines Scotland, from the related article Hard Labour, which you shoud read in conjunction with this piece.
Labour’s current “Make Brexit Work” policy is seriously flawed and, at best, will have no positive or negative impacts on their immediate electoral prospects. Labour is going to win power because the Tories are imploding after 14 damaging years (including Brexit) and Labour are now more trusted on all the key bread-and-butter issues (the NHS, the economy etc). Labour will win the general election despite, not because of, its unnecessary “no rejoining” red lines. If Starmer left the door open to rejoining the single market and customs union he would still be winning the election by a large margin.
Key factors
1. Poor advice based on outdated (2019) focus groups and internal polling data.
2. Overestimation of the enduring support for a hard Tory Brexit in the so-called Red Wall. Confirmed by John Curtice.
3. Underestimation of the the impact of Brexit’s evident failure on public opinion. See also The Sun’s reaction to the £5 Billion wasted on border checks just yesterday.
4. Underestimation of the impact of demographic changes on the electorate.
5. Overblown fear of the reaction of Tory tabloids to any perceived watering down of Brexit. See The Sun yesterday and the Telegraph.
6. Misplaced belief that “Make Brexit Work” will be a convincing winning 3-word slogan in 2024.
7. Nostalgic belief that Labour is still essentially a “working class” party and needs to prioritise at all costs the views and prejudices of these traditional “core supporters”.
The run up to an election is a critical time to influence politicians. Make sure you tell your Labour MP or candidate that your support is conditional on a change on policy.
Share relevant articles that accord with Paul’s analysis.
Expect better. Remainers are all too often on the back foot.
Postscript
I ambushed Keir Starmer this morning (23.05.24) at Gillingham Football ground with a message about Brexit and Rejoining the EU. It went down rather well with Labour activists. A few locals scowled as is normal in the area when Brexit is mentioned. My message was short as there are always just a few seconds to make your point in such circumstances : “Brexit is a game of two halves. Let’s make sure Mr Starmer is not on the losing side in the Euros”.
In a complete change, this article is NOT about Brexit. Instead, this is about the seemingly mundane issue of OAP bus passes!! Once a week I indulge myself and take a bus ride to Maidstone to play music in an open mic jam session. I used to travel by bicycle and train, but recently got an old git’s bus pass. I discovered that the journey is almost door to door, takes less time than the bicycle / train combo, I can get the last bus at 23.15 when the train leaves at 23.03 making it all a bit less rushed and the journey costs me nothing … or so I thought …
I have to give a bit of context for those that don’t live here first: The 101 bus runs from Gillingham in Kent to Maidstone in Kent. It is run by Arriva bus. Gillingham is part of the Medway unitary authority whereas Maidstone is part of Kent County Council. There is no border control when the bus passes from Medway to Kent and vice versa. Given what took place the other day, perhaps there should be (joke).
Medway Council’s OAP bus scheme tells me that I must not travel before 9.00 am but can travel freely all day from then on. This is the same as in London which is much busier. Kent County Council’s OAP bus scheme says that I can not travel free after 11.00 pm. You may be thinking “perhaps the buses are crowded?” NO – there were just 7 people on my bus and it is fairly empty most times that I have used it. You may also be thinking “perhaps they have a night bus scheme?” NO – as far as I can tell there are only buses after 11 pm in town centres. Only one runs to Gillingham and another to Tunbridge Wells.
On the evening in question I got on as usual and the young driver said that my pass was not valid after 11 pm. I explained that it was a Medway Bus Pass and the T&C’s indicated otherwise. I said I would find them and show him. A couple of stops later, I did so. He continued to argue, saying that the bus was in Kent and not Medway. I explained that the bus had come from Medway, is garaged in Medway and I am from Medway. I offered to get some money from a cashpoint on my return to the destination. He accepted that.
A few more stops on and he stopped the bus, got out and made a phone call (presumably to his boss). This took several minutes and I presume he hoped that this would irritate the other passengers and that they would apply social pressure to me. They did not. He got back in the bus and went through the same arguments and I in return repeated my offer to pay him at the end point. He carried on driving.
We arrived in Chatham bus station and I asked him to wait whilst I got some money. He refused to do so, so I got off and got a local bus home. The driver of the second bus thought the whole episode ridiculous given the fare lost (£2.00) and the fact that none of the buses have passengers at this time of night and so on.
Should Kent County Council operate a border post between Medway and Kent to collect the £2.00? OR
Should Kent County Council bring Esther McVey down, the so called Minister for Lanyards to declare the night time charges void? OR
Should I stay at home, drink Ovaltine, empty my bed pan and colostomy bag (joke) in the evenings instead of going out? Is this the end game?
Postscript
I called Arriva and they confirmed that my pass was valid until midnight in Kent and Medway. The driver was wrong as is the person who has commented on this article. See Arriva. The chap at Arriva was very nice and told me that they recently recruited a number of young drivers. He promised to make sure that the driver understood the policy.
None of the other bus drivers have charged me since I have been using the service of late.
I called Kent County Council and they are officially confused, despite my pointing out that they have virtually no buses after 23.00 and virtually no passengers !!! Arriva have a different rule for Kent / Medway compared with Kent / Surrey, not that one could get to Surrey from Kent at 23.00 !!
Worth moving to Merseyside …
Some people on a bus forum think I simply don’t want to pay the £2.00 and think I’m lucky to have a bus service at all. I don’t care if it’s £2.00 or £200 – I expect things to be right. It’s utterly ridiculous – for 30 years I have heard the term ‘joined-up thinking’ in public services. We need joined up doing.
PostscriptII
I was reminded to write this post about buses the other day by some chap on Facebook who thought that I ascribed everything bad in the world as being down to Brexit. I don’t. I had replied to a post by the Labour party that many of our problems had their roots partly or wholly in Brexit. Richard Carbyn had replied below suggesting that a lack of flowers, parking price rises, disappearing road sweepers and a bad bus service were all the products of Brexit. They are not and yet Brexit induced austerity and lack of people who wish to work will have contributed to England’s decline now I think about it! Back to Brexit tomorrow !!
I imagine Richard will enjoy this clip from On The Buses. Presumably he wants things moved back to the 1950’s? Watneys’ Red Barrel, Ricketts, Thalidomide, faggots, straight glasses, pints, pecks and stones … that sort of thing.
I know that Brexiteers have short memories, some because they have died since 2016, but Michael Gove promised us frictionless trade, only sunny uplands with no downsides from Brexit. It seems that Gove lied. Brexit has moved Britain from frictionless trade to rough trade. Please spend 20 minutes watching Michael Lambert’s report on the matter at the end of this article – it’s well worth your time. Some highlights follow:
Rough Trade
Veterinary checks at the border are expected to add 0.2% to inflation, plus of course delays and shortages of perishable goods such as meat and veg. BBC Tory cheerleader Amol Rajan tried to make light of this on the Today programme on Monday 20 May, yet of course, it’s all totally unnecessary. In any case, 0.2% from one single issue in an instant hit is rather a lot really, certainly a lot more than the 0.08% over 10 years expected to accrue from Kemi Badenoch’s overblown CPTPP trade deal !!
Then there is the impact on haulage companies. Ciaran the Euro Courier reports on the insane practices being used at Sevington:
There is no water at the purpose built facility, apart from a tap in the toilets, no food and no option to leave the facility to get food and drink. You may be stuck there for days, especially if you arrive late in the day as the facility only operates 12 hours a day in a 24/7 logistics business. This makes onwards journeys much more dangerous for the driver and, of course, other motorists.
The inspection process compares (poorly) with prison. It is designed to be intimidating. No one speaks to you. This is nothing like the process at Calais. It is designed to be intimidating. No wonder many drivers don’t come back.
This will impact our food security despite the many mitigations, cover ups and pieces of gaslighting that will be employed to distract us. Even the fucking Torygraph and The Sun have reported that Brexit border checks will cost us £4.7 BILLION. Try measuring that in nurses, carers and fruit pickers !! To avoid upsetting their readers, the Son are now calling it BREX !!
Greenbelt …. Kent – The Lorry Park of England.
Did you vote to waste £4.7 BILLION of YOUR money on this?
All the while, the whole HMRC process is meaningless in terms of what it intends to achieve. There is 22 miles between the Sevington facility and the port of Dover. You are free to pick up migrants, contraband and additional goods if you so wish. Brexit is pointless. A tragic comedy of errors.
Pop will
Well worth your time. The work of Michael Lambert.
Most people now realise that Brexit was a mistake. Make sure politicians hear you loud and clear in the run up to the GE, especially Labour. Write to them today. It matters not whether they respond or whether you like them or not.
The Labour Party knocked on my door at the weekend. An extremely pleasant man began the canvassing by introducing himself and then asked me if I had any local issues that were troubling me. I replied with one word : BREXIT. I also apologised later on for telling him things he probably did not want to hear. He seemed fine with that and our conversation was cordial. Some of the hoops we jumped through are here for the record.
I began by explaining that I was finding it hard to vote for a Brexit party and revealed that I knew some senior Labour people who had told me that they would commence Rejoining in 2032. I explained that nobody would know what Brexit was by then and, in any case, the damage wreaked by Brexit would be mostly complete and much of it irreversible. I went through my usual argument that growth was for the birds, with a 4.5% resilience knock from Brexit, akin to trying to swim the English Channel with a 4.5 kg block of concrete around one’s neck.
Brexit resilence concrete
He listened carefully and then tried a few gentle pieces of pushback:
“Well the Conservatives won’t reverse Brexit” … I replied that I was not so sure, citing the fact that there was evidence of incremental movement to undo some of the worst elements of Johnson’s Brexit deal via the Windsor framework and our rejoining the Horizon science scheme. I went to point out that David Cameron had not come back to politics for a game of tennis and that one scenario would see Cameron pivoting towards the centre leaving the ERG loons in a boat on the Channel. I pointed him towards our articles Tectonic Plates and Cameron.
He went on to say “But the Tories will pivot towards the far right” … Again, I had to disagree, citing my appearance on James ‘O Brien, where I said that the votes were in the centre and that whilst it may appear that the far right are in ascendancy, this was only due to the loudest voices on MSM, such as Braverman and was not supported by the numbers. He nodded. I went on to say that Labour now have a major PR problem, having decided to partner with someone who supports sex pests and who relishes the thought of drowning children in the English Channel.
He found it very hard to argue against this recent development with Nathalie Elf Thick, but did ask me “What was Keir Starmer supposed to do?” … I replied that he should have simply thanked her for her kind offer and politely declined. Elphicke’s arrival in Labour offers them few advantages but also may cause them significant problems. I have wondered if she has actually been sent in under a false flag. We shall see. It seems rather fishy that the Tories instantly denounced her. Smells like a double bluff to me.
My canvasser’s parting shot was that he’d put me down as a floating voter, after I said that I may even have to hold my nose and vote Tory if Labour would not change its position on Brexit. I explained that Brexit was at the heart of many of the things he was hoping I might talk about (cost of living, NHS, migration etc.) and showed him my Brexit iceberg in the window of my house. It was a bit like doing a slightly nerdy keynote address with a poster in my window instead of a PowerPoint visual !!
The Brexit Iceberg.
I am hoping that he’ll report all of this back up the channels to Labour strategists. I was really impressed at our dialogue and how well he listened and constructively challenged me.
On the other hand, I heard from one of our group that Labour are banning posts on their Facebook groups that mention words like Erasmus, Horizon, ULEZ, Brexit etc. Labour are just as bad as the Tories in terms of censorship. I’m pleased to say that this has not extended to my local fb group, although the levels of misinformation are beyond comparison in the group. Some examples are below:
There are still industrial levels of misinformation out there. Don’t be like Steve.
Never give your voting intention away as you lose power to influence policy by doing so. I am still contemplating standing a candidate for the Rejoin party or possibly a cat again.
With your help, the Rejoin Party retained their deposit and came 6th overall in the London Assembly elections. Support also fell away from UKIP and the far right with Britain First and The Heritage party losing their deposits This is a wonderful result and your votes and shares of the campaign undoubtedly contributed to this result. A big thank you !!!
See the note below from the leader of the Rejoin Party. Why not join Rejoin for the next battle aka the General Election?
Hey Peter,
Just wanted to say a big “thank you” for all your help and support during the election campaign.
You may have heard we managed to keep our deposit for the first time ever (🥳) – by just 611 votes!
What you may not have heard is that this forces the BBC to redesignate us a “party with significant support” in London (one of just 6 parties! Us and the “usual suspects”). This in turn means over the next 4 years we should be able to force the BBC to have “reverse Brexit” commentator on in London at least (in theory!)
Anyway, thanks once again for all your help and support – those 611 crucial votes only came out of our very low budget campaign!
The London Assembly elections take place soon. If you vote strategically, you will be able to send a strong message to the whole of the country that we wish to Rejoin the EU. This will not affect the election of Sadiq Khan as Mayor. Let me explain how:
Three votes
You have three votes : Tier 1 : Mayor, Tier 2 : constituency London Assembly Member, and Tier 3 : London-wide Assembly Members. Each election operates under different rules and therefore you don’t have to split the vote for Major in order to give your third vote to the Rejoin Party candidates. Tier 1 and 2 operate under the First Past the Post (FPTP) system, whereas Tier 3 operates under a D’Hondt based proportional system. This is where Rejoin candidates are standing. Thus a vote for Rejoin is NON-DESTRUCTIVE in terms of the vote for London Mayor. Read the rules at The Electoral Commission.
Find out more via The Rejoin Party.
Vote to Rejoin EU on May 2
Show your support
Help The Rejoin Party at their campaign events:
Fri 12 April : Soho and Fitzrovia : 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM Soho Square Gardens W1D 4NR
Sat 13 April : Notting Hill and Portobello Road :11:00 AM – 2:00 PM Portobello Road Market, near Notting Hill Gate W11 1AN
Sun 14 April : Hackney: 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM: Hackney Central, Broadway Market E8 4PH
Mon 15 April : University College London (UCL) and Surrounding Area: 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM Malet Place, near UCL Main Quad WC1E 6BT
Wed 17 April : London School of Economics (LSE) and Surrounding Area: 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM Sheffield Street, outside LSE Old Building WC2A 2AE
Thur 18 April : Islington: 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Angel Central Shopping Centre N1 0PS
Sat 20 April : Shoreditch and Hoxton: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM Shoreditch High Street, near Boxpark E1 6JE
Sun 21 April : South Bank and Waterloo: 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM Near the Southbank Centre Book Market SE1 8XX
Fri 26 April : King’s Cross and St Pancras International: 7:00 AM – 10:00 AM Near the entrance to the international departures N1C 4QP
Sat 27 April : Camden Market and Surrounds: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Camden Lock Place, near the food market NW1 8AF
Mon 29 April Kings College London (KCL) : 12.00 – 2.00 PM Surrey Street WC2R 2LS
Tues 30 April London School of Economics 12.00 – 2.00 PM Sheffield Street WC2A 2AE
Wed 1 May University College London (UCL) 12.00 – 2.00 PM Malet Street WC1E 6BT
Use your 3rd vote for Rejoin party candidates, without splitting an anti-Brexit votefor Sadiq Khan
