At long bloody last

[Alsohuman]

Theresa May’s resigned.

I think it's awful

the only person willing to take on the job

backstabbed into resigning

who on earth will appear next?

@LadyRannaldini - What would anyone else of whatever party have done to try and negotiate with the people who won't negotiate and are terrified that the UK will leave and they'll have to pick up the slack? Had it been Greece wanting to leave they would have held the door open!

Seriously? The EU have bent over backwards to negotiate with the UK. They have rightly insisted the GFA should be protected and they have also, rightly, insisted the 4 pillars should not be split, as to do so, would give the UK a better deal than members.

The current mess is due to TM's red lines. It is impossible to deliver what has been demanded without contravening the GFA. That is the reason for the backstop. It gives the rest of the UK what they demanded but protects the GFA in the only way possible.

Best news until the next chapter begins. Brexit book with no ending!

I don't feel sorry for her.
I'm glad she's resigned.
But I do fear enormously what will happen next - which one of the braying cunts will take over. None of them are any "better" than her and some are many levels worse.

Scary times.

I have a small amount of sympathy for May over Brexit because it is an utter clusterfuck that no one could deliver without significant economic and political (thinking NI, probable Scottish independence) harm.

I have no sympathy for her when I think of the 'hostile environment', Windrush deportations or the thousands of people dying within weeks of being found fit for work under the punitive and cruel benefits regime continued on her watch. She has no empathy for me and mine, I struggle to find empathy for her crocodile tears.

I despise Cameron even more than I did now. (Not that I liked May, but she had no chance anyway.)

Technically she has announced that she will resign in 2 weeks time, after which she will continue in her job until her successor is chosen.

Ordinarily you would expect resignations to be immediate and the deputy PM to hold the fort, but she never appointed a deputy prime minister, which I think is telling of the closed-shop way in which she ran the country.

I don't think Boris is PM material. He is slap-dash and has a poor personal record. I was also extremely irritated about his lack of professionalism over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. However, the evidence (as opposed to the empty slurs) show that he is not the far-right extremist some have portrayed him as over the last 3 years. He prevaricated over whether to support leave or remain. He has fairly ordinary Conservative party political views. And he has been honest about wanting the top job, which is better than those who pretend they don't when it is really their secret ambition. I am not a Conservative, so I don't get a say, but I would vote for Boris over Jeremy Hunt or Michael Gove, which just highlights how low the quality is among high profile politicians.

well no deal isn't a catastrophe, and it's now the only possible outcome I can see.

@Gth1234 - well no deal isn't a catastrophe, and it's now the only possible outcome I can see.

Can you give me a quick summary of what you are basing this on? Pretty much everything I have read have suggested no deal will be extremely damaging to the economy, the GFA etc. What will be the non-catastrophic outcomes of no deal?

If she moves quickly she might get on to the next series of Strictly.

There's still no plan and scapegoating cannot disguise that fact, who has an alternative plan who has even considered one rather than sitting on arse mud slinging and doing nothing
Yet to read any proposal that will benefit the Country by leaving anyway

You think things are bad now just wait until Boris is in charge and he accidentally declares war on the Isle of Wight

@Isthisafreename

why would no deal not work? If we had never joined the EU, we would have no deal. We wouldn't be a basket case, would we? We might still have purchase tax, rather than the ridiculous VAT.

It's just a matter of working hard to make pulling out a success. Failing to work hard makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

anything else is just scaremongering.

why would no deal not work? If we had never joined the EU, we would have no deal

haha you aren't honestly serious. That is your argument! Priceless.

I agree with done on page 1 as well

f we had never joined the EU, we would have no deal. We wouldn't be a basket case, would we? We might still have purchase tax, rather than the ridiculous VAT.

Seriously? Your answer is that we go back to the 1970s and pretend nothing happened?

Yet again, the Brexit voter conforms to stereotypes ...

Corbyn now needs to go. Someone like Starmer would make mincemeat of Johnson, but Corbyn will give him a free pass.

@Gth1234 - why would no deal not work? If we had never joined the EU, we would have no deal. We wouldn't be a basket case, would we?

I really hope you are taking the piss with that reply. Otherwise, your level of ignorance on trade is shocking, and quite frankly, scary.

If the UK had not joined the EU, the UK would have trade deals with all the countries that they trade with, including the EU. You would not be trading on WTO terms with your trading partners. Nobody does as it is not beneficial.

The UK is currently a beneficiary of all trade deals the EU is party to. With no deal, that will no longer be the case and the UK will be on WTO terms until deals are worked out with each and every country they wish to trade with. Deals, other that very basic ones, take years to complete. Deals are also completed with both parties aiming to get the best possible deal they can. That works well if both parties are on a relatively equal footing. However, once out of the EU, the UK will not be as powerful or as influential as the EU, the US, China etc so will be in a worse bargaining position than they are as part of the EU. That makes it unlikely any other country will broker a deal that matches, or improves on, the deal that country has with the EU.

It's just a matter of working hard to make pulling out a success. Failing to work hard makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Right. That's similar to telling a cancer patient that it's just a matter of praying really hard to cure themselves. Failing to pray hard makes dying a self-fulfilling prophesy.

It doesn't matter how hard you work, you cannot magic up several hundred trade deals overnight. It takes time. Lots of time. While working hard to get those trade deals, the UK is operating under WTO terms which will be catastrophic for the UK economy.

Whooo hooo .... yippee!

Very funny article from Marina Hyde:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/24/theresa-may-tory-downing-street-leadership-contest

I liked the reference to "Downing Street’s Norma Desmond", among many others.

Excellent articl, thank you @LordBuckley.

I must say, May's extolling of the virtues of compromise had my eyebrows climbing off the top of my head.

Wonder if she's seen the exit polls from yesterday . . .

I agree with Genevieva. I would rather have Boris than Hunt or Gove. They are the personification of evil imo.

@Acis that's an interesting point. Was just musing on what could possibly stop boris now taking over and throwing us under a bus and I think this might be the only hope.