The Westministenders Hunger Games continues. Boris still trying not to be outmanoevered.

[RedToothBrush]

Clearly Boris didn't get the memo, on when to quit the power games, even after Gove schooled him in the dark arts of the Tory Leadership....

So the Tory Smackdown rolls on whilst Corbyn STILL clings on. UKIP has now entered the race to make a challenge for who can make the biggest leadership contest shambles.

In The Blue Corner
May strikes fear into the hearts of EU citizens as she counts her bargaining chips.
Gove strikes fear into the hearts of humans, with his Martian twitch.
Loathsom strikes fear in the hearts of Britains by talking about babies brains.
Crabb strikes fear into the hearts of Torys by suggesting a plan that Corbyn might like. (and that beard doesn't help).
And Fox.
Well he just turned up.

Johnson is still waiting in the wings to stab Gove. He'd quite fancy a seat at the cabinet table too.
Osborne has gone quite again and we wait with baited breathe to see if he is the 'Charlie off Casualty' of the Tory Party (y'know whatever happens he somehow survives like a cockroach).

In The Red Corner
Corbyn apologies. So we know he's getting a bit desperate.
Will the Unions figure out something else to do other than sit with their head in hands.
Angela Eagle is still doing jellyfish impressions and hasn't found that backbone.
We STILL don't know who the fuck Owen Smith is?
Will Bliar's chicken's finally come home to roost?
The Cult of Momentum, rumbles on. We aren't quite sure who they actually vote for, but they seem to like their Dear Leader.
When will this country next have an opposition party?

Its kinda getting boring guys, we need some action now. End the Chicken Coup! The Tories are definitely out doing in the high drama stakes.

In the Purple Corner
Farage has gone! Hurrah. We hope only that he stays under that rock.
(Don't count on it. They'll wheel him out when they need publicity)
Will Leadsom be elected leader? Oh sorry, wrong party. I was getting confused for a second there.
Will they throw the cuckoo Carswell out? [:)]
Will they be able to find a less offensive leader than Farage who can unite them in their common goal of errrr..... yeah. That.
How long before one of their candidates has to apologise for something?

And I suppose I should ask, when will a50 be triggered....? And by whom?

All these questions and more.
Sense of humour compulsory. No experience necessary though

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2670552-Has-Boris-been-outmanoeuvred?pg=1 Previous thread 1

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2672388-Has-Boris-been-outmanoevered-Will-someone-please-tell-me-who-is-in-charge Previous thread 2

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/a2673982-Have-Boris-and-Jeremy-been-stabbed-in-the-back-Please-can-we-have-some-leaders Previous thread 3

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2675432-Boris-outmaneovered-Et-tu-Gove-Corbyn-The-Westministenders-Hunger-Games-Continues? Previous thread 4

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron says:

Blair was fixated in joining Bush in going to war in Iraq regardless of the evidence, the legality or the serious potential consequences. Daesh [so-called Islamic State] has arisen from the complete absence of any post conflict planning by the government.

Charles Kennedy's judgement has been vindicated in every respect. I hope those in the Labour and Conservative parties who were so forceful in their criticism of him and the Liberal Democrats at the time are equally forceful in their acknowledgements today that he was right."

Far from being Bush's passenger, Blair was his co-pilot in taking this catastrophic decision which has destabilised Iraq, provided the hotbed for Daesh and tarnished Britain's reputation around the world."

RIP Charles Kennedy.

From the Russian Embassy re Chilcot.

Cameron challenged on 'fiscal rule'

House of Commons
Parliament
Posted at
12:13
"Will he now confirm that the chancellor's fiscal rule is dead?" Jeremy Corbyn asks the prime minister. He also asks if the government will invest in deprived areas.

David Cameron says the Labour leader has "the biggest job-creation scheme" with "almost everyone I see behind him" having a chance to serve in his shadow cabinet.

It gives me no great pleasure to say I sat and argued the case against the Iraq invasion with all my Labour and Tory friends. I was / am with George Galloway on this issue. It is my opinion that almost all MPs on both sides who voted in favour knew full well the dossier was dodgy and tacitly agreed with the Bush/Blair regime change stance. Hilary Benn's speech on current military action and the support it garnered leads me to believe nothing much has changed.

Nice to see Cameron has already "checked out" and is happy to make jokes at Corbyn's expense when the subject is people who are struggling financially. What an utter prat.

Chilcot:

"The judgements about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction – WMD – were presented with a certainty that was not justified."

The 'severity' as described in the motion for invasion...

This House ...recognises that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and long range missiles, and its continuing non-compliance with Security Council Resolutions, pose a threat to international peace and security.

No surprises there but Blair (and Campbell's) furtiveness in providing justification for action destroyed Labour.

I don't think Cameron gets some of the reasons why people voted Leave. Mocking Corbyn just adds fuel to the fire.

Just personally, I'm interested to see what Sadiq Khan has to say.

The only Iraqi I've ever known well also agreed with regime change.

According to him, Saddam's brutality was ignored for far too long by countries who had a vested interest in it.

Obviously he was one man and had his own experiences and interests.

But he had very little patience for being lectured by leftwing Europeans about how his country should have been left to its brutal dictator.

And Cameron reinforces all the reasons why he is disliked in the space of about 3 minutes.

His Commons Statement on Iraq due in 5mins

DoIt,

The reasons I most objected to Iraq was the lack of proper planning afterwards and the fact that the UN was not supporting it. It was the management of the decision over and above the war itself. The power vacuum issue is one that was raised prior to the invasion. It was not one that came retrospectively.

PM 'agrees to two day debate on Chilcot'
Huffington Post politics editor tweets...
Posted at
12:27
Follow
Paul Waugh ✔ @paulwaugh
David Cameron will announce at 12.30pm that he's agreed to LD Tom Brake request for 2 day Commons debate on #ChilcotReport
12:07 PM - 6 Jul 2016

Corporation tax attack
Prime Minister's questions

House of Commons
Parliament
Posted at
12:34
Former shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves
BBC
Former shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves rails against planned cuts to corporation tax.

Companies look at whether they they can make a profit in the UK, not how much tax they will make on it, she argues.

She calls on the government to "protect peoples jobs and livelihoods right now".

David Cameron points to the "immediate action of the Bank of England" to soothe markets.

On corporation tax he says what "we need to make sure we can figure all our policies to take advantage of the situation we are in", he adds.

Well, DC has been given an easy ride at PMQs. Expected Corbyn to go in with both barrels. Wonder if that's a procedural issue, i.e. would not be allowed given that DC had already asked to make a statement. Shame. I was looking forward to some fireworks.

RIP Kennedy indeed. Diane Abbott on his 2003 speech:

For one brief, shining moment people saw a party leader ignore the spin doctors and take a decision purely on principle. If more of my fellow politicians were prepared to do this, people’s confidence in Westminster would be so much greater.

I wonder if Corbyn will deliver what everyone has been expecting for the past week...

...if he doesn't that will be revealing too. It will raise questions about the cult status he currently has.

He's reading some of his statement like he's never seen it before.

Yes, I think he sounds seriously off his game too. The content is good though.

TheBathroomSink he was advised:www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/chilcot-report-jeremy-corbyn-dont-criticise-tony-blair-iraq-war-wmd-labour-a7122156.html
So far I'm finding this, for the most part, very measured.

I wonder if he is reading it verbatim to walk a careful legal line, rather than allow himself to accidentally step over into saying something he is not allowed to say without legal reprisals. ?

I would very much like to see a list of which MPs supported the war in Iraq.

He's in the commons. Legal reprisals of that nature are limited (different rules on what you can say and what you can be prosecuted for - see parliamentary privilege).

However yes, he certainly could be pulled up on a slip, which is not what he really needs now.

Sure, but lots and lots and lots of people who opposed the war opposed it under any circumstances and thought it was better that the Iraqis suffered under their "strong man" than that anything was done to help the populations he was brutalising.

There was a lot of presenting pragmatism or.outright self interest as moral rectitude.

I marched against the war. Right behind me were the Sinn Féiners with their "No bombs for oil" signs.

There was a US government who were going in no matter what.

We were all powerless and trying to figure out the best position to take.

Very old BBC page on who voted which way

I would very much like to see a list of which MPs supported the war in Iraq.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2802819.stm
Done!