Westminstenders Continues. Boris is having a bad week. Corbyn resists. Its gonna be a long summer.

[RedToothBrush]

THE BREXIT FALLOUT CONTINUES - THREAD ELEVEN

The dust is beginning to settle and the storm has abated. At least for the moment. The summer is about to start, and so there may be a break in proceeding.

May has had quite a first week both here and abroad.

The ground has not stopped shaking from the political ripples abroad. Made PM on Weds, Nice on Thursday and a failed coup in Turkey on Friday. The political landscape has changed once again.

At home she first cleared out the Govians and called for loyalty. She channelled the ghost of Maggie at the despatch box. She started the process of trying to make friends with Scots, Germans and the French. She is apparently now Merkel's bestie. Sturgeon is already ousted from that position after just days.

Boris, meanwhile has been rinsed by everyone he speaks to because of what he's said in the past. He's also given up his chickfeed job. Oh the hardship.

Now he looking like he's starting to regret deciding to play with the grown up. He's been trying - and it would seem, largely failing - at sucking up to the Americans. There's still no apology, but he has admitted that he has a list that is so long that he's lost track of what he needs to apologise for. I bet he's wishing for his playmates, Dave and George to come back.

Otherwise life carries on as normal, well this alternate new version of normal, with parliament breaking for the summer today. Don't worry the Martian landing is scheduled for a week Tuesday.

UKIP's polling seems to have dropped back post referendum, and things have gone rather quiet. Wolfe, Etheridge, Duffy and Arnott are all standing (Who? When did that happen? Yeah quite. Without Farage they disappeared). They plan to reform and make an assault on seats in the Labour heartlands of the provisional NW, Midlands and NE at the next general election. Hustings in August, new leader announced Sept 15th. Looks of thinly and not so thinly veiled racism to look forward to there then. The Daily Mail best make sure it upgrades its servers in time.

The Labour contest grinds on like a war of attrition. Stalking horse Angela fell at the first fence as Owen Smith (that's the MP not the journalist everyone including the media!) wins the dream unity candidate ticket for an apparent hiding to nothing against the steely stubbornness of Corbyn. Everyone with a pulse is starting to loose the will to live with it all.

The Lib Dems, have a Spokesman for Remain. Old Cleggy's back! Otherwise they seem to have been trying to do a deluded impression of the opposition party. Though with 8 MPs they aren't doing much better or worse than Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet atm.

The Green are having a leadership battle too. It must be very civilised - I've heard not a word about it. Lucas tried to get a vote about PR though the Commons. It failed. Again.

There also is a cross party idea to set up a new iniative of a progressive movement to champion Europe, which seems to be gaining some traction. It may also double as a support group for anyone who thinks the world has gone a bit nuts lately at this rate.

The SNP are pissed off, as they vow differently on everything and once again they feel that Trident has been imposed on them. Sturgeon had a good meeting with May though, and apparently the Union must remain and Scotland holds the key to the future. Though we don't know the key to which door that is - Braveheart or Brave New World.

The Republic of Ireland is making noises about a referendum about Irish Unity, but beyond that nothing about NI has really been on the radar. May is supposed to go visiting soon.

And the Welsh? Baaaaa who cares about the welsh? They made the mistake of voting Leave as well as the English and now have been forgotten, consigned to political irrelevance forever.

Article 50 has been pushed back officially until the New Year, with a first legal hearing on how to activate it due no sooner than the 3rd week in October. Leaving the EU legally will now be no earlier than 2019.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2685902-Westminstenders-Contines-Boris-outmaneovered-everyone-Now-War-and-Peace?pg=1 Previous Thread TEN

I was impressed by Baroness Warsi's condemnation of the racist and xenophobic London Mayoral campaign and the Leave campaign. However, that was always edged by disapproval of/concern over her earlier homophobia. I'm delighted to say that she has stepped away from that, very firmly in this short statement, calling politicians to account for racism and xenophobia .

They are talking about talks and concessions in the last few days leading to the Referendum, not the February talks.

Sorry, didn't realise. Makes me even more angry as to what a complete T*sser Cameron was.

That's shocking information.

The more I think about it, the more I get upset.

What clever wankery was that?

Cameron really does appear to be that much of an idiot.

Calling the referendum; mis-reading the public mood; pulling punches (with regard to going after Gove and Johnson) during the campaign; simply not understanding the impact of a hostile, right-wing press when in full cry (did he never really think about the support it gave his election campaigns? .

Yes, he very much looks as though he was that much of an idiot.

Now I want to know what it was.

I don't think it will help future negotiation though, if anything it will make them harder.
There was something on offer provided we didn't leave, it was to save the EU, we left, so it's all off, there's nothing to save, the rest of the EU needs to save themselves.

I'm pessimistic in the light of this.

Yes Tiggytape maybe you're right. There seem to be several possibilities:

1. The EU eventually makes constitutional changes / concessions which satisfy enough of the 52% that the UK changes its mind about leaving. (I don't know how this decision would be fulfilled.)
2. The government endlessly delay Brexit, hampered by legal challenges etc. Recession begins. Public lose appetite for it and it gets kicked into the long grass.
3. We go full Brexit before the next election. Tories may not like this as resulting recession would put them in a weak position to win. (Assuming we have any kind of an opposition by then.)

Or 4. Dunno. Could be anything. Nothing is predictable any more.

All of the above could be influenced / shaped by Trump getting in; a likely drop in the number of EU immigrants; Boris doing a good or bad job; or the attitude of other countries towards UK.

Ditto Motherofourdragons.

The EU is sort of ingrained in Western Europe's culture now. Anyone who lived on the continent when the borders came down sort of 'lived' the European story - very much unlike the UK that was never part of this story at all (hence, its population not knowing the benefits of it).

I have dual citizenship with family still in Germany. It was amazing to go on holidays without the long wait at the borders. It felt like... freedom. My brother's friends all managed to work in other European countries, which widened the horizon of some who - if they had lived in the UK - would have been quite insular sorts.

The level of anti-EU feeling is not the same as here... no matter what UK newspapers say.

So Cameron expected a Leave win and yet he still had no plan in place and forbade any planning for that outcome?
Ye gods.

I agree JedRambosteen, it does seem like we've entered an alternative reality recently. This Guardian clip shows just what we've been through:
www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/jul/22/30-days-that-shook-the-world-video
It does have an effect on your mental wellbeing.

tiggytape

The anti-immigration feeling in the EU is very much based on immigration from outside the EU though. Very different from the UK where some people feel more connected to the Commonwealth (although I do wonder whether some people realise the Commonwealth includes many African countries and India... not just Australia and Canada, if you see what I mean) and want to see more immigration from outside the EU instead.

tiggytape

Fast fingers.

Also wanted to say that the EU should and does want to strengthen its borders to non-EU nations. Who knows, maybe this is where the 'EU military' that the Brits don't like were meant to come in.

It sure has been a hell of a 30 days, hasn't it.

I feel quite bruised by it all.