Westministenders: Up Shit Creek without Wifi.

[RedToothBrush]

Theresa May is being held hostage.

There is mounting evidence that all is not as it seems at CCHQ. It makes you don your tin foil hat and ask who is in charge.

Theresa May was a Remainer. She suddenly abandoned that when she became leader. Her proclamation of what would follow next seems directly at odds with her actions. This is not her fault. This is her plea for help and way of telling the outside world that she is a prisoner of Brexit.

At first it seemed like perhaps she had been locked up with Brexiteers for too long. She seemed to be developing a survival strategy which seemed totally irrational to outsiders. The signs of intimidation everywhere though. Instead of criticising those who did this, May joined in with them or was complicit in her silence.

Things are now taking a sinister turn. After repeatedly saying ‘No Election’, May crumbled and called one. She has now not been seen in public since. Instead she is being wheeled out at closed events to the party faithful. They are being dressed as mixing with the people but they are no such thing. The plebs in attendance are set to ‘mute’ or locked out completely.

Behold the coming of the May-Bot. She seeks to ‘prevent tourism’ in Wales. She now no longer knows which town she is currently in. (Much less have a plan for Brexit). She accuses an organisation set up to use its numbers to get better deals, of doing what it is supposed to, except she calls this ‘ganging up’.

May is not transported in a bus. Oh no. Instead she travels by the Bond Villian’s choice of transport; the helicopter.

More worrying still is the mantra ‘Strong and Stable’ repeated as many times as possible. It is almost as if, if she says it enough she might start believing it. She certainly has got her party members brainwashed and acting as if they were Zombies. Who needs ‘Spice’ when you are a Conservative? They ‘Believe’…

The ploy is to hoodwink people into voting for May instead of the Tories. CCHQ have removed Conservative branding from literature and campaigning in the North. The party are still too toxic, but May apparently scores well especially against Corbyn. Ironically however negatively I think of Corbyn he does display something May increasingly seems incapable of: humanity.

Many people might think of May as some sort of dictator figure. Its true. Every vote for her strengthens her hand. But not for Brexit negotiations. Mainly because Brexit is without merit or reward. Not unless you hold power. This is part 2 of the grab for it.

This is May’s power paradox. SHE is not powerful. She isn’t persuasive. She isn’t a healer of divides. She relies on authoritarian measures to get her way. This isn’t a sign of her personal power, but a sign of her personal weakness. She is sly and sneaky in her methods rather than compelling others to come along with her. They are doing so more because they dislike the alternative in Corbyn less.

She is not stable. She has lurched from one drama to the next, and has repeatedly been forced to back down from what she wanted. Nothing says ‘stability’ and ‘good leadership’ like appointing Boris Johnson Foreign Secretary. The lady is not so much for turning and leading, but is already staggering around dizzy whilst blindfolded playing pin the tail on the donkey. And Christ she’s got a lot of them in her Government. Including the numpty who decided to do a live event and broadcast it in an area with no wi-fi. Mind you, that is soon to be the entire country. Or what’s left of it.

She had said she had a mandate for Brexit and did not need this to be approved by the country as she was getting on with the job. This is why we are having a General Election to give her a mandate…

Not only that, but there is a lurking question here that should not be forgotten. Who is pulling May’s strings and making her dance as her actions are not natural? Every puppet show has puppet masters behind the scenes of the stage, hiding in the shadows.

They will dispense with their toy once she has outlived her usefulness like every good baddie.

Is she the one we should be most fearful of?

Hold on tight this is going to be a very bumpy ride over the next two years. Just how many casualties will be sacrificed on the altar of Brexit?

You either buy into the drinking game or not

I'm in. It might make the next few years weeks bearable

She is rattled, isn't she?

No.

She's going to go full Trump isn't she?

This.

Its an appeal to patriotism. Your patrotric duty is to vote Tory against Brussels.

She's harnessing an attack on her, created by the Juncker dinner fiasco, to turn it into her agenda. This is exactly what Trump did.

Its identical.

Faisal Islam‏*@faisalislam*
Britains negotiating position has been misrepresented in the UK press, threats issued by continental politicians "timed" for election: May

The dinner was organised by May. It was on her timetable. Any timing was on her part as she a) triggered article 50 when she wanted b) called an election when she wanted.

Theresa May accuses EU of trying to affect UK election
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39787353

So she didn't call the election to silence her critics to get a strong mandate and didn't talk about saboteurs ie anyone who disagreed with her vision of a hard Brexit and didn't talk about "separatists and extremists" in the same sentence in attempt to discredit the SNP --and influence the election?

What has she been doing?

She is indeed bonkers yes, GCHQ, I said our PM is bonkers. She's definitely been taking lessons from Trump in trying to gaslight us, create false news and complain about proper democratic processes - and, you know, that strange thing, people who disagree with her and are opposing her she really is like a mediocre head teacher who will brook no dissent.

She is obviously still beelin' (good Scottish word ) that the EU is refusing to agree to do the negotiations in secret - and even worse, have rightly said they now can't even start with the A50 clock already ticking until after 8 June.

All. Her. Fault.

Laura Kuenssberg @bbclaurak
You can see why PM might want to play this for all its worth in election context, but words like those can't be unsaid..
This, in all its glory.
She isn't being a difficult woman. She's being a very stupid one.

twitter.com/independent/status/859719655467954176

When did politicians start refusing to answer direct questions?
MP: 'What does the honourable lady have to say to my constituent ,Sharon, who is concerned about the cuts to her son's special needs school budget?'
Education Secretary: 'I would say to Sharon that what this country needs now is strong and stable leadership and not a coalition of chaos'.
Do they think nobody notices?

I am - genuinely - scared for my children's future.
For the first time in living memory I believe we have a situation where the children of a couple will not be better off than their parents.....
Both in social mobility and in aspiration.
Luckily for my dc they have dual citizenship, but what of their friends?
I'm so angry.
And so sad.
And just.....baffled

twitter.com/PCollinsTimes/status/859786934994030593

What on earth is though going to do for businesses in this country? Surely anyone who can move will now do so faced with the prospect of "No deal".

I suspect that EU leaders will now decide to quietly abandon the idea of getting a deal and spend the next two years preparing to limit the damage on their side - it's clear that our own government is too incompetent to do likewise so God knows what will happen.

Replace "though" with "this"

The House of Lords report, referred to in the Guardian article linked by woman (Baileys anecdote and all) is available as a PDF here
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201617/ldselect/ldeucom/169/169.pdf

Still, the "it'll be alright" brigade won't read it, let alone take any notice.

Also, banks getting ready to move jobs away from London
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39789915

But that just banks, and we all hate them, don't we, so no harm done.

Bitter, moi?

I'm normally a lurker but had to pop out of the shadows to say

WHAT THE FUCK IS MAY ON?

I hope this massively backfires, surely SURELY there are more sane people than swivel eyed loons in the UK who will be horrified by the way she is handling this?

LittlePickle - a power trip.

May has just turned into Trump: Strong and unstable

Pride usually comes before fall. Don't think she's read many Shakespearean histories or tragedies, they might come in useful right now.

(Torygraph paywall) Michel Barnier: What he says and what he really means

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/03/michel-barnier-chief-brexit-negotiator-says-really-means/

At his press conference in Brussels today ...

“The UK must put a great deal of energy and effort into these three issues over the next weeks and months.”

What he really meant:

“We Europeans, with our teams of experienced negotiators and European Commission lawyers, have got all our ducks nicely in a row – and we think you Brits are seriously underestimating how complex this task is going to be.

I’m not sure what you’ve been doing in Whitehall these past ten months since the Brexit vote, but you need to get up to speed.
Pronto.

“Some have created the illusion that Brexit will have no material impact on our lives and that negotiations can be concluded quickly and painlessly. This is not the case.”

What he really meant:
That means you – Boris Johnson and David Davis, running around telling everyone the UK will end up with pretty much the “exact same” access to Europe after Brexit.

Well, you won’t – and frankly it annoys us when you make those sorts of glib pronouncements.

“We need legal precision and this will take time.”

What he really meant:
There seems to be a belief in London that the British can move rapidly on to the trade talks phase just by offering some vague political assurances that the UK will protect the rights of the 3m EU citizens living in the UK and settle up its bills, so long as the EU27 give you an attractive trade deal.

Well, forget it. This is the European Commission you’re talking about there. We want chapter and verse.

That means legally watertight guarantees that you Brits cannot suddenly go back on when the negotiations on a future relationship deal get tough towards the end – IF we get to that point, that is.

“Citizens’ rights. These are our first priority – these men women children have to be able to continue to live as they live today and for life.”

What he really meant:
Basically, whatever EU citizens arrived in Britain expecting they would receive, before Brexit came along, needs to be preserved.
*
“[These rights]…have to be guaranteed by the Court of Justice of the European Union”.*

What he really meant:
We don’t trust you. These citizens’ rights – to pensions, benefits, residence, education – are founded on EU law, so it must be the ECJ that is the institution that enforces the deal.

If not, how can we be sure that the Brits, once free from EU membership, won’t renege on the deal?

“This money is committed to projects throughout Europe… thousands of local authorities and businesses are involved in these projects… you can imagine the political and legal problems that were to arise… were those projects to be shortened.”

What he really meant:
We want certainty and continuity, and that means you Brits need to pay up, because all the EU 27 leaders (who I work for) say they don’t want to.

.....don’t think you Brits can threaten the EU 27 by refusing to pay up and just walk away.
We’ll pursue you through the courts and you won’t get a trade deal.

“The EU 27 is on track to make sure that UK withdrawal happens in an orderly fashion. The UK decision has now caused 10 months of uncertainty. We need to remove that uncertainty and it is high time to start negotiation. The clock is ticking.”

What he really meant:
We’ve had quite enough dithering around now, and we aren’t exactly thrilled at Theresa May’s decision to call a general election.

May we just remind you of the Article 50 ‘ratchet’.

The more you delay, the closer you will get to the “cliff edge” and the less likely it is you will get the outlines of a trade deal agreed.

We don’t intend to be helpful, either, unless you agree to what we want on the money part, or the question of the ECJ (see above)

I voted Tory last election and so did my cityboy partner. We're not swivel-eyed loons and we're both utterly sickened (and scared) by what's happening. I'm doing my best to talk to people around me to get them to see what's going pnbut sometimes feel it's trying to wake people from a coma.

"Britain’s negotiating position in Europe has been misrepresented in the continental press, the European Commission’s negotiating stance has hardened," she said."

'Contintental press'
What does that even mean in 2017? With a global internet?

She has gone full Trump or the Bloatus as Colbert calls him.

There is Section 25 at least in the US constitution to remove a president who is too ill to continue in post. She sounds unwell.

David Allen Green‏ @davidallengreen
We have been mishearing "strange unstable" all along.

Patty There was one Brexiter on one of these threads that said that banks relocating is a good thing because it gets rid of 'elitist' bankers
They conveniently forgot to mention that it also gets rid of the considerable amount of tax that those people pay and tax, like you know, pays for schools and hospitals.
Our taxation system is very top heavy with a large amount of tax being paid by a relatively small number of people. It wouldn't take too many very high earners to leave to see a significant reduction in tax takings.
This is becoming horribly reminiscent of Trump saying that he could stand in the middle of 5th avenue and shoot someone and he wouldn't lose any votes and he was right.
I keep thinking 'they have to see sense and reconsider whenever there's an announcement about job losses or the dramatic drop in EU health professionals coming here ....but no. TM just blunders madly on.
I was on a thread earlier where a poster said that the EU clearly isn't working because of all the cuts to services that are happening so it makes sense to 'have a try' outside the EU, the implication being that, if it doesn't work out, we can just join up again ie it's a bit like signing up for a taster Pilates class and if you don't like it, you just don't go back. No harm done.
I know we're not allowed to call anyone who voted Leave 'thick' and I don't lump all Brexiters in together but what do you say to someone like that?

hilbobaggins

So how are you looking to vote June 8 ?

Normally I'm a grateful lurker...but had to say something,today's speech was mind blowingly astonishing. The insane hypocrisy, why confront and antagonise your neighbours and negotiating partners like this ? Stubborn, stupid and unstable.

Surely (at the very least) it is unstatesman like to use a Downing Street platform to deliver another party political broadcast to an audience of millions?

All this from the woman who laid into the SNP at the Scottish Tory party conference in March saying that they mustn't wrench themselves out of their biggest market....It simply does not add up.

I must be having a nightmare.

Story on twitter about CPS fraud announcement being delayed until June 12th.

@MrMalky
So apparently all the Press know about CPS decision on #ToryElectionFraud being delayed until 12 June
But nobody's talking