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Brexit

Westministenders: Up Shit Creek without Wifi.

999 replies

RedToothBrush · 29/04/2017 22:12

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?

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TatianaLarina · 05/05/2017 13:39

Juncker actually said 'losing importance in Europe'.

Talking to European diplomats.

unicornsIlovethem · 05/05/2017 13:45

My ward has stayed Tory which is a shame, but not surprising.

What is surprising is that there were 4 candidates - Tory won with 52% of the vote, Lib Dems second with 42 percent of the vote. The Labour candidate did not receive any votes at all.

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 05/05/2017 14:01

My ward also remained conservative by a lead of 126 votes. I'm gutted, but even more determined to leaflet etc for the general election.

TempsPerdu · 05/05/2017 14:04

'.... I have come to the conclusion that it was ever thus. In a sweeping generalisation that I will accept criticism for I just don't think people know enough about, understand or indeed care about 'politics' or any of the issues and I don't think they ever have. For the person who has voted Labour all their life and has now voted Tory, did they ever know why they voted Labour? Was it because my family always voted Labour so I will?'

Sadly I have to agree with your friend prettybird! My parents are died-in-the-wool working class Tories mainly because their parents were died-in-the-wool working class Tories. The only other reason they've ever cited is the Winter of Discontent and the gravediggers' strike - my granddad sadly died during this time (before I was born), and the strike meant couldn't bury him - they were delighted when Thatcher smashed the unions.

Both parents are shocked and embarrassed that my brother and I both vote differently, and can't work out what they've 'done wrong' - they see it as their biggest parenting fail! In my case it's because I've been lucky - I had a bloody brilliant education (ironically at a grammar school), have been lucky enough to study subjects that required me to analyse and question, to detect bias and to draw my own conclusions. I've also lived and worked abroad, which quickly disabused me of the notion that Europeans are strange and scary, and that Britain does everything best.

I think for many people, though, they inherit a political party in the same way that they inherit a football team. It's tribal.

squoosh · 05/05/2017 14:37

Where I am there were only twenty votes between the topped placed candidate (SNP) and the second placed candidate (Tory). The Tory is called Tony Curtis.

1 SNP, 1 Tory, 1 Green, and 1 Lab.

Can't believe we have a Tory councillor now.

RedToothBrush · 05/05/2017 14:42

I think for many people, though, they inherit a political party in the same way that they inherit a football team. It's tribal.

Much to my Dad's frustration, I do not share his loyalty for Labour. He LOVES Corbyn. He's a pensioner and a remainer too. I think that makes him something of a rarity.

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RedToothBrush · 05/05/2017 14:51

politicalscrapbook.net/2017/05/tory-councillor-suspended-after-liking-nazi-meme/#more-63563
Tory councillor suspended after liking Nazi meme

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missmoon · 05/05/2017 14:59

The Lib Dems didn't win a lot of seats around here, but they came a close second in almost all of them. That's why the total vote share has gone up while the number of seats hasn't. Still waiting for the Cambridgeshire-Peterborough mayoral election results.

PattyPenguin · 05/05/2017 15:03

squoosh I think the Tory councillor ought to be your go-to person with any kind of local problem from now on.

Any kind. However tiny. Because it will be v important to you, obviously.

RufusTheRenegadeReindeer · 05/05/2017 15:08

Well that surprised me slightly

46% turnout

Tory 3029

Lib dem 2274

I know that tory won (and to be fair at council level I think they are ok)
But lib dem was a very good 2nd

I am not with out hope

Ukip got less than 500 and labour and green got less than 160 each

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 05/05/2017 15:16

Patty I've already vowed to adopt that attitude with mine! He was so ungracious last night - "I've done everything I can so if they don't want me, stuff 'em" - I mentally compiled a list of all the blind spots, potholes and broken lights I could pester him about!

Peregrina · 05/05/2017 15:16

Oxfordshire results:

Oxfordshire CC 2017: 13 LibDem, 31 Tory, 14 Labour, 5 Others
Oxfordshire CC 2013: 11 LibDem, 31 Tory, 15 Labour, 6 Others

Technically NOC still, but this depends on how the Independents behave and whether they are just Tories who won't own up to it. One was an Independent who was deselected as a Tory - which will be interesting to watch.

So talks of Labour collapse locally is premature, and LibDem revival is slow and still a work in progress. No gains to the Tories, despite the apparent huge popularity of Theresa May.

squoosh · 05/05/2017 15:18

Oh Patty, genius idea. I do have a few local niggles that I'm sure Tony Curtis would love to be made aware of.

prettybird · 05/05/2017 15:20

Knowing that ward squoosh - it's even more surprising than my sitting Tory councillor - but pales into ShockShock at a Tory getting into Shettleston. Shettleston!! Shock

We'd already started the policy of making our local Tory work for local issues even we knew that there was no way he would get our vote (as long as it wasn't something he could get credit for Wink) (Sad - and in the last we'd put him higher up our preferences as he's been a good local councillor)

Good to see the Greens doing well in Glasgow. We can retain our mantel as the city that voted Yes. Smile

RedToothBrush · 05/05/2017 15:23

Just seen this about the Local Elections

Adam Beinkov @AdamBeinkov
BBC projected national vote share:
Con: 38% (+3%)
Lab: 27% (-2%)
Lib Dem: 18% (+7%)
UKIP: 5% (-8%)

LD votes up but not translating into seats. It's 6% higher than GE polling which perhaps you might expect but that doesn't sound as bad that way.

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squoosh · 05/05/2017 15:26

Oh I know prettybird! I was Shock too at the Shettleston news. The average life expectancy in Shettleston is something like 60. And they voted in a Tory. A 20 year old Tory!

PattyPenguin · 05/05/2017 15:31

To be fair, the whole idea of local councillors / elected members is that they are supposed to represent / work for everyone in the ward, not just those who voted for them.

By standing for election they accept that, no?

Peregrina · 05/05/2017 16:02

By standing for election they accept that, no?

Well, one Tory councillor that we have managed to give the boot to, didn't seem to represent anyone but himself. Another one, who tried and failed to get elected for the county but serves as a district/town councillor also doesn't believe in getting his hands dirty with representing his ward. It gave me the greatest pleasure to see a couple of really good LibDem candidates get in, one the existing incumbent and one new one.

RedToothBrush · 05/05/2017 16:12

Jim Waterson‏*@jimwaterson*
UKIP beaten by the English Democrats in the Greater Manchester mayoral election.

I'm not actually sure what this means or how I should feel...

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RedToothBrush · 05/05/2017 16:15

Rob Ford‏*@robfordmancs*
Labour's projected national share of 27% is the worst recorded by the opposition since BBC started calculating these figures

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Eeeeeowwwfftz · 05/05/2017 16:20

Unfortunately that's bollocks electionsetc.com/2016/05/04/calculating-the-local-elections-projected-national-share-pns-in-2015-and-2016/

It was 20 in 2009. But you know as long as it fits your narrative.

Eeeeeowwwfftz · 05/05/2017 16:21

Ah. Clever wording. Opposition. Not labour. Easy for people to get taken in.

woman12345 · 05/05/2017 16:23

Flowers Peregrina good result. Our nice local lib dem got in, comfortably.
Ninon that's pretty interesting, thanks:
The Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics Team last month launched an investigation into allegations that the company which employs Philip May, the husband of the Prime Minister as an investment manager could have potentially made large sums of money from Brexit market movements caused by Theresa May's decisions.

The Theresa May Float- Stop Brexit Tour
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-theresa-may-float-anti-brexit-uk-tour

PattyPenguin · 05/05/2017 16:24

Perhaps the Elections Etc link should be sent to Rob Ford on Twitter.

PattyPenguin · 05/05/2017 16:24

Ignore me, just seen the note about the wording.