Westministenders: The Zombie PM

[RedToothBrush]

Back from the dead, May carries on whilst the vultures circle.

She had tried to out smart her rivals by running of to the palace to tell the queen she could form a government before they could act.

Definitely she stood and pretended nothing had changed. Except everything had. The wrath of her party was unleashed and there was open revolt. She has been summoned to appear before men in grey suits tomorrow at 5pm to hear their verdict.

How do she decide to make amends and reach out to moderate Tories? By sleeping with the DUP. And appointing Gove to her Cabinet.

How long will this last? How long can it last?

motheroffour a republican in Ireland is not someone who comes from a catholic family...
Catholic and republican are not interchangeable descriptions.

I really think there is a publishing opportunity for Penguin books to do a little Ladybird guide to Northern Ireland.

I have a feeling too that Putin's number is up, and this is going to be having a knock on effect for several characters involved in British and US politics.

Motheroffourdragons
I was in one of those Scottish seats.
Last time it was SNP by about 500 votes. This time it went Tory by 10K.
I am SO RELIEVED the SNP are 'oot' but I am gutted the Tories are in.
I voted Labour! (got 5% share of the vote I think?)

I think if there was another GA then Labour would win.

Oh, I don't think Ken would drop the C-bomb. Much more likely to be Dominic Grieve (and I bet he's referring to JRM and Priti Patel).

Could we be seeing a new centre party forming before our eyes ????

I think if there was another GA then Labour would win.

I think that's what Ruth Davidson has just done for Scottish Labour. Silver linings.

Whenever i see or hear JRM I think of one thing;
Gussie fink-nottle
🤣🤔

Senior Tories and rightwing Labour grandees have been tearing their hair out over the anti Europeans in their parties for decades. Jenkins, Heseltine, even Thatcher, Major, Blair, Cameron, on and on. Given power, though, very few of them will be honest about what they think the EU does for the country because it makes them sound powerless and like they think Britain is just a boring little cog in the Eurowheel ya think? and there are no votes in that, as Nick Clegg will tell you. Also there are many unattractive aspects of the EU so it's hard to be unaffectedly positive about it, as many of us Remainers felt last year.

See Trump hasn't got his travel plans through again lol!

imo, Remain is not currently politically possible.

However, EEA / EFTA Brexit is possible - this is the least harmful form and would give much of what many Leavers want. It could also probably be extended to include financial passporting for the City

wrt FOM: the Tories seem to have been saying that they would still let in the same number of workers from E Europe - because businesses & farms need them - just with fewer rights,
i.e. it'd be even easier to keep them on NMW and keep wages down.
EEA / EFTA would maintain workers' rights and freedom of movement.

See Trump hasn't got his travel plans through again lol!
imo, Remain is not currently politically possible .

However, EEA / EFTA Brexit is possible - this is the least harmful form and would give much of what many Leavers want. It could also probably be extended to include financial passporting for the City

I agree with you bigchoc I would love it if we could somehow remain but EEA Brexit seems sensible.

@davidallengreen
^So Gove and Raab both off the @CommonsEUexit select committee.

A removal far more important re Brexit than their ministerial appointments.^

Silver linings perhaps

Whoops, misread your post BigChoc : Remain's what I'm after, but let's see how the next 24 hrs pan out. I'm not sure Leavers, if they exist, know what they want. Many people think Brexit happened a year ago anyway.

I think there will be a lot of groundwork being covered right now by Labour MPs and MEPs to mitigate the mess that is the result of the brexit vote.

Good news on sidelining of Gove and Raab.hashi

red That coverup of a murder is scandalous - and the motive:
"Several officials said the British government was particularly keen to preserve the flow of Russian money into London banks and properties."

Why do you call the queen brenda? Can anyone explain?!

Private Eye called the Queen and Princess Margaret Brenda & Yvonne for years, sort of comic shorthand suppose.

Just wanted to thank @LurkingHusband for his link up thread. I've written to my Tory MP urging against a deal with the DUP and in favour of cross party consensus on Brexit. I doubt she will listen, but worth a try.

This whole thing feels like such a bloody mess.

On voter demographics, I know lots of people in the 25-30 age group who's views are "anything but Tory" and a few who'd previously voted Tory who voted Libdem this time because they are scared of Brexit. I know several older voters who abstained because they didn't trust Theresa May. Obviously anecdata but interesting nonetheless.

Sean - it's a Private Eye nickname, it refers to the fact that she's very unshowy and unglamorous. Brenda was, I suppose, the least starry, most middle of the road name they could come up with.

May sacked the apprenticeships minister, Robert Halfon, who was formerly parliamentary private secretary to George Osborne.

Halfon said: “the prime minister has to make these decisions, I wasn’t really given a reason”.

So she felt strong enough to sack a bit player, but none of the big beasts
Inviting back Gove must have been a bitter interview for her.

"Brenda" is Private Eye's longstanding nickname for the Queen. To quote Wikipedia "Queen Elizabeth II is often referred to as "Brenda", and the Prince of Wales as "Brian". This is a result of the 1969 BBC documentary Royal Family*, after which the magazine gave each member of the Royal Family working class nicknames, as though they were characters in a soap opera. The Duke of Edinburgh is "Keith", Princess Margaret was "Yvonne" and Diana, Princess of Wales was dubbed "Cheryl"."

*which had tried to make them more, I believe the Americans use the word "relatable", to ordinary people.

The queen is called Brenda in Private Eye (and Charles is Brian), but I'm not sure why.

On the subject of GE theme songs, Flipinada, I'm sure there's room for a satirical rewrite of Oh You Did by They Might Be Giants :

"Don't accidentally do things you'll later regret,
Oh no, you did.
Some things can't be taken back,

Don't do them,
Too late, you did."

Did you call a snap election
To get a new direction?

Don't call a referendum
To find out what will happen

I thought I told you not to, but you had to And you did.

I'm not holding out for Remain but one major plus of all the faffing about is that the artificial unity of the 'in/out' situation is fraying significantly.

Surely, surely Nick Clegg must get some kind of job in the negotiating crew.

Isn't the Private Eye thing because to 'old money' types the Royal Family are supposed to be infra dig and middle class? Too Protestant and German?

If Clegg stood as the LD candidate in my constituency I'd think he'd have a good chance of getting in. (And the next election may only be weeks away, let's face it).