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?

Laura Kuenssberg‏*@bbclaurak*
All of the main N Irish parties to meet PM tmrw in Number 10 in meeting focused on getting power sharing back up and running

Carl Dinnen@carldinnen

BREAK Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Michelle O'Neill to meet PM in Downing St tmw. They want to talk about DUP deal and Stormont.

Quite something for Gerry Adams to go to Downing St at all.

We've seen May always hides away when she doesn't want to answer tough questions.
She hopes to stay low until the headlines die down.

However, such loss of life won't be swept away by the latest sleb scandal.
She'll have to face up to the demands for an inquiry, to find what happened and stop more people dying like this

Millions of people live in blocks of flats and they want reassurance about their own safety

The rightwing keep saying they want a "bonfire of red tape" and "leftie H&S" with Brexit
- well, we see the fires that result when regulations are ignored or new ones blocked

Kensington is a CONSERVATIVE council. So there you go say no more....cuts, cuts, cuts.

We keep having to learn by disasters every generation or so, why regulations are worth the cost of compliance:

It reminds me of the 1987 disaster when the ferry, Herald of Free Enterprise - that name was so appropriate - sank due to skimping on safety precautions to save costs.
Nearly 200 passengers and crew died.

That was also a period when we were being told how all these pesky regulations were damaging profits.
imo, that disaster was a major cause in changing attitudes towards the Tories and their slash & burn of regulations.
There was a massive attitude change towards safety and regs afterwards

Even though the first fire crews arrived within 6 minutes, some of the reinforcements may have been delayed slightly, because 3 fire stations within 4 miles were closed by Bojo:
Westminster, Knightsbridge, Manchester Sq.

They had money Sostenueto - millions in fact.

They just chose to spend it on making it more aesthetically pleasing & energy efficient, rather than on important stuff like fire prevention, containment and suitable evacuation & fire fighting things, and electrical/gas safety.

In the HoC yesterday:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/13/may-strikes-conciliatory-tone-as-she-urges-mps-to-work-together

Corbyn said that he looked forwards to a Queen’s speech “just as soon as the coalition of chaos has been negotiated”,
before adding, to laughter:
“Just to let the house and the rest of the nation know, if that’s not possible the Labourr^ party stands ready to offer strong and stable leadership in the national interest.”

Actually, an optical facelift is often much cheaper than carrying out safety work.

Rather like painting and polishing an old banger to sell, instead of replacing brakes, steering, tyres, airbags etc

The bonfire of red tape etc is such rubbish. Gove for example has been talking about "slashing" Eu regulations on drug safety trials www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-eu-regulations-michael-gove-environment-drugs-a7649041.html

This might sound good, but is ridiculously costly in both life and money terms when (not if) they get it wrong and push medication through without the proper controls . Look at the contaminated blood treatment disaster, or thalidomide.

some of the reinforcements may have been delayed slightly

Relief for fire services who had been dealing with the blaze for hours was brought in from Kent.

Sam Coates Times‏*@SamCoatesTimes*

Tory-DUP talks seem to be getting bogged down, particularly over money. And one cab minister just said they'd rather try a minority gvt...

order-order.com/2017/06/14/farron-coup-underway/
Farron Coup Underway

norman smith‏*@BBCNormanS*
Seems to me - given scale of tragedy- Govt will have to announce a public inquiry into #grenfelltragedy

Of course they'll have to, in order to learn what went wrong and avoid it happening to other blocks of flats.

Siobhan Fenton‏*@SiobhanFenton*

DUP sources have told the BBC that announcement of a deal with the Conservatives may now be delayed until next week

I'm trying frantically to catch up but these threads are so interesting, I keep wanting to read the whole thing and then it moves on....

I have a long post being drafted now with random thoughts.

If regulations were flouted, it should be a criminal matter.
If any public office holder has been looking the other way or lazing on the job, then this:

Misconduct in public office is an offence at common law triable only on indictment. It carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
It is an offence confined to those who are public office holders and is committed when the office holder acts (or fails to act) in a way that constitutes a breach of the duties of that office.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/ltooo/misconductinnpublic_office/

Tick rock, tick tock, goes the A50 clock

Remember, Donald Tusk tweet:

We don't know when Brexit talks start.
We know when they must end.
Do your best to avoid a "no deal" as result of "no negotiations".

Some folk seem to think an extension of the 2 year period is ours for asking
WRONG
The E27 would probably extend if negotiations look like reaching a deal with more time
BUT If the UK has just wasted time arsing around and hasn't got anywhere, then probably some of the E27 members will veto an extension.

The govt must get its arse into gear and work out a policy - with Labour - that can pass through Parliament.
There are too many Tory rebels for the DUP to be anywhere near sufficient for Brexit.

Will the Tory rebels actually do so? Or will they be a supine as they were in the last Parliament?

Whatever deal is going to happen it is also in EU27 interests that it is strong and stable.

Former Tory Housing Minister Brandon Lewis on not introducing a law to require sprinklers to be installed in refurbishment works on Tower Blocks as recommended in the 2009 report on the Camberwell blaze.

"We believe that it is the responsibility of the fire industry, rather than the government, to market fire sprinkler systems effectively and to encourage their wider installation ...

The cost of fitting a fire sprinkler system may affect house building—something we want to encourage— so we must wait to see what impact that regulation has."

It's more important to build the properties than to ensure they're safe

So making house-building profitable takes priority over making housing safe. Glad they've clarified that.