Westministenders: A week in politics is a long time....

[RedToothBrush]

Lost track of politics in the last week or so?

Someone asked how do I keep on top of this? I’ve struggled this week there is so much going on.

Brexit seems to be on a bit of a back burner and we have become utterly swamped in mud and sleaze and corruption allegations

So here is a summary of the last week:

1. Government defeated over the impact reports due to an ancient parliamentary protocol. They must release papers to the public though this is likely to be heavily redacted.
2. Currently we are holding talks about talks with the EU. Instead of speeding up talks. They are annoyed at us for this.
3. Baroness Anelay, the minister responsible for getting the Repel Bill through the Lords, quit citing an injury caused by jumping out of a helicopter several years ago. She was the second person to quit this role. Lord Bridges quit saying it was impossible task.
4. Michael Gove has joined the Brexit Cabinet, which now has a majority of Leavers.
5. There is currently no one employed at the Brexit department for strategic planning.
6. Brexit Bill likely to face even more opposition in the face of Williamson’s self promotion. More Remainers who have been loyal to May talking of joining the Rebel Forces.
7. The has been a threat to rig the Lords to pass the Repel Bill according to Lord Adonis
8. Clegg, Adonis and Clarke went to see Barnier. Farage got jealous.
9. Talks for Stormont broke down. No direct rule but not home rule. Who is ruling is a mystery, but the same can be said in England at present. DUP are not getting their dosh.
10. FTA may not be possible on lines UK want as it would be better than Canada and South Korea and that’s not legally allowed. The real problem for the UK is services.
11. EHCR related issues – prisoner voting rights and letter to Romanian which brings into question whether the EHCR is deliberately being flouted.
12. Clause in the data protection bill which allows it to be ignored ‘cos immigration’.
13. The Electoral Commission are being sued for allowing over spending by Vote Leave
14. Arron Banks is being investigated by the Electoral Commission over how he donated to political causes
15. UKIP whistleblowers reported donations they thought were odd and not declared but only just has come to light
16. Arron Banks is winding up a charity under investigation by the Charities Commission
17. Arron Banks paid for Kate Hoey to go to Washington DC.
18. Lord Ashcroft apparently exposed by the Bermuda hack, like Robert Mercer
19. Steve Baker reported for taking money from the mysterious donor to the DUP
20. Priti Patel breaks ministerial code with an undisclosed trip to Israel with lobbyist. May says she has done nothing wrong, despite it being clear breech of the rules.
21. Michael Fallon quit over multiple incidents
22. Damien Green embroiled in accusation over Kate Maltby. Also having a fight with former counter terrorism copper who he has history with over ‘extreme porn’ found on his computer during a raid. Copper previously said he had been set up in the paper but dropped the accusation. Green is denying everything
23. Charlie Elphicke has had the whip removed and case has been referred to police. Says he has done nothing wrong and isn’t even aware of what he has been accused of.
24. Steven Crabb under investigation for sexting. Has apologised.
25. Michael Garnier under investigation for dildo buying. Has apologised
26. Daniel Kawcyznski allegedly tried to set up dates with aides and wealthy friends
27. Dan Poulter reported by fellow tory MP Andrew Bridgen for allegedly putting hands up skirts. Whips told in 2010.
28. Chris Pincher alleged pound shop Weinstein who attempted to untuck the shirt of former Olympic rower and tory activist Alex Story.
29. Gavin Barwell former whip and May’s special adviser. Broke special advisor code by tweeting politically controversial things. Is accused of being complicit in hiding the bodies and not taking action.
30. Gavin Williamson gave himself a promotion and pissed everyone off. As former whip knows all the dirt but is vulnerable as a result of that, as he didn’t report or discipline offenders.
31. ‘The Lift Lunger’ – as yet unnamed Tory MP said to have ‘attacked’ Labour MP in taxi. Date rape drugs possibly involved.
32. Boris Johnson, Alok Sharma and Tobias Ellwood all named as having contact with the mysterious Maltese professor named in the Papadopoulos indictment.
33. Farage makes anti-Semitic remarks on LBC. That’s Farage, a person of interest to the FBI.
34. Three indictments in USA for Trump Russia. Which implicate a whole load of people by association.
35. Some stuff is going on in Saudi Arabia which should have half an eye kept on it.
36. Jared O’Mara, Clive Lewis, Ivan Lewis and Kelvin Hopkins on the Labour Shit List. Also a rape allegation against a Labour activist which was shut down by a senior Labour figure

This week the Repel Bill and the Budget. Plus no doubt, lots more scandal.

Isn't that SOP ? Blame the victim, no matter what ?

Hasenstein

to you and your family. And yes, that treatment is most definitely included in what I was talking about. I bloody loathe the hand-waving, falsely-airy, cowardly "oh, but I didn't mean you" crap.

I wonder when MNHQ will be asked to identify Remainers to the Committee for Truth ?

(I only mention that, as Johnny Cash just wafted through from MrsLHs iPad .... There's a man goin' 'round takin' names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won't be treated all the same
There'll be a golden ladder reachin' down
When the man comes around)

I may have missed this - was there a link to this article anywhere upthread?

www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2017/11/10/week-in-review-may-traps-britain-and-calls-it-freedom

May, as ever, submitted to the Brexiter demands and installed Penny Mordaunt. She is thought of particularly highly by the Brexiters because during the campaign she was prepared to lie - or, if you are being generous, commit to a systematic act of aggressive sophistry - by claiming that Turkey was about to join the EU and that Britain had no veto to stop it.

This did not ruin her career. Quite the opposite. The fact she was prepared to bend objective reality to the goal of Brexit helped propel her to where she is now. It is a kind of initiation ritual for ministerial office in Brexit Britain.

It is this line of thought that gets us to where we are now. A Cabinet selected on the basis of its religious adherence rather than its competence and a prime minister actively sabotaging the national interest to prove her worth to a cabal of lunatics in the parliamentary party.

Bruno Waterfield‏*@BrunoBrussels*
Attempts by @DExEUgov to stitch up the press conference (prearranged questioners & questions) reminds me of an EU-China summit. More pathetic than sinister^

Sam Coates Times‏ @SamCoatesTimes
This technique went really well in the election

Sam Coates Times‏ @SamCoatesTimes
Some friends of May are suggesting Hunt could be Chancellor one day. Or Rudd. Others think Gauke. And Andrea thinks maybe her.

I thought that would be the case. Unsurprised by this.

Sam Coates Times‏ @SamCoatesTimes
Brexit date: I think uncertainty in British politics means there is a > 40 per cent chance we do not "leave" at 11pm March 29 2019 in the way currently conceived
And the fact that saying this is treated like political heresy is just silly.

Jessica Elgot‏ @jessicaelgot
Labour MP Kerry McCarthy accuses Kelvin Hopkins of inappropriate behaviour, says she has received unwanted attention since mid-1990s

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/10/labour-mp-accuses-kelvin-hopkins-of-inappropriate-behaviour

WHO‏ @WHO
WHO welcomes the Vatican's decision to ban the sale of cigarettes as of next year.
Tobacco kills more than 7 million people every year #NoTobacco

Nigel Farage‏ @Nigel_Farage
The World Health Organisation is just another club of ‘clever people’ who want to bully and tell us what to do. Ignore.

I think Nige has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to 'clever people'.

Can't wait for the next Ebola out break or Bubonic plague to spread from the current epidemic in Madagascar.

Faisal Islam‏ @faisalislam
No announcements or decisions says Barnier, & “Yes” U.K. needs to make financial settlement clear within fortnight for progress in December

Difficult to see the way in which negotiations have “accelerated” in 3.5 weeks since Juncker & May said they would

Brexit talks going swimmingly.

I despised Bojo before, but what he has done to poor Nazanin - and her little daughter, separated from both parents - makes me incandescent with rage

It isn't even the original stupid mistake that's the worst evil
It is because the sociopathic narc bastard won't apologise

Boris Johnson's FUCKING EGO is more important than an innocent British woman spending an extra 5 years in an Iranian jail
Evil FUCKING bastard

Sorry, I very rarely swear, but I am so angry
imo, he is the most despicable British cabinet minister post-WW2

I despised Bojo before, but what he has done to poor Nazanin - and her little daughter, separated from both parents - makes me incandescent with rag

I wonder if I could swap places with her ? I'd make the offer.

Oh, the we didn't mean you crap. We get so much of that from certain people in our archery club - all over 60, all rabid xenophobic Brexiteers. They all know we are EU immigrants - but we're ok because we all sound English... Fortunately they are a minority.

I really need to start packing some fabulous Polish biscuits and stuff in our packed lunches and eat them ostentatiously during breaks.

Cailleach I agree with your analysis of the situation with the GFA and Brexit at present. Every news report on how SF won't compromise on an Irish language act makes me grin - the last thing SF want is the north to feel culturally more like the south; if NI becomes Ireland-light then people will be less motivated to call for/vote for UI. They need quite the opposite- the horrendous bonfires, for example, and Orange marches, quite play into their hands.

I don't know people well who are DUP members (my NI Protestant friends are all Alliance voters) so I find it harder to analyse what's going on in DUP thought processes. But I do know members of SF and SDLP, including a few who are politicians for those parties, and I know that some of them were paying lip service to Remain whilst actually voting Leave, hoping for a political hand grenade, and are very much enjoying this shit show.

I visited "home" (Derry) recently and came away feeling absolutely certain that what can be changed in NI, in the course of Brexit, is absolutely nothing. If brexiters are mad enough to make that theoretical border a real border in any way at all, it is the end of the GFA.

Here are the options I see for Brexit wrt NI:

1/ Tories manage to get a special deal for NI past the DUP. (Very doubtful. I know the Tories screwed their last governmental partners, but the DUP aren't the Lib Dems. DUP suddenly screwing the Tories is more likely.)
2/ End of Brexit
3/ Some fudge whereby NI doesn't specifically get a different deal to everyone else, but they get something like a longer implementation period, and everyone is quietly given the nod that actually none of the purported changes will ever be implemented.
4: Impose changes, end of GFA, terrorist groups AKA freedom fighters (take your pick) rearm, and the civil war restarts - almost certainly on English soil, since that worked last time.

And the other thing that needs referencing, for a future UI vote, is that public and political opinion in Ireland would need to change. That's another reason SF are rubbing their hands - the threat to Irish economy by a heavy handed English approach to Brexit/border helps there too.

Thanks for various supportive comments

The reasons my wife was turned down are many! First of all, the form was ridiculously difficult to understand (we initially thought of getting an immigration lawyer to do it, but we were quoted about £1000, so thought we'd have a stab at it ourselves). 80-odd pages is mad and far more complex than other EU countries (as well as costing £65 a pop).

Other issues were that we submiitted bank statements as proof of long-term residence, but they were joint account statements (we're such a touchingly trusting pair that they are all we have), which they didn't like. My wife retired after cancer treatment in 2011 and we sent her last 6 month's payslips as proof of income at the time. They took this to mean that she'd only worked for 6 months (and was presumably sponging off the state for 28 years previously)!

Also, as we had been running our own company for 28 years (but were employees, paid PAYE etc. by the company, just like all the other employees), they decided that we were in fact self-employed and as such weren't allowed to stop working until the state retirement age.

The whole thing (and other stuff too long to go into) was a Kafkaesque nightmare and there are no contact details on the rejection letter to enable you to explain the situation to a real human being. They had out stuff for just under 6 months, then gave us 14 days from the date of decision to appeal. It took me almost that long to make head and tail of the grounds for rejection.

We've now had another go, with several kilos-worth of documentary evidence (took ages to get hold of and collate, but what else can you do?); oh, and another £65 plus £36 for using the Passport Exchange office to avoid having to surrender her passport for however long the HO takes, so will now have to sit it out until the HO gets round to looking at it (up to 6 months, we're told).

I'm sure there are others with far worse experiences, but we've decided that if we get a second rejection, we're off back to Germany (leaving ds and 40-years' worth of friends behind). Thank goodness for the 3 million, who keep us in touch and stick up for our interests.

So when people tell us they didn't mean us, forgive us for not smiling and saying thank you.

That's horrendous, Hasenstein. Im very angry that these things keep happening.

www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/a-senior-guardian-editor-is-under-investigation-amid-sexual?utm_term=.lrGykz4Q2D#.gnyq7pQe4w
A Senior Guardian Editor Is Under Investigation Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations

www.ft.com/content/02d53858-c60b-11e7-b2bb-322b2cb39656
Europe’s business groups increase pressure on Theresa May
Prime minister faces tough Brexit questioning in Downing Street meeting

The prime minister has invited 15 business groups from Britain and continental Europe to Downing Street on Monday “to discuss shared opportunities for industry as the UK prepares to leave the EU” in March 2019.

However, the groups — which include Medef of France, Germany’s BDI, Confindustria of Italy, Spain’s CEOE and VNO-NCW of the Netherlands — are expected to focus instead on the urgency of moving to the next stage of Brexit negotiations.

Sturgeon makes fair statement on Salmond's RT show.

NI isn't getting any 'special deal'. NI's position within the EU, in the UK, and on the island of Ireland is now determined by the GFA, which has been explicitly accommodated in the Irish constitution and within UK law and EU law. Any change to the GFA requires input from all three parties. Scotland has no such overarching legal framework.

WRT the DUP and whether the Tories might yet do a hard Brexit with no agreement on money, citizens' rights or NI - I can see both the Tories and Labour happy to cut NI loose, repudiate the GFA, and let Ireland and the EU deal with the fallout. Neither the Tories nor Labour have any MPs or political organisation in NI. Neither party has anything to lose. The DUP is a thorn in the flesh for both.

With Labour under Corbyn in government, I could imagine that too, Math. But the Conservatives are Unionists and the risk (to them) is that it wouldn't end at NI leaving. Can you really imagine that happening? I'm intrigued at the thought.

Your generosity of spirit does you credit, LH but you are MrsLH's carer, so you can't be spared
We should make Boris swap places instead, since it's his screwup
The UK would be much safer with him in jail than as Foreign Secretary

ATAD - Why 29 March 2019 is so important to Tory Brexiters

Beyond 1st April 2019,
IF the UK is still in the EU (via an A50 extension period)
OR in the Single Market (via an EEA / EFTA -type deal)
then
the Uk has to implement ATAD (the EU anti tax avoidance directive)

ATAD would be expensive - & embarrassing - for some of the loudest Tory Brexiters, Tory donors and sociopathic billionaire media barons.

So the significance of 29 March 2019 is that it is last feasible date for Brexit that would avoid ATAD.

Yes, the Brexit deal is mostly about money - for wealthy Tories

Really BigChoc? Well that is a coincidence. 🤔

Yup.
Since her irresponsible predecessor had forbidden any Brexit planning,
May should have delayed invoking A50 and instead ordered the civil service to produce 3-4 plans with the pros / cons / consequences for each outlined and roughly costed.

Brexit was always going to be risky, but without proper planning it looks like economic disaster
On the R North blog today, they were estimating 400 billion quid lost to the economy in the first year, so equivalent to about 22 years of EU contributions.

However, imo she was only given her job on the understanding that she would ensure that the Uk would Brexit before ATAD

BigChoc I think you're right. No other explanation makes sense. That is elegant and likely.

But I thought the govts of member states needed to implement and transpose it in local law at any time from 1st Jan 2019 to 1st Jan 2020, so any time in 2019 would have been convenient for the U.K. Govt. I didn't realise there was a shorter deadline. Or do we need to separate implementation from transposition?

If that is indeed the case then end of March is very fishy indeed.

Too many indeeds.
So while everyone on the other thread is worrying about chlorinated chicken, what they should really be concerned about is this.

Is there a link to the Richard North thing bigchoc? It looks really significant/dodgy.

anyone following this case. 3 months ago. home office really effing with rights of gfa.

Emma DeSouza was told in September 2016 that her husband’s application for a family member residence card to remain in Northern Ireland had been rejected. The UK Home Office rejected the application because Ms DeSouza applied for the visa as an Irish national, informing her that under British nationality laws she was a British citizen

www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/derry-woman-s-husband-denied-visa-as-she-refuses-to-identify-as-british-1.3159094

she has won the appeal.

good news. The GFA supersedes the British Nationality act, but they made her fight for it.

twitter.com/emmandjdesouza?lang=en-gb

The GFA supersedes the British Nationality act