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.

...
And there is no point complaining to the page admin - his house was covered in ukip posters pre EU ref...

Saw a request last week for "a local English nail technician"

...

And there is no point complaining to the page admin

Maybe the Equality Advisory Service ?

Beth Rigby
Beth Rigby
@BethRigby
NEW: Richard Ratcliffe tells @skynews that he expects to speak with @BorisJohnson later tomorrow. The first direct contact between the pair. Alistair Burt told Ratcliffe yesterday his request to travel to Iran with the foreign secretary was being given "serious consideration"

(paywall) Dublin demands that UK remain in customs union after Brexit

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/dublin-demands-that-uk-remain-in-customs-union-after-brexit-8vvwfp50p

Dublin’s new demands threaten the prospect of the UK’s talks with the EU 27 moving on to the next phase in December to discuss potential Brexit trade and transition terms.

A leaked European Commission document revealed terms that were said to have caught British officials unaware.
They had believed that wrangling over the Irish border had been postponed to await more detail on the shape of the Brexit divorce deal.

The draft paper, Dialogue on Ireland/Northern Ireland, revealed that
Ireland is seeking hard guarantees about the border question
before the European Union leaders’ summit next month.

To preserve the Good Friday Agreement, the paper says,
the Brexit deal must respect “the integrity of the internal market and the customs union”, to which Ireland belongs.

The Daily Telegraph, which obtained the document,
reported a claim that it is “essential” that the UK remains part of the customs union and abides by the rules of the “internal market” to avoid a hard border in Ireland.

Dublin is said to be demanding that the UK preserve about 100 EU regulations,
including many covering customs and agriculture, to ensure an open trade border with Northern Ireland.

The proposal is likely to be viewed as untenable by Whitehall
because remaining in the customs union would mean either accepting the rules for the whole of Britain or granting special status to Northern Ireland, weakening the integrity of the UK.

The tougher demands from Dublin diminish the prospect of progress in Brexit negotiations before Christmas.

Ministers also conceded yesterday that European time will dictate Britain’s departure from the EU,
announcing that the UK will cease to be a member at midnight in Brussels rather than at midnight in London.
Britain will officially leave at 11pm GMT on March 29, 2019.

The announcement, which will be written as an amendment into the EU Withdrawal Bill,
was a sop to pro-Brexit Conservatives who were angry that the legislation did not define the precise timing of Brexit.
They suspected that ministers were leaving themselves a way to delay parts of Brexit.

Under the proposed amendment the government will have no flexibility around the withdrawal date without parliamentary authorisation.

However, as The Times has reported,
ministers believe they will need separate primary legislation to enact Brexit, so whether the date is set or not may be academic.

ministers believe they will need separate primary legislation to enact Brexit, so whether the date is set or not may be academic.
Both 'brexit' and the date are academic. < could think of some other words for them too >

Don't agree with the tone of some of this article, but like pp were saying, DUP could be crucial:
www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2017/11/how-dup-could-save-union-and-brexit-talks-too

Trying to convince a Brexiter via legal & economic facts that their dream Brexit is impossible
is like trying to convince a Christian fundamentalist via facts about biology & fossils - they will believe Genesis whatever mountain of evidence you present.

Brexit has the same emotional grip on most of its genuine supporters as religion
(genuine = not the disaster capitalists and their knowing handmaidens)

American fundamentalists believed that extreme weather events were a punishment for "sodomy" not increasing signs of climate change.

Even an economic crash after Brexit would not convince true believers that they are wrong:
It would reinforce their belief that the EU is the enemy

They are at least a sizeable minority
Their anger after Brexit will not pretty and will probably not be addressed at those who created Brexit, but maybe at vulnerable scapegoats living near them

I agree with your inner cynic, Peregrina.

It may be understandable, even justifiable, that Putin is trying to wreck the West in retaliation

Why would Putin wreck the west in retaliation?
Russia is a trading nation with products to sell and a policy in the real world, today, to advance, with current conditions to bear in mind above all. Many of the conditions did not exist back in the 1990s - Islamic fundamentalism (a different animal from Chechnian separatism of the 90s) which inspires policy wrt Iran, and the rise and rise of China as an economic and military power are both huge factors. Nor was there a Baltic Sea oil pipeline in existence back then.

The IRA did not bomb civilian targets to seek revenge for historical atrocities committed by the British. The IRA bombed civilian targets on 'the mainland' in order to pressure the government to take troops out of NI. It was a here and now operation with aims based on the situation as it then existed. It was nothing to do with the actions of the B Specials in 1932 or whenever. Or the famine of the 1840s.

Carpet bombing of civilian targets had nothing to do with revenge either, or a desire to inflict maximum wanton damage. The destruction of Dresden, Hamburg (and Hiroshima and Nagasaki) were calculated acts with immediate political objectives. There was a message in each event - to the Nazis the message was 'this can and will happen again if you do not surrender' and to the Japanese the message was 'more where that came from; surrender now'. There was also a message to the USSR in the dropping of the A bomb - 'don't even think about advancing beyond Sakhalin/the Kuril Islands to Hokkaido or further, Japan (and by extension the northern Pacific) is not yours'.

As Peregrina's inner cynic suggests, it is handy to have a bogeyman out there to blame for Brexit. When the UK goes tits up in the aftermath, the leading Brexiteers can claim that they were victims of the evil Russian masterminds in their own way just as the poor are in theirs.

Agree too peregrina

Andrea Mitchell
@mitchellreports
Wow! @CIA Director Mike Pompeo releases statement endorsing intel conclusion Russia meddled direct challenge to @realDonaldTrump comments accepting #Putin denial and calling ex CIS officials political hacks

t.co/18gqdOezL0?amp=1

Whoops, wrong thread

@Independent
John Bercow just banned Trump from speaking in parliament

One down, a few more to go.

Somerville Sat 11-Nov-17 11:18:41
Surely Cornwall/Grimsby business sectors starting to make such calls is potentially positive in that it might encourage any remain-supporting Tory MP's who represent those leave areas to stand up to the government?

I fear that would be too logical a conclusion to draw.
Clearly there is a tendency to assume that the realities of Brexit would and in fact should only apply to 'other areas/people/sectors of industry'.

You see an echo of that irrationality in the Leave voters telling Hasenstein's family and no doubt thousands of others who are facing the reality of dealing with the Home Office, 'Oh none of that is meant to apply to you - you are lovely - of course it will all be sorted out, so don't worry'.

Brexit will chug onward to the cliff face therefore. All the bad stuff will apply only to those who deserve bad stuff.

Oh John
Lovely lovely John

I don't think the Irish statement in the leaked document in the Times constitutes a 'new demand' by any stretch of the imagination.

It is a statement in black and white of what has been the Irish government position all along, with necessary details (exactly what regs and framework will need to stay in place to guarantee the integrity of the GFA) helpfully included to assist Westminster to acknowledge reality and kiss the invisible border unicorns goodbye.

Maybe it is new to the british gov't and media. They don't/won't pay attention to the 3rd issue. Villiers wouldn't even discuss it today on radio and wasn't pushed. Most, if not all, discussions on Brexit only discuss citizenship and money.

@NatashaBertrand
Spanish government confirms intervention of Russian hackers in Catalan crisis

This Friday also saw Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis state that there are “fairly well corroborated reports” that attest to the fact that a group of Russian hackers is working to “destabilize” the European Union. Speaking to the COPE radio network, the minister said that “Russian networks or hackers are behind something that is not exclusively against Spain, but rather a way of destabilizing the EU.” The minister added that Russia has had this interest “for some time,” given that the country does not feel “comfortable” with the “unity” of the European project.

What’s more, foreign ministers on Wednesday called for the EU to increase the resources used against the Russian influence. Deputies and experts from more than 20 countries have also signed a declaration that calls on the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, to act more forcefully in cases such as that of Catalonia

elpais.com/elpais/2017/11/10/inenglish/1510329788_994258.html

That would include us, then.

The Spanish government now hopping on the blame Russia bandwagon as a means of tainting the Catalans. How convenient.

It strikes me that the finger pointing at Russia also provides a handy Get Out of Jail card for those running Brexit policy (to the extent that there is a policy and to the extent that anyone is running it anyway) - Brexit called off because the Tories realise almost at the last minute that the vote was engineered by sinister forriners would play into the narrative of the malign nature of everyone east of Dover.

It certainly provides an option for the GOP should it decide to pull the plug on Donald Trump and face the 2018 midterms with Pence at the helm or with impeachment proceedings under way against him, which would cheer many Republicans who have serious misgivings about '45' and the direction he is taking America in, but who would hesitate to vote Democratic all the same if a credible GOP president were installed or in the pipeline. Anti-Russian sentiment has a lot of electoral appeal across the board in the US.

“fairly well corroborated reports”
Pffft.

math Putin chose social media for undermining Western democracies, because that method is so cost-effective for a broken down former superpower
They don't have the economic or military might to retain or extend their influence much; nukes are the main reason Russia doesn't sink into being just another basket case, but don't have many practical uses.
(nukes also keep the UK seat in the Security Council)

Russia remains very disfunctional - twice the population of the UK, but an economy only the size of Hungary's, one of the poorest E27 members.
Life expectancy is several years lower than for Western countries or even China.
Putin persecutes and even murders dissidents at home and abroad, hardly a functional democracy.

imo the main reasons for Putin's actions are:

• to export his far right kleptocracy - he joins with US & UK oligarchs for this
• habit for both the West & Russia to see each other as enemies, after long years of the Cold Wat
• to destroy more prosperous Western countries, before the contrast makes the Russian people discontent with his rule
• to avenge the damage and humiliation Russia suffered in the 1990s - the West really made a mistake there

We can make serious errors if we assume people react logically, especially those in positions of power.
Wanting revenge for past wrongs or humiliations is very human.

I know many in former British colonies e.g. in the Middle East, where my late mother came from, hate the Uk for past wrongs and rejoice at any problems the UK has; who automatically support the other side in any dispute with the UK.
Many from former colonies in Africa blame the UK for the disasters and ethic conflicts there.
An Indian acquaintance welcomed Brexit, because it would give India a chance to get its own back, for past famine, for cutting off the fingers of Indian weavers.
Other countries like Argentina, who resent historical and more recent military humiliations, also see Brexit as an opportunity

math Why on earth do you keep defending Putin and Russia all the time ?
They are certainly not responsible for all the troubles in Western democracies - callous, venal, incompetent politicians have done the most damage

However, Putin has been trying to subvert the democratic process in at least the US, UK, Germany, France, Austria by financing and supporting online the racist far right in those countries, by creating fake news.
e.g. the German police have established that it was Russia who hacked the German parliament
German bots were swamping twitter in the recent German elections
Russian sources were spreading fake news about Muslims raping young girls.

He has made things worse, poured petrol onto fires already burning

How much worse is something we can dispute
You seem to reject all the investigations ongoing in all countries.
However, Putin is not the innocent party you keep trying to make out.
He is just another oligarch, more unscrupulous and successful than most

For decades conservatives everywhere had Russia, well more the USSR, as their bogeymen
e.g. President Reagan's Axis of Evil, Evil Empire

It is the most extraordinary political turnround that we have only noticed the last couple of years:
the hard right in nearly all Western countries have swung 180 degrees, from regarding Russia as the enemy to regarding them as allies

'Manufactured Consensus' conference in Cambridge.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-automation-of-consensus-democracy-and-the-dark-arts-tickets-38841682518

math here are a few of the articles on it.
@J_amesp
Brexit, Trump, Russia: The Whole Story.
@Byline_Media into the #AlternativeWar

It's a story which is now going mainstream here, in the US and now the EU is formally offering resources to investigate.

@guardian
Theresa May faces defeat by MPs demanding vote on final Brexit deal