Westministenders: The Art of the Deal

[RedToothBrush]

Well Trump seems to have put his foot in it.

Not that this should come as a surprise. For all the talk of closer ties with the US that was never going to happen. All that was need was for Trump to over step once too many.

By chance (?) Barnier also raised questions about our commitment to working with the EU on security.

Its almost as if we are being asked to choose whom we look to for security.

Meanwhile it sounds like the divorce bill is sorted - though this may not be as settled as that, if it comes with conditions. The deal might also be backtracked on, seeing as that appears to be the done thing presently.

Talks on Ireland are stalemated with Ireland threating to veto. No sign of a breakthrough here yet.

Talks on EU citz rights are reportedly going backwards (again) rather than going forward.

All of this is theatre for a British audience though, with the UK agreeing to everything. Because they gave again their cards when a50 was triggered.

The crunch is coming on whether we move to stage two before Christmas. We have no time to lose.

I think that the political planets are aligned in such a way at this moment that T May could successfully face down the DUP and stand up to the hardliners but she needs to act fast. There would be bluster and threats but that would die down very quickly if it meant that talks progressed and she would be quickly seen as astute, strong and pragmatic.

I'm not surprised they've stayed out of it. Left May to hoist herself with her own petard. Suspect it's the best thing they can do in the circumstances.

@BethRigby
Senior DUP source told me last week party in constant contact with Dexeu over wording of text. Notion Foster blindsided doesn’t make sense. Told DUP balked at the strong wording; did May try and bounce them last minute?

The hard right bampots are blaming this farce on... the EU of course!

Wonder what little Steven Baker was up to this afternoon.

I think if May was going to stand up to anyone she would have done it already. She has shown time and again that she has no authority in her own party, let alone the DUP. This is a mess entirely of her own making (well, Cameron got it started off for her I guess).

Is it to be a leadership contest and general election?

The DUP insist on being different to Britain on abortion rights and gay rights

If they want a clear line between NI and the RoI on something, then abortion would do it - even if the RoI vote to allow abortion, it'll never be as easily available as in Britain.

Go on, Arlene, be imaginative:
accept an all-Uk abortion policy and there'll be a hard border wrt abortion.
You can enjoy infuriating the Catholic church, while being praised by most of Britain.

Found him Driven

Meanwhile, several Tory MPs expressed alarm at the leaks during a meeting at Westminster with the prime minister’s chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, and Brexit minister Steve Baker

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/04/anti-brexit-tories-back-dup-position-on-irish-border-issue

What a surprise, do you think they planned it?

Jo Maugham QC
@JolyonMaugham
Get ready for another year of this. Another year of Brexiters tripping over all the cans they've spent the last 18 months kicking down the road.

Arlene's the patsy. Like Teresa.

Probs is it would infuriate her Creationist fundamentalists more.

Sadly I might have to agree with you there Bigly -
she could have and she should have but she didn't

Brexiters RoW trade fantasies crushed too ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/12/03/free-trade-deals-prove-strain-whitehall-staff/

The government is falling behind in the race to replicate the European Union’s existing network of free trade agreements for use by the UK after Brexit,
trade groups and leading analysts have warned.

Liam Fox, the International Trade secretary, promised in October that the UK would replicate up to 40 of the EU trade deals
to be ready for “one second after midnight” on March 29, 2019 to ensure that there was “no disruption” to trade
…
“Originally it was portrayed as a ‘copy and paste’ job by the Department for International Trade,
but everyone is now realising there are some quite complicated issues sitting in these agreements that aren’t directly transposable.”
…
Fox has conceded that it is not as simple as “cut and pasting” the EU’s existing deals to create bilateral UK equivalents.

< as some of us having been saying all along, while many Leavers still believe Fox's earlier promises >

“We have known for some time that it is not a case of simply copy and pasting the EU’s trade agreements,
many of which have important preferential arrangements for UK trade,”
said Anastassia Beliakova, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce.

“It is critical that British exporters do not lose market access benefits as the UK Government seeks to roll over existing FTAs.”

It's all going pear-shaped ...

yes, woman. may not just have been dup.

Isn't it the case there hasn't been a cabinet meeting on brexit yet? They are at sixes and sevens.

It's all going pear-shaped ...

and quickly.

Isn't there some sort of concept of a tipping point where bad news can't be digested before the next item ?

From a maths pov, it's a "step function", i.e. a discontinuity, after which the behaviour is very different to the previous trend.

Or a "snap-through" function

.... May's tenuous hold on power office could snap

It's all going pear-shaped.
You know how much I want that to be true. BigChoc But I think this is another staging post.
It's been a useful consciousness raising exercise, though, which I'm not sure they'd built in to their cunning plan.
The lists of places wanting to join NI on twitter was very revealing.
Gibralter's joined in too.
Stitching up and humiliating May like the cabal and DUP have today, won't be popular with a lot of leavers who've been very loyal to her.
Brenda's joining us too.
www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/queens-bodyguard-tells-of-french-wifes-fear-of-uncertain-future-after-brexit-a3708846.html

Welcome Brenda!

Deliberate silence from Labour I think, although Jezza has now tweeted.

@thomasbrake
Clearly some plotting underway with Priti Patel, Bernard Jenkin and Edward Leigh in a huddle (and Jacob R-M close by). Manoeuvring for a No Deal #Brexit ?