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.

mobile.twitter.com/hashtag/thingsiwouldntaskdaviddavistorun?src=hashtag_click

I did see him answer questions - very obtusely Someone on the Select Committee (can't remember who it was: might have been Benn but I think it was Grant, the SNP MP with responsibility for Europe) read out an international definition (I think from a Think Tank or an Association) of "what an impact assessment" is - and Rycroft said he didn't recognise that definition and that wasn't what he (or his department) had done

He also said that he had "600 excellent people" working for him in the DfExEU.

Which begs the two questions:

1. WTF are they working on, if not impact reports and assessments of different options

and

2. How much is that fucking costing?!!

Jo Maugham QC‏Verified account @JolyonMaugham
Are you reading this stuff and thinking Davis is not telling the truth? In the @GoodLawProject and @MollyMEP judicial review someone from DExEU and HMT will have to swear a witness statement. Lie in a witness statement and you go to prison.

How much is that fucking costing?!!
Youngest DD just woke me up and now I'm awake, so thought I'd answer Prettybird's (rhetorical) question! DExEU cost £24.7 m initially and will cost a further estimated £300 million over the next three years
The graph and table in the first link below show DExEU’s cost in 2016-17 alongside the planned expenditure for the next three years.
To state the obvious,the absurdity of this is gargantuan.We could have stayed in the EU but established a new 600 manpower 'department for exiting society's divisions ' with this funding. That department could have been devoted to saving the NHS, preventing our schools falling into deficit and addressing the social mobility issues across the country.

Once that new department had addressed so many dysfunctions then we could then have seen if leaving the EU was an issue for anyone.
Instead all this time and money is being focussed on addressing something which was not our biggest problem.
Already it is being forgotten that the four top members of the U.K's Social Mobility Commission resigned this week, accusing the government of having achieved zero on improving the life chances of people at the bottom of society.Despite their dramatic gesture, few notice or care or even know.
www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/A-Short-Guide-to-the-Department-for-Exiting-the-European-Union.pdf
https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/economy/economic-growth/news/91142/social-mobility-tsar-alan-milburn-quits-furious-attackk_

This is a surprise?

Brexit Secretary David Davis has told a committee that the government has not assessed the impact of Brexit on different sections of the economy.

So the UK government has done no Brexit Impact assessments meanwhile

The European Parliament has commissioned dozens of impact assessments or studies on Brexit from experts, across a broad range of policy areas.

and

Brexit will require deletion of references to the EU from the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland’s peace deal.

It's a disaster of Titanic proportions but the band plays on. After all this ship is unsinkable.

We are awake early RTB! I couldn't get back to sleep.

I think I still have an optimistic view of the nature of being human. It still does surprise me that the referendum was taken and acted upon at face value, and that no attempts were made to analyse and address the underlying causes first.

To be fair Clegg (and surprisingly Cameron's) creation of the U.K's Social Mobility Commission was an acknowledgement of some of the underlying causes that then led to the fateful vote.

However I will always be astonished that it was comparatively easy to establish this whole new department for David Davis, yet a similar initiative to address the NHS and state education would never have been contemplated.

I'm not terribly well. Had flu. After a week or so of toddler having flu. Damn insomnia.

All of this was talked about pre referendum, that the cost of setting up and running UK only agencies would be horrendous and out strip bus savings by some considerable amount. But Project Fear.

How people bought into the idea that setting up anything would be cost free is beyond me. Unless if course they didn't understand the full scale of the operation it would require to leave the EU.

It was meant to be easy wasn't it? I think anyone who bought into that was very hard of thinking.

It's a disaster of Titanic proportions but the band plays on. After all this ship is unsinkable.

And built in Belfast.

What fuckwittery is this. Not unexpected I know but I’m still amazed at the chutzpah

Tom Newton Dunn
@tnewtondunn
Excl: David Davis allies mount fresh bid to make him PM by trying to line up ‘dream ticket’ with Tory rising stars;

David Davis’ allies plot to kick out Theresa May and install him as PM by Christmas

(A Sun article)

This is a more reflective-of-reality approach to the news

The National
@ScotNational
It's over to you, readers! What will the impact of Brexit be? Help the UK Government out by writing or drawing on tomorrow's front page box, then tweet us a picture of it

That sounds tough red. Hope you’re on the mend soon

Get well soon to red and lonely's little ones.

Was DD so insolent because it's over anyway?
(Remain?)

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/06/uk-has-48-hours-to-agree-potential-deal-or-brexit-talks-cannot-progress

I wonder what they are doing? The DfExEu civil servants.

@thomasbrake
Conservatives promised to keep troop numbers above 82,000. When they made that pledge in 2015 they stood at 79,540. Now we have only 77,440. We can’t trust Tories, and they are playing with national security.

www.politicshome.com/news/uk/defence/defence-funding/news/91230/mod-bans-philip-hammond-using-military-jets-over-unpaid
Hammond was refused use of military aircraft till he paid up?

I'm sure a floundering dictatorial government and weak military as a 'third nation status land' doesn't make us militarily vulnerable.

Is it suspicious that despite davis’ monumental assaults on democracy and accountability, Phillip Hammond seems to be coming under a lot of flack? First the MOD planes issue now this (although it’s in the guardian so perhaps I just need to invest in better tin foil)

Guardian morning briefing
Thursday briefing: Hammond does it again with insult to disabled people

Top story: Disabled workers blamed for sluggish economy

Yep mother That seems to have been the trick in full sight.

Due process:

Dead terrorists can't harm us: New Defence Secretary says British citizens who fought for ISIS should be ‘eliminated’ and never allowed to return to the UK

Gavin Williamson has said 'a dead terrorist can’t cause any harm to Britain

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5153613/Gavin-Williamson-Brits-fighting-be.html#ixzz50YfUDknK

I heard that today and was

What happens to innocent until proven guilty, being trial in front of Court and having the opportunity to defend yourself.
What about the fact that th death penalty isn’t legal in this country?

This is flying so much in the face of all human rights. But no one seems to be bothered by it in the least. Nope everything is ok because they have the label of ‘terrorists’ and therefore the government could do whatever they want.

What’s next? If said terrorists are on British ground, will it also be ok to just eliminate them (Note they don’t use to word assassinate which would be more reflective of what would be going on)

Is this another bone to throw at rabid frothers to maintain their momentum, given that the shine might be slightly coming off Brexit? Stoking the fires etc

Hermioneisme it's been done before. Shoot to kill policy in NI in the 80's and 90's. It had the effect of massively increasing IRA recruitment.

http://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2016/12/30/news/shoot-to-kill-investigator-john-stalker-concerned-about-six-murders--856199/

It looks like a naked bid for leadership by Williamson.