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Brexit

Westministers: Happy New Year?

976 replies

RedToothBrush · 05/01/2018 11:37

And so we enter a New Year full of hope that things might just be about to recover from our national nervous breakdown... or perhaps not.

As we have Damien Green ejected from his role as Deputy PM over allegations of inappropriate conduct towards woman and use of porn at the end of last year, 2018 sees a bright new progressive dawn with the appointment to the role of universities regulator of Toby Young. A man who has deleted 20,000 tweets including many which are inappropriate and offensive to women, is a fan of eugenics and hates the working class and disabled.

Meanwhile the NHS is facing a crisis which is totally unexpected to the government and couldn't possibly have been planned for by a man who has over seen it for over five years. Which naturally bodes really well for Brexit planning.

We are apparently planning to join the TPP. Never mind geopolitics we can move the UK to the Pacific region.

We still are not ready for trade talks because the Cabinet can not agree on anything. Not that it sounds like they have actually discussed anything along these lines yet.

Rumours are that the Cabinet - including arch leavers such as Gove - are leaning towards supporting May and a softer option, despite the disgust of Johnson, who once again is the subject of malicious chatter about his sacking in a forthcoming Cabinet Reshuffle.

There is talk of further Tory Party war with the revelation that membership of the party has dropped to a core of just 70,000 hardline authoritarian men, most of whom are over 60. Tory HQ now wants to (perhaps with some good reason to prevent the loons) rewrite the constitution and limit the power of local associations to select candidates. The Tory party is now lining up to be a power struggle between internal authoritarians, who don't like democracy voices or structure.

Meanwhile the Labour Party membership now apparently overwhelmingly looks upon staying in the customs union and single market favourably and is in favour of a second referendum. In opposition to the leadership who are utterly committed to Hard Brexit. Much to the annoyance of Lord Adonis who is pitching a fit about government corruption and incompetence and being accused of being elite because he going skiing. Unlike of prominent Leavers who are in touch with the working class.

And finally Nigel Farage has got a meeting with Barnier. Farage, unlike Clegg, Clarke and Adonis, will not be accused by the Right Wing Press of undermining the government's negotiating position because...

It appears that we are in for another year of Brexit nonsense then.

We've not even heard mention of Gibraltar yet.

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Thread gallery
52
DGRossetti · 08/01/2018 17:21

I wonder what Greg Clark knows ?

RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 17:25

Robert Peston @Peston
Oh my goodness. It turns out the New Lord Chancellor @DavidGauke actually studied law. Unique in the modern era

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Blastandtroph · 08/01/2018 17:28

Bigley I hear you. From your analysis, very worrying in terms of budget allocations and increased risk of cradle to grave health and care privatisation.

woman11017 · 08/01/2018 17:41

Has a Minister for the Apocalypse/ No Deal been appointed yet?
Or NI?
Has all this really happened this pm? Shock

RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 17:49

Tim Shipman @ShippersUnbound
David Gauke now in the role of John Reid, a safe pair of hands condemned to keep moving to deal with the next problem

Sophie Barnes‏ @sophieevebarnes
DWP ministers, just like housing ministers, don't last long in recent years. David Gauke - 7 months, Damian Green - 11 months, Stephen Crabb - 4 months

Nigel Morris @NigelpMorris
Johnson, Rudd, Hammond, Davis, Hunt, Clark, Williamson all stay in #reshuffle Night of the plastic knives?

Spoons.

Laura Kuenssberg @bbclaurak
Understand Hunt 'argued passionately' to stay at Health and take on reponsibility for sorting out social care (which had been under Damian Green) His arguments persuaded the PM to leave him in place

Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes
Hunt will be remembering what happened with the Tory manifesto when he was only told at the last minute of the social care plan (which bombed)

Laura Kuenssberg @bbclaurak
Damian Hinds has just gone in, currently a minister at DWP, straight move up for him?

Has Greening survived?!

No Minister for the Apocalypse yet. I suspect that's one for tomorrow and given no one is actually moving and its just a rebranding exercise, that Steve Baker will be a shoe in.

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RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 17:50

Laura Kuenssberg @bbclaurak 37 seconds ago
Karen Bradley to Northern Ireland office

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Peregrina · 08/01/2018 17:54

I loathe Hunt with a passion but perhaps a combined health/social care Ministerial role could be a positive thing....

We do need to have a proper debate about health and social care, especially since social care for the elderly could be regarded as a form of nursing care i.e. help with washing, toileting, feeding..... but not with Hunt in charge. However, who elects these idiots?

woman11017 · 08/01/2018 17:54

Little Steven Baker. Bless......
Weirdly, Peter Stringfellow is the latest contributor to the Article 50 fund.
Does this help?

woman11017 · 08/01/2018 17:56

@MichaelRosenYes
May has appointed Gove Prime Minister.

RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 17:57

Beth Rigby @BethRigby
May replaces close ally and Northern Ireland Sec Brokenshire with another trusted ally Karen Bradley. Which means the #DCMS brief now up for grabs

Patrick Maguire @patrickkmaguire
Karen Bradley tipped for Northern Ireland secretary. Has spoken about it twice in the commons before, once on organised crime, and once on the Home Office selling a department Toyota Prius there for £3,073.

Karen Bradley doesn't seem to have any connection to NI.

Only interesting bit on Wiki is this:

In late November 2016, she was severely criticised for vetoing the appointment of a 'high calibre' black female candidate (Althea Efunshile, a former deputy chief of Arts Council England) as a non-executive director on the board of the state-owned broadcaster, Channel 4, while confirming the appointment of the other four candidates, all white men. This action led to a letter of complaint being sent to her by a cross-party group of MPs. On 12 December 2017 the government announced that it had appointed Althea Efunshile as one of four new non-executive directors on the Channel 4 board.

Tim Shipman @ShippersUnbound
Latest rumour: Greening to DWP (as per this morning's briefings) and Hinds to education (a few of us tipped him to move up)

Remember this is the reshuffle supposedly to promote the party to women and ethnic minorities. The message so far going out about which women are getting promoted is....

Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes
I'm not sure this cabinet reshuffle is showing much evidence of diversity....

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BiglyBadgers · 08/01/2018 18:01

Bigly, joined up budgets are already being trialled. I know its already been done in Greater Manchester. I believe that Labour were also keen on the same thing.

I know and it is something I worry about. There is a real tendency for people to hear social care and think elderly care. They forget that it also includes people in poverty or chaotic situations, children in foster care, homelessness, etc. Many of these may have health connections, but a lot of them don't. I am concerned that these areas will get swallowed up by the behemoth that is health care and kids in foster care who need someone to help them through education and into a job will get left behind.

Possibly I am over thinking it and it will be fine. I just know when I have heard people speak about it there is an assumption that social care = supporting sick people. It makes me twitchy when something so complex as social care is made to sound so straight forward.

RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 18:06

Poor people are not important.

This is 2018.

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SwedishEdith · 08/01/2018 18:17

I've not heard the name Suella Fernandes yet. Taking some comfort from that.

BiglyBadgers · 08/01/2018 18:19

This is true Red. Silly me, I forgot!

prettybird · 08/01/2018 18:21

Isn't this the 2nd time that Hunt has refused to move from Health in one of May's reshuffles? He must be really determined to destroy it finish off softening it up for privatisation Angry

BiglyBadgers · 08/01/2018 18:24

I think you're right pretty. I have a vague memory of it happening in the last one now you mention it. I wonder what made her think he would be willing to go this time? She really is bloody useless.

woman11017 · 08/01/2018 18:25

@HuffPostUKPol
Disabled Tory MP calls Toby Young 'dark and very dangerous' as pressure builds on ministers huffp.st/uGTXTJV pic.twitter.com/EOCKPG6FJC

RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 18:25

Steady Swedish.

There is a vacancy at Immigration. And plenty of scope to reshuffle women and equalities.

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RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 18:26

The last reshuffle Hunt stayed in Health because everyone else refused to go to it. Not quite the same.

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SwedishEdith · 08/01/2018 18:32

Gulp.

RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 18:33

John Blake‏ @johndavidblake
Am hearing rumours that Justine Greening has refused the DWP and is resigning from the govt.

Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes
Policy Exchange's education expert writes that Greening is quitting government

Woah.

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RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 18:38

Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn
#Omnishuffles

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BiglyBadgers · 08/01/2018 18:38

Gosh. So does that leave DWP open?

RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 18:42

Laura Kuenssberg@ bbclaurak
Matt Hancock promoted to Cabinet to DCMS

(Culture secretary)

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RedToothBrush · 08/01/2018 18:43

We have vacancies at DWP, Immigration and Education I believe.

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