Westminstenders: Throwing Boomerangs

[RedToothBrush]

British politics and media in a nutshell.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomerang_effect_(psychology)#Political_beliefs

No EU progress, no discussion. Just this. Keep everyone in line by bouncing boomerangs.

Disaster capitalism looms, they just have to get us to the edge of the cliff before the centre reforms. That's it.

If the legal roads to stop Brexit are closed as David Allen Green says, then how do you force the political flood gates to open, especially with both the far left and the far right using micro-aggression against the public to keep the centre ground weak?

Answers on a ballot paper on 3rd May.

David Davis keep referring to Ireland as "the south".

OMG. Two years in, and he still doesn't understand the most basic fundamentals. It's terrifying.

They had four defeats yesterday. One today. This one has been the biggest yet. Inc 13 Tory rebels.

Thanks. Good for the House of Lords... though I shudder to think what TM will do to try and circumvent her losses. Probably throw out the Lords, the commons and declare herself dictator for life - and I'm only half joking

www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/richholmes/uk-admits-huge-error-of-judgment-in-citing-political?__twitter_impression=true
UK Admits “Huge Error Of Judgment” In Citing Political Donations In Refusal To Raid Money-Laundering Suspect
“This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous.”

The UK tax authority made a “huge error of judgment” by citing political donations when it refused to help French authorities raid a money laundering suspect, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has admitted — and the government will conduct its own internal review into the matter.

^ lycamobile HMRC story

Nobody's told me a good outcome of Brexit yet. Here's another really annoying one.

Brexit: Britons set to be charged €7 fee to visit EU countries under new Brussels plans.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-eu-traveller-charge-single-market-border-control-visa-european-union-a8321891.html

Today on crazy candidate watch we have conservative George Stoakley. George is a candidate for Fen Ditton and Fulbourn in South Cambridgeshire.

He's the young dude on the eight

Pete Wilson @ petekwilson
Got an advert for the @Conservatives through the door today. Checked out the twitter feed of one of the candidates, and, oh... (thread)

Brexit: Britons set to be charged €7 fee to visit EU countries under new Brussels plans.

We tried to warn them

And

If you have or know of a crazy candidate, please tell the world.

Unfortunately unlike the last conservative example like this, I don't expect MPs to step in and denounce. Too close to the election and past closure of nominations.

George looks about 12 , how old was he when he was posting those tweets ? anyone else notice the time of night they were posted too ? Does nobody have a quick flick through a candidates social media presence before selecting them ?

Brexit: Britons set to be charged €7 fee to visit EU countries under new Brussels plans.

How is that going to work alongside a frictionless Irish border?

Assuming we somehow manage to sort out the Irish border situation and that stays free and open - a 7 euro fee every time they want to cross is going to be a pain in the arse for anyone who lives along the NI side of the border.

Of course it'll be cheaper in the long run just to get an Irish passport (provided you qualify for one) but that will be pricey as an initial cost... for any Pratchett fans out there - it makes me think about Sam Vimes' 'boots' theory of economics. So that would be brexit making the poorest poorer again

And then is this world of tit for tat that we live in - if Brussels charges us 7 euro - what do we think JRM will decide is the going rate for an EU citizen to enter Britain?
How much will it cost an Irish citizen to pop across the border, heading north?

I would expect the charges would NOT apply at the NI / RoI border, just everywhere else

That €7 is probably what the EU currently charges anyone who is not a citizen of an EEA country
and whose country does not have a free visa arrangement with the EU

It says the authorisation would be valid for 3 years or until passport expires, whichever is soonest.

Not every trip.

But how can NI be different, even the tiniest bit, from the rest of the UK, BigChoc?

To utterly underscore the fact that NI is part of the UK, the DUP will demand that the full €7, not a penny more and not a penny less, be paid, by everyone, every single time they cross the invisible frictionless border.

Not really sure the best way to sell Brexit to an already underwhelmed electorate is to make it cheaper to be a UK and EU citizen ?

If Remainers wanted to be mischievous they could start a campaign to insist that any money from border entry charges is hypothecated towards the NHS. After all, Leave did promise the £350million a week savings would go to the NHS, didn't they

Contact rates in London by...

Party / Inner LDN / Outer LDN:

Con: 17 / 27
Lab: 38 / 31
LDem: 15 / 12
Grn: 5 / 4

(YouGov/Mile End Institute poll)

Westminster polling has been consistently Lab around 50 and LDs on 9.

Joe Murphy @ joemurphylondon
POLL of LONDON

Lab - 51% (down from 54 in February),
Con - 29 (+1)
Lib Dem 11 (nc)
Greens 4 (nc)
Ukip 2 (f*ed)

Stunning study by @yougov for @philipjcowley and @QMUL**
exclusively in tonight's @EveningStandard

Big Story: Labour set to fall short of wiunning Wandsworth & Westminster

Labour are miles ahead .... but note the fallback in Inner London

INNER LONDON:
Labour 59 (down 8 from Feb)
Cons 22 (up 5)

That's likely to cost them the two big prizes, says @philipjcowley at @QMUL**

Labour should win Barnet - a big win if that happens - and it would be the first time it turns red since Maggie Thatcher's old borough was created in 1964.
h/t @philipjcowley

Here's a figure to horrify and depress decent Tories:

Only 13 per cent of Black and Minority Ethnic Londoners say they will vote Conservative next Thursday.

75% of black Londoners will back Labour.

That's a long term disaster, don't you agree @philipjcowley of @QMUL**

Obvious question, but was that dramatic Labour fall-back in Inner London connected with @jeremycorbyn 's perceived failure to stop anti-Semitism?

If so it may have cost Labour the top scalps in their sights: Wandsworth & Westminster .....

..... and another thing.

Several Tory MPs told me privately that the London results will decide whether they send a letter to the 1922 Chairman.

So the Labour fall-back, reprieving totemic Wandsworth, may have averted a Tory leadership crisis.

Labour needs to hold an inquest

Here's our exclusive story, under the headline "Tories trail Labour by huge 22-point gap in London, polls shows"

Credit to @qmul & @philipjcowley

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/may-local-elections-tories-trail-labour-by-22-points-in-london-but-theresa-may-could-cling-on-in-a3824271.html?amp&__twitter_impression=true
May local election polls: Tories trail Labour by 22 points in London
But exclusive poll shows Theresa May could cling on in Wandsworth and Westminster

It's all so convoluted though. Much as I hate TM - I'm not sure I want that letter being sent to the 1922 chairman - not if it leads to JRM as prime minister!
So labour acting disappointingly and polling disappointingly may, in the long run, turn out to be a good thing if it stops the ERG from making their move. No credit to labour in that of course - it would just be one of those twists of history.
Labour need to take a good hard look at themselves - and hopefully the locals will be the catalyst for that... but I don't think I want a contested tory leadership. But I don;t want them to do too well either - otherwise TM will see that as vindication of a hard brexit stance.
I guess I just hope the Lib dems sweep the board clean to shock both main parties into softening their brexit stance.

Just posted in Chat about DW getting an NHS referral to a BUPA hospital that requires a valid credit/debit card every visit - regardless of whether you are a private or NHS patient.

And so it starts.

Who's still voting Tory ?

order-order.com/2018/04/26/jew-attic-tory-candidate-suspended/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Yesterday's crazy Tory candidate has actually been suspended from the party.

(Still begs the question why was he a candidate in the first place?)

Still good PR... in comparison to Labour.

Seems our 2 local Lib Dem candidates are a real life couple too ...

(Incumbent) Tory are Father/Son.

No idea about Labour.

Sums up how I'm voting, really.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-amber-rudd-customs-union-vote-tory-cabinet-conservative-eu-a8323631.html?amp&__twitter_impression=true
Brexit: Amber Rudd says government is yet to arrive at 'final position' on a customs union with EU

Chuka Umunna @chukaumunna
The Home Secretary has informed me that my constituent Albert Thompson will be granted Indefinite Leave to Remain.

He is due to start his radiotherapy treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital as an NHS patient shortly. (1/2)

Whilst this is welcome, he should never have been treated in this cruel and degrading way in the first place.

There is no doubt about it; the chain of causation in this case goes all the way to the Prime Minister and the decisions she made as Home Secretary. (2/2)