Westministenders: Stalling for Time

[RedToothBrush]

After 14 defeats, the Withdrawal Bill exited the Lords. In much worse condition than anyone dared to predicted.

Now we have those who were viciously against Lords reform, all of a sudden shouting about how much we desperately need it. Well fancy that. Tradition isn't so attractive if you aren't getting your own way.

Daniel Hannan has suddenly admitted that Brexit is not 'going to plan' (there was one?) and Johnson is still his weekly resignation threat.

It now throws things back into Corbyn's court. The Tory Rebel Forces think that they have the numbers to stay in the Single Market, but are blocked by Corbyn's opposition to it.

The decision on the customs union has effectively been pushed back to the Autumn by May, but we have to make a decision about the Irish border by June or trade talks won't go ahead as planned.

The trouble is that the Cabinet can not decide on which option they want to take, but neither is particularly viable anyway. Max Fac means a border in the Irish Sea which the DUP won't like and the Customs Partnership isn't acceptable to the Empire Tories. In any case it seems unlikely that either option could get through the Commons in their current form due to the growing number of Tory Rebel Forces.

May also has a problem with the grass roots. It is more or less impossible for her to deliver the Brexit they desire whatever she tries.

The growing backlash about the hostile environment also undermines the point of Brexit in reducing immigration. Its is growing apparent, WHY we need immigration and that the people who are being targeted for deportation are simply the easiest to pick off and not the ones that people see as 'a problem'. Indeed you have to wonder about how many immigrants ARE a problem. The idea to control immigration after Brexit was not through the border but through the hostile environment, yet this seems now to be something that will be impossible to continue with politically.

Leave.EU have now been referred to the police for breaking Electoral Law. It also turns out that they found numerous ways to beat the spending limit legally. The female data controller has also been found to have data protection law. Meanwhile Banks and Wigmore as well as Nix (CA and SCL), Cummings (Vote Leave) and Silvester (AIQ) have all been summoned to appear because the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. Zuckerberg also does not appear to have completed his answers to the committee as Facebook have had their homework deadline extended to Monday (and has been asked to appear by the 24th May whilst he is in Europe).

Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Dates
Electoral Commission - Tuesday 15th May
Silvester - Wednesday 16th May
Cummings / Nix - Summoned to appear Tuesday 22nd May
Banks / Wigmore - Tuesday 16th June

Also in parliament in next weeks is and interesting looking ten minute rule bill named 'Representation of the People (Gibraltar)' - Tuesday 15th May

Anyway, we are all set for the predictable 'who blinks first' brinkmanship with the UK aware that if the EU don't blink we go over the cliff and parliament aware that if May delays long enough she bypasses parliamentary democracy or put it in a position with a gun to its head.

Who is looking forward to this year's 'row of the summer'?
It could be a long, hot summer.

Anyway, I want France to win Eurovision and the UK to get some points and not come last. Its not going to happen is it?

Well done Irish voters, hope the opinion polls are right.

I think the difficulty we have with any second referendum is even if it delivered a remain victory, it would be narrow, which might not settle anything. Plus, it's not even up to us anymore, when TM triggered A50, she handed that power to the EU. They could well decide that on balance, they're better off without us.

Is that supposed to be the Tory version of a Dream Team ?

I'm staggered that Gove could be thought electable
However, I thought Davidson to be pretty canny about politics, so maybe she knows what appeals to the Tory vote.

The 65+ core especially are mostly too old to have experienced Gove's mishandling of schools - that section of the community seems overwhelmingly detached & immune from the concerns of anyone under 45

I would take that Sun article with a hefty dose of salt. Gove is a Murdoch puppet, so of course Murdoch's papers want to talk him up as a leadership hopeful.

Congrats to the women of Ireland !

Another event showing the great strides the country are making, in contrast to the dinosaurs holding back & holding down NI

I wonder if some NI women will now go to the RoI for early abortions, as an alternative to England ?
Probably those from the border areas will

Very interesting age breakdown in the vote
in particular that the 65+ could not overwhelm the rest of the population

Is that because the 50-64s voted heavily for progress too
or because the RoI has a higher % of younger people than the UK and maybe even the US ?

Anyway, an amazingly clear vote for progress by all except the pensioners

Michael Gove!!

Still loathed with a deep loathing by almost everyone involved in education when he was EdSec. There's very good reason why he's so unpopular.

I'm not sure he's even that popular in his own party. Has he been forgiven for the slimy skullduggery that put paid to Boris the last time?

Thoughts on short term fads...

One of those repeat conversations my parent friends and I have regularly is the effect of faster moving children's tv, computer games, social media etc on our children's ability to concentrate and interact for prolonged periods.

Children's fads appear to have been influenced as a result too. Whereas Rubik's cube was ' in' for months, today fidget spinners, slime, putty, squishy stress balls seem to have have a 2-3 month life span.

It seems to me politics is the same. Brexit, Corbyn and Rees Mogg have had their brief heyday now it will be some one else. Rees Mogg therefore really is like slime but not in the way you think.

This short termism theory is of course is why we should not have referendums.Mostly they simply reflect the current short term fad. (Although hopefully the Irish one is more fundamentally reflective.)

Not all the elderly you’re hoping an early death for are blinkered reactionaries, thanks. Of family and friends in my age range (70s and up) I only know one who voted Leave. And we are all appalled by the current government and Corbyn. The Daily Mail was always dreadful.

Davidson had better watch her back if she really plans to ally with Gove

Remember his ruthless political "assassinations" in the leadership contest
(he assassinated himself too - incompetent to the end !)

It may be that what they have in common is fanatical Unionism - Gove being hardline NI Unionist and Ruth maybe more gonzo on Scotland remaining in the UK than we realise

I wonder if some NI women will now go to the RoI for early abortions
This could be constitutionally and legally very useful to us, in showing the current 'DUP by stealth' rule we are currently under.

Gove is pure Machiavellian. Toxic, desperate, ruthless and canny; very likely to be next PM. Corbyn would crumble further opposite him.

Very interesting age breakdown in the vote in particular that the 65+ could not overwhelm the rest of the population

Am I correct that RoIs demographics are very youthful, compared to the UK ?

Right now, the RoI is a beacon of progressive liberal attitudes, compared to the UK, and leaves NI looking like a very nasty filling in a sandwich.

Be interested to see the polling on support for Irish unification (from both sides) in a before/after this vote split.

I can't help feeling that the abortion referendum result is one in the eye for those Brexiters who are adamant that the RoI wants to come out of the EU. It just shows how completely out of touch they are.

Gove being hardline NI Unionist

Where in NI was he born ?

MG was born in Scotland, made much of his Scottish roots when sucking up to the fisheries.

Where in NI was he born Some Scots are/were fellow travellers with DUP/Unionist cause. I remember 1960s/70s Glaswegian Presbyterian church minsters would have been quite at home with Ian Paisley senior (before he became a chuckle brother).
Mr Gove, a former journalist, wrote a pamphlet in 2000 called Northern Ireland: the Price of Peace in which he compared the(Good Friday) agreement to the appeasement of the Nazis in the 1930s and the condoning of the desires of paedophiles
www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/michael-gove-a-fanatic-who-would-damage-peace-process-1.2710224

I was referring to Gove's views, not where he was born

RD is also popular with the Orange Order. Match made in hell.

"Davidson’s jaunty, unpretentious style, her image as a Cameroonian moderniser, and her vocal support for the EU* have earned masses of praise from the centrist commentariat. [...] But here’s the problem: Davidson’s glossy moderate image is a total sham. She is, in reality, a profoundly cynical rightwing politician, whose willingness to exploit and amplify some of the worst chauvinistic instincts of the Scottish electorate should permanently disqualify her from prime ministerial office. If you think this sounds hyperbolic, consider the astonishing growth of racist, anti-immigrant, and anti-Irish sentiment that has taken place within the Scottish Conservatives under her watch."

jamiemaxwell.net/2018/01/13/why-ruth-davidson-should-never-ever-be-pm-january-2018/

Delurking...

Gove (and Lady Macbeth Vine) = Murdoch/ Dacre wishful thinking. Their newspapers are no longer able to rally the voters, so let's cut out the middle man. Tory grandees ... ok 🙄

I think the big thing in the Irish referendum is that voters were mobilised. Where was the remain campaign in the Brexit referendum? I think the younger voters weren't mobilised either. I lay a lot of blame at Cameron's door. He didn't want the Tory party divided. Ha!

Vine and Lady Macbeth? Difference is I don't believe one of them will have any 'out, damn'd spot' moment. Lady Macbeth had a conscience to be troubled.

Davidson's like a Trojan Horse. Progressive in appearance, bringing the same old stuffing.

Well said Bodini. I am not in your age range but I too am fed up with the insults and generalisations on all sides of political debates.

I was referring to Gove's views, not where he was born

Oh, I know - it was a snarky way to raise the question at what point do the views of someone outside a constituent country of the Union trump those of the majority in the country ?

Where was the remain campaign in the Brexit referendum?

Taking it for granted ?

Cameron called the EU referendum for the sole purpose of resolving the decades-long Tory civil war over Europe
Hence, he hamstrung Remain

Of course he wouldn't tackle the deceit and outright lies of Tory Leavers
He specifically ordered that there should be no "Blue-on-Blue" attacks, which meant Tory Remainers could not get stuck in and call out their fellow Tories

On the Labour side, Corbyn refused to join in with the official Remain campaign, because of party politics
Much worse, he controlled the Labour party machine and he/ his cohorts Milne, McDonnell & co - blocked any attempts to mount an effective Labour Remain campaign

Also, Cameron for party political reasons - the next GE - didn't want newly eligible young voters on the electoral register.
So he made that more difficult too.