Westministenders: High Drama at The Ok Coral

[RedToothBrush]

3:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 26, 1881, Tombstone, Arizona.

After months of death threats from the Cowboy Billys, their long simmering feud with the law thing came to a head. The Earp Brothers and Doc Holliday faced the criminals down in a shootout.

Tomorrow's 'sleepover' is starting to feel like the Gunfight at the OK Coral.

The outcome of the real story was three of the outlaws were killed. Another two claimed they were unarmed and ran from the fight. Virgil, Morgan, and Doc Holliday were wounded, but Wyatt Earp was unharmed.

How many Brexiteers can we expect to roll over and resign from the Cabinet and how many will surrender to May and the Pro-Business lobby? ONly time will tell.

Please place your bets for the number of resignations and the number of 'I support the PM' comments.

But don't get too excited. The showdown wasn't the end of the matter.

One of the outlaws who legged it, filed murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday. It took them some time for them to be acquitted.

Then Virgil Earp was ambushed and disabled in the arm later that year in December and Morgan Earp was assassinated in March 1882. Wyatt Earp, then thinking he had no other option, went on a personal vendetta to kill the outlaws and then fled the state.

Given the Tory Cabinet and the perchant for stabbing each other in the back and settling personal scores, a repeat of a wild west gun fight, really doesn't sound too wildly off the cards now does it?

Buckle up. Its time to play at Chequers.

Oh wait. No.
He's not a middle aged white man.

Larry is far too diverse.

Didn't we point out on these threads that the backstop agreement of last December would scupper the plans? Davis, of course, tried to wriggle out of this, making the EU cast it in legal terms.

May hasn't really got an excuse for this one - without her 2017 election she would have been able to throw the DUP and the whole of NI under the bus.

Re resignations:

Beth Rigby @BethRigby
I’m told that’s it for today (don’t hold me to it) but plenty more in the locker as Brexiteers seek to inflict as much damage as possible on PM. They want #chequers policy change

Frankiestein401

I'm sure the EU would agree to that - provided they didn't have to endure pay for any of the UK's MEPs

Larry the Cat is a Civil Servant, and not a politician.

European press watches in horror as ‘destabilised’ UK government faces ‘state of emergency
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-uk-government-brexit-theresa-may-cabinet-talks-deal-boris-johnson-media-a8440551.html

What day is that dreadful creature visiting?

Could Larry the Cat be made our Commander in Chief?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/3302642-Westministenders-Mays-Turd-Way-covered-in-Donalds-Glittery-Tickertape-from-his-Parade?watched=1
New thread.

Sean Kemp @Sean_Kemp
These resignation letters without a plan are the equivalent of MP op-eds after an election loss that say’we need a compelling narrative’ without saying what it might be.

Beth Rigby @BethRigby
But they come with a plan; to force PM to change Chequers proposal. The plan is to keep the resignations coming. It’s co-ordinated. As one Brexiteer source says; could have “resignation a day til recess”. And ministerial ones to come

Harry Cole @MrHarryCole
Just spoke to an aching-Remainer minister. Even they say the Chequers deal is "miserable" and "won't work."

Oh no.

Larry can't be in government or the civil service.

A cat was responsible for an illegal immigrant not being deported, whilst British citizens were deported because their parents came on the windrush.

Nick Clegg said the deal wouldn't work either, and he knows a sight more about the workings of the EU than the whole Tory party put together. But it was a start.

The Brexiteers are simply out to wreck it. I obviously hope they wreck the party in the process.

Maria Caulfield really doesn't get that the Republic of Ireland is no longer part of the UK and won't just jump when the UK snaps its fingers

Some of The Brexiters really can't get it through their thick skulls despite their good salaries as MPs and their supposed intelligence) that this means that There. Will. Be. A. Land. Border. With. The. EU. within the island of Ireland.

This is not Ireland or the EU being difficult. It is just a legal fact.

And no, Ireland is not going to run back to join the UK. Nor is it going to leave the EU

Hence the absolute need for the backstop.

Seemples you'd have thought so but evidently too difficult for Brexiters to understand

Wasn't Davis the one who talked about 'southern Ireland' and no, he didn't mean counties Wexford, Waterford and Cork etc.

I think the types like Maria Caulfield actually hold 2 contrary unable to get their heads round it ideas in their heads at the same time.

1. That the ROI is not a part of the UK. and
2. that NI IS part of the UK and therefore has to be included and thought about.

Maybe they just have their Irelands backwards... it's not like that great honking 'Republic' word is a bit of a give away

I do so hope TM wears Larry the Cat on her head to make Trump feel at home

May is not on course for a soft Brexit, unless she makes a massive U-turn & dumps all her red lines

The EU can't weaken the Single Market, not just because other members would also want to cherry-pick, but because other 3rd countries - e.g. China, SKorea - would demand equivalent cherries;
a couple of 3rd countries have already warned the EU that they would want anything the UK gets.

Soft Brexit means a soft landing for the economy, i.e. Norway+ (SM + a CU)
May's red lines rule this out, especially re FOM

Javid in the HoC was very clear:

"What I can tell you, because the prime minister has said this, so I’m not pre-empting something that’s in the white paper, is that

there will be a complete, total end to freedom of movement.
Freedom of movement as we understand it today will end, but also there will be no version of that, no derivative of that, no type of free movement, no backdoor version of free movement.
Free movement will end."

Also, without a clear & unlimited NI backstop, there will be no future trade framework
and any transition agreement would only happen if the EU needs more time to remove the UK from its supply chains

Does Maria Caulfield realise that RoI is part of the EU - that they joined at the same time as the UK did? I didn't get that impression from her letter.

No I don't think she does Peregrina

And even if, in the dim recesses of her tiny mind, she was aware of it, she would justify her analysis of the situation by saying it could be easily sorted if Ireland just left the EU as well or rejoined the UK It's their fault that it has all got so complicated

Of all the mistakes that May has made - and they are legion -
the worst was probably invoking A50 before she had full impact studies plus Cabinet agreement on a (non-delusional) negotiating strategy and aims.

This was done entirely for internal Tory party politics

Many of her mistakes come from making speeches before the impact studies,
i.e. before she knew what she was talking about
e.g. the red lines which make a soft Brexit impossible might never have been stated publicly, if she had realised they were a show-stopper

Above all, invoking A50 removed one of the few weapons at her disposal: staying in the EU and controlling the pace of events.
Instead, the 2-year countdown puts all the pressure on the UK and gives yet more cards in the negotiation to the EU.

Only an utter fool sets themself an unnecessary time limit for a critically important task.

Even Trump is snooty about UK political "turmoil"

www.standard.co.uk/news/world/donald-trump-uk-visit-us-president-says-britain-in-turmoil-as-he-speaks-warmly-of-friend-boris-a3883881.html

"So I have Nato, I have the UK - that's a situation with turmoil. And I have Putin. Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of all."

We are unworthy of your presence, Oh Great One. So skip the UK visit. Please

@ciaran the Euro courier
🇪🇺
🇪🇺 #FBPE
🇪🇺
🇪🇺@donnyc1975
A comment from someone is Spain:

"BRITAIN is now officially a banana republic with constant sunshine, a collapsing government, depreciating currency and a good football team."

'ring of steel' round US ambassadors-residence
www.standard.co.uk/news/london/trump-uk-visit-ring-of-steel-goes-up-outside-us-ambassadors-residence-in-regents-park-a3882671.html

woman, that comment is in fact the opening sentence of yet another bang-on Daily Mash article:

www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/britain-officially-a-banana-republic-20180709175140

pineapplesunrise great article

I know they're saying FOM will end but any 'labour mobility agreement' will keep the door open for people from the EU anyway. Could be that they need a job offer/study course but considering how non EU immigration under the work visa is capped, has a high minimum salary etc. it's easy to imagine special arrangements put in place that give would be EU migrants a softer alternative for coming over

And I must be a minority of one because I actually want a Corbyn government, yes it won't be perfect but I can agree with their manifesto & policy positions on lots of things