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Brexit

Westministenders: May's Turd Way covered in Donald's Glittery Tickertape from his Parade

984 replies

RedToothBrush · 10/07/2018 17:29

Where next?

Auditions for chief turd polisher to Mrs May are in full action, whilst those who don't believe in the turd, wade about knee deep in their own shit, still searching for that illusive plan for Brexit which doesn't stink to high heaven of crap.

After the dual resignation of Davis and Johnson, amongst the stench there is an air of uncertainity and expectation of all hell breaking loose.

In the last 48 hours we have been told that

  1. May is more secure having crushed the brexiteers,
  2. May about to be ousted by a no confidence vote, triggering a leadership election,
  3. The Tory Party are about to split,
  4. Brexiteers are in disarray fighting amongst themselves,
  5. We will remain in the EU,
  6. We get an EEA deal,
  7. We will get no deal,
  8. A People's vote is inevitable and
  9. There will be a General Election.

Which only serves to merely highlight just how little of a clue ANYONE has about what happens next.

What bothers me now, is that Johnson seems not to have surfaced yet and there are rumours that Gove has gone to ground, whilst Donald Trump is practically on the plane and is stirring the pot praising Johnson.

Instead we seem to have a series of junior ministers and Tory HQ figures quitting in a long drawn out coordinated toy throwing out of the pram exercise, to try and get what hard brexiteers want.

If I had to hazard a guess at the general silence from key figures, I might be tempted to say that someone is going to use Trump's visit to throw a political grenade and actively invite him to endorse them.

That might sound ridiculous given that the public hates Trump, but that loses sight of the fact that the people who will vote for the next leader of the Tory Party are overwhelming authoritarian leaning and likely to be those who like Trump and would be impressed by such a move.

I note this tweet today from the wise Sarah Kendzior:

Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior
"There are parallels to past authoritarianism, but what's happening with Trump, in the digital age, is new and transnational. The president's loyalty is not necessarily to a state but to foreign leaders and multinational criminal alliances. The state is just something to sell."

It is clear that others in the parliamentary party will be very alarmed at the prospect. There were Tory MPs who were openly tweeted how please that disgusting Johnson had gone and are no fans of Trump.

May still seems to think that she can get her plan through and approved by the EU in its current form. The White Paper is due on Thursday.

Much speculation is that it will be significant if she fails to produce this on time, as she will have capitulated to the Brexiteers. And this will lead to the EU just giving up on us anyway.

She also announced to the Cabinet today, that preparations for No Deal were to be stepped up significantly.

We still are left wondering who, she is stitching up; the Brexiteers whose heads are currently exploding or the friends she keeps closest to her (friends? or ideological enemies).

The problem is that there just no other viable way forward at the moment, as the country is divided, both Labour and the Conservatives are divided and are more interested in their own future than that of the party and there are far too many ambitious 'celebrity MPs' who want to make their mark. No one gives a shit about ordinary workers or business. Plus there is the divine observation that DGRossetti made at the end of the last thread: The biggest obstacle to Brexit has been Brexiteers

The grab for post-Brexit power shows the whole of Westminister up as the cess pit of self interest it is, with Boris Johnson merely its biggest figure head.

Wait until the GFA officially has its head put on the chopping block awaiting its fate. Perhaps we can flog NI to Donald and get a Brexit Dividend afterall.

I must admit to finding it hard to have a view that is altogether different to this:
James Patrick @J_amesp
There is no way back from all of this. The next seven days simply decide how badly - on a scale of fucked to smouldering crater - it is going to end.

One final predictation, which I am DAMN certain of: Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are all going to be grim for political watching if you are into democratic values and principles. It will be a 4 day sales pitch for Brand Trump in all its All American Overblown Horror that Brits tend to find utterly distasteful. Expect the red carpet of full of turd glitter to be rolled out for Donald Trump Show. Expect May to embarass herself in her fawning all over him, as if she's star struck. Expect that hideously cringeworthy photo thats totally inevitable.

Politics is going to get worse. It may never get better.

(But yay football gets to cover it all up... Come on England!)

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BigChocFrenzy · 10/07/2018 22:43

Chris Gray: May's pain with no gain crisis leaves Brexit snookered

http://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com

it reflects the structural paradox I have been writing about for months now:

the irreconcilability of declaring that hard Brexit is the inviolable will of the people
with the general political imperative of not following policies that do major damage to the country.

Icantreachthepretzels · 10/07/2018 22:45

With regards to the Express front page... they are a made up newspaper that can't spell and isn't fit to use as loo roll for a dog with diarrhoea. If they are telling us to prepare for no deal brexit - it probably means the exact opposite.

They are also confidently predicting an England win - by no means in the bag.

Interesting they use the word 'prepare' though - and not 'rejoice'.
Another story they are currently running is that we may still end up joining the EU army even once we brexit... which again begs the question, what's the point of brexiting then?

RedToothBrush · 10/07/2018 22:47

Has Johnson been seen since Sunday?

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BigChocFrenzy · 10/07/2018 22:48

Chris Grey:"May is now experiencing the ‘pain’ of resignations and party civil war without having got the ‘gain’ of a pragmatic, workable, soft Brexit policy.
For the Chequers proposal is most certainly not workable

rather extraordinarily, pretty much every one, regardless of where they are on the Brexit spectrum, is now unhappy.
The hard Brexiters see it slipping away, the soft (EEA/EFTA) Brexiters are not getting their version of it,
the remainers are still stuck with it,
and those that might be called ‘pragmatists’, who just want some kind of workable solution, haven’t been offered it.

Brexit in its nature is divisive, but it’s quite an achievement to have alienated every shade of opinion."

SkivingSnackbox · 10/07/2018 22:55

Checking in to new thread Wine

ginandtinicformeplease · 10/07/2018 22:56

BigChoc Although £500k is peanuts to Facebook, it was under the Data Protection Act 1998, so it was the maximum fine available. GDPR isn't applied retrospectively. To put it into context, the ICO has never handed out a max fine before, even in some pretty egregious cases such as TalkTalk. The average fine has been around £40k.

Once on the ICO's radar, they never let up - they're the largest (and probably most aggressive) supervisory authority in Europe. If Facebook step out of line even slightly going forward we've got the new big fines and they could be fined up to 4% of global turnover. This would all go to HM Treasury, so might get a nice boost for the NHS!

BigChocFrenzy · 10/07/2018 23:04

gina I know that 500k was the max available fine - that's why I said the EU have the laws to fine multinationals billions and have done so

Manipulation of social media & data, oligarchs able to change public opinion - to increase their wealth, edging tight votes ....

The stakes and the consequences are so serious for UK democracy and security that we need laws with teeth,
so that when social media corporations themselves break the rules, they can receive massive fines - say a whole year of worldwide gross profits

Current UK law looks like it was intended for the media of the 1980s

ginandtinicformeplease · 10/07/2018 23:07

UK law has changed - the Data Protection Act 2018 came in in May, in line with the rest of Europe. Unfortunately Facebook largely comes under the responsibility of the Irish data commissioner, and they seem extremely reluctant to even tell it off (along with Google, Amazon and all the others).

BigChocFrenzy · 10/07/2018 23:11

Media & social media was manipulated by psy-ops teams, funded by billionaire oligarchs,
to set the UK on a course that could devastate the economy for a generation, probably a permanent cumulative loss.

The damage is potentially so high that we need new rules & an enforcement body with real teeth,
to handle 21st century hostile attacks against the country

Of course - horse. stable door Sad < frustrated >

RedToothBrush · 10/07/2018 23:17

Otto English @ Otto_English
John Cleese who backed Brexit tells Newsnight that he plans to leave Britain because of right wing government and the biased press. Before going on to cite an EU report....
#newsnight

The interview is painful.

During the ref he came out with some awful racist stuff.

He now moving to the Caribbean island of Nevis.

He said that the weather is good, the 'relations between the race was excellent' and the school system was good cos it was old fashioned in style.

I bet the tax breaks aren't bad either.

The hilarious thing is it's painfully obvious he voted to bring back a begone era and now thinks Brexit is a pile of arse so is moving somewhere he can live back in the 1950s.

Cos brexit is so good.

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RedToothBrush · 10/07/2018 23:21

Stewart Jackson @ brexitstewart
I've plenty more to say about the Government's handling of #Brexit but all in good time.....

That's one bitter spad, we have here.

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BigChocFrenzy · 10/07/2018 23:23

Latest walkouts will raise fears in Downing Street about what more is still to come

The ERG - and Brexit - is a cult
The Tory party, the Party of Business, the boring "conservatives"
is being torn apart by hard right anarchist fanatics, who want to destroy everything, not conserve

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/10/trickle-of-pro-brexit-tory-resignations-keeps-no-10-guessing

For ERG members, the issue of securing what they regard as an acceptable Brexit is an issue that trumps everything else – even, if necessary, party loyalty.

Peregrina · 10/07/2018 23:39

But being a zombie PM, May ought to survive, because you can't kill something which is already dead.

ginandtonicformeplease · 10/07/2018 23:46

First time I've tried to copy and paste a tweet so don't know if this will work, but the US embassy in London is advising Americans to keep a low profile while Trump is in town - lots of Americans replying that they'll be out marching with the rest. twitter.com/felixsalmon/status/1016724375385575426?s=21

SwedishEdith · 10/07/2018 23:59

The Sun (sorry). But why are they pushing this story?

'GRUB STASH PLAN Ministers draw up secret plans to stockpile processed food in case of a ‘no deal’ Brexit'

www.thesun.co.uk/news/6747231/ministers-plan-to-stockpile-processed-food/

HesterThrale · 11/07/2018 00:25

Remember those febrile and shocking days of summer 2016? When the news every day was dramatic and unbelievable? Tory leadership battle, and Labour MPs resigning one after the other to try and force JC out?
I'm feeling a slight sense of that now. If Tories continue to pile the pressure on May by resigning in droves, then we could have a repeat of that moment when Cameron implored his opposite number (JC), who clung on determinedly, to 'Go man go.' Except with the tables turned...

borntobequiet · 11/07/2018 05:41

For some reason, I’m always meeting Americans on trains (I travel regularly to London from a picturesque part of the country). Conversation always turns to Trump/Brexit, and we exchange views on how appalled we are.
I met one such on Sunday (actually on a replacement bus service) and mentioned I was going on Friday’s march. He said “Thank you, oh thank you” (couldn’t make it himself).
He also said that he thought the atmosphere in central London on Saturday evening felt unusually febrile and uncomfortable, busy as it was with remnants of the Pride march and football supporters.

frumpety · 11/07/2018 06:48

Can I just clarify , have Maria Caulfield and Ben Bradley just left their positions in government or have they resigned as MP's , if not the latter then they are still getting their £77,379 a year ( plus expenses) ?

mathanxiety · 11/07/2018 07:00

I have been re-reading William Shirer's 'The Collapse of the Third Republic'. A political entity riven into mutually antagonistic and unforgivably short sighted factions interested only in their own advancement, that simply fell to pieces once pressure was applied.

lonelyplanetmum · 11/07/2018 07:02

Thanks to everyone who's protesting against Trump. I hope to go work permitting.

Re *The cabinet away day in Newcastle
*
I am still pondering this away day on 23 July.

Even though it sticks in the throat I feel the need to give credit to whoever suggested this. A token gesture is a step in the right direction. Apart from the odd party conference, when do MPs collectively give a non London venue a look in? I wonder who suggested it?

Perhaps while the cabinet are all up North they could do a little tour to see some excellent projects that have been supported up there.

The MPs can be proud that it was Westminster who funded the following projects. Er hang on, it wasn't just Westminster. There were significant contributions from elsewhere.

This is based on an old post on the other thread in response to a Leaver who accused the EU of never doing anything for the NE.

This is a tour the cabinet could take when they go North ...
1. Start at Gateshead College received £10,753,750 from some fund.
2. Then pop in to New College Durham £8,557,950
3. See Working Links in Middlesbrough £8,000,000 contribution.
4. Then visit National Offender Management Pertemps People Development Group £7,911,214
6. Have a break at Screen Yorkshire (£7.5 million to invest in Yorkshire-based film, television and digital content. )
8. Then the Grand tour proper at Newcastle University ( Consortium of nine centres as part of a £4.6 million project, funded by XX grants, to develop better diagnostic tests and treatments for liver disease.)
9. Portobello Trade Park in Durham - financed with £2.7m in XX funding
10. Consett Business Park in Durham received £1.1m in XX funding.
11. The Core, Newcastle – Science Central, for high growth technology and science-based businesses - £5.6m .
12. The Sage Gateshead -XX contribution of £5.6m.
13. Another £2.5m from XX for “Quays visitor infrastructure”, including site preparation.
14. The Gateshead Millennium Bridge -over the r Tyne received £2m in XX cash.
15. The Toffee Factory Newcastle – refurbishment of the former ‘Maynard Toffee Factory’ into office space for a range of digital and creative businesses.

15.Live Theatre Liveworks - construction of a four-floor business centre within the Newcastle’s quayside -£2.5m from the XX.
16.The regeneration of a 660-hectare area on the River Tyne North Bank benefitted from £2.48m inXXXX funding.
17. The Beacon – an enterprise hub created to address economic needs in the West End of Newcastle - £2.4m.
18. Newcastle Science City —Innovation Machine’ identifying technology and science applications development - £2.28m.
19. Newcastle University Translational Research Building – a new building located on the Campus providing space for clinicians, academics and commercial companies to bring together industry projects and academic research - £1.8m.
20. The River Tyne Energy and Innovation Centre received £1m from the EU.
21. The XX gave £7.8m to fund a low carbon enterprise zone at Swan Hunter Ship Yard in North Tyneside.
22. Tyne and Wear Metro’s Simonside station cost £3.2 million- part funded by the xXXX
23. The Angel of the North - cost £800,000, of which £150,000 was xX cash.
24. Portobello Trade Park in Durham - £2.7m.
25. Consett Business Park in Durham - £1.1m.
26. Sunderland Software Centre received £4.4m in XX funding.
27. Washington Business Centre, run by Sunderland City Council, received £3.4m in XX funding
28. The University of Sunderland got £1.3m to help fund internships and placements in local small and medium sized businesses.

  1. Back to York for the University new building.(Big XX grant-providing £19m towards a new science park.)

30 Visit some Broadband providers-(Some £30m XX money was spent on the roll-out of broadband across the region helping create 20,000 new jobs and 2,700 businesses.)

For some light bedtime reading they could check out that between 2007-2013 the North East also received:
• £195.4 million in xX Social Fund grants plus
• £296.8 million in XXX Regional Development Fund grants.

Between 2014-2020 the NE was earmarked to get a further £606m (794m euros)

Other specific NE examples include... XX Social Fund and XX RDF projects:
•Yorkshire and Humber in particular received £747m (979m euros) from XX between 2007 and 2013- ( See Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute .)but could have applied for and pushed for more.

www.gov.uk/guidance/erdf-programmes-progress-and-achievements#projects-funded-by-erdf

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/eu-referendum-north-east-buildings-11127331

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/what-european-union-ever-done-11480870

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/andrew-vine-what-the-eu-has-done-for-yorkshire-1-7972455

https://www.screenyorkshire.co.uk/screen-yorkshire-secures-additional-7-5-million/

lonelyplanetmum · 11/07/2018 07:07

Sorry for the long post. I am really thinking about a post up thread yesterday where some one said there need to be signs of working to address problems from the bottom up.

This is so true.The irony is the EU were more proactive about regional development than our own successive governments. This fact needs to be given greater prominence.

RedToothBrush · 11/07/2018 07:21

Ahhh we DO have the Turnip Plan.

Who is going to tell everyone who said that preppers were ridiculous on MN?

It's now government policy.

www.thesun.co.uk/news/6747231/ministers-plan-to-stockpile-processed-food/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Ministers draw up secret plans to stockpile processed food in case of a ‘no deal’ Brexit

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RedToothBrush · 11/07/2018 07:24

Can I just clarify , have Maria Caulfield and Ben Bradley just left their positions in government or have they resigned as MP's , if not the latter then they are still getting their £77,379 a year ( plus expenses) ?

Do you really have to ask that question? You really think they would give up that?

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RedToothBrush · 11/07/2018 07:31

www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/conservative-party/theresa-may/news/96745/pro-brexit-tories-give-theresa
Pro-Brexit Tories 'give Theresa May one week' to drop Chequers plan or face no confidence vote

They claim to have amassed the 48 letters required to trigger a contest and will submit them to the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers unless she changes course, according to the Daily Telegraph.

I'm guessing if she does publish the white paper tomorrow, then that's a declaration of war effectively.

If I was May I really would not want that hanging over me whilst Trump was here looking to annex the UK.

But I'd also know that if I didn't publish the paper the EU and business would understand the direction of travel was heading for no deal and there was no way back.

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