Westministenders: A LOOOONNNGGGGGGGG Hot Summer

[RedToothBrush]

May has officially demoted Raab and the Brexit Department to just being responsible for practical implimentation in the UK and not negogitions.

This shouldn't be a surprise, its been the case in reality for some time, much to David Davis annoyance.

The official government position now seems to be scare the shit out of everyone about the possibility of No Deal in order to force the EU to make a deal. Jeremy Hunt has been dutifully spelling this out, by talking about an 'accidental' Brexit.

The government are already outsourcing responsibility for this potential eventuality to industy and business by telling them they need to stockpile food in order to keep supply lines going. This WILL mean price rises will start to happen soon. It also means there is no coordinated government plan and if businesses can't afford to do this as its heavily dependant on having sufficient cash flow in reserve to be able to do it, or don't want to, then you, me and everyone else is going to be well and truly on their own. Whilst the public are not being told to stockpile, its hard to justify not doing so, if this is the current government line.

The government has also done a u-turn on when the repeal of the European Communities Act will come into force. They fought hard to have it fixed for 29th March 2019. Thats now been rolled back to Dec 2020. This is fine, but in practice, makes no difference what so ever if we have no deal or the EU refuse to honour a transition deal on the terms the UK want. The ERG will also go nuts at it and try to get May to roll back on it.

Raab has also made a point of saying that if we don't have a deal by October (rather than midnight 29th March 2019) we are going into No Deal land by default.

Parliament has now broken up for the summer, with May surviving, so things are likely to be a little quieter for a few weeks, but come September this is all going to blow up with avengance.

If you think the last few weeks have been a rollercoaster, just wait for the Autumn.

Also suggesting they were being used by Kremlin to destabilise European politics

How can we carry on with a decision from a referendum that was so close in number AND knowing it had been tempered by foreign intelligence. How is that ‘taking our sovereignty back’ when we are just puppets to the show of another country?
There are plenty of questions to ask there and one of them is certainly whether we should try an implement something that is clearly NOT the willmof the people.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-deal-chequers-theresa-may-single-market-eea-uk-eu-remain-a8466356.html

So it seems some long time brexiters are starting to actually question if it’s such a good idea after all
Indeed, the minds of Conservative ministers and MPs are turning to another possible escape route from the Brexit maze: the UK staying in the single market by remaining in the European Economic Area (EEA) along with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Significantly, this option is not just being discussed by the band of 20 pro-European Tory MPs led by Dominic Grieve. It is also attracting the attention of pragmatic Brexiteers, whose unofficial leader is Michael Gove.

Interesting Hermione.
Not sure I like the last bit of the article though...

In the absence of a withdrawal agreement, or if parliament rejected both a May deal and no-deal exit, the Gove and Boris camps might agree to pull the plug on May. She might even jump before she was pushed. That would raise the intriguing prospect of another twist in the Gove-Boris drama: a Tory leadership election between them, to decide whether the government opts for EEA membership or a Canada-EU style deal.

Of course, other candidates would run. But in a Brexit-dominated contest, the ultimate choice might be between Vote Leave's two figureheads. The plot might sound far-fetched for now. It might not look so strange come the autumn.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-deal-chequers-theresa-may-single-market-eea-uk-eu-remain-a8466356.html

Worrying. A leadership election will probably come down to the loony Conservative rank and file. Which is crazy - the biggest national decision for a couple of generations decided by under 200,000 unrepresentative people - who are disproportionately frothers.

☹️

The parliamentary party had to do all sorts of contortions - and have a bit of luck - to avoid that last time. And we got May.

I find it shocking, actually, that two politicians, who should by rights be untouchable tainted by their contact with a deeply illegal (and foreign-power influenced) campaign, are being thought of as suitable Prime Ministers, determining s crucial national decision.

It's beyond what we should be asked to accept.

@Peregrina
There is a story on your ousted Tory MP Nicola Blackwood on p 15 of the latest PE, in case you hadn’t seen it. I wouldn’t have known about her had I not read your posts. She does indeed seem pretty vile.

By the way, thank you to everyone wishing me well. 💐It's much appreciated.

Sadly, I seem to have had the available treatment now. 😳 it's a bit of a worry because I have good days and bad days - and on the bad days everything is painful and difficult. Eeeek!

I hadn't seen any article about Nicola Blackwood, but I have to show my ignorance, what is PE?

Sorry got it, Private Eye!! Of course. We quite often buy it, so I must see if DH got the last issue.

In a Tory leadership contest, the Ultras would need at least about 100 MPs, to be sure of getting even one of them in the final 2.

The MPs still vote by secret ballot, so limited opportunity to intimidate there.
BUT
the moderates would need to get organised, which they haven't done so far

M artina Hyde Dominic Raab: the face that says, ‘I need to take back control of my sphincter’

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/27/brexit-eu-may-raab-johnson-food-barnier

By the time the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator got to the bit where he explained the Chequers deal was up merde creek,
Raab was wearing that specific facial expression that translates as: never mind our money and borders, I urgently need to take back control of my sphincter.
I assume his headset interpreter was simply whooping: “Welcome to the EU, bitch!”
…
Waiting in the wings, still, is rapidly mutating superbug Boris Johnson, who presumably hopes that a post-Brexit medicines crisis will leave Britain incapable of resistance to him.

Trump officials end policy exempting pregnant immigrants from detention

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/29/trump-immigration-pregnant-immigrants-detention

Since the policy was implemented in December, Miller said, 506 pregnant women had been detained by ICE.

Did anyone listen to the new funny programme on R4 tonight ? it is an all women panel , very funny. I particularly liked the bit about people working for Raab getting him to sign letters with extra a's in his name , they got up to 5 ! childish but after a particularly sad day at work , much needed

An interesting article by Open Reason (the office of Nick Clegg) suggesting ways to deal with the issue of the May 2019 EU elections, in the event that the UK asks for an extension to the Article 50 deadline.

Most of the possible routes involve legal or treaty change, but he writes 'The simplest way forward would be to hold elections as normal, and then to remove UK MEPs on the date of the UK’s departure.'

However I'd have thought the European Parliament would be fairly keen not to have certain UKIP members any more.

Although, an interesting thought... would UKIP be a dead electoral force in those elections like they seem to be here?

I know I'm jumping the gun a bit here, but it's intriguing.

openreason.uk/delaying-brexit-what-does-it-mean-for-the-european-parliament-elections/

Nicola Blackwood frequently pops up on my email as I get the newsletter from the Human Tissue Authority, of which she is now Chair. Why, I have no idea, her only qualifications seems to be that she briefly had a junior role in the Department of Health. She has no scientific, medical or ethical background. Earns a good wage for it though!

Wish I could swan into a such a prestigious job with so little relevant experience

The thought of UKIP MEPs and Tories like Daniel Hannan being removed from office is about the only advantage I can see of Brexit.

just had a depressing conversation with a dear friend, who is adamant that Brexit will have no impact on her beyond some fruit and veg getting a bit more pricey. Her son has Type 1 diabetes, and I suggested that she look into building up a supply of his insulin ahead of next March. She actually laughed and said "Oh Olenna, we're not going to turn into a third world country over night you know!"

How I hope that she is right

How I hope that she is right

Not a lot else you can do, really.

On holiday at the moment with intermittent 3G so trying to catch up.

Oleanna you could non discreetly share the comments from Medicines Regulator Sir Michael Rawlings on your Facebook? Didn't he warn type-1 diabetics that no insulin is made in the UK currently? I read somewhere that there's no way we could make insulin by March.

I believe the EU would come to the rescue, but it would be completely justified if there was an extra price to pay for that.

I believe the EU would come to the rescue

I believe they would too in a worst-case scenario, which is why I'm not desperately worried about being super-prepped (and of course I'm in the incredibly fortunate position that none of my immediate family are reliant on urgent medical supplies etc).

I wonder how that would feel to Leavers if post-Sovereignty Day, instead of flocks of unicorns bestowing untold wonders, we have to rely on the EU to send us rescue packages and supplies? "We totally knew this was going to happen and voted for it!"?

Yes, and here is the list of consequences from which the U.K. may have to be rescued:

36 things that will happen if Britain crashes out of Europe with no deal

Some of these had not occurred to me. We'd be a basket case.

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/thirty-six-things-that-will-happen-if-britain-crashes-out-of-europe-with-no-deal

I could just imagine that right at the last moment, May stitches up an emergency deal which is BINO, or Norway ++, which we pay as much or more for, without any say (but with Farage & co to represent us, that's no loss). I would then see Grease-Smug, Deadwood Redwood and maybe Johnson huffing and puffing, but their solutions so far have been 'get your money out of the UK', so they might be empty threats. Johnson, maybe - for him it would depend on which way he saw the political wind blowing - if the public accepted Norway++/EEA he'd be all for it.

Dh tells me that there are rumours that Frank Field is going the same way as Kate Hoey, with his constituency demanding his de-selection.

I suppose even if they were to announce their retirements, it pre-empts them automatically standing again in the event of a snap election.

It’s on Twitter:

George Aylett @GeorgeAylett

Have heard, from source who attended Birkenhead CLP tonight, that Labour members in the area have reportedly passed a motion against Frank Field by 59-13 (2 abstentions).

Motion reportedly calls for whip removed and to make Field ineligible for reselection as a Labour candidate.

This rant blog was posted by a friend of mine. It makes many of the points we have been making on these threads. She's an English refugee woman that moved up to Scotland in order to vote Yes in the referendum, loves Scotland and would never move back to England. (I actually met her via a MN meetup )

https://mewsingoutloud.wordpress.com/2018/07/28/this-rat-tastes-funny-dad/

The Sun posted a report that no-deal risks insulin shortages
Depressing to read the angry denials and ravings about Project Fear in all the btl comments
How typical are Sun posters of Leavers ?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6884083/diabetics-insulin-struggle-no-deal-brexit/

THERESA May is among 1.2million diabetics who will struggle to get insulin after a no-deal Brexit, the chair of the UK drug’s regulator warns.
< no, she'll get supplies >
....
"It needs to be produced, transported and stored in temperature-controlled conditions.

Any delays at ports or interruptions to supplies due to added bureaucracy could put patients at serious risk of harm or death."

Sir Michael, from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said pharma firms are “worried” about supply chains.
He told the Pharmaceutical Journal [must keep]: “There are problems and the Department for Exiting the EU and the Department of Health needs to work out.

“Here’s just one example why: we make no insulin in the UK. We import every drop of it"