Westministenders: Game Over?

[RedToothBrush]

May has a draft deal which she has presented to the Cabinet. Woohooo!

The catch is, it doesn't mention the Irish Border. Just a minor point. This is because she has no way forward on it. There are so many red lines from so many different groups shes tangled up in knots with them.

She wrote a letter to the DUP to tell them to suck it up. Arlene has told her to stick it. And if she hadn't told her to stick it, Scottish Tories would have told her to stick it. David Davis has told her to stick it. Rees-Moog has told her to stick it. And this afternoon, one of the Ministers for Queues at Dover, Jo Johnson, told her to stick it and that we need a people's vote. On top of that, her plans to try and get cross party support and get the Labour Party to support it, have suffered a blow as Momentum voted to tell May to stick it.

In fact it might be harder to think of people who WILL support it.

Not that this is a surprise. We've all be aware of this for some time. Is it finally game over?

The government have at least seemingly realised that this month is the last opportunity they have for a deal. Dominic has also realised that Dover is quite close to France and this is quite a big deal.

The EU pushed back their meeting until the 27th. This coincidentally is the same day there is a decision over a50 at the ECJ and the right to revoke.

If May can't get her act together over the Irish Border, this might yet prove to be the last option open to her, to prevent Brexmaggeddon.

Jo Johnson is not too far from the mark with vassalage or chaos? Take your pick Mrs May.

No @Mrsr8 , not just you. Although none of the delights mentioned are in my stash of extra food, I might add them.
Stashing extra food should include treats and morale boosters. In our house, the inclusion of gravy seems to cheer people up (I'm not much of a fan). Might get some extra Bisto just to thank them for breaking cover.

Brexit: EU says British citizens will not need visas to visit member states in event of no-deal

UK to be placed on visa-exempt list
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-brexit-visas-no-deal-british-citizens-latest-a8631671.html

It makes me ridiculously grateful, and it does not even affect me.

We live in the times when stupid rules us

Village idiot

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-historians-will-not-believe-sheer-ignorance-of-brexit-supporters-1.3695347?mode=amp

And then there’s pig ignorance – the genuine hallmarked, unadulterated, slack-jawed, open-mouthed, village idiot variety
in which the people who are in charge of the British state don’t know stuff that anyone off Gogglebox could tell them.

The Brexiteer MP Nadine Dorries admitted in effect that she didn’t know what a customs union is. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Her comrade Andrew Bridgen said last month:
“As an English person, I do have the right to go over to Ireland and I believe that I can ask for a passport. Can’t I?” 🤦🏻‍♀️

Karen Bradley, the actual secretary of state for Northern Ireland, said:
“I freely admit that when I started this job, I didn’t understand some of the deep-seated and deep-rooted issues that there are in Northern Ireland.
I didn’t understand things like when elections are fought, for example, in Northern Ireland – people who are nationalists don’t vote for unionist parties and vice versa.”🤦🏻‍♀️

And last week the actual Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab: < which is what still staggers me >
“I hadn’t quite understood the full extent of this, but if you look at the UK and look at how we trade in goods, we are particularly reliant on the Dover-Calais crossing." 🤦🏻‍♀️

Elanade It says this is only for short stay visits
and
"British travellers could still be inconvenienced by Brexit because the EU is planning to bring in a system
where countries outside the bloc will need to apply for an electronic travel authorisation in advance, even if they are visa-exempt."

BCF It is better than nothing. [clutching at straws]

Mrsr8 The top of my kitchen cupboards are full of stockpiles of Christmas cakes and chocolates: from panettone and Heston's mince pies to lebkuchen via szaloncukor [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szaloncukor]].
I am not sure how much more the cupboards can take.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szaloncukor

*@BigChoc
That article sums up perfectly why we are in such a mess 🙄

"It’s not just that they didn’t know basic stuff, it’s that they didn’t think there was anything shameful in not knowing.
This is the purest form of ignorance:
it’s not just that you don’t know, but that you don’t even know that you’re meant to know."

From "Scientists for the EU"

First Officer: Captain, there's an iceberg ahead. We need to change course.

Captain Corbyn: We can't change the Titanic's course. The ship was launched. The heading is set. What we can do is understand the reasons people bought tickets to New York.

Kevin Schofield @PolhomeEditor
BREAKING Number 10 slaps down Penny Mordaunt on withdrawing funding from UNESCO. Spokesman: “There’s no change in our commitment to UNESCO.”

Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes
The slapdown, as expected.

I suspect Penny Mordaunt will be delighted with the way the issue has played out: her stance clearly signalled to those she wanted to know it, no need for bust up with colleagues.

Steve Peers @StevePeers
It may be that this retweet of a quasi-apology that the BBC made on his behalf is the only apology that @carolecadwalla will get from Mr Neil.

Apparently there’s a deal.

Apparently there’s a deal.

Or at least a proposal for a deal, which TM has now to get through cabinet and then through parliament. I can't imagine the EU will have conceded a time-limited backstop arrangement, so I can't see how she'll get it past either of those hurdles.

A deal agreed with Europe (that's the easy part)...not agreed with the cabinet! You'd think an internal agreement with cabinet would need to come first but clearly that was too difficult.

Not quite yet ...

Tony Connellyy@tconnellyRTE*

BREAKING: EU and UK negotiators have agreed a text on how to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, which will form part of the Withdrawal Agreement,
@rtenews understands
4:55 PM · Nov 13, 2018 ·
...
A senior source said it would be wrong to say negotiations were "concluded",
and that there was still some "shuttling" between London and Brussels.
...
While the text is "stable" from a negotiators point of view, it will obviously have to get cabinet and then parliamentary approval.
...
There may be provisions relating to Northern Ireland within the text and within annexes
to take account of a scenario whereby the UK-wide customs arrangement does not sufficiently avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland,
@rtenews understands.

May could put it to the HoC even if some ministers resign.
Will they pass it ?

Is this a deal that the cabinet will accept - but like Chequers - the EU won't?

Or is this a deal that Barnier has also agreed the wording of?

Two different things, but not always very clear in our MSM reporting

Cross-posted.

So there's not a deal yet

There's still the small matter of the ERG and the Brexiters

And the remainers, if this is a rubbish deal (surely not)?

There's still the small matter of the ERG and the Brexiters

Well that’s ok then, they are famously level headed and reasonable

I think it's become obvious that the strategy is to leave it till the last so that rejection of whatever is "agreed" leads to no deal, with the hope that MPs will "come to their senses" and avoid that.

I suggest the bystander effect is working against that. As long as all MPs act like lemmings, no one can be blamed when it goes titsup.

This could be an interesting week.

Sweep stake on who will resign next?

Has Mordaunt made all the right noises today so she doesn't have to resign? I'm crossing her off my list.

Any Cabinet? Or will it be token junior ministers either abandoning the ship as it goes down or making a principled point?