Westministenders: The One Where We Finally Get A Leadership Challenge?

[RedToothBrush]

Tick tick tick.

What do we think?

Yes? No?

Another week of wtf-ing at British politics.

[DGRossetti]

You could probably get Nadine Dorries to support Remain, if you pointed out that it would mean Britain had MEPs and a place at the top table. She'd probably think it was a stunning climbdown by the EU and tweet about how the UK "won".

The fact we've always had that is clearly secret knowledge to morons like her. We need to harness that ignorance. I would suggest hiding maps of Europe too. But there's no real need, since cretins like Dorries seemt to think they're just quaint wall decorations. "Empire pink" sort of thing.

[PineappleSunrise]

Andrew Marr is due a bit of serious digging into his income streams and influence, from what I've been reading. As well as gratuitously (and misogynistically) insulting Carol Cadwalladr on Twitter in the dead of night a couple of days ago, he's been openly backing Brexit and appears to be using arguments and terminology suggesting that he's reading from the same script as Arron Banks.

He may just be personally sympathetic, but wouldn't it be interesting to find out how much he's known, for how long, and whether he stands to profit from any of this?

[Plonkysaurus]

Wasn't it Andrew Neill who was awful about Carole Cadwalladr t'other night?

I haven't watched Marr today but will this afternoon. I'm about to stockpile some roast pork into my belly first.

[wherearemychickens]

I think a genuine advantage of leaving the EU could be reform of the Common Agricultural Policy? At the moment I believe you are paid on the basis of how much land you own that is 'agricultural' and agricultural generally means devoid of trees and wildlife. George Monbiot has strong views on the subject.

[wherearemychickens]

Gove has actually made noises in the right direction about this.

The devastation of agricultural exports under no deal could also lead to an inadvertent rewilding of our uplands as the hill farmers all go bankrupt?

[wherearemychickens]

I think Pete North also has a point about a potential to force a renewal of politics when it is harder to use the EU as a scapegoat. Politicians will be forced to be more accountable? I don't know how far you could push that point though, as we are clearly still going to be deeply entangled with our neighbours for reasons of geography and that the EU is indisputably a regulatory superpower.

[Moussemoose]

Indeed people blame their poverty on the EU and immigrants rather than the government policy of austerity.

What happens when politicians have no one else to blame.

[JustAnotherPoster00]

Dont you know mousse everything is Corbyns fault, EVERYTHING!!!

[BiglyBadgers]

That was Andrew Neil who tweeted the hideous tweet about carol cadwalladr @pineapplesunrise I think you're getting your Andrews mixed up.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/18/the-chilling-undertones-of-andrew-neil-mad-cat-woman-tweet

[Moussemoose]

Fancy getting those middle aged, middles class white blokes mixed up.

How is that possible?

[BiglyBadgers]

I know mousse. It's a mystery how it could happen.

[Hasenstein]

.

[IrenetheQuaint]

Has anyone read this despair-inducing piece in the Observer?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/18/brexit-confusion-reigns-dominic-raab-constituency-esher

[PineappleSunrise]

Ah, you're right. I AM getting my pro-Brexit BBC white chaps mixed up.

[PineappleSunrise]

I think Pete North also has a point about a potential to force a renewal of politics when it is harder to use the EU as a scapegoat. Politicians will be forced to be more accountable?

On current evidence, it won't matter whether we're in or out of the EU - our politicians will still use them as an excuse for our own domestic failures. (They've done so well making out the UK is a dominated world power who's just happened to have been kept under the thumb of the EU for the past 40 years, so why stop now?)

[Hasenstein]

IrenetheQuaint

That kind of self-contradictory view from Tories in Surrey is the kind of guff I have to put up with all the time. Smug, self-satisfied, only worried about themselves and their bloody property prices; they're the type who've got us into this mess and are now solely concerned with how the resultant shitshow will affect them.

The south-east really is a bubble, with no idea or concern about what will happen in the rest of the country (and certainly not arsed about NI).

[MyBrexitIsIll]

Brexit and it’s consequences starting to be realised by people

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3427135-cant-afford-to-prep-for-brexit?msgid=82677220#82677220

Another hmm... interesting thread on AIBU.
There are more of those atm

[RedToothBrush]

Tom Newton Dunn

[RedToothBrush]

Tom Newton Dunn@tnewtondunn
^Tory leadership vote latest: a mathematics debate may decide the PM's future...
ERG sources suggest the letters threshold may be 47 not 48, as two MPs (Charlie Elphicke and Andrew Griffiths) are still suspended. 15% of 315 is 47.25.
So is Graham Brady allowed to round down?!^

To quote Steve Baker from Friday: ' we have 48 plus about a dozen more".

Hmm

[RedToothBrush]

Alex Wickham @alexwickham 4hrs ago
Graham Brady on @JPonpolitics

- letters not at 48
- hasn't told his wife the number
- the idea he would sit on letters to protect the PM is offensive
- some MPs have lied about sending in letters
- hasn't sent a letter to himself
- but he's not happy with May's deal

[RedToothBrush]

Fraser Nelson @ FraserNelson
This, from Graham Brady, is significant: on Friday, at least two Cabinet members believed the 48 letters were in. Not so.

[BigChocFrenzy]

How to know when the Establishment are truly desperate - and insane:

[BigChocFrenzy]

UK running out of food warehouse space as no-deal Brexit fears rise

www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/18/uk-running-out-of-food-warehouse-space-as-no-deal-brexit-fears-rise

Britain is running out of food warehousing space as retailers and manufacturers rush to stockpile amid growing fears of a no-deal Brexit
...
Frozen and chilled food warehouses, storing everything from garden peas to half-cooked supermarket bread and cold-store potatoes, are fully booked for the next six months, with customers being turned away
...
Normally temperature-controlled warehouses are at their quietest in the months between Christmas and Easter but the fear of no-deal Brexit means they are now fully reserved in advance from January to April and beyond, explains the Food Storage and Distribution Federation (FSDF), which represents 350 warehouse owners and 75% of all commercially available frozen and chilled food warehouses in the country.

“It’s a problem, because food is manufactured or stored on a just-in-time basis, and the system isn’t built for stockpiling.
“But because of Brexit, every business that wants to guarantee its supply into UK shelves is looking for additional warehouse space right now,” said Shane Brennan, the chief executive of the FSDF.

[DGRossetti]

So, my 5 Euros is looking good right now.

I wonder if todays pronouncement from la May has had any effect. It's certainly a pretty accurate assessment of where we are ... doesn't matter who is PM now. The course is set.

If Brexiteers are unhappy, they need a big reminder that they were not only insistent A50 be triggered ASAP - they threatened to depose any PM who tried to stall it (lest we forget).

A big element in pushing back on Brexit is to note how Brexiteers have been accommodated every step of the way.

[RedToothBrush]

So, my 5 Euros is looking good right now

Its looking more and more like that.

But we shall see what tomorrow brings.

Certainly all the noises this afternoon are not sounding like there will be a challenge.

I especially love the bit where Brady says that some of those who say they have sent in letters, have lied. There is something magical in that statement.