Westminstenders: Stuck in the Middle With TIGGERS

[RedToothBrush]

Well I don't know how we got here tonight.
We've got the feeling that something ain't right.
We're so scared as we leave the EU
And we're wondering how we'll get out of this stew

Antisemites to the left of me!
Dog Whistles to the right!
Here I am stuck in the middle whilst we leave the EU.

'Cause I'm stuck in the middle whilst we leave the EU.
And I'm wondering what it is we should do.
It's so hard to keep this smile from my face.
Losing control and running all over the place.

Clowns to the left of me!
Jokers to the right!
Here I am stuck in the middle whilst we leave the EU.

When you started off with rights
And you're starting to wonder if thats for life.
And all the politicians come crawling
Slap you on the back and say
Please . . .
Please . . .
Vote Leave and back EU Withdrawal

But we see it makes no sense at all.

Best to keep your money offshore
Than to visit the bookstore

Deniers to the left of me!
Islamaphobes to the right!
Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

Its finally happened. FINALLY.

MPs have seen that their leaders have lost the plot and are hell bent on destruction and politicial ideology ahead of practicality and will justify the unjustifable in the face of democracy and they have jumped ship.

Enter stage left and stage right: The TIGGERS - members of The Independent Group.

Will there be more. Hard to say no. It seems almost certain there will be more.

Will it make a difference? Difficult to call, but these MPs would be driven out sooner or later. Such is our accelerating politicial polarisation and narrowing of views. This is their last stand. They have nothing left to lose on a personal level.

Whether you agree with the TIGGERS or still look to the other parties for policy, I do think that the emergence of the TIGGERS marks a feeling of optimism and much needed hope for many many Remainers / Moderates, even if it ultimately does fizzle out.

A reflection from 2017: People voted for Corbyn because they were looking for Hope. When he's failed to deliver that, its led to disillusionment and he can not pull the same trick again at a future GE. This makes that doubly so. People are STILL very much looking for that hope. If Brexit does go tits up in a big fashion, then what happens? To what direction do people look? I'm sure there will be the bitterest of recriminations, but... hope is a big deal. We need something...

Tick tick tick. 37 days til Brexit.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/3492426-Westministenders-Abbreviation

If he felt so bad he should have had the guts to go ages ago when at the party conference that decided labours agenda.

Ian Austin has. He's voted against the whip repeatedly since the GE. Much more than the TIGGERS.

Tamara Cohen @tamcohen
@IanAustinMP: "The Labour party has been my life, so this has been the hardest decision I have ever had to take but I have to be honest and the truth is I have become ashamed of the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn"

He is not joining the Independent Group - who he disagrees with on 2nd referendum (he has voted to deliver Brexit deal).

This seems to show @TheIndGroup are the anti-Brexit party as I wrote on the day it formed

Austin, whose Jewish adoptive father escaped Czechoslovakia as a child while his family were murdered by the Nazis, tells the paper he is "appalled at the offence and distress Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party have caused to Jewish people"

He says he has not spoken to @TheIndGroup: "The Labour Party is broken and clearly things ave to change but that's not what today is about".

Austin has a majority of just 22 in Dudley North

So seems to be very much in line with the Frank Field position.

And he has apparently implied he would join TIG after Brexit (bet FF would too)

I think they would be generally welcomed as they are free from the controversies of the other former Labour Indys.

Quip apparently doing the rounds ...

"Did you hear about the Englishman with an inferiority complex? He thought everyone was equal to him."

Ross Kempsall @rosskempsell
Exc: Ian Austin message to members in Dudley North. Slams:

>”A culture of extremism, antisemitism and intolerance” in Labour
> Corbyn has “spent his entire political career working and supporting extremists and in some cases terrorists and antisemites”
>Corbyn “supported IRA”

And the final one.

I have heard this word for word from Labour supporters in the NW.

This is very reflective of what I have heard very loyal Labour supporters say.

I don't think it insignificant. It will rattle the party every bit as much as the remain reasons for leaving and the pure anti-Semitic argument.

Whilst the left policies of anti austerity are popular, the other personal side of Corbyn is deeply hated.

Oo sorry there are two more

I'd like to know what mud Corbynites are going to throw at Austin, whilst simultaneously making the counter argument about TIG...

Sam Freedman @ samfr
Of the Labour MPs resigned so far. One was Jewish; one was adopted by Jewish parents and one had a close relationship with the Jewish community through her parliamentary work. But of course this is all about privatisation and them all wanting to be millionaires.

Ouch.

Meanwhile, anyone fancy a subtle Brexiteer trolling ?

I wonder if we could try and "nudge" the more credulous (which must be pretty much all of them) into seeing if they can persuade The Carnegie Institution for Science to name a Jovian moon "Brexit" in celebration of their achievement ? Given their general lack of knowledge, I am sure one or two could be easily convinced that Brexit is a Greek God.

www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/22/jupiters_moons_naming/

Here are the general rules:

Jupiter moons must be named after characters from Roman or Greek mythology who were either descendants or lovers of the god known as Jupiter (Roman) or Zeus (Greeks)
Submissions must be 16 characters of fewer, preferably one word.
Submissions must not be offensive in any language or to any culture.
Submissions must not be too similar to the existing names of any moons or asteroids.
Names of a purely or principally commercial nature are prohibited.
Names of individuals, places, or events that are principally known for political, military, or religious activities are not suitable.
Names commemorating living persons are not allowed.

Sebastian Payne @SebastianePayne
🚨 General election warning 🚨 If Theresa May extends Article 50, the ERG are threatening to “end the government”. Around a dozen of its MPs will no longer vote with the government - my latest with @LauraKHughes @financialtimes

amp.ft.com/content/b662b452-35e7-11e9-bd3a-8b2a211d90d5?__twitter_impression=true
Eurosceptic Tory MPs threaten to ‘end the government’
ERG members warn May they will vote against her if Britain’s EU exit is delayed

Surprise!!!!
Said no one.

“If she said she’d extend Article 50, there’d be 20-plus [ERG] MPs who would just take their bat and ball home: no domestic legislation, no Brexit legislation, they just wouldn’t be showing up any more,” said one MP who belongs to the ERG.

“It would effectively end the government . . . [Mrs May] has been absolutely firm for months and months we leave on the 29th [March] . . . If she went back on that . . . there would be carnage.”

So we are probably headed for a GE sooner rather than later but probably after Brexit.

And I don't buy that they won't turn up for all votes, as that means a plan for staying in the customs union could get through parliament...

They would just end up like Ukip in the EP. Turning up to block tax stuff, Brexit stuff and women's rights.

Oh. Funny that.

Dudley (Dud-lie) isn't too far from Rossetti Towers ...

Our MP is Sikh - the UKs first Sikh MP.

Nigel Fletcher @ nigelfletcher
So now we have the Independent Group, and also a group of independents who are independent of those Independents. When will the first MP defect from Independent to independent or from independent to Independent? And how will our spreadsheets cope?

To avoid confusion I'm going to go for 'Labour Indys' to distinguish between them and the Labour Tiggers.

If Theresa May extends Article 50,

Can we just note that TM doesn't get to "extend" anything here. She would have to ask for an extension. Publicly. Very publicly.

Which is why I think it won't happen.

The EU cannot be suspected of doing any back room deals over this.

Labour Indys'

Already "Lindys"

From the Labour MP for Derby North and one of Corbyns closest allies.

Can we just note that TM doesn't get to "extend" anything here. She would have to ask for an extension. Publicly. Very publicly.

Which is why I think it won't happen.

Parliament voting for it, is the UK asking too though...

And I don't buy that they won't turn up for all votes, as that means a plan for staying in the customs union could get through parliament

Indeed. I did read that about not turning up for any votes and think that sounded a bit too good to be true.

And if May tries to act illegally and ignore that, the Tory Party would implode anyway.

Parliament voting for it, is the UK asking too though...

True. But the reportage (quality as ever ) was talking about Theresa May extending A50.

And all parliament can do is pass a motion "requiring the Prime Minister to request an extension of A50 from the EU" which the Prime Minister will ignore. Boo hoo.

853 hours to B-Day.

Trying to catch up on and understand the latest developments. Re these Tories wanting an extension.

Isn’t this more of what Junker said a couple of days ago. That the U.K. says what it doesn’t want but not what it does. An extension is not saying what it does want just “I’m still not sure , can I have a bit more time to think?”

There are all the problems regarding the elections for a longer time and that won’t go away. I think that the EU might do something for a longer past July extension if we are preparing for a PV , not otherwise.

The cynic in me thinks this might be a behind the scenes ploy of TM wanting to call ERG bluff.

If the same Tories were now wanting to suppport that amendment for WA plus PV I might think they were genuine. Not yet.

And if May tries to act illegally and ignore that, the Tory Party would implode anyway.

As with Mark Twain, rumours of the demise of the Tory party have been greatly exaggerated

I'm quite prepared to believe that after the apocalypse, we'll see the Tory party whipping up support from cockroachs

I get that it will be UK asking for it and it's not as if TM has much pride left is it? But, my point stands, how would it help? How would it make us look better/more competent? It doesn't. How does it help us actually sort anything else out? Time to make trade deals that take 5+ years? No. Time to invest 25mil in Ramsgate ro/ro ferries? Nope not enough. Time for more political infighting and rage? Yes.

It doesn't help anyone prolonging the uncertainty and enraging politicians and the public further.

May lost all pride a long time ago. She now has no shame.

Hope fades yet again.