Westminstenders: The May Compromise

[RedToothBrush]

After a marathon cabinet meeting, which no one seems to have resigned from, May has had another podium moment.

This time instead of blaming everyone but herself, she's gone for the 'let's compromise approach' to Corbyn.

This comes after Nick Boles crossed the floor saying his side wasn't prepared to compromise on anything after May secretly whipped on a 'free' vote against him.

May also said she we needed more of an extension to the 22nd May but without promise of EU elections this means No Deal inevitable if May can't pass the WA by then. Provided EU allow an extension until then without EU elections.

She also hinted at respecting a majority idea over indicative votes, if she and Corbyn fail to agree - remembering she tried successfully to sabotage that last night.

Already many are saying this is a trap to ensnare others into the mess that is Brexit in the blame game. With no deal ultimately the end goal.

The idea that May can find a compromise with Corbyn seems a fantasy.

And the EU might have every reason to refuse a longer extension under the circumstances.

For May to compromise she surely would have to break the Tories to do it as Labour will only go for a soft option which is unacceptable to the ERG. Unless her idea of compromise is simply its the WA or No deal which it seems hard to conceive Labour going near with the realistic prospect of the next PM being a hardliner.

All in all it seems more likely to be a framing exercise in damage limitation rather than something which has more substance and a realistic prospect of working. And if that's really the case, it certainly would explain why no one's resigned yet.

Indicative Votes 3 and a pretty dodgy Cooper Amendment designed to be a last ditch attempt to prevent no deal are both scheduled.

Its desparation stakes and the EU more or less have us down as a failed state. And the pro Brexit bombs don't really add much optimist to the mood.

I've got a funny feeling that TM's resignation offer will be proven to have been one-off. I.e. as it was rejected, it's no longer on the table.

JC is bound to say that he doesn't trust the next PM not to go against what's agreed, so she may decide that 'delivering Brexit' means until the deal is ratified by the EU27.

Bearing in mind that they can't oust her unless they have Labour on side to force a GE, it's perfectly feasible that she will make that commitment.

So far she's resisted the 1922 Committee to an extent, and only gave a vague promise / offer to resign which she can't actually be held to, particularly as they actually rejected her offer.

Has she actually played the long game and totally played the ERG, or is it total coincidence?! 🤔🤔🤔

So.
Let's see what fresh hell today brings!

I hope they can do it. I hate to jinx it but I’d be impressed

He could always demand a referendum though. If she refuses she ends up looking like someone who won't listen to the people. Or someone afraid of the voice of the people.

We can but hope!

I can’t see a way out of this otherwise.

I thought the WA couldn’t be altered anyway, so if JC suggests things like a customs union-will it have to be rewritten? I can’t see them finding a solution to the backstop anyway!

Morning all. Wonder what shit show is on offer today? One thing I'm sure of is there will be no resignations from the cabinet. They are all lining up for the leadership.

I do hope JC can hang in there during meeting and asks for PV and gets as much as he can and hope to goodness he got good advice from Kier Starmer ( though I know they don't get on).

Think I agree she needs labour votes now and DUP are history. Also glad about that as they really are twats. But above all I just want an agreement so this country can move on.

And lastly I have a vain hope that perhaps TM is being genuine for once but I really do doubt it. Watch your back JC watch your back!

I genuinely cannot understand, of all the things that I don't understand re Brexit, is how the ERG and the hard Brexiteers could not see that May's deal, however dreadful that it was/is/isn't, was the hardest Brexit that they were ever going to get? All that supposed intellect etc.

I think the DUP and the erg are this morning releasing that they have been played.

I don't think this was her long term plan at all but it's where she finds herself after 3 years of her govt pissing in the wind.

I just hope JC realises that this is trap.

I agree there are echoes of 1983 here, just as 2015 was like 1992.

Arrogance most likely

The ERG are properly delusional. I can't see another explanation.

Checking in for the next round of political fuckwittage

I may not support JC as I think he really isn't PM material but I do believe he is genuinely for the people. Today I feel really sorry for him. Its like watching him going to his own demise. If only he had more gumption. If only unicorns existed.........

I do believe he is genuinely for the people

Unless you're Jewish or a woman.

I feel slightly sorry for JC too.
Surely the only way this JC/TM meeting will be different from the last meeting with JC is if TM shifts from the WA (which she can’t as its needed on any scenario ) or if JC shifts towards the WA which he won’t?

The merged picture of JC and TM improved them both - more attractive in an older Conchita type way!

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I went to bed at the same time as DD last night and missed about 10 pages between 8 pm and midnight!

My catch up thoughts were...

1.	Loved Tatiana’s

“Pin the tail on the Lexit Donkey might help.”

2.	Similarly the Independent:

“There was the Prime Minister, just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to smash up his party so she didn't have to smash up hers”

3.	Andrea [Leadsom] requested that we go ahead with the risk of direct rule but call it something else” what like 'interim management' or perhaps we could call it Paul or Sinead or something ? To think she was a whisker away from being PM.

4.	UKIP growing  in a further election is actually a plus I think. Better the devil you know. We need  PR or something to actually get them a bloody seat. One MP out of 600+ will put them in context. Better having them exposed in the open as part of the process.  They’d actually have to do some wider work on real issues as an MP, rather than agitating in the side lines on one misrepresented  (non) issue. Why succumb to the fear thing of assuming they’d grow.? People could equally see they’ve no wider remit and the perceived threat would dissipate.

@hobblingawayslowly exactly. I campaigned for labour before the last election then discovered their misogyny at the same time as my inner feminist. I'm now politically homeless.
I don't have any hopes for a way forward at the moment but let's see what today brings.

We might just be watching snow pictures on the news today. Or is it only snowing in the North?

I think I've post enough criticism of the political commentators over the years...

I have said that what they say is important because it distorts things. And I'm well aware of the difference between what said locally and nationally.

The neo nazi group who plotted to kill Rosie Cooper have links to my home town. I know how Corbyn is regarded there. You only have to read the comments in the local newspaper, some like him but the majority of comments either come from a more centrist position or outright hate him because of his links to the IRA. The town has one of the highest rates of inequality in the country. You don't have to go far to encounter it or see signs of it, if you have your eyes open.

I largely agree with the idea that MPs are out of touch. Its why I have a certain amount of sympathy with people like Lisa Nandy, perhaps more than many on this thread who is more aware of reality but still knows how catastrophic no deal will be and perhaps can't afford to gamble to go all out for a revoke that might never happen.

But this doesn't change the influence that the political media have over who is in control and what will happen because of that. And as such what they say is worth sharing because it helps people understand what is happening in Westminster. It is not supposed to be reflecting what is going on in the rest of the country. Because tbh its irrelevant in many respects precisely because all the decisions are ultimately made in the bubble that is Westminster. The voices of Northern Town Labour constituencies are not heard because its currently toffs in the ERG who have lifestyles grossly removed from Northern towns in nice leafy villages in Dorset and Somerset. They are different world.

For various reasons my life has always straddled very different places and communities and I don't feel I below fully to one or another. I come across people who have no concept of any other world but their own regularly. I know Remainers who have said some bloody awful things about how it'll be fine with no deal that totally lack humanity. I know Brexiteers who are the mirror to that. And they often claim to be left wing or moderates!

Don't assume that posting about how Westminster works, that it's an endorsement of it nor that everyone is completely blinkered to reality.

To be a functioning Liberal democracy though you do need certain structures and competence of leadership to protect those principles. The party failings of which there are many and I've tried to talk about over the years are more the problem. These include massive failures of policy. That have undermined the structure of Liberal democracy in the justice system and in who is chosen to represent.

This has been reflected during the course of these threads.

But right now as the wheels turn in Westminster that's where the focus is. And that's why if you are trying to follow what's going on, that's why you have to focus on the political hacks. Cos its all down to 650 people now. Not what anyone else says or does.

@67chevyimpala

agree there are echoes of 1983 here, just as 2015 was like 1992

Sorry to be thick but can you expand on this please?

Anyway I think this morning is cabinet resignation watch. Will Andrea do it?

And then ERG sitting on hand watch.

BTW may could get a soft Brexit, but this could then translate to a hard right Tory government with lots of support after if they distance themselves correctly and make the right noises.

So she could save the party by going soft since she is going.

Which is why I'm not convinced the hardliners will throw the toys out. It's just an opportunity. Which is why the talk of changing the leadership contest to 4 candidates is more concerning; that's tantamount to gerrymandering to get Johnson as PM.

I don't think there will be any resignations today - too many of them have their eyes on the prize, job of PM.

Or poisoned chalice, whichever you prefer at present.

My bet today is....there will be EP elections coming before this show ends.

I am also taking a smidgen of hope that May has finally chosen the country over the (ERG) party and is trying something else. Then there is Yvette Cooper's bill to avoid No-Deal. It's like a few people have woken up and said "shit, this is serious".

that's tantamount to gerrymandering to get Johnson as PM.

Red -your last 2 posts were very insightful.

I can see how four candidates would split the non ERG Tory vote three ways . But doesn't that presuppose that the ERG would stay firm and not field two candidates themselves? Egos have to be factored in.

I'm reminded of the investigation I did into the last time there was a powerful party within a party. It was the Cabal under Charles II. It's fall came because personal rivalries and a conflict over foreign policy between Buckingham and Arlington escalated. The group became unpopular, because of arbitrary rule. The public came to see them as "untrustworthy, venal and self-seeking, their eyes always on the main chance".

The venal self seeking bit seems so apposite. If political journalists did their job they'd sniff out and exploit divisions within the ERG more than they do- that would encourage them to field two candidates iyswim.

Well if I was May knowing I'm done for I would not go quietly. I would not soften I'd do just the opposite but that's just me! Its the same way I would deal with death.

I have respect for Lisa Nandy too.

Red - I think we must live pretty near each other, said neo-nazi was from my home town

Andre Leadson resign? Doubt it.