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Brexit

Westminstenders: A fully functioning government?

960 replies

RedToothBrush · 10/05/2019 23:50

It's been a month since parliament voting on anything.

The staggering reality of May's premiership is that government has ceased to function. We are stuck not just on Brexit but every other issue, such is the weakness of May's authority.

It begs the question of how long this is tolerable by all sides of the Conservative Civil War?

May being unable to bring anything forward means no deal is probably as inevitable as if a hardliner was PM.

There was talk of May / Corbyn reaching a fudge to get a deal via the backdoor WAB (Withdrawal Agreement Implimentation Bill) as it was politically impossible for them to be seen doing a deal any other way. However news today is that despite pressure from the 1922 Committee to bring it forward, May has slapped just a one line whip on it, meaning it will go precisely no where.

The polling for the European elections is perhaps more favourable to Labour than they might have feared after last weeks local election disaster so the mutual interest for Corbyn to move forward in anyway has already gone. Seeing the Tories be humiliated at the ballot box is too much of a temptation.

The phrase about Shit Creek only gets more apt.

All that is happening is every member of the Tory Party is lining up to take part in a leadership contest. It's harder to think of a Tory who isn't considering standing. It's not just the likes of Johnson, Gove, Rudd and Hunt. It's also the likes of Johnny Mercer and Graham Brady queuing not so patiently.

And its getting harder to argue that May is better as PM than the possibility of a right right candidate, because of the paralysis. Though as Rudd rightly points out, such a PM who wanted to actively have no deal as a policy, would struggle to win a majority in the HoC for that all important Queens Speech vote - every bit as much as May. Unless they were to somehow decide they could abuse the power of the executive and ignore parliament - a feat May has repeatedly attempted but ultimately failed at.

All everything feels, is a massive sense of merely delaying the inevitable.

Remain? Hard to see how under any Tory. A Deal? Hard to see what it might be and how there will be a Parliamentary majority. A PV? Well that still has to get through parliament and needs to be arranged smartish. And might not resolve the Irish border issue if the vote goes 'the wrong way' A General Election? That still seems to be a distinct possibility. But with the seeming resurrection of the LDs that's one the Tories will be desperate to avoid. Not that Corbyn is likely to succeed either. And of course there is now the Spectre of the Turquoise Arrows lurking. The crushing of the purple pound notes feels a hollow and distinct success.

It feels like we are waiting for the political sky to fall in in some sort of never ending Brexit Purgotory.

The cataclysmic event will occur at some point. It has to. But for now, it feels that there is nothing but waiting and waiting to be done.

OP posts:
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39
lonelyplanetmum · 11/05/2019 07:50

The dashes caused an unintended strike through- apologies.

ContinuityError · 11/05/2019 07:54

Following on from the last line in lonely’s poem, I’ll PMK with one of those cats.

Westminstenders: A fully functioning government?
OublietteBravo · 11/05/2019 08:01

Good morning. I had an awful week at work and completely lost track of the previous thread. It seems we’re still in Brexit limbo with no real prospect of any change.

TheMShip · 11/05/2019 08:01

Tusk telling us not to waste time reminds me of this Tolkien quote:

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I", said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

BigChocFrenzy · 11/05/2019 08:04

For anyone without a TV licence:

Brexit Behind Closed Doors Parts I & II

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7a-frttT7nk

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8aCEABM712o

The Clock is Ticking

Follows Barnier's team ( I also posted link on an earlier thread)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=43s&v=DT1FSmISCGw

Peregrina · 11/05/2019 08:09

Seeing the Tories be humiliated at the ballot box is too much of a temptation.

Ah yes, but remember what happened in 2017 when May gave way to electoral temptation hoping to see Labour humiliated. She really ought to know better. How many times has she recited the prayer which includes the line 'Lead us not into temptation'?

BTW - wasn't the Royal Birth badly timed? If only he could have arrived on 23rd May - this would have been a much better distraction.

bellinisurge · 11/05/2019 08:09

@OublietteBravo , I hope the weekend helps you recover from an awful week at work.
Judging by Faridge on QT, we are just going to reboot all the stupid unhelpful crap for the next few months and then the shit will go down to the wire again at the end of October. Obviously, the BBC thinks we need a fucking rerun of all that Hunger Games nonsense because it made great TV.

OhLookHeKickedTheBall · 11/05/2019 08:14

thanks red

OublietteBravo · 11/05/2019 08:15

on the plus side, it is Eurovision next week. I never expected to be in the EU for Eurovision 2019. The UK is going to do terribly of course.

RHTawneyonabus · 11/05/2019 08:16

Parliament has literally run out of things to do.

A civil servant friend who has something to do with the laying of secondary legislation in Parliament (which still has to be physically walked over and laid in the House when Parliament is sitting) has been warned a few people have been caught on the hop recently as they’ve gone to lay it at say 5pm but can’t as there’s no business left for that day and the house is no longer in session - they usually sit until 10 pm ish.

bellinisurge · 11/05/2019 08:18

Ha ha @OublietteBravo , I actually hate Eurovision. Being out of it might be the only reason I could think of to have voted Leave.GrinBut, good news for Eurovision fans, I'm pretty sure we stay in the wretched event after we Leave. Some sort of bollocks founding member thing.

RedToothBrush · 11/05/2019 08:19

OublietteBravo it's not a vintage Eurovision year. But I'm v excited all the same.

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Sostenueto · 11/05/2019 08:22

Loved poem lonelyGrin
Thanks red as always Flowers
Really got het up this morning. Where do people who can afford private education think their children are being discriminated against because Oxbridge are allowing more applicants from deprived backgrounds to gain access to their colleges? What planet are these people on?

There will never be more students from deprived backgrounds going to Oxbridge than those from privileged or monied backgrounds! The one thing you have to have to gain a place is ability. Going to a private school is not enough! Am seething!

BestIsWest · 11/05/2019 08:22

No cats to pmk with but I do have a dog

Westminstenders: A fully functioning government?
GeistohneGrenzen · 11/05/2019 08:25

pmk
Thanks Red. And Lonely, for the poem. It reminded me about growing a cabbage or two for the winter in case of a no deal...

bellinisurge · 11/05/2019 08:25

I'm glad it cheers so many people up. We could all do with it. Sadly it brings out my inner Leavista, I hate it so muchGrin. My dd loves it and will actually be having a sleepover at her grandparents to watch it - they love it too. She doesn't know how much dh and I despise it and I even offered to have a thing at home so she could enjoy it here. Perhaps she heard my gritted teeth.

NoWordForFluffy · 11/05/2019 08:25

PMK, thanks Red.

BTW - wasn't the Royal Birth badly timed? If only he could have arrived on 23rd May - this would have been a much better distraction.

I said at work that TM could quietly revoke A50, have a very small news article which only made page 9 due to Archie photos, and just act like nothing had ever happened! And everybody would be happy as Brexit would never need to be mentioned ever again!

Unfortunately, this didn't happen.

EggAndButter · 11/05/2019 08:26

PMK

Ellie56 · 11/05/2019 08:28

I said at work that TM could quietly revoke A50, have a very small news article which only made page 9 due to Archie photos, and just act like nothing had ever happened!

Yes she missed a trick there. But then what's new?

NoWordForFluffy · 11/05/2019 08:29

I'm with you on Eurovision, bellini! Can't stand it!

We'll still be in the continent of Europe, unlike some countries who compete, so why would we need to leave the competition (not that I care!)?

Iambuffy · 11/05/2019 08:40

I passed the entrance exam to oxford sos
But decided not to go for interview after spending a weekend there at
Balliol.
Hated it.

TheNorthWestPawsage · 11/05/2019 08:44

Pmk

yolofish · 11/05/2019 09:05

Morning all. I wonder what fresh delights the coming days will bring...

BigChocFrenzy · 11/05/2019 09:10

Eurovision has nothing to do with the EU - many countries outside the EU, e.g. Russia, participate
So when / if we Brexit, the Uk will still be embarassing itself at Eurovision

In future centuries, if climate change sends the flood waters rising over the continent, the last sound to be heard will be a gurgle gurgle from a Eurovision entry

Motheroffourdragons · 11/05/2019 09:11

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