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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.

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DGRossetti · 11/05/2019 16:39

QT went to bollocks when they moved to 5 guests. Quite aside from the aesthetics (sometimes symmetry has it's place) it just diluted the debate.

OublietteBravo · 11/05/2019 16:41

So can we expect another party leader to be on QT next week, or is Farage the only one who counts?

Caroline Lucas and Vince Cable were on QT two weeks ago - on the same panel - VC was subdued.

Caroline Lucas isn’t a party leader though (she has been in the past, but isn’t currently).

woman19 · 11/05/2019 16:51

Anti abortion/ Anti Women 'march' in central London today.
Brexist Means Sexist. Bollocks to it.

pointythings · 11/05/2019 17:35

I must confess to never having watched Eurovision. But am watching it this year as DD2 wants to watch it, specifically with me. Given the time we've been having and the fact that it's exam season, it seems a little treat is in order.

Oh God, antichoicers as well as Brexit - that's just all we need.

TheElementsSong · 11/05/2019 17:45

Oh God, antichoicers as well as Brexit - that's just all we need.

Like their American inspiration, two cheeks of the same arse.

BigChocFrenzy · 11/05/2019 17:56

The Uk far right takes the attitudes of the US far right that fund them

Littlespaces · 11/05/2019 18:05

I like the humour in Eurovision.

Polling indicates that turkeys seem to be voting for Christmas again. God help the NHS.

mathanxiety · 11/05/2019 18:38

Completely unabashed Eurovision fan here. I actually breathed a sigh of relief that the competition is next week because this weekend is a busy one for me Smile.

BigChocFrenzy · 11/05/2019 18:40

Not just one large BREX donor, looks like several

https://news.sky.com/story/jeremy-hosking-former-conservative-donor-revealed-as-major-backer-of-brexit-party-11716597

A businessman who has previously donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Conservative Party has been confirmed as a major financial backer of the Brexit Party.

Jeremy Hosking was one of a number of donors who have donated large sums of money to Nigel Farage's new party,
a spokesman for the Brexit Party told Sky News.
....
Mr Hosking said he had given £200,000 over the last few weeks

BigChocFrenzy · 11/05/2019 18:43

Sadiq Khan reveals he has 24-hour police protection following social media threats

news.sky.com/story/sadiq-khan-reveals-he-has-24-hour-police-protection-following-social-media-threats-11716835

the mayor received 237 threats on social media and City Hall referred 17 cases to police over three months.

mathanxiety · 11/05/2019 18:50

I didn't think Anna Soubry had anything new to say this week - very poor effort.

Did you want tap dancing? Jazz hands?

If what Soubry has been saying all along is completely correct then there is no need to come up with new material. Did Churchill come up with new, entertaining takes on the Third Reich?

If you want novelty, watch something else.

When the truth is dismissed with a very weak comment along the lines of 'heard it before' it seems to me that there is a problem with the audience, not with the message.

DGRossetti · 11/05/2019 18:51

17 cases to police over three months.

So over 1 a week ! Shock

Still I guess it makes a change from harassing non-offenders ...

twitter.com/HarryTheOwl/status/1110503943245688832

LonelyTiredandLow · 11/05/2019 18:53

Ah for the slightly more honest days of 2014...

Janice Atkinson, who is number two on the party's candidate list in the South East England constituency, admitted it would be impossible just to walk away from the EU.

Guardian link - Ukip accepts EU exit could take several years article. Within it appears "Ukip will have to negotiate a withdrawal from the European Union over many years and the party still has to work out the details of how it would secure such an exit, a leading Ukip MEP candidate in May's European elections has conceded."

mathanxiety · 11/05/2019 19:06

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?

I saw that too Sostenueto.

I am frankly surprised that there is surprise at the attitudes of the group who feel they are being hard done by.

Finally the veil is lifted and we get a glimpse of the real Britain, where the education system has as one of its main functions the maintenance of low social mobility and the validation of the assumptions certain people have about their place in society and the place of others.

To see them coming right out and saying it is a big surprise too - up to now, the idea that certain classes own certain higher education niches and outsiders are suffered on a token basis has been very much unspoken, with lip service paid to the idea of merit and the ideal of social mobility.

I suspect there will be an accelerating trend for these people to try to send their offspring to American universities, just so that they can avoid being associated with the increasingly tainted Oxbridge. The massive cost of this undertaking will add to the cachet of the Ivy League among this set.

BigChocFrenzy · 11/05/2019 19:12

Latest polls

BREX looks like dominating the EP elections, in both MEPs & votes

Tories in 4th place, behind LDems
Labour down, Greens up, ChUK sinking behind even UKIP

However, in the GE, their 21% would bring them only 32 seats, whereas the Tories 22% would earn 209 seats

  • BREX MPs would rise v sharply with % votes, making them a major force with about another 7%

Britain Elects@britainelects

European Parliament voting intention:

BREX: 34% (+6)
LAB: 21% (-7)
LDEM: 12% (+5)
CON: 11% (-3)
GRN: 8% (+2)
UKIP: 4% (+1)
CHUK: 3% (-4)

via @OpiniumResearch, 08 May
Chgs. w/ 23 Apr
.....

Westminster voting intention:

LAB: 28% (-5)
CON: 22% (-5)
BREX: 21% (+4)
LDEM: 11% (+5)
GRN: 6% (+2)
UKIP: 4% (-)

woman19 · 11/05/2019 19:37

Really enjoying the Storyville Brexit Behind Closed Doors. Thanks for the recommendation prettybird It's beautifully made. Love the groovy offices and the elegant way they slip between languages. Like Werner Herzog or Francois Truffaut directing Dr Strangelove. Smile

Peregrina · 11/05/2019 19:59

God help the NHS.

Farage would claim that this is Johnson's baby - Farage himself didn't stand in front of the bus. Farage's thing is immigration.

LonelyTiredandLow · 11/05/2019 20:09

This is worrying Ukip MEP candidates urge supporters to use Gab SM which has "has no restrictions on antisemitic, misogynist or racist content" Sad

Peregrina · 11/05/2019 20:15

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?

This was Stowe, wasn't it? I get the impression that it isn't in, should we say, the first rank of private schools - there are better schools both boarding and day. So I suspect they don't get the most academic students, and Stowe isn't adding sufficient value to get them into Oxbridge. At one time a private education would have been good enough to get a boy into Oxbridge, less so now.

CandidCat · 11/05/2019 20:41

*"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."*

Thanks for the summary RTB, especially the beautifully written, if chilling, conclusion!

Looking forward to Eurovision even though we will get nil points, I have always enjoyed it and find Graham Norton's commentary hilarious.

Violetparis · 11/05/2019 20:44

The Telegraph are apparently going to report another 'bombshell' opinion poll tonight.

1tisILeClerc · 11/05/2019 21:02

{ I have always enjoyed it and find Graham Norton's commentary hilarious.}
I agree that Graham's comments are usually pretty good. Wogan was good in the earlier years but was getting a bit 'bitter' and unnecessarily cutting in the last few years. It is obvious that many countries vote 'politically' and to me it seems that it should only be regarded as a bit of a fun party and not to be taken seriously.

I have just been watching the Storyville programmes linked by BCF on page 2. WTF is the UK thinking? I kept getting 'bits in my eye' at the feeling of loss that many in the UK are making.

Peregrina · 11/05/2019 21:04

Is this the poll which is reporting that Brexit will get more than the Tories and Labour combined?

RedToothBrush · 11/05/2019 21:09

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/05/11/brexit-party-beats-tories-general-election-poll-would-win-49/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Brexit Party beats Tories in general election poll and would win 49 seats in Commons

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RedToothBrush · 11/05/2019 21:10

Britain elects @ britainelects
Westminster voting intention:

LAB: 27% (-6)
BREX: 20% (+6)
CON: 19% (-4)
LDEM: 14% (+7)
CHUK: 7% (-2)
GRN: 5% (+2)
UKIP: 3% (-2)

via @ComRes, 09 May
Chgs. w/ 16 Apr

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