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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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Icantreachthepretzels · 12/05/2019 20:04

Let's hope everywhere else he is booked to appear for the next two weeks give him a similar grilling. If the journalists were doing their jobs then he should be too afraid to show his face on the television for the merciless ripping apart he would receive. Either made to look like the charlatan he is, or frightened off the air by the prospect of being made to look like the charlatan e is ... it's the only way to beat him.

TalkinPaece · 12/05/2019 20:21

PMK after spending Saturday at the NEC at very odd event
and then today I had a fab time at RHS Malvern

interesting how many growers highlighted that they did not import their plants

borntobequiet · 12/05/2019 20:53

So pleased to see Farage get a grilling. Perhaps this is the Led By Donkeys effect - if the mainstream media don’t start holding Faragit and his ilk to account, they (the media) won’t be able to defend themselves when the shit hits the fan. They’ve seen it can be done. He just kept talking, didn’t he? He needs to be rolled over on by everyone. And good for the Any Questions bloke.
Perhaps we should all turn up to his appearances to ask awkward questions.

HesterThrale · 12/05/2019 20:57

Yes, born, we need Led By Donkeys very soon to start exposing some of the things faragit has said. Where are they?

RedToothBrush · 12/05/2019 22:13

Doctors say her life is at risk if she travels. Home office says that whilst she might not get the same standard of care in India, this did not entitle her to stay in the UK.

The home office pretty much say that it doesn't matter if the doctors say she die if forced to go to India, but they don't care. How can this be legal?

Westminstenders: A fully functioning government?
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OhYouBadBadKitten · 12/05/2019 22:26

I hate the Home Office. They are devoid of any sort of humanity.

BagpussAteMyHomework · 12/05/2019 22:47

@Femi_Sorry is good on Farage.

prettybird · 12/05/2019 23:35

Problem with the Marr interview of Faragit is that the national broadcaster 10pm news doesn't show him squirming Angry - it just shows him saying that he wants to be on the negotiating team and that they are a credible organisation reflecting what people want Hmm. That's the sound bite that most people will see and absorb Angry

SuePerbly · 13/05/2019 01:49

Delurking to ask: does anyone know why the BBC are pushing Farage so much? Ratings or something else?

Given that the BBC tends to be the puppet of the government, it seems like biting the hand that feeds, to focus on the Brexit Party so much.

Did anything link Farage to the Mueller investigation in the end? It feels as if a massive chain of corruption is funding Farage. I am wary of the BBC's motivation in platforming him so much.

TheMShip · 13/05/2019 06:56

Starmer, a human rights lawyer for 20 years, is to be the key face of Labour’s EU elections campaign, which will be framed as a battle of values.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/12/keir-starmer-brexit-deal-unlikely-pass-without-confirmatory-referendum-interview

Now I respect Keir Starmer as much as the next Remainer, but I find the language "is to be" very concerning. As if they aren't campaigning yet? Isn't that leaving it rather late? I've already voted by post, and I'm sure many others have too.

bellinisurge · 13/05/2019 07:04

Starmer is being set up to fail. It should be Corbyn. Who is an actual failure.

BigChocFrenzy · 13/05/2019 07:12

Matthew Holehouse@mattholehouse

Brexit's growing to resemble the Turkey accession - neither alive nor dead, sustainable for years on end, serving only an essential domestic purpose- is quite a lovely parallel, and very funny.

LonelyTiredandLow · 13/05/2019 07:14

SuePurbly I was wondering this last night, re BBC. I think they are trying to topple the Tories by stealth at great risk. There could well be some shady Russian link too but I think the Tories have over stepped on areas to the point the BBC now can't fund and feels can't be impartial. I'm willing to bet they are making a point. Whether they are all on the same page of that point and whether others are taking advantage...

Bodoni · 13/05/2019 07:18

SuePerbly, I’ve been wondering the same thing - why the BBC are pushing Farage so much. Are there any BBC employees lurking here who could give us a hint?

bellinisurge · 13/05/2019 07:19

He makes great telly. I think it's as simple as that.

BigChocFrenzy · 13/05/2019 07:29

Another for your bookshelf, @red ?

"A Short History of Brexit: From Brentry to Backstop"
by Kevin O'Rourke

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-History-Brexit-Brentry-Backstop-ebook/dp/B07KTJQRS4/ref=sr11_1?keywords=A+Short+History+of+Brexit%3A+From+Brentry+to+Backstop&qid=1557728129&s=digital-text&sr=1-1-catcorr

Just downloading after Weyand's recommendation
Looks an informative read which includes the original 1950s debate on the Common Market, after which we made the fatal decision not to join the CM when it began, when we could have hd maximum infuence.

Sabine Weyand@WeyandSabine

Great read - fascinating reminder of the 1950s debate on „customs union vs FTA“ pitching UK against EEC6.

And I’d forgotten how eloquently Cockfield‘s White Paper of 1985 explained how elimination of physical controls at borders required elimination of techn. + fiscal barriers.

BigChocFrenzy · 13/05/2019 07:30

Yep, the Beeb now chases after viewing figures just like commercial TV

LonelyTiredandLow · 13/05/2019 07:33

But why when they aren't meant to be funded by advertising - the main reason viewing figures become an issue (financial)? BBC makes amazing shows like Killing Eve and doesn't need to be a platform for alt-right.

LonelyTiredandLow · 13/05/2019 07:37

Am wondering if it is "give them enough rope" but clearly the likes of Frot just brush off what they said last year with a shrug and "oh dear oh dear"

Peregrina · 13/05/2019 07:49

Great read - fascinating reminder of the 1950s debate on „customs union vs FTA“ pitching UK against EEC6.

I have not read that book but from other readings remember that Churchill, although he talked of a United States of Europe, then went on to talk about the UK still looking towards the Commonwealth. Yet France had also had a big Empire, not spanning the globe maybe, and they managed to go into the EEC. The UK then realised its mistake and created EFTA. I wonder what Attlee's take on the newly emerging EEC or European Coal and Steel community as it then was, would have been?

RedToothBrush · 13/05/2019 08:10

www.thesun.co.uk/news/9059056/theresa-may-warned-gavin-williamson-bad-mouthing/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Theresa May warned Gavin Williamson had bad-mouthed her when she became PM but she said he was her ‘bh now’
The PM's aides told her that Mr Williamson had called her 'a charisma-free bh'

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RedToothBrush · 13/05/2019 08:12

Britain elects @britainelects
European Parliament voting intention:

BREX: 34% (+4)
LAB: 16% (-5)
LDEM: 15% (+5)
GRN: 11% (+2)
CON: 10% (-3)
CHUK: 5% (-4)

via @YouGov
Chgs. w/ 30 Apr

Not that different to polls over the weekend. Note the LDs are a single point behind becoming the European election opposition.

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BigChocFrenzy · 13/05/2019 08:19

All polls agree on a Tory wipeout
This poll has them coming in 5th

Even if the 1922 Committee don't vote to change their leadership rules this Thursday, it's very likely they would after the EP elections

BigChocFrenzy · 13/05/2019 08:28

After the EP elections, the Tories will be split and in chaos, whatever the 1922 decide

There is actually a possibility that BREX ould replace them as the party of the right

Farage is filling a political vaccum - which describes the Tory party since 2017 - and that can only continue so long before replacement happens

Short slogans and lies worked well in the US
A substantial number of voters prefer an authoritarian who talks simplistic shite and promises them unicorns

1tisILeClerc · 13/05/2019 08:30

{The PM's aides told her that Mr Williamson had called her 'a charisma-free ,,,,,}

It's so heartening to see we have such intellectuals and citizen focused people 'in charge' of the UK.
Maybe we should have an inquiry to find out who else peed in the sandpit.