Westminstenders: One Pepperoni Pizza Please. And a Milkshake To Go.

[RedToothBrush]

On the Eve of the EU Elections that we never met to happen, and we don't know what the next hour next mind day might bring.

Farage is enjoying the theatre of milkshakes. It means he gets attention and gets to play the victim. And avoid talking about his dodgy friends and even dodgier financing. The Brexit Party are polling so highly its possible he could be PM. And boy does he know it. The temptation is there and its too much to resist.

May has refused to resign so far tonight after a day of asking her to. The 1922 Committee refused to change the rules to help oust her - possibly because they don't want the next PM to be beset with challenges to the leadership at the drop of a hat. Graham Brady is seeing her on Friday... The ERG are not happy bunnies.

May is still apparently planning to plough on with the WAB with a referendum possibly attached. Though this remains to be seen.

Meanwhile Leadsom has just quit the Cabinet. She was one of the Brexit 'Pizza Club'. Rumours are this might be the Cabinet withdrawing support for her. Though Gove has said he doesn't intend to resign (tonight at least).

Rumour is that May's senior staff have abandoned her to let her make the decision to go. And rumours are that when Leadsom rang May to tell her she was leaving cabinet, May didn't tell her senior staff. This comes two weeks after rumours where that Phillip May was at the point of telling her it was time to resign. The rumours of course may be just that, rumours but it's hard to see how or why anyone would tell her to carry on now.

And so tomorrow. Who would vote for this utter shower of shit? Even if you were the most loyal of Tories?

The thing tomorrow is to get the remain vote out. It doesn't matter ultimately what people vote for. Every vote cast for remain keeps the Brexit Party popular vote down. Even if it doesn't win seats. And that is psychologically important.

Tomorrow make sure EVERYONE you know who is anti brexit party votes. More so if they are a Remainer voting for a Remain party, but also if they are solid Labour or the rarest of things, a true blue.

It MATTERS. Narratives will be set.

If you are not sure if you are registered to vote, please TRY ANYWAY. The worst case is you are turned away and have lost 20 mins of your life. But you might also be able to vote and that might change the course of events.

Talk to people tomorrow. Remind them. Make sure it's about preventing a hard right foothold. Apathy will destroy our futures. Being fed up of politicians so refusing to vote is actively shooting yourself in the face.

Who am I voting for?

Still no idea. But I will vote.

I would say, apply for a proxy vote - but they have been messing that up too. Although my polling station didn't, and they know me now, being I think the only person who turns up as a proxy.

I think too, that they could probably have provisionally booked the printers because we knew when the elections were going to be.

“Tunbridge Wells council told voter Geraldine Coyne, who is visiting her partner in Sweden during the election period, that the ballot papers were sent out late because the printers didn’t have capacity”.

I worked at a printers for over a decade. Did lots of election stuff.

Deadlines were always tight at the best of times. This time, more so.

Think this is a genuine issue from my own direct experience of doing this for many years.

Customers regularly were surprised that they couldn't rock up on a Tuesday and have their entire huge order delivered by Friday. Even if we'd dealt with them for years and told them this frequently.

Printing is the work of a magician in the eyes of many.

Probably the same people who are so disconnected from the reality of how things work and like unicorns. But there you go.

Ooo she's resigning... And I need to do a quick tidy of the house before a man comes to inspect my boiler. Shit timing May.

Is there a crest on the podium.

We MUST have crest watch.

I'm here! Checking in, excellent day to be working from home!

No podium yet according to twitter!

I've got physio at 10. Hurry up woman!

Ashley Cowburn
‏*@ashcowburn*
In an apt end to Theresa May’s premiership, Downing Street sends out a Theresa May statement to journalists with nothing in it.

Lectern complete with crest is there!

It's there now

Think this is a genuine issue from my own direct experience of doing this for many years.

I actually agree it is a genuine issue. I'm just not convinced it wasn't an issue which could be solved though, had it been properly prioritised.

Looks like a government crest on the podium to me.

It has a crest!

If it's the end for the Tories, who will fill the vacuum?
I (wishfully) think the party will split into three: moderate centrists (who might throw their lot in with TIG, who may possibly dump the CUK brand if it's not going anywhere), hardline Brexiters (who may join a nascent Faragist party) and old style one nation/high Tory bods who will try to preserve that ethos as far as they can. I think something similar will happen to Labour, who may find these EU elections their death blow in the same way that the local elections did for the Tories. And then who knows? PR beckons somewhere down the line perhaps.
The next few months are the danger months though, while the turmoil persists and with a no deal looming.

The lectern has the lion and the unicorn on it. What does that mean?

Or used printers from other departments.

It'll be an outsourced job. Probably with addresses overprinted afterwards. Printer has to do all at once (to keep cost down) and this is also dependent on whether paper is available (we import most of our paper). With every council ordering the same paper at the same time, there is likely to have been paper shortages in some areas. It has to be shipped from Europe (Germany generally). Paper being heavy and bulky is something that isn't easy imported in large quantities on short notice.

Honestly it's just one of those things that needs understanding of the logistics of the supply chain, rather than councils being shit in themselves. That is something that comes down to central government planning over the EU elections.

I've sat until midnight doing election stuff to meet deadlines before. And then been in work (45mins away) for 8am the next day to do it all over again. And it's like that for around ten days to a fortnight. Often juggling it with other clients.

That's May directly...

The crest means it's a prime ministerial statement and not one as party leader

{ And I need to do a quick tidy of the house before a man comes to inspect my boiler. Shit timing May.}
CHILL, he is coming to fix the boiler, not a house inspection.
Anyway, why isn't it a woman boiler engineer? Smaller hands are an advantage when working inside enclosed spaces (says he with bleeding knuckles).

I can have stuff made in India and sitting on my doorstep in 3 or 4 days, printing capacity 'my arse'!

Lecturn out...

There's a crest

So if she resigns as Prime Minister and not just party leader then what happens? Or can you not do one without automatically doing the other?

I think something similar will happen to Labour, who may find these EU elections their death blow in the same way that the local elections did for the Tories.

No no no, this was not the death of the Tory party. This was overwhelming support for Brexit, dontcha know?

My mistake Peregrina

Sorry, it's the government coat of arms

I used to have a woman plumber and she was very good. She was especially popular with elderly widows, who were a bit wary of letting men in the house. Sadly she died young.