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.

Ballot papers have now been verified and the turnout in the #Conwy local count area was 38.57%. Votes will be counted on the evening of Sunday 26/05/19.

Laura Kneussberg on BBC synopsis on TM captures the essence of her problems.
TM not collaborative, uncomfortable with other people, & in charge of a process requiring, negotiation, compromise, flattery, wheedling, etc. She completely lacked the skills for this, and I can see little evidence of this in any of the front-runners.
Grim times.

Fire Brigades Union using admirable restraint about that speech.
She exemplifies the very worst of caucasian middle england.

Just heard Stephen Kerr, Tory MP for Stirling, on Radio 4. He said that there should NEVER be another Scottish independence referendum!

I said that about her right at the beginning - that she needed to be more collaborative - which Cameron was after all. As one person said, (I can't remember who), you could go up to him in the tea room and tell him to F* off, but at least he was there. May wasn't there.

She is the sort who would be much better in a no. 2 or 3 role - taking the bright ideas of a leader and with her capacity for hard work, putting flesh on them, and considering the detail.

@Sathnam
Theresa May quits
The leadership race begins:

Guy who makes you want to die: 13/8
Dude you literally don't recognise: 6/1
National joke 8/1
Blackhole of charisma: 10/1
She has kids, you know:12/1
The guy whose name sounds like a swear word: 16/

Is it wrong that I'm a bit at the thought of Trump having to waste spend time meeting a "lame duck" PM on her way out, when he us here for his minimum possible "State Visit"?

It just won't compute with him that she couldn't just write an executive order or issue a midnight rule that over-rides all democratic processes

If May doesn't have any self-awareness, Trump has even less

Just heard Stephen Kerr, Tory MP for Stirling, on Radio 4. He said that there should NEVER be another Scottish independence referendum

It's gone very quiet, but isn't there still some question as to whether Scotland needs Westminster approval to secede from the Union ?

Yes, "secede". Some might get more from that word than others ...

thethethethe - don't you realise? Democracy is not for the likes if Scotland and we should know our place, forever and a day and whatever the hell we get dragged in to

Fortunately, I think current GE predictions suggest he'll lose his seat (along with the rest of the Conservatives)

She was a bully. Bullies don't know what to do when they are the weaker party.

Is it wrong that I'm a bit  at the thought of Trump having to waste spend time meeting a "lame duck" PM on her way out,

And of course he will give her 'advice' as to where she went wrong.

Please send me a link to the online psychopath test Coquillage. I think I need to do it.
Re overseas students and you’ll have to take it on trust that I know what I’m talking about as too much detail would out DH.
Language schools are accredited by the British Council and are regularly checked. The tests they do are standardised.
Student visas are tied to a particular institution and course. No shows have to be reported to the police and HO. An institution is penalised for having too many no shows so they have to be sure that the school doing the test is genuine and has a good reputation.
It is possible for a student to get someone else to take their test. However they have to produce passports and other documents before taking the test and these should be checked thoroughly.
That said they may manage to get onto a course with little student contact. They’ll probably not be spotted until they start failing exams.
Otherwise they may have no intention of becoming a student and disappear into the black economy. A language school providing fake visas in this way will soon be noticed and will lose their accreditation.
So it’s really not that easy.
Personally I think the whole think is part of May’s vendetta against foreigners which started when she insisted on adding students to her immigration figures. They had previously been in a separate category. Therefore to cut immigration she had to cut the numbers of students from outside the eu.

Maga and Russian trolls who infested these thread post referendum were incensed at any criticism of may. Tells me all I need to know about her and the funders' intentions of how to use her. She is tragically thick, in a peculiarly home counties way.

Boris promising a Halloween crash out if need be.

@election_data
This the list of confirmed turnouts so far, listed by the size of increase from 2014. Also includes Remain % and 2014 turnout. H/t
twitter.com/election_data/status/1131900211562000395

Really frightened an out No Deal prospect now since Boris f**king Johnson's statement. Brexit shambles is seriously harming my mental health 😪

On a childish note, can anyone who is willing to share any Boris skeletons / rumours pm me pls?
I appreciate they are only rumours but it would cheer me along, as I write my Disability Discrimination Appeal letter.

" something will have to give somewhere."

Either the new PM is able to agree a PD with Labour - so both sides give - or we'll No Deal

Yes, Kerr on R4 re Scottish Ref had an interesting idea that the people of Scotland voted knowingly for a Tory Gov on the complete understanding that the EU referendum was going to happen and so, despite the fact they voted to remain, must have understood the risks (in not so many words). The idea of Leave being completely insane back then as well as the non-legally binding referendum that Scotland was told in HoC wouldn't 'drag them out' if they voted to remain didn't get a mention Sounded very similar to the '80% of people voted for a party with Brexit on their manifesto' to me

Patrick Henegen @pjhenegen
Sorted by largest increases in turnout

Wales?!

What's going on in Wales?

Did anyone see that one coming?

(I don't think I've seen anything about Wales)

{And of course he will give her 'advice' as to where she went wrong.}

As long as they are in a quiet corner well away from anything else they can spend as many hours on that as they like. The more the better.

In fact Kerr's response in that sums up exactly where Tory and Labour parties are encouraging us not to ever vote for them again. Both using the same "well, you trusted us!" has finally begun to be noticed on more than a subconscious level.

The turnout for Warwick district for the European Election was 42% #wmeuro19

Up 4%

Did anyone see that one coming
Wales reverted to Remain in July 2016 soon after Sunderland in 2016 didn't they?
But increase in turnout could mean increase in turquoise?

Graham Brady has just quit as chair of 1922 committee and is considering standing for PM. Interesting as Trafford demographics are changing - they voted a Green at the local elections. I think the move of the BBC has helped make it more of a little London.

So, long-winded way of saying, he could be one of the outsiders who gets the job but, also, so many key ERG types are in vulnerable seats.