Westminstenders: Johnson v Stewart

[RedToothBrush]

Debate time.

What is even scarier than Boris as PM is who he will put in his cabinet, more ERG types and goodbye to pro EU types like Hammond and Gauke.

The thing is we know the ERG is hardly an amorphous mass - there are schisms there too. Also there's a good chance that if Boris is as shit as past performance would suggest, it won't be long before the cabinet descends into full-on "who's going to be next PM ?" mode.

Also a rabid ERG cabinet might prompt more defections or at least refusals to back a VoC ? Especially if their only aim is no-deal.

jas No, the worst thing will be BJ bumbling around in his usual chaos, shooting off his mouth without thinking
.... and doing for the whole country what he did for Nazanin

Lonely interesting BXP struggling to attract female voters all BXP propaganda was addressed to me (female) and didn’t DG post a link about a young female letter writer being rumbled as a fraud by a Bristol newspaper where the same letter had been sent to various other news outlets. Something they are aware of.

I am also far more scared who will be running the country for him rather than his pathetic blatherings overseas. You only have to look at Trump to see the world is almost past the point of caring what he says on any given subject, it's the people in the background doing things that are concerning.

I've always maintained Brexit is a stealth war against taxes and welfare. We are looking at a far more authoritarian future.

BCF Very True! but just imagine what Chancellor Steve Baker or Foreign Sec Rees-Mogg would do on top of BJ ?

Basilpots All the electoral bumf comes addressed to eldest DS in this house - I assumed it’s because alphabetically his name is first on the list? Still ends up in the recycling just the same though

Re ERG Redwood was ticked off by a letter from Steve Barclay for his ‘interpretation’ of facts in the WA which came via .GOV for all to see so there are definitely different levels of extreme in that camp.

Not just ERG members in cabinet to be concerned about ‘special advisers’ and their connections also worry me.

What is even scarier than Boris as PM is who he will put in his cabinet, more ERG types and goodbye to pro EU types like Hammond and Gauke.

The thing with kicking all your remainers out of the cabinet is that it just creates more back bench mps who can vote against government
no deal lunacy without having to resign a cushy job ergo - far more likely to do it.

Will an incoming Boris (which is a mind picture no one needs when there's a "y" in the day) have carte blanche in cabinet appointments ?

Quite aside from the Brexit position, he'd have to carefully balance the massive egos required to be any MP - let alone the supersize-me ones of a white male Tory.

There would be issues with having leadership rivals in the cabinet, surely ? And Boris will certainly want to repay Gove in kind for 2016. Bearing in mind I've trodden in things that would do a better job than Boris, Javid and Hunt will seem super-competent if left in place.

Presumably now he's spoken something vaguely approximating the truth Hammond would have to go.

Might be some defining moments for female Tories. After all, Boris will want "some fillies around, crikey !".

There must be a board game in all this.

Just catching up.

On Scotland and the Devolution settlement this is interesting thinking which I broadly agree with (as I think would Andy B) and a step beyond where Kezia was (obvs different Brexit positioning but passage of time etc).

Max Shanly via twitter:
"Unpopular opinion: talk of a second referendum is a waste of time. There isn't a majority in parliament for it, and there won't be a general election til 2022, by which time we'll have already tumbled out of the EU on either a bad deal or no deal at all.

If Labour were clever they'd start to discuss what a post-Brexit constitutional settlement for Britain would look like. That means devo-max to Scotland and Wales, regional assemblies with teeth in England.

The abolition of the House of Lords, a British parliament in which the regional/national assemblies act as the second chamber, and more direct democracy. Plus constitutional social, political, economic and environmental rights for all. In short, a Commonwealth of Britain."

On the EU Nationals having to earn £30k thing Boris is already on record as saying he wants to move to needs based points system rather than blanket rules. I think (?) Hunt and Gove also have this position.

I reckon the Gove cocaine issue is likely to come back and bite him a lot more if he is in the last 2.

Crimeline on twitter:

"Judge Owen Davies, QC, has allowed a cocaine user to walk free from court with a 12-month conditional discharge, after suggesting during legal argument with the defence that the defendant " should suffer no more for dabbling in cocaine than should a former Lord Chancellor.""

In other news The Standard are Backing Boris. Everyone's other favourite Tory "alleged" cokehead probs having a hard day at the office. Good job he has so many jobs to keep him thinking about it.

Apparently Luciana is defecting to the LibDems and being parachuted into Finchley. Nothing like a bit of political expediency.

Trouble is no one can talk about post-Brexit without calls of "fear-mongering" so we are in a catch 22 with planning for it.

I think BJ will probably put Gove in charge of DexEU or whatever they are called, to land him with much of the fall. Boris will then lead us out and call Gove out for all of the issues as a "closet remainer" or something. Unless we revert back to talks of martial law; then anything goes.

I think BJ will probably put Gove in charge of DexEU or whatever they are called, to land him with much of the fall

Didn't Gove tell Theresa May to shove that when she tried it ? He's a sharp operator, I can't see Boris managing to nail him.

Lonely project fear is pointless it just gets backs ups and scares people that are already worried.

My way of dealing with leavers is to now say “I have no idea what will happen no one can it’s never been done before.” Usually ends the conversation quickly.

We don't know if there will be a GE or not

Even if no planned atm, some Tory MPs would vote with Corbyn to try to bring down the govt, if No Deal is otherwise inevitable

A GE might produce a working majority - which would make the PM's job much easier -
but more probably would produce a hung parliament again

However, it could be better to have 2 or 3 parties of reasonable size that must agree together on Brexit

• even just confidence & supply -

instead of the govt being dependent on the 10 DUP MPs, the Party of No and batshit sectarianism

The EU would give an extension if the temporary (for 14 days) PM Corbyn requested one for a GE

Lib Dem’s must fancy their chances of gaining a seat if there is a By Election in Brecon and Radnorshire too.

Small resonances and even a touch of irony (since it was written by a Frenchman).

Will Johnson be allowed to keep is (well paid) columnists job ?

Not sure how that sits with been PM ?

How, in your scenario does Jeremy Corbyn become "temporary PM" without a general election being held?

{The EU would give an extension if the temporary (for 14 days) PM Corbyn requested one for a GE}

But why though, there are no viable 'leaders' to be seen anywhere so you would only be selecting a different 'head of deckchair movements'.

After NC succeeds, the govt falls and there are 14 days for someone else to form a new govt that can command a majority

If some Tories do support an NC, I'd expect they'd discuss beforehand what the plan is

leclerc The EU will give us every chance to find our way, provided the delay doesn't damage them and is not used in attempts to limit the backstop or otherwise renegotiate

atm, a Boris PM who says he needs the time to renegotiate is likely to be shown the door

Mark Rutte the Dutch PM has been interviewed by the BBC's Katya Adler on the backstop and the outcome of a No Deal brexit.

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1142835/BBC-News-Katya-Adler-Mark-Rutte-interview-Brexit-news-backstop-EU-UK-trade-deal

If some Tories do support an NC, I'd expect they'd discuss beforehand what the plan is

There has to be a first time for everything ...

When is this session of Parliament due to end ?