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Brexit

Westministenders: Brexit Preppers Are Traitors Who Don't Believe Enough

947 replies

RedToothBrush · 01/08/2019 12:31

Believe in Brexit. Brexit will be great. If only you believe.

So this is why the pound has tanked.
This is why the Treasury has opened the piggie bank for prep. This has sparked something of a backlash amongst moderates and remain MPs.
This will go towards managing that Channel Tunnel Congestion in Kent we weren't going to have.
And to stockpiling drugs which again was just hysteria.
This is why Gove, an MP who actually does have an eye for detail, has been drafted into the Cabinet Office.
This is why after his stint at DEFRA he is planning to buy tonnes of meat at a fixed price to keep farms in business.

Johnson has been to NI. But it wasn't a publicity stunt apparently. This is a man who posed for a photo when he resigned from the Foreign Office.

He was met with protests.

He also has a phonecall with the Leo Varadkar which was 'warm', before its been said by the DUP that Dublin must be a willing partner in a Brexit Deal.

Johnson is also still sticking to the line that technology can solve the border issue. Technology which will not be available until 2030 at the earliest by the government's own admission.

Johnson has refused to meet any European leaders until they drop the backstop (I note there are no EU meetings planned until mid October just a couple of weeks before the 31st anyway, so this kind of suits him and makes him look tough when really its been timetabled that way for a while. The EU themselves say that the 'next possible contact' with Johnson isn't until the G7 at the end of August anyway too).

However his 'Brexit Sherpa' David Frost - Olly Robbins successor HAS been meeting with EU officials still...

Dr Phillip Lee has confirmed today that he is actively considering his future as a Tory and defecting to the LDs. The rumour has been going for a while, and he is in the process of being deselected by his local party. To openly say it, is quite something though.

We also have the Brecon By Election today, which if the LD win as expected, would reduce the government's majority to just 1.

It is possible that Johnson will be leading a minority government very soon, if the cards fall the right way.

The speculation is rife that Johnson actively wants to force a GE. This hasn't been helped by Dominic Cummings has ordered the preparation of a Budget in the week starting Oct 7. Which would need to be voted for through parliament.

Votes on budget and other important issues are where not having a majority become crucial.

If a budget vote got stuck and provoked a GE it would perhaps land whilst Brexit Party Supporters had returned to the Tory party but perhaps before all the shit has start to hit the fan and people get really fed up.

And even if we do have no deal, when we DO have a deal, we will have to put a bill through parliament to implement it. Whilst everyone has focused on the backstop, no one has thought about this... which is pretty important.

It is remarkable that a No Deal Supporting Government are now seemingly planning for Project Fear.

And we were the crazy ones?

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SingingBabooshkaBadly · 01/08/2019 18:20

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/01/revealed-johnson-allys-firm-secretly-ran-facebook-propaganda-network?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The lobbying firm run by Boris Johnson’s close ally Sir Lynton Crosby has secretly built a network of unbranded “news” pages on Facebook for dozens of clients ranging from the Saudi government to major polluters, a Guardian investigation has found.

They said that such was the culture of secrecy within the firm that staff working on online disinformation campaigns, which selectively promoted their clients’ viewpoints on anonymised Facebook pages that followed a common formula, used initials rather than full names on internal systems and often relied on personal email accounts to avoid their work being traced back to CTF and its clients.

AdvertisementHide
The disclosures will raise pressure on the prime minister to distance himself from CTF, with former staff members warning that the company might wield substantial influence in the new administration. CTF gave Johnson an interest-free loan to cover office and staffing costs earlier this year, while Crosby’s partners in the business are Mark Textor and Mark Fullbrook, with Fullbrook taking a leave of absence to run Johnson’s campaign for the Tory party leadership along with David

The news follows the Guardian’s April report that Crosby’s company was behind a series of hugely influential pro-Brexit Facebook groups, which spent as much as £1m seeding the idea of a no-deal exit from the EU in the minds of the British public.

But the latest revelations reveal that the company has pursued that approach more broadly, in the service of previously unreported corporate interests and foreign governments.

And they expose a major flaw in Facebook’s political transparency tools, which make it possible for Crosby’s company – which boasts on its website that it deploys “the latest tools in digital engagement” – to use the social network to run professional-looking “news” pages reaching tens of millions of people on highly contentious topics, without apparently disclosing that they are being overseen by CTF Partners on behalf of paying clients.

SingingBabooshkaBadly · 01/08/2019 18:23

Staff members said that they created websites and Facebook pages which appeared to be independent online news sources with names such as Why Electricity Matters, Reporting Yemen and Londoners for Transport, but instead could be used to distribute highly selective information which reached tens of millions of readers.

QuckTheDuck · 01/08/2019 18:31

AH ...That Facebook post reminds me...I watched the first half of the greatest hack the other day.

The bit that struck me was that people didn't seem to know how FB advertising works. I do FB ads all the time and the level of detail and targeting you can do is incredible. (there is a hilarious story that was posted on our Social Media Managers FB group the other day about a guy that targeted an ad at his FLATMATE ONLY so refined was the targeting! Grin)The 'hundreds of ads' is just basic split testing that all companies do. I cannot comment on the money flow or individuals or relationships involved as I haven't watched the whole thing...

BUT I can understand CA's surprise at ending up on the front page. As far as they were concerned they were running ads for a client - as thousands of SMM's do. (including myself) Ok, they chose to represent someone people do not like, but they were literally just doing their job.

There are arguments that FB should have been more transparent about how data was used - and I agree. But the basic premise of CA is running ads using FB tools available. ANd FB has now tightened up transparency rules - you can go on to any page and see what ads they are running (although you could do that on other sites before they closed the API as well), and some of the targeting options have disappeared.

But the faux outrage at the level of data? Nope. That was all there in the T and C's. And actually, is on most websites now too. If you actually click through the annoying cookie disclaimer, you will usually see notification of the FB pixel. Or use the FB pixel helper on your browser. I regularly advise clients to install the pixel EVEN IF they are not running ads so they can 'season' the audience.

And btw, Pinterest has a pixel too Wink

RedToothBrush · 01/08/2019 18:45

By election result expected 'early hours'.

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NoWordForFluffy · 01/08/2019 18:56

I guess I'll find out tomorrow then as I'm not staying up for it!

Motheroffourdragons · 01/08/2019 19:04

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on behalf of the poster.

howabout · 01/08/2019 19:06

Quite a long read but a much more detailed exposition of my earlier cynicism re Nicola's TEDex on the limitations of GDP and Scottish attitudes to Boris. I will be staying well away from Edinburgh all August - can't even persuade my 2 teens because they think the Festival is just overcrowded, over commercialised tat these days. Sad

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/08/scotland-s-struggle-against-boris-johnson-holiday-reality

BigChocFrenzy · 01/08/2019 19:08

I hope your break mends quickly, SegregateMumBev 💐

QuckTheDuck · 01/08/2019 19:10

Here is the flatmate pranking article:

ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking-my-roommate-with-targeted-facebook-ads/

Ok, so it was custom audiences but still hilarious!

Motheroffourdragons · 01/08/2019 19:25

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on behalf of the poster.

BigChocFrenzy · 01/08/2019 19:35

mother Do you think Scotland being part of the Uk still has more positives than negatives ?

Cackleweb · 01/08/2019 20:13

Sam Coates, Sky's deputy political editor, has dropped this little bombshell from his Twitter account. Makes for joyful reading.

Westministenders: Brexit Preppers Are Traitors Who Don't Believe Enough
borntobequiet · 01/08/2019 20:17

6 pages already! PMK.

flouncyfanny · 01/08/2019 20:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Cackleweb · 01/08/2019 20:27

Operation Kingfisher is the government plan to support the economy and bail out businesses in the event of a No Deal, flouncyfanny.

flouncyfanny · 01/08/2019 20:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BigChocFrenzy · 01/08/2019 20:33

The govt has spent £6.3bn so far this year on No Deal planning & prepping

It's a huge amount to spend on a bluff

but a completely inadequate amount to avoid the effects of No Deal if the bluff is called

QuckTheDuck · 01/08/2019 20:38

DH has simply ZERO interest in any of this - Brexit OR politics. And he works for the NHS ffs! I have tried to raise it many times. What do you do in that situation?!

NoWordForFluffy · 01/08/2019 21:04

I'd just not bother.

I barely discuss Brexit with anyone other than you lot.

derxa · 01/08/2019 21:08

I barely discuss Brexit with anyone I rant about it to anyone and everyone. Yesterday the poor vet who was blood testing our sheep. She was Shock

Hazardtired · 01/08/2019 21:28

I had hoped vets were informed Confused

Aren't they advertising vet jobs yet at the borders for meat related reasons?
Also pet meds.
Doggy and kitty prescription foods.
Doggy and cat foods in general.

RedToothBrush · 01/08/2019 21:34

Alex Wickham@alexwickham
EXC: Two senior Tory MPs, Sir Graham Brady and Sir Michael Fallon, vowed to defend the Cayman Islands in its company secrecy battle with the UK — while on a free trip to the tax haven last month worth nearly £17,000

The Cayman Islands govt paid for Graham Brady and his wife to go on a £10,000 junket to the tax haven last month

While there Brady vowed to lobby against UK govt plans for open registers publishing the names of who controls companies in the Caymans...

The Bradys got the VIP treatment from their hosts... the Cayman Islands govt paid an extra £4,241 so their flights could be rearranged

Here is Graham Brady on Cayman TV promising to defend their interests on beneficial ownership registers...

The Cayman Islands government also paid for Michael Fallon's flights and accommodation... a cool £6k for the 5-day freebie

He told Cayman TV the UK should not "jeopardise" its relationship with the tax haven over the ongoing company secrecy battle..

Eric Bush, the Cayman Islands' representative in the UK, says: "we now have a core group of UK parliamentarians that will fight our cause... to ward off opposition, or those who would intend us ill-will"

A bargain at £17,000...

Labour’s Margaret Hodge has accused the Cayman Islands of using the freebie to encourage Graham Brady and Michael Fallon to “thwart the will of Parliament”

New from @TransparencyUK’s Duncan Hames: Graham Brady and Michael Fallon “should be embarrassed” by Cayman revelations

www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/alexwickham/graham-brady-michael-fallon-free-trip-cayman-islands?__twitter_impression=true
Two Senior Tory MPs Got A Free Trip To The Cayman Islands. Then Defended The Tax Haven Over Secretive Company Ownership.
Conservative grandees Sir Graham Brady and Sir Michael Fallon accepted travel and accommodation worth nearly £17,000 from the Cayman government.

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Clavinova · 01/08/2019 21:45

Government plans to buy up hundreds of thousands of tonnes of unsold lamb in the event of a no-deal Brexit could be unworkable because there is nowhere to store it, BBC Newsnight has learned.

From the link; "He added that capacity could not be increased quickly, because planning and building a new cold-storage warehouse takes about three years."

The Government should contact London Gateway Logistics Park;

"range of build-to-suit solutions, ranging from 100,000 sq ft to 1 million sq ft, with fast delivery times following agreement for lease."

new 230,915 sq ft distribution centre - available for occupation in November 2019 - chilled conversion available.

www.londongateway.com/logisticspark/lg231-a-spec-build

'Halo' temperature controlled facility - completed in 24 weeks, under budget, and within 8 months of first planning permission;

www.londongateway.com/news-media/news/halo-temperature-controlled-facility-to-reduce-food-miles

wheresmymojo · 01/08/2019 21:51

Haven't quite read this thread through yet...but...

If Cummings is getting a budget together for 7 October and this is used for a VoNC or to force a GE due to lack of Tory majority....don't we 'no deal' anyway because BoJo won't ask for an extension and the deadline would pass while Parliament was dissolved?

NoWordForFluffy · 01/08/2019 22:15

Wouldn't Parliament add some sort of amendment to compel an extension to be requested? Or a Cherry-like amendment?

They've legislated that they have to be sitting on 31 October as well, so wouldn't the GE need calling for some time after 31 Oct to allow for this?

The timings get quite complicated by Sept.

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