Westminstenders: The Rule of Law

[RedToothBrush]

We enter week 2 of what might be considered 'the end game'.

The Conservative Party has made it clear that liberals are not welcome in their ranks. It has become the Brexit Party.

Farage is talking of a pact, though Javid has said no. What would Javid know though, he's only in the Cabinet.

Amber Rudd has resigned. She will run as an independent in an unnamed constituency at the next election. The assumption must therefore be she has been talking to a few people this week about this, though whether that means she is a 'One Nation Tory' independent candidate or simply an independent isn't clear.

Some think that her departure will deal Johnson yet another blow at the polls. Others think as the cabinet members with the worst satisfaction rating amongst tory party members this will be viewed positively by leavers and give Johnson a bounce in the polls.

It been reported that Cummings has overruled Johnson on at least key decisions this week which raises the question of who is in charge and running the show.

Cummings has promised to make us all melt in the coming weeks as he takes a sledge hammer to constitutional convention. He's advised no 10 staff to be 'cool like Fonzies'. A reference to pulp fiction and to happy days. As some have commented if you think about Cummings as some one who has watched too much Tarantino it does make him make a lot more sense.

There are suggestions that Johnson will break the rule of law in refusing to ask for an extension and the No10 have a trick up their sleeve over loopholes. The most obvious thing here being to offer the EU a deal they can't possibly refuse agree too to smear them and to then make it impossible for the EU to agree to an extension which noises out of France seem to suggest anyway.

Tomorrow is going to be interesting...

@flouncyfanny no spare wheel either. Some inflater thing. DH insisted on one for his car. Yes, we have two little cars.

Didn’t Gove Cummings & co use terrorism laws to force through some education legislation. Or did I just make that up.

Wouldn’t be surprised if some obscure 1960’s by law regulating the use of traffic cones de rails Brexit at this point

Glad to see DAG is on the case Red.

PMK

Kent folk can get the train west a bit to Brighton If you go to Lidl you can hear lots of Spanish and Italian and pretend we are still in the EU.

I have an 'oh fuck folder' all the passports, official paperwork, and medical stuff live there.

A russophile...May should have ordered an investigation into the dark money while she had a chance. Too close to home with her banking voters I suspect.

flounce yesss! Good idea. We have a fiat ohfuckfiat now it's not hot will get some meds, water and dog food in there. Also found some old paper maps recently.

Cummings will have been vetted, and any concerns passed on to Judi Dench to keep an eye on him.

Will Daniel Craig still be around on Oct 31, or shall we have Idris Elba save us?

JeSuisPoul The hardcore Brexiters are not listening to anything outside their bubble
All that comes into that bubble are 4-word slogans, a la Trump

Most of the other Leavers aren't lstening either - they just want it over

It's fascinating in a really dark way, isn't it?

Watching a western democracy fail in real time...

Pmk and in first half of thread instead of at the end
Thanks Red and Bigchoc for threads ( even though I can't keep up with them)

It is fascinating...would prefer it as a binge watch tv series.

Off topic slightly but I am amazed a lot of Leavers aren't asking more Q about Cummings, as he clearly is in control.

Because they would have to admit than an overpaid unelected bureaucrat has more control than the PM.

still think Boris could announce the EU have caved, we have left, sprinkle in a few slogans and quietly write the Revoke letter. Those that notice can be drowned out, ignored or disowned (judging by the past week) The rest will just glad it's over. Most of my Leaver friends and family expect a fudge, now after failure to leave in March.

It would be a fitting end to the entire debacle.

You know its so sad to say what was the greatest democracy in the world ( and I believe it can become great again even if a decade is lost) is being dismantled by Boris and Cummings. This has been a decade or more of mediocre politicians, absence of statesmen/women and Etonions who live on a different planet to everyone else with no regard but for themselves and their own elite.
Just where has our political talent gone? Do they not know how to teach politics in unis anymore.?

flouncyfanny trust me, you won’t want your cats learning Siamese (unless you’ve packed earplugs).

"Hmm I have my doubts about how this could be enforced in a crisis...."

red That's what worries me
Can our system control a govt that has no respect for the rules ?
that thinks only suckers obey rules ?

Probably eventually .... but what if there are only a few days before No Deal - can our system work in time ?

And it might well come down to the last few days,
because even some Remainers here refuse to accept the WA or JC as v temporary PM

• so some MPs will keep on refusing to make a decision

and keep hoping that a good fairy will turn up and Revoke for them, even in the final few hours of 31 October

I also agree with @BigChocFrenzy:

Johnson will resign as that's the most palatable option on offer to him.

My damn dog won't eat dogfood of any description. She will have to put up with chlorinated chicken.

"Cummings will have been vetted"

Um, I'm fairly sure nothing could stop him being appointed
We are long past those sort of constraiints

ABC I think BJ resigning temporarily is a possibility, but only one of several

I spent the week end cooking and canning and I can’t possibly leave with a OFbag. At the very least it must be a ohfuckLarderOnWheels to move with us all of the jams and compotes and the passata from my lovely allotment tomatoes :-))
Living in London means that no ohfuckCar is guaranteed to be usable without notice. I tried driving to the airport a couple of weeks ago, switched the engine (4am) and found out a cheeky bugger stole my catalytic overnight. From underneath the car parked on the main road. Recommend therefore to keep ohfuckMechanicPhonenumber handy
:-D

You do know that these threads are the most informative and “educational” thing available on the net?? Not even Brexitcast gets close....I can’t thank you enough...

cherin Your catalytic converter !

Robert Buckland QC MP@RobertBuckland

Speculation about my future is wide of the mark.
I fully support the Prime Minister and will continue to serve in his Cabinet.

We have spoken over the past 24 hours regarding the importance of the Rule of Law, which I as Lord Chancellor have taken an oath to uphold.
< so he's very worried >

This a little late. Was in todays Mail on Sunday

John Rentoul@johnrentoul
“Cummings is talented, but he’s like the Bond villain who wants everyone to know how brilliant he is. So he ties them up, boasts about his evil plan, then Bond escapes and wrecks it.” Great quote from anon minister via @DPJHodges

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7439569/amp/DAN-HODGES-smart-Boris-Johnson-RESIGN-fight-battle-life.html?__twitter_impression=true
DAN HODGES: The smart move now is for Boris Johnson to RESIGN then fight the battle of his life

‘The prorogation wasn’t meant to be revealed till the last possible moment,’ a minister explained to me. ‘That way the House wouldn’t have had time to react.’

Instead the plan leaked, MPs mobilised, and rather than a neutered Commons, Boris was confronted with a pack of enraged Remainers baying for his blood.

Furious at this act of defiance, the Prime Minister and his senior adviser Dominic Cummings decided to respond by setting a trap.

If MPs attempted to bind his hands, and force him to go begging to Brussels for a new extension, then he would appeal over their heads to the British people. Back me, or I’ll get the voters to sack you, he warned.

Then he looked on stunned as they resolutely refused to take the bait. ‘Boris and Cummings never thought for a moment Corbyn wouldn’t back an Election after spending every day for the past two years calling for one,’ another Minister explained.

‘And you have to understand, calling an Election is very seductive for a PM. It’s the ultimate example of power. It never occurred to Boris he wouldn’t be able to use it.’

And

The first thing he is going to have to do is lock Dom Cummings in a box and throw away the key. Or, more importantly, lock him in the campaign headquarters of the Election campaign that is a matter of months away.

Conservative Cabinet ministers, MPs and senior advisers are now united in their belief that Cummings is out of control

And

Senior Labour MPs now believe Jeremy Corbyn is close to accepting the insertion of a Commons grandee as interim prime minister.
Article mentions Ken Clarke as interim PM earlier on.

And
On Thursday, Tory Party chairman James Cleverly messaged MPs via their WhatsApp group and said no de-selections would commence until they had been formally authorised by Conservative HQ.

But I’m told senior No 10 aide Danny Kruger had already begun telephoning constituency party chairmen, instructing them to begin the search for new candidates.

‘Kruger told them under no circumstances would their current MPs be allowed to stand,’ an MP tells me. It’s going to get ugly.

Corbyn not taking the bullet at pm would throw a spanner in Johnson Cummings electoral strategy in some respects. It could however work for them too. One of Cameron's key mistakes was campaigning for remain as he was pm. This enabled a backlash against austerity. He should have left it to others to led the campaign and remained neutral.

Like Basil I don’t think the Kinnock amendment fiasco was an accident. It leaves the “I tried to stop them but the bastards did it anyway” defence open.

I am very suspicious of Gove’s role in all of this.