Westminstenders: The Tory Party Spectacular

[RedToothBrush]

A row over parliamentary language and conduct and how MPs are afraid of extremists has over shadowed talk of Brexit.

Cummings has said if you don't want to leave without a deal, vote for a deal.

Yet there isn't a Johnson approved one in front of the Commons and the EU are utterly despairing of Johnson's blank non papers and his full on Trump bullshit.

Then there's the threats to the rule of law.

Apparently there are five known suggestions to bypass the Benn Act and refuse to ask for an extension.
See Twitter Thread Here

This weekend sees the start of the Tory Party Conference. With a parliamentary vote to block a recess, its rather scuppered plans for the rest of the conference. Johnson's planned speech at the conference clashes with PMQ so he may well not attend the Commons.

Expect the conference to be.... Er... Inflammatory...

I really wanted a second referendum but don't think it won't work at the moment. A GE is a better way (as in least worst) option to deal with the mess.

The main parties have outlined how they would approach the issue of Brexit in the event of winning a GE so people can vote for that as well as scrutinise the promises they are making and what concrete plans they have in the event that Brexit eventually goes ahead.

I just can't see opposition politicians coming to a majority agreement on what a PV would include and the terms of it. It's all such a mess.

faker The grounds for the Miller decision were that Brexit removes rights from UK citizens;
hence why Invoking A50 required a Parliamentary vote, not just the PM's decision

However, Revoke keeps rights as they are, withoutloss
Hence legally the PM can Revoke alone

However, politically a PM would obviously much prefer to have Parliamentary support for Revoke
Or be destroyed

btw, a referendum is never irreversibly legally binding, because Parliament remains supreme

Even if a referendum bill states it is binding and one side wins 90% of votes, Parliament can still choose to repeal that bill and hence override the voters
They would also be destroyed at the next GE

imo impossible, for what would be a v fragile GNU, to even agree to hold a PV,
let alone agree on the PV choices, or last the several months a PV would actually take to oganise and hold

I think it's not so much Brexit that people want to end, it's the never-ending stream of memes, rants, reports, etc. that are clogging up their Facebook feeds that they want to stop.

Perfectly nice, ordinary friends are suddenly turning into frothing lunatics whenever Brexit is involved.
I asked one of them the other day why this should be, having read a whole ream of stuff he'd posted that didn't sound a bit like the man I know and guess what?
It doesn't sound like him because it isn't him! He's merely liking, reposting, cutting and pasting what he's sent by the groups he's signed up to. He barely reads them himself, certainly not in any depth.

David Phinnemore@DPhinnemore

Cabinet Office confirms director-general for EU Exit Implementation - and head of Border Delivery Group - to leave his job

FT: Setback for Brexit planning as senior official quits

https://amp.ft.com/content/ab601430-e14c-11e9-b112-9624ec9edc59?

One of the UK’s most senior officials responsible for Brexit planning is to quit his post
just weeks before Britain’s planned departure from the EU, in the latest indication of the upheaval that the crisis is imposing on the civil service.

The Cabinet Office confirmed that Matthew Coats, the director-general for EU Exit Implementation, is to leave his job, a critical role in which he answers directly to Michael Gove, the minister in charge of no-deal planning.

Mr Coats’s departure is particularly significant because he also heads the Border Delivery Group,
a body that co-ordinates the work of all government departments on planning for the Dover-Calais strait

• potentially the most sensitive issue in a no-deal Brexit.

“This really is a puzzling and alarming development, coming so close to the October 31 deadline,”
said a senior Whitehall figure on being told of Mr Coats’s move.
“For this to happen at such a moment is extraordinary.”

Another senior civil servant running like hell from Brexit

They see No Deal as stll likely and don't want to be around to get the blame for the following disaster

They see No Deal as stll likely and don't want to be around to get the blame for the following disaster

It's also crystal clear where the blame-cannon is going to aim at, and that no one has their backs.

This story on protection from abortion harassment got lost today:

Sam Coates Sky@SamCoatesSky

Stella Creasy targeted by anti abortion campaigners saying powers to move on protesters that
@sajidjavid and @AmberRuddHR promised her would work - don’t work, with the consequences below


stellacreasy@stellacreasy

Feel physically sick-tried to warn you @sajidjavid and @AmberRuddHR when you said powers in place to deal with this crap enough.

Today the police said they wouldn’t use PSPO powers to move these people on.

We also have recording saying targeting me explicitly for being pregnant.

I think BCF the problem is that we are using different definitions of the word 'sensible' and so we are talking at cross purposes.

You're main decisive factor to sense seems to be 'how likely is it that it can be achieved at this minute?'

Mine is 'is it a good idea?' .

I think BCF the problem is that we are using different definitions of the word 'sensible' and so we are talking at cross purposes.

You're main decisive factor to sense seems to be 'how likely is it that it can be achieved at this minute?'

Mine is 'is it a good idea?'

If you don't think my idea is a good one because of a massive problem that I've not spotted once it's all underway - that's fine, it stops my idea being sensible by my definition. For example the belief that a GNU couldn't hold on long enough to do it. It certainly wouldn't be easy - but it would not have to be impossible. A referendum can be done in a matter of weeks- that has been put on these threads. A GNU passing the legislation for a second ref and then holding on for 6 weeks by not doing very much else - is possible. I don't see why a focused GNU with one clear objective would be any more vulnerable than the current minority govt.

If you think it's not sensible because it can't get out of the starting gate because of the behaviour of individual humans ... that's a reflection on the humans, not the sense of the idea.

All things being equal - if people would act sensibly - I think my idea is a sensible one. And I don't think it should really be asking too much to expect our mps to be acting sensibly.

You're pointing out that the idea isn't viable at the moment. I don't actually disagree with that. But that doesn't stop it being sensible. The only reason it isn't viable is not because of moral or legal impediment, but because individual humans won't agree to it. What people will or will not agree to has very little to do with sense .

What sort of union protection do civil servants have? Can it help them anyway?

Anyway I haven't even looked at the news myself today so I have little to add, other than I did like @lonelyplanetmum's idea of Scotland pp'ing for an extension  that would be amazing!

Thank you Jesuispoulet -it's not my idea but the lawyers advising Dale Vince (of the electricity company Ecotricity) plus Jo Maugham QC and Joanna Cherry QC.

I've reservations about the whole thing as it lets Johnson off the hook for his electioneering.He can still go around saying I was trying to deliver for the people and the mean old Judges/Scots/ Parliament stopped me. It also means the Faragist bunch can stir up bile against those awful Scots - 'who are they to be telling us what to do. . ' Also what does a three month extension achieve.

Patrick Maguire
@patrickkmaguire

Would genuinely love to see the internal polling that led to this decision being taken.

twitter.com/patrickkmaguire/status/1177975092669829121?s=20

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-conservative-minister-john-redwood-phillip-lee-general-election-a9123836.html

Ex-Tory minister to contest Brexiteer John Redwood’s seat for Lib Dems
Exclusive: Dr Phillip Lee to mount Brexit challenge against veteran Eurosceptic

What sort of union protection do civil servants have?

They might need more than a grievances and disputes procedure if Farage gets his way and "Takes a knife" to them.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49865706

(Police decide to take no action. Not even a phonecall to check his thinking.)

Just seen that Margaret Hodge has been triggered for reselection in her constituency:
labourlist.org/2019/09/margaret-hodge-becomes-second-triggered-labour-mp/

Mockers I saw that story when it had been referred but didn't know it was just dismissed.

lonely I’m a bit worried too as I have over the past few years heard totally random and unexpected anti-Scottish statements coming from some people I know in England who are leavers (which was also unexpected).

It seems almost as if they have heard the anti-Scottish stuff from the same place as the Leave stuff as the timing on both has been identical. As far as I know, they didn’t have any of these views before.

Just seen that Margaret Hodge has been triggered for reselection in her constituency:

Keeps the MP answerable to their members, had this been a thing before 2016 the anomaly that is Hoey wouldnt have happened

Pretzels I see we disagree about the fragility of the GNU:
It is not a Remain Alliance, just against No Deal
and about 30 MPs are Leavers who would oppose a PV, hence no majority for it unless a lot more Tory Remainers defect.

The main reason the Rebel Alliance haven't gone for a VoNC is that they haven't yet agreed on a PM whom they could bear to support even for a few days
Without Tory reinforcements - another 50 or so MPs sacriificing their careers - I don't expect a GNU to be able to agree on more than the extension and a prompt GE.

I am also very dubious at all the fast talking about a PV within weeks
It would have zero credibility if it is rushed through like no other referendum and I'm not convinced the Electoral Commission would accept it
I expect Leavers to take court action to demand it not be rushed

If we can make sensible but not feasible wishes,
I'd rather go all out and wish that the UK suddenly copies Ireland with 90% support for Remaining

The lack of public support for "sensible" is what makes the situation so difficult

More signs this govt doesn't respect the law and deliberately tries to discredit its workings

Boris Johnson's referral to police watchdog over Jennifer Arcuri claims 'clearly political' - minister

https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnsons-referral-to-police-watchdog-over-jennifer-arcuri-claims-clearly-political-minister-11821297

Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers tells Sky News that the complaint against the PM was "driven by political motivations".
....
A spokesperson for the current London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who heads the GLA, rejected claims the referral was a politically motivated attack on the PM.
They said:

"This process is nothing to do with the current Mayor whatsoever.

It is a decision by the independent monitoring officer for the Greater London Authority."

Almost nothing would please me more than to see Deadwood Redwood defeated. Wake up electors of Wokingham - do your duty and get rid of him.

Never mind that. I'm furious, yes, furious at the description of Arcuri as a 'Pole-dancer turned businesswoman,' as if Pole-dancing wasn't a business. Those Poles don't dance by themselves.

Back to Work, Agnieszka!

imo, it's undemocratic that MPs in safe seats are there for life, even if they behave like Jared O'Mara

However, I also think that party members are too small a % of the electorate to decide who stands,
given that the right rosette is almost a guarantee of getting elected in most seats.

It makes MPs too dependent on keeping in with that small %, who are often more extreme than most voters

An idea ?
Maybe it would be better if members could vote to trigger a "change ballot" of all voters,
analagous to a recall petition,
but where the MP is then deselected as a candidate for that party at the next GE, not removed as an MP before a GE.

Obviously that would only apply to serving MPs, not to other candidates.