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...

Shouldn’t people who can, like ledbydonkeys, be publicising the owners of the so-patriotic right-wing press responsible for the recent disgusting headlines?
e.g. Times, Sunday Times, Sun - Rupert Murdoch, Australian billionaire;
Daily Mail - Jonathan Harmsworth - has a stately home here but doesn’t pay his taxes.
Daily Express - Richard Desmond - billionaire, made his money in pornography, doesn’t pay his taxes
Telegraph - Barclay Twins, reclusive non-tax paying billionaires, live in Monaco

So the readers could get an idea who's pulling their strings and why?

Personally, I would like a GNU with a caretaker PM to run its course to 2022. After asking for a two year extension....

Oh God that article of Nick Cohen's is chilling.

Peregrina I agree, 8 or 12 weeks is not going to achieve much. Start the negotiations again but without the fucking erg demands of unicorn cake. PV at the end of this.

As an aside I email Jo S the other day urging her to reconsider her position before we all plunge over he cliff. It bounced- could it be because I use a hotmail.com email address?(ie a USA account).. obvs I put no swearing in but it did have the word thug in it. Slightly paranoid about this

"Shouldn’t people who can, like ledbydonkeys, be publicising the owners of the so-patriotic right-wing press responsible for the recent disgusting headlines?"

It's a good idea, but they'd need to be very sure of their sources and wording to avoid being sued, I should think. How much of that can you prove, that would stand up in a court of law? "I read it on Mumsnet" is no defence!

For example, isn't Rupert Murdoch now an American citizen? How do you prove that Jonathan Harmsworth doesn't pay his taxes rather than employ a team of accountants to keep his tax bills down?

Unless you're a constituent of Jo S, she asks you to email via a general LD email address. I'll try to find it.

It's [email protected]. I got a response when I emailed them.

Jonathan Harmsworth is a Non Dom (lives in France and holds assets in offshore trusts) so doesn’t pay UK tax

Many thanks fluffy.

Can't remember who asked about the Scottish Conservatives "new" support for No Deal after Ruth Davidson's departure.

Jackson Carlow, the acting leader is a twat and doesn't have an ounce of Ruth's political nous and I don't even like Ruth He'll have decided that the change in approach is the best way to brown-nose with BJ and a way for him to look "strong" with the Scottish Conservative membership in his campaign to become its new leader.

I don't think it will go down well in Scotland but there again, I wouldn't, would I - but no doubt there will be a particular element of the Scottish Conservative membership who will be attracted to the authoritarian, strong man posturing.

If as I suspect all he does is succeed in alienating potential Conservative voters (as opposed to members), then I'll be happy!

Wonderful word, scofflaw. So appropriate for BJ! (The only other place I’ve encountered it is in books by Sue Grafton, but I assume it’s more common in the US than here.)

In the can't-be-recommended-enough PBS documentary series "Prohibition" (Ken Burns, I believe) one of the episodes is called A Nation of Scofflaws.

TL;DR what really did for prohibition was the fact that even political representatives ignored it. As "Broadwalk Empire" showed. Which was quite a good series, focussing on the aftermath of WW1 in the US - not a period of history we see much of. Certainly not outside the US.

Thanks, pretty 'twas I who asked about Scottish reaction to the newbie No Deal policy

I saw the "i" story about the Queen last night, but hesitated to post it, as it's single-source, but I see others have picked up on it.

Assuming it's got a kernel of truth, then it suggests that The Empire Strikes Back, and Brenda is subtly saying "come on if you think you're hard enough" - no appeasement there.

There does come a point where you need to change tactics to pursue a strategy. Thus far (as the article notes) in 57 years, the Queen has been happy to just wear the damn hat and move the institution of the Royal family one generation into the future without incident. And it's worked. Right up till two Tory PMs decided to break the unspoken holy covenant that you "do whatever you want, but leave me out".

Now it's clear that Cameron wasn't a one-off, and that Boris is even more likely to break that covenant, I wonder if there's been a rethink at the palace ? Something along the lines of making the next move themselves, rather than waiting for Boris next jolly wheeze ?

If nothing else, I like the thought that a few senior advisers got very little free time this weekend, as they frantically trawled through whatever they needed to trawl through to see what the score is. In total secrecy too, since the slightest hint they were doing that would signal that team Boris are spooked.

If nothing else, it might be a time to remind MPs of their oath ... which is sworn to the Queen and her heirs - and no one else.

The Royals have an interesting history with fascists - Duke of Windsor.

As a Scot (now exiled lol) I would be surprised if Scottish voters were happy with the new Tory stance in Scotland.

Even for Unionists it can be a complex relationship that Scots have with Westminster.

Maggie Thatcher has not been forgiven yet. Scots turned to Tories because Labour has pretty much been anihlated in Scotland. But I don't for one minute believe the majority of them are strong Tories.

And everything that BJ stands for, his attitude to things, the way he does things just confirms the stereotype that many Scots have.

I think Ruth Davidson was the reason the Tories did well - she was perceived as a moderate voice and a strong opponent to Sturgeon.

That was the reason for Tory success in the last election.

Times, Sunday Times, Sun - Rupert Murdoch, Australian billionaire;
Daily Mail - Jonathan Harmsworth - has a stately home here but doesn’t pay his taxes.
Daily Express - Richard Desmond - billionaire, made his money in pornography, doesn’t pay his taxes
Telegraph - Barclay Twins, reclusive non-tax paying billionaires, live in Monaco

• Murdoch is a US citizen. He sold out to own US media companies. His kids all have UK Citizenship, just in case.

• New Mail editor is a remainer, hence the interest in Bozza's extra-curricular actvities.

• Express bought by Mirror Group who decided to stick with its core readers.

• Barclays live on a private island in the Channel Isles. They also own most of Sark, where the locals compare their tenure unfavourably to the Nazis.

Re Tom Newton Dunn story in Sun about Johnson, Cummings and Symonds

Pippa Crerar@pippacrerar
Totally true. One old pal tells me: “It’s like Stockholm syndrome”.

Perhaps we were looking at the Police Called to Boris's Home story upside down and Boris is the victim of domestic abuse.

Enjoying watching Dominic Grieve on "All Out Politics"

He's having Adam Boulton, who is trying to push the "but there is nothing that can be done if BJ deliberately chooses to break the law and won't back down" line, for breakfast but wonderfully calmly and reasonably

I might have a bit of a Grieve crush

I've heard Stockholm syndrome is nice this time of year

Boulton is right to ask what happens if BJ really goes that far, at least for the crucial 12 days

My old coup quote:
"You can't give a parking ticket to a tank"

As a commentator on this post mentions "ff" in English used to be an "S".

For some reason I saw this and though "Herman Johnson". I wonder if he has a pet lion ? Is "Boris Goering" more Germanic ? Or less Turkish. Speaking of which, it seems the worries about an influx of Turks was exaggerated, but correct. Boris is a one-man influx.

I'll just leave that image there

That's where the story from the "i" (and since picked up by others) come into play: what scope does the Queen have to dismiss a PM who is openly flouting the law and/or refusing to leave his post?

Shocking that it's even being discussed openly

"You can't give a parking ticket to a tank"

You can drop things on them with drones, though.

Not quite sure why I thought of that ...

I bet, if the Queen were to fire Boris, he'd be at SCOTUK before the minute was out. Which does suggest it as a clever strategy to force Boris to show he does respect SCOTUK.

Of course he could try and ignore it, but then I've already noted MPs oaths, and we'd have to contemplate a mass revolt of MPs which I can't see happening.

All of which being said, is unlikely in the extreme ... but who knows what is being exchanged behind the scenes ? I read an interesting comment about Her Majesties health - which thankfully is excellent. However at this time of year you can't be too careful, and she might wish to avoid catching a cold or flu and stay in Balmoral longer than usual ? Choosing to speak to the Prime Minister, rather than meet him ? She might also wish to avoid the exertion of a Queens Speech, and delegate - as is her prerogative.

I was staggered at the ignorance -.... - about what England / Britain has done to Ireland over the centuries

I lived in Wales through my 40's and was embarrassed to discover that I'd never heard of the Rebecca riots or the Monmouth rebellion and knew very little about Owain Glyndwyr. (basically what the English did to the Welsh)

The thing about history is that we are supposed to learn from it in order to avoid repeating the mistakes - not to endlessly debate historic wrongs and justify dubious behaviour?

The case they will have in mind is the dismissal of Australian PM Gough Whitlam in 1975 by the Governor General, the Queen's representative, using the constitutional powers derived from the Royal Perogative.

The GG sacked Whitlam and put the leader of the opposition into office pending a general election, in which Whitlam said, 'God Save The Queen, and god help the Governor-General,' but then lost.