Westminstenders: Showdown

[RedToothBrush]

Big week ahead.

Johnson has until Tuesday Afternoon to get his shit together for the EU.

He thinks it can be down, but still lots to do in that time.

This week we have the Queen's Speech too, which is going to be misused as a party political broadcast.

Remember if the government can't pass the QS, there's a crisis that gets generated as a direct result. Sticking in proposals that any liberal or leftie will struggle with, is deliberately provoking a crisis of that nature. A proposal of that type would have to be anti democratic in nature, like... Ermmm... Voter ID. Hell, well what do you know.

Johnson is still after his election because as it stands he's a passenger stuck in the runaway train of his own creation.

Talk of a deal breakthrough is still overstated too. The DUP and many of the usual ERG suspects have poured water on the idea. And many on the opposition benches are pushing hard on a confirmary ref being needed for a deal - they don't have the numbers yet, but talk is that they are close. We also have loyalist military making threats about an Irish Sea Border solution.

Time for Project Shit Meets Fan.

Queen didn’t wear the State Crown in 2017 either - who can forget that hat?

@BercowsFlyingFlamingo
Exactly what I said to my husband. Bozo looking smug. Some Tory ministers looking shifty.

Is the QS normally so simplistic- essentially a shopping list?

Maybe it's to point out to Bozo that she's THE QUEEN and warn him not to fuck with her. It's a visual display of power and Importance. Her dress is beautiful but I liked the blue and yellow last time even more.

She's 93, you know!

So with Charlie Boy standing in for Zorba, it looks like we shall have a gradual Regency in stages.

PS: Dennis the Menace in the Commons said "Not now, Luv" to Black Rod. He's past his use-by date.

She is reading it like a shopping list. Very monotonal - no enthusiasm. Sounds like she doesn't believe a word of what she is reading.

I've only ever listened to Christmas Queen's speech before and it was far more engaging than this. I've never listened to this opening of parliament speech before though.

Vote on the QS is not today - there is a set number of days (5?) to debate it before the vote is held.

Yet more days to waste in the run up to the 31st

Nick Eardley @nickeardleybbc
Brexit Bills in Queen’s Speech;

• Withdrawal Agreement Bill
• Fisheries Bill
• Agriculture Bill
• Trade Bill
• Immigration and social security bill
• Financial Services Bill
• Private International (Implemtetion of Agreements Bill)

Thanks prettybrd

Ooooh Yes, she's silently fuming. Her face says it all.

She didn't look up until the very end. She's a very accomplished and experienced speech giver so that's really off. I'm sure she usually does look up at them normally. It really seemed quite off

BJ will looking smug because he is loving being the instigator of this pomp and circumstance. I'm sure it was his (or Cummings' ) decision to go for full shebang. No sensitivity to the age of the Queen. No consideration that something more humble and bared down would be more appropriate.

It's all about him.

Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn
The sole mention of the forces in the Queen’s Speech. So: 1. No bill to end vexatious investigations of Northern Ireland vets, and 2. No bill either to enshrine Military Covenant in law. Both were promised by Boris Johnson during the Tory leadership contest.

red I've heard the crown is quite heavy - physically I mean, not metaphorically
Then there is the rest of the ceremonial paraphernalia

She is probably not willing to risk a sore neck & shoulders for weeks, reading out a pointless speech for BJ who is already a pain in her neck.

Brexit is worrying for all of us here, but may well have hammered HMQ; this is someone in her 90s with great responsibility but v limited freedom of action.
She knows there are populists in power who have openly said they want to tear everything down;
"Conservatives" ready to destroy the Union and the monarchy, anything that's in their way.

She probably has access to Yellowhammer, Kingfisher etc and would have known for many months / years how No Deal risks sending the economy over a cliff from which it may never climb up.

Re comment up-thread on Barnier’s position:
Brits haven’t a clue about negotiation. Mediterranean/Latin countries breathe this stuff. I was on an E.U. framework contract with French/Belgian/Scandi companies (framework came to nothing, not doing that again) and the French were awesome negotiators. Brits will be hopelessly outrun.

When do they vote on the Queen’s speech? What happens if it doesn’t pass?

The art of negotiating is quite simple and should always begin with respect. Unfortunately we don't seem to have any.

TM in pillar box red today. Interesting choice. A fuck you to bozo perhaps seeing as lots were in party colours?

I'm glad if they've dropped Johnny Mercer's bill to basically give the armed forces immunity after 10 years

• far too easy for those in power to redefine any embarassing investigations of murder, torture etc as "vexatious"

fedup The debate on the QS usually lasts about 5 days

• I don't know if it is possible to shorten this by much, even though the A50 clock is ticking away.

Afterwards, if the QS is voted down, the SNP will probably try for a VoNC
However, unless Labour support it too, it won't get the necessary ⅔ to remove BJ / the gov.

Unless the Rebel Alliance have agreed on a new PM, then removing BJ just means a GE,
which might enable a No Deal Brexit to happen first

Unless the Rebel Alliance have agreed on a new PM, then removing BJ just means a GE,which might enable a No Deal Brexit to happen first

Oh dear-what a mess!

Meanwhile ...

@PippaCrerar

No 10 not sounding hugely upbeat about prospect of new Brexit legal text being ready to put in front of EU leaders on Thursday.

PM’s official spokesman says: “The talks are constructive but there is still a long way to go”.

PM’s spokesman also rules out extending Brexit by a couple of weeks if a deal looks in sight - even if just for a technical extension.

“I’m generally not aware such a thing even exists. The PM is clear that we leave on October 31st”.

I know this is the, 'They go low, we go high,' thread, & I'm with that: I get it & I respect it.

And I know that there is some really heavy, awful, serious stuff going on - & being silly risks trivialising the terrible, unacceptable things.

And I know that. And I try not to do it.

But please, please, may I say just one stupid thing? Because it's haunting me - and burning me from the inside. And I want to just say it once & then never say it - or think it - ever again.

Boris Johnson looks like a testicle.

I think it every time I see his awful head.

A testicle with a silly face attached to it - and a wig.

Like those comedy-carrots and turnips they used to have on 'That's Life'.

I keep expecting the camera to cut to Esther Rantzen pulling a face & then saying, 'Over to you, Cyril ...'

We're being terrorised by a comedy testicle, FFS.

I can't bear it.

A quasi-fascist testicle.

Anyway.

I've said it.

I'll never say it again.

That's it.

Makes a change from him being a cock or a twat.

You've been hanging out with the wrong men, Cat. I've never seen a Boris-alike bollock. It's a slur on gonads.

We're going to have the battle of the extension:

The EP must vote to approve any WA - and their final session is 23 October
I suppose in emergency the start of their recess could be postponed, but v difficult at the last moment

Only an optical change to May's deal can be done in time to Brexit on 31 October
Even that would be tight - and BJ almost certainly wouldn't climb down and put that to the HoC