Westminstenders: From Uxbridge to...?

[RedToothBrush]

Speaker Bercow is gone.

Speculation that Johnson is parachuting into Rutland.

Rumours that the Brexit Party won't contest the election.

A new speaker to be elected on Monday.

Parliament to dissolve next week.

Brexit? Oh we've forgotten that until Friday 13th...

maybe even getting up to the levels of the 1980s when MrsT was in power

A weak argument, not improved by being frequently repeated - taxes were only high for a time under Thatcher because Labour left them at stratospheric levels and it was the work of a decade to bring them down.

The Tory party has certainly gone extreme when led by a PM whose policy is "Fuck business"

Corbyn’s default position is Fuck Business. Labour doesn’t understand it, doesn’t believe profit should exist, and if any arises believes it should be taxed out of existence. Boris isn’t going to lose much business support to Corbyn under any circumstances.

and whose WA will leave the country 70 billion worse off than Remaining

And that is concerning... but it will just be dismissed as “project fear”. If Remainers want to get through, they need to be able to work out Leavers’ mindsets and appeal to those.

The problem is Remainers (and I voted Remain) tend to be condescending towards Leavers and preach at them rather than actually make an genuine effort to persuade and get on their wavelength.

It is only an issue like Brexit, that will damage the country for decades, that takes precedence for me

Which is the point I was making. Am I being accused of being a TRA or anti-feminist because I dared to question that there might be a bigger issue in this GE than self-id? ffs

"Fuck business" is his policy

Would you be so dismissive if Corbyn has said that at an official function ?

The UK will be 70 billion poorer because of "Fuck business"

It's what he said about the worries of UK business leaders over Brexit

He panders to the hard right ERG even though their hard Brexit will damage the economy for decades
He may yet allow No Deal on 31 Dec 2020, rather than stand up to them - he hasn't stood up to them so far.

The UK will suffer a loss of 70 billion for Tory ideology
To keep the ERG from tearing the country apart

The godawful irresponsible referendum was to try to heal internal Tory Party squabbles
Imagine if Labour had torn the country apart like this, just to settle their internal splits

Think why so many sober experienced former Tory ministers are condemning Tory party policies on Brexit

Think why former Tory PM John Major, who succeeded MrsT, has condemned them and also said why key Tory Cabinet ministers shouldn't be trusted on the NHS

The long list of Tory Cabinet ministers who think the current party policies are so dangerous that they are speaking out and even leaving the party

The Tory party is bleeding experienced moderate MPs who can't bear the hard right party it has turned into

He may yet allow No Deal on 31 Dec 2020, rather than stand up to them - he hasn't stood up to them so far.

One more prediction for the night - if Boris fails to win a majority but remains in power, then that is when a crash out of that sort is likely to arise. May lost all her authority when she lost her majority and thus became a slave to the ERG, whereas a solid win would have put her in charge of them and led to a much softer WA being passed.

I know I’m biased, but based on the close precedent of 2017, if you want to avoid a crash-out in the near future, then Boris needs to be returned with a solid majority.

Michael I don't get where you're coming from.

You seem angry.

Vote whichever way you fancy.

None of us can stop you or make you vote contrary to your wishes.

Personally - I think you're making a mistake voting for Brexit (with its known links to anti-women attitudes and economic outcomes that will impact women most severely).

But I don't even live near you, and wouldn't be allowed in the voting booth if I did, so the pencil is all yours.

Chill.

Yes, BigChoc, yes.

When serious, serious Conservatives are telling the public, 'Don't vote for Johnson,' it's a really big deal.

It's a huge thing.

And it's being minimised.

The Tory party has swung massively to the hard right
Moderate MPs are standing down this GE or have already joined other parties
the new candidates are being chosen by very hard right and extreme Brexity local parties

A Tory majority govt is likely to look very different to this or any other Tory Parliamentary Party
The remaining moderates will be a much smaller, cowed group

• those who would put country before party have already done so and hence ended their Tory career

A Tory majority govt will be a very hard right one - the ERG are now the Tory mainstream

I'm far from angry! But I sure get fed up of being told my concern about self-identify is less worthy than worrying about Brexit. I have my concerns, you have yours, but let's not pretend women like me don't exist. Plenty of women, my age and younger, are pissed off with having our biology identity erased to please men.
You think I'm making a mistake voting for Brexit? I cast that vote over 2 years ago and whilst I doubt myself over it, day in, day out, I refuse to be told my concerns over self ID are less important. Far bloody from it!

Not angry at all; jaded, yes.

That news about fracking is good for the people living nearby, but we're still in need of energy. While they're giving out sweets are they going to pull something out of their pocket for renewable energy and research on energy storage?

Hi Michael. I am also deeply concerned about self-id and its implications for women's rights. I will not vote Greens or Libs over it, and I've had a number of disagreements with my local Labour MP about it. I am also however concerned about the implications of Brexit for womens' economic reality, and I am becoming more and more convinced that Brexit is largely a male plot. Consider which part of the globe is more progressive in regards to women's rights: the EU, or the US. Global reality is that we will be in one sphere of influence or the other. I am also heartened by the growing resistance to the trans ideology, even as it clamps down.

Some of those now condemning the current hard right actually supported Thatcherism and were in her Cabinet, e.g. John Major, Ken Clarke

or at least happily stayed MPs, e.g. several like Matthew Parris

So these "moderate elder statesmen" were actually part of the previous right swing of the Tories, away from the original One Nation Tories, to Thatcherism

At the time, they were themselves more rightwing than the previous generation of Tories

That shows how far to the right the Tory Parliamentary party have swung over the last few years

Of course this just reflects that the Tory membership swung far to the right years earlier and made their influence felt by choice of MP candidates

Some figures on the far right have boasted that they infiltrated the Tory party by encouraging many thousands of their own supporters to join

• the Tory party was ripe for takeover, having probably fallen to a hollow shell of under 100,000 members a wwhile ago

For me it is about weighing up the severity and finality of an extreme hard right Brexit vs self-ID
the effects upon women, especially the less well off

How much worse Tory policies would be if the "floor" of Level Playing Field rights are removed for workers & consumers,
the Bonfire of regulations the ERG want, which include maternity rights and emergency time off for sich kids

How much worse if the NHS is forced to pay US prices for drugs, because of being forbidden to use its huge negotiating clout as one massive healthcare organisation

I would be much much less worried about Brexit if a Labour or GNU govt were negotiating future trade deals after Brexit, rather than a very hard right Tory govt

Tom Newton Dunn@tnewtondunn

Tory organisers at county level are already privately agreeing local deals with the Brexit Party, Farage claims.

“Central office is already losing control over all of this”.

It isn't just economics for me either. I'm concerned about the cultural outlook associated with Brexit and its implications for women - a more authoritarian, 'might is right' outlook. RTB can explain that better than me. I associate it with a violent, aggressive, domineering male outlook. The EU is not perfect: but it does make some attempt at holding up the principles of negotiation and compromise, and the principles of law. Individual countries within the EU are very heavily embedded in that culture. Look at the sex base support for Brexit: it is skewed male.

Meanwhile, a Labour Parliamentary candidate is demonstrating the great talent and moderation in the Labour Party...

www.thenational.scot/news/18009156.labour-candidate-apologises-joanna-cherry-threat-tweet/

A LABOUR candidate has been forced to apologise and delete a "threatening" tweet about SNP MP Joanna Cherry.

Frances Carmel Hoole, who is standing against the QC in Edinburgh South West, shared a crudely mocked picture of her holding a bottle of Cillit Bang pointing towards a decapitated Cherry, with the words “Bang and the Terf is gone”.

But do tell me more about how we should all trust Labour to provide a non-extreme alternative government when this is the kind of person Corbyn is putting up for election!

That's not encouraging Cendrillon. Every time I lean a bit more towards Labour, and then something like this comes up and I go back again. We don't have a lot of choice here.

You know full well that it will have been a local LP putting her up, not Corbyn.

I'm loving the fact you are so interested in women's issues and the gender debate all of a sudden.

Almost as though a memo has gone round.

Maybe try putting up candidates who don’t do shit like that and there’ll be nothing to criticize, will there?

Interesting how this kind of thing gets radio silence and zero condemnation from you - just imagine if a Conservative candidate had done it!

I don't live in Scotland & was unaware.

I'm finding your ability to acquire this sort of story quite ... extraordinary. You must have quite a good media feed to find it so quickly.

I love Joanna Cherry. That is all. I adore her. She's a glory and an asset to the Commons.

to those who reveal themselves as lesser than the marvellous wonder of Queen Joanna. They shall be forgotten, whilst Joanna's name shall be said with pride.

I'm just ... smirking that you are suddenly so informed and concerned about these issues.

Is my vote wasted as a Lexiter?

Yes.
Because Brexit is going to be delivered by the hard right.
God help those that need to work for a living, the less they earn the more help they are going to need from a deity I don't even believe in.
Brexit for the left is a total fallacy particularly with the current government.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has filed a complaint with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) over Islamophobia within the Conservative Party today.

mcb.org.uk/press-releases/muslim-council-of-britain-submits-formal-complaint-to-ehrc-over-conservative-party-islamophobia/#.XbzLYNwbZH8.twitter

No guilt is implied but damn the optics are bad on the timing