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...

Farage is also an MEP and - God help us - Widdecombe.

Liar liar, Weasel's pants are on fire ...

https://news.sky.com/story/russia-threat-report-no-10-accused-of-telling-whopping-untruths-11851834

Downing Street has been accused of telling "whopping untruths" over the publication of a report into the threat posed by Russia to the UK's democratic processes.

The claim by former attorney general Dominic Grieve ramps up the war of words with Number 10 over the release of the dossier,
which he argues is essential ahead of the election.

I think nails has decribed the Party Positions very well for the next GE, although it shouldn't be about Brexit, it completely is.

I think BJ's WAB is a good starting point to start the 'official' transition, so in the next GE I will be voting Conservative, bearing in mind that I am voting for my existing MP, who hopefully won't be standing down as he's done some good work locally and nationally.
But normally I wouldn't vote Conservative.

I'm not sure, but hasn't the 'transition period' already started? If it has, then surely more buggering around with the WAB just takes time off the Transition Period. Does anone here know?

Farage is also an MEP and - God help us - Widdecombe

Yes, that was part of a deliberate policy of disruption, is Daniel Hannan the same?

Hannan is a longterm Brexiter, who kept talking about Norway, then Switzerland, then WTO, then Norway .....

He was one of only four 😂 Tory MEPs elected earlier this year to the EP
That's only 1 more seat than the SNP

Yep Tory (ex?) MEP

Just watched Malcolm Rifkind, who preceded Grieve as Chair of the Intelligence & Security Committee, essentially supporting Grieve in his complaints about the "whopping untruths" coming out of 10 Downing Street and how concerned he was by this

Right, thanks BCF. So Hannan saying he would prefer remain over WA is a big deal for anyone who takes any notice of him (is there anyone...?)

Downing Street has been accused of telling "whopping untruths" over the publication of a report into the threat posed by Russia to the UK's democratic processes.

Is it just me or are things snowballing against Bozo already?

The transition period doesn't start until we actually Brexit,
i.e. 1 Febriary 2020 or later

However, the end date of the transition period hasn't changed, so there are at most 11 months to negotiate a trade deal with the EU - which is impossible to do in the time,
or BJ will have to ask for an extension

Trade deals between countries or blocs normally take 5-12 years, so either BJ will have to fac down the ERG for years, or he'll just accept No Deal on 31 December 2020

I think I might have killed the election thread {tee hee}

No deal or remain does make some sort of rather warped sense...

I can see the argument that the worst scenario for leavers would be to still be tied to much of EU law (which, arguably, a soft brexit would lead to) without a say in it.

I don't agree with that viewpoint, particularly as no-one was campaigning on the basis of no deal in the referendum (whatever they may have been hoping for) and ultimately, I suspect that if we did go no deal we would still end up having to follow a lot of the EU laws for trade purposes.... With no say in it.

But it does make a warped sort of sense.

(and yes, I'm ignoring the horrific impacts of no deal and the fact that being in the EU offers us some really fantastic things).

BJ's WA is a terrible Exit deal, much worse than May's

because its removal of legally binding Level Playing Field terms means the Tories can abolish workers' rights, consumer rights, environmental laws

• anything they want to do, either from hard right ideology and / or to get a US FTA

So it's great if you want the very wealthy and US multinationals to get even wealthier

Terrible for the disabled, the poor or anyone not well off
Terrible for those who'll lose their jobs and will scrabble around to get worse paid ones with worse t&cs

What struck me was that he didn't actually mention 'no-deal' for a change - just stated, in answer to why they would refuse a pact with Johnson unless he drops the deal, that remaining would be better than the deal.

It seemed quite a change in the tone to me, the very idea of accepting remain as an option must surely be poison to BP followers?

Hannan is a Tory MEP, and not quite as batshit crazy as the Brexit Party MEPs, but the bar is low on that.

No - the Transition hasn't started because we had an extension, even though Boris Johnson said that we were leaving on 31st October, no ifs or buts and that he would rather die in a ditch if we didn't. However, he must have changed his mind because he's still alive.

Thanks BCF. You've described the bits I'm not sure about, that:

1. "The transition period doesn't start until we actually Brexit, i.e. 1 Febriary 2020 or later."

1. "the end date of the transition period hasn't changed, so there are at most 11 months".

I'm not sure which decriptive is the operational one, irrespective of the WAB.

But its all so insane.

Climate Change
People trafficking
Food security
Healthcare for the elderly
Education for the young

are the REAL ISSUES

And Brexit is a total distraction from every one of them.

Pere thank you also for your explanation on the 'transition period' in operation. I'm not sure what you mean by BJ and dates and ditches - is this something that he said? I haven't heard anything about that at all. I'm so out of touch.

TheMSip my early raspberries were a disappointment this year but the later ones still have a lot of fruit. But next year I'm putting up electric fencing round my soft fruit as DDog2 has discovered he likes blackcurrants and ate most of a bumper crop. I'm assuming the noise outside is fireworks and not the long promise d riots. DDog1 not impressed.

Daniel Hannan says the same.
(That he would prefer to remain than accept Boris's deal)

This is #FakeNews

Hannan has backed the deal & has been quite vocal about the Brexit Party's misrepresentation of the WA.

He tweeted this just yesterday in fact:

"A vote for Boris is a vote to take us out swiftly, amicably and in good order."

Be careful
The Farage Company and the Tory Party are firing off broadsides against each other about Brexit and the WA;
neither have been very particular about telling the truth

So Hannan saying he would prefer remain over WA is a big deal for anyone who takes any notice of him (is there anyone...?)

A lot of Tories listen to him, he writes a regular column for The Telegraph.

A lot of Tories listen to him, he writes a regular column for The Telegraph.

Mystery solved as to why i've never heard of him...

I think MN should do with political threads what they did with the Sex topic a while back. You can’t post if you haven’t been a member for 6 months. Difficult to police I know but there must be a way.

Sadly, my husband has a subscription. I read it and weep.

In my decades of voting and the formative years prior to that I'm pretty certain that I have never taken anything a politician has ever said at 'face value' and as a statement of fact.

Obviously things must have changed without me noticing so, thanks for the tip BCF, I'll be careful. But it's all moot for me as I've already made my GE decision, unlike every single other GE I've voted in before and in the post-GE future.

You would be super helpful if you could clarify the current end transition period date - is it 11 months (1st Oct 2020) or Feb 2020. If you really aren't sure that's ok - can't know everything about everything after all - and I'll look into it myself and get back to you.