Westminstenders: Operation Shock and Awe

[RedToothBrush]

The government is launching its get ready for the end of transition campaign which has been dubbed a 'shock and awe' campaign.

In this campaign we will learn all about what Brexit means and what amazing opportunities lie for having increased customs and borders, beaucracy and increased costs. Bet you are all really excited and looking forward to this.

We will also get a 'Farage Garage' in Kent to cope with these wonderful opportunities in traffic jams. This will be something that businesses throughout the country will be super excited to plan for in their socially distanced Zoom meetings or across warehouses with their face masks on. And banks will be delighted to see an uptick in applications in CCJs and debt reconstruction plans.

It will be a super fun time for the under 30s who have zero hours contracts, worked in retail or hospitality. Or should I say 'worked'.

Meanwhile the right to a jury trial has been binned due to 'long covid delays' which are shorter than they were several years ago. The NHS isn't getting the funding it expected, and waiting lists are longer than ever with no way to clear them. The plan to build more hospitals seems to have disappeared with the Nightingales. Many councils are about to go into insolvency and be taken over by accountancy firms. The civil service is being dismantled and conservative loyalists with no experience being put in charge of important functions of state. Communications with the press are being 'streamlined' to make them incredible of holding power to account and only able to repeat government public announcements.

Anyone looking forward to Christmas? When you write a letter to Santa remember to add 'visa application form', 'a sleeping bag for use at Dover', 'tinned tomatoes' and 'packets of seeds to grow your own' to the list.

Well it may not matter as committee member numbers are dependent on the proportion of each party in the HoC. Without a party, I suppose it's possible Lewis may be removed as a member and a Cummings/Johnson loyalist installed in his place.

I could see the possible removal of Lewis and his replacement by a BJ toady causing some degree of consternation in the Conservative party. Surely scales are falling from eyes in increasing numbers now?

Has the whip definitely been withdrawn?

How on earth can they withdraw the whip

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53422010

@mrslaughan

Has the whip definitely been withdrawn?

The Beeb says so www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53422010

@BigChocFrenzy

V difficult to prove where someone caught COVID but spitting in someone's face during an epidemic should be classed as assault

It is classed as 'assault' at any time. ExH works as a bus driver in Edinburgh. They are given 'spit kits' so when passengers spit on them (oh, yes!) they can collect evidence as it is an assault. Whether anyone has ever been prosecuted I do not know?

Excellent news about Failing Grayling failing again, MissClimpson 👏🏼

"Unkind people are saying that Grayling couldn't even win an election that has been rigged"
Pretty 😂

OldLace Grim that spitting at bus staff is frequent enough for spit kits to be issued
I suppose that all public-facing staff are at some risk of that

When did spitting at people doing their job become a thing ?
It didn't use to be

"you had one job"

MrsL Did you send him out - with a flea in his ear - for a takeaway ?

What happens then? Will Johnson remove him from the Committee and appoint a crony? The reason for the delay in convening the committee according to Rees-Mogg was that they wanted to get the right people.

It's not as though he's a raving lefty. It sounds as though he's someone who wants to do the job properly. (Clearly not vetted properly by Johnson/Cummings, who want rank amateurs on the job.)

@Peregrina

What happens then? Will Johnson remove him from the Committee and appoint a crony? The reason for the delay in convening the committee according to Rees-Mogg was that they wanted to get the right people.

It's not as though he's a raving lefty. It sounds as though he's someone who wants to do the job properly. (Clearly not vetted properly by Johnson/Cummings, who want rank amateurs on the job.)

And as the UKs reputation for probity starts circling the drain, what will it mean for relations with other countries ?

I thought that once MPs choose someone, then that is a done deal

• that it doesn't matter if they lose the Whip ?

So apparently even though he has had the whip removed they can't remove him from the committee?
I really hope so......
They are also saying the committee is planning on convening tomorrow..... with the plan to release it next week

BCF - we cut the burnt bits off...... and all the veg that I prepared was fine.... I am cool without meat . It was just annoying .....

I loved this bit:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/15/chris-grayling-fails-to-become-intelligence-and-security-chair

Downing Street had been pushing Grayling to lead the committee since March,

but the process was held up partly by coronavirus and
difficulties in finding five people who it thought would back him in the sensitive post
😂

But Grayling failing has put the spring back in my step

@BigChocFrenzy

I thought that once MPs choose someone, then that is a done deal

• that it doesn't matter if they lose the Whip ?

Thats what I thought.

Removing the whip is likely to make him dig his heels in somewhat too I suspect on the basis of his CV.

MrsL I read your "we cut the burnt bits off" .... right after your post on the Grayling fiasco

I was taken aback, as it seemed a cruel action for the govt to take, even on Grayling 😂

RTB
Friends of mine go to church with Julian Lewis
at least his email secure

LouiseCollins
Ah yes Railfreight - the ferries used to come into western docks Dover and unload directly onto the train carriages 200 at a time
Then rail was privatised and those tracks were cut off
and the UK was tied into road transport for decades

Removing the whip just shows what sore losers they are

and that when their cunning plans are foiled, they've no fallback plan, just spite

We should note this for the future ....

@BigChocFrenzy

I loved this bit:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/15/chris-grayling-fails-to-become-intelligence-and-security-chair

Downing Street had been pushing Grayling to lead the committee since March,

but the process was held up partly by coronavirus and
difficulties in finding five people who it thought would back him in the sensitive post
😂

Didn’t Dominic Grieve say that the Russia report wasn’t a smoking gun? Hard to get your hopes up for anything explosive after the Chilcot and Mueller reports.

So we think DC/BJ will put parliament into recess early to foil attempts to release the report?

Or will we get more pic's of Wilf? To distract? Or a sudden wedding - the happy couple trotting up the aisle?

MPs not impressed by govt's spiteful reaction at cocking up
Cummings - and it does sound like him - is a v sore loser

I wonder if he'll try to have Lewis marched out by armed police, as he did Sonia Khan
"Try" - because he can't do that to an MP, even one without a Whip

Labour MP Jess Phillips
"I see Number 10 are lashing out after forgetting the first rule of politics - learn to count." 😂

SNP MP Angus MacNeil
"We are in the world of psychopath politics... This is utterly jawdropping!"

news.sky.com/story/dr-julian-lewis-has-tory-whip-removed-after-running-against-pms-security-committee-chair-pick-12029301