Westminstenders: Pah International Law. Who needs it?

[RedToothBrush]

I mean its not as if trade deals and human rights are relevant is it?

(sorry eating my dinner so must be brief)

Quote from LK in my last post.

So if Johnson proposed a law to legalise genocide would these Tory sheep vote for it, or would they find a conscience somewhere?
I hope to God that violence does not break out again in NI. The best now would be Irish reunification, and the Tory scum can take the "credit" for smashing the UK.

My MP Peter Aldous always votes with the Government in everything including voting for a Brexit deal he now voted to break. He's a useless MP! And yes this lot of Tories would vote for anything that keeps them in office.

I am getting used to my MPs voting with parliament with everything. It still hurts when they do though. I don't know why my area votes them in. I had hoped this one would be better than the last one.

Also why is the deal about winning? Surely for a deal both sides should win. That is about making a deal.

Once upon a time I used to be proud of being a British European. Now I am ashamed to be English.

I think those they voted yes will regret this in the long run. It’s on their voting record now and could come back to haunt them.

Mine is the same. No sign of independent thought or a conscience. Faithfully follows the party line every time. That was okay when the Conservative party was sane, but we are well and truly through the looking glass now.

Seemed symbolic yesterday that a man once derided for the way he ate a Bacon sandwich should give perhaps the last great speech from the opposition benches we will hear for a long time. “The wrong Milliband”, as inoffensive and as middle of the road as they come beaten by Cameron who set the UK on this disastrous course. Since then the country has consistently chosen populist rhetoric. 2019 was the last chance to salvage from the wreckage but a bit like bacon sandwich gate “communist broadband” was too much for the electorate to stomach.

I hope Starmer watched Millibands speech yesterday. Staying silent trying not to offend people who would never vote Labour anyway won’t do in these dangerous times. Fence sitting by some last year and as a result, enabling the course the UK Is now on helped get us to this point. It’s not all about Brexiteers. You reap what you sow. There are no unicorns for remainers, no specific date when the UK comes to its senses. We’ve got years of this now. No deal seems almost certain, it’ll take more than food and medicine shortages for people to wake up. We are nowhere near the bottom yet. With the vote last night people have once again underestimated the gravity of the situation. It was supposed to be bad but not this bad.

Why did the SNP abstain?

Assuming it is part of NS plans for independence/ return to the EU for Scotland. My husband is half Scottish, so if that did happen the kids could get EU passports.

Some Tory MP wittering on on r4 how he voted for the bill because we need it but he will be fighting the clauses that go against the rule of law. (distinctly paraphrased, I'm not very awake)
hmmmm. We will see.

The one highlight of yesterday was Ian Dunt's thread. He's funny and he takes no prisoners.

And actually that thread told us what a big part of the problem is: that most Tory backbenchers (and indeed a big chunk of the front bench) are just basically varying degrees of stupid.

I'm not arguing for an "intellectulocratic" parliament because diversity is good and because intellectuals often make poor politicians (see: some high profile députés in France) - but it is surely not a good thing that the average IQ of a Tory backbencher appears now to be in double figures. Andrea Jenkyns. Christopher Chope. Andrea Leadsom. Most of the new intake. I have come to the conclusion that these are simply people who are not simply unwilling but actually incapable of grasping complexity and trade offs, and who are therefore unable to function at a more sophisticated political level than repeating meaningless sound bites.

Of course it has always been true that you could elect a donkey with a blue rosette in some constituencies but until this parliament the party also had bright MPs with technocratic instincts (eg Hammond, Gauke), and a few true statesmen and intellectual powerhouses (eg Clarke, Grieve). Where are those MPs now? You can run a party without people of that calibre, but how on earth can you run a country without them?

Just heard on the radio that today is the anniversary of the Battle of Britain - the day after Parliament voted through a bill that breaks an international treaty. I have no words.

My MP is an ERG headbanger. He is basically invisible in our constituency, but continues to win here because the surrounding leafy villages are so horrified by the (industrial, immigrant-heavy, dump-all-the-social-problems-here) town they keep voting Tory to distinguish themselves from the townie "losers."

Anyone else watching Babylon Berlin on Sky? It's a German detective noir set in Weimar-era Berlin. Gorgeous to look at, and terrifyingly on the nose.

@Peregrina

So if Johnson proposed a law to legalise genocide would these Tory sheep vote for it, or would they find a conscience somewhere? I hope to God that violence does not break out again in NI. The best now would be Irish reunification, and the Tory scum can take the "credit" for smashing the UK.

They would vote for it Peregrina. Because they got their place as an MP only with the express condition that they would always follow BJ and defend Brexit. They are frightened. Frightened to be sacked from the Conservative party. Frightened they will look like they are not endorsing brexit anymore, which will not go down well with their constituents. Frightened to become a nobody even more than they are now. (And as Misti said, some of them are also probably unable to grasp what is happening right in front of their eyes).

It’s not new. Same is happening in the US (who on earth can support Trump crazy comments?) or, looking back in history, in Germany.

My MP voted for the government, I've just seen. She always does, so I nearly didn't bother to look.
Been watching BBC news and no mention of it.
I am a big mess off angry and sad about the way they are behaving, and aghast at how people think it's OK! Or that this is just politics and it doesn't affect us (have heard this a fair bit lately, among people I know)
I am so grateful for these threads as an oasis of sanity.

@borntobequiet some of the coverage of that just made me cry. I agree with you totally.

We know now how Nazi Germany happened. It turns out that many in this country are not so different after all.

[quote Emilyontmoor]Naomi Long on the issue www.facebook.com/alliancepartyni/videos/247124609916403/?vh=e&extid=TP1qJbEDNtvBKZjp[/quote]
Thank you for the link - very helpful and interesting

I shouldn’t laugh, but Mischal Hussein getting Priti Vacant to keep saying the word “mingling” is very funny.

Hope your DS is ok in the longer-term, @Mistigri. It's such a strange disease, how it plays out.

quiteathome
Why did the SNP abstain?

I don’t think they did.

votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/836#noes

Ok. They've done it. Britain is now on the precipice of a full-scale conversion to the 'illiberal democracy' model promoted by Orban, ie cronyism, corruption, attacks on immigrants, a compliant media & an understanding that advancement requires loyalty. Freedom to leave, though.
twitter.com/jmpsimor/status/1305623001736634368?s=21

That’s a good summary of the situation :(.

most Tory backbenchers (and indeed a big chunk of the front bench) are just basically varying degrees of stupid

I'd like this to be a description of my Tory MP because otherwise he'd have known that he was voting to break an international treaty. He's not incredibly stupid because he supported Remain. Although given our largest local employer moves 20 million parts daily across 27 countries (car manufacturer), he may have been encouraged by them to support Remain.

I would say it's likely that he's politically ambitious and would never vote against the party.

Its been on the cards since 2016. But no one listened.

I'm fed up of sounding like a broken record and repeating myself over it.

Hester SNP abstained in the first vote. That link is for an amendment, in which they did vote.

Singasonga don't have Sky but am reading the books, and have to agree.