Westministenders: Its the waiting that kills you

[RedToothBrush]

Just waiting.

Talks between Frost and Barnier still unresolved issues. There are rumours but 'all without evidence' (the new in phrase on BBC news tonight) that the UK is waivering.

Less that two months to go.

And there is the small matter of what happens in the US than might influence events.

Laura Kuenssberg @bbclaurak
1. Senior No 10 source says Dominic Cummings is out by Christmas - after hours of speculation HE tells me 'rumours of me threatening to resign are invented, rumours of me asking others to resign are invented'... ..

2. He said 'tonight's rumours that somehow the Brexit negotiations are involved are invented and comical to anybody who knows whats happening in no10' but when asked about rumours he would quit at Christmas Cummings said ...

3. 'My position hasn't changed since my January blog' - when he planned to make himself 'redundant' by the end of 2020 - he's off

4. This is what he wrote in Jan - 'We want to improve performance and make me much less important — and within a year largely redundant' - here when he was advertising for misfits and weirdos -
dominiccummings.com/2020/01/

5. It's been likely for ages that he would go in next few months as he wrote then but has accelerated dramatically since last night and Cain's departure

I can't believe this is really even news. He was going before the election. Then he wasn't. And he's still there. And quite clearly was probably only going to be there until January. Now a book deal awaits. As well as lucrative after dinner speeches...

Also talk of an extension is interesting, but I'm not is a given even if we want one now...

Oh and he'll probably rewrite his blog retrospectively again anyway...

"2. He said 'tonight's rumours that somehow the Brexit negotiations are involved are invented and comical to anybody who knows whats happening in no10' but when asked about rumours he would quit at Christmas Cummings said ..."

Well this is obvious correct because Cummings is well known for his truthfulness....

Well he obviously doesn't value Boris that much lol!

@Flouncingbabooshka
I grew up in Kent and still have family there (aged both 20's and 70/80+) and school friends (40's/50s). I know people in Canterbury, Whitstable, Dover/Deal, Rye, and Tonbridge areas.
ALL are now scared for what: 'life in Kent holds' whichever way they voted. I have rellies who voted for both Brexit and Boris. I take no pleasure in their fear now (or the fear they will feel when the full reality finally hits them).
There is nothing constructive in further divisions among us - there has been enough of that in the UK (& US) in the last few years to last a lifetime. That frightens me more than where the lorries will go, how my Brexiteer parents will get their meds etc, though those frighten me too. I'm nowhere near Kent right now but Men *& women!) of Kent and Kentish Men (& women) are in my thoughts a lot.

Sam Coates @Sky suggesting that the Vote Leave bunch in No 10 worried that “Remainers” are pushing for a 12 month Brexit extension?

Are there any remainders in Government? I thought they’d all been booted out

Just a guest appearance from me with an idea.. is this too paranoid?

Gove saying the EU are starting to bow to the great sovereignty that we never lost.

We now need any expensive EU deal because our friend Donnie has (hopefully) gone.

Plan is to take a very expensive deal which could be almost in situ with the EU?

So...Gove is emerging from being relatively under the radar. His brief is to spin and soften the Brexity public.

So the Cummings thing is a squirrel.

I'm out of touch so the theory is probably full of holes but thought I'd run it past the best analysts around.

So Cummings is out? Who will hold Johnson's hand decide what pieces of information are the important ones to tell Johnson and which aren't? Is it wrong to be dubious and wonder if this is one of those 'bad Tory publicly leaves government and six months later is quietly back at post' kind of PR management we're used to now?

Nick Robinson was blustering on about sovereignty and don't you know we're special to some EU bod this morning, he (Robinson) sounded like a right pillock (because he should know this stuff, no, we're not Canada) and the EU bod (MEP? German minister?) was explaining so patiently and with a mixture of humour and exasperation in his voice that I felt really sorry for him having to put up with it.

@SabrinaThwaite

Sam Coates *@Sky* suggesting that the Vote Leave bunch in No 10 worried that “Remainers” are pushing for a 12 month Brexit extension?

Not true.

Its more to smear those left and to trash those who have pushed them out for being arseholes.

Its more to smear those left and to trash those who have pushed them out for being arseholes.

Certainly being touted on R4 this morning that Cummings jumped before he was pushed.

@borntobequiet I listened to that too, very cringeworthy (it was Manfred Weber).

Will Cummings leaving be anything to do with Trump going too?

Or is that just a coincidence?

Has Cummings actually gone? I suspect it's not a coincidence that Trump lost.

Even if you take what Cummings' said in his blog at face value, he said he wanted to make himself largely redundant by the end of the year . That is not the same as making himself redundant

He'll still be whispering his poison in powerful ears

And given that Gove and he go back even further than his relationship with BJ, I wouldn't put it past him to continue his malign influence when (not if ) Gove makes his bid for the PM's role.

Actually, I am really annoyed that Cummings is going. He is a major architect of this whole shambles with his Vote Leave campaign using underhand, possibly illegal, certainly duplicitous means to convince the British public of the Brexit sunlit lands. He ought to be forced to stay come January 1st for when it really hits the fan. How bloody wonderful for him to swan off 'before christmas' up to his FiL's castle for a lovely family Christmas and a round of well paid speaking engagements afterwards. Whilst the rest of us will have to leave with the sh*t show he is leaving behind.

The only benefit to his leaving would be if there was a substantial deal that helped avoid our impending crisis.

It looks like the Brexit cabal at No 10 have lost their clout and decided that their malevolent influence is on the wane.

A new centrist president in the White House, the need to kiss and make up to the EU, Bojo being an opportunist who drifts with the wind.

It's all good news

If agreed, this could allow Johnson to slither out of the corner he locked himself into with the IMB.

The European Commission and British government are discussing a possible grace period to allow retailers in Northern Ireland time to adapt to the significant changes that will come into effect on 1 January under the Northern Ireland Protocol.

It is understood that a temporary adjustment period, if agreed by both sides, would mean that large volumes of food going to supermarkets and other retailers from Great Britain would not immediately be subject to extra costs and certain paperwork.

It is understood, however, that the UK has asked for a grace period to allow supermarkets time to adapt and that the EU is considering this, on the condition that there is full compliance with the Protocol over time.

www.rte.ie/news/brexit/2020/1113/1177875-brexit/

born I don't think Nick R is asking for himself. I've always assumed that the role of interviewers such as Nick R is to ask questions on behalf of members of the public, whise grasp of the details is significantly less than his own - or yours.

@DrBlackbird

Actually, I am really annoyed that Cummings is going. He is a major architect of this whole shambles with his Vote Leave campaign using underhand, possibly illegal, certainly duplicitous means to convince the British public of the Brexit sunlit lands. He ought to be forced to stay come January 1st for when it really hits the fan. How bloody wonderful for him to swan off 'before christmas' up to his FiL's castle for a lovely family Christmas and a round of well paid speaking engagements afterwards. Whilst the rest of us will have to leave with the sh*t show he is leaving behind.

The only benefit to his leaving would be if there was a substantial deal that helped avoid our impending crisis.

Yep, he's very much an owner of the coming shitshow no matter how much he flogs that tired "stabbed in the back" narrative they're been leaning into ever since they won. They can't make the fantasy real, so they're going to run away and pretend it's all someone else's fault.

It is understood, however, that the UK has asked for a grace period to allow supermarkets time to adapt and that the EU is considering this, on the condition that there is full compliance with the Protocol over time.

It will interesting to see how this is affected by the IMB. It's not impossible to imagine a rather tart reply:

No we are sticking to what was agreed.

Dominic Cummings did SO MUCH DAMAGE TO EDUCATION when he was with Gove at the DfE

Dominic Cummings did SO MUCH DAMAGE TO THE UK when he was with Leave.EU

Dominic Cummings has done MUCH LESS damage when constrained within Downing street

Be careful what you wish for
As Cummings out of sight is more dangerous.
He is in Nihilist Anarchist who wants to break things and is in contact with Robert Mercer.
Be afraid

@ICouldHaveCheckedFirst

born I don't think Nick R is asking for himself. I've always assumed that the role of interviewers such as Nick R is to ask questions on behalf of members of the public, whise grasp of the details is significantly less than his own - or yours.

This ^^

Great Twitter thread about how the UK ended up outside the Single Market:

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1327002960484818945.html

TLDR leaving the Single Market was not inherent in voting Leave, but ended up being the default through Government incompetence and far right nudging.

With Cummings, my impression was a rat deserting a sinking ship.