Brexit mega thread part 10 : what's the (s)tory? Incompetence, tax evasion, dodgy loans and economic free fall...nothing to see here...check out those sunlit uploands!

[Chevyimpala67]

Part 10 of our long running thread.
I'm still putting my money on a spring GE.
The tory slash and burn of the UK is right on track.
Bon chance my friends!

They are panicking
As predicted
They know the public will riot and hold them responsible (whilst ignoring their own part in this clusterfuck...)

We have to remind ourselves that the list of priorities for Sunak, may not align with ours, I imagine it goes:

1 - stay PM

2 - ensure there is a single Tory party (see #1)

3 - incapacitate, or neutralise any opponents (see #1)

4 - reframe the agenda to promote the success of Brexit (see #1)

.
.
.
.

99 - make the UK a better place.

Now to anyone left with a working brain, this may seem like a cunning plan to defy gravity:

1 - stay up

2 - ensure there is a bunch of folks who believe in "up"

3 - incapacitate or neutralise any opponents

4 - reframe the agenda so that "down" is "really up the other way round"*

and so on.

*Remember the average person who takes the Express (I think "readers" is a bit of a stretch) are still living in a land where Brexit Britain is fighting off all comers. And this is despite their own organ telling them daily of problems.

However where there is inertia there is momentum, and the building momentum of Brexit is starting to crush it's next PM. If Sunak comes away from the EU with nothing, he's toast. And whatever he can come away with is a gift to the ERG types who have will snipe from the sidelines and make it impossible to deliver. And with Johnson and Truss rattling around like marbles in a washing machine, it's impossible to believe the Tories will survive as a single party. Mainly because the "special sauce" of UK demographics (or is it English demographics ?) that has buoyed them up previously is slowly shrinking. When they retreat to their leafy Englandshire constituencies in opposition, they will find a very different England. Which they would have known if they had bothered actually visiting them before.

Interesting "#" seems to be MN code for "do Boris" and make it Big and Bold.

Meanwhile, here's the Express gaslighting readers

www.express.co.uk/news/science/1733715/brexit-britain-reject-horizon-europe-eu-science-alliance-us-japan

Who wants EU grapes, eh ? Just for lolz, I have a lot of contact with US scientists. They will be thrilled to hear this news - which like all news the Express reports - seems to be unavailable in the US.

Thats funny, Switzerland is looking to re start negotiations with EU to join Horizon and Erasmus+

sciencebusiness.net/news/Horizon-Europe/eu-and-switzerland-talk-about-horizon-europe-davos#:~:text=Because%20Switzerland%20is%20not%20associated,they%20want%20to%20join%20consortia.

Just another cake and eat it party really.

Thats funny, Switzerland is looking to re start negotiations with EU to join Horizon and Erasmus+

And best of luck to them. We need to remember that it was the UK that snubbed Horizon, and FOM, and the single market, and the customs union - that ladder of descending outcomes from 2017.

Just out of interest, what's the story with Mogg glories "back to imperial" law ? When are we going to see people arrested for speaking centimetres and mentioning metric ? For listing litres and gauging grammes ? For citing Celcius and foregoing Fahrenheit ?

(Note to self: do not listen to Roger McGough before lunch).

Also disappeared without trace: The UKs bigger-better Galileo alternative. Presumably they ran out of tinfoil ?

Swiss negotiations on Horizon and Erasmus are not likely to go any differently to their 20 years of negotiations for financial services. The answer is always non on the current framework.

Brexit is dead. It's purely about optics and damage control now.

.... and we'll be stuck with its stinking corpse for many years to come, whilst its backers move on to bigger and better things....

Its nice to see the penny dropping.
I am personally going to sit back with the popcorn and watch the fall out from the May elections which will fascinating, no matter who comes out on top.

Anyone who backed Brexit will always be eaten alive by it's contradictions. I hope Labour and Lib Dems are taking notes.

I remember an EU official back in 2016 saying the British will be back begging to come back in if you vote leave.... i can't remember the exact timescales he gave but it was a few years...

I think the Tories could easily recover from this, go into the next GE stating all the advantages of rejoining the SM and CU ... leaving Labour to explain why they have ruled it out, the tory media then blame Labour for Brexit....

They ve done it before... 3 day week was under Labour (it was under the Tories) the global financial crash was caused by Labours mis management of the economy... Tory ministers call it the Financial Crash under Labour, therefore blame Austerity on Labour.... ... & don't get corrected by the interviewer.

I'd forgotten that Gisela Stuart was Europe Minister

PRettybird, yes, nearly as hard to believe / stomach as having Patel or Braverman as Home Sec and Truss as Foreign Sec (as she was this time last year, when Russia invaded Ukraine, as I was reminded this morning).

But an interesting mix all the same eg Tom Scholar, and GSK (though not AZ - no surprise, given the recent news).
Also interesting that it was not held on Government property.

It's so frustrating. British scientist's are desperate to be part of Horizon. Painting its loss as a win is all kinds of fucked up.

the contemptable Stuart, moved countries, studied, married... and then made sure it would become far harder for anyone else....

I remember an EU official back in 2016

Guy Verhofstadt has been saying this pretty consistently since then.

Sorry didn’t get the whole quote

I remember an EU official back in 2016 saying the British will be back begging to come back in if you vote leave

@Alexandra2001 Indeed

My preferred description of Gisela Stuart and the contemptible Kate Hoey would get me deleted and I take pride in never having been deleted despite provocation

The fact that both of them can still make use of EU passports and therefore freedom of movement to work should they choose....

Phil's take

"The biggest Brexit story I have ever covered"

I remember an EU official back in 2016 saying the British will be back begging to come back in if you vote leave

I think someone said, 5 years leaving and five years trying to get back in. The five years leaving was just about right, with leave not really happening until the end of the transition period. Five getting back in - seems ambitious - five years farting around and then five trying to get back in perhaps?

I agree that the presence of Labour in the meeting suggests that Sunak could tell the ERG to do one if he needs votes.

I would hope the Labour party has better negotiators than the LibDems.

Just don't see rejoining ever happening, even the Libdems aren't for rejoining and the population certainly isn't.

Well we can't rejoin while we're not running free and fair elections anyway.

There's a democracy requirement for EU members.

Just don't see rejoining ever happening, even the Libdems aren't for rejoining and the population certainly isn't.

i certainly think that the people I know would vote to rejoin tomorrow if they were asked, but neither of the two main parties is asking our opinions.