David Davies without a notebook,

[HappydaysArehere]

So he has arrived at a. Brexit meeting with apparently no notes and nothing to write on!!! Other negotiators sitting with plenty of paper on show. Should we be worried? Have you ever gone to any meeting without a notebook? To be honest I am going down the road of believing we are being governed by people of little intelligence who are more interested in self advancement than serving thus country. Can anyone give me hope?

"It wouldn't be Corbyn though, it would be Keir Starmer. Who I reckon could be relied upon to turn up with a notebook..."

Agreed, as he has a legal brain/experience, which is why it seems to an outsider, he is running the Labour show at the moment, including Brexit policy, until someone goes on the Sunday political shows and contradicts both Labour's manifesto pledge to LEAVE the Single Market i.e.. still 'thinking' of their Customs Union policy, or if we need a 'little bit' of Freedom of Movement.

Priceless after negotiations start, its like going to a home auction without knowing how many bedroom you want, or what you'll pay,

Starmer is a 'keeper', as appears he is the only keeper of 'little grey cells' for the whole Shadow Cabinet, but as the Japanese say 'the highest nail gets hit first' - so lets see how long a potential leadership contender lasts with the new 'kinder, more democratic' leadership - where the political equivalent of 'cement overshoes' already face so many moderate Labour MPs.

Rufus

Re your "Someone on the other thread has mentioned his negotiating skills so hopefully they have some examples"

Here is David Davis political record, including Minister for Europe.

IMO you can put the ministerial and European experience of all those light weights on Labour's front bench together, and still not equal it, but then again (and similar to you) I'm bias - but feel free to run through the other 'stars' other than that nice Mr Starmer, I acknowledge.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine In that case, surely he should have at least brought a pair of scissors with him!

Thank goodness for the laughs. I will put the tissues away and look around for a nice little notebook to send him plus pencil of course!

thea

I am not a labour supporter

I usually vote tory

I am also not biased

I think they are all shit at the moment

rufus that David Brent photo is genius

My mind did leap to that scene Quentin

I do love the office,

But i have seen that photo a number of times now

I'm not sure how much more pathetic the Tory bashing can get on MN. 1/10 - must try harder.

Every single time DD is mentioned on the tv or taxi, I have to shout "Brexit Bulldog." I cannot seriously listen to him without hearing Dead Ringers.

I believe they have got him 100% correct in content and delivery.

politicians not particularly useful at the moment - they'll just get in the way of the civil servants doing the real work.
which is good because it's brass faced cheek to waste 2 months out of 24 on an unnecessary election then bugger off on summer break as if there wasn't anything more important. effectively there's not much more than a year left.

I love the dead ringers impression of him! And Theresa May on her answer phone.

How can you reply to a question if you don't know what the question is?

UK, How much do you want, and how is it made up?
EU, Tell us how much your going to pay, and we will tell you how much more we want...
UK, Can we see the accounts so we can tell you how much we think we should pay.
EU, urh no, we don't have any accounts, so we can't do that.
UK, OK when you let us have accounts maybe we can talk...

Simple no paperwork needed.

politicians not particularly useful at the moment - they'll just get in the way of the civil servants doing the real work.

True, but lack of a clear government position is a real problem for civil servants (and, to be fair, for DD). In contrast, the EU's position is very clear, because they have published it in great detail, leaving their negotiators with a clear mandate.

In the absence of a clear position I expect talks to proceed very slowly if at all, and the clock to run out. The end result will either be no brexit at all, or a cliff-edge brexit.

The absence of a clear government position was clear in the last budget: no specific additional funding for port or border infrastructure (and they needed to start on this about 5 years ago to be ready for April 2019). I must admit that my first reaction to the last budget was "no brexit, then" (I've since revised my position, because of general govt incompetence; we may brexit by accident).