Boris Johnson has been visiting Stoke-on-Trent today.
(Incase you missed it! Hah!)
It is incredibly depressing that Johnson still shows his face, fined as a PM and lied to the HoC. The Tory Party is in dire straights
Boris is the only Conservative leader since 1945 to win every seat in Stoke on Trent. Of course local Tories want him there!
Winning stoke on trent is like boasting I just purchased 100 acres of prime swamp
You can be snobbish about it but any election winning Conservative coalition is again knowing to need the Stokes of this world as much as the Kensington and Surreys.
Expecially given some middle class graduate heavy Tory leaning seats like Canterbury, Chester and Warwick and Leamington are now solid Labour
I would have said that TOPPING and Dura_Ace are the only ones amongst us who have experienced actual fighting.
I think my views are more conditioned by living in Moscow for 9 years (and teaching Russian for 15 years) than my glory days of shooting teenage hadjis in Basra.
I don't know why so many people get sand in their fannies about what I post on this subject. None of you should give a fuck what I think.
I think you provide an interesting and unique voice and perspective (not that my opinion should matter to you and probably doesn't). That you don't demand people should automatically defer to your view because you have experience is part of that.
Boris Johnson has been visiting Stoke-on-Trent today.
(Incase you missed it! Hah!)
It is incredibly depressing that Johnson still shows his face, fined as a PM and lied to the HoC. The Tory Party is in dire straights
Boris spouting off Ukraine boosting platitudes and travelling round the Red Wall and other seats won in 2019 would probably be a helpful thing for him to do for the party, were he and his allies not on incredibly obvious manueveres to get him back into power by any means necessary.
Even Rupert Murdoch's Sky can't find anything good to say about this wheeze.
OK for Mr Cameron to get HMtQ involved in Indyref 1, but not for Mr S to get her son involved in this? Seems a bit unfair.
Levels of involvement and plausible deniability may be relevant. An 'offhand comment' is at the more subtle end (if not that subtle).
But it does still read like searcingh for a defence for a pre-arranged rejection. "...and btw in addition to it being crap look at 'im dragging His Majesty King Sausage Fingers into it, it's a disgrace".
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
🔺 Update: Rishi Sunak will push ahead with his Brexit deal as soon as Sunday with Downing Street preparing to face down Boris Johnson and Tory Eurosceptics in a clash that will define his premiership
Labour votes will ensure it passes
I don't really see the logic of this. The ERG will support it if the DUP support it. If the DUP don't support it, it won't lead to the restoration of power sharing in NI, and it won't be in the spirit of the GFA. If it's a good deal, he deserves to be congratulated, and I am sure will be by all. Trying to confect a clause 4 moment will get him precisely nowhere.
A deal with the EU isn't completely worthless, even if it doesn't win the support of the DUP, because it may genuinely reduce trade friction across the Irish Sea, reducing costs for businesses, and therefore constituting an incremental improvement in a number of people's lives.
As to the DUP, they do not seem to be in a mood to entertain any sort of deal or compromise, so it's hard to know what Sunak could do that would result in the return of power-sharing. If he were to give the DUP what they want - the complete end of the protocol and a trade border on the island of Ireland - then the likelihood is that Sinn Fein would collapse power-sharing in protest anyway.
The only way out of the impasse that I can see is that someone manages to persuade Unionist voters to vote for Unionist politicians who support a degree of compromise. Well, good luck with that.
The DUP have outlined their 5 key pints, so it's not hard at all to know what Sunak could do to restore power-sharing. The Northern Ireland Protocol bill doesn't scrap the protocol; it underlines the right of the British Government to change parts of the protocol unilaterally if agreement with the EU cannot be found. I think most would agree that is Britain's right as a sovereign country. It is only the bill that has actually brought the EU to the negotiating table, so taking it off the table looks foolish unless the deal is acceptable to all parties in the long term.
To restore power-sharing you would need a deal that is acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein. If you think that involves the Protocol Bill then you are deluded.
Root really needs to be stranded on Not Out more often. After playing so many games it's really the only way to meaningfully boost his average to above 50 after a bit of a slow patch.
Boris Johnson has been visiting Stoke-on-Trent today.
(Incase you missed it! Hah!)
It is incredibly depressing that Johnson still shows his face, fined as a PM and lied to the HoC. The Tory Party is in dire straights
Boris is the only Conservative leader since 1945 to win every seat in Stoke on Trent. Of course local Tories want him there!
Winning stoke on trent is like boasting I just purchased 100 acres of prime swamp
You can be snobbish about it but any election winning Conservative coalition is again knowing to need the Stokes of this world as much as the Kensington and Surreys.
Expecially given some middle class graduate heavy Tory leaning seats like Canterbury, Chester and Warwick and Leamington are now solid Labour
No politician of any party lives like most people, they don't understand them
Even Rupert Murdoch's Sky can't find anything good to say about this wheeze.
OK for Mr Cameron to get HMtQ involved in Indyref 1, but not for Mr S to get her son involved in this? Seems a bit unfair.
I am not trying to justify HMQ's subtle interventions either in the Indyref or in Brexit constitutionally (though I support her wisdom on both occasions), but I also think it's clear that this is a political intervention of a totally different order. Charles was stupid to have entertained it (seemingly a bit of a theme) and No. 10 utterly stupid to have come up with it. It's real thicko stuff - "these DUP types like Britishy things, let's get the King involved to give it the Royal seal of approval".
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
The deal should make things easier in many respects, but it also could make things harder in some, because of the grace periods.
For example, the protocol says a customs sticker is required to sent a personal parcel from GB to NI - but because of the grace periods, it has never been necessary. Have the EU agreed to make small parcels a free for all? It would be a big concession if they have - hard to distinguish between a personal and business parcel.
Even Rupert Murdoch's Sky can't find anything good to say about this wheeze.
OK for Mr Cameron to get HMtQ involved in Indyref 1, but not for Mr S to get her son involved in this? Seems a bit unfair.
I am not trying to justify HMQ's subtle interventions either in the Indyref or in Brexit constitutionally (though I support her wisdom on both occasions), but I also think it's clear that this is a political intervention of a totally different order. Charles was stupid to have entertained it (seemingly a bit of a theme) and No. 10 utterly stupid to have come up with it. It's real thicko stuff - "these DUP types like Britishy things, let's get the King involved to give it the Royal seal of approval".
The HMtQ story was so subtle it was plastered all over the tabloids like the mammaries on the Sidebar of Shame. Wouldn't have worked otherwise!
Which however I suppose supports your thesis ... though I can't help thinking that if Mr Sunak can sort this out he won't need his private Budgie the Helicopter or a Boris Bridge to walk over to Stormont. As others have observed today on PB.
I find I am retreating from the world as it is into the world I would like. My musical journey continues. Rachmaninov and Chopin were I thought the height of piano music. But there is a bastard child - Nicolai Medtner. Just listen to his Piano Concerto No. 1 or his Sonata Tragica. Fun facts; he fell in love with his brother's wife and when in prisoner of war camp his brother gave him permission to marry her. They are both buried in Hendon cemetery.
Thankyou. Added to my listening list next to the Bortkievicz. 🫡
Surely the pinnacle of Piano Concerto’s is Beethoven’s fifth?
I was just youtubing some Medtner (indeed interesting) and came across a bit from Yunchan Lim‘s winning Liszt performance in the Van Kilburn. Astonishing pianist - check him out if you’ve not already done so.
You have to wonder why the EU were so strict on the protocol in the first place. Did they always expect have to conceed what they are reported to have done, and just managed a hard line at first because they had us over a barrel, or have they been surprised at how badly it's worked and have had to conceed?
You have to wonder why the EU were so strict on the protocol in the first place. Did they always expect have to conceed what they are reported to have done, and just managed a hard line at first because they had us over a barrel, or have they been surprised at how badly it's worked and have had to conceed?
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
You have to wonder why the EU were so strict on the protocol in the first place. Did they always expect have to conceed what they are reported to have done, and just managed a hard line at first because they had us over a barrel, or have they been surprised at how badly it's worked and have had to conceed?
I think the idea that the UK were a bunch of irrational numpties and the EU a bunch of calm and collection rationalists over the negotiations, as some would have it, was a bit of a stretch. I think we appear to have been the more unreasonable, due to our paralysed politics in part, but I suspect, and it is merely a suspicion, that the EU got carried away in all the bitterness and went for something harder than necessary that hasn't worked.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's possible to understand cross-community consent and still remember that the DUP campaigned against the GFA.
You have to wonder why the EU were so strict on the protocol in the first place. Did they always expect have to conceed what they are reported to have done, and just managed a hard line at first because they had us over a barrel, or have they been surprised at how badly it's worked and have had to conceed?
In part there was a hope by some on both sides that by turning it into an intractable 'trilemma' and being intransigent about anything too creative, it would lead to the UK reconsidering Brexit.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
I understand the GFA and that the DUP can be as stubborn as they like, but ultimately someone has to act on behalf of the majority and you can be certain if Sunak doesn't do it then it will be the first thing Starmer does
You have to wonder why the EU were so strict on the protocol in the first place. Did they always expect have to conceed what they are reported to have done, and just managed a hard line at first because they had us over a barrel, or have they been surprised at how badly it's worked and have had to conceed?
In part there was a hope by some on both sides that by turning it into an intractable 'trilemma' and being intransigent about anything too creative, it would lead to the UK reconsidering Brexit.
May's deal kept us temporarily in the CU until NI was resolved, if I remember correctly? I can imagine that just ending up as the permanent status as politics moved on. Then we are out of the SM but with no ability to sign wide-ranging FTAs.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
I understand the GFA and that the DUP can be as stubborn as they like, but ultimately someone has to act on behalf of the majority and you can be certain if Sunak doesn't do it then it will be the first thing Starmer does
Not if he wants to restore power sharing and honour the GFA he won't.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
I understand the GFA and that the DUP can be as stubborn as they like, but ultimately someone has to act on behalf of the majority and you can be certain if Sunak doesn't do it then it will be the first thing Starmer does
Not if he wants to restore power sharing and honour the GFA he won't.
There comes a time when the DUP have to be challenged no matter the consequences
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's possible to understand cross-community consent and still remember that the DUP campaigned against the GFA.
Indeed, and that's probably why they then became the Unionist party of choice. A fact that won't be lost on them when they're considering making concessions - if indeed any are needed.
I have already speculated that Sunak's deal might be better than billed due to expectations management. Let's hope that's the case, though the ham-fisted attempt to co-opt the Monarch does make me wonder.
A lovely piece on Carter by veteran journalist James Fallows, who was back then a speechwriter for him, both on the campaign trail, and for a time in the administration.
You have to wonder why the EU were so strict on the protocol in the first place. Did they always expect have to conceed what they are reported to have done, and just managed a hard line at first because they had us over a barrel, or have they been surprised at how badly it's worked and have had to conceed?
I think the idea that the UK were a bunch of irrational numpties and the EU a bunch of calm and collection rationalists over the negotiations, as some would have it, was a bit of a stretch. I think we appear to have been the more unreasonable, due to our paralysed politics in part, but I suspect, and it is merely a suspicion, that the EU got carried away in all the bitterness and went for something harder than necessary that hasn't worked.
They went hard because they could - we had no leg to stand on. When the Protocol bill came in, they returned to the negotiating table quick smart, because then the initiative returned to the UK side.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's possible to understand cross-community consent and still remember that the DUP campaigned against the GFA.
Indeed, and that's probably why they then became the Unionist party of choice. A fact that won't be lost on them when they're considering making concessions - if indeed any are needed.
I have already speculated that Sunak's deal might be better than billed due to expectations management. Let's hope that's the case, though the ham-fisted attempt to co-opt the Monarch does make me wonder.
Agree that the Charles manoeuvre looks very clumsy and immature.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's possible to understand cross-community consent and still remember that the DUP campaigned against the GFA.
Indeed, and that's probably why they then became the Unionist party of choice. A fact that won't be lost on them when they're considering making concessions - if indeed any are needed.
I have already speculated that Sunak's deal might be better than billed due to expectations management. Let's hope that's the case, though the ham-fisted attempt to co-opt the Monarch does make me wonder.
Hamfisted indeed
(The EU insisted, as we remember, on having an ambassador to the UK. I wonder at what stage of future integration they consider themselves state-like enough to start state visits? Von der leyen and Chaz in the open topped carriage down the mall?)
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
I see two, maybe three, MPs have effectively been deselected by the Tories for the crime of being anti-Boris.
Doesn’t bode well for ‘29.
Has anyone seen a long read on the state of the Labour party after a big win in '24? Did the Corbyn deselections damage the party? Which parts of the party are the likely new winning candidates from? I would be interested to read one.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
I understand the GFA and that the DUP can be as stubborn as they like, but ultimately someone has to act on behalf of the majority and you can be certain if Sunak doesn't do it then it will be the first thing Starmer does
Not if he wants to restore power sharing and honour the GFA he won't.
There comes a time when the DUP have to be challenged no matter the consequences
Right, so you're prepared to trash the Good Friday Agreement just so the dismal decline manager can get some good press.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
I understand the GFA and that the DUP can be as stubborn as they like, but ultimately someone has to act on behalf of the majority and you can be certain if Sunak doesn't do it then it will be the first thing Starmer does
Not if he wants to restore power sharing and honour the GFA he won't.
There comes a time when the DUP have to be challenged no matter the consequences
Right, so you're prepared to trash the Good Friday Agreement just so the dismal decline manager can get some good press.
How does it trash the GFA?
Brexit itself has presented the biggest risk to the GFA.
I see two, maybe three, MPs have effectively been deselected by the Tories for the crime of being anti-Boris.
Doesn’t bode well for ‘29.
Has anyone seen a long read on the state of the Labour party after a big win in '24? Did the Corbyn deselections damage the party? Which parts of the party are the likely new winning candidates from? I would be interested to read one.
Almost all from the centre left, i.e. Keir supporters. I think like two lefties have won selection.
For example Chris Curtis is standing, the pollster from Opinium. A smart bloke.
You have to wonder why the EU were so strict on the protocol in the first place. Did they always expect have to conceed what they are reported to have done, and just managed a hard line at first because they had us over a barrel, or have they been surprised at how badly it's worked and have had to conceed?
I think the idea that the UK were a bunch of irrational numpties and the EU a bunch of calm and collection rationalists over the negotiations, as some would have it, was a bit of a stretch. I think we appear to have been the more unreasonable, due to our paralysed politics in part, but I suspect, and it is merely a suspicion, that the EU got carried away in all the bitterness and went for something harder than necessary that hasn't worked.
They went hard because they could - we had no leg to stand on. When the Protocol bill came in, they returned to the negotiating table quick smart, because then the initiative returned to the UK side.
Negotiations only started once the ministers appointed by Truss indicated that Britain was willing to compromise, rather than simply demanding to get everything it wanted, as had been the case under Johnson.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
I understand the GFA and that the DUP can be as stubborn as they like, but ultimately someone has to act on behalf of the majority and you can be certain if Sunak doesn't do it then it will be the first thing Starmer does
Not if he wants to restore power sharing and honour the GFA he won't.
There comes a time when the DUP have to be challenged no matter the consequences
Right, so you're prepared to trash the Good Friday Agreement just so the dismal decline manager can get some good press.
How does it trash the GFA?
'Challenging the DUP no matter the consequences' doesn't trash the GFA?
Perhaps we should just 'Challenge Sinn Fein no matter the consequences' and build a wall around the thing?
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Not an NI expert, but as far as I know, both sentences in this paragraph are false.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
Tony Blair
He's not even 70, plenty of time for a return to the frontline.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
Tony Blair
He's not even 70, plenty of time for a return to the frontline.
I believe he will make a return under Keir. I have it on good authority he will be a key advisor, if not headed for the Lords.
I see two, maybe three, MPs have effectively been deselected by the Tories for the crime of being anti-Boris.
Doesn’t bode well for ‘29.
Has anyone seen a long read on the state of the Labour party after a big win in '24? Did the Corbyn deselections damage the party? Which parts of the party are the likely new winning candidates from? I would be interested to read one.
No, and it would be interesting to see one. However my primitive understanding is that the newer candidates are centrists.
There weren’t actually many Corbyn deselections were there? Some moderates self-defenstrated and a number are creeping back to what now looks like a winning project.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's possible to understand cross-community consent and still remember that the DUP campaigned against the GFA.
Indeed, and that's probably why they then became the Unionist party of choice. A fact that won't be lost on them when they're considering making concessions - if indeed any are needed.
I have already speculated that Sunak's deal might be better than billed due to expectations management. Let's hope that's the case, though the ham-fisted attempt to co-opt the Monarch does make me wonder.
Agree that the Charles manoeuvre looks very clumsy and immature.
Whatever he's good at, Sunak isn't good at the "getting his way" bit of politics.
Unfortunately, it chimes with the "doing work experience at No 10 before returning to finish his A Levels" vibe Rishi has. He's waiting for someone to put a hold star on his work as has happened before in his life. It doesn't work like that in Westminster.
Labour is on course for a Tony Blair-style landslide victory at the next general election as a new poll for i shows the party is preferred to the Conservatives on practically every policy area.
The BMG survey suggests that if an election were held now, Labour would hold a 17-point lead over the Tories – a margin which would produce a similar result to the 1997 general election.
Around 46 per cent of the public would vote for Sir Keir Starmer’s party with 29 per cent backing the Conservatives, 9 per cent voting for the Liberal Democrats, 6 per cent supporting Reform UK and 4 per cent preferring the Greens.
The results suggest that Rishi Sunak is currently failing to close the gap with Labour, with the Opposition’s lead remaining remarkably stable since the current Prime Minister took over and prompted a small polling bump compared to the depths of the Liz Truss era.
Sir Keir has a net approval rating of +3, with 31 per cent saying he is doing a good job and 28 per cent disagreeing, compared to -20 for Mr Sunak.
Voters believe that Labour would do a better job than the current Government on all policy areas apart from the handling of the Ukraine war – with the Opposition preferred even on traditional Tory priorities such as defence, immigration and crime.
BMG’s Adam King said: “Labour continue to sit pretty with their commanding 17-point lead over the Conservatives. Personally, Keir Starmer continues to tread water with a net satisfaction rating of +3 – though this doesn’t look too bad when compared with the state of things on the other side of the aisle.
“There are few crumbs of comfort for the Conservatives: The aforementioned 17-point gap to Labour, a -20 net satisfaction rating for Rishi Sunak, trailing to Labour on issues like crime, the economy, and immigration (seven points behind on all three) where they are traditionally strong. One area where they are outperforming Labour (just) is on their approach to the war in Ukraine – that’s the crumb.”
Asked what the issue they care most about is, 50 per cent of survey respondents chose the cost of living with 10 per cent naming the state of the NHS. Only 2 per cent said that the question of Brexit and relations with the EU was their top political priority, despite the efforts that Mr Sunak is putting in to trying to rewrite the Northern Ireland Protocol without rousing the ire of committed Brexiteers in his own party.
I see two, maybe three, MPs have effectively been deselected by the Tories for the crime of being anti-Boris.
Doesn’t bode well for ‘29.
Has anyone seen a long read on the state of the Labour party after a big win in '24? Did the Corbyn deselections damage the party? Which parts of the party are the likely new winning candidates from? I would be interested to read one.
Almost all from the centre left, i.e. Keir supporters. I think like two lefties have won selection.
For example Chris Curtis is standing, the pollster from Opinium. A smart bloke.
Excellent. I have a decent chunk on Biden to win the next election at 3/1 with Ladbrokes. Planning to close it out once he comfirms he is running or is nominated, if they will give me a price I like.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
The UK has never had an issue with NI being integrated into the EU single market - it is the EU that has the issue with NI being integrated into the UK single market. There are various legal and technical mechanisms by which the province can be part of both, and smuggling can be minimised, none of which involve physical border infrastructure. This would satisfy both parties.
"Female prison reform boss is jailed for 'worst case of coercive behaviour' judge had ever seen: Senior manager subjected husband to 15 years of daily wine-fuelled beatings, verbal humiliation and even made him clean up her faeces"
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
I understand the GFA and that the DUP can be as stubborn as they like, but ultimately someone has to act on behalf of the majority and you can be certain if Sunak doesn't do it then it will be the first thing Starmer does
Not if he wants to restore power sharing and honour the GFA he won't.
There comes a time when the DUP have to be challenged no matter the consequences
Right, so you're prepared to trash the Good Friday Agreement just so the dismal decline manager can get some good press.
Of course not, but in that statement you confirm your complete dislike for Sunak who may just be on the cusp of doing something the idiotic Johnson not only failed to do but to correct
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
Tony Blair
He's not even 70, plenty of time for a return to the frontline.
I believe he will make a return under Keir. I have it on good authority he will be a key advisor, if not headed for the Lords.
Tony Blair would make a superb Foreign Secretary. Single-handedly this would make a big difference to the UK’s currently dismal reputation.
David Lammy might feel aggrieved, but not if he was given something like Home Secretary where I actually think he could be good.
You have to wonder why the EU were so strict on the protocol in the first place. Did they always expect have to conceed what they are reported to have done, and just managed a hard line at first because they had us over a barrel, or have they been surprised at how badly it's worked and have had to conceed?
I think the idea that the UK were a bunch of irrational numpties and the EU a bunch of calm and collection rationalists over the negotiations, as some would have it, was a bit of a stretch. I think we appear to have been the more unreasonable, due to our paralysed politics in part, but I suspect, and it is merely a suspicion, that the EU got carried away in all the bitterness and went for something harder than necessary that hasn't worked.
They went hard because they could - we had no leg to stand on. When the Protocol bill came in, they returned to the negotiating table quick smart, because then the initiative returned to the UK side.
Negotiations only started once the ministers appointed by Truss indicated that Britain was willing to compromise, rather than simply demanding to get everything it wanted, as had been the case under Johnson.
"Female prison reform boss is jailed for 'worst case of coercive behaviour' judge had ever seen: Senior manager subjected husband to 15 years of daily wine-fuelled beatings, verbal humiliation and even made him clean up her faeces"
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
I understand the GFA and that the DUP can be as stubborn as they like, but ultimately someone has to act on behalf of the majority and you can be certain if Sunak doesn't do it then it will be the first thing Starmer does
Not if he wants to restore power sharing and honour the GFA he won't.
There comes a time when the DUP have to be challenged no matter the consequences
Right, so you're prepared to trash the Good Friday Agreement just so the dismal decline manager can get some good press.
Of course not, but in that statement you confirm your complete dislike for Sunak who may just be on the cusp of doing something the idiotic Johnson not only failed to do but to correct
As I have said before, if the deal is good, I'll be the first to praise Sunak. I did so on his decision to challenge the GRR.
Northern Ireland politics desperately needs a redefinition of “cross community consent”. In the last assembly elections the DUP mustered just over 21% of votes, and Sinn Fein 27%. Both below even the current Tory polling in GB.
Meanwhile the UUP, SDLP and Alliance between them got 33.6%. But it’s the two extremist parties that get to be the designated voices of the two communities. What about those APNI or SDLP voters? They just have to shut up and take it.
With each election the APNI vote grows. I hope to see the day when a non sectarian party gets the biggest vote share.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
Tony Blair
He's not even 70, plenty of time for a return to the frontline.
I believe he will make a return under Keir. I have it on good authority he will be a key advisor, if not headed for the Lords.
Tony Blair would make a superb Foreign Secretary. Single-handedly this would make a big difference to the UK’s currently dismal reputation.
David Lammy might feel aggrieved, but not if he was given something like Home Secretary where I actually think he could be good.
Yes, the architect of the Iraq War who has spent his retirement coddling up to dictators for consultant cash. Great reputation.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
Tony Blair
He's not even 70, plenty of time for a return to the frontline.
I believe he will make a return under Keir. I have it on good authority he will be a key advisor, if not headed for the Lords.
Tony Blair would make a superb Foreign Secretary. Single-handedly this would make a big difference to the UK’s currently dismal reputation.
David Lammy might feel aggrieved, but not if he was given something like Home Secretary where I actually think he could be good.
The DUP wouldn’t touch a thing offered by Blair.
For years, the NI agreement was treated by the governments as “Give SF what they want. Convince the Unionist politicians that they’ll get something for going along with it, then give them nothing. After all they don’t have any Men of Violence (TM) in their tent.”
Now the DUP have figured out the game. Do you think the threats to the EU customs officials were accidents?
So people should stop whining. You trained the leopards to eat faces. Now you’ve got face eating leopards.
You have to wonder why the EU were so strict on the protocol in the first place. Did they always expect have to conceed what they are reported to have done, and just managed a hard line at first because they had us over a barrel, or have they been surprised at how badly it's worked and have had to conceed?
In part there was a hope by some on both sides that by turning it into an intractable 'trilemma' and being intransigent about anything too creative, it would lead to the UK reconsidering Brexit.
I think it's more like a wrathful spouse during divorce proceedings. And then, after a while, the bitterness fades and rationality returns.
And, of course, we were far from perfect during negotiations either.
"Female prison reform boss is jailed for 'worst case of coercive behaviour' judge had ever seen: Senior manager subjected husband to 15 years of daily wine-fuelled beatings, verbal humiliation and even made him clean up her faeces"
It is good to see some acknowledgement that men can be victims as well as perpetrators of domestic violence.
But I think the law against 'controlling and coercive behaviour' is bad law. It tries to regulate human relationships in a manner that previous generations would have found unthinkable. There are good reasons why this was the case.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
Tony Blair
He's not even 70, plenty of time for a return to the frontline.
I believe he will make a return under Keir. I have it on good authority he will be a key advisor, if not headed for the Lords.
Tony Blair would make a superb Foreign Secretary. Single-handedly this would make a big difference to the UK’s currently dismal reputation.
David Lammy might feel aggrieved, but not if he was given something like Home Secretary where I actually think he could be good.
The DUP wouldn’t touch a thing offered by Blair.
For years, the NI agreement was treated by the governments as “Give SF what they want. Convince the Unionist politicians that they’ll get something for going along with it, then give them nothing. After all they don’t have any Men of Violence (TM) in their tent.”
Now the DUP have figured out the game. Do you think the threats to the EU customs officials were accidents?
So people should stop whining. You trained the leopards to eat faces. Now you’ve got face eating leopards.
Only 21% of the NI voters supported the DUP at the Assembly Election last year.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Not an NI expert, but as far as I know, both sentences in this paragraph are false.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
Tony Blair
He's not even 70, plenty of time for a return to the frontline.
I believe he will make a return under Keir. I have it on good authority he will be a key advisor, if not headed for the Lords.
Tony Blair would make a superb Foreign Secretary. Single-handedly this would make a big difference to the UK’s currently dismal reputation.
David Lammy might feel aggrieved, but not if he was given something like Home Secretary where I actually think he could be good.
The DUP wouldn’t touch a thing offered by Blair.
For years, the NI agreement was treated by the governments as “Give SF what they want. Convince the Unionist politicians that they’ll get something for going along with it, then give them nothing. After all they don’t have any Men of Violence (TM) in their tent.”
Now the DUP have figured out the game. Do you think the threats to the EU customs officials were accidents?
So people should stop whining. You trained the leopards to eat faces. Now you’ve got face eating leopards.
Only 21% of the NI voters supported the DUP at the Assembly Election last year.
Face-eating leopards have little interest in vote shares.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
Tony Blair
He's not even 70, plenty of time for a return to the frontline.
I believe he will make a return under Keir. I have it on good authority he will be a key advisor, if not headed for the Lords.
Tony Blair would make a superb Foreign Secretary. Single-handedly this would make a big difference to the UK’s currently dismal reputation.
David Lammy might feel aggrieved, but not if he was given something like Home Secretary where I actually think he could be good.
The DUP wouldn’t touch a thing offered by Blair.
For years, the NI agreement was treated by the governments as “Give SF what they want. Convince the Unionist politicians that they’ll get something for going along with it, then give them nothing. After all they don’t have any Men of Violence (TM) in their tent.”
Now the DUP have figured out the game. Do you think the threats to the EU customs officials were accidents?
So people should stop whining. You trained the leopards to eat faces. Now you’ve got face eating leopards.
Only 21% of the NI voters supported the DUP at the Assembly Election last year.
29% supported DUP and TUV however, 40% DUP, TUV and UUP
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Not an NI expert, but as far as I know, both sentences in this paragraph are false.
NI vote in 2016:
Remain 56% Leave 44%
Part 2 in our ongoing series “Whatever happened to the Cossacks?”
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
It's not about concessions to the EU. Effectively it's about a compromise with Sinn Fein - as the largest party for the Nationalist community.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
Tony Blair
He's not even 70, plenty of time for a return to the frontline.
I believe he will make a return under Keir. I have it on good authority he will be a key advisor, if not headed for the Lords.
Tony Blair would make a superb Foreign Secretary. Single-handedly this would make a big difference to the UK’s currently dismal reputation.
David Lammy might feel aggrieved, but not if he was given something like Home Secretary where I actually think he could be good.
The DUP wouldn’t touch a thing offered by Blair.
For years, the NI agreement was treated by the governments as “Give SF what they want. Convince the Unionist politicians that they’ll get something for going along with it, then give them nothing. After all they don’t have any Men of Violence (TM) in their tent.”
Now the DUP have figured out the game. Do you think the threats to the EU customs officials were accidents?
So people should stop whining. You trained the leopards to eat faces. Now you’ve got face eating leopards.
Only 21% of the NI voters supported the DUP at the Assembly Election last year.
29% supported DUP and TUV however, 40% DUP, TUV and UUP
Is the UUP anti protocol? And will it still be if Sunak brings back a new deal? If you get to a situation where NI voters support the protocol 2:1 then it becomes quite hard for the ERG to say no no no.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Not an NI expert, but as far as I know, both sentences in this paragraph are false.
NI vote in 2016:
Remain 56% Leave 44%
Part 2 in our ongoing series “Whatever happened to the Cossacks?”
The Cossack people have had their identity suppressed by Moscow imperialism. In many ways, the heritage in the Don, Kuban and Terek regions is more in common with the free spirit of Ukraine than the imperial autocracy of Moscow.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Not an NI expert, but as far as I know, both sentences in this paragraph are false.
If the reporting earlier this week was accurate, Rishi’s deal frees up Britain to apply its own VAT, subsidy and other rules, it’s a major triumph for the Prime Minister.
We have to hope he is successful.
It is time for Sunak to do the deal and take on the ERG and DUP no matter the consequences
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
All you're showing off here is your complete lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement. Matters proceed in Northern Ireland on the basis of the assent of all the communities, and the Unionist community is represented by the DUP. So they can't really be 'taken on' by Sunak like some Kinnock reboot; that's not how it works. All that can happen, as someone else suggested, is that the Unionist community chooses someone else to represent them, someone more amenable to the UK Government giving concessions to the EU - that's highly unlikely to say the least.
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Not an NI expert, but as far as I know, both sentences in this paragraph are false.
NI vote in 2016:
Remain 56% Leave 44%
Part 2 in our ongoing series “Whatever happened to the Cossacks?”
The Cossack people have had their identity suppressed by Moscow imperialism. In many ways, the heritage in the Don, Kuban and Terek regions is more in common with the free spirit of Ukraine than the imperial autocracy of Moscow.
I see two, maybe three, MPs have effectively been deselected by the Tories for the crime of being anti-Boris.
Doesn’t bode well for ‘29.
Has anyone seen a long read on the state of the Labour party after a big win in '24? Did the Corbyn deselections damage the party? Which parts of the party are the likely new winning candidates from? I would be interested to read one.
No, and it would be interesting to see one. However my primitive understanding is that the newer candidates are centrists.
There weren’t actually many Corbyn deselections were there? Some moderates self-defenstrated and a number are creeping back to what now looks like a winning project.
A friend was at an event recently at a large community centre in East Leicester. Keith Vaz was the star that everyone wanted to talk to, and have selfies with. He was really working the room.
With Webbe as MP, but person non-grata, I wonder if the big man is planning a comeback even less plausible than Blair or Johnson, or is he just wanting to have a protégé installed?
F1: not been paying close attention but McLaren mood music is already sounding gloomy. After an early red flag, Aston Martin might be alright after all. And some reckon Alfa Romeo has improved (likewise Williams). Alpine seeming iffier.
Interesting hypothesis on why the SNP leadership candidates have got off to a less than glorious start….
For most of my life, the SNP has been run by the same, small group of people. Salmond, Sturgeon and a handful of supporting cast members spent their lives working to shift the dominant frame of Scottish politics from Labour socialism to SNP nationalism. As much as I would criticise their divisive politics, their single-minded determination and relentless effort paid off with 15 years of SNP hegemony.
But it wasn’t easy for them.
Salmond went from being expelled from the SNP to becoming its leader. He was a failure leading his first election, winning just three MPs. Back when he was a gradualist, he had to fight the fundamentalists to get them to drop their opposition to devolution. In that first Holyrood election, he badly misjudged the public mood around Labour’s support for NATO action to stop ethnic cleansing by Milosevic. Eventually, he resigned after party figures started to move against him, including Iain Blackford.
Sturgeon failed to get elected in the 1987 General Election, again in the 1992 district elections, again in the regional elections in 1994, and again in the elections for Glasgow City Council in 1995. Then she lost in Govan in 1997 and 1999 and 2003. She launched a leadership campaign in 2004 only to pull out three weeks later after Salmond judged she was going to lose to Roseanna Cunningham. She ran and lost the 2014 referendum and then, when her time finally came to lead, she ended up in a bitter fight to the political death with her former friend and mentor.
When their success finally came, it was built on the experience of painful failures.
Before our friends in the north attack the writer rather than the substance, which is occasionally their wont, I’ll point out he’s no friend of the SNP.
Comments
What's Stokes's average since becoming captain?
37.21 compared to 35.76 in the ranks...
I think it feels worse because since the team has had such success it feels like he should have improved his personal scores meaningfully as well.
Expecially given some middle class graduate heavy Tory leaning seats like Canterbury, Chester and Warwick and Leamington are now solid Labour
https://conservativehome.com/2023/02/24/how-number-ten-and-the-palace-planned-to-drag-in-king-into-the-politics-of-northern-ireland/
Even Rupert Murdoch's Sky can't find anything good to say about this wheeze.
Let’s go over live to Stoke and prove you wrong
But it does still read like searcingh for a defence for a pre-arranged rejection. "...and btw in addition to it being crap look at 'im dragging His Majesty King Sausage Fingers into it, it's a disgrace".
We have to hope he is successful.
As for The Deal itself, let's see what emerges; what each side in the negotiation has won, what each side has given up.
Not that it really matters; all sorts of people will exploit whatever emerges for their own ambitions.
The majority of the people of Northern Ireland want this deal as does the UK and EU
For example, the protocol says a customs sticker is required to sent a personal parcel from GB to NI - but because of the grace periods, it has never been necessary. Have the EU agreed to make small parcels a free for all? It would be a big concession if they have - hard to distinguish between a personal and business parcel.
Which however I suppose supports your thesis ... though I can't help thinking that if Mr Sunak can sort this out he won't need his private Budgie the Helicopter or a Boris Bridge to walk over to Stormont. As others have observed today on PB.
I have already speculated that Sunak's deal might be better than billed due to expectations management. Let's hope that's the case, though the ham-fisted attempt to co-opt the Monarch does make me wonder.
https://fallows.substack.com/p/jimmy-carter-unlucky-president-lucky
Doesn’t bode well for ‘29.
(The EU insisted, as we remember, on having an ambassador to the UK. I wonder at what stage of future integration they consider themselves state-like enough to start state visits? Von der leyen and Chaz in the open topped carriage down the mall?)
Remember that we've already breached the Good Friday Agreement, because Northern Ireland was taken out of the EU without its consent. That's why the NI protocol was negotiated to keep NI in the single market.
Clearly, as a compromise, that deal does not satisfy the DUP, but simply pulling NI out of the single market as the DUP want is not going to be a compromise that will satisfy Sinn Fein.
As I've argued before, democracy is ultimately a way of resolving disputes peacefully, and involves a necessary degree of compromise, and an acceptance that people who disagree with you have to get their way to an extent for the system to function.
So who is going to find a compromise acceptable to both the DUP and Sinn Fein?
Brexit itself has presented the biggest risk to the GFA.
For example Chris Curtis is standing, the pollster from Opinium. A smart bloke.
Danny Alexander is back in Scotland etc
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/24/first-lady-signals-joe-biden-president-second-term
Perhaps we should just 'Challenge Sinn Fein no matter the consequences' and build a wall around the thing?
However my primitive understanding is that the newer candidates are centrists.
There weren’t actually many Corbyn deselections were there? Some moderates self-defenstrated and a number are creeping back to what now looks like a winning project.
Unfortunately, it chimes with the "doing work experience at No 10 before returning to finish his A Levels" vibe Rishi has. He's waiting for someone to put a hold star on his work as has happened before in his life. It doesn't work like that in Westminster.
Labour is on course for a Tony Blair-style landslide victory at the next general election as a new poll for i shows the party is preferred to the Conservatives on practically every policy area.
The BMG survey suggests that if an election were held now, Labour would hold a 17-point lead over the Tories – a margin which would produce a similar result to the 1997 general election.
Around 46 per cent of the public would vote for Sir Keir Starmer’s party with 29 per cent backing the Conservatives, 9 per cent voting for the Liberal Democrats, 6 per cent supporting Reform UK and 4 per cent preferring the Greens.
The results suggest that Rishi Sunak is currently failing to close the gap with Labour, with the Opposition’s lead remaining remarkably stable since the current Prime Minister took over and prompted a small polling bump compared to the depths of the Liz Truss era.
Sir Keir has a net approval rating of +3, with 31 per cent saying he is doing a good job and 28 per cent disagreeing, compared to -20 for Mr Sunak.
Voters believe that Labour would do a better job than the current Government on all policy areas apart from the handling of the Ukraine war – with the Opposition preferred even on traditional Tory priorities such as defence, immigration and crime.
BMG’s Adam King said: “Labour continue to sit pretty with their commanding 17-point lead over the Conservatives. Personally, Keir Starmer continues to tread water with a net satisfaction rating of +3 – though this doesn’t look too bad when compared with the state of things on the other side of the aisle.
“There are few crumbs of comfort for the Conservatives: The aforementioned 17-point gap to Labour, a -20 net satisfaction rating for Rishi Sunak, trailing to Labour on issues like crime, the economy, and immigration (seven points behind on all three) where they are traditionally strong. One area where they are outperforming Labour (just) is on their approach to the war in Ukraine – that’s the crumb.”
Asked what the issue they care most about is, 50 per cent of survey respondents chose the cost of living with 10 per cent naming the state of the NHS. Only 2 per cent said that the question of Brexit and relations with the EU was their top political priority, despite the efforts that Mr Sunak is putting in to trying to rewrite the Northern Ireland Protocol without rousing the ire of committed Brexiteers in his own party.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11790319/Prison-reform-boss-subjected-husband-15-years-abuse-jailed-four-years.html
David Lammy might feel aggrieved, but not if he was given something like Home Secretary where I actually think he could be good.
Time for bed.
Nite all.
Meanwhile the UUP, SDLP and Alliance between them got 33.6%. But it’s the two extremist parties that get to be the designated voices of the two communities. What about those APNI or SDLP voters? They just have to shut up and take it.
With each election the APNI vote grows. I hope to see the day when a non sectarian party gets the biggest vote share.
https://www.timeout.com/london/music/why-is-everyone-in-london-obsessed-with-steely-dan-right-now?
Time for bed for me, too.
For years, the NI agreement was treated by the governments as “Give SF what they want. Convince the Unionist politicians that they’ll get something for going along with it, then give them nothing. After all they don’t have any Men of Violence (TM) in their tent.”
Now the DUP have figured out the game. Do you think the threats to the EU customs officials were accidents?
So people should stop whining. You trained the leopards to eat faces. Now you’ve got face eating leopards.
And, of course, we were far from perfect during negotiations either.
But I think the law against 'controlling and coercive behaviour' is bad law. It tries to regulate human relationships in a manner that previous generations would have found unthinkable. There are good reasons why this was the case.
At this rate I won't even care if the Aussies batter us in the Ashes, the goodwill has been built up.
Remain 56%
Leave 44%
A “realist” thinks we should just give Russia whatever it demands.
The other was on ours till he returned to the Muppet show to play Beaker.
Being in the coalition government was a bit of busman’s holiday.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-Cossackization
De-Cossackization. Easy for you to say.
https://ukraineworld.org/articles/ukraine-explained/why-are-cossacks-key-understanding-ukrainian-nation
I am the het man - woooo
They are the het men - wooo
https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/eu-postpones-launch-of-etias-to-2024/
With Webbe as MP, but person non-grata, I wonder if the big man is planning a comeback even less plausible than Blair or Johnson, or is he just wanting to have a protégé installed?
F1: not been paying close attention but McLaren mood music is already sounding gloomy. After an early red flag, Aston Martin might be alright after all. And some reckon Alfa Romeo has improved (likewise Williams). Alpine seeming iffier.
For most of my life, the SNP has been run by the same, small group of people. Salmond, Sturgeon and a handful of supporting cast members spent their lives working to shift the dominant frame of Scottish politics from Labour socialism to SNP nationalism. As much as I would criticise their divisive politics, their single-minded determination and relentless effort paid off with 15 years of SNP hegemony.
But it wasn’t easy for them.
Salmond went from being expelled from the SNP to becoming its leader. He was a failure leading his first election, winning just three MPs. Back when he was a gradualist, he had to fight the fundamentalists to get them to drop their opposition to devolution. In that first Holyrood election, he badly misjudged the public mood around Labour’s support for NATO action to stop ethnic cleansing by Milosevic. Eventually, he resigned after party figures started to move against him, including Iain Blackford.
Sturgeon failed to get elected in the 1987 General Election, again in the 1992 district elections, again in the regional elections in 1994, and again in the elections for Glasgow City Council in 1995. Then she lost in Govan in 1997 and 1999 and 2003. She launched a leadership campaign in 2004 only to pull out three weeks later after Salmond judged she was going to lose to Roseanna Cunningham. She ran and lost the 2014 referendum and then, when her time finally came to lead, she ended up in a bitter fight to the political death with her former friend and mentor.
When their success finally came, it was built on the experience of painful failures.
https://www.notesonnationalism.com/p/winter-is-coming
Before our friends in the north attack the writer rather than the substance, which is occasionally their wont, I’ll point out he’s no friend of the SNP.