'Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position – unique position in the entire world – in having privileged access not just to the UK market… but also the EU single market''Nobody else has that. No one. Only you guys, only here’Rishi Sunak hails his Brexit deal pic.twitter.com/StDkAV57qm
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But I don't think this is over the line yet. If the DUP, split as they seem to be, come out against the Windsor Protocol, a number of Tory MPs have said they won't back it... might that reinvigorate the ERG to make things much, much trickier for Sunak again?
In all seriousness, if we do get a Tory wipeout (I don’t think we will, fwiw), they will become a more significant ideological force in the party, dragging the once-proud party to the fringes, a la Corbyn only worse.
https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1630533511168794627?s=46&t=yfBoQm2j9iooWBjua7Lumg
“Advanced objects demonstrating advanced technology are routinely flying over our restricted or sensitive airspace posing a risk to both flight safety & national security”
And shares link:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/02/28/ufo-uap-navy-intelligence-00084537
“We Have a Real UFO Problem. And It’s Not Balloons.
America’s fixation on the recent objects floating over the country overlooks a much more serious problem with advanced technology aircraft that we can’t explain.”
He only backed Leave to become Tory leader/PM.
Talking about Boris Johnson.
Boris Johnson will not oppose Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal because he can “see which way the wind is blowing”, allies have said.
The former prime minister is yet to say whether he will back the deal. He heavily criticised the plans in the run-up to Sunak’s announcement.
However, allies said that given the relatively muted response from Conservative Eurosceptics — many of whom had been expected to oppose it — Johnson may now hold his counsel.
“Boris will row in behind this deal because there’s no rebellion,” one close ally of Johnson said. “He doesn’t want to be an outlier on this. If he ends up voting with 12 to 15 other people he will look silly. He knows the way the wind is blowing.”
Another ally said they expected Johnson to be absent during votes rather than oppose Sunak’s deal outright.
“If it were to be pushed to a vote I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he has a longstanding prior engagement,” they said. “I suspect he would raise deep concerns that the European Court of Justice is still involved but he wouldn’t vote against the government.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-won-t-oppose-rishi-sunak-s-brexit-deal-nwzvhlqkq
Remainers are desperate to sell this as a bit Remainey/Rejoiney and have landed on this 'single market' line as their best angle to take, despite the fact the deal reduces its application in NI, and extends British sovereignty into it, and introduces a new digital border between Northern and Southern Ireland.
They know this is a big concession by the EU and a victory for Sunak but just can't accept it.Rattled doesn't come close.
A series of sex scandals in the Church of England has led to some victims losing their faith, a review of safeguarding at Lambeth Palace has found.
Justin Welby is praised for seeking “strong theological and moral leadership” but the review stated: “Given the lack of managerial authority of the archbishop’s role, it can seem to reflect ongoing denial by the church about what is needed to create a safe church.”
The review recommends the “clarification of the role of the archbishop as a moral leader”.
Research by the church last year found 383 new cases involving allegations of abuse of vulnerable adults and children by clergy, church officers and volunteers.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lambeth-palace-safeguarding-victims-abuse-justin-welby-2023-vv2wllptb
If that's all there is we can be confident that Sunak really has laid this beast to rest, forever.
But at the same time, it does suggest that there will be greater cooperation between the EU and the UK in future.
I do hope Fabricant is among them and he gets kicked out as a result.
Bangladesh have the match in the bag.
EDIT: I guess Bridgen too.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2023/02/the-cheats-election/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-64807384
If I read the photos aright they were on a single line of track. In which case, presumably it was a signalling error.
https://twitter.com/campbellclaret/status/1630821751683727360?s=20
In any case, as Sunak has demonstrated, we do want a more cooperative relationship with the EU.
Most lying, fantasist, conspiracy theorists are SI unit definitions of truth, compared to Craig Murray.
If the first it would be pretty odd albeit not impossible for individuals with top level clearance to keep banging on about it.
If the second then we have a problem that should be arguably the number one issue for Western governments to address.
And then there’s “other”. Which just about allows room for non govt or periphery of govt actors. But more broadly, is a catch all for “non human”.
https://members.parliament.uk/member/1447/voting?page=1
absent for the last ten months. Wasn't there one of May's deals that he loudly condemned within minutes of it going public?
BoJo's other problem is that too many people know his "find the crowd, place himself at its front" strategy now. Increasingly, he's a magician whose audience can see the card stuffed up his sleeve.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64806903
Further to the resignation of the selection committee, Broxtowe CLP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE has resigned in its entirety from all officer positions.
Statement below 👇
https://twitter.com/broxtowelabour/status/1630635411558023182?s=46
(& pretty well everyone has acknowledged it as a big win for Sunak.)
https://www.gov.wales/the-first-ministers-st-davids-day-message-2023
Especially the part which voted overwhelmingly in favour of the benefits:
Which is a very unusual thing to happen. Failure to reset the points presumably.
With the kind permission of Craig Murray, my article about the disgraceful shenanigans surrounding the SNP's leadership contest has been published on his website. I speak from the heart.
https://twitter.com/gallowayscot/status/1630710945793167360?s=20
It does appear that parts of the SNP establishment are desperate for Humzah to win - while others are trying to ensure a fair election.
To suggest so is just a bit thick.
Way too much speculation, and not enough facts
https://twitter.com/Greg4Broxtowe/status/1628327893276233728?s=20
The one thing I've never been able to understand about Sunak is why he supported Brexit in the first place. Seems so out of character.
https://twitter.com/Samfr/status/1630527376407797760
Lots of interesting replies. I tend to agree with those saying he bought the "Singapore-on-Thames" stuff but it still seems out of character given he seems to approach problems in an analytical/incremental way not Cummings-style big visions.
https://twitter.com/Samfr/status/1630536098328854529
If the FBI really have information which changes that judgment from 'low confidence' to 'moderate confidence', they should publish it.
To be fair, it's sort of worked as it's got me (and others) going but I'd rather not have been wound up first thing this morning thanks.
And 'can't accept it's a victory for Sunak' is plain nonsense.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/28/lockdown-files-matt-hancock-whatsapp-whitty-care-homes-covid/
His real job is to provoke and expose Starmer's secret agenda, because we all know he has one.
The mood music is very important. Not all remainers are alike of course, nor are all
leavers, but I think the deliberate playground antagonism towards the EU of first Farage and then the Johnson/Frost years was a big part of the discomfort many people felt. I certainly felt myself wincing in the same way I used to at our football hooligans.
Simply seeing a friendly and constructive relationship in action goes a long way.
That fair cheers you up! As a bonus it is gorgeous bright sunshine. How’s it going on Bonkers Island?
Beyond NI there is a stack of unresolved issues and problems arising from the Tories’ self-destructive approach to Brexit, and it isn’t unreasonable to see this week’s news as a first step in the right direction.
It’s because they have nothing to talk about after 13 dismal years
It’s most likely the Chinese playing games. Possibly with people based in the US. The Americans are probably doing something very similar in China.
We’ve definitely learned that there isn’t too much in the way of advanced Russian technology. Not that’s deployable anywhere but the Red Square parade ground.
(India didn't have a great time this morning either!)
Whereas Sunak wants to make this work as a technocratic exercise (which some do see as evidence for closet Remainerdom). Under his watch, the project stands or falls on its merits as a way of making the UK stronger, safer and better off, to coin a phrase.
Let's see how it does.
https://twitter.com/tomorrowsmps/status/1630307456470450176?s=20
https://twitter.com/annajoyrickard/status/1630261507660324865?s=20
https://mobile.twitter.com/JamieSMcMahon
Jeremy Hunt is the same - Jeremy Hunt believes Corporation Tax should be 15%; yet he's supporting it rising from 19% to 25%. That's simple, basic selling out to a global agenda driven by the US. They don't even attempt to defend our country; they inflict harm on it at the behest of others.
Red lanes and Green lanes sound great. We set up a massive green lane at Dover because we weren't able to set up customs posts. But the French did. Can we have a Green lane at Calais please?
The important point Hancock makes in response is that after Whitty’s advice a meeting on testing took place which revealed there wasn’t enough capacity to test everyone going into care homes. Which is why later that day Hancock decides only to test hospital patients at this stage
https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1630838823029551107?s=20
Though clearly No10 are sensitive about that, as they were very quick indeed to issue a 'clarification' of Sunak's gushing about NI's remarkable economic prospects.
The reason we found ourselves in the state we were in was due to, having decided to leave, we set a series of red lines which were incompatible with EU frictionless trade rules.
The EU may be a cumbersome leviathan, but they knew what they required because their terms of engagement were set in stone. We just made stuff up as we went along, primarily to appease the ERG, the DUP and to ensure Johnson satisfied his every personal whim.
A Russian guy is at the Polish border:
“Nationality?”
“Russian.”
“Occupation?”
“No, no, just visiting.”
https://youtu.be/yiawHyLKnks
So maybe those of us who said that all of what was being proposed was not only possible but the likely end state were right?
It's not that big of a leap to push the whole UK into a green/red channel customs arrangement with a trusted traders scheme on both sides, the principle has been established.
The deal for NI simply can't be copied over to GB, because it only exists because NI sort of exists in a liminal space between the UK and the EU. How can France exist in a liminal space between the UK and the EU?
Sunak now. Being in the single market is brilliant...
There will be an inquiry into how things were handled during the pandemic, but I’m not sure that posting thousands of selectively-chosen text messages between senior figures helps the situation, nor how ministers and advisors might communicate in a future crisis, knowing that every last detail will end up in Fleet St.
Are we are not now trying to forget about the pandemic, rather than re-live it in detail?
Brezhnev gathers all his cosmonauts into a room, and says 'Boys, we're going to steal a March on the Americans by landing on the sun.'
A brave man pipes up, 'But Comrade Brezhnev, we'll be burned up.'
'Do you think I'm a fool?!' snapped Brezhnev. 'You'll be landing at night.'
A Labour Party spokesperson said: "Thanks to Keir Starmer's leadership, Labour is now a serious, credible government in waiting and our candidates reflect that. Robust due diligence processes have been put in place to make sure everyone selected is of the highest calibre and for that we’ll make no apologies.
“Labour has changed. Keir believes that politics can be a force for good, and that his government can restore the faith in it that 13 years of Tory government has carelessly eroded. The public rightly expect anyone asking to hold office is of the highest standard, and with Labour they can. We're really pleased that outstanding Labour candidates have already been selected in constituencies across Britain, and that work continues."
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/councillor-claims-blocked-standing-mp-8198418
Rejected candidate had previously stood for Labour in 2017 and 2019. In 2017 Anna Soubry’s majority cut to 863 from over 4,000.
Whether he's as big a wrong 'un as they're implying is another question, but there were some very dodgy things going on between care homes and hospital trusts that certainly spread covid. Releasing Covid-positive patients to care homes from hospitals at midnight, for example, when the manager wouldn't be there to refuse to accept them, as one hospital not far from here did.
The barrier is Calais, where the French do the EU side of the checks we demanded in our deal. If we can get the EU to wave through stuff as we're now doing in NI and in Kent, then we're back to the good times.
How do we do that? Maintain our alignment with the standards in our biggest market...
Great! Now do the same for Dover - Calais. The current kluge madness can't continue with one-sided checks. And JRM unilaterally dropping our side is a big show of good faith to the Europeans to encourage them to do the same.
We promise not to import any weevil-infested crap food from America - and they won't do a deal with us anyway. And your standards are our standards almost entirely because we wrote your standards. Etc
“Mum, what do you think? Aren’t you impressed?”
“It’s all very good, Leonid, but what happens if the Reds come back?”