He wants a no deal brexit, and a distraction, he can safely be ignored.
The worrying thing for the UK is that the EU as a whole seems to be warming to the idea that a no-deal Brexit is better than allowing this farce to be renewed for another season.
It's a good thing. It will concentrate minds.
Indeed. The time for can kicking and fudge is over and delays will not help. Indeed, usually delay is just code for remain anyway.
So let's just no deal or remain, no more pissing about. What's stopping them? We can all see what they want, and that the middle option is gone now.
A British SAS hero jumped in to fight a group of Islamist terrorists who launched an attack on a luxury hotel in Kenya, killing 14 people, on Tuesday.
Photos from the scenes yesterday show the off-duty Special Forces personnel with combat gear over a casual jeans and purple shirt storming the building and rescuing civilians.
He wants a no deal brexit, and a distraction, he can safely be ignored.
The worrying thing for the UK is that the EU as a whole seems to be warming to the idea that a no-deal Brexit is better than allowing this farce to be renewed for another season.
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
In meetings all day today so can someone fill me in on the big story - did the ground level letterboxes bill get a second reading?
They are the bane of any deliverers life...
There's a simple answer, stop pushing lies and propaganda through innocent householders' letterboxes, which gets filed straight in the recycling, thus wasting energy and resources.
This is not a party political point – everything goes in the recycling regardless of who it is from. The Tories' doorstep donkeys are no worse – and no better – than any of the other rabble.
Do something worthwhile with your evenings instead.
s'called democracy.
Nope. It's called waste.
Not at all. It is the form that democracy takes in this country.
If crappy leaflets are the answer, you are asking the wrong question.
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
In meetings all day today so can someone fill me in on the big story - did the ground level letterboxes bill get a second reading?
They are the bane of any deliverers life...
There's a simple answer, stop pushing lies and propaganda through innocent householders' letterboxes, which gets filed straight in the recycling, thus wasting energy and resources.
This is not a party political point – everything goes in the recycling regardless of who it is from. The Tories' doorstep donkeys are no worse – and no better – than any of the other rabble.
Do something worthwhile with your evenings instead.
s'called democracy.
Nope. It's called waste.
Not at all. It is the form that democracy takes in this country.
If crappy leaflets are the answer, you are asking the wrong question.
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
In meetings all day today so can someone fill me in on the big story - did the ground level letterboxes bill get a second reading?
They are the bane of any deliverers life...
There's a simple answer, stop pushing lies and propaganda through innocent householders' letterboxes, which gets filed straight in the recycling, thus wasting energy and resources.
This is not a party political point – everything goes in the recycling regardless of who it is from. The Tories' doorstep donkeys are no worse – and no better – than any of the other rabble.
Do something worthwhile with your evenings instead.
s'called democracy.
Nope. It's called waste.
Not at all. It is the form that democracy takes in this country.
If crappy leaflets are the answer, you are asking the wrong question.
I think that much has become abundantly clear these past few years.
A British SAS hero jumped in to fight a group of Islamist terrorists who launched an attack on a luxury hotel in Kenya, killing 14 people, on Tuesday.
Photos from the scenes yesterday show the off-duty Special Forces personnel with combat gear over a casual jeans and purple shirt storming the building and rescuing civilians.
Out and about and for the first time I hear more people talking about Brexit than I have at any time in the past couple of years. The "let's get out now" Party and the "I want this over with because it's boring" Party are both polling strongly and will do well at the next election.
Little condemnation for the Prime Minister but little sympathy for her either. Whether she is seen as part of the problem I don't know but what she isn't seen as is part of the solution.
What are we left with after yesterday? In my case, a lighter wallet after a poor afternoon's punting down East Surrey way. Elsewhere:
1) No Deal 2) Revocation of A50 3) Some form of re-negotiation via an extension to A50.
I did wonder if it was time for May and the Conservatives to cut their losses and sign up to a permanent CU. It might tear the Conservative Party apart but it would pass the Commons.
Interesting to see the Mail and the Express front pages this morning - they still cling to May in lieu of anyone else but it will need a Conservative to gamble on the unity of the Conservative Party to get us through this.
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
I think that timetable is slightly out. if the VoNC is carried today, the 14-day clock doesn't start until midnight tonight, so it runs out at midnight on 30/31 January meaning that the writs for a general election couldn't be issued until 31 January. However, that still makes 7 March a viable election day (just - it'd be the earliest day possible, whether observing the 'election days are Thursdays' convention or not).
The opposition parties in the House are all left-leaning and all fighting each other for many of the same voters. The idea that some of them would dare allow themselves to be framed as enablers of a Tory Government by the others isn't credible (after all, the Lib Dems were indeed enablers of a Tory Government a few years ago, and look what happened to them.)
It's why May suggested she'd allow other parties to move a VoNC if Corbyn failed to do so, of course. She used the competition amongst all the left parties to be the most virulently anti-Tory to her advantage, to try to make sure he did what she wanted.
After all, can you imagine what would happen if, for whatever reason, the numbers on the Government side were reduced and Corbyn were to lose a VoNC that he would otherwise have won if all the other opposition MPs had gone through the lobby with him?
Betfair's implied probability of leaving on schedule now down to 15%.
Has a mechanism *known to have the assent of a majority of MPs* yet been found to prevent Brexit from happening automatically on March 29th? Or does this figure merely reflect a vague assumption that the Parliamentary majority against No Deal will manage to agree on a common course of action before that point?
There's a world of difference between MPs having identified a common aim and concurring on how to get there.
May needs to be having a long talk with her chief whip too.
Because whatever he he's doing, it's not working. Would suggest at the very least May needs a chief whip who can count. Because whoever was doing the expectations management game in the Whip's office was being fed numbers by somebody who manifestly cannot.
The Chief Whip's job is to count and warn; he seems to have done neither.
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
One of the most bizarre deaths I read of was that of an Australian who died of alcoholic poisoning after injecting a bottle of whisky into his recturm.
In meetings all day today so can someone fill me in on the big story - did the ground level letterboxes bill get a second reading?
They are the bane of any deliverers life...
There's a simple answer, stop pushing lies and propaganda through innocent householders' letterboxes, which gets filed straight in the recycling, thus wasting energy and resources.
This is not a party political point – everything goes in the recycling regardless of who it is from. The Tories' doorstep donkeys are no worse – and no better – than any of the other rabble.
Do something worthwhile with your evenings instead.
s'called democracy.
Nope. It's called waste.
Not at all. It is the form that democracy takes in this country.
If crappy leaflets are the answer, you are asking the wrong question.
May needs to be having a long talk with her chief whip too.
Because whatever he he's doing, it's not working. Would suggest at the very least May needs a chief whip who can count. Because whoever was doing the expectations management game in the Whip's office was being fed numbers by somebody who manifestly cannot.
The Chief Whip's job is to count and warn; he seems to have done neither.
"Prime Minster, I'm pleased to say we've rustled up another 100 supporters overnight.
I expect that minister not to be reselected by his constituency association...
Read and learn, young loyalist.
"The first duty of a member of Parliament is to do what he thinks in his faithful and disinterested judgement is right and necessary for the honour and safety of Great Britain. His second duty is to his constituents, of whom he is the representative but not the delegate. Burke's famous declaration on this subject is well known. It is only in the third place that his duty to party organization or programme takes rank. All these three loyalties should be observed, but there in no doubt of the order in which they stand under any healthy manifestation of democracy."
Sir Winston Churchill.
Another one for TSE:
"Winston Churchill criticised the electoral outcomes of the alternative vote as "determined by the most worthless votes given for the most worthless candidates."" - Larry Johnston (2011). Politics: An Introduction to the Modern Democratic State.
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
One of the most bizarre deaths I read of was that of an Australian who died of alcoholic poisoning after injecting a bottle of whisky into his recturm.
Maybe Australian whisky is only fit to be taken rectally
I expect that minister not to be reselected by his constituency association...
Read and learn, young loyalist.
"The first duty of a member of Parliament is to do what he thinks in his faithful and disinterested judgement is right and necessary for the honour and safety of Great Britain. His second duty is to his constituents, of whom he is the representative but not the delegate. Burke's famous declaration on this subject is well known. It is only in the third place that his duty to party organization or programme takes rank. All these three loyalties should be observed, but there in no doubt of the order in which they stand under any healthy manifestation of democracy."
Sir Winston Churchill.
Another one for TSE:
"Winston Churchill criticised the electoral outcomes of the alternative vote as "determined by the most worthless votes given for the most worthless candidates."" - Larry Johnston (2011). Politics: An Introduction to the Modern Democratic State.
There's a Winston Churchill quote for every occasion, and if there's not you can always invent one because nobody will check.
Has a mechanism *known to have the assent of a majority of MPs* yet been found to prevent Brexit from happening automatically on March 29th? Or does this figure merely reflect a vague assumption that the Parliamentary majority against No Deal will manage to agree on a common course of action before that point?
There's a world of difference between MPs having identified a common aim and concurring on how to get there.
Today's VoNC is pointless self-indulgence. I cannot conceive of a single Conservative walking into anything other than the "No" lobby any more than I can imagine a single Labour MP walking into anything other than the "Aye" lobby. May will win cosily and comfortably enough thanks to the DUP.
I think there would be a majority for a Permanent CU but maybe I'm wrong.
Can we just have customs union and workers rights alignment written into the WA and be done with it now?
My understanding is that the softer Brexit involving CU, SM etc (call it BINO, or LEXIT, or Norway Plus or whatever) needs no material change to the Withdrawal Treaty. All of that stuff is about the future relationship as sketched out in the Political Declaration. So given that all the EU really care about right now is that we ratify the Treaty, the 'pivot' in that direction, if it were to command a majority in parliament, would be a slam dunk to agree with the EU.
So, if it happens, great. But no! Because the Treaty will still have the Backstop, and the DUP will collapse the government if it looked like being ratified. Therefore this government, and this parliament, cannot get any negotiated Brexit through, unless a Grand Unity Coalition can be formed with a suitable leader and a working majority of sufficient size to neuter the DUP.
Given that I simply cannot see this happening, I am now a big big supporter of a general election. Which helps not a jot, because my support is utterly irrelevant. The Cons can block it (with the DUP - yes it's them again) and they will block it because (i) they want to cleave to office and (ii) unlike Labour they have no coherent Brexit policy and (iii) they do not wish to fight another election under Mrs May.
Has a mechanism *known to have the assent of a majority of MPs* yet been found to prevent Brexit from happening automatically on March 29th? Or does this figure merely reflect a vague assumption that the Parliamentary majority against No Deal will manage to agree on a common course of action before that point?
There's a world of difference between MPs having identified a common aim and concurring on how to get there.
Today's VoNC is pointless self-indulgence. I cannot conceive of a single Conservative walking into anything other than the "No" lobby any more than I can imagine a single Labour MP walking into anything other than the "Aye" lobby. May will win cosily and comfortably enough thanks to the DUP.
I think there would be a majority for a Permanent CU but maybe I'm wrong.
But when the voters understood it, they would hate it......
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
One of the most bizarre deaths I read of was that of an Australian who died of alcoholic poisoning after injecting a bottle of whisky into his recturm.
There are two parts to this - first, would the Conservatives have won a majority in 2015 without the pledge to hold a referendum? Quite possibly.
How long would Cameron have lasted if, having won the majority, he had reneged on the Referendum?
The Conservative campaign of 2015 which engineered the collapse of the LDs and the seizing of enough seats to take the majority also made the Referendum possible and brought us to this point.
Had the Conservatives and LDs agreed a coupon deal for the 2015 election to allow for Coalition 2.0, none of the events of the last three and a half years would have happened.
I think there would be a majority for a Permanent CU but maybe I'm wrong.
Aside from the fact that a customs union without single market membership is fucking stupid, being the worst of all possible worlds, it's also the complete opposite of what most Brexiteers claim to want.
If May tried it, she would in all likelihood force the Brexit wing out of the party, precipitating her losing a VONC.
Has a mechanism *known to have the assent of a majority of MPs* yet been found to prevent Brexit from happening automatically on March 29th? Or does this figure merely reflect a vague assumption that the Parliamentary majority against No Deal will manage to agree on a common course of action before that point?
There's a world of difference between MPs having identified a common aim and concurring on how to get there.
Today's VoNC is pointless self-indulgence. I cannot conceive of a single Conservative walking into anything other than the "No" lobby any more than I can imagine a single Labour MP walking into anything other than the "Aye" lobby. May will win cosily and comfortably enough thanks to the DUP.
I think there would be a majority for a Permanent CU but maybe I'm wrong.
You are right but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the Withdrawal Agreement. The one that will obtain until the future trade agreement is signed.
Seems fair enough to me. Risk was inevitable as a result but no outcomes were, and as the result showed it was what the people wanted, when given the chance. I find the need to wish this allnever happened understandable, I'm there too, but misguided.
I think there would be a majority for a Permanent CU but maybe I'm wrong.
Aside from the fact that a customs union without single market membership is fucking stupid, being the worst of all possible worlds, it's also the complete opposite of what most Brexiteers claim to want.
If May tried it, she would in all likelihood force the Brexit wing out of the party, precipitating her losing a VONC.
Seems fair enough to me. Risk was inevitable as a result but no outcomes were, and as the result showed it was what the people wanted, when given the chance. I find the need to wish this allnever happened understandable, I'm there too, but misguided.
He also "refuses to be drawn" on whether he thinks May is handling Brexit correctly, which I am sure tells you all you need to know.
There are two parts to this - first, would the Conservatives have won a majority in 2015 without the pledge to hold a referendum? Quite possibly.
How long would Cameron have lasted if, having won the majority, he had reneged on the Referendum?
The Conservative campaign of 2015 which engineered the collapse of the LDs and the seizing of enough seats to take the majority also made the Referendum possible and brought us to this point.
Had the Conservatives and LDs agreed a coupon deal for the 2015 election to allow for Coalition 2.0, none of the events of the last three and a half years would have happened.
Cameron would have lasted the full 5 years.
Not enough ERG to depose him and like Mrs May the FTPA makes him indestructible. And to his credit he was better at riding the Parliamentary porridge pole than she is.
Mr. Stodge, consider also the unlucky timing (Cameron had understandable fears of the migrant crisis, but picked the worst time to hold the referendum) and the EU's daft approach to it, in contrast to his own much more sensible policy of supporting refugee camps.
But then, there are many small steps that led to where we are. No referendum on Maastricht, one promised but not held on Lisbon, May's ineptitude, the failure of Cameron's renegotiation.
A referendum on Lisbon could've been a great pressure valve. Instead, Brown turned up late and signed away vetoes, as well as ushering in Article 50, designed to give the EU as much advantage as possible if anyone had the temerity to try and leave.
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
One of the most bizarre deaths I read of was that of an Australian who died of alcoholic poisoning after injecting a bottle of whisky into his recturm.
Rectal fluid infusion is actually very effective in terms of absorption. Indeed it has a role in battlefield resuscitation and in major injuries, when medical aid is slow to arrive. It can ameliorate hypovolemic shock.
I think there would be a majority for a Permanent CU but maybe I'm wrong.
Aside from the fact that a customs union without single market membership is fucking stupid, being the worst of all possible worlds, it's also the complete opposite of what most Brexiteers claim to want.
If May tried it, she would in all likelihood force the Brexit wing out of the party, precipitating her losing a VONC.
No wonder it’s Labour Party policy.
There's no such thing as Labour's brexit policy, you're just pulling my leg.
Out and about and for the first time I hear more people talking about Brexit than I have at any time in the past couple of years. The "let's get out now" Party and the "I want this over with because it's boring" Party are both polling strongly and will do well at the next election.
Little condemnation for the Prime Minister but little sympathy for her either. Whether she is seen as part of the problem I don't know but what she isn't seen as is part of the solution.
What are we left with after yesterday? In my case, a lighter wallet after a poor afternoon's punting down East Surrey way. Elsewhere:
1) No Deal 2) Revocation of A50 3) Some form of re-negotiation via an extension to A50.
I did wonder if it was time for May and the Conservatives to cut their losses and sign up to a permanent CU. It might tear the Conservative Party apart but it would pass the Commons.
Interesting to see the Mail and the Express front pages this morning - they still cling to May in lieu of anyone else but it will need a Conservative to gamble on the unity of the Conservative Party to get us through this.
What we need is a Conservatives who is willing to put the national interest before their personal interests and the interests of the Conservative party. And there are precious few of those, certainly none in the Cabinet.
Out and about and for the first time I hear more people talking about Brexit than I have at any time in the past couple of years. The "let's get out now" Party and the "I want this over with because it's boring" Party are both polling strongly and will do well at the next election.
Little condemnation for the Prime Minister but little sympathy for her either. Whether she is seen as part of the problem I don't know but what she isn't seen as is part of the solution.
What are we left with after yesterday? In my case, a lighter wallet after a poor afternoon's punting down East Surrey way. Elsewhere:
1) No Deal 2) Revocation of A50 3) Some form of re-negotiation via an extension to A50.
I did wonder if it was time for May and the Conservatives to cut their losses and sign up to a permanent CU. It might tear the Conservative Party apart but it would pass the Commons.
Interesting to see the Mail and the Express front pages this morning - they still cling to May in lieu of anyone else but it will need a Conservative to gamble on the unity of the Conservative Party to get us through this.
Do we think that Theresa May has either the flexibility or the will to seriously overhaul the Withdrawal Agreement - into which she has poured all of her effort and political capital, and which is effectively the sole achievement of her leadership?
Any resolution to Brexit other than No Deal is probably going to require an end to Conservative unity in some shape or form. I'm guessing that this will happen, but nonetheless the probability of No Deal must still be quite high.
The result of today's VONC is pretty much a foregone conclusion. How different would it be - on unchanged Parliamentary arithmetic - were Ed Milliband still Leader of the Opposition?
Out and about and for the first time I hear more people talking about Brexit than I have at any time in the past couple of years. The "let's get out now" Party and the "I want this over with because it's boring" Party are both polling strongly and will do well at the next election.
Little condemnation for the Prime Minister but little sympathy for her either. Whether she is seen as part of the problem I don't know but what she isn't seen as is part of the solution.
What are we left with after yesterday? In my case, a lighter wallet after a poor afternoon's punting down East Surrey way. Elsewhere:
1) No Deal 2) Revocation of A50 3) Some form of re-negotiation via an extension to A50.
I did wonder if it was time for May and the Conservatives to cut their losses and sign up to a permanent CU. It might tear the Conservative Party apart but it would pass the Commons.
Interesting to see the Mail and the Express front pages this morning - they still cling to May in lieu of anyone else but it will need a Conservative to gamble on the unity of the Conservative Party to get us through this.
What we need is a Conservatives who is willing to put the national interest before their personal interests and the interests of the Conservative party. And there are precious few of those, certainly none in the Cabinet.
What do you mean by national interest? All pretend to be doing that already.
Out and about and for the first time I hear more people talking about Brexit than I have at any time in the past couple of years. The "let's get out now" Party and the "I want this over with because it's boring" Party are both polling strongly and will do well at the next election.
Little condemnation for the Prime Minister but little sympathy for her either. Whether she is seen as part of the problem I don't know but what she isn't seen as is part of the solution.
What are we left with after yesterday? In my case, a lighter wallet after a poor afternoon's punting down East Surrey way. Elsewhere:
1) No Deal 2) Revocation of A50 3) Some form of re-negotiation via an extension to A50.
I did wonder if it was time for May and the Conservatives to cut their losses and sign up to a permanent CU. It might tear the Conservative Party apart but it would pass the Commons.
Interesting to see the Mail and the Express front pages this morning - they still cling to May in lieu of anyone else but it will need a Conservative to gamble on the unity of the Conservative Party to get us through this.
What we need is a Conservatives who is willing to put the national interest before their personal interests and the interests of the Conservative party. And there are precious few of those, certainly none in the Cabinet.
What’s the old saying, national interest is in the eye of the beholder?
The opposition parties in the House are all left-leaning and all fighting each other for many of the same voters. The idea that some of them would dare allow themselves to be framed as enablers of a Tory Government by the others isn't credible (after all, the Lib Dems were indeed enablers of a Tory Government a few years ago, and look what happened to them.)
It's why May suggested she'd allow other parties to move a VoNC if Corbyn failed to do so, of course. She used the competition amongst all the left parties to be the most virulently anti-Tory to her advantage, to try to make sure he did what she wanted.
After all, can you imagine what would happen if, for whatever reason, the numbers on the Government side were reduced and Corbyn were to lose a VoNC that he would otherwise have won if all the other opposition MPs had gone through the lobby with him?
Betfair's implied probability of leaving on schedule now down to 15%.
Has a mechanism *known to have the assent of a majority of MPs* yet been found to prevent Brexit from happening automatically on March 29th? Or does this figure merely reflect a vague assumption that the Parliamentary majority against No Deal will manage to agree on a common course of action before that point?
There's a world of difference between MPs having identified a common aim and concurring on how to get there.
If people are really concerned about the financial consequences of a No Deal Brexit, at least these odds provide the opportunity of a pretty efficient insurance policy.
I expect that minister not to be reselected by his constituency association...
Read and learn, young loyalist.
"The first duty of a member of Parliament is to do what he thinks in his faithful and disinterested judgement is right and necessary for the honour and safety of Great Britain. His second duty is to his constituents, of whom he is the representative but not the delegate. Burke's famous declaration on this subject is well known. It is only in the third place that his duty to party organization or programme takes rank. All these three loyalties should be observed, but there in no doubt of the order in which they stand under any healthy manifestation of democracy."
Sir Winston Churchill.
Another one for TSE:
"Winston Churchill criticised the electoral outcomes of the alternative vote as "determined by the most worthless votes given for the most worthless candidates."" - Larry Johnston (2011). Politics: An Introduction to the Modern Democratic State.
There's a Winston Churchill quote for every occasion, and if there's not you can always invent one because nobody will check.
TSE's heart-throb David Cameron also disliked AV. Remember the OTHER referendum, in 2011?
"AV would result in "Parliament full of second-choices who no one really wanted but didn't really object to either."" - David Cameron. "Why keeping first past the post is vital for democracy." Daily Telegraph. 30 Apr 2011
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
One of the most bizarre deaths I read of was that of an Australian who died of alcoholic poisoning after injecting a bottle of whisky into his recturm.
There are two parts to this - first, would the Conservatives have won a majority in 2015 without the pledge to hold a referendum? Quite possibly.
How long would Cameron have lasted if, having won the majority, he had reneged on the Referendum?
The Conservative campaign of 2015 which engineered the collapse of the LDs and the seizing of enough seats to take the majority also made the Referendum possible and brought us to this point.
Had the Conservatives and LDs agreed a coupon deal for the 2015 election to allow for Coalition 2.0, none of the events of the last three and a half years would have happened.
The result of today's VONC is pretty much a foregone conclusion. How different would it be - on unchanged Parliamentary arithmetic - were Ed Milliband still Leader of the Opposition?
Out and about and for the first time I hear more people talking about Brexit than I have at any time in the past couple of years. The "let's get out now" Party and the "I want this over with because it's boring" Party are both polling strongly and will do well at the next election.
Little condemnation for the Prime Minister but little sympathy for her either. Whether she is seen as part of the problem I don't know but what she isn't seen as is part of the solution.
What are we left with after yesterday? In my case, a lighter wallet after a poor afternoon's punting down East Surrey way. Elsewhere:
1) No Deal 2) Revocation of A50 3) Some form of re-negotiation via an extension to A50.
I did wonder if it was time for May and the Conservatives to cut their losses and sign up to a permanent CU. It might tear the Conservative Party apart but it would pass the Commons.
Interesting to see the Mail and the Express front pages this morning - they still cling to May in lieu of anyone else but it will need a Conservative to gamble on the unity of the Conservative Party to get us through this.
What we need is a Conservatives who is willing to put the national interest before their personal interests and the interests of the Conservative party. And there are precious few of those, certainly none in the Cabinet.
What do you mean by national interest? All pretend to be doing that already.
Absolutely - the term has no real objective meaning however often politicians wish to use it!
I think there would be a majority for a Permanent CU but maybe I'm wrong.
Aside from the fact that a customs union without single market membership is fucking stupid, being the worst of all possible worlds, it's also the complete opposite of what most Brexiteers claim to want.
If May tried it, she would in all likelihood force the Brexit wing out of the party, precipitating her losing a VONC.
No wonder it’s Labour Party policy.
There's no such thing as Labour's brexit policy, you're just pulling my leg.
There's not just one Labour Brexit policy. There are two.
The Brexit policy of the High Command is to sit back with a large tub of popcorn and watch the Tories stuff it up.
The Brexit policy of the Backbenchers is to rock back and forth in the corner of the room, crying and wetting.
May needs to be having a long talk with her chief whip too.
Because whatever he he's doing, it's not working. Would suggest at the very least May needs a chief whip who can count. Because whoever was doing the expectations management game in the Whip's office was being fed numbers by somebody who manifestly cannot.
The Chief Whip's job is to count and warn; he seems to have done neither.
How do we know what the Chief Whip said? I wouldn't put it past May to blindly ignore his advice.
The result of today's VONC is pretty much a foregone conclusion. How different would it be - on unchanged Parliamentary arithmetic - were Ed Milliband still Leader of the Opposition?
if it were Ed wed still be banging on about Leveson
May needs to be having a long talk with her chief whip too.
Because whatever he he's doing, it's not working. Would suggest at the very least May needs a chief whip who can count. Because whoever was doing the expectations management game in the Whip's office was being fed numbers by somebody who manifestly cannot.
The Chief Whip's job is to count and warn; he seems to have done neither.
How do we know what the Chief Whip said? I wouldn't put it past May to blindly ignore his advice.
There are two parts to this - first, would the Conservatives have won a majority in 2015 without the pledge to hold a referendum? Quite possibly.
How long would Cameron have lasted if, having won the majority, he had reneged on the Referendum?
The Conservative campaign of 2015 which engineered the collapse of the LDs and the seizing of enough seats to take the majority also made the Referendum possible and brought us to this point.
Had the Conservatives and LDs agreed a coupon deal for the 2015 election to allow for Coalition 2.0, none of the events of the last three and a half years would have happened.
Would have worked for me , I liked the coalition.
You wouldn't worry about getting Clegg on your face??
Out and about and for the first time I hear more people talking about Brexit than I have at any time in the past couple of years. The "let's get out now" Party and the "I want this over with because it's boring" Party are both polling strongly and will do well at the next election.
Little condemnation for the Prime Minister but little sympathy for her either. Whether she is seen as part of the problem I don't know but what she isn't seen as is part of the solution.
What are we left with after yesterday? In my case, a lighter wallet after a poor afternoon's punting down East Surrey way. Elsewhere:
1) No Deal 2) Revocation of A50 3) Some form of re-negotiation via an extension to A50.
I did wonder if it was time for May and the Conservatives to cut their losses and sign up to a permanent CU. It might tear the Conservative Party apart but it would pass the Commons.
Interesting to see the Mail and the Express front pages this morning - they still cling to May in lieu of anyone else but it will need a Conservative to gamble on the unity of the Conservative Party to get us through this.
What we need is a Conservatives who is willing to put the national interest before their personal interests and the interests of the Conservative party. And there are precious few of those, certainly none in the Cabinet.
I would suggest there are a number of known leavers- not least Gove and Cox - who have done exactly that. They really didn't like the Deal but were willing to put aside their personal views for the sake of supporting a deal that was less than perfect but was at least workable and acceptable to the EU. Both have been vilified by the hard Brexit fringe for it.
Out and about and for the first time I hear more people talking about Brexit than I have at any time in the past couple of years. The "let's get out now" Party and the "I want this over with because it's boring" Party are both polling strongly and will do well at the next election.
Little condemnation for the Prime Minister but little sympathy for her either. Whether she is seen as part of the problem I don't know but what she isn't seen as is part of the solution.
What are we left with after yesterday? In my case, a lighter wallet after a poor afternoon's punting down East Surrey way. Elsewhere:
1) No Deal 2) Revocation of A50 3) Some form of re-negotiation via an extension to A50.
I did wonder if it was time for May and the Conservatives to cut their losses and sign up to a permanent CU. It might tear the Conservative Party apart but it would pass the Commons.
Interesting to see the Mail and the Express front pages this morning - they still cling to May in lieu of anyone else but it will need a Conservative to gamble on the unity of the Conservative Party to get us through this.
What we need is a Conservatives who is willing to put the national interest before their personal interests and the interests of the Conservative party. And there are precious few of those, certainly none in the Cabinet.
I would suggest there are a number of known leavers- not least Gove and Cox - who have done exactly that. They really didn't like the Deal but were willing to put aside their personal views for the sake of supporting a deal that was less than perfect but was at least workable and acceptable to the EU. Both have been vilified by the hard Brexit fringe for it.
Something opened Gove's eyes to the horrors that wait on the horizon. It seems to have been caused by spending lots of time with the disgraced sack of shit & amoral sociopathic snake Boris Johnson.
May needs to be having a long talk with her chief whip too.
Because whatever he he's doing, it's not working. Would suggest at the very least May needs a chief whip who can count. Because whoever was doing the expectations management game in the Whip's office was being fed numbers by somebody who manifestly cannot.
The Chief Whip's job is to count and warn; he seems to have done neither.
How do we know what the Chief Whip said? I wouldn't put it past May to blindly ignore his advice.
Then, frankly, he should resign.
I presume you resigned right away whenever you worked for a boss who didn't take your advice?
The result of today's VONC is pretty much a foregone conclusion. How different would it be - on unchanged Parliamentary arithmetic - were Ed Milliband still Leader of the Opposition?
Probably not different at all.
I am not quite so sure. The DUP - unlike the UUP - are not natural allies of the Tories and are quite left wing re- economic issues. Post 2017 election , can we be certain they would have declined the option of putting Milliband into No 10? I get the sense that the Corbyn factor has been the key to their stance.
Out and about and for the first time I hear more people talking about Brexit than I have at any time in the past couple of years. The "let's get out now" Party and the "I want this over with because it's boring" Party are both polling strongly and will do well at the next election.
Little condemnation for the Prime Minister but little sympathy for her either. Whether she is seen as part of the problem I don't know but what she isn't seen as is part of the solution.
What are we left with after yesterday? In my case, a lighter wallet after a poor afternoon's punting down East Surrey way. Elsewhere:
1) No Deal 2) Revocation of A50 3) Some form of re-negotiation via an extension to A50.
I did wonder if it was time for May and the Conservatives to cut their losses and sign up to a permanent CU. It might tear the Conservative Party apart but it would pass the Commons.
Interesting to see the Mail and the Express front pages this morning - they still cling to May in lieu of anyone else but it will need a Conservative to gamble on the unity of the Conservative Party to get us through this.
What we need is a Conservatives who is willing to put the national interest before their personal interests and the interests of the Conservative party. And there are precious few of those, certainly none in the Cabinet.
I would suggest there are a number of known leavers- not least Gove and Cox - who have done exactly that. They really didn't like the Deal but were willing to put aside their personal views for the sake of supporting a deal that was less than perfect but was at least workable and acceptable to the EU. Both have been vilified by the hard Brexit fringe for it.
Something opened Gove's eyes to the horrors that wait on the horizon. It seems to have been caused by spending lots of time with the disgraced sack of shit & amoral sociopathic snake Boris Johnson.
You and I have no idea of his motivations but whatever they were he did at least accept that compromise was necessary. Unlike most of his colleagues.
I would suggest there are a number of known leavers- not least Gove and Cox - who have done exactly that. They really didn't like the Deal but were willing to put aside their personal views for the sake of supporting a deal that was less than perfect but was at least workable and acceptable to the EU. Both have been vilified by the hard Brexit fringe for it.
I'm not sure you're in a position to express sympathy for soft leavers being vilified, given the accusations of 'quisling' and 'traitor' you have been happy to sling about for years.
I think there would be a majority for a Permanent CU but maybe I'm wrong.
Aside from the fact that a customs union without single market membership is fucking stupid, being the worst of all possible worlds, it's also the complete opposite of what most Brexiteers claim to want.
If May tried it, she would in all likelihood force the Brexit wing out of the party, precipitating her losing a VONC.
No wonder it’s Labour Party policy.
There's no such thing as Labour's brexit policy, you're just pulling my leg.
There's not just one Labour Brexit policy. There are two.
The Brexit policy of the High Command is to sit back with a large tub of popcorn and watch the Tories stuff it up.
The Brexit policy of the Backbenchers is to rock back and forth in the corner of the room, crying and wetting.
I think there's 3 policies
High command is correct, your 2 is for those in London and Remainer areas In Leave regions - it's ensure we leave but do nothing beyond helping yourself to some of bthe popcorn...
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
One of the most bizarre deaths I read of was that of an Australian who died of alcoholic poisoning after injecting a bottle of whisky into his recturm.
Rectal fluid infusion is actually very effective in terms of absorption. Indeed it has a role in battlefield resuscitation and in major injuries, when medical aid is slow to arrive. It can ameliorate hypovolemic shock.
The result of today's VONC is pretty much a foregone conclusion. How different would it be - on unchanged Parliamentary arithmetic - were Ed Milliband still Leader of the Opposition?
Probably not different at all.
I am not quite so sure. The DUP - unlike the UUP - are not natural allies of the Tories and are quite left wing re- economic issues. Post 2017 election , can we be certain they would have declined the option of putting Milliband into No 10? I get the sense that the Corbyn factor has been the key to their stance.
They probably wouldn’t want to give up their current position, and I doubt Labour would want to work with them in coalition.
I think there would be a majority for a Permanent CU but maybe I'm wrong.
Aside from the fact that a customs union without single market membership is fucking stupid, being the worst of all possible worlds, it's also the complete opposite of what most Brexiteers claim to want.
If May tried it, she would in all likelihood force the Brexit wing out of the party, precipitating her losing a VONC.
No wonder it’s Labour Party policy.
There's no such thing as Labour's brexit policy, you're just pulling my leg.
There's not just one Labour Brexit policy. There are two.
The Brexit policy of the High Command is to sit back with a large tub of popcorn and watch the Tories stuff it up.
The Brexit policy of the Backbenchers is to rock back and forth in the corner of the room, crying and wetting.
Those rocking back and forth are utterly terrified how bad a No Deal Brexit might be.
But not SO utterly terrified that they would vote last night to switch off its life-support.....
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
One of the most bizarre deaths I read of was that of an Australian who died of alcoholic poisoning after injecting a bottle of whisky into his recturm.
Rectal fluid infusion is actually very effective in terms of absorption. Indeed it has a role in battlefield resuscitation and in major injuries, when medical aid is slow to arrive. It can ameliorate hypovolemic shock.
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
One of the most bizarre deaths I read of was that of an Australian who died of alcoholic poisoning after injecting a bottle of whisky into his recturm.
Rectal fluid infusion is actually very effective in terms of absorption. Indeed it has a role in battlefield resuscitation and in major injuries, when medical aid is slow to arrive. It can ameliorate hypovolemic shock.
As for May, her clinical standoffishness is entirely of a piece with the way she has behaved for the best part of the two and a half years since the vote, and certainly since the 2017 election. One of the most remarkable, and indeed excruciating, things about May has been her insistence on governing like she’s got a landslide majority. Why has no one told her? She’s the Florence Foster Jenkins of politics, insulated from the realities of her situation by weird or venal enablers. Never has the intervention of a candid best mate been more needed. At some point in July 2017, surely Amber Rudd or whoever should have gone round and given May “The Talk”. Along the lines of: “Babe, true friends tell you the truth, amirite? Because if no one else is going to say this, then I will: the referendum vote was problematically close anyway, and then you totally spaffed your majority. Like, you literally have no majority. So … you need to stop acting like Mariah Carey, OK? On the plus side, you look great in that trouser suit and I’ve brought round two bottles of cava. Let’s get pissed and watch Working Girl again.” Alas, at no point since the election does this essential public service appear to have been performed.
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
One of the most bizarre deaths I read of was that of an Australian who died of alcoholic poisoning after injecting a bottle of whisky into his recturm.
probably going to require an end to Conservative unity in some shape or form.
Oh god, can you imagine how bad it would be if Tory discipline broke down? THAT WOULD BE AWFUL.
I meant, as in their actually breaking up into two or more entirely separate Parliamentary factions, rather than existing as several rats fighting inside the same sack.
If May continues to dig her heels in, as her past behaviour suggests, then eventually at least some of the pro-EU Tories are going to have to break with the party if they're really determined neither to pass the Deal nor to fall out of the EU by default.
The result of today's VONC is pretty much a foregone conclusion. How different would it be - on unchanged Parliamentary arithmetic - were Ed Milliband still Leader of the Opposition?
Probably not different at all.
I am not quite so sure. The DUP - unlike the UUP - are not natural allies of the Tories and are quite left wing re- economic issues. Post 2017 election , can we be certain they would have declined the option of putting Milliband into No 10? I get the sense that the Corbyn factor has been the key to their stance.
They probably wouldn’t want to give up their current position, and I doubt Labour would want to work with them in coalition.
Their position would still have been pivotal had they put Milliband in. There is no coalition anyway - the arrangement with the Tories is akin to the Lib/Lab pact under Callaghan.
I think PB will agree that there is nothing elite about plane travel...
We're not talking plane travel we're talking PJ travel...
What's elite about private jet travel? Doesn't everyone have one?
Only peasants use airplanes. I take my private blimp.
I exclusive travel in a sedan chair carried by the oppressed. And then yacht. Sure it takes longer, but whatever I am heading to can wait until I arrive.
I have been unfairly traduced on here for admitting to keeping boxed wine on my private jet.
Boxed wine is so much more practical at bacchanalian orgies: no bottles of red to knock flying and ruin the deep shag.
One of the most bizarre deaths I read of was that of an Australian who died of alcoholic poisoning after injecting a bottle of whisky into his recturm.
Rectal fluid infusion is actually very effective in terms of absorption. Indeed it has a role in battlefield resuscitation and in major injuries, when medical aid is slow to arrive. It can ameliorate hypovolemic shock.
I would suggest there are a number of known leavers- not least Gove and Cox - who have done exactly that. They really didn't like the Deal but were willing to put aside their personal views for the sake of supporting a deal that was less than perfect but was at least workable and acceptable to the EU. Both have been vilified by the hard Brexit fringe for it.
I'm not sure you're in a position to express sympathy for soft leavers being vilified, given the accusations of 'quisling' and 'traitor' you have been happy to sling about for years.
I would suggest that you shut the fuck up until you actually learn something worth repeating.
I have always been a soft leaver and wrote articles about it for this site both before and after the referendum.
There are two parts to this - first, would the Conservatives have won a majority in 2015 without the pledge to hold a referendum? Quite possibly.
How long would Cameron have lasted if, having won the majority, he had reneged on the Referendum?
The Conservative campaign of 2015 which engineered the collapse of the LDs and the seizing of enough seats to take the majority also made the Referendum possible and brought us to this point.
Had the Conservatives and LDs agreed a coupon deal for the 2015 election to allow for Coalition 2.0, none of the events of the last three and a half years would have happened.
I agree. And in 2010, when the coalition was formed, I expected Cameron to tack toward the Lib Dems and use them to marginalise the headbangers and cement the Tories position in the centre ground. But, in the first of many spectacular misjudgements, he chose instead to stuff the Lib Dems and appease the headbangers, thus forcing his party further to the right and closer to what subsequently became the ERG.
Comments
So let's just no deal or remain, no more pissing about. What's stopping them? We can all see what they want, and that the middle option is gone now.
Photos from the scenes yesterday show the off-duty Special Forces personnel with combat gear over a casual jeans and purple shirt storming the building and rescuing civilians.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6598189/Hero-SAS-soldier-Navy-Seals-helped-battle-Islamist-terrorists-attacking-Kenyan-hotel.html
"off-duty"....just nipping down the shops love, better not forget the old balaclava, automatic rifle, etc
Everything else beforehand is just the usual dicking about.
Out and about and for the first time I hear more people talking about Brexit than I have at any time in the past couple of years. The "let's get out now" Party and the "I want this over with because it's boring" Party are both polling strongly and will do well at the next election.
Little condemnation for the Prime Minister but little sympathy for her either. Whether she is seen as part of the problem I don't know but what she isn't seen as is part of the solution.
What are we left with after yesterday? In my case, a lighter wallet after a poor afternoon's punting down East Surrey way. Elsewhere:
1) No Deal
2) Revocation of A50
3) Some form of re-negotiation via an extension to A50.
I did wonder if it was time for May and the Conservatives to cut their losses and sign up to a permanent CU. It might tear the Conservative Party apart but it would pass the Commons.
Interesting to see the Mail and the Express front pages this morning - they still cling to May in lieu of anyone else but it will need a Conservative to gamble on the unity of the Conservative Party to get us through this.
Oh, I see.
It's why May suggested she'd allow other parties to move a VoNC if Corbyn failed to do so, of course. She used the competition amongst all the left parties to be the most virulently anti-Tory to her advantage, to try to make sure he did what she wanted.
After all, can you imagine what would happen if, for whatever reason, the numbers on the Government side were reduced and Corbyn were to lose a VoNC that he would otherwise have won if all the other opposition MPs had gone through the lobby with him? Has a mechanism *known to have the assent of a majority of MPs* yet been found to prevent Brexit from happening automatically on March 29th? Or does this figure merely reflect a vague assumption that the Parliamentary majority against No Deal will manage to agree on a common course of action before that point?
There's a world of difference between MPs having identified a common aim and concurring on how to get there.
Because whatever he he's doing, it's not working. Would suggest at the very least May needs a chief whip who can count. Because whoever was doing the expectations management game in the Whip's office was being fed numbers by somebody who manifestly cannot.
The Chief Whip's job is to count and warn; he seems to have done neither.
In binary."
"Winston Churchill criticised the electoral outcomes of the alternative vote as "determined by the most worthless votes given for the most worthless candidates.""
- Larry Johnston (2011). Politics: An Introduction to the Modern Democratic State.
I think there would be a majority for a Permanent CU but maybe I'm wrong.
So, if it happens, great. But no! Because the Treaty will still have the Backstop, and the DUP will collapse the government if it looked like being ratified. Therefore this government, and this parliament, cannot get any negotiated Brexit through, unless a Grand Unity Coalition can be formed with a suitable leader and a working majority of sufficient size to neuter the DUP.
Given that I simply cannot see this happening, I am now a big big supporter of a general election. Which helps not a jot, because my support is utterly irrelevant. The Cons can block it (with the DUP - yes it's them again) and they will block it because (i) they want to cleave to office and (ii) unlike Labour they have no coherent Brexit policy and (iii) they do not wish to fight another election under Mrs May.
Oh betty.
How long would Cameron have lasted if, having won the majority, he had reneged on the Referendum?
The Conservative campaign of 2015 which engineered the collapse of the LDs and the seizing of enough seats to take the majority also made the Referendum possible and brought us to this point.
Had the Conservatives and LDs agreed a coupon deal for the 2015 election to allow for Coalition 2.0, none of the events of the last three and a half years would have happened.
If May tried it, she would in all likelihood force the Brexit wing out of the party, precipitating her losing a VONC.
Not enough ERG to depose him and like Mrs May the FTPA makes him indestructible. And to his credit he was better at riding the Parliamentary porridge pole than she is.
But then, there are many small steps that led to where we are. No referendum on Maastricht, one promised but not held on Lisbon, May's ineptitude, the failure of Cameron's renegotiation.
A referendum on Lisbon could've been a great pressure valve. Instead, Brown turned up late and signed away vetoes, as well as ushering in Article 50, designed to give the EU as much advantage as possible if anyone had the temerity to try and leave.
As I wrote in November, this'll rumble on for a long while yet: http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2018/11/11/brexit-not-the-end-not-the-beginning-of-the-end-perhaps-the-end-of-the-beginning/
https://www.realfirstaid.co.uk/rectal/
I suspect the absorption of alcohol in whisky would be equally effective.
Any resolution to Brexit other than No Deal is probably going to require an end to Conservative unity in some shape or form. I'm guessing that this will happen, but nonetheless the probability of No Deal must still be quite high.
"AV would result in "Parliament full of second-choices who no one really wanted but didn't really object to either.""
- David Cameron. "Why keeping first past the post is vital for democracy." Daily Telegraph. 30 Apr 2011
The Brexit policy of the High Command is to sit back with a large tub of popcorn and watch the Tories stuff it up.
The Brexit policy of the Backbenchers is to rock back and forth in the corner of the room, crying and wetting.
High command is correct, your 2 is for those in London and Remainer areas
In Leave regions - it's ensure we leave but do nothing beyond helping yourself to some of bthe popcorn...
But not SO utterly terrified that they would vote last night to switch off its life-support.....
* Brexit referendum
shit
* Universal Credit
shit
* NHS reform
shit
* Eliminating the deficit
shit
shit
* Project Fear
shit
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/16/westminster-apocalypse-may-tories-opportunity
Austerity meant there wasn't money to finance NHS reform, made Universal Credit an impossible task and made the referendum result a certainty...
It also means that Osbourne is as much to blame as Cameron is...
If May continues to dig her heels in, as her past behaviour suggests, then eventually at least some of the pro-EU Tories are going to have to break with the party if they're really determined neither to pass the Deal nor to fall out of the EU by default.
I have always been a soft leaver and wrote articles about it for this site both before and after the referendum.
The Big Society