Pesto raised the possibility last night that some top advisers and those close to Johnson think his only way out may be to defy the law and refuse to extend. Given what he said yesterday and the ridiculous corner he's boxed himself into, perhaps this is the only route.
It would be political suicide. But that might not stop him. And I'm not convinced Bercow would suspend him.
If there's a whiff of that today and over the weekend I wonder if the Opposition might, as soon as the No-Deal Bill gains Royal Assent, table a VONC on Monday or Tuesday. They would then install someone with the confidence of the house (and therefore new PM) to do two things 1. Go to Brussels and enact the extension 2. Call a General Election for November.
Johnson would remain leader of the Cons party, but not PM unless he then wins the election.
My 130-1 shot on Ken Clarke as temporary PM to fulfil this task looks dicey but not impossible. It's even more plausible following Ian Blackford's generous (and well deserved) praise. As an Independent MP he's more attractive to the Opposition. He sole role, his swansong, would be to see of the No Deal Brexit.
I do think the scenario of a VONC after the Royal Assent is very possible.
I agree with this. The alliance (as such a government may come to be known) have learned to be quiet to avoid Cummings shock and awe distraction strategies so expect surprises. Might start with one or possibly two cabinet resignations in time for the Sundays.
Jeremy Corbyn to head a splash-and-dash, extension and election minority Labour government, with purdah to ensure no other action. That really is the only game in town so Remainers in other parties need to hold their noses or face Brexit.
I suspect this is actually a Boris/Cummings plot. As Mysticrose notes, it leaves Boris as leader of the Conservative Party and he will be Leader of the Opposition, and ideally placed to fight an insurgent election campaign: the People versus the Establishment, and, crucially, with Brexit having disrupted voters' lives.
The poll average in Scotland Curtice reports still puts the SCons on 20%, still above the 15% they got in 2015 with the SNP on 40%, still below the 50% they got in 2015.
Yes. But how is that relevant when the seats were last fought in 2017?
The poll average in Scotland Curtice reports still puts the SCons on 20%, still above the 15% they got in 2015 with the SNP on 40%, still below the 50% they got in 2015.
Yes. But how is that relevant when the seats were last fought in 2017?
Interesting that he sees the Tories 20% behind the SNP as a good performance.
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s exposure as a privileged, entitled, lightweight, thin-skinned coward who is totally out of his depth is perhaps the greatest political pleasure this week has delivered.
Weirdly I think that has cut through more than Johnson's woes. The picture of him lounging on the Treasury bench will I think haunt the Tories for a long time. Many of us have been screaming for some time that Brexit is a project of a privileged elite, and this picture is physical evidence of that proposition. A picture tells a thousand words, indeed.
Quite
Nah. Cheers up the activists and the already prejudiced but no one normal cares
I am normal, and normally tory, and I care.
He fails to hit even the very low target (epater les bourgeois toffdom) at which he aims. He opened champagne to celebrate the defeat of the WA. Proper tory toffs drink champagne because it is there, not to bloody celebrate stuff. Churchill drank 42000 bottles of pol roger, not because he won the football pools 42000 times. What is JRM doing on brexit day? Stretch limo and hookers and those squeaky things you blow into?
And I can't picture Churchill sitting like that in the House, either.
Labour's electoral demise will be when the rump of loyal Labour Leavers, realising they are mocked behind their backs by Labour MPs, ask themselves "What has Labour actually ever done for me?" And realise it is actually bugger all. As they have realised in Scotland - and are realising in Wales.
Waiting for the destruction of the rotten Labour Party is like waiting for a seven-figure lottery jackpot: one can dream of it, and indeed imagine that it would be one of the most fantastic things that could possibly happen, but the chances of it coming to pass are many millions to one.
If there's one lesson we can take from 2017, it's that vast numbers of Labour and Tory robot voters still shuffle zombie-like across the political landscape, and that the old trope about pinning a red or blue rosette to a donkey still holds. Whilst occasional freak results are possible - such as when Leanne Wood beat Labour in the Rhondda in the last Welsh Assembly election - most Labour MPs sit on Albanian majorities in their core territories and are, effectively, unsackable.
Labour has returned over 200 MPs in every election held since the War, and would continue to do so even if led by a latter-day Stalin or Pol Pot, let alone by Jeremy Corbyn. The unique circumstances that led to its collapse in Scotland - a prolonged nder FPTP.)
We are, I'm afraid, stuck with the Labour Party for the long haul. It ain't going anywhere.
Scotland 2015
Nah. The forthcoming election is hard to gauge, but at this stage the most likely outcome is a Labour minority Government. The Conservatives need to win very near to an outright majority to govern, because they can't rely on any party other than the DUP to support them, and at this stage they look likely to rack up more losses in Remain-leaning areas than gains in Leave-leaning ones.
The Tories' target regions are too full of Labour robot and Never-Tory voters. The Brexit Party could conceivably help rather than hinder the Tories by splitting the Labour vote, but Farage vehicles have a track record of doing well in European Elections (where the public feels it has a free hit against the established parties) but flopping in General Elections (where voters largely resume their usual loyalties.)
Sorry, but if Michael Foot in 1983 could hold onto over 200 seats against Thatcher, Corbyn is not going to struggle against BoJo.
On UNS all the latest polls have the Tories gaining more Labour marginsls than they lose Tory seats to the LDs and SNP and most of those Labour marginals were won by Thatcher, Major or Cameron, they are not ultra safe Labour seats
Labour's electoral demise will be when the rump of loyal Labour Leavers, realising they are mocked behind their backs by Labour MPs, ask themselves "What has Labour actually ever done for me?" And realise it is actually bugger all. As they have realised in Scotland - and are realising in Wales.
Waiting for the destruction of the rotten Labour Party is like waiting for a seven-figure lottery jackpot: one can dream of it, and indeed imagine that it would be one of the most fantastic things that could possibly happen, but the chances of it coming to pass are many millions to one.
If there's one lesson we can take from 2017, it's that vast numbers of Labour and Tory robot voters still shuffle zombie-like across the political landscape, and that the old trope about pinning a red or blue rosette to a donkey still holds. Whilst occasional freak results are possible - such as when Leanne Wood beat Labour in the Rhondda in the last Welsh Assembly election - most Labour MPs sit on Albanian majorities in their core territories and are, effectively, unsackable.
Labour has returned over 200 MPs in every election held since the War, and would continue to do so even if led by a latter-day Stalin or Pol Pot, let alone by Jeremy Corbyn. The unique circumstances that led to its collapse in Scotland - a prolonged nder FPTP.)
We are, I'm afraid, stuck with the Labour Party for the long haul. It ain't going anywhere.
Scotland 2015
Nah. The forthcoming election is hard to gauge, but at this stage the most likely outcome is a Labour minority Government. The Conservatives need to win very near to an outright majority to govern, because they can't rely on any party other than the DUP to support them, and at this stage they look likely to rack up more losses in Remain-leaning areas than gains in Leave-leaning ones.
The Tories' target regions are too full of Labour robot and Never-Tory voters. The Brexit Party could conceivably help rather than hinder the Tories by splitting the Labour vote, but Farage vehicles have a track record of doing well in European Elections (where the public feels it has a free hit against the established parties) but flopping in General Elections (where voters largely resume their usual loyalties.)
Sorry, but if Michael Foot in 1983 could hold onto over 200 seats against Thatcher, Corbyn is not going to struggle against BoJo.
On UNS all the latest polls have the Tories gaining more Labour marginsls than they lose Tory seats to the LDs and SNP and most of those Labour marginals were won by Thatcher, Major or Cameron, they are not ultra safe Labour seats
Pesto raised the possibility last night that some top advisers and those close to Johnson think his only way out may be to defy the law and refuse to extend. Given what he said yesterday and the ridiculous corner he's boxed himself into, perhaps this is the only route.
It would be political suicide. But that might not stop him. And I'm not convinced Bercow would suspend him.
If there's a whiff of that today and over the weekend I wonder if the Opposition might, as soon as the No-Deal Bill gains Royal Assent, table a VONC on Monday or Tuesday. They would then install someone with the confidence of the house (and therefore new PM) to do two things 1. Go to Brussels and enact the extension 2. Call a General Election for November.
Johnson would remain leader of the Cons party, but not PM unless he then wins the election.
My 130-1 shot on Ken Clarke as temporary PM to fulfil this task looks dicey but not impossible. It's even more plausible following Ian Blackford's generous (and well deserved) praise. As an Independent MP he's more attractive to the Opposition. He sole role, his swansong, would be to see of the No Deal Brexit.
I do think the scenario of a VONC after the Royal Assent is very possible.
I agree with this. The alliance (as such a government may come to be known) have learned to be quiet to avoid Cummings shock and awe distraction strategies so expect surprises. Might start with one or possibly two cabinet resignations in time for the Sundays.
With the twenty odd now independent Conservatives, it really ought to be possible to form an alternative government whose sole purpose was to implement the softest of Brexits via the Norway style route.
It would require only for Corbyn to take a step back (temporary or otherwise). The subsequent politics would be ... interesting.
I don’t get this idea that “even Michael Foot” got 200 seats so Corbyn has a secure core. Corbyn doesn’t have Scotland. It could be argued that, for today’s electorate, his manifesto is arguably more extreme and scary than Foot’s (something people don’t factor in when they say things like “Corbyn would be a middle of the road politician in the 60s-70s”). Foot’s cabinet was still full of heavyweight and respected politicians who had significant government experience. Tribal allegiances, whilst still present, are not as fixed as in 1983. And Corbyn has an incoherent position on THE issue of the day.
The death of Mugabe marks the end of an era. There are few like him left in Africa, except arguably in RSA. Those who made their names in the political and military stuggles against colonialism, then went on to lead their nations. That class of populist kleptocrats destroying the economic base of their country is no more, at least in Africa.
I don't know Zim well, but "Uncle Bob" was quite popular with the staff of the hospital I worked in in Malawi, even fairly recently.
Mugabe's death will not be much mourned but he has a place in history for leading his party to independence if not much else
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s exposure as a privileged, entitled, lightweight, thin-skinned coward who is totally out of his depth is perhaps the greatest political pleasure this week has delivered.
Weirdly I think that has cut through more than Johnson's woes. The picture of him lounging on the Treasury bench will I think haunt the Tories for a long time. Many of us have been screaming for some time that Brexit is a project of a privileged elite, and this picture is physical evidence of that proposition. A picture tells a thousand words, indeed.
Quite
Nah. Cheers up the activists and the already prejudiced but no one normal cares
Disagree. Few pictures or ideas have cut-through. That one does.
You're clealy not in advertising. When its best use is worked out it'll win every print award going .
Was in a meeting in Zurich this week. The guy running the meeting used Bercow “order order” sound clip when people went off topic. Brexit is hugely entertaining for foreigners. They’re enjoying our collective nervous breakdown.
I saw the author on Hampstead Heath recently and he looked remarkably well. I was reminded of his comment that after seeing Guinness play the part he could never get the portrayal out of his head and from then on he always thought of Smiley exactly as the actor had played him.
Labour's electoral demise will be when the rump of loyal Labour Leavers, realising they are mocked behind their backs by Labour MPs, ask themselves "What has Labour actually ever done for me?" And realise it is actually bugger all. As they have realised in Scotland - and are realising in Wales.
Waiting for the destruction of the rotten Labour Party is like waiting for a seven-figure lottery jackpot: one can dream of it, and indeed imagine that it would be one of the most fantastic things that could possibly happen, but the chances of it coming to pass are many millions to one.
If there's one lesson we can take from 2017, it's that vast numbers of Labour and Tory robot voters still shuffle zombie-like across the political landscape, and that the old trope about pinning a red or blue rosette to a donkey still holds. Whilst occasional freak results are possible - such as when Leanne Wood beat Labour in the Rhondda in the last Welsh Assembly election - most Labour MPs sit on Albanian majorities in their core territories and are, effectively, unsackable.
Labour has returned over 200 MPs in every election held since the War, and would continue to do so even if led by a latter-day Stalin or Pol Pot, let alone by Jeremy Corbyn. The unique circumstances that led to its collapse in Scotland - a prolonged period of government by ineffectual Labour leaders, the huge cultural shift towards independence, and a skilfully-led opposition that blew apart the Labour vote by positioning itself as a more appealing version of the Labour Party itself - are most unlikely to be repeated. Northern Labour voters are absolutely not going to defect to the Tories in droves (and I'm virtually certain that the Brexit Party won't win a single seat under FPTP.)
We are, I'm afraid, stuck with the Labour Party for the long haul. It ain't going anywhere.
The European elections showed the potential disaster Labour faces, third behind the LDs in both voteshare and local authorities won.
Losing northern heartland Leave areas to the Brexit Party and London to the LDs outside East London
Mysticrose said: "by the way, is it impossible for Johnson to extend the prorogation after it has begun? Could he not just push it back to after 1st Nov? Presumably not or this would have been discussed."
The poll average in Scotland Curtice reports still puts the SCons on 20%, still above the 15% they got in 2015 with the SNP on 40%, still below the 50% they got in 2015.
The news is worst for SLab who have fallen to just 15% in the latest poll from 24% in 2015 and 27% in 2017 while the LDs are up to 12% in Scotland from 7% in 2017
And now, for anyone who prefers their stats presented without cherry picking:
Who would ever have thought that the US Secretary of Defense (sic) would ever be in agreement with Jeremy Corbyn? But there again Javid's striping of citizenship from alleged terrorists was only ever to pander to the Daily Mail tendency rather than any sound or correct policy.
Is there not a potential flip side on a post nov election, though(assuming extension is enacted)? Which is that anti-no deal Tories may be more inclined to vote Tory in this scenario?
How? Boris is going to have to go for No Deal just to avoid Farage kicking him daily.
Boris will refuse to extend, as Peston reported yesterday he will either stay in post and challenge the Commons to impeach him rather than ask Brussels for an extension or resign and let Corbyn do the extension and thus destroy Labour in Labour Leave seats for betraying the Brexit vote as Swinson immediately VONCs Corbyn straight after extension to force a general election
Mysticrose said: "by the way, is it impossible for Johnson to extend the prorogation after it has begun? Could he not just push it back to after 1st Nov? Presumably not or this would have been discussed."
Has anyone answered this point?
I can't see any reason why not. And by then he might well have supreme court authority that prorogation was not justiciable.
Was in a meeting in Zurich this week. The guy running the meeting used Bercow “order order” sound clip when people went off topic. Brexit is hugely entertaining for foreigners. They’re enjoying our collective nervous breakdown.
Bercow has become something of an international star, no?
Why strike through the Unionist, please? Murdo Fraser hasn't so far as I know achieved his long-term ambition for separatism in the right-wing parties.
The central party is clearly turning into an English Nationalist Party - one I’d have as much affection for as their Scottish Nationalist equivalent.
But I suppose we should look on the bright side.
Boris is in Scotland today.
What could possibly go wrong?
I hope your earthquake/volcano/godzilla insurance is up to date.
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s exposure as a privileged, entitled, lightweight, thin-skinned coward who is totally out of his depth is perhaps the greatest political pleasure this week has delivered.
Weirdly I think that has cut through more than Johnson's woes. The picture of him lounging on the Treasury bench will I think haunt the Tories for a long time. Many of us have been screaming for some time that Brexit is a project of a privileged elite, and this picture is physical evidence of that proposition. A picture tells a thousand words, indeed.
Quite
Nah. Cheers up the activists and the already prejudiced but no one normal cares
I was watching at the time and at first the camera was fixed on Caroline Lucas as she went into what I thought was a typical though well articulated rant. Then the camera switched to JRM and suddenly you could see her point.
Believe me, it's worse than that bacon sarny!
It has cut through because it embodies something that is fundamentally true. I saw it on Facebook, shared by an acquaintance who I do not think of as political at all - I think she may be what people here refer to as a "normal person". Other apparently "normal people" - women in their thirties mostly I would guess - were similarly exercised by it on her timeline.
Not being a posh boy myself but having observed them up close in their natural environment (Oxbridge colleges, the finance industry, elite public institutions) for about twenty five years I would observe that their blind spot is an inability to understand how their arrogant behaviour is perceived by others. This is generally a result of failing to socialise or empathise with people from a different background, or ever being in a social setting that they do not feel they dominate. Even the "nice" ones usually don't really get it.
It's like the design flaw in the Death Star and should be exploited accordingly.
Labour's electoral demise will be when the rump of loyal Labour Leavers, realising they are mocked behind their backs by Labour MPs, ask themselves "What has Labour actually ever done for me?" And realise it is actually bugger all. As they have realised in Scotland - and are realising in Wales.
Waiting for the destruction of the rotten Labour Party is like waiting for a seven-figure lottery jackpot: one can dream of it, and indeed imagine that it would be one of the most fantastic things that could possibly happen, but the chances of it coming to pass are many millions to one.
If there's one lesson we can take from 2017, it's that vast numbers of Labour and Tory robot voters still shuffle zombie-like across the political landscape, and that the old trope about pinning a red or blue rosette to a donkey still holds. Whilst occasional freak results are possible - such as when Leanne Wood beat Labour in the Rhondda in the last Welsh Assembly election - most Labour MPs sit on Albanian majorities in their core territories and are, effectively, unsackable.
Labour has returned over 200 MPs in every election held since the War, and would continue to do so even if led by a latter-day Stalin or Pol Pot, let alone by Jeremy Corbyn. The unique circumstances that led to its collapse in Scotland - a prolonged period of government by ineffectual Labour leaders, the huge cultural shift towards independence, and a skilfully-led opposition that blew apart the Labour vote by positioning itself as a more appealing version of the Labour Party itself - are most unlikely to be repeated. Northern Labour voters are absolutely not going to defect to the Tories in droves (and I'm virtually certain that the Brexit Party won't win a single seat under FPTP.)
We are, I'm afraid, stuck with the Labour Party for the long haul. It ain't going anywhere.
The European elections showed the potential disaster Labour faces, third behind the LDs in both voteshare and local authorities won.
Losing northern heartland Leave areas to the Brexit Party and London to the LDs outside East London
I'd caution against reading too much into finishing third in a European election. Cameron did the same in 2014 and still won a majority in 2015.
Mysticrose said: "by the way, is it impossible for Johnson to extend the prorogation after it has begun? Could he not just push it back to after 1st Nov? Presumably not or this would have been discussed."
Has anyone answered this point?
I suspect HM the Q.....
Although I wouldn't be surprised if channels are letting it be known that she would like them to stop faffing about and get on with an election - to give her a Government.
The situation Tory Party is now in must have been anticipated by him. They have been telegraphing GE wishes since he got involved (spending promises etc). It`s all too obvious.
I`m wondering whether he anticipated Labour`s reluctance for a GE and the end game may be something different.
Could it be a referendum: Leave with NO Deal v Remain? This would give a clear mandate that MPs couldn`t deny.
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s exposure as a privileged, entitled, lightweight, thin-skinned coward who is totally out of his depth is perhaps the greatest political pleasure this week has delivered.
Weirdly I think that has cut through more than Johnson's woes. The picture of him lounging on the Treasury bench will I think haunt the Tories for a long time. Many of us have been screaming for some time that Brexit is a project of a privileged elite, and this picture is physical evidence of that proposition. A picture tells a thousand words, indeed.
Quite
Nah. Cheers up the activists and the already prejudiced but no one normal cares
The situation Tory Party is now in must have been anticipated by him. They have been telegraphing GE wishes since he got involved (spending promises etc). It`s all too obvious.
I`m wondering whether he anticipated Labour`s reluctance for a GE and the end game may be something different.
Could it be a referendum: Leave with NO Deal v Remain? This would give a clear mandate that MPs couldn`t deny.
The only option they had was pre Brexit election. They went for it.
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s exposure as a privileged, entitled, lightweight, thin-skinned coward who is totally out of his depth is perhaps the greatest political pleasure this week has delivered.
Weirdly I think that has cut through more than Johnson's woes. The picture of him lounging on the Treasury bench will I think haunt the Tories for a long time. Many of us have been screaming for some time that Brexit is a project of a privileged elite, and this picture is physical evidence of that proposition. A picture tells a thousand words, indeed.
Quite
Nah. Cheers up the activists and the already prejudiced but no one normal cares
Is that the word on da street?
I can never tell whether, when Charles says “normal”, he means the Dowager Duchess or the Dowager Duchess’s Lady’s Maid.
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s exposure as a privileged, entitled, lightweight, thin-skinned coward who is totally out of his depth is perhaps the greatest political pleasure this week has delivered.
Weirdly I think that has cut through more than Johnson's woes. The picture of him lounging on the Treasury bench will I think haunt the Tories for a long time. Many of us have been screaming for some time that Brexit is a project of a privileged elite, and this picture is physical evidence of that proposition. A picture tells a thousand words, indeed.
Quite
Nah. Cheers up the activists and the already prejudiced but no one normal cares
Congratulations, Charles. You have just won Worst Post of the Year Award 2019.
I can only assume you don't pay any attention to social media or listen to the news or talk to down-to-earth people. As SO suggested, this picture has painted a thousand words. It is all over social media like Facebook and Twitter. It is being endlessly recycled with new viral banners and slogans. It was even projected onto Edinburgh Castle last night with a then viral thread.
It really is the MOST godawful picture. It's probably worse than Milliband's bacon sarny.
I agree it is a terrible picture. Rees Mogg is a prat and a fake, just like he has always been
But Facebook and Twitter and stunts like Edinburgh Castle are talking to the converted
If you went to Worcester or Walsall or West Lothian or Wales and showed the photo to someone in the street the answer would be “nah, mate, no idea who he is”
I note that certain commentators and some arch members of PB BALLS - Boris Arse Lickers & Louche Sycophants are contending that the Prime Minister should break the law and refuse an approach to the EU for an extension.
The Queen might not be overly enamoured that her PM has overtly and most publicly committed a criminal offence and broken a law she has just signed into law. It would then be for the Queen to determine whether to use her personal prerogative under reserve powers to dismiss the Prime Minister - last used by William IV in 1834.
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s exposure as a privileged, entitled, lightweight, thin-skinned coward who is totally out of his depth is perhaps the greatest political pleasure this week has delivered.
Weirdly I think that has cut through more than Johnson's woes. The picture of him lounging on the Treasury bench will I think haunt the Tories for a long time. Many of us have been screaming for some time that Brexit is a project of a privileged elite, and this picture is physical evidence of that proposition. A picture tells a thousand words, indeed.
Quite
Nah. Cheers up the activists and the already prejudiced but no one normal cares
Congratulations, Charles. You have just won Worst Post of the Year Award 2019.
I can only assume you don't pay any attention to social media or listen to the news or talk to down-to-earth people. As SO suggested, this picture has painted a thousand words. It is all over social media like Facebook and Twitter. It is being endlessly recycled with new viral banners and slogans. It was even projected onto Edinburgh Castle last night with a then viral thread.
It really is the MOST godawful picture. It's probably worse than Milliband's bacon sarny.
I agree it is a terrible picture. Rees Mogg is a prat and a fake, just like he has always been
But Facebook and Twitter and stunts like Edinburgh Castle are talking to the converted
If you went to Worcester or Walsall or West Lothian or Wales and showed the photo to someone in the street the answer would be “nah, mate, no idea who he is”
I agree it is a terrible picture. Rees Mogg is a prat and a fake, just like he has always been
But Facebook and Twitter and stunts like Edinburgh Castle are talking to the converted
If you went to Worcester or Walsall or West Lothian or Wales and showed the photo to someone in the street the answer would be “nah, mate, no idea who he is”
He did it for attention and it's got attention. I'm sure he's over the moon. Anyone who thinks a single person is going to be swayed politically by this needs their bumps read.
'But wait, it's been projected on Edinburgh Castle!!' Ok then.
Comments
I suspect this is actually a Boris/Cummings plot. As Mysticrose notes, it leaves Boris as leader of the Conservative Party and he will be Leader of the Opposition, and ideally placed to fight an insurgent election campaign: the People versus the Establishment, and, crucially, with Brexit having disrupted voters' lives.
However, I don't get the sense that right now anyone is changing their minds particularly. Everyone is just getting noisier.
NEW THREAD
He fails to hit even the very low target (epater les bourgeois toffdom) at which he aims. He opened champagne to celebrate the defeat of the WA. Proper tory toffs drink champagne because it is there, not to bloody celebrate stuff. Churchill drank 42000 bottles of pol roger, not because he won the football pools 42000 times. What is JRM doing on brexit day? Stretch limo and hookers and those squeaky things you blow into?
And I can't picture Churchill sitting like that in the House, either.
It would require only for Corbyn to take a step back (temporary or otherwise). The subsequent politics would be ... interesting.
I saw the author on Hampstead Heath recently and he looked remarkably well. I was reminded of his comment that after seeing Guinness play the part he could never get the portrayal out of his head and from then on he always thought of Smiley exactly as the actor had played him.
Losing northern heartland Leave areas to the Brexit Party and London to the LDs outside East London
Has anyone answered this point?
2015
SNP 50.0
Lab 24.3
Con 14.9
Lib 7.5
2017
SNP 36.9
Con 28.6
Lab 27.1
Lib 6.8
2019 (poll)
SNP 40
Con 20
Lab 15
Lib 12
Not being a posh boy myself but having observed them up close in their natural environment (Oxbridge colleges, the finance industry, elite public institutions) for about twenty five years I would observe that their blind spot is an inability to understand how their arrogant behaviour is perceived by others. This is generally a result of failing to socialise or empathise with people from a different background, or ever being in a social setting that they do not feel they dominate. Even the "nice" ones usually don't really get it.
It's like the design flaw in the Death Star and should be exploited accordingly.
I also saw a couple of episodes of Morse too. That suffered similarly. We get about 50% more content in an equivalent TV episode now.
Although I wouldn't be surprised if channels are letting it be known that she would like them to stop faffing about and get on with an election - to give her a Government.
The situation Tory Party is now in must have been anticipated by him. They have been telegraphing GE wishes since he got involved (spending promises etc). It`s all too obvious.
I`m wondering whether he anticipated Labour`s reluctance for a GE and the end game may be something different.
Could it be a referendum: Leave with NO Deal v Remain? This would give a clear mandate that MPs couldn`t deny.
Brideshead Revisited remains the bar by which any 80s or 90s production must be measured (ie pre-Sopranos).
But Facebook and Twitter and stunts like Edinburgh Castle are talking to the converted
If you went to Worcester or Walsall or West Lothian or Wales and showed the photo to someone in the street the answer would be “nah, mate, no idea who he is”
The Queen might not be overly enamoured that her PM has overtly and most publicly committed a criminal offence and broken a law she has just signed into law. It would then be for the Queen to determine whether to use her personal prerogative under reserve powers to dismiss the Prime Minister - last used by William IV in 1834.
Rees-Mogg is iconic.
If things go well it proves his genius.
And if they don't it means that we are missing something because they must be going exactly to plan because - well - it's Dom innit.
'But wait, it's been projected on Edinburgh Castle!!' Ok then.