There are some very obvious facts in British politics which nobody seems to be saying.
Joanna Cherry stated in her successful court case that “the dogs in the street know” that the real reason that Boris Johnson had prorogued parliament was to prevent parliament from having an effective say on the outcome of Brexit. The documents that the government was forced to produce to the Scottish Courts proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that was indeed Johnson’s motive.
So why are we expected to believe that what you knew and I knew, what Joanna Cherry knew, what the very dogs in the street knew, was not known to the Queen? Do we really believe that the Queen was “misled” and that she and her courtiers were the only people in the entire country who actually believed that Johnson just wanted the longest prorogation for 89 years to prepare a really good Queen’s speech? Are we really expected to believe that the Queen had not noticed that Brexit was at a crucial stage and the effect that prorogation would have on parliament’s say in the process?
This is obviously complete and utter nonsense. The Queen has better sources of information than any of us and knew exactly what was happening. She was not “misled” by Boris Johnson, she was his ally in a common purpose. She absolutely understood both the context and the effect of the prorogation. All this utter nonsense about the Queen being “lied to” and “misled” is part of this strange myth of the ultimate goodness of authority which is a recurring theme in human societies. Peasants died under the knout while building the Trans-Siberian railway thinking “if only the good Tsar knew.” The Queen is not a naive figure of Christ like innocence taken in by Boris Johnson, she is an ultra wealthy woman of very conservative views embedded in a social circle dominated by very rich and reactionary people.
To repeat what I have repeatedly explained, it was unconstitutional for the Queen to appoint Boris Johnson in the first place when it was plain as a pikestaff that he could not command a parliamentary majority. That initial crime (and I use the word advisedly) was compounded by the decision to prorogue parliament to enable her no majority Prime Minister to govern. In a sane world we should be getting out the pitchforks. Instead people are tut-tutting about the poor Queen being misled.
The next fact that is plain as a pikestaff is that Tom Watson is seeking to throw the election. One of the few true things Boris Johnson said in his knockabout performance in Parliament’s last sitting was that there were some on the Labour benches who were worried that Labour might win the next election.
Make no mistake, the Tories are in trouble. They need to pile on millions of votes in Northern English Labour constituencies before they actually start to win any, and they have thrown away existing liberal Tory support in London and southern England in order to pursue that goal. First Past the Post is very capricious, and once the leading party falls to 35% results become fickle even where there is a decent plurality. Regional concentration is actually an advantage in FPTP and in effect the Tories are in danger of evening out their support across England too much. They will certainly be down to a maximum of two seats in Scotland. They will have large losses to Labour and Lib Dems in London and the South West. All that is before we get in to the campaigning period and Jeremy Corbyn’s ability to solidify the Labour vote.
So with the prorogation row, the parliamentary defeats, the lost court cases and the Yellowhammer documents, Boris Johnnson was looking on sticky ground. The Labour Party had finally arrived at an apparently workable stance on Brexit: a general election followed by a second EU referendum with options of a viable deal and remain. Jeremy Corbyn, who had succeeded in helping build an opposition consensus on parliamentary tactics, has been looking in his strongest position for some time.
At this crucial moment enter Tom Watson with an entirely uncalled for intervention before a luvvies conference on the creative industries, trailed for all it was worth by the Blairite publicity machine. It was boosted to all the media specifically as Tom Watson taking on Jeremy Corbyn, and given wall to wall media coverage, carried live on the major broadcast news channels. What Watson had to say was simply a reiteration of Tony Blair’s article in the Evening Standard three days earlier; that there should be an EU referendum before a General Election.
What was the point of this Watson intervention? The first thing to say is that the real point was not the apparent purpose stated in the speech. Tom Watson knows full well there is no chance whatsoever of a new EU referendum ahead of a general election. The current parliament will never agree it. The expelled Tory rebels were almost all supporters of May’s deal and have almost all specifically ruled out a second referendum. At least 30 Labour MPs, led by figures like Stephen Kinnock, John Mann and Caroline Flint, would not agree to it. The DUP would never agree. It is a complete non-starter.
Why then would Watson deliver it? And not just deliver it quietly as a think piece, but deliver it with all the media hullabaloo that could possibly be mustered? The answer is quite simple. At Blair’s behest, Watson did it quite simply to damage Corbyn. At a time when the government was in deep trouble, when Corbyn had just addressed the TUC conference to applause with a finally coherent Brexit position, Watson’s aim was simply to damage Corbyn.
Watson sought to damage Corbyn in two ways. To damage him by staking out a more extreme Remainer position that might put a wedge between Corbyn and the new expanded Labour Party membership. And to damage Corbyn by giving headlines about Labour splits, taking the heat off the Tories and cutting at Labour’s standing in the polls just as it looked set to improve.
Because the one thing the Blairites detest most of all is the prospect of a Labour victory and a Corbyn government, implementing comparatively left wing policies that might prove popular and cause a real change in political discourse in England and Wales. Because that would be the death knell for the Blairites and their corporate sponsors.
Just as we are supposed to believe that the Queen is a naive waif innocent of Johnson’s schemes, we are supposed not to notice that Tom Watson seeks to damage Labour and ensure Corbyn does not come to power. We live in times when the media and the political class inhabit a world of polite pretence; a world where outsiders like me have a duty to point to the actual glaring facts, whether people listen or no.
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It is said that Watson has been reselected ‘due to a low turnout’. So that’s how it’s done. Get the loyalists along and dissuade the rest.
‘Tom Watson has survived tonight’s ‘trigger’ vote, with a very low turn-out voting to retain him as members unaligned with Watson stayed away.
A further five branches in his constituency have yet to vote, but locals report that a huge amount of persuasion and pressure has been applied by Watson and his supporters – perhaps partly explaining Watson’s recent relative invisibility – and it seems to have been effective in dissuading opponents from organising against him.’
https://skwawkbox.org/2019/09/10/watson-survives-trigger-meeting/
PS Someone should tell him that his specs don’t suit him.
” the real reason that Boris Johnson had prorogued parliament was to prevent parliament from having an effective say on the outcome of Brexit. ”
They’ve had three years. Queenie said “enough, sort it out”
The slavish devotion to the bureaucracy of the EU is risible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNtGoM3FVU
But ‘Queenie’ didn’t say that, she said ‘fuck parlimentary democracy, let’s just hard Brexit’ – a position explicitly ruled out by parliament and which isn’t supported by a majority of voters…
New YouGov poll for Walesonline shows support for an independent Wales in the EU at 33%.
The SNP need to get in the real game and stop faffing about with this stop Brexit nonsense.
Yesterday that educated eejit Joanna Cherry was at the Court of Session applying for a “nobile officium” order. This would allow the Court to sign a request for yet another Brexit extension on behalf of Johnson (but against his will obviously). In the stupendously unlikely event that Brussels would fall for that ruse, Johnson could turn around in the subsequent GE and say “I didn’t ask for an extension, it was the treacherous elite what done it.”.
Got to admit it’s funny though. Will it come down to an official in Brussels having to check whether the seal on the request is actually really genuinely from the Court of Session in Edinburgh? Or will the FCO issue an apostille so they don’t have to?
It wouldn’t surprise me if Joanna Cherry doesn’t know an apostille from her big toe.
Talking of Joanna Cherry, she did well on the burner phones allegation. I’d like to hear more on that one. If it turns out she made it up I’ll be upset.
Please call Thames House, Joanna, and give them all the information you’ve got about Dominic Cummings using burner phones on government business. If it’s true he’s a national security risk. Big stuff! Even if you just heard someone mention it in the Strangers’ Bar, tell Thames House anyway. They should want to know.
Perhaps Privy Council member, Ian Blackford was told by GCHQ? An eight unit network of burner phones simultaneously appearing around Downing Street / Whitehall would be picked up from meta-data analysis.
Yes – she would no doubt be outraged if a group of English Tory Mps at Westminster vowed to “Stop Indy” after a narrow 52/48 YES win in a hypothetical future Indyref2.
It is hypocrisy.
I and many other SNP members can see that – why can’t the hierarchy?
I want Scottish Independence – frankly to hell with the EU!
Monday morning headline “QUEEN INSTALLS DICTATORSHIP”.
The man whose actions supposedly led to the creation of the Brexit Party, who has a stint with the Quilliam Foundation on his CV and who knows how to get round the immigration guys at JFK airport (useful knowledge, that), Tommy Robinson, was released from prison today.
As soon as Robinson, Lord Pearson’s dinner partner who is also known as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was out of the gates at Belmarsh he did some product placement for McDonald’s, the US-based company that sells harmful “food” worldwide. Whether his stint as an advertising pin-up boy was brokered by the Sun I don’t know, but given their editorial choices today it may well have been. “Here’s a burger for you, Tommy – three grand be OK? And put the cup in the holder so we can see the logo.”
Too much comment and too little common sense.
The people of the UK had a referendum on whether to Remain or Leave the EU. That was the simple question on the ballot paper.
17.4 MILLION voted to Leave. This was the biggest turn-out in many years at any election /referendum.
For 3 years the Parliament has prevented the democratic wishes of the majority from being expedited. Now the Parliament has again prevented Brexit from being accomplished.
The Parliament are elected to represent the People. They have not exercised their duty in good faith.
Recent events in Parliament are a Coup against the Democratic decision of the people of the UK to LEAVE the EU.
The 17.4 million vote to leave the EU was not “the biggest turn out in many years” It was in fact the largest vote for anything at any time in British history.
All that has transpired since this vote of historic proportions is a simple manifestation of the contempt of the elite for the ordinary person. The only thing of interest is how the “radical left” are nothing more than cheerleaders for the elites.
If ordinary people continue to endure their views being ridiculed, smeared and ultimately ignored then perhaps they deserve the fate that awaits them.
…presumably making the vote to remain the second-largest vote for anything at any time in British history.
No. The vote to remain was the third largest vote for anything at any time in British history.
Parliament voted to hold the referendum.
Parliament voted to invoke Article 50.
Parliament voted several times on May’s Brexit deal, even after it suffered one of the worst defeats in British history.
Parliament hasn’t voted to revoke Article 50, or to stop anything but a hard Brexit (which wasn’t what 17 million people voted for).
And yet the self-victimising Brexiteers still repeat this outright falsehood that parliament is somehow stopping Brexit. Utter bullshit fantasy land.
N
You obviously don’t know the geography of Belmarsh (formerly Plumstead Marsh) very well- the nearest ‘restaurant’ to the place is a drive in McDonalds next to the bus station.The guy just needed a shot of fast food after all the halal meals he’d eaten in chokey (all meat in Belmarsh is halal, to reflect the wishes of the plurality of its guests).
If JR REALLY wanted to give Maccie D’s a shot of product placement in return for three grand (as your infantile Leftist imagination suggests) he could have gone up the road to the Woolwich Branch,from which, in 1974, McDonalds began their conquest of the UK , Europe,and then the World. They chose Woolwich as its demographics back then were a near perfect reflection of the UK- solidly working class by the river, with a scattering of Caribbean and Punjabi immigrants, getting progressively more middle class the further up the hill you go- although never quite reaching the gentility level of nearby Blackheath.
BTW Woolwich sure ain’t a ‘representative demographic’ of the UK now, in September 2019 !
The Queen normally has to follow the PM’s advice (in this case, to prorogue Parliament), whether or not she agrees with it. The Supreme Court will decide on Tuesday, whether that advice on this occasion was legal. If not, Parliament wlll have additional opportunity to frustrate the democratic wish of the electorate to leave the EU. If not, we may leave the EU without a deal, the latter which was irrelevant to the referendum question anyway. Arguably all MPs who voted to prevent us leaving without a deal should be thrown out at the next election for acting in bad faith – for committing themselves to Brexit and then making it impossible by insisting on a deal which they voted against. Those MPs who consistently voted Remain and did not so commit themselves are another matter. Like the Lib Dems. So no prizes for guessing whom I might vote for.
Good to learn that the Supreme Court has the power to decide, and will decide, as to whether the prorogation of Parliament was legal or illegal.
This simple statement must mean that John Bercow (and all who repeated his assertions) was simply lying when he described the prorogation of Parliament as “Executive fiat”
Why is there so much interest in the possible lies of Boris Johnson and zero interest in the obvious lies of John Bercow?
What lie? John Bercow expressed a true opinion about the process of prorogation: in practice, executive fiat, since the monarch would (almost certainly) go along with it.
It seems that your view of ‘democracy’ means that you can safely ignore the 48.5% let alone the fact that a referendum is not the same as a legislation. The function of our elected representative was to translate this wish of the majority into workable legislation and due to the intricacies of the process failed to agree to do so for 3 years. In comes a Tory leader with no mandate from any electorate but 90,000 ,Tory voters, and with a failure rate of 100% to win a vote in Parliament, to steamroller an extremely wrecking agenda and you cheer this as carrying out the will of the people, despite the damage that will be caused?
Time Scots got their heads out of England’s backside. This noxious fixation with England, its parliament, law, establishment and attempts at reinvention and self-promotion is ‘inappropriate’ for a people aspiring to the sovereignty and independence normative on the planet.
What will it take to cut the Brit out of the Scots psyche? Without that major cerebral intervention independence will continue to be just a dream promoted by the makers of Sturgeon’s anodyne whisky.
It’s comin fir aw that, as the last rheumy eyed and pickled Scot is installed in the Horniman museum, SE23.
Regret to say, Scottish nationalism is currently looking all smoke, mirrors, no balls and badly fitting dentures.
Nobile Officium: It’s game on as Scottish judges give Boris Johnson seven days to respond to brexit legal challenge.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-judges-give-boris-johnson-seven-days-to-respond-to-brexit-legal-challenge-1-5003723
even the dogs in the street know Bercow is a berk
and as the Prime minister says, ” we are leaving the E.U. come what may, do or die at Midnight on Halloween.”
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “It is clear that whilst some technical breaches of electoral law were committed by Leave.EU in respect of the spending return submitted for their campaign, there is insufficient evidence to justify any further criminal investigation.”
Of course, the plods were instructed by Downing St not to take any action, let it drop. Pursuit of the matter would have been very embarrassing for the Johnson regime.
Boris Johnson has said he “won’t be deterred by anybody” from leaving the hated E.U. on 31 October.
The prime minister Boris Johnson said he was “cautiously optimistic” of getting a Brexit deal, but the U.K. would leave by the deadline “whatever happens including No Deal Brexit”
Of course, Johnson is a notorious liar, but you appear to believe his every word.
Laguerre- of course the plods were initially instructed by former incumbents of Downing St to dig for dirt on Leave.eu- and have found nothing of substance- which is embarrassing for the We Wuz Robbed Remainiac trope which you utter yourself.
Most importantly, the main instigator, Nigel F. and his cohorts/bosses in the City of London corp. , a gullible UKip, running on the same slogan for over a decade, i.e. ‘ lets get out of Europe, lazy minds who like Nigel have done nothing but enrich themselves (Mr. 2 out of 46 meetings of the fisheries commitee), are the real reason we got a referendum.
Scaring the Tories by prising Cartliss into UKIP was the easy bit, and as planned by the CoLcorp. they got worried about loosing more MPs to UKIP.
That the Lib Dems power hungry wannabe’s could not see the implications of a referendum is not surprising, speed dating rather than hard negotiations made it obvious that they were not in it for their own policies.
So they abstained, rather than resign their poxy date with power and cause another election.
As for the result amongst the English, who could not have seen that this move will mean an end to the Union, they voted on wrong and pathetical slogans, racist ads on vans, whatever the right wing propriators of newspapers could come up with and on lies about gains in the NHS.
And now they believe another buffoon and liar, again, as if genetically modified to duff their caps.
The 1930s allegiances by some Royals seem to have had some lasting effect on then young minds, hence Iam not mucch surprised. Pirates were also hip once.
I do not know why this is happening but the English pound is at the same level against the Euro as twelve months ago.
As Cliff Edge Brexit got closer
the pound dropped but since Boris Johnson has become Prime minister it has climbed a lot.
Maybe it is because a resolution will happen on Halloween,
no ifs no buts, do or die.
The markets have been very clear. Every time the No-Deal cliff edge looms, the pound drops like a stone. When the prospect of No-Deal fades, the pound goes up again. It’s got nothing to do with Johnson’s premiership. If he succeeds in his apparent heart’s desire of the No-Deal cliff edge, and the wreck of the British economy, the drop will be far bigger. It is not difficult to imagine the profits that the vulture money men can make shorting the pound, when Britain is facing serious difficulty getting enough food across the channel, and the prices are shooting up.
Why on earth would Britain face serious difficulty getting enough food across the channel?
Haven’t you bothered keeping up to date on the studies? It’s even in the Yellowhammer report.
Bot the boss of the French channel ports authority has described the Yellowhammer assessment as politically-motivated bullshit, and has told us that his ports will be operating normally the day after brexit. I agree with M. Puissesseau. Don’t you? He’s the person most in the know, after all.
Laguerre
the pound has not dropped like a stone since the Bank of England was set up in 1694.
16% loss against the Euro since the referendum is a big drop, though perhaps not one that affects you Little Englanders. I remember there were people back in the sixties who genuinely actually believed Wilson when at the time of devaluation against the dollar, he said that the “pound in your pocket” was not affected.
According to the BBC five years ago the rate was 1.2696
today it is 1.1289
I am no good at maths but it does not seem such a massive drop
but I agree the pound is worth less against the Euro
than it was five years ago.
Apropos the recent move by Draghi , the markets smell a rat M. Laguerre. Your beloved Euro (which even Ken Clarke admits, in his autobiography ‘True Blue’ is neither fish nor fowl, and won’t fly long term due to these contradictions) is a hubris currency which ‘ll be found out as soon as Brexit is done-
https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2019/09/12/overwhelming-evidence-of-eu-perfidy-evokes-this-daft-question-from-remoanoids-did-boris-lie-to-the-queen/?fbclid=IwAR0uX9xj1zQpTHUbRblAHCffxYxXiLJNANz06G43FEgeRXsIGbpW-C-dLE0#comments
Michael
The pound was dropping like a lead balloon when Johnson became PM and then started to rise with each defeat of BJ in each vote in Parliament. As you may know, the market changes by the minute and never really represents a long term confidence vote in anything.
I’m interested – if the Referendum result had been reversed, how many of the Remain supporters would have put up their hands, in response to cries of unfair from the Brexiteers, and said of course you’re right it was quite unfair and unrepresentative and we need a bigger margin to have a mandate to Remain. Let us have a rerun ? Or would as I suspect, the Remainers be would more likely have said Pass Along Now, it’s all over nothing more to see here?
Farage made it quite clear that he would want a re-run in that case. He was in no way ready to accept a 52-48 result for Remain. But you complain when Remainers are unhappy with the actual result, although your divine hero felt the same way.
You’re deflecting. In the eventuality Mary Paul describes, would remainers have asked for a second referendum because people hadn’t been well-enough informed before the first one?
No, I am responding to what she said. Her hero told us all.
Mary Paul didn’t mention Farage. She asked what remain’s position would have been on another referendum had they won the 2016 one. You ignored this, and deflected toward Farage.
That’s how football is played, and how goals are scored, sometimes with a neat deflection into the back of the net.
Lurker here, I don’t remember commenting before but I may have, and this comment is out of continuity this far in but it takes a long time to read all the comments !About the EU defence Force, New EU Army whatever – its principal use will be for interior control. If Macron could put Polish, Hungarian etc boots into the Gilets Jaunes – he would !
The Romans used their legions in different parts of the empire from their origin (basically) to maintain order, Syrians on Hadrian’s Wall for example, Germans in Italy. Ultimately this will backfire but not yet …
The Spanish did something very similar in Catalonia : Chavez knew this and deliberately placed local troops/law officers in their local area, because they are going to protect their families, friends and neighbours.
The transition from “EU Military” to “EU Protection Force” will be quite rapid, oi rekkin !
Maybe I’m being a bit pessimistic, quien sabé ?
Sorry for the delay in posting on that topic but the bottle of wine I’m drinking probably does not help !
It may be preferable, do you think if Macron asks NATO troops, who incidentally also hail from the same nations that the hypothetical EU army, to do this job on the JJs?
Remind us who the “JJs” might be?
I probably need to apologise, er, my post may actually belong on Wee Ginger Dug. I have lost track ! It’s the good red wine as Chesterton would undoubtedly say…
I’d get Muzzer to make me a sandwich but I would have to reread the first chapter of The Necromancers Handbook, Proper Use of the Spade.
This is the same queen who oversaw a coup against an elected Australian Prime Minister in 1975. She has form.
Sadly, this is now the big test for the Monarchy. Faced with another cliffhanger (as she undoubtedly will be), should Her Majesty align again with conservative forces rather than Labour, we will have had a natural experiment delivering 3 out of 3 for the right (Whitlam dismissal, Johnson prorogation, whatever comes next around Brexit / election etc). As a lifelong monarchist born in England and latterly an Australian citizen, I was perplexed by her assent to the prorogation. Not least because this track seems to lead inexorably to the break up of the United Kingdom. As a result, I am now finding it hard not to conclude that the Queen does indeed suffer from the biases that Craig is suggesting. From the perspective of the monarchy’s future, she might be wise to lean left as a matter of principle next time she faces such a choice. If she doesn’t, many previously happy subjects and supporters will undoubtedly draw the obvious conclusion.
Martin
I take it you also believe in democracy and at the same time also of equality amongst men and women.
Absolutely fabulous how the Daily Express are today in an article reporting that the Queen is concerned about Brexit polarization and how …. ” politicians are not taking her advice to secure compromise ”
Eh! – can you believe that when the Head of the House of Lush signed the decree to shut down parliament and stifle democratic debate .
She and her courtiers are to use the phrase bare faced f…ing liars.
She, like her sex athlete son certainly know how to feed excrement to the masses.
High time we flushed the toilet on the monarchy …
“politicians are not taking her advice to secure compromise”
Which politicians? Has the cow “granted” Jeremy Corbyn’s “request” for a meeting with her yet?
If she hasn’t, what’s keeping her? If she can give her lackeys the OK to brief the filthy fascist rag the Daily Express, she can answer when the Leader of the Opposition speaks to her, can’t she?
In other news from the ongoing buildup to Brexitmageddon
* the Steinerite loons of “Extinction Rebellion” seem hell-bent on taking down Heathrow airport (lock them up!), and
* Saudi oil facilities are ablaze (should I buy a third 20 litre jerrycan?).
On the BBC schedule yesterday, there were three opportunities to see Watson again speaking at that ‘Creative Industries Federation’ on various channels. Well done Milord Hall.
His Register of Interests on the Parliament website.
Category 2: Remunerated employment, office, profession etc.
Director-General, BBC
Category 10: Non-financial interests (a)
Director, BBC Commercial Holdings Limited (wholly owned subsidiary of BBC)
Category 10: Non-financial interests (c)
Member of Board, 14-18 Now (formerly First World War Centenary Cultural Programme Board)
Member of Advisory Council, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Category 10: Non-financial interests (e)
Trustee, Paul Hamlyn Foundation (independent grant-making organisation focusing on the arts)
Look at Bunting and Salz on https://www.phf.org.uk/about-phf/people/?select-person-type%5B0%5D=trustees
Goldman Sachs and Rothschilds get a mention.
Absolutely agree with most this even though I am in the Creative Industry and therefore a “luvvie”( a phrase usually used contemptuously of us in the right wing press .)
“Creative industry” is a far stupider term than “luvvie”. Advertising is neither creative nor an industry. It’s hawking.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph Mr. Aaron Banks said: The Establishment has shot every single piece of ammunition it has to prevent No-Deal Brexit and it’s gone even further with attempts to smear, financially ruin and even imprison those who defeated it in the vote.
“Today – after years of investigations, questionings and corrections, I can say Leave.EU and I have been completely vindicated.”
It does seem that the Elite will do anything to prevent No-Deal Brexit
It is fascinating to read the comments and see how the apparently simple issue of whether to be part of a trade bloc or not has become an existential identity issue which defines everything about a person and divides us all into a binary absolute. The twentieth century tedium of left versus right has been erased and replaced with a mind-numbingly banal leave or remain division. Every argument gets endlessly recycled in a repetitive loop of ennui. Not one original thought seems to have been uttered on the topic since June 24th 2016. For Feck’s sake, stop with the crass reruns of the same pointless arguments and just accept that people don’t agree and never will, no matter how many times you tell them the same thing. SHUT UP ABOUT F**KING BREXIT ALREADY!
“supposed to believe that the Queen is a naive waif ”
Is there really someone pushing the idea that the Queen is a homeless child? Amazing.
I am reasonably sure the Queen knows her bread is buttered on both sides, heads she wins – tails she wins.
We don’t always agree, Craig, but that’s a fair summation throughout. Today, however, the Institute for Blair is actually backing Corbyn’s approach – he’s been in the forefront of smearing Corbyn previously, of course – and that bears at least two interpretations. First, that Blair knows he is now such a toxic brand that his support is essential to Labour losing the next election. This is unlikely, since Blair’s lack of self-awareness shapes 90% of his persona. The other alternative is that Blair will tolerate Corbyn as a caretaker just as long as it takes to revive the smear campaign (currently in abeyance in case he can steal the election, but ready at any time to be resumed) and then agitate for a Blairite to replace him. Plans are presumably under way for this.
And the other interpretations to which you allude?
I refer you to the exact wording of my comment. I specify two interpretations, but am aware that others may exist. Feel free to make some up. Thank you.
You are most welcome, Komodo, but I can see you are far better at making things up than me! Keep it up.
Two things on Eugenics Cummings from HuffPo:
* It seems he didn’t self-teach himself maths to degree level but hired a tutor
* He has a “health condition” for which “treatment has been postponed because of his No.10 role”. (What’s that?)
BBC Radio 4 news reported today that Boris Johnson will go to Luxembourg where he will tell Jean-Claude Juncker that he “won’t stand for an extension”.
That is so typical of the type of language there has been in the right-wing gutter imbecile-market media for decades. Anyone without sh*t for brains and who has paid attention to this Brexit lark is aware that there will only be an extension if the British regime requests one and EU27 say yes. But no, this isn’t how the imbeciles see it. Every time a representative from Britain meets some from “the EU”, they think “the EU” are going to try to push Britain around but Britain, equipped with a much more competent elite than any other country in the world, is going to whack those foreign scum around the ‘ead.
There really is very little hope.
My own desire is to emigrate ASAP, and I’m working on it.
The BBC say Johnnson will tell Juncker that he will “warn” the EU that he “won’t tolerate any further delay” and that “such a move would be a big mistake”.
Get me out of this sh*tty country!
Boris Johnson has been remarkable clear unlike Jeremy Corbyn who is dithering.
Jeremy Corbyn only knows he does not want an election as he will be done up like a kipper.
Boris has said no ifs no buts do or die we are leaving at midnight on Halloween.
Take it or don’t take it E.U.Elite.
The ball is very clearly in the E.U. side of the net.
Either they get down on bended knee and offer a reasonable deal
or they are instantly £39,000,000,000 worse off.
and here’s me thinking Gina Miller runs the country ……….
My thoughts precisely.. albeit far more precisely ‘fleshed out’.
Labour M.P. Harriet Harman says she will “not back down” in the race to replace John Bercow M.P.
as Commons Speaker, despite objections from her local party.
Members in Camberwell and Peckham, London, voted to urge her to pull out, and “hinted” they could run a candidate against her at the next election.
But the ex-Labour deputy leader said her devotion to her constituency would be “unshakeable” if she became Speaker.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49769007
This should be the time of Labour the Conservatives are fighting each other like rats in a sack.
All Labour have to do is quietly sit it out as adults, then sweep up at the next General Election.
Punching each other ion the face, will not help their cause.
Even the dogs in the street know Tom Watson is working to bring down Jeremy Corbyn.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/49781152
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has quashed a motion at his party conference to oust his deputy, Tom Watson, by abolishing the position.
Mr Corbyn suggested the role should be reviewed instead.
So it seems J.C. has bottled it.
If he can’t even see off Tom Watson, if J.C. becomes Prime minister how will he cope with dissenters in his government?
Michael
This is a battle for another day. I think Corbyn’s action demonstrates that he is above such lowly skullduggery as is practiced by Watson.
The dogs in the street also surely know that whatever the state of the British constitution, whether written or not, is not fit for purpose. Apparently it goes like this: The queen, an unelected hereditary head of state has no actual power. The royal prerogative is merely a show whereby monarch acts on the advice of her Prime minister and ministers. Therefore it appears that the PM even when he or she looses their majority in parliament can continue to govern, and as currently seen by ordering the queen to close down parliament which is then unable to bring him down. If we had an elected president they would have the power to force other actions to bring the PM to line. Apparently the queen will not even listen to the head of her majesty’s opposition as he is too lowly to be granted an audience with such an august person.
And this is 21st century Britain and is claimed to be a democracy.
Even the dogs in the street can do the maths,
Conservatives on 37%
Labour on 22%
how come Labour is in such a mess?
This was before this week debacle
Opinium – CON 37%, LAB 25%, LDEM 16%, BREX 13%, GRN 2%
Apropos of what exactly, Michael, other than the said dogs?
Well the maths is adding the Brexiteers up on one side and on the other side adding up the Remainers.
They weigh in about the same but the Brexiteers only have to join UKIP+DUP+Tory+Brexit
All the others have to add up to more than 50% and they do not
SNP+Green+Labour+Welsh+LibDem+Changelings
it does not matter the weight of Green votes, they will only get one seat.
The Changelings are almost certainly done.
The turncoats who have walked over to the LibDems will be yesterdays news.
Some of the Labour vote will go to the Brexit Party.
So the dogs know how it will roll.
If the Brexiters are so narrow in their outlook that they cannot see any policy other than Brexit and would rather vote for the extremely right wing Brexit party, so be it. They and unfortunately we, will get the government they deserve.
Michael
In the hothouse atmosphere that we are in now when all the press is just talking about Brexit, of course all opinion polls will effectively be asking is what people think which party is best for their immediate gratification. In a GE there will hopefully be a much wider debate and people will grasp what the real issues are beyond Brexit because in real life politics will not cease to exist beyond Brexit. It seems to me irrational that a party of the people should take one strong view on Brexit one way or another because in doing so they will be siding with only half the population. The finessed offer by the Labour party may not be understood by the man in the street now but hopefully will be understood by bloggers here who should stop undermining labour just because they themselves are die in the wool brexiters.