Brexit

It’s nice to see @theatremonkey taking control Parliamentary proceedings. Hopefully you’ll have better luck in sorting out this mess than the current MPs.

www.graffitistreet.com/store/banksy-monkey-parliament-official-lithograph/

I want Patti to make the deal that gets us out of this current farrago.

So what happens next? Will Boris ask for an extension of 1 day? Or will there be a 3 month extension, elections next month and won by him and a no-deal Brexit next month with his newly chosen majority party? Because pro-Brexit parties are still very much divided/scattered.

Not in the Tony Blair sense. Johnson will be counting the PLP triggers as they mount up in the coming weeks and months knowing that the anti-Corbyn progressives (and pro Remain) are being weeded out. What they are being replaced with (Leave/Remain is another matter). But it is another HoC complexion change to follow on from the 21 former Tories and Lib Dem defections.

If there is a long game here, in both Red and Blue parties, the active membership is maj Leave, and constituency parties are making inroads vs their contrarian MP representatives. If I were Johnson I'd hang on - at constituency level, time is Brexit's friend.

We are most probably in a hiatus until the 19th, full of sound and fury signifying nothing

The Opposition are waiting to play their Joker which they may have to if they want to remove any doubt of a No-Deal Brexit due to the mixed messages from Johnson, will comply with the Benn-Act and still leave on the 31st.

My gut feeling is that a vote of no confidence will take place on the 21st once the Johnson strategy is in motion/understood and whether an extension or deal has been tabled.


On an election all is quiet, the numbers indicate no Party will have a majority and Johnson really needed one before, or to have left the EU by the 31st, the election will definitely not happen and leaving unlikely, therefore the Conservatives wooed by the Brexit Party are unlikely to return to the fold believing their best bet is to vote with the Brexit Party therefore reducing the Conservative chance of a majority.

The unknown is how the Labour and Lib Dem’s get on, If Labour become a Leave Party they could get a majority, if not on their own, in a coalition with the SNP / Plaid and Greens and may chance an election.

The likelihood once we get past the 31st is neither Labour and the Conservatives would want an election as the Brexit Party would weaken the Conservatives chances of a majority and the Lib Dem’s weaken Labours.

Ironically the best way forward for the Conservatives if we haven’t left on the 31st is a referendum, how the Conservatives could engineer one would be a masterclass in spin and they will likely have to influence Labour or the Lib Dems to trigger one.

The end game on Brexit is still up in the air and the only thing we know for sure is, O time! thou must untangle this, not I; It is too hard a knot for me to untie!

Sorry, my mistake, if Labour become a Remain Party,

Lovely Shakespeare, Neil. Of course Willie got there before us all.
Another Ref would have us in the same position as we are now. The losing side would not accept the decision. If Remain lose, they continue their battle. If Leave lose this time, they say why didn't we abide by Ref 1 so we at least best of 3. 😂

General Election only way out. The person with the working maj in HoC goes to Queen and forms a gov. Then does whatever he/she wants to do with the mandate behind him/her. This may well mean a coalition somewhere in the House. We are of course moving towards a coalition style Gov now. End of.

Behave yourself. 

You are Chukka Ummuna, you are I know it

Has he dissatisfied the Empire of Virtue again?

Just added a bit of shopping to my list......

He he

I complained a while ago that the BBC was using unattributed quotes as headlines. This is misleading as it “reads” on first glance as a factual statement...it is only when you click on the headline that you see who has made the quote. I received the following reply today....pretty rubbish. I do, however, notice they have started using attributed quotes in headlines FAR more often (often PM: or No10:) ...so perhaps I wasn’t the only one to complain....now if only they stopped using gossip as most of the news....

Thank you for getting in touch about our article entitled Boris Johnson's referral to watchdog 'politically motivated' - No 10 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49862859).

The article’s short headline, visible on our indexes, was:

PM's referral to watchdog 'politically motivated'

The words ‘politically motivated’ appear in quotes to indicate that this is a claim, rather than a fact, a standard practice in print journalism where space is limited.

Where the article featured as one of the top stories on the news homepage it was also accompanied by a summary:

It is alleged businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri received favourable treatment due to friendship with PM.

On visiting the article, the longer headline and introduction immediately make clear that these are the words of a senior government source.

The use of sources as an anonymous way to obtain or clarify information is also a well-known practice in journalism, used for many years.

The BBC has specific guidelines on the use of sources: www.bbc.com/editorialguidelines/guidelines/fairness/guidelines#anonymity

Journalists often get information from sources who do not wish to be identified and they will know their full identity and have assessed their credibility before the information they provide is used to inform our coverage.

Thank you once again for getting in touch.