POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

Gove doesn't seem to mind the world knowing that he threw a wobbly when he saw the briefing note for the away day and tore it up. Speculation is that there are two options for customs in the proposals, both of which have already been rejected by the EU.....

[Tizer]

....according to the BBC News site: `The government has talked publicly about two potential options for its customs relationship with the European Union after Brexit. One, a customs partnership, would mean the UK applies the EU's own tariffs and rules of origin to all goods arriving in the country, intended for the EU. The other, known as maximum facilitation or max-fac, aims to employ new technology to remove the need for physical customs checks where possible. Two groups of cabinet members were looking at each of the plans. The document in question, prepared by civil servants, was supposed to represent the views of a group of cabinet members looking at the customs partnership, including Mr Gove.' LINK

[Stanley]

HMRC can't even manage its present workload never mind any extras! The NHS promise has paralysed all spending and according to Phil, there is no money in the pot since the Tories own Treasury Rules mean that they have to keep bringing the debt down.
I don't think I have ever seen such universal derision of a political ploy as there is at the moment about the Cluedo game at Chequers on Friday. The EU must be laughing their socks off at us. I can't get this image out of my head of a blindfolded May lashing out at a Piñata........

[Stanley]

Later..... THIS BBC report lays out the Brexit conundrum is no nearer a resolution despite the fact that May says they have come up with a Cunning Plan (another one!) which will unite the Cabinet. However Jacob Rees Mogg says that any deviation from a hard Brexit as promised will mean a leadership challenge. I said the other day that I detect a slight note of panic in the Brexiteer camp because it becomes more and more clear that industry and Parliament will not wear this. This was reinforced by news that May's chief Brexit adviser has advised that the EU has made it quite clear that no fancy options will be allowed. On the face of it this cuts the Brexieer's options down to one, go all out for a hard Brexit by forcing a split in the party which will almost certainly trigger a revolt in Parliament and the spectre of a Labour government. The question is, could they live with this?
Time is so short that if any remedial action has to be taken it is imminent. It's no exaggeration to speculate that July may see the end of Theresa May's bid for control because she certainly hasn't achieved that.
From history..... situations like this trigger the eminences in grey suits who believe they control Conservatism getting very worried and taking their own remedial action. This has happened before and proles like us will not be made party to their deliberations.....
Shades of Lord Salisbury..... Read THIS and take note of the clues....... At the top of the establishment this is where the ultimate levers of power reside but they don't want us to know that....... [Just for a laugh, read Harold Nicholson's diaries and reflect on how much policy was actually decided round the dinner table at Cliveden it the days when the Astors were at the top of the tree]. Don't imagine for one moment that all this belongs to the past, these people are survivors!

[Tizer]

`Theresa May must stand up to the metropolitan, fashionable elite along with the EU and prepare for a no deal otherwise the Conservative Party could collapse and be out of office for decades, according to arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg.'

If that's what Moggie thinks the Remainers are then I'll bet Ken Clarke will be very amused!

[Stanley]

THIS Article sums up just how nasty things are getting and we are nowhere near Friday! Rees Mogg criticised by his own party as insolent.

[Stanley]

The tempers rise in Parliament as the BCC and service providers pile on the pressure for clarification of the 'Third Proposal'. Rees Mogg and Redwood join in continuing their attack on their own Leader.
There is a cunning wheeze on the cards, the ditching of the present freeze on the annual Fuel Tax rise. See THIS Guardian report. This could raise £800million and billions thereafter. Yet another pressure on industry and the consumer.

[Tizer]

This was in the Independent a few days ago. Not surprisingly, it prompted the right wing press to say he has no right to lecture us on how we run the country...
`UN to investigate extreme poverty in the UK – after nearly a decade of austerity
Senior figure, who angered Donald Trump, to make fact-finding mission to UK' LINK

[plaques]

Mrs May will retreat into her bunker Wolfsschanze (Chequers) on friday and tell her generals that our 6th Army has been completely surrounded by the EU forces and that defeat is imminent. The outgoing message is likely to be ' fight to the last bullet but one' but most of her generals will make their own arrangements and disappear overseas never to be seen again.
Does this sound familiar?

[Stanley]

Tiz, quelle Horreur!! That will signal to the proles they are worse off than other countries!
Very accurate P. Have you noticed how quiet Boris is? I think he can see the way things are going and doesn't want to be blamed..... Bit late....
See THIS BBC report on the verdict of the Electoral Commission on the conduct of the official Leave campaign. So, despite all the denials, they did bend the rules. Not that it makes much difference now but it's par of the course in this sorry episode.

[Tizer]

If nothing else they should be castigated for blatantly lying. They got away with putting a lie in big letters on the side of a bright red bus. They tried to be clever by wording it as `We send the EU £350 million a week' because they knew that a lot of it comes back to us but it was still a lie because about £100 million of that figure never leaves the UK. Would you buy a secondhand car from the Brexiteers?

This web page looks at how the population views hard and soft Brexit now: LINK It looks like not much has changed and it shows that many people still don't understand what it's all about. It's more evidence that a referendum was the wrong way to go about making a decision.

[plaques]

For those who are familiar with Noam Chomsky This 8 minute video 'Trump is a Distraction' Link.. spells out in detail what Trump and the Republican Party are really doing. Their politics affect everyone world wide and can't simply be dismissed as some demented buffoon across the pond. The sad thing is that the Brexiteers are adopting similar tactics with Boris, Mogg and Gove leading the charge. The Tory Party can see the cash register ringing up some juicy profits while the rest suffer more years of austerity.

[Stanley]

He's spot on P and no, neither he nor the UK equivalents have distracted me. My version of the ploy is that in both cases they are attempting to drag us back into the 19th century when laisser faire capitalism held all the levers of power and ensured that wealth flowed uphill. I'm certain Mr Chomsky would agree with me.
Meanwhile...... Mrs May girds her loins for tomorrows away day. Don't hold your breath.......
See THIS Telegraph report on a letter sent by David Davis to Theresa May warning her that her 'Third Way' is unworkable. Not a good augury for Friday's make-or-break away day at Chequers. Downing Street insists that it is viable so that's all right then......
I note that Esther Mcvey has been forced to apologise for making a 'misleading statement' on Universal credit (LINK) In other words she was lying!

[Tizer]

`How a US-China trade war could hurt us all', an analysis by Karishma Vaswani, BBC Asia business correspondent. LINK
The final sentences: `The tit-for-tat mentality between Beijing and Washington could just end up antagonising both sides to a point where they cannot climb down from their hostile positions for fear of losing face. "You start with protectionism and isolationism," says Victor Mills, chief executive of Singapore's International Chamber of Commerce. "And then you don't just beggar your neighbour, you beggar yourself." What many business people are hoping of course, is that this sound and fury is just the start of another series of negotiations. But the worry is that if it's not - it will escalate, and everybody will be the poorer. And that includes you and me.'
-------------------------------------------------------------

Later...The BBC says that Russian state television has accused the British government of staging the latest Novichok poisoning event because it is envious of Russia's `wonderful World Cup'!

[Stanley]

Spot on Tiz..... I wish they'd read history, in the late 1920s and early 30s the US tried isolationism and protection and found that it didn't work. It never does!
I heard Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee commenting on Russia and the Novichok affair. He was totally rabid describing the Russian government as 'Mafia' and the ministers as mobsters. The Russian police are Mafia enforcers and he ignored the presenter completely, just kept pouring out rabid nonsense. This man chairs our foreign affairs committee? What chance is there of talking and rapprochement with a man like that in charge? The diplomats must love him....... Is he feeding Boris? (LINK)

[Stanley]

Later..... The news is of course full of what could happen at Chequers today. Every Tom Dick and Harry is having their say but this gives no clarity. All that counts in practical terms is what comes out of the meeting when they eventually finish, it could easily overrun!
Walking is good for thinking and I have come to two conclusions. The first is that the fundamental flaw is that it is only the Cabinet having the 'discussion' when it ought to be a cross party consultation to bring in the views of not only opposing parties but the devolved parliaments as well. This course guarantees a continuing storm when a decision is reached because it can't possibly satisfy everyone.
Second; the result will not be the best for the UK but a compromise between opposing factions in the government and where this compromise falls depends largely on how much control T May has over her Cabinet. I think you can see my problem! The situation is complicated for May of course By the fact that whatever the decision is it must be one that avoids trade barriers in Ireland or between the UK and Ireland and this almost certainly guarantees a direct clash with the hard core Brexiteers. We are told that this group had a meeting at the Foreign Office last night to decide on their position and what their red lines are.
None of this looks hopeful but there is one more matter. Whatever they come up with has to be agreed by the EU! If there are any crunch points in this process like Cabinet members being sacked or resigning there will be an uproar in the Commons. There is a chance the Tories are going to rip themselves apart over this. If they do the pressure is on the opposition parties to come off the fence and step in, nobody can predict what happens then.
Last thought, the EU are watching all these shenanigans closely and will be fighting their corner. None of this procrastination does anything to strengthen our position.

[Stanley]

(LINK) T May announces that the Cabinet have been reasonable and seen it her way but I have a funny feeling this won't be the end of it, and then there is the EU response.
One unkind thought...... The EU is having its own problems with other members signalling rebellion over migration. It would be very handy for Brussels to be able to say to any potential leavers "Think again. Look what happened to the UK".

[Tripps]

Quote from somewhere on the Interweb thingy -

Someone on BBC 'Have your Say', remarked a little while ago that there's got to be something wrong when the deal agreed is more acceptable to the losing side of the referendum than it is to the winning side.

[Tizer]

It's natural forces coming into play - the winning side made the wrong decision.
It reminds me of when our house was heated on oil and we joined the local oil-buying syndicate so we could get the oil at a significantly lower price and we didn't have to ring around suppliers and negotiate prices with them. But as a syndicate member we couldn't pick and choose who supplied the oil, the syndicate did that to get the lowest price, and we had to fit in with the ordering and delivery schedule. By analogy with the Leavers and Brexiteers we could have decided to leave the syndicate to `protect our sovereignty' and choose who delivered and when but then we'd have been back to ringing around and negotiating and having to pay higher prices. If we'd acted like Brexiteers and said we were going to leave the syndicate but wanted to still get lower prices and other benefits from the oil suppliers we'd have got a very strong Barnier-type response (probably with stronger language!).

[Tripps]

Yes - but as a condition of membership of the syndicate, did you have to agree that any other member could come and stay at your place?

[Stanley]

It's going to get worse before it gets better, I am thoroughly fed up with the whole thing and I noted yesterday that Cameron is advising Boris! Now there's a recipe for compounding a disaster..... Meanwhile Our Jacob makes Delphic analogies with a soft boiled egg..... Send out for quotes from the removers?

[Tizer]

Yes - but as a condition of membership of the syndicate, did you have to agree that any other member could come and stay at your place?

Well, I certainly needed electricians and plumbers to come and stay for long enough to sort my lighting and heating maintenance needs. The syndicate was also able to provide such services for members. A bit like having nurses and fruit pickers come to Britain to do what we can't/won't do ourselves.

I noted yesterday that Cameron is advising Boris! Now there's a recipe for compounding a disaster

From what I read it sounded more like Boris was using Cameron as a target to boil off his aggression and Cameron was wishing he was somewhere else (he escaped to Wimbledon).

Living in exciting times is becoming an under-statement. May's Brexit proposals look like a list for the Magic Fairy and I expect Barnier will tell her so. The Moggles are getting exasperated and looking for blood. Meanwhile Trump is off to Helsinki to meet his mate Putin and do a deal to sell him Europe and the US in exchange for being able to build Trump Towers throughout Russia. If all that sounds too much like a comic cartoon strip it's because we now live in a comic cartoon world!

[Stanley]

Quite! And Boris has added 'polished turds' to the Rees Mogg soft boiled eggs. Scintillating use of language.

[Tripps]

I'm up late tonight - I now know that David Davis (Brexit Secretary) has resigned -as has his number two . I heard it said that the Friday 12 hour marathon meeting would unravel by Monday . Looks like that's the case. Today should be an interesting day.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on his resignation. I think you're right David, an interesting day in prospect. My crap detector started whining last night when I saw Gove being 'helpful' to T May. He has his eye on the prize and it's not Brexit. I see Jacob has shoved his oar in as well.
Two questions..... What do the brexiteers do now? Do they break cover and actually go for May in a bid to unseat her? What will the EU make of this? I doubt they would have bought the plan in the first place and now we must look like an open goal.
The 'Brexit strategy' (If there ever was one) was falling apart yesterday and now it looks dead in the water. I think it's time for a 'U' Turn.....