The General UK Politics (Past and Present) Discussion Thread

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  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,276MI6 Agent
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    "Strictly speaking, Prime Minister, the numbers are not on your side..."
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    Postponing the vote about the Brexit deal seems desperate by May, She claims it's because she wants to get a better deal with EU, but the EU leadership has said there will be no further negotiations.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,276MI6 Agent
    "You seem to have forgotten my hidden assets..."


    wd-jacob-rees-mogg.jpg

    Rees-Mogg as James Bond when Danny steps down! -{

    Q: Here's your new car, a 1930s Bentley...
    Bond (Rees-Mogg): But what about my Model T? It's never let me down.
    Q: M's orders, 007.
    Bond: Where's the crank shaft? ?:)
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,692MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    Postponing the vote about the Brexit deal seems desperate by May, She claims it's because she wants to get a better deal with EU, but the EU leadership has said there will be no further negotiations.

    No, it's because she very sensibly wants to hold onto her job and attendant salary. The Self-Preservation Society, if you will.

    Anyway, we'll see what happens tonight. It looks likely now that May will win the Party vote of confidence, throwing them the morsel that she will not stay on until the next general election scheduled for June 2022.
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    I thought she is safe for one year if she survives the vote of no-confidence?
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,692MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    I thought she is safe for one year if she survives the vote of no-confidence?

    Yes, she is, under the rules. However, she has told the backbench 1922 Committee that she will not contest the next projected 2022 General Election as Party Leader.

    This could be seen as a sop to her fellow Tory MPs to back her now as leader to see Brexit through in the promise she will be gone by perhaps next summer or sooner, paving the way for a new leader to take over.
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    edited December 2018
    May survived the no-confidence vote. Her future looks pretty bleak regardless. She postponed the vote on Brexit to get time to change the deal with the EU, but it was no surprise that she failed. Now she has to get her Brexit deal through Parliament. That will take some doing.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,330Chief of Staff

    This could be seen as a sop to her fellow Tory MPs to back her now as leader to see Brexit through in the promise she will be gone by perhaps next summer or sooner, paving the way for a new leader to take over.

    ... a prospect which brings no comfort, given the potential candidates.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    If May loses the Brexit vote in Parliament, will she resign?
  • ChriscoopChriscoop Belize Posts: 10,449MI6 Agent
    British Politics at the moment is simply shambolic, the reasons people voted for Brexit has been lost in all the political grandstanding and attempts at personal gain, thanks to our draconian rules any government attempting to make a deal are castrated in their ability to negotiate, how can you negotiate when your forced to show your hand and the offset? MPs should have been commanded by their party leaders to return to their constituencies and hold surgeries to learn what the people who voted them in actually want and voted appropriately, the results of that vote should be made public so the voters can hold MPs who have not voted in line with their constituents responsible.
    Corbyn is a complete lame duck, more so than May. He has shouted and bawled down every proposal, yet has no serious answers! Why does he think he can get the deal that no one else can? More and more he just looks like a anarchist who just wants to bring down the government.
    It was either that.....or the priesthood
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    It looks to me like Theresa May spends most of her time working with Brexit. It's a hugely important issue, but does she have time to run the country?
  • ChriscoopChriscoop Belize Posts: 10,449MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    It looks to me like Theresa May spends most of her time working with Brexit. It's a hugely important issue, but does she have time to run the country?
    It's the senior civil servants who actually run the country, In fact one of our most important civil servant Jeremy Heywood has recently died, we keep the same people despite whos in power, unlike the USA where trump has sacked hundreds of experienced staff and not replaced them.
    It was either that.....or the priesthood
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    The civil servant run the country, but the cabin et and the PM give the guidelines to run it by. There are also some decisions only a PM can make.
  • ChriscoopChriscoop Belize Posts: 10,449MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    The civil servant run the country, but the cabin et and the PM give the guidelines to run it by. There are also some decisions only a PM can make.

    True enough, but the machine of government runs on, secretaries are running their departments and the cabinet still meet to discuss everything and inform the pm. There have been a lot of announcements from the pm and the government such as the extra funding for the police etc, but they are all overshadowed by Brexit.
    It was either that.....or the priesthood
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,276MI6 Agent
    I'm inclined to agree with Chriscoop, it turns out the Government of the day is generally a kind of window dressing, often a bit of misdirection too. You don't suppose truly powerful people put themselves in a position where they get trashed in the press and face catcalls as they walk along Downing St all for a relative pittance.

    Just because you've heard of your MP doesn't mean he or she is powerful. The most powerful people in this land have virtually no web presence. That's how they like it, it means they can't be knocked off their perch.

    Look at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital scandal. Acres of column inches this summer in the press, but - surprise surprise - the police find nothing to investigate. That's not just down to the Govt, it's the State in action.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    Did Jeremy Corbyn really call Prime Minister may "stupid woman" in the House of Commons?

    I think he did, and regardless if the charges are true or not, he shouldn't have done it. Dignity and respect for people you disagree is too rare in today's politics, he shouldn't make it worse.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,330Chief of Staff
    He says he muttered "stupid people", not aimed at anyone in particular.
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,692MI6 Agent
    Barbel wrote:
    He says he muttered "stupid people", not aimed at anyone in particular.

    Not that I'm one to defend Corbyn or anything but to be fair it did look more like he said that in the footage:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yd16brn0Fw
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    I won't pretend I have any lip reading skill, so I don't know. I can say the British Parliament is a very lively place, much more than ours :))
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,276MI6 Agent
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    "You stupid woman!"

    from the new Brexit sitcom, Au Revoir, Au Revoir!
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    So, what happens next?

    I can't imagine Theresa May can stay in power after the vote today, and I also suspect Corbyn doesn't really want to be PM now. Who in their right mind would?

    Will the UK leave the EU without a deal?
    Will there be another referendum on EU membership?
    Will there be a new election in the UK?

    The Norwegian Labour leader just said Theresa May was dealt a bad hand when she became PM, and she's played her cards badly. I think thst sounds about right. It's sad watching one of the oldest democracies in the world experiencing such chaos and division. Hopfully it will work itself out somehow.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,330Chief of Staff
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    I don't know if you're familiar with the British expression "dog's breakfast", N24. Look it up if you're not! :))
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    I didn't know that expression, so I've learnt more English today :)

    And I agree with that assessment. I also agree with May when she said the House of Commons has said what it doesn't want, but not what they want. It's of comfort to us, and perhaps you, that while 20% of Norwegian exports goes to the UK, most of it is transported directly by ship and not via the EU. So if the UK still has no treaty with the EU in a couple of months that trade will not be affected in any way. Norway will stay rich and the UK will still get fuel and fish. :D
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,330Chief of Staff
    I'm interested in how this pans out on a personal basis- I'm a UK citizen married to an EU citizen and the result of all this may directly affect my family.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    Yes, I can see how that is a worry. If the UK leves without a deal I think there will be problems, but it will work itself out with time. The UK is simply too big (economically, politically and in terms of population) to fail for too long.

    I'm not sure I remember: where is your wife from?
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,330Chief of Staff
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  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    Oh, that's right. Belgium :D
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,330Chief of Staff
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  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,797MI6 Agent
    :)) :))
  • HigginsHiggins GermanyPosts: 16,618MI6 Agent
    edited January 2019
    Some thoughts after yesterday's disaster:

    UK politicians have been blaming the EU for decades for their own failures and that is now biting back.
    It's obviously not all milk and honey after the country is leaving the EU, otherwise there would be a majority in the parliament now for a No-Deal Brexit.

    I blame Mrs. May for this to a large degree:
    After she took the job, she could have told her people the truth, which is, that leaving the EU will result in severe damage to the country and people - not only inside of the UK.
    Instead, she kept the illusion alive, that the EU would crack under the UK "being special and unique" and in the eye of a Hard-Brexit. It becomes now obvious, that the majority of the parliament has no illusions and tries to avoid a Hard Brexit by all means.

    I remember the (still ongoing) scaremongering reasoning and it becomes obvious step by step that this is becoming more and more reality.

    One word about "fairness":
    The UK strategy for the negotiations from day one was to divide and play out single EU countries against each other and thus getting their terms thru. At the same time, (and I was hearing that often here (the German car makers will make sure that they will not have tariffs)) they tried to play the influential industries against their own governments.
    All this totally failed because it was an illusion!

    I don't think, that we'll see the default option of a Hard Brexit in March as obviously the majority of the parliament will vote against.

    Ireland: Both the EU and the UK (rightly) want to avoid a hard border by all means.
    So far nobody came up with a practical solution for this dilemma. I am only hearing, what people are against. Nobody says what they are supportive of.

    That seems a general issue in our world where people tend to believe populists more than experienced people. Populists will tell you all day, what they are against. If they tell you, what they want - the replies are getting shorter and far less elaborate. As an example, UKIP was against the EU, but had no idea how to leave the EU without driving the country into a wall.

    We have the problem, that we will have the elections of the EU parliament starting 23rd May 2019 and both scenarios are unthinkable:

    a: Have that election taking place in the UK and have UK MPs elected when the UK have left the EU (regardless who will pay for them).
    b: Have no election in the UK with the slim chance that the UK will withdraw from Brexit and thus need to be represented in the EU parliament.
    President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

    Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
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