No-one could ever accuse the editor of Stormfront Lite of troubling his readers with too much variety. He has a 'rota system' that serves up the following posts on a continuous loop -
"I remain unconvinced about Bernie Sanders because he is so OLD."
"I remain unconvinced about Joe Biden because he is so OLD."
"Jeremy Corbyn is OLD and a BED-BLOCKER and he didn't go to ETON. Gawd."
"The Fixed Term Parliaments Act makes an early election impossible and I'm definitely right this time even though I was wrong when I said exactly the same thing in 2016 and 2017."
And last but not least, the fan favourite...
"Theresa May is simply magnificent and here's a portrait of her by my daughter-in-law."
Credit where credit's due: at least he eventually removed "Kitty Ussher is the next PM, you heard it here first" from the rota.
In fairness, though, the longer reads at the weekend by other authors do break up the monotony just slightly. David Herdson made an intriguing point yesterday that hadn't occurred to me before: that if Tory MPs do take the nuclear option of bringing down the government in a no confidence vote, it would be more logical for them to install a new anti-No Deal government immediately than to waste time with a general election in an emergency situation. And that new government could only be led by Jeremy Corbyn, because the Labour leadership wouldn't permit its MPs to back any other type of caretaker government.
I can see the logic, but I do still think it's pretty obvious that the Tory Remainer rebels would prefer an election to a Corbyn-led government. As I understand it, there would be just about enough time for an election before Brexit Day, as long as a no confidence motion is passed quickly after the Commons returns from its summer recess. But that leaves the rebels with another dilemma: how do they prevent No Deal by standing for election as candidates for a party led by Boris Johnson? They can't. So do they retire from parliament en masse? Do they stand as anti-Brexit independents, and ask the Lib Dems and Greens to give them a free run? Do they set up a new party? Do they defect to the Lib Dems? Do they attempt to reanimate the corpse of Change UK? (Hilariously, the original eleven defectors to Change UK are now split four different ways. Five of them are persevering with the project, four have set up yet another new group called "The Independents", Chuka Umunna has joined the Lib Dems, and Sarah Wollaston is ploughing her own furrow as a genuine independent.)
These are just some of the many imponderables that make the result of any snap election so difficult to predict.
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The good news for the SNP continues in YouGov's latest Scottish subsample...
SNP 42%, Labour 15%, Conservatives 13%, Brexit Party 10%, Liberal Democrats 10%, Greens 7%
* * *
There's an utterly ludicrous article in the Scotsman claiming that the SNP are planning to "break a Westminster convention" by refusing to applaud Theresa May on her final day in office. The convention is of course the polar opposite of that: MPs aren't supposed to applaud in the Commons under any circumstances. When the SNP's intake in 2015 broke that rule, John Bercow told them in no uncertain terms that they must stop clapping and make weird grunting noises instead. It's true that Tony Blair and David Cameron both received ovations when they left office, but that was a blatant breach of the convention. So if the SNP don't clap on Wednesday, the traditionalists should actually give them credit for being the only ones maintaining the proper decorum.
YouGov have a new poll of Labour members for the Times. It'll be interesting to see if SLab still contributes only 2% of GB members.
ReplyDeleteJames, it is truly unbelievable ... the UK descends into the abyss ... it is reported that Phillip Hammond, the Chancellor, will resign because he cannot agree with BoJo's "No Deal, No Problem" leave October 31 stance ... Scotland (and our FM) MUST insist that the Scottish electorate have the option on Independence ... and the choice of remaining within the EU (or associate status, AKA Norway) .... the "endgame" is now surely at hand ?
ReplyDeleteThe incoming chancellor will likely be shorting the pound via one of moggs investment partners. Bozo is not stupid; he can crash the pound on command. It will make him fabulously wealthy.
DeletePleased to see your post. I was getting worried about you. Truly, our Westminster constitution is not fit for purpose and cannot be described as conferring any kind of democracy. Weeks and weeks have been wasted while a tiny unrepresentative proportion of the population select the person who will wield the considerable power of the position of Prime Minister. We need to get out from under.
ReplyDeleteThe SNP MPs should be on their feet, leading the cheering when the Maybot steps down. She has done more than anyone, even her useless predecessor, and her still untried successor, to convince swithering Scots that Independence is our only route out of the current Commons chaos.
ReplyDeleteGive the lassie due credit and acknowledge her part in bringing this joyous day closer.
She's been a spectacular, jaw-dropping marvel in her own unstable way.
DeleteHas her Jockette branch manager publicly backed Johnson yet? Thus following the lead of her Team at WM?
Ruth Davidson's leadership skills are unusual. They seem to consist of waiting to see what her Team Ruth are going to do, then following the majority. To the sole queue, I hope.
DeleteSole = dole
DeleteThat's what Scotland in Union meant when they said "join the majority".
DeleteI thought there might be a reason other than Davidson's weapons-grade incompetence.
DeleteMay has arguably done more for Scottish indy than any previous PM. Even thatcher-Major pulled in more support north of the border. So in that sense applause is due.
ReplyDeleteThatcher was English ('We, the English...). Major, Blair, Brown and Cameron all British. May barely so.
Boris is blood and soil master race English. Just like thatcher broke the unitary British state, he will be the last PM of the devolved UK.
So, another cabinet resignation plus a tory MP charged with sexual assault. A good start for Boris.
ReplyDeletePlease don't call him just "Boris" unless he's a pal, loveable rogue or family friend. He is Johnson or Boris Johnson.
DeleteCan we just agree to call him f**kwit then?
DeleteThanks for that, James, and welcome back! Not having your blog to turn to regularly in search of good sense and insightful analysis left a hole in my life.
ReplyDeleteNo way should anyone be applauding Theresa May, though, as some have suggested, however much she may have advanced the cause of Scottish independence! She has too much blood on her hands, both as Home Secretary, and as Prime Minister of a regime which flouts international law and abuses citizens' rights in a manner worthy of a tin-pot dictatorship.
May is irredeemably like her predecessor Margaret Thatcher. Whereas May sucks up to noxious regimes in order to flog them guns and bombs, Thatcher used to pal around with the infamous Augusto Pinochet of Chile. Thatcher engineered a war to boost her flagging popularity, and personally made the decision to sink the Belgrano (which was steaming away from the theatre of war) and end the lives of 323 Argentine crewmen, most of them young conscripts. The May regime's support for regimes that target civilians aids and abets war crimes too. The attitude of both women toward the rest or us - except for the already rich, and for core Tory voters in southeast England and the shires of Middle England – was one of contempt, and eager exploitation.
I am in no way in favour of political prosecutions, as they are a hallmark of the very tin-pot dictatorships we should all despise. May, though, should be held criminally liable for some of her deliberate decisions as Home Secretary (at least) to penalize and punish the poor and the vulnerable in our society, and to put in place a hostile environment for “immigrants”, including equally poor and vulnerable refugees to whom we have obligations under international law, obligations which May and her regime have made every effort to duck out of. And Johnson and Hunt are likely to be just as bad if not worse... Bad cess to the lot of them: we all need political leaders with some humanity about them, and we’re not going to get it from anyone in the Tory party.
I did have more of a slow clap in mind.
DeleteWell, I can't see Johnson easing back on the anti-Scottish rhetoric now the lib dems have made an MP for jockland their leader.
ReplyDeleteHe's made it clear enough mps from Scotland should never be allowed anywhere near British government positions, so Swinson for PM under EVEL? Okeydokey.
I think we can all guess what the right wing press will do in any snap GE. Remainer Liberal jock ruling England and cancelling brexit? Aye right. She'll get the pickpocket treatment scots got in 2015.
Yet if she abandons jockland to stand in her new English home, what then for the Scottish libs when they are ashamed to be scottish?
May, & Cameron did a god job keeping masses of foreign criminals and Islamic terrorists out of the UK. The Nat si party want Scots to be outnumbered in their quest for independence. Jock land for the Jocks I say.
ReplyDeleteEnglish immigrants are the biggest group in Scotland by a country mile. Stop being so anti-English.
DeleteInside every Englishman a Jock is waiting to get out.
DeleteA little bit of me sees May waking up in the morning of Wednesday, picking up the phone, and unilaterally withdrawing the EU withdrawal notice.
ReplyDeleteThen toddling off to see the new boy and briefing him.
Oops I’m out of time. She needs to do this tomorrow.
Delete...and wrong, too. :(
Delete