It’s the ‘day after’, and the end is in sight – the end of May, that is. Not the month, the PM. Or – is it? According to reports across the MSM, she will meet with Sir Graham Brady of the 1922 Committee and is expected to announce her ‘timetable’ for leaving later today. So why am I not rejoicing? Read on …

The horsetrading that has been going on en coulisse  is unbelievable. That woman clings to her position like a limpet mine. She has no honour. The older ones amongst us remember the way Mrs Thatcher handled her resignation. Younger ones can read up on it here. What a difference!

According to ‘sources’, Ms May has decided that she will stay until after the visit of President Trump and will go ‘for real’ on June 10th – but will stay in 10 Downing Street until her successor has been confirmed. Detailed reports are here and here, the paywalled ones are here and here.

It is astonishing that it has escaped the attention of the combined political editors that we have something called “Deputy PM”, a post currently held by a certain Mr David Lidington. He is supposed to carry on business in the absence of the PM. But then, perhaps it’s not about carrying on but about something else?

Thus, in case you thought this ‘Mayxit’ is straightforward, think again. Below are some indicators as to what the current PM intends. We read for starters that:

“Mrs May could announce her resignation as leader of the Conservative Party as soon as Friday, allowing a contest to elect her successor to begin early next month.” (paywalled link)

One doesn’t need to be a dedicated politics nerd to notice immediately that stepping down as Leader of the Tories in not = stepping down as PM. So when we read the following we know we better leave the champagne on ice:

“[…] she would remain as Prime Minister until a new leader is elected by her Party, meaning she would almost certainly hand over the keys to Downing Street before the end of July. Sources close to Mrs May insisted she had not indicated whether she has made a final decision on her future, but allies have told her she must not delay any longer.” (paywalled link)

Ah – those May allies … we can only guess who they are, but can say with certainty that for her and them it’s about ‘looking good’ in the first instance:

“They have said that waiting even until Monday – when the results of the European elections will be known – to announce her departure would give the appearance that she had been forced out by Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party.” (paywalled link)

Strewth – it’s as if they still haven’t noticed that it’s the voters voting for TBP who will have forced her out, not Mr Nigel Farage. The Westminster bubble dwellers still do not understand that it’s about us, the people, not about them. They still don’t get it that it’s not about their desperate games of PR, that we are not consumers deciding which brand of Brexit we like better!

This statement by ‘one ally’ (who he, she or it?) shows their unbelievable ignorance very nicely indeed;

“One ally of the Prime Minister said: “She tried to break the Brexit deadlock by offering a vote on a second referendum in her Brexit bill, but it hasn’t worked.” (paywalled link)

Oh, I’m gonna cry: poor Ms May ‘offering’ that ‘new Bold’ – oh sorry, that’s a washing power –  that ‘new and bold treaty’ to us, as she did on Tuesday and Wednesday. And nobody was buying it …  

But don’t open the champagne as of yet because here is the real reason for the horse trading:

“Mrs May will remain in No 10 during a leadership election lasting about six weeks, and may even try to pass part of her Brexit deal. The contest is likely to start on June 10 after the state visit by President Trump.” (link, paywalled)

She ‘may even try’? I’m sure she most certainly will! Here are more details:

“Mrs May will remain prime minister until her successor is chosen and could continue her efforts to pass a Brexit deal before the deadline of October 31 set by the EU. One idea is for her to use her remaining time in No 10 to pass the least controversial elements of her deal. “Parliament needs something to do until the end of July and it would be helpful to whichever leader is elected to have some of the legislation in place given the October 31 deadline,” a source close to Steve Barclay, the Brexit secretary, said. “You could potentially deal with citizens’ rights and the implementation period, which are largely uncontroversial. It would then allow a new leader to talk to Brussels about the other aspects of the deal.” (link, paywalled)

Frankly, it makes my blood boil to see how the inhabitants of the Downing Street and Whitehall Bunker Complex are clinging to their WAB. The disrespect they show to Parliament is barely veiled when they propose some sort of occupational therapy for the HoC.

You will also have noticed that the outcome of yesterday’s EP elections, of the future influence of TBP on our political landscape hasn’t even entered into their thoughts. It’s as if we voters, having been allowed to voice our ‘protest’ yesterday, can now go back into our various corners and just STFU (excuse my French), again!

Meanwhile political pundits have started pondering what a new leader could do about Brexit. It’s as if they are already distributing the hide of the bear which hasn’t been killed yet. According to them, a new Brexit PM – projected to be BoJo – could take us Out with No Deal, and Parliament couldn’t stop him:

“A study by the Institute for Government think-tank yesterday suggested that if a committed Brexiteer prime minister simply abandoned Mrs May’s deal, there would be little Parliament could do to stop them.”(source)

The Tory Remainers and BoJo opponents have immediately latched onto this study and are using it in their internal Tory Party ‘Project Fear’ exercise to stop any Brexit candidate replacing the current Remain PM:

“A new prime minister could trigger a no-deal Brexit without parliament having the power to stop it, senior Conservatives are warning colleagues. In a stark message to MPs, supporters of Theresa May’s deal have said that if Boris Johnson or Dominic Raab were elected to succeed her then the House of Commons could be sidelined from the process of leaving the European Union. They have been backed by the Institute for Government, a Whitehall think tank, which said that although MPs could express an opinion they would not have “legal teeth” to stop a no-deal Brexit.” (link, paywalled)

The final threat, aimed to keep us toeing the line while the PM and her Remainers hope they might still somehow drag that abomination across the line, is this:

“Under UK law, enacted by last year’s EU Withdrawal Act, Britain will leave with or without a deal on October 31 unless the date is changed by the government or Article 50 is revoked.” (link, paywalled)

Yes, revoking Article 50 is indeed possible, and the PM and her Remain acolytes may well pull the whole thing down in a final, punitive measure to punish all Leavers, be they in the Tory Party, be they supporters of TBP, be they voters who’ve voted Leave these three years ago.

While yesterday was a beautiful day, while The Queen was dressed in the colours of TBP, while we took the one opportunity we were given to show That Lot what we want – the time for rejoicing still hasn’t come, not even when the PM tells the Nation later today that she’s stepping down as leader of the Tory Party.

You thought it was all over? Sorry – it is not. Therefore:

 

KBO!

 

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