Today is the official ‘launch-day’ for the Tory Party leadership race. The ‘prominent’ candidates are Johnson, Raab, Gove and Hunt. Given their promises about Brexit and other matters, one can easily get the impression we’re witnessing a GE campaign.

It is worth noting in passing that this lovely Tory mud-bath means that Labour is again getting a free pass in the MSM: anti-semitism? Peterborough? Attack on private property? Who cares!

Interestingly, our dear MPs who cannot bear to be out of the limelight – they were overshadowed by the visit of President Trump, the D-Day celebrations and the Trooping of the Colour – did manage to get the attention of the MSM yesterday. As their shenanigans are about Brexit, let’s take a closer look.

First off is the concerted efforts of ‘kingmakers’ in the Tory Party who have been writing about why they support this, that or the other candidate – showcasing themselves rather than promoting the debate. However, Ms Amber Rudd, one of the arch remainers and queen bee of the ‘stop Boris’ campaign, has now thrown her weight behind James Hunt:

“Amber Rudd says that Conservative MPs should not put their faith in Boris Johnson’s blind Brexit “optimism” and backs Jeremy Hunt today to become the party’s next leader and prime minister. Giving her critical and much sought-after endorsement in The Times, Ms Rudd contrasts Mr Johnson with his successor at the Foreign Office, arguing that Mr Hunt is a “serious leader” for “serious times”.(link, paywalled)

Oh dear. Rumour has it that she rejected supporting Michael Gove because he ‘confessed’ to’ve taken cocaine in his ill-spent youth, but decided to support Mr Hunt because he was such good Foreign Secretary …

We all know by now this means that Mr Hunt was perfectly domesticated by his Whitehall Mandarins – and that’s what the Sedwills and Robbins need, to get the BRINO they’ve so meticulously prepared with the help of M Barnier, Madame Merkel and poor Ms May.

BoJo has meanwhile set a nuisance of cats amongst the pigeons with his tax-cutting proposals (see here, here, and paywalled here) which contained one kernel that got up M Macron’s nose, immediately – withholding payment of the ‘divorce bill’, those £39 billion:

“Emmanuel Macron has warned Boris Johnson that Britain’s economy will be downgraded and plunged into turmoil if the UK withholds the £39 billion Brexit divorce payment from Brussels. Mr Johnson used his first interview of the Tory leadership campaign to warn that he would “retain” the divorce bill until he got a better deal with the EU. […] A source close to Mr Macron, the French President, said the failure to pay the divorce bill would represent the equivalent of a “sovereign debt default”, such as that suffered by Argentina. It would lead to a significant downgrade in the UK economy by ratings agencies causing the value of Government bonds to collapse, hitting savers and investors including insurance companies and pension funds.” (paywalled link)

Good gawd – haven’t you got it a size smaller, M Macron? Are we now going to have yet another re-run of Project Fear, this time an international one? Who does M Macron think he is? Napoleon? He better remember his French history, and how that one ended … not that I think for a minute that BoJo or any of the others are in any way comparable to the 1st Duke of Wellington …

Leaving aside the predictable contortions of those wannabe May Successors, there’s one other Brexit Betrayal in motion which must concern us. The plotters are the well-known Cooper-Letwin-Boles cabale, and they‘ll go ahead with their plot regardless of who is going to be the new PM – here and paywalled here:

“At least two groups of MPs, including former ministers, are engaged in clandestine talks about how to stop the next prime minister from leaving the EU without a deal. The cross-party group, led earlier this year by Yvette Cooper, Nick Boles and Sir Oliver Letwin, are already examining how they can use parliamentary processes to thwart any attempt to force through a no-deal against the will of MPs on October 31.” (link, paywalled)

This is yet another signal that this Remain Parliament will stop at nothing to keep us IN:

“A senior Labour source said: “As parliament has shown before, where there is a will in parliament to stop no-deal a way will be found. The new prime minister should be left in absolutely no doubt that we will not allow no-deal to happen.” A Lib Dem source added: “All I can confirm is that these discussions are happening and we are involved.” (link, paywalled)

Huzzah and tally-ho! The LibDems to the Remain Rescue! More:

“The group acknowledges that it is unlikely to be able to use a similar process because there are no major scheduled votes on Brexit. But they are confident they have found a means to stop no-deal. Boles, who quit the Tories after his plan for a soft Brexit failed, said: “We have been working on it. The route we used before is not available, but we are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to find another. I can’t say more at this point.” Commons Speaker John Bercow has previously hinted that he could allow MPs to use emergency debates, which normally do not include votes, to pass motions or amendments.” (link, paywalled)

Ah – Mr Bercow who  shouldn’t even be there … it’s as if they all would rather smash Parliament and our traditions and conventions than do their duty and ‘deliver’ Brexit. It is as if Peterborough never happened. It is as if the EUPArl elections never happened.

It is as if these MPs and their willing helpers in the MSM believe that they can get rid of the threat that is TBP as easily as they got rid of UKIP. They better think again. Vernon Bogdanor, writing in the (paywalled) DT, observed:

“Voters had taken “the advice of people they were used to following”, said Roy Jenkins, explaining Remain’s massive two-to-one majority in the first Europe referendum of 1975. Not now. In 2016, the people were told to vote Remain. They refused. In 2017, they were told to give Theresa May a thumping election majority. No, again. Now they are deserting both major parties. In the European elections, Labour and the Conservatives together gleaned just a quarter of the vote. A recent national opinion poll showed, for the first time in British history, neither Tories nor Labour in the top two. The Peterborough by-election saw a 43 per cent swing from the two major parties to the Brexit Party and the Liberal Democrats. Brexit identity now trumps party identity; around 80 per cent identify with a political party, compared to 94 percent who identify as either Leave or Remain.” (paywalled link).

Just so – but the parliamentary plotters are blithely disregarding what is actually going on: massive voter discontent with their insufferable arrogance and blatant disregard of our expressed demands. They really seem to believe that Remain parties will win a possible GE. After all, Corbyn beat TBP in Peterborough, didn’t he … it’ll need just one final push to keep us in EU vassalage, or so they think.

Since it doesn’t matter who the May-Successor will be because this Remain Parliament will, in their own words, “scupper Brexit”, perhaps we would do better to work on how to scupper the scupperers.

This is no longer about ‘marmite politicians’, about BoJo or Nigel Farage. It is about securing Brexit. It is about standing up to the might of Remain in Parliament and Whitehall.

Our patience  – and we have been patient – will run out if we are still ‘In’ on the 1st of November. The 5th of that month is only a few days later …

 

KBO!

 

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