The Puppet Master

The latest front in the Brexit Betrayal is now taking shape. Even the most level-headed observer might feel inclined to suspect that there are dark forces pulling the strings of the Westminster Bubble Dwellers to make that latest form of Brexit Betrayal happen.

For example, this weekend we read everywhere that a 2nd referendum is needed. We know, do we not, who has been promoting a 2nd Referendum incessantly because only a ‘people’s voice’ will do! It is more than ironic that he and the rest of the 2nd Referendum manipulators are happy to refuse us, ‘the people’, our voice by calling a GE.

Let’s look at the evidence for this groundswell, this sea-change. First of all, there’s the suspiciously well-timed publication of David Cameron’s memoirs. The MSM reviewers and political editors have picked out his Brexit decisions – naturally. Cameron attacking Johnson, Gove, ‘The Bus’, and yes, he advocates a 2nd referendum:

“David Cameron has accused Boris Johnson and Michael Gove of leaving “the truth at home” over Brexit as he said they behaved “appallingly” during the EU referendum campaign. In an excoriating attack by an ex-prime minister on one of his successors, Mr Cameron criticised his former friends and colleagues over the claims they made about £350m a week payments to Brussels on their campaign bus. Casting doubt on Mr Johnson’s promise of getting Britain out of the EU on Oct 31 with or without a deal, Mr Cameron also suggests a second referendum might now be necessary, saying: “I don’t think you can rule it out because we’re stuck.” (paywalled link)

One doesn’t need to be a hardened believer in conspiracy theories to find it rather interesting that Cameron’s attacks on Gove and Johnson are being headlined. You’ll find non-paywalled articles on “The Book” here and here. The Times, which is serialising Cameron’s book from today and which runs an interview with him as well (surely a bit of overkill, no?) gave Cameron his platform to attack the current Johnson policies:

“ In his new book, serialised in The Times and The Sunday Times from today, and in an interview, Mr Cameron:

• Criticises Boris Johnson for removing the whip from Tory rebels and proroguing parliament.
• Insists that a second Brexit vote should not be ruled out, calling a no-deal exit a “bad outcome”. (link, paywalled)

Cameron joining forces with Blair – what a surprise: our ‘wise’ elder statesmen’ – united in wrecking Brexit.

We can already discern the strands which will be pulled in the coming manipulation to get that 2nd referendum. Look for example at the reports on Johnson’s coming meeting with Juncker. There is, of course, mention of the backstop. Yesterday we read that the DUP was softening its stance. Despite a denial from Arlene Foster and a clarification from Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman (here), The Times doubles down in their article on that Johnson-Juncker meeting, published early this morning:

“The Times revealed yesterday that the DUP was shifting some of its red lines to unlock a deal with the EU. Critically, the Northern Irish party has privately indicated that it could accept regulatory checks in the Irish Sea and divergence from Britain with the consent of the province’s democratic institutions. Mr Johnson said that he was hopeful about getting a new deal despite senior DUP figures, including its leader, Arlene Foster, and Sammy Wilson, its Brexit spokesman, playing down the concessions.” (link, paywalled)

Thanks to Remainers kicking over rules and conventions in Parliament, taking ver control of the executive, i.e. the government, with help from the judiciary, why should we expect our MSM to regard the conventions of proper journalistic research when it helps with wrecking Brexit! 

Next – you recall that ‘a Brexit Minister’ was reportedly calling for an extension and a 2nd referendum before an election, just like Mr Watson (Lab), see here. When therefore Paul Goodman in ConHome cogitated yesterday afternoon about this demand as a possibility rather than giving it short shrift, we can surmise that even inside the Tory Party the 2nd referendum call is regarded as a serious proposal.

Next – Matthew Parris, The Times prominent Arch Remainer, today gives an overview of where Johnson and the Brexit negotiations are at. At first glance it looks reasonable. His sly digs however come fast, for example his nasty slur on Johnson, blatantly contradicting his own ‘advice’ that an election won’t get the country out of the Brexit mess:

“I shouldn’t be at all surprised if Johnson “lied to the Queen”; he lies to lots of people. If the voters get saddled with a compulsive fibber as prime minister, the voters have a remedy. Chuck him out. The ballot box and not the judiciary is the way to do this.” (link, paywalled)

But hasn’t the HoC just blocked that route, Mr Parris? Awkward … ! Parris’ advice, predictably, is therefore to go for a 2nd referendum:

“[…] a general election this winter would never bring such closure. Schemes for tactical voting would bring confusion. The Lib Dems and the Brexit Party would probably deprive any party of an absolute majority. We Tories would tear ourselves apart. Labour would get into a horrible muddle about its Brexit policy. The resultant mess, with arguments about what the voters “meant” about Brexit, would be grisly. And then, with a new government whose Brexit mandate was still contested, we’d start the arguments all over again.So call a referendum. After that a general election could turn to the traditional questions that British elections settle. But settle Brexit first. Ask the people soon. Stop ducking it.” (link, paywalled)

What excellent advice: have a 2nd referendum which this time Remain will win – then have a GE which the Tories will lose – and get Corbyn into No 10. And Mr Parris calls himself a ‘Tory’ …

Ruminating on the EU’s attitude to the Johnson negotiations (same old same old, so disregard), Peter Foster, the ‘voice of the EU’ in the DT, concludes:

“Back in May, there was speculation that Mr Johnson might yet seek to turn the page with a second referendum rather than a general election. Polls suggest Tory election fortunes will shrink if Mr Johnson goes to the country having failed on his “do or die” promise to deliver Brexit. If that happens, might a second referendum provide him with a way out?” (paywalled link)

He hasn’t got the message yet: 2nd referendum first, then the GE. But isn’t it heart-warming to see how the 2nd referendum promoters care so much about Johnson’s fate that they dangle this 2nd referendum as ‘solution’ out of his Brexit mess in front of his nose!

A lone voice in the groundswell of opinion pieces ‘preparing’ us peasants to accept that wonderful 2nd referendum is Tom Harwood who writes in the DT:

“The staggering audacity of politicians is to assume that this is somehow a rut created by anyone other than themselves. This Parliamentary stalemate has to be the fault of that pesky referendum decision, not their refusal to accept it. May’s bad deal had to be result of an impossible task, rather than MPs colluding with Brussels and a mind-bogglingly stupid decision to take the ability to walk away with no deal off the table. There would be no crisis if Boris had decent majority. MPs know this. They want to continue to associate the quagmire of this country’s political situation with Brexit for as long as possible, and consequently they are trying every trick in the book to refuse the people the chance to change the numbers in Parliament. No matter how much they call for an election, they will exert herculean effort in finding a way to justify avoiding one.” (paywalled link)

It’s glaringly obvious that in all those war games one factor is assiduously left out of the calculations: we, the people, for whom those Blair-Mandelson-Remain Brexit wreckers claim they speak. The Express writes, addressing Cameron but applicable to all 2nd Referendum callers:

“Our advice to Mr Cameron is simple: if you didn’t like the answer to your question the first time, then you probably should think carefully about asking people the same question again. The result would no doubt be even more emphatic.“

Ah – but would it? Given the Remain forces arrayed already in this push for a 2nd referendum, the outcome doesn’t look as clear-cut to me. Even in 2016 Cameron thought he’d had the ‘remain’ vote in the bag.

So, dear friends, I’m sorry but there’s no way we can allow ourselves to rest. We all must do our utmost to convert ordinary Remainers outside the M25 to vote Leave – and that campaign, needing every single one of us, must start now.

We won’t give up, we’ll channel our inner Churchill – and this time the enemy is the EU:

“We shall defend our island (against the EU), whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

And that’s why we have to 

KBO!

Photo by World Economic Forum