‘Tis surpassingly strange: our government and our elected representatives are utterly oblivious of what is actually going on outside their Westminster Bubble. It’s not as if the MSM weren’t reporting on what the rest of us out here are up to. Yes, they do it in their own, filtered and slanted fashion – I’ll bring a striking example below –  but nevertheless, they are doing it.

Why have the two main parties stuck their collective heads in the sand, why are they oblivious of what is happening? Is it because they are bent on continuing in their own destruction? For example, Labour’s Corbyn is apparently now being pushed by his colleagues into accepting a 2nd Referendum which is not what a huge number of Labour voters want:

“Asked whether Mr Corbyn would eventually back a second referendum Mr Ashworth [Shadow Health Secretary] replied: “When it becomes obvious that parliament is completely deadlocked — I believe it already is obvious — but when it becomes accepted across the whole of parliament, of course the Labour Party would support a referendum.” (link, paywalled)

Note that there’s no mention of the EP election’s outcome, with the projected win of TBP. It’s as if we plebs out here can do what we want – sing, dance, stand on our heads and wave our legs in the air, shout or even throw milkshakes – it doesn’t matter. “They” know best.

Note that the ‘deadlock’ refers to the HoC and to the PM’s latest ‘WAB’ shenanigans, which Whitehall and Downing Street must by now have ‘finalised’ for the meeting of the Cabinet today. Apparently, the PM will offer ‘concessions’ to Labour even after the broken-down talks:

“The prime minister is said to want to put elements of the offer rejected by Jeremy Corbyn last week in the draft legislation, which is due to be voted on by MPs next month. The offer will include concessions on employment rights and green legislation, alongside a possible proposal for the UK to remain in a customs union with the EU until the next general election.” (link, paywalled)

And finally note that in these last, desperate attempts to get the WAB over the line by twiddling phrases both the government and the opposition overlook yet again that the thing is cast in stone: the WAB is non-negotiable (here). How many times does the EU have to say this? How come that we ignorant plebs know but they, our “Betters”, are oblivious?

Never mind though – the Big Remainers in cabinet are on the case. Phil Hammond will give a speech today to the CBI, arch Remainers all, and he’s helpfully made public already what he will say, for example that No Deal will be a catastrophe and no amount of preparing for it will avert it (here and here).

This warning is not, as one might suspect, meant for us, in the hope that we’ll now dutifully vote for the Tories on Thursday. It’s aimed at today’s cabinet, in order to squash the feeble attempts by the current DExEU minister Stephen Barclay to keep Whitehall staff working on No Deal preparations.

It is also meant for the PM replacement candidates who’ve been busy polishing their credentials, showing that Mr Hammond lives in cloud-cuckoo-land:

“Philip Hammond will warn Boris Johnson and other Brexiteer party leadership candidates they have ‘no mandate’ for No Deal today. The Chancellor will claim that leaving on October 31 without a deal amounts to ‘hijacking the result of the referendum, and in doing so, knowingly to inflict damage on our economy and our living standards’.” (source)

Our unequivocal vote for ‘Leave’ in 2016 will be ‘hijacked’ by demanding it be implemented by No Deal? Implemented by the PM’s successor if necessary since she, Hammond and her Remain cabinet have been unwilling to do so from the start? Only in cloud-cuckoo-land!

Even more interesting is the latest ‘Project Fear’ announcement coming “from Downing Street”. That is the spectre of the Union breaking up if the WAB isn’t voted through. It’s interesting because the perpetrator is named and hopefully shamed:

“Theresa May’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell has reportedly claimed that No Deal would lead to a border poll on the reunification of Ireland, breaking up the UK. Mr Barwell also said that Scotland would also follow, and tensions could rise in Wales, according to the Financial Times.” (link)

It’s interesting because this time, the leaking fearmonger is not a Whitehall Mandarin. We don’t know, of course, if Sir Mark Sedwill had authorised this latest “Project Fear” announcement, but it looks to me like another little straw in the wind indicating that the Mandarins might be on a strategic retreat, leaving the PM sitting in the mess she created with their support.

Now let’s look at the way RemainCentral, a.k.a The Times, managed to combine two events and make it into one fine smear article. These events were the milkshake attack on Nigel Farage and the report that the Electoral Commission will visit TBP head office today to investigate ‘illegal donations’, as demanded by the former PM Gordon Brown.

This is the headline (paywalled): “Nigel Farage all shook up over Brexit Party funding claims”, which is accompanied by the photo of Nigel splattered with milk.

That’s masterful. This combination insinuates that Nigel Farage wouldn’t have been so ‘shook up’ by a simple milkshaking had he not got something to hide about finances.

I’ll refrain from pointing out that the lefty MSM have been complicit in fostering this atmosphere of violence by pooh-poohing the previous attacks on Tommy Robinson and the UKIP candidate Carl Benjamin, by insinuating that they somehow brought this on by themselves. The argument from the Left has always been ‘it’s ok when we do it’.

But what about those finances?

“Critics have claimed that the Brexit Party’s funding model makes it easy for small donations to be made from abroad. The party has registered supporters, not members, who pay at least £25 a head through a Paypal account.” (link, paywalled)

Good grief – using Paypal is now of the devil? Perhaps we should ask if some Russian oligarchs are supporting The Guardian because their cry for financial support allows Paypal ‘donations’ … More:

“Mr Tice said that there was nothing “illegal” about accepting online donations and that the party abided by the Electoral Commission’s rules. Mr Farage expressed anger at the scrutiny of the party’s donations. “This is direct political interference in an election campaign,” he said. “It’s an establishment stitch-up. It’s an outrage.”  (link, paywalled)

The hypocrisy is indeed blatant. Nobody seems to ask about how ChUK is financed, or indeed the other parties. And what about other interesting ‘funding schemes’ ? ‘The People’s Vote’, see here, seems to’ve been rather creative … But yeah, ‘it’s ok when we do it’, sez The Left …

Meanwhile, there was a committee meeting yesterday in Parliament which went completely under the radar – yes, me too, alas! It looks as if the government were trying to pull yet another fast one, but what else is new!

Sir Bill Cash got a standing ovation and some rousing speeches were made. You can watch the whole proceedings here. I shall endeavour to do so myself.

Sir John Redwood reports on it in his Diary today – worth reading, as always. Here’s a brief but hot clip of Mr Rees-Mogg as well.

There’s sunshine for those last two days of campaigning. I hope the result will bring sunshine to all of us, as asked for by Richard Littlejohn in his enjoyable article. Results will be coming in late on Sunday because counting must wait until the Sunday-voting EU polls have closed.

I leave you with the ‘news’ that the Tory leaflet for the EP elections doesn’t mention Brexit once …

 

Two more days!

KBO!

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