Guerrilla warfare in the Peninsular War

 

If we needed more proof that Brexit has now become the playball of party politicians as described in my article yesterday, then today’s headlines provide it.

On the one hand there are the shock-horror lines about yet more ‘Tory Rebels’ ready to resign if Ms May doesn’t take ‘No Deal’ off the table and/or asks Brussels for an extension (here and here, and paywalled here and here), on the other we read that Corbyn is now going to demand a 2nd Referendum (here and here, and paywalled here and here).

If we needed more proof of the utter contempt that the MPs and the Party leaders have for us, the voters, then those headlines provide it. Their contempt for us is blatant – contempt not just for us who voted for Leave in the EU Referendum but for all who voted for the current crop in the HoC in the 2017 GE.

Taking a closer look, there’s a difference between the Tory Remain ‘Rebels’ and the Labour ‘2nd Referendum Rebels’. One can, being charitable, just about understand the Tories because for them it’s about inner-party power pure and simple, their hope and desire to replace Ms May, preferably with one of them. These Remainers have never made a secret of their Remain dreams. Their blackmail is solely due to Ms May’s disastrous negotiations culminating in the WA. The unbelievable strategic error of the ERG and the eurosceptic Tories to trigger the ‘vote of confidence’ in Ms May at that 1922 Committee meeting weeks ago meant that Ms May is secure in her position, as far as the Tory Party is concerned, for another year. The only way out for both Leave and Remain Tories would be triggering a GE.

Corbyn and Labour however have just one cynical reason to turn coats: fear of losing more members to the TIGs and thus of losing in a coming GE:

“Jeremy Corbyn declared last night that he will support a second referendum if he cannot get the Brexit deal he wants, in an attempt to stem the exodus of MPs from Labour. Mr Corbyn’s surprise announcement, which triggered an instant backlash from Labour MPs who oppose a referendum, is the first time that his party has supported moves in parliament to hold a new vote. The decision came as a YouGov poll for The Times revealed a further surge in support for the breakaway Independent Group. The poll put Labour on 23 per cent, down 3 points in a week, while the new group went up 4 points to 18 per cent. Last week’s Labour split appears to have unnerved the leadership, with John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, understood to have demanded that Mr Corbyn, who has previously signalled his reluctance for a new EU referendum, to back another vote.” (paywalled link, my bold).

Yes, it’s about inner-party politicking and jockeying for positions – you can read a balanced report here in the DM – and about getting Corbyn into 10 Downing Street, Brexit principles be damned. You only have to look at this article by ‘a young person’ in The Times (paywalled) to see that the constant, ageist bashing of us Leave voters is the basis for the Corbyn turncoatery:

“Young people will remember these crucial weeks when they cast their next vote. A poll commissioned by the TSSA union, which is affiliated to Labour, found that the party could lose 45 seats if it were seen not to oppose Brexit. The support of under-35s is hit the hardest, as my generation signals its dismay at an opposition who could have stopped a Brexit that damages our future but failed.” (my bold)

There’s more, and, as usual for Lefties and Labourites, it’s about ‘Bad Tories’. Note that there are Tory compromises (bad), and there are Labour compromises (good because ‘genuine’);

“In the Brexit endgame, it seems self-evident that nobody is going to get everything they want. Any solution will require a compromise: everybody must be prepared to give something if Britain is to emerge from this crisis in one piece. Nonetheless, there are two kinds of compromise. There are fake compromises, such as the “Malthouse compromise”, whose architects sought to bypass the national crisis in favour of preserving Conservative unity. It failed upon arrival — its proposals were immediately and firmly rejected by the EU — and yet it lingers on in some circles, a fantasy route to a transient parliamentary majority. In reality, it makes any genuinely inclusive compromise much harder, wasting time for one last-ditch attempt to bring the Conservative Party together.” (my bold)

That compromise is bad, if you’re a ‘young person’ on the Left, because Tory unity is bad. Not so when it’s about Labour:

“There are also genuine compromises, which have the potential to bring parliament and the country together around a workable solution. The amendment by the Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson, in which parliament would approve May’s deal subject to it being put to the people in a confirmatory referendum, is just that. MPs opposed to May’s deal must allow it to pass through parliament. MPs in favour of Brexit must accept returning to the public and allowing them to make the final decision — even if they can campaign for Leave in doing so.”

Yes indeed – let’s unite the country ‘behind Labour’ and for Remain, and those nasty Leave MPs have the permission of that ‘young person’ to campaign for Leave … how generous! If this immature, condescending twaddle doesn’t enrage you, nothing will – except perhaps this piece of news – quoted at length because it’s paywalled (link):

“The government is making plans to pay billions of euros to Brussels to settle large parts of the £39bn Brexit divorce bill even in the event of a ‘no deal’, the Telegraph can reveal. Ministers signed off the in-principle decision on Monday at a meeting of the Brexit ‘no deal’ preparedness cabinet committee, according to senior Whitehall sources. Under a plan agreed on Monday, the Government will table an executive order, or Statutory Instrument, in the final days of the Brexit negotiations to create the legal foundations for future payments to Brussels. The move flies in the face of expectations of leading Brexiteers that a ‘no deal’ Brexit will save the country from paying the £39 billion EU divorce settlement. Last month the European Union put the UK on notice that it still expected the British government to “honour the obligations” from its EU membership in the event of a ‘no deal’, starting with payments for the remainder of 2019, estimated at €7.1bn (£6.1bn). It added that it wanted written confirmation of Britain’s intention to pay by April 18 2019, with monies transferred to the EU’s account by April 30.” (my bold).

Don’t despair – instead get really angry. Use your social media accounts and ask the Remainers to tell you what is so good about the EU that they want to remain, and shoot down their arguments. 

 

Be relentless! Remember: it’s up to us alone. We’re not an army needing ‘generals’. We’re Brexit Guerrilleros. Guerrilleros beat armies.

 

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