PLOTTING EN COULISSE

 

It’s lovely to enjoy the respite from the inanities and kindergarten behaviour of the MPs, especially the opposition MPs, thanks to Prorogation! Just look at these articles here and here if you need proof that opposition MPs have descended to activist, street theatre level. They’ve underlined yet again that they are not worthy to sit in the HoC. 

It’s not so lovely to note yet again that the unholy alliance of Remain MPs and Remain MSM have been telling porkies when they bewail Prorogation. Philip Johnston writes in the paywalled DT:

“When I worked as a political correspondent the House did not sit in September at all. This is a recent innovation introduced after the expenses scandal by David Cameron because it was considered a “bad look” for MPs to disappear at the end of July until early October. The truth is that the suspension of the House is for just a few days longer than had already been planned. In the past it would have been much longer. All those now saying they have been silenced had the chance to oppose the summer recess motion when it was put before the Commons in June. Had they voted against an adjournment they could have spent all of August holding Mr Johnson’s feet to the fire, but evidently getting away on holiday was more important than the fate of the country.” (paywalled link)

Ah! I bet not a lot of people knew that. One who must have is of course Mr Bercow.  He was already an MP and had just got installed in the Speaker’s chair.. But that’s Remainers for you: always creative with truths, and the more creative the higher their office. 

Remain MPs are not done with their plottings though. The abomination that is the May WA forms the basis for the latest plot:

“An attempt to bring back a version of Theresa May’s Brexit deal by Hallowe’en was launched by a cross-party group of MPs yesterday. The group, nicknamed MPs for a Deal, is calling for a fresh vote on Mrs May’s deal as amended after cross-party talks. It includes Labour’s Stephen Kinnock and Caroline Flint, Sir Norman Lamb of the Liberal Democrats, and the former Tory leadership candidate Rory Stewart.” (link, paywalled)

It’s an intriguing twist, made possible by Mr Kinnock’s amendment which was accidentally or on purpose attached to the Benn Bill at the reading last week:

“Mr Kinnock said at the group’s launch in Westminster that the latest iteration of Mrs May’s deal, which never saw the light of day after she was ousted, was a “compelling proposal”. He called for the draft to be published, saying: “We have something here which is the basic foundation of a perfectly pragmatic deal that we believe can command a majority in parliament and also begin to reunite our deeply divided country, and even at this 11th hour we think there is time to do it.” (link, paywalled)

If this draft wasn’t published, how did Mr Kinnock know about it? Did other MPs see it, or did they vote for something they didn’t know? And why, in their zeal to see even private government communications, didn’t they insist on having this draft also made public? Do they believe that only MPs are capable of understanding all those intricacies, and that we plebs just need to do as we’re told because we’re too thick? There’s more:

“Sir Norman, who has threatened to leave the Lib Dems over their determination to stop Brexit, said: “I believe fundamentally in the importance of compromise and in trying to find common ground. There is a silent majority who want to move on from this nightmare, who recognise that what’s going on is massively damaging to our country, to our international reputation, and to our economy.” (link, paywalled)

Ironic, isn’t it, how a soft-core Remainer actually recognises that yes, the battles to betray Brexit have damaged the reputation of our country and are endangering our economy.

It’s his right to conclude we must therefore have a BRINO. We Leavers have long since concluded that only  the WTO/No Deal Brexit will do. The government would do well to follow in this instance the demand of Mr Kinnock – we need to know how we will be sold out!

There has been one other development. I would venture the guess that the DT editors have held that article back so as not to unduly inflame Brexit opinions in the HoC before Prorogation. It has the title (paywalled link): “Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson ‘pulling the strings’ of Remain alliance”. Well I never! What a surprise! Who would have thought!

The article is based on ‘sources’, but the content of their gossip rings true, especially when one recalls the many times Mr Blair recently graced the TV shows repeating his claims for a 2nd referendum and his repeated ’advice’ to Corbyn not to go for a GE now. See for example this:

“Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson are ‘pulling the strings’ behind the Remainer alliance by giving proxy advice to Labour and Lib Dem MPs, it has been claimed. The former prime minister and his New Labour sidekick, once dubbed the ‘Prince of Darkness’, are understood to be at the centre of cross-party attempts to block Brexit, including last week’s passing of a Bill to prevent no-deal.” (paywalled link)

Here are Blair’s fingerprints:

“It is understood shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer and fellow Blairites put Mr Corbyn under pressure not to back a ballot until after Boris Johnson had been forced under the legislation to seek an Article 50 extension until Jan 31.” (paywalled link)

‘Proxy advice’ – that’s how Blair and Mandelson are covering their tracks to scupper Brexit. There’s more:

“An insider in the Remain camp said Lord Mandelson, who sat on the board of Britain Stronger IN Europe, the official campaign, and has been an outspoken supporter of the People’s Vote, sent representatives to the weekly Tuesday meetings of the Remain alliance at the EU Commission building in Westminster’s Smith Square. Another source said Mr Blair’s former special adviser Lance Price had held meetings with Ms Swinson’s staff – although not the Lib Dem leader directly. Mr Price on Tuesday said he was “not directly involved” with the Remain alliance, adding: “I’m just an interested observer”.” (paywalled link)

Of course Mr Price and Mr Mandelson are not ‘directly involved’ – it’s called ‘credible deniability’. Their hands are clean … Perhaps Mr Mandelson saw the necessity to ‘advise’ the LibDems en coulisse when he learned this:

“On Tuesday, the Lib Dems announced they would campaign for Article 50 to be revoked at the next election. It came after Ms Swinson admitted that she would not honour a second referendum if the majority of the British public backed Leave again.” (paywalled link)

The MSM have so far disregarded the internal rift between Corbyn’s Momentum crowd and the Blairites, but it can no longer be veiled. Here is a report in the Express, see also this report in the DM, headlined “Tom Watson risks deepening Labour’s divide over Brexit by calling for a second EU referendum before a general election is held”. Tom Watson is of course a Blairite.

That rift is bound to receive more attention at Labour’s AGM this month. As Corbyn wants to drag us back to the 1970s (here), I expect a Blairite Labour revolt, perhaps even ousting Corbyn: anything to get Blair’s Labour into No 10!

This then is the new battlefront in the Brexit Betrayal war. Here’s an ironic footnote: an extension means Johnson must nominate a British EU Commissioner if we’re still ‘In’ on the 1st of November. It’s a legal requirement, says the Juncker replacement, Ms von der Leyen (link, paywalled). If Johnson wants to uphold his threat of disrupting the EU to the utmost, then he should nominate Nigel Farage MEP as commissioner.

The Brexit Betrayal War is relentless. The next weeks will be as interesting as the days at the start of this month. Your MPs are now back within your reach in your constituencies, so don’t relent either, and keep telling them that they work for you and not for themselves.

 

KBO!

 

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