During the week just gone Brexit/Remain news, opinions, ‘solutions’ and speculations were proliferating so fast that it was hard to keep up. Now it’s the weekend ‘before’ – before the Brexit ‘crunch’ Tuesday when the HoC will debate and vote on the various amendments proposed by various Remainers, especially that “Yvette-Cooper-Bill” – and all is quiet.
Our politicians have vanished to their homes in their constituencies – provided they do have a home there. And as MPs have fallen silent, our dear journalists and MSM editors have had to grub about for Brexit News. It’s as if a slew of D-Notices had been issued: nothing to see here and if there were, don’t mention it! So: thank God for The Queen and her little speech to the WI! More on that below.
There is however a rather interesting article by the Labour MP Caroline Flint who asks in the DT (paywalled): “Why won’t MPs take Remain off the table?”. What a good question! She writes:
“The public simply don’t trust the MPs who are asking for no-deal to be taken off the table to then get on and deliver Brexit in any sort of form. If we were to take Remain off the table too, we would have far more trust and support.”
and continues with the observation that an extension of Article 50 to Dec 31st 2019 (Cooper Bill) simply cannot work:
“That would mean contesting the European Parliament elections in May, three years after we voted to leave. Imagine how that will go down with voters. And what is the purpose of a nine-month delay? More talks? Hardly. The EU shuts down for elections in April; it also shuts down for the summer, only reappointing Commissioners in October. Slim hope of much negotiating before Christmas.”
Odd, isn’t it, how this fact isn’t mentioned in the debates … as if we might notice that it’s really about keeping us in the EU, indefinitely.
The main news however in the MSM – it even made it into one German paper – is the Queen, who said a few words at her local WI meeting celebrating the 100-year jubilee of the WI:
“As we look for new answers in the modern age, I for one prefer the tried and tested recipes, like speaking well of each other and respecting different points of view; coming together to seek out the common ground; and never losing sight of the bigger picture. To me, these approaches are timeless, and I commend them to everyone.” (my bold)
Leavers and Remainers both welcomed this statement because the Queen obviously must have meant the other side …
Charles Moore in the DT (paywalled) observes:
“She is encouraging people to work out what does and doesn’t matter in any disagreement, and to remember that all “new answers” need agreement to work. If one does this, one starts to see that there is common ground, though not on Brexit itself. It lies in what Her Majesty calls the “tried and tested recipes”, the way we do things in this country. In this, it should make no difference whether one is Leave or Remain. The way we do things in Britain is that Parliament invites us to decide certain important matters and is then morally bound to act on our decision.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg points out a simple fact, easily overlooked by our modern, historically and intellectually challenged Westminster-Bubble-Dwellers:
“Constitutionally, the Queen can only speak on the advice of her ministers and could not have said this without the agreement of the government. This is not the Queen’s point of view; it is Her Majesty’s Government speaking. There is not a private view of the Queen.” […] It is sensible for the government to encourage Her Majesty to intervene. It is perhaps a reminder to MPs to respect the constitutional norms and that nobody ever gets exactly what they want in politics.” (paywalled source)
While MPs apparently have taken the Queen’s words to heart and are calmly preparing for ‘That Tuesday’, we can assume that behind the scenes, in a calm way of course, fierce negotiations are ongoing, especially with the DUP on the Backstop question. Equally of course various MPs will be preparing for their various appearances on the various Sunday TV talk shows where they will peddle their favourite solution – in a calm way, one hopes, taking on board The Queen’s advice.
One other interesting aspect in the run-up to ‘That Tuesday’ is the latest ‘Project Fear’ incarnation. This one is aimed squarely at the Tory MPs – a deserving bunch, you will agree. According to this paywalled report, there’s yet another amendment, and:
“Senior government sources said they [the whips] had all but given up trying to stop a crucial amendment to the government’s motion being passed on Tuesday. The move, which has the backing of more than 200 MPs, calls for Theresa May to rule out a no-deal Brexit. It is being proposed by the former Conservative cabinet minister Dame Caroline Spelman and Labour’s Jack Dromey. Whips are understood to be telling Tory opponents of a no-deal Brexit that they would rather they supported this amendment than a rival move by Labour’s Yvette Cooper that would hand parliament the power to demand an extension of Article 50.”
It looks as if the Tory whips are trying to fight fire with fire – just to stop the WTO Brexit:
“Given where opinion is in the House no one really thinks we have a chance of defeating the Spelman amendment,” a senior government source said. “But we might be able to persuade enough of our people just to vote for that, and vote against Cooper, which is constitutionally far more significant.” The Spelman-Dromey motion, while a statement of parliament’s will, would not legally bind the government.” (my bold)
A bit machiavellian, this – and do take note: it’s not about Brexit or ‘coming together’, as the Queen counselled, it’s about keeping May in and keeping her BRINO WA on the table.
The now ritual threats from Ministers to resign if the “No deal” isn’t taken off the table aren’t lacking either. Mr Hammond’s threat (e.g. here) was greeted with the appeal to please do it …
Charles Moore observes on Mr Hammond and that Davos meeting:
“[…] Mr Hammond reiterated his belief that no deal would be a “betrayal” of the referendum because we “didn’t vote to be worse off”. In a way, we should be glad that all these menaces and moans came from Davos. It reveals the extent of collusive group-think on the subject and proves the dictum that “capital is a coward”. Rich and powerful people do not like disturbing existing arrangements, for the obvious reason that they do very well out of them. It is fun to see the entire WEF slithering down the Davos ski-slopes together as they try to pretend the world has not changed.”(paywalled source)
Exactly! Those who think they are better and much more knowledgeable than us are incapable of facing up to the momentous changes wrought and thus feel they simply must stop Brexit. Stable doors and bolting horses come to mind …
I’ll leave you with a fascinating proposal, described here, on how a filibuster in the HoL could scupper that Cooper-Bill. You need to scroll down to the bottom paragraphs. I don’t know if it’s written tongue- in-cheek – but why not have a go, Lords Tebbit, Lilley, Stoddard … !
There is a clear philosophical dividing line running right through Brexit: Independence Vs Subjugation. I would like to know where the “common ground” is between those two. Like a pregnancy, you cannot be just a little bit independent or a little bit subjugated, can you?
Major bragged that the Queen was made an E.U. citizen, when he signed the Maastricht Treaty – without a referendum.
It would be interesting to hear the Queen’s views on that and on whether or not it contravened our Constitutional Law.
I will go to llondon on Tuesday I am.a ukip member and we have been asked to male our voices heard .the vote and demos must be defended
Well Done Glen, I might see you there amongst the swell of remainers!
It’s puzzling me why our traitorous MPs are so keen to stay in the EUMafia as I see it if we have to remain as these morons want ,surely they are putting themselves out of work (apart from the fact they WONT get voted back into parliament) surely the government will not exist when /if and when EU take over Britain and make us all MPs as well nonentities
Macron – in my opinion – is a typical sociopath who projects his own sickening values onto others and thinks that by showering hifalutin rhetoric around and strutting bombastically, he can hide his moral emptiness; someone who prefers his silly little projects to the fate of his countrymen and women and who blames them for his own pitiably weak casuistry,
Sadly we have the same nascent types here in the UK, pliers of sophistry and double-speak. It’s crystal clear now even to the Tory benefactors that T.May has handled the negotiations as would someone who wanted to lose them. I wrote as much to Julien Smith my MP the other month; Conservatives by not replacing someone who sought to deal bad cards to her adversaries to play, while holding none herself, have brought a whirlwind on themselves and maybe the country too. They had better have organised a fear-FREE plan B or her party will collapse and she may usher in an essentially pro-EU trotskyite party that will find easy favour with the increasingly extreme EU Empire.
What we see in Macron is no different from the 3rd-Way extreme socialist Mussolini, who claimed he was “supreme regulator of all citizens”, and was “making superhuman efforts to educate this people. When they have learnt to obey, they will believe what I tell them.” This is what the modern undemocratic federalist EU superstate does, it is what pc propaganda does.
According to State Fascism, “The citizen in the Fascist State is no longer a selfish individual who has the anti-social right of rebelling against any law of the Collectivity”, this is precisely their line, and those that want us in the EU and tied to it are by implication supporting it. Franco’s Falangism attacked both the political left and the right as its “enemies”, declaring itself to be neither left nor right, but a syncretic third position; this is identical. Mussolini believed that Fascism and Communism would unite in a 3rd Way, so do Fabian intellectuals; Mosley wanted a pan-European militaristic One-Nation-Europe and called himself a “centrist”. These are fanatics who put their utterly irresponsible histrionic romantic nonsense above care for people’s lives, and as does Macron, accuse their victims of irresponsibility! Sadly France and Germany were the historical home of this revolutionary danger, as Edmund Burke said in warning the English to repudiate the values of the utopian Revolutionaries “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it”.
Thank you for this insight and the history behind it. Keep up the good work.
Thanks ipz for this exposition, I have copied it into my computer memory a) to re-read it and memorise and b) to quote whenever I get the chance Your analogy of Macron as another Mussolini or Mosely sounds right on the ball.
Just one thing your mention of Utopian Revolutionaries prompted me to consider what type of revolutionaries we Brexiteers are. We I believe are revolting against our own non-democratic parliament who reflect our total loss of sovereignty to a non-democratic totalitarian outfit in Brussels who effectively control and prescribe for us, without demur except for a couple of opt -outs which will probably cease if we remain..
So in essence we the grass roots divorced from our own parliament are in revolt against a prescriptive EU, we don`t preach utopia, but we fight for the right to “Live and breath” and maintain our Birthright in all its aspects, socially, lawfully and territorially.
I don`t believe our “elite” understand this or what drives us now so fiercely.
Gordon Brown denied us a referendum (promised by Blair) Cameron tried to fudge the issue by his dodgy negotiation and further angered “us” and now May is plainly trying to bring about a situation where Brexit fails or the “deal” ensures we are more tied to the EU than ever -FOREVER..
No wonder we are ANGRY, we must have a leader to step forward and unite us and harness that anger, unfortunately I am not seeing him/her in Boris,Nigel or Gerard – perhaps Kate Hoey could do it! (remember she got demoted in a Labour government over her stance on the EU and she`s still just as angry and full of fight)
from PMB I’m a bit depressed again now reading more about the HoC fiasco. But has no one else except me heard of Ukip? I think they are still there. No need to ‘never vote again’ I said years back I was disenfranchised without Ukip.
Be encouraged, Pauline, UKIP are very much ‘still there’, and very active too.
Indeed,so far, UKIP is the one and only Brexit organisation that has organised a large-scale (est.17,000 people) outdoor demonstration, the ‘Brexit Betrayal’ march and rally last month.
Next week, Gerard Batten, Mike Hookem and UKIP supporters will all be outside Parliament on Tuesday, the 29th January, for the debates.
UKIP is the only substantive political party that is, and always has been, totally committed to a full Brexit. There are no others. So Brexiteers need to support, and vote for, UKIP.
I too have heard many people say they will never vote again. What they don’t seem to appreciate is that “not voting” is just playing into the establishment’s hands. “Not voting” makes them even more powerful.
Theresa May and Corbyn don’t care if you don’t vote – all they care about is that you do not vote against them.
The ONLY solution is to vote for and elect either an Independent candidate or a candidate who is neither Tory nor Labour nor Lib Dem nor Green. Obviously personally I would like to see UKIP elected to the Hse of Commons but in reality I really don’t care if it is Monster Raving Looney. We just have to get SOMEBODY in Parliament in sufficient numbers to overthrow the incumbent traitors and one will NEVER do that by “not voting” in a fit of pique.
Agreed Ruth, the solution is probably spoil the voting paper, vote for every name on it or something, or if there were to be a very low turnout the elected party would have very little legitimacy or mandate. Now we no longer agree that winning a vote gives a mandate to do something or not, whoever gets power is unlikely to be able to govern. We’ve seen the shambles of close votes since the the Cameron government and as for this one ‘another fine mess you got us into Olly’ . Have any of these political giants given any thought to how they are going to govern this country now they have successfully delivered the chaos that the Conservative Party promised it’s about the only thing they have kept there promiseon.
As for ‘pique’ try selling that as a reason to life long Labour party or Conservative members and activists, they are likely to give a long long list of why they won’t vote Labour or Conservative again, and they sure as anything won’t vote UKIP or LibDem they proved that in the last two elections and a local level as well.
Ruth, Norman:
There are at least four good reasons why you’re wishing for a fantasy:
1. First Past The Post
2. First Past The Post
3. First Past The Post
4. First Past The Post
If you require any further explanation, please ask and I will provide.
‘eu shuts down for elections in April; it also shuts down for the summer, only reappointing Commissioners in October’
I should have holidays like that! But wait . . only one hundred fifty quid (less tax) a month!!
The boiler room of eu’rope?
Wouldn’t it be good to have a Government that takes notice of what the people want, and then implements it. I think this system is called ‘Government for the People, by the People’, or in short ‘Democracy’. ….. Perhaps one day we could try it !
It’s being tried again in the USA at the moment , for some reason it doesn’t seem to popular with some ‘democrats’ though.
I was in the West Midlands ( AKA Birmingham and the Black Country ) on Friday talking to some people whom I’d not seen for over a year, Leavers all but formally Labour and Conservative voters. I was taken aback by their anger, not only against May and the Conservative party in general but also against Corbyn and the Not the Labour Party.
When a labour voter says that the ministerial rabble in the cabinet doing their best to derail/stop Brexit should have been sacked the same day as their remarks were made and when true blue conservatives agree you know that there is big trouble on the horizon
One guy a life long labour voter ended the conversation by saying, if they mess this up, he would not vote again, ‘ they’ have now proven beyond any doubt that voting is a waste of time as they don’t take any notice of the result.
Presumably though the opinions of residents of the leafy lanes of the Cotswolds and Home Counties would differ somewhat.
I noticed some time ago,a UKIP trade Unionists leaflet and thought of joining.myself.somehow.since I support the idea and practice, although the leaders are just rabid and unthinking