Boris May gets his way
So it looks like the EU/Boris plan is the same as the old EU/Theresa May plan (as I have been saying for years): (1) Have a really awful thing in the deal. If you can get that through then great, … Continue reading →
Category Archives: The Conservatives
There’s nothing a modern conservative loves more than to give in
Lions led by donkeys. It never changes. Here’s a proposal: let’s give a foreign power sovereignty over Yorkshire in exchange for a 2% reduction on agricultural tariffs. What’s the sensible response? (1) Get out before we cut all your throats. … Continue reading →
Why wouldn’t they?
The EU is pressuring British Brexit negotiators: Fury as EU demands more Brexit concessions But of course they are. As I said a few days ago, Johnson desperately wants a deal, and the EU knows this. And they know that … Continue reading →
Johnson is terrified of No Deal, not relaxed about it
What happens if Johnson doesn’t get a deal agreed and in place with the EU soon? Then he’s up to his neck in it. That’s why, for his sake, he has to get a deal. Think about the possibilities. Assume … Continue reading →
The last-minute stitch-up begins
And so it begins: The sudden smiles from Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, after his meeting with Boris Johnson in the Wirral on Thursday caught everyone by surprise. They didn’t take me by surprise, because I’ve been predicting the last-minute … Continue reading →
I told you nothing’s changed for the Tories
It seems that on the government’s team only Dominic Cummings really wants Brexit: On Wednesday, the Prime Minister appeared to row back on Cummings’ suggestion that the Tories would have to fight the next general election on a no-deal pledge … Continue reading →
Don’t just wait around for Hilary Benn to tell you what to do
Got this comment the other day about my suggestion that Boris Johnson should add all sorts of qualifications to the Article 50 extension request: All the comments as to how Mr Johnson could avoid complying with the intent of the … Continue reading →
This is how popular net zero is
Watch this section of Sajid Javid’s speech at the Conservative Party conference. He’s about to get some applause for expressing his wish for Manchester to elect a Tory mayor. Although this is clearly an unrealistic desire, he still gets applause, … Continue reading →
LibDems with blue rosettes
It’s telling, isn’t it, how easily someone can be a Conservative MP one day, and a Lib Dem MP the next? No change of beliefs is needed. No change of mindset. The MP carries on exactly as before, saying the … Continue reading →
There’s no end to this Parliament’s powers if this counts as law
How is this ‘the law’? Mr Johnson’s Government has been told to publish communications connected to prorogation and no-deal Brexit planning after MPs supported an emergency Commons motion. Former attorney general Dominic Grieve’s demand for all written and electronic contact about the … Continue reading →
The biggest threat to Brexit is not from the Remainers…
… it’s from the government. The Remainers can do nothing against a determined government. The Benn-Burt bill can easily be sidestepped, for example, by sending an additional letter to the EU making an extension impossible. Other Remainer last-minute tactics can … Continue reading →
This blog is one step ahead
Following my suggestion on Saturday about how to get around the Benn-Burt bill, we get this in the Telegraph: One plan under serious consideration would see the Prime Minister send an accompanying letter alongside the request to extend Article 50 … Continue reading →
Quote of the Day
Formertory in the comments: The continuing clearout of the Conservative Party puts me in mind (without wishing to be indelicate on a Sunday morning) of an episode many years ago when I had a colonoscopy. For 24 hours beforehand I … Continue reading →
Is it my birthday?
Amber Rudd resigns from the Conservative Party! It’s almost like what everyone on this side of the blogosphere has been saying for years: show some balls and the wets who are dragging us down will soon run away crying. Big … Continue reading →
Don’t you know who my grandad is?
It’s funny how the left is suddenly full of respect for Winston Churchill. And full of respect for someone because of who their grandfather was. Nicholas Soames, who lost the Tory whip the other day, is the grandson of Winston … Continue reading →