Rolling Brexit Links/UK politics in the neo-Weimar era

@EllieJPrice 17mins ago

Lab MP tells me: Lab whips ringing Lab MPs telling them to vote for art50 while also telling them they themselves intend to vote against it.

lol perfect :(

There was lots of doom and gloom before that Oldham West by-election and they absolutely pissed it. That Snell seems like a total dud but he is a local dud and should benefit from some blind regionalism and the Not Tristam Hunt feelgood winds that will be sweeping through the potteries :P

can't believe they found a Blairite Remainer

nor indeed a remaining blairite

there's fucking 200 of them

It is said that Clive Lewis may vote against Brexit.

If he does not, he might not get re-elected as an MP.

Labour Leave made an £18,500 donation to UKIP during the referendum:

http://heatst.com/world/labour-brexit-group-made-18500-referendum-donation-to-ukip/

(would normally be dubious of any claims made by Heatstreet, but they include a link to the relevant page of the electoral commission's website http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/English/Donations/C0245093)

related:

https://politicalscrapbook.net/2017/01/labour-leave-try-and-boost-ukips-chances-in-stoke-with-a-voodoo-poll/

Political Scrapbook earlier highlighted that the Labour Leave campaign, which lobbies to leave the EU, is funded by right-wing Tory donors including supporters of Taxpayers’ Alliance.

Despite being ignored by most of Labour, it is still intent on creating mischief.

This morning The Sun and the Express triumphantly tout a poll by Labour Leave that shows UKIP 10 points ahead in Stoke, where Tristram Hunt’s resignation has triggered a by-election.

Another front bench resignation just now. Clive Lewis staying put but showing his lack of experience again today.

The Brexit Bill to be voted on (May publishes then smartly goes off to America as Labour chews this one over, a 'good move' unless Trump humiliates her). Its basically giving the PM the space to do what she wants so I see room for the amendments that Corbyn (and Labour) have been mentioning Despite this piece arguing against oppositon to A50 (coupled with JCs visit to a pollster as described by Stephen Bush in the NS) Corbyn and that left-wing cadre are: 1) good at NOT listening to wider opinion and 2) often good at making the case for thinking whatever way they do think (Abbott has been excellent on immigration these past two months).

In some ways it isn't about the numbers (in Parliament or out there) so much as being on the right-side when Brexit goes wrong and oposing/resisting.

Having said all that I'm not even sure as to what the shape of those amendments might be, how you could enforce a soft-Brexit approach.

That, coupled with the choices at both of these by-elections, and its an incredibly bleak day even by the usual standards. xp

After all that here are the planned amendments:

Labour later tabled seven planned amendments to the bill, one of which would guarantee a “meaningful vote in parliament” on any final deal. Another amendment would be to guarantee the protection of workers’ rights and securing “full tariff- and impediment-free access” to the EU’s single market.

The other five amendments are: to ensure the Brexit secretary, David Davis, reports on progress to the Commons at least every two months; guaranteeing the rights of foreign EU nationals living in the UK; obliging regular consultation with the devolved governments; require regular impact assessments on the effects of leaving the single market; and to oblige the government to keep all existing EU tax avoidance and evasion measures.

Some are good but I'm not sure what a "meaningful vote in parliament" means.

This morning The Sun and the Express triumphantly tout a poll by Labour Leave that shows UKIP 10 points ahead in Stoke

Are The Sun finally directly endorsing UKIP?

i know theres loads of blairites nv

im just surprised

This makes some sense:

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2017/01/why-has-jeremy-corbyn-committed-labour-voting-article-50

for two thirds of voters, their vote in the referendum is now more important than their chosen political party

Which suggests that the Tories are potentially in trouble in places as well.

Meanwhile two Labour whips, Thangam Debbonaire and Jeff Smith, have both come out and say they will defy their own whip. Strikes me that Corbyn is shortly going to find himself in the position where his allies are voting against him and he has to rely on a lot of his Labour opponents to prevent complete humiliation.

if a fella called debonnaire is instrumental in helping you out of your misery is it suicide by fop

What exactly is Jeremy "defied whip 428 times" Corbyn going to do to the quite possibly large amount of his MPs who will not vote the way he tells them?

not too sure if youre being casual but debonnaire is female btw

ah well another mediocre pun goes wasting

May's groveling is extraordinary.

Which has been the standard position for Brit PM's "special relationship" possibly since the post The Treaty of Versailles days, and definitely since Thatcher.

She has even more reason to grovel than usual though.

Global Britain, and all that.

I am deep in that excellent Adam Tooze book The Deluge at the moment, and the dying days of Euro neo-imperialism is fresh on my mind and I was actually agreeing with TH's post even if it din't sound like it.

balls deep in a tooze

Feel like Thatcher was a more dominant personality than Reagan so that strikes me as very different to this obviously insincere and/or craven bout of sycophancy.

xp

that post gave me a triggering image of the former Shadow Chancellor and amateur ballroom dancer, thnx

and at this point I'm frightened enough to welcome anybody's efforts to calm down that psychopath, even May's

May says she and Trump want to put the interests of ordinary people first, the people who feel the odds are stacked against them. She and Trump both feel that these people deserve a fairer deal.

i thought i hated david cameron.

left coalition party now

a promising statement emanates from labour

https://www.facebook.com/labourclivelewis/posts/1256644634412341

The more closely May is associated with Trump the better.

Clive Lewis would make quite a good drag queen.

he's got the eyelashes

It would be great if went for a photo op with those fossilised dragoon in full drag!

Solid work under the circumstances from Clive Lewis, but I'm pissing myself laughing that according to the comments, the first version of the paragraph

IF THE GOVT DOES NOT ACCEPT THESE AMENDMENTS, I WILL VOTE AGAINST TRIGGERING ARTICLE 50 AT THE THIRD AND FINAL VOTE.

had a 'NOT' before the first 'VOTE'.

Interesting report from the Stoke selection meeting, if you like that kind of thing
http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/inside-stoke-centrals-selection-meeting.html

comforting if true

May has been busy:

https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/defence/defence-funding/news/82814/theresa-may-defies-human-rights-campaigners-sign-arms

yeah in the wake of the trump news i just noticed that headline sitting below it all like "hey i'm also horrifying news"

British Values - always be closing

Wasn't Turkey the example brexiteers always used when trying to scare people about immigration from potential EU countries?

yes

the "Turkish problem" has been sorted now, any Turks who wanted to come here have been purged or killed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38788388

"populist gestures" different from "the will of the people" apparently

chuka umunna:

"But they need to understand, just as they will put America first, we will put British values first."

ffs

nice that the government are rejecting the petition out of hand without the debate it guarantees, too

Obviously these concerns are not bigoted legitimate enough.

We should wait until we see how many signatures the "let him in" petition gets

The more votes this gets, the worse they will look - also for those like me, resident but with no referendum or election vote, it's important to sign.

I would love to see every Remain voter, EU and non-EU resident (all of whom pay taxes) sign this.

chuka umunna:

"But they need to understand, just as they will put America first, we will put British values first."

ffs

In terms of how Britain should respond to "America First", this speech Tom Watson made on Saturday seems to have been overshadowed somewhat, which is a shame considering how bad it is

In a controversial speech, Mr Watson said the UK could experience a “Brexit bounce” when it leaves the EU and questioned the prevailing belief that free trade was always a good thing.

As politicians and the media rush to condemn Mr Trump, Mr Watson suggested people should “keep an open mind” about the new President’s policies.

Speaking at the Co-operative Party Economic Conference in London, Mr Watson said: “If Trump says ‘buy American’, our rational response is ‘buy British’.

“Yet to say ‘buy British’ these days risks sneering derision from much of Britain’s commentariat and chattering classes, few of whom have been on a factory floor lately. When did you last hear Theresa May say it?”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tom-watson-buy-british-brexit-donald-trump-labour-a7550661.html