I have met Jim Fitzpatrick fairly regularly over the past few years on work related stuff. He is an utter tosser. Untrustworthy fuck and horrible to try and work with.
Fitzpatrick and Kevin Barron win the golden raspberry.
Even Flint knew that Brady was bollocks. Actually she's not stupid, she's just obsessed with immigration, in her constituency which must be 90% White British.
I’ve just finished a slap-up meal in a restaurant and offered to discuss “alternative arrangements” to paying the bill. I’m confident it’s going to go well.
and how long do you think it will take for the EU to ratify this deal? Do you think it will get done in time? Do you not hear the tick ticking? Is it a clock or a bomb? We'll find out soon enough.
Tonight demonstrated that there is no mileage in a second referendum. May will bring her shitty deal back after being told to fuck off by the EU, and the ERG fantasists will be faced down. I can see Labour abstaining, rather than choose to swing behind May. I defy anyone to say that the maths of this could have gone any other way had only Labour done this differently. They had a shitty hand, and played it pretty well, but the last 2 weeks have seem them forced to play it, and the turn and river haven't helped.
All I mean is, is that the vote doesn't come back till then. Nothing substantial can happen until then.
On the bright side, if Labour did vote for it and it passes, the DUP would break their pact, wouldn't they?
May would probably be confident she could win a snap election at that point, having avoided a delay of Article 50 and a 2nd referendum. That might also be a reason for Labour not to support the deal, even if modified with some protections for workers.
The withdrawal agreement isn't the future relationship deal though. So if May actually gets the unamended deal passed (potentially splitting the party) any kind of soft Brexit is still possible, no? Though I'd imagine legit concerns and bullshit about trade deals will piss away any Brexit damage mitigation.
You might be right in terms of parliamentary tactics, NHH. Labour probably were always going to fail on this. But that makes me wonder why they chose to fight this battle as a parliamentary squabble at all. As I've said repeatedly, they could have instead spent the last two years explaining why the EU is great and why leaving is a stupid mistake and arguing for the rights of immigrants, rather than a quixotic attempt to create a rift in the Tory party. Indeed, they're the only people who could have bypassed the right wing British press and establishment media and made that argument. They could have tried to move the overton window instead of playing triangulating games. In terms of outcome we'd still be in the same place, but perhaps in terms of what the public hear, things might be less shitty. And it might be easier and quicker to move back to being a full member of the EU once people realise how fucked we all are going to become.
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