PMs change and lol we're all gonna die (but brexit will never end)

irl sad lol

Today is #PositiveTwitterDay, a campaign to make debates more civil and challenge abusive online behaviour.@GuidoFawkes, Paul Staines is on #Sunrise at 8.15am to discuss civility and trust in social media.

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— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 30, 2019

jfc, beyond parody

Coming next: an extended lecture on Ethics and Morality by Prince Andrew

[Mindhunter voice] our research suggests they derive a sick pleasure from revisiting the scene of their crime https://t.co/a5J0tjMn3s

— Crowsa Luxemburg (@quendergeer) August 30, 2019

Can't believe anyone's still paying any attention to that ineffectual washout.

I agree with the view, expressed by Fizzles I think, that while what the disgusting government is doing is terrible, many MPs are also to blame for failing to forestall such things much earlier.

In that interesting period (March?) when Parliament had a series of votes on options, and people like Soubry or whoever refused to vote for a Customs Union -- you may say: that's because if you're against Brexit, doing that doesn't go far enough: but then, MPs also refused to vote to cancel Brexit, and also refused to legislate against a No-Deal Brexit. People who had the chance to enact safeguards against the vaunted disaster refused to do it, mainly because they support the Con government or oppose JC.

Good MPs like JC have kept doing the right thing again and again (and most Labour MPs repeatedly voted the right way also), but dozens of MPs who claim to be against bad Brexit have repeatedly voted to enable it. And now they complain that they only have a few days to do the same thing when they would otherwise have taken weeks to do the same thing.

that Customs Union proposal only got tanked by 3 votes and Swinson and her pro-austerity pals voted against it, and then they have the gall to call into question JC's credentials on opposing NDB.

you say that is if "reality" has any bearing on the current political discourse

state of this snide shitbag

Climate protest backing pop group ⁦@the1975⁩ are off on a world tour next week. I’ve written to ask them if they are travelling by train or yacht.. pic.twitter.com/4pQXxOqGwW

— David TC Davies MP 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧 (@DavidTCDavies) August 30, 2019

Hey guys

Lord Doherty (republican lol) just ruled that Johnson can prorogue parliament.

lol we’re all gonna die

never in doubt tbh

TEMPORARILY! Because the suspense must last if the show is to go on.

These court actions don't really help.

these hand-wringing phonies need to VONC him or stfu

There are two more legal cases being brought. I wouldn't expect them to be successful but i also didn't expect Gina Miller to be successful.

But yes, it's VONC or stfu.

Relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Frans_Vonck

it couldn't be more clear or straightforward, either. If you're a Tory who is sincerely opposed to No Deal, you will have to work with the opposition, before a general election and after an election if it's won by Johnson. If you're a Lib Dem and you want to prevent No Deal you will have to work with the leader of the opposition, before and after an election. the leader of the opposition is the leader of the Labour party. so either you work with them or you're not serious about what you claim to want.

all the rest of the fantasy GNU horseshit is an avoidance of the obvious and for what? the approval of a few C-listers on Twitter?

Yes, but party >>>>> country the rest of the known world.

damning stuff: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/prorogation-british-constitution/

Day of Reckoning is Mon/Tues next week where these ppl have to actually do something. Vonc won't happen, it's more like a legislative change of the sort discussed on Newsnight last night.

And then that could get Johnson into a people Vs parliament GE. Which is what I'd like.

Anyone remotely serious needs to put a fucking vonc on it.

I notice that the serious ex-Labour moderates are not included in this. Good old Islamophobe Nora agonising over hypotheticals when there’s a very real situation tells you yet again how seriously anyone should be taking these people.

For anyone labouring under the misapprehension that the hard left wouldn't prorogue parliament in a heartbeat if they were in charge and wanted to pursue an agenda that wouldn't pass in parliament, watch this. 👇 My God, @Conservatives, what a terrible precedent you have set. https://t.co/ictrlsTYmZ

— Nora Mulready (@NoraMulready) August 30, 2019

the old "go shit in your hat" junior soprano line couldn't be more appropriate

in a situation where the government somehow agreed a revised WA that doesn't feature the word "backstop" but will obviously have some mechanism that is functionally the same, could they get it voted thru? i assume "no way"

This Parliament will not vote for a re-worded WA but a future one with different numbers might.

Can’t see the dup or hardliners doing anything regarding this.

i ponder this only because i wonder what Johnson can even claim to be trying to renegotiate, or why anybody (read journalists) is taking the idea of a renegotiation remotely seriously

The reports that I saw were "we'll both try to solve this before the backstop kicks in, but if we don't then we'll commit to continuing to try to solve this, what do you say?"

some people have said that johnson could sell a very slightly altered WA in the way you describe as a great victory and a frightened, tired parliament would vote it through.

it seems possible. you'd probably get some labour votes, maybe enough to beat ERG and DUP. what xyzzzz__ says is likeliest though.

I don't get the impression the EU are up for any sort of re-negotiation that would be substantially different to what's already been agreed, unless it's a reduction in red lines.

yeah i've seen the ahem proposals but the point is it wouldn't shift the arithmetic at all so it's not even a good pretence at action

wavering Labour MPs was my thought as to a possible route, too

i mean essentially the next couple of months makes the Phoney War look like Stalingrad

If Johnson announces a GE is he then free to ditch the DUP (i.e. if Parliament is effectively dissolved does it matter if you collapse the confidence arrangement?) and shift the hard border to the sea but keep the rest of the WA? Which might get the ERG onside and a few "just want a deal" waverers. Or not.

I mean I don't think he's going to do this because as far as I have currently realised it isn't a terrible option - I mean, it's not a great one either but maybe the least bad now possible, if it is even possible - and I think we're strictly in the "terrible options" quadrant of Cummings' famous branching futures

(also I think even passing the WA unchanged would involve more parliamentary debate and Whitehall prep than there is currently time for)

ERG more than happy to be outraged on behalf of the DUP, iirc.

if johnson announces a GE parliament is dissolved and all deals with other parties dissolve with it

xp hmm, they have been to date but they don't actually care about where the border is

however they don't want a deal, they seem not to want anything in particular except chaos and grievance-airing and a little disaster capitalism on the side, so yes, happy to be outraged about things they don't care about just for the sake of being outraged and shouting NO some more (ah, they do have something in common with the DUP after all), true

I have read five million tweets with incompatible 5D chess theories about who really wants what and what's actually going to happen, many prefixed with "it is now clear that" except it obviously isn't now clear or some of these five million tweets might agree with each other, and am so, so tired

(also the cat decided to shout at me about its own inscrutable grievances at half-hourly intervals from 3am onwards, which isn't helping)

xp Nah, the ERG got tattoos, I'm pretty sure.

It's the Conservative and UNIONIST Party, not the Conservative and FUNionist Party.

thanks mark, I guess he can ditch the DUP if he calls an election but that gives no way to make any lasting arrangements (can't do it after dissolving parliament, have v limited time to do anything underhand beforehand before someone works out that they're being screwed)

back to the wall of post-it notes and pieces of string

or why anybody (read journalists) is taking the idea of a renegotiation remotely seriously

He can't call a pre-Brexit election, because the Brexit Party will stand against him for resisting the allure of No Deal and they'll be fucked. He has to have an election forced upon him, which is still a plausible explanation for the current shitshow.

it is. tho as bush said trying to work out whether they’re lying or crazy, with the preferable one being lying, is hard.

has there been any follow-up* on cummings sacking sajid javid's aide last night?

*informational or kremlinological

nothing i’ve seen. i mean i assume its for the yellowhammer leak.

this is good on why vonc isn’t likely to be the best approach:

Opponents of the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan have been exploring two avenues of challenge. The first is through a statutory vote of no confidence, as stipulated in the 2011 Fixed-Term Parliaments Act. The Leader of the Opposition would have to table a motion, and the following day MPs would vote on whether “This House has confidence in Her Majesty’s Government.” If successful, a 14 calendar day period would then begin, where an alternative candidate must demonstrate support of at least 320 MPs, be appointed Prime Minister and then win a statutory vote of confidence. If no candidate, or the original PM, cannot regain confidence, then an election would follow.

Opposition MPs are now reluctant to follow this for two reasons – firstly that neither Jeremy Corbyn, nor any other candidate seems likely to win a vote of confidence. Secondly, that an election after the 14 day period has elapsed would probably be held after 31st October.

The second route being explored is to pass legislation, in a similar manner to the Cooper-Letwin Bill in March, which orders the Government to seek an extension from the EU. The previously successful legislation took five days to pass the Commons and the Lords, so with time looking even shorter in early September, opponents of a no-deal Brexit cannot afford any delay. They must also look to the Speaker of the Commons to bend Standing Orders to allow a substantive motion to capture time off the Government, which currently controls all business in the Commons.

bercow’s response to proroguing suggests that he would enable this. tho lord’s fillibustering can’t be ruled out.

Story I heard was they were told to delete old social media postings that might make them seem like hypocrites; Javid's SPAD refused presumably because of Streisand effect, was sacked.

The posts were deleted and suddenly twitter explodes with receipts of Javid's hypocrisy. xp