Amid British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s very tough week, he received a friendly emissary from the United States: Vice President Mike Pence.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1246714
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1246714
I’ve never seen a more perfect political dumpster fire quite like the week Boris Johnson has had. Lost his first 4 votes; lost his majority while he spoke; went from a majority of +1 to -43 because he stripped party membership (removed the whip) from those conservatives who defied him; and lost his gambit to crash out of the EU with a no deal Brexit. In fact, the only vote that Boris Johnson will win as PM is the one to dissolve his gov’t. On top of that, a motion of no confidence, which Boris Johnson himself is rumored to be thinking about putting forward (huh?), will not only cause his gov’t to topple but might well result in Jeremy Corbyn taking over as PM in a gov’t of national unity for a limited period of say 6 months while the UK gets the runway it needs to negotiate an extension of the Brexit deadline with the EU, and have either a new election, a new referendum or both. The election is now more likely to be on the timetable of Labour than that of Johnson.
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Leaving the EU might be the single dumbest thing the British have done since losing the American colonies. It is hard to see how Great Britain, sans empire, doesn’t descend into 2nd world status once they leave. Sadly nearly all the British have figured that out. The only exceptions are a handful of politicians like Boris Johnson.
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Watching “As the Parliament Turns” live the last few days has been both entertaining and educational. If what I’m seeing in the House of Lords is any indication, the bill to not “crash out” will pass.
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The Brits got their own version of Trump in Boris Johnson. The difference is that his party said “no” when he tried to have them follow him in a leap off the parapet. Meanwhile, in the US, our local GOP types are tied to their great leader and only voice their mild disagreements when they’ve announced they’re leaving office or they’ve already left.
Trump’s trade deficit wars and attacks on the environment are potentially dangerous enough to the world economy and to the climate to make Brexit look almost like a minor inconvenience.
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While contemplating our own dumpster fire-in-chief, seeing Johnson with his toes over the edge makes me appreciate the UK system all the more.
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Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels to star in an upcoming movie, “Blond and Blonder”
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The problem is the British haven’t figured it out. Their is not a majority for brexit, but neither is their a majority for remain. Their is a majority against a hard brexit, but only a small one if the only other option is remain.
The Parliament really reflects the populace in this case. Not a majority for an actual brexit deal or remain, but a slim majority against a hard brexit while the hope of a negotiated brexit remains.
What is really frightening is that the next parliament may well turn less on support for brexit or remain, and more on how the votes end up splitting between the various parties. If the conservative and brexit party are a little better at splitting the districts they run in, the next parliament could support a hard brexit, even while the opposition gets a majority of the votes. Britians version of trumps win.
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Man, this Johnson imbecile makes Benny Hill look like Lord Palmerston.
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Hard to believe, but BoJo the Clown is actually out-Trumping Trump.
Apparently, while the House of Lords is ratifying a new law against a No-Deal Brexit today, BoJo is on a farm in Scotland looking at prime bulls… (pity one doesn’t charge him)
Of course, he doesn’t have his own golf course to bugger off to, so he has to make do.
LibDems are now talking mid-Nov for elections, after BoJo has gotten the extension from the EU.
It’s like BoJo and Cheatolini are brothers from different mothers.
Oh, yes, and not only did his own brother step down as MP, delivering a slap to BoJo, but their sister is a very active LibDem and has been fighting this all along…
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He’s playing 11-dimensional chess while we’re all playing checkers. Watch in awe.
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I think the UK should take a page from the Italians and delay the election for a while and instead have a gov’t of national unity. What PM Conte (of the Berner like 5 Star party) did to outmaneuver Matteo Salvini was pretty good stuff. Salvini presented a motion of no confidence in the gov’t he was a part of to topple it to get new elections so that he could win and be PM, but before a motion of no confidence happened, Conte resigned, buying time to see if another gov’t can be formed. So Conte then dumped Salvini’s far right party (Lega Nord) and formed a new gov’t with the center-left (PD) party cutting Salvini out. No election and a progressive gov’t. Pretty quick work by the Italians.
Similarly, I think the 20+ or so conservatives, liberal democrats and SNP should have an agreement with Labour where Corbyn heads a national unity gov’t with the understanding that it lasts for not more than 6 months or a year before new elections are had. In that time, they can smooth out the path to get an election or referendum in.
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Boris must get credit for teaching the public a new word this week: prorogation (as in prorogation of Parliament). While Pence probably lacks the curiosity to find out what it means, we could all be in big trouble if he gets the word tattooed on his upper lip or lower back.
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Unbalanced Boris can not balance anything.
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Another alternative, apparently, is to let BoJo continue as a “zombie” until regular elections – effectively a lame duck with no power as MPs work together around him. I don’t remember where I read this (most likely Guardian, but it was a few days back) – this has never actually happened before but appears to be a perfectly legal option.
Just like Cheatolini, BoJo the Clown is provoking constitutional crises and a re-thinking of the future.
The biggest issue at the moment is the 31 October deadline. The vote in the House of Lords today is to try to force Boris to go to Brussels and ask for an extension which he, again, in a bizarre, rambling Trumpesque speech, complete with cadets of the West Yorkshire Police Academy behind him, said he would not do, he’d “rather die in a ditch” than do that. Which has made many hope he’ll step down (but probably, like Spankee, his ego won’t allow it).
After the Lords have voted today, Boris will likely be breaking the law if he simply waits out the deadline for a no-deal. He says he won’t ask the EU for an extension, but then said he’ll go in October and use his “powers of persuasion” (again, Trumpesque) to convince the EU to bend to his will. Clearly, nobody believes a word coming out of his mouth, and especially nobody believes in his “powers of persuasion” after the last couple of days, except his fellow no-deal fanatics (UK’s koolaid drinkers…).
They’re trying to force Boris to request an extension, so they can delay the elections and gain time to work this out. My reading is that the EU would go along, after all Merkel wanted it at the end of the year, it was Macron who pushed the 31 October deadline. But Boris is blocking.
(Corbyn is not exactly well-liked or trusted either, even by some in his own party, so handing the reins to him is not something many want. Not sure it would go through…)
It’s a bizarre game on many levels.
It’s like the UK is doing their own version of the Trump show…
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You guys are pretty tough negotiators
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Misleading title
Idiotic PM
Dunce of a guest
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This is wrong in many ways.
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There is definitely a majority for Remain. Remain lost 52-48, but just changing demographics itself would have given Remain a majority a year after the vote. However, in a second referendum, a lot of people who voted Leave as a protest vote against Westminister would likely not waste their vote. But further, since Leave voters were largely older, and Remain voters were largely younger, just the fact that those dying are disproportionately leave voters, and those turning 18, are disproportionately remain voters, would have made the 48-52 loss a win. Purely demographic effects would have changed the result of teh referendum. Finally, some voters will switch from Leave to Remain because they’ve become aware of the lies they’ve been fed.
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When you include Britishers outside the UK, many of whom were excluded from voting, there would have been a clear voting majority for Remain.
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There is an absolute and significant non-voting majority for Remain. The reason is that the majority of under 18s are Remain voters. They are gonna be impacted by this decision more than anyone else. It’s hard to, in good faith, argue that a bright 16 year old should count for less when their entire life is gonna be affected than an 80 year old suffering from dementia with 1 foot in the grave. But whether they go with a lower voting age or not, the fact is the overwhelming majority of Britishers are for Remain, even if they cannot all vote.
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The Queen is not amused…
It’s not a balancing act. It’s a wide-assed ferret-haired charlatan and liar’s Roly-Poly act.
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