"oh you don't get me I'm the end of the union": lol brexit is how we're all gonna die

new thread new may vote

UK, RU OK?

good luck, UK

UK DK

fuck ye ye had it comin 800 years imo

i. how much will she lose by ?
ii. is there any margin which would simply necessitate her standing down automatically ?
iii. will labour table a NCM straight away tomorrow ?

wait is she actually expected to lose this vote?

yes - heavily

very good and very normal parliament

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq delays giving birth so she can vote on Brexit dealhttps://t.co/zm1opNF55M pic.twitter.com/gcqbEDP4RN

— Mirror Politics (@MirrorPolitics) January 14, 2019

the government's marquee policy - its only policy - and they're about to get a doing

I can't imagine her straight up resigning as a result of this vote even if the whole of parliament went against her tbh

Sky News estimate May will lose the vote on her Brexit deal by 225 votes. The largest ever House of Commons defeat by some distance. pic.twitter.com/kgpDoL0tjG

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) January 14, 2019

who the fuck is scraeming "RESIGN" in the house. show yourself, coward. i will never resign

estimate May will lose the vote on her Brexit deal by 225 votes.

this outcome would never merit that harsh descriptor: "nebulous"

ii. is there any margin which would simply necessitate her standing down automatically ?

Normally there’d be some sense of shame but like...

Do tory leaders ever have a sense of shame?

Send in Frank Field, he got Thatcher to stand down last time.

Frank Field has been sent to resyk iirc

Can we get back to why Tulip Siddiq is wearing a t-shirt with a picture of her on it?

May will undoubtedly just shake her head and explain that this makes the job all the harder, not angry but quite disappointed.

clueing in the squares itt:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwzCRx7WkAA2-yK.jpg:large

That is indeed quite a neck on him.

do I even need to ask if the strawbs are all hardcore brexiters?

bring on the grave new world

So the sequence is:

May loses Brexit vote by massive margin -> does not resign -> Labour tables No Confidence vote in the govt -> govt narrowly survives it.

Then what?

Oh yeah she comes back with a new proposal within three days and MPs debate it for the shortest possible time.

Or: May loses Brexit vote by massive margin -> does not resign -> Labour does NOT table No Confidence vote in the govt -> May comes back with new proposal (??) within 3 days -> it is also voted down -> Labour tables No Confidence vote -> govt must lose, as it has played every last card? -> GE -> Request for extension -> Malta says no, with hilarious consequences

good luck, UK

god someone already made that obvious post ages ago fuck

discipline of the Labour MPs in voting "no" here is pretty respectable imo

Brexiteer Conservative MP Desmond Swayne calls on Theresa May to suspend parliament until April in order to "guarantee Brexit."

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) January 14, 2019

xpost to gyac on the other thread

saw this live and it was an attempt at 'humour' fwiw

So the sequence is:

May loses Brexit vote by massive margin -> does not resign -> Labour tables No Confidence vote in the govt -> govt narrowly survives it.

Then what?

before we all die obv

discipline of the Labour MPs in voting "no" here is pretty respectable imo

This is their stance anyway but all the polling on this shows them getting hammered if they vote for the deal.

if everybody voted how their constituency voted how would that pan out?

New: Corbyn set for confidence motion straight after tomorrow's vote
We're told plan is:
- Raise point of order minutes after result (if deal is rejected)
- Hold confidence vote after PMQs on Wednesday
- Heading to Amber Rudd's constituency Thurs (election starting gun?)

— Harry Yorke (@HarryYorke1) January 14, 2019

xp majority for the government

"Leave polled the most strongly in 270 counting areas, with Remain coming first in 129."

Corbyn's team not confirming or denying, but tonight Labour MPs told confidence motion coming very soon and they won't have to wait long.

As before, Labour will not 100% commit to it in case vote is closer than expected. (some suggestions May could lose by just 50-100 votes)

— Harry Yorke (@HarryYorke1) January 14, 2019

fwiw Corbyn was already coming to Hastings on Thurs, that's been planned for a while, "policy development conference" apparently

if everybody voted how their constituency voted how would that pan out?

What do you mean?

Yeah idgi, nobody voted on this deal yet

Everyone, leave or remain, hates the deal.

apart from Sir Edward Leigh.

discipline of the Labour MPs in voting "no" here is pretty respectable imo
This is their stance anyway but all the polling on this shows them getting hammered if they vote for the deal.
if everybody voted how their constituency voted how would that pan out?

Jim Fitzpatrick (Lab, Tower Hamlets, overwhelming Remain constituency, campaigned for Remain) has told his constituents he'll most probably vote for the deal as the sure way to avoid No Deal (he said on PM tonight).

Oh yeah she comes back with a new proposal within three days and MPs debate it for the shortest possible time.

Yesterday I saw a woman with a Hessian Bag with an EU flag on it, and I thought oh look one of those FBPE lads

But on closer inspection I realized it said "Brexit means Exit" one one side, and "Leave Now" on the other, in an unassuming almost floral font, blue and yellow everywhere. not a single red white and blue bulldog to be seen

the radical centre
https://mobile.twitter.com/Lokivankenobi1/status/1084959382310408193

lol, even on btec level design courses they tell 1st year students "no swastikas, no penises".

"30's party" lol stfu!

If the next logo doesn't strongly resemble a jizzing cock then I'm demanding my membership fee back.

"30's party" cracks me up

What logo?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dw6MyoeWwAIg0og?format=jpg&name=large

https://www.twitter.com/Lokivankenobi1/status/1084959382310408193

Blimey.

Sturridge has gone to Chelsea by the way.

'hey guys what if we made our logo a swastika formed out of multicoloured sperm'

Pro EU, Pan Spermia

Good day to bury bad news

Just nice to see they're still managing non-Brexit biz

The old farts will still turn out in their droves to vote Tory at the next election.

The Murrison amendment, to specify the sunset clause for the backstop:

Amendments NEW

Very significant names behind the Murrison amendment with expiry date on backstop

Graham Brady, Damian Green, Simon Hart, Rob Halfon amongst most eyecatching

Looks very like whips operation... you wouldn’t get such names without official sanction pic.twitter.com/bFrjHpjR1Z

— Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) January 15, 2019

The thinking here is presumably that if the deal passes with the amendment attached:

* The government returns to the EU and says "this is what you can have, it's this or No Deal"
* Craven Continentals wilt before British Resolve
* ?????
* War with Spain!

oooh id have a bit if war woth spain if it comes to it...will the eu enforce the whip dyou think

those names are eyecatching?

They’re not the only whips on it today.

Morning! #MeaningfulVote #GOTV pic.twitter.com/ZhLGGzOtuN

— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) January 15, 2019

Worth keeping an eye on these guys today! Ofc, true end of season cunts geeks like myself have the Commons Vote app downloaded to keep up with this nonsense.

xp

You could replace half them with the Japanese baseball game names and nobody would notice.

bobson dugnutt for environment secretary imo

lol xp Bobson Dugnut, Junior Minister for the Minor Dominions, has resigned the Tory whip in protest at something or other

xxp ah sure you know there's still some of the Armada in us.

I've been told my swarthy complexion arrived on a shipwrecked armada.

Usually we'd know by now which amdts had been selected. I hear he intends to make announcement from the Chair. Just another moment in the spotlight, or far easier to make a controversial decision? The argument then has to happen on the floor of the House.

— Nikki da Costa (@nmdacosta) January 15, 2019

I am starting to suspect that John Bercow may be a messy bitch who loves drama.

(Oh Jesus, thus is going to turn into that chapter in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail that I always had to skim, isn't it?)

Will she accept vote of Parliament tonight? Her official spokesman says: “Yes”. But then adds PM is determined to deliver on result of referendum. She’s unlikely to be able to do both.

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) January 15, 2019

Also the DUP don't like the Murrison amendment, or any of them, as none of them are legally binding guarantees.

I thought I was excited then I started reading the amendments and thought bollocks to this

A modest projection, maybe, but it's based on MPs who have so far said - on the record - they intend to vote against the deal. pic.twitter.com/TBLAxy34rb

— Ian Jones (@ian_a_jones) January 14, 2019

Graun predicts 213-426
Sky predicts 185-423
(w/ both still missing some mp's)

Can't they delay the vote again?

With Bercow in his current mode? He'd text the Queen or break up the band and get it back together again without May in it.

Bercow choice of amendments (when he could have let them all carry) scuppers not only any outside chance May had of winning the day but also severely damages chances of any credible solution for next Monday having been tested for ability to pass.

remember the mace is ceremonial right up until someone plants it in someone else's skull WHICH IS WHAT IT'S THERE FOR

― mark s, Wednesday, January 9, 2019 6:22 PM (six days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is the worst game of Cluedo ever.

He'd text the Queen or break up the band and get it back together again without May in it.

For a minute there I thought you were saying he'd reform Queen without Brian May.

HOT SPACE 2: you know it's time

You can currently get 10/3 on the UK leaving the EU in March fwiw.

fuck all better places for the savings at this stage tbf

Bearish pound say hi to me

The backstop preserves the single greatest British policy success of the last half century (which had been stated aim of both parties since 1985), and does so in a way that EU26 dislikes enough that it doesn’t stymie trade talks. In a sane world, it’s a diplomatic triumph.

— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) January 15, 2019

Can't even remember which Labour webel is for May's negging now.

Always bet on Hoey

For a minute there I thought you were saying he'd reform Queen without Brian May.

SCREAMING!

Is there a more pointless gesture than Tulip Siddiq delaying the birth of her baby so she can vote against the government. It's not like losing by 199 votes compared to 200 would represent a get-out-of-jail card for May.

She represents one of the most Remain constituencies in the country and is making a point about the government’s inability to be trusted re:pairing, and it’s something that has affected female MPs more this parliament. Given that every tweet on @labourwhips has cunts complaining about any MPs who are missing, I can’t say I blame her.

it's an irrelevance in respect of this vote yes but yes, it highlights the issue of the collapse of trust in the pairing system at a point when a degree of squirmy awkwardness can maybe be wrung out of those responsible, to resonate beyond the usual wonk bubble. better to have the discussion when you can handwave that it matters (even tho it actually doesn't) than when it really DOES matter and yr scrabbling around for every vote? obviously it's just throwing the soft bookmark at them after you threw the book…

It's only really people within the usual wonk bubble who know or care what the pairing system is though, it's a valid point to make but I can't see it resonating particularly widely.

See there are quite a few calls to deselect Tory Remainer MPs - don't know whether anything will come of it but its funny how 'deselection train' banter on left Twitter is taking on a life of its own now.

Kinda underwhelmed by the whole thing so far today, tbh. Been reading a lot more about the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and staring at Trump's burger picture.

xxp are you sure? It got a lot of coverage on the news last summer, the pictures of the MPs being wheeled in definitely cut through with people who aren’t weird obsessives.

Tulip also suffers from gestational diabetes, so this is going some way to prove a point.

Hey we chose an elective date for convenience of remembering and to mess with my mother in law so

https://www.pscp.tv/w/bw4SvnR3LTI4ODE2MzM4MTV8MXpxS1ZPYkRab0RHQg_w_S0Nn98owS76UnlGcTe3h9d9LcL4lR1EVvW1wJL2

Have to admit I love watching debate streams on periscope for the comments (I don’t have an account)

I've only just noticed that Bercow didn't select the Murrison amendment! All that fucking drama and it doesn't even get in.

Someone with a big majority is going to fuck with the powers of the speaker after this, but it's A+ rn

nothing gets me going quite like procedural maneuvers

Bercow probably thinks (correctly) he has nothing to lose, so why not stir up shit on his way out?

vote's in about two hours? wonder if I can find some popcorn near the office

no swire amendment either

from a dabble into twitter - I see robert colville has Done A Thread on labour. it’s bad

Bercow taking no prisoners. He just replied to an MP who accused him of changing the rules.

Robert Colvile is a moron

how is he in paid employment

Class system idk

never helped me >:(

Here she is!

Can't believe I can't find a pub showing this

That's rather European.

good laughs of derision at the mention of the LDs

Lot of red faces in the chamber atm

This silly quiz on the guardian today:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/15/quiz-how-well-have-you-been-following-brexit

has this question:

Who is leader of the Liberal Democrats?

Vince Cable

Not sure

xp Was just about to say the same! Thought it was my stream quality.

Bercow asking for "zen" in da house

xp haha

May punished for "abusing" NI/I as an argument to vote for her deal

Guess I’m watching this on TV!

Tough crowd lol

What am I missing?

The drone of pros and cons howling through May. Her speech will not reach "this is historic" status like all awful speeches of Thatcher have.

Bercow trying to make sense of a majority of the aye's and no's shouted no.

https://media1.tenor.com/images/e6ce91c4f0a75d014d43a76de2bbd183/tenor.gif

let's all go to the lobby, lets all go to the lobby!

lol

what do we reckon ? 50 ? 80 ? 100 ? 200 ?!

140

This is only an amendment, for the big one I reckon between 160-170

There could be some hefty abstentions too

Aw @ protective huddle of Labour MPs around Tulip Siddiq

Oh, not for the amendment, that’s getting rinsed xp

yeah - don't care about the amendment. meant the big one

LOCK THE DOOOOOOORS

The drone of pros and cons howling through May

Ha! Images of May setting a drone off in the lobby and everything having to be abandoned...

I have got confirmation that if a no confidence motion is moved tomorrow, it will come *after* the ten minute rule bill on banning low-level letterboxes https://t.co/X247AlISsJ

— Esther Webber (@estwebber) January 15, 2019

pls give us 24-600 on the may deal

Lol I’m a fan of the woman who exclaimed “for goodness sake!” at the 24.

WE’RE ON

UNLOCK

parliament uk website y u brake heart

can you not see it LBI?

I'm recording the chatter-drone noise in between voting and will turn it into a musical monument like William Basinski did with his cassettes and 9/11 tbh

xp Couldn't see it, but the stream is fixed, ty Gyac!

can someone post here as soon as im in a v poor coverage area and can load no better sites

we’re on it deems

update: Brexit is done. It actually ended up working out for everyone

can someone post here as soon as im in a v poor coverage area and can load no better sites

― topical mlady (darraghmac), Tuesday, January 15, 2019 8:29 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

backstop working already

LOCK THE DOOOOOORSS

LOCK THE DOOOORS

:D

Would like someone in the BBC studio to ask Farage if he would be advantaged by a falling pound etc.

Is he seriously on there again?! Fuck’s sake!

Down, nothing beats the parliament stream, trust. No Farage, for one. Here.

xp

Down=Dowd ffs

Parliament live for only the purest Bercow bellows

I dread to admit it, and have to remind myself he is a Tory through and through, but I'd fancy a pint w/ Bercow :-/

230 vote defeat

230!

ffffffffff

230!!!

202 ayes
432 noes

202-432 UNLOCK

FUCKING HELL

ORDEEEEER

chrissst

Point of order, vote of no confidence pls Corbyn

202 - 432

Lol this is classic “don’t criticise if you’re prepared to offer a solution”

Also, as an EU citizen you don’t care about us, TM, and we all know it.

230!1!

May basically inviting JC to table NoConf

Woweee

Congrats, I guess?

even pep wouldve stopped before 230

xp Bang on Gyac

What was the last bill to have been defeated so heavily? I'm assuming it was about a century ago.

Still, absolute gubbing.

Is that the biggest defeat in post-war history?

There’s never been a loss so large

even pep wouldve stopped before 230

― topical mlady (darraghmac), Tuesday, January 15, 2019 8:42 PM (six seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Total Brexit

I honestly nearly laughed when she said that, we do understand what you’re saying babe!

Useful chart from @PA on biggest government defeats in House of Commons. Data crunching by Guardian has PM losing by 213. Sky News has it on 225. Looking pretty bleak. pic.twitter.com/Ecl5w662Va

— Ashley Cowburn (@ashcowburn) January 15, 2019

lol, what feed is everyone watching, you all got that 3 minutes earlier than me

Corbs is up

Corbyn says since 1920s so I’m wrong

What a damn mess!

Theresa May has sustained the heaviest parliamentary defeat of any British prime minister in the democratic era after MPs rejected her Brexit deal by a resounding majority of 230.

Ramsay McDonals lost by 224

Here it is!

Any chance she'll step down? I haven't really been following the drama of late (nor do I understand a snip of it, for that matter).

no confidence motion tabled, it's on

IT’S ON

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/RemorsefulMadFinwhale-size_restricted.gif

DRAMATIC GLASSES WHIP

lmao

DUP still supporting them on confidence, right? So it's now down to tories to turn on themselves

taking the glasses off as he said it, tell me corbyn can't cut a killer promo

— No Booze Jamo (@KonyChimel) January 15, 2019

Gosh, I wonder why no-one else wanted May's job...?

Yes, and even if they weren’t they wouldn’t chance a Corbyn government getting in. Unless they abstained...

Context for that historical loss pic.twitter.com/YUhVDXvcRz

— Richard Moynihan (@richjm) January 15, 2019

God I hate every single one of these braying cunts.

If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?

— Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) January 15, 2019

Who is this terrified bloodless middle-manager, oh apparently he's the health secretary? what?

Tusk.. otm?

Tusk was otm about Cameron years ago and he’s otm now.

If I were the DUP I'd be demanding a few more £bn right now

Having a dram for the no-confidence - will finish the bottle when a Labour government is elected. So hopefully it won't be too long.

The actual vote is tomorrow (after the letterbox thing), but 99% sure it won’t pass.

how many times has Bercow said "that seems to me to be so BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS that no sensible member can disagree with it" in the last three days?

matt hancox is a government minister

Yeah, it's still hard to make the numbers for a no-confidence. But hopefully the fact that it is such a drubbing might swing it?

There's surely 7 swivel-eyed loons among 130 pissed-off Tories

presumably the Tories voting against the government would have to get worked on by someone in their own party who thinks they can (a) become the party leader and (b) win the resulting election?

Probably a lot to be said for people sleeping (or not) on it tonight, yeah.

WES STREETING

That presumes z) that May will actually resign at that point

At least the Tories can unseat her if she survives a no-confidence...oh, no, they can't. Not for a year. Smh.

They don’t have time for a leadership election if a GE is called; it’s like 25 days and May has already won a no confidence vote. It’s her or nothing if there’s a GE.

God I hate every single one of these braying cunts.

Next thread title

matt hancox is a government minister

This.

Just hilariously bad.

Three labour MPs voted for the deal - Ian Austin, John Mann and Kevin Barron.

Frank Field and the Lib Dem who resigned did too.

There's surely 7 swivel-eyed loons among 130 pissed-off Tories

No way, anyone who would rebel is surely a passionate Remainer and I doubt they would see much difference between a Labour Brexit and a Tory one, even if they were inclined to destroy their own party.

So how does this work now? No confidence vote tomorrow? And whether or not May survives, the dreaded No Deal is nigh?

lol EU ruling out any more negging for cunning plan b for now.

catching up with the headlines and lmao

Sorry I'm late, been watching in the pub

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

118 Tories voted against.

So how does this work now? No confidence vote tomorrow? And whether or not May survives, the dreaded No Deal is nigh?

No deal is the default if A50 isn’t revoked or extended.

This is just embarassing.

By my reckoning about 50 Tories regarded as sure supporters have voted the other way

I think May's going to start talking openly about extending Article 50 now, it's the only chance of getting whatever reworked deal she can cobble together through Parliament, and even that's extremely unlikely. When she said no Brexit was more likely than no deal, it was obvious who she was trying to threaten.

Near-on the same number that voted against her in the 1922 Committee shenanigans.

She just *could* lose the no confidence

My favorite line from the Washington Post coverage:

“The House must calm itself. Zen!” John Bercow shouted.

John Redwood voted against lol

just popping into the thread to say

lmao

fwiw, if anyone thinks the UK is leaving the EU in March, £30 will currently get you £150 with the bookies.

I love this guy talking about trains to a near empty chamber

has to be a50

and then nothing and itll never happen

corbs never gets pm tho

Sorry I'm late, been watching in the pub

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

― stuck in the Lidl with EU (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, January 15, 2019 9:03 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You found one god bless :DDD

Quoting Lenin to Andrew Neil!? Excellent.

:)

(not that I'm a leninist, just for the record)

and then looking down and checking her phone when mandy started speaking was good as well.

FWIW I think an entire political generation is about to be swept away off the back of this.

Genuine lol at the the state of Sammy Wilson.

fwiw, if anyone thinks the UK is leaving the EU in March, £30 will currently get you £150 with the bookies.

― ShariVari, Tuesday, January 15, 2019 9:09 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Bad bet. Tories won't support JC's tabled NoConf, because he's JC. May stays, will go to Europe begging for scraps that can be seen as gains opposed to the current deal, it will be voted upon and voted down again etc.

This result prob means Brexit is getting softer and softer; if it will happen at all.

EU says there's nothing to renegotiate, the loss is *so* massive she can't hope to fix it by tweaking the political agreement, so what use is there in extending A50? Hope? How willing will the EU be to reject a request like that?

boris on c4 news now saying that this vote actually gives may a massive mandate

god what a cunt

How much do you reckon the DUP are asking for their support tomorrow?

If May is going to cling on, I think LBI has it - she has to opt for permanent customs union to get Labour onside and keep the DUP. But then she genuinely will be in a destroy-the-Tories position because that's an actual red line for at least 1/3 of them

Flaccid Brexit is happening

Are we living in a simulation? [Started by Trϵϵship in January 2019, last updated six minutes ago by mh] 303 new answers

boris on c4 news now saying that this vote actually gives may a massive mandate

I mean sure if she was proposing a negative motion

ERG should have kept their powder dry

Developing:

Theresa May said they want to reach out

BUT

No10 also say their principles include securing an independent trade policy.

🚨I.e. no customs union with the EU, Labour’s main ask before talks even start🚨

(Now principles aren’t red lines but strong early hurdle)

— Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) January 15, 2019

she is incapable of doing herself ANY favours

Boris Johnson’s fringe is doing a noticeable camouflaging of some alarming and recent male pattern baldness!

Not much 'mop on top'.

If May is going to cling on, I think LBI has it - she has to opt for permanent customs union to get Labour onside and keep the DUP. But then she genuinely will be in a destroy-the-Tories position because that's an actual red line for at least 1/3 of them

― stet, Tuesday, January 15, 2019 9:16 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah. If she stays on - and she will, Baldrick-style - this 'Brexit' will get softer and softer.

Tories will be kicking themselves for squandering their NoConf motion too early.

rlb had veneers ?!

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tables motion of no confidence in UK PM Theresa May's government after heavy defeat in MPs' #BrexitVote

Latest: https://t.co/JXfWlrcIzk pic.twitter.com/DbHiJcQVMZ

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) January 15, 2019

The clip on the news didn't show him taking off his glasses. <key political importance.

rlb had veneers ?!

Tbf I was watching on my phone in the pub with a friend

Checking back on this in half hour gaps is incredible :D

i

If May is going to cling on, I think LBI has it - she has to opt for permanent customs union to get Labour onside and keep the DUP. But then she genuinely will be in a destroy-the-Tories position because that's an actual red line for at least 1/3 of them

― stet, Tuesday, January 15, 2019 9:16 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah. If she stays on - and she will, Baldrick-style - this 'Brexit' will get softer and softer.

Tories will be kicking themselves for squandering their NoConf motion too early.

FWIW I think an entire political generation is about to be swept away off the back of this.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, January 15, 2019 8:14 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

maybe we can start with the commentariat

She's been doing very little except alienate members since she started, though.

what are the options ?

1. go all in on no deal

2. pledge to go back to the EU for concessions (which won't materialise) and just run down the clock some more i.e. no deal by another name

3. rapprochement with labour and soften brexit but split her party

4. extend article 50. in order to do so, she'll have to either offer the EU a concession: election or second ref. she'd probably roll dice on an election (corbyn surge is over, people feel sorry for her yadda yadda). this could - in theory - get her better parliamentary arithmetic though it's most likely this would be a 'kick the bastards out' not a 'steady as we go' election

anything else ?

She could unilaterally cancel A50.

I mean, she won't, but she could.

someone explain to my why all the hyperventilating about 1) just cancelling brexit entirely or 2) having a second referendum?

racists

plus democracy

a potent combo

genuine lol there

The commenters on conhome are obviously nutters, but they're also the backbone of the party, and they'd take Corbyn over a vote that would be seen to legitimise the WA in a heartbeat. And they don't have to vote for him, just refuse to take part in a campaign that will make 2017's look like a well-oiled machine.

Gammy Wilson there, angrily haranguing Channel 4 News for bring facts to his bullshit party. https://t.co/8mRgOeSV7Q

— LAD (@LADFLEG) January 15, 2019

Enjoyed this.

Andrew, you’ll never know how guilty I feel for introducing CH comments here!

Ah no I follow a writer on there because he wrote well about the last election's shambles! Though now I've started going on there every day - I've got a problem.

i’m not sure about this (not sure about anything tbf). doing that wd drive a schism through the conservative party and crucially alienate members. which she won’t do. first rule of tory party. i don’t think we’ll see that sort of rapprochement and no deal still feels v much on the table.

Realness probably:

1. May goes, within her own part or to a new gov. Negotiations probably restart.

2. No deal

Her own party god I hate phones

I mean she could pursue option 2 above and come back to the commons with a ‘revised’ deal (ie the same deal, the only deal which accords to her red lines). by which point we’d probably be staring down the barrel of a no deal exit and she may peal off some more labour rebels and get some tory rebels back on side. but a turnaround big enough to reverse 230 ?

the real opposition

Anna Soubry tells C4News she is “quite shocked” by scale of defeat and will support the Government in vote of confidence tomorrow.

— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) January 15, 2019

I find it more likely that 7 Tories will realise that she will ride this down to the wire, and sign up to one of the weekly votes of no confidence.

I feel like the 50-ish surprise rejecters must be nominally "Tory Remainers" - can't decide what this might mean going forward yet tho

If a motion to extend Article 50 is tabled, does it have the Parliamentary numbers to pass? Depending on how close we are to the cliff I think it does.

If Labour follows the conference motion and backs a second referendum, does THAT have the Parliamentary numbers (taking into account Hoey etc)?

labour are just going to keep tabling VONCs I think, rather than back referendum II

Can they do more than one? I mean even if they can that would become laughable extremely quickly.

Yes. Thatcher took three to topple Callaghan.

Laughable but surely Labour can defend the stance that they’re under no obligation to bail out the government and avoid providing the necessary votes for passage for anything they don’t want.

I thought there was a time elapse limit on VONCs?

Only on the internal Tory party ones which would call a leadership contest, I think.

i don't think they can table more than one a day but i'm not sure there's a limit otherwise (except tactical, strategic, bercow's patience etc)

it's the leadership VONC that are allowed once a year I think.

tory leadership vonc

Put a vonc on it.

that shd be corb's tactic

lol

Huh, just realized for the first time that "to table" means the exact opposite thing in the UK than it does here. Clears up some confusion!

*Scribbles "US table = shelve" on hand*

In Canada it means the same thing as in the UK.

Interviewers should be pushing the point that if the Torys are worried about a Corbyn government it's because they think they will lost. Take the Marty McFly route - call them chicken.

lost = lose

We use table and shelve interchangeably here!

Put a vonc on it

OK marry me

Can they do more than one? I mean even if they can that would become laughable extremely quickly.

Given the size of this, I’m not sure the other estimated counts that say there is no majority for anything are right. If the govt makes it to the Plan B motion we might get some test votes that cld clear up eg if there is maj for 2nd ref

Also I feel like I neglected to fully give it the HAAAAAAA GET IT UP YE earlier.

FUCK YOUR RED LINES TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY WAYS

xp The problem there will be that the order things are considered will determine which are the wild-eyed optimisms and which the hard-eyed realisms

Times reporting up to 100 Labour ready to back second ref. But that’s nowhere near enough to get it done.

Labour's in the driving seat here - on the assumption that most of their MPs will vote with the leadership. Throw in the SNP, all but one of the LibDems, independents and various others - they only need a handful of Tory rebels to side with them, which will probably happen on everything except the VONC. The most pressing concern is finding a way of ruling out No Deal, by hook or by crook.

Still feel like ref 2 is vanishingly unlikely with May as PM. Her position feels like the more likely pressure point tonight but idk, this is beyond guessability right now. Maybe she calls it as a personal last resort?

I think extending Article 50 is dead. Junker (? A senior official, not Tusk) said earlier night that the size of the defeat implies it's not something that can get fixed with tweaking so an extension is pointless (read it on twitter, not scrolling back through 1000+ tweets to find it).

Also the German version of the CBI is lobbying against an extension because they just want certainty this close to the event (published their open letter this morning) and with Germany entering recession their economy might take precedence.

Guess ref2 depends if we do get to the place where the govt loses control of business (as is still being talked about for next week) Lab could conceivably do something with that even if May didn’t want to permit it. Real zombie executive territory. But will Corbyn want to take a positive position yet?

Heard an argument from an EU rep this morning about elections being due in April too, don't know how serious that is.

Throw in the SNP

They've made indyref2 a condition of any supply arrangement or pseudo-GNU. Don't forget they're not committed to joined the EU even in an independent Scotland, just that they'd have a referendum on it.

The rumours were apparently true - May setting out more red lines on what she will consider as next steps - still ruling out customs union. Her vs the world.

Is the best of worlds for Labour ("You wouldn't start from here") a GE, A50 extension, then an actual renegotiation of the WA that includes FOM and a customs union? It feels possible.

Heard an argument from an EU rep this morning about elections being due in April too, don't know how serious that is.

Elections are in April, first sitting of new EU parliament in July but near impossible for the UK to extend beyond there so in hypotheticals there are two opportunities (Feb, Mar) for the EU to sign off any revised deal then they go into hiatus until July when the UK could *theoretically* send some dummy representatives for the first sitting to sign off.

It takes less than a handful of Tory (Remain) MPs to decide that a general election is their best/only hope to change the party stance on the de at this point

And losing tomorrow doesn’t mean instant election - she has 14 days to try again so they might risk it.

some dummy representatives

harry hill look to camera here

Xp yeah aldo I think the other point being made was if we're still in we have to participate in the election and "there may not be much appetite for that in the UK right now." I think there are hard limits to the EU's ability to wait

EXCLUSIVE: What tanned David Cameron had to say today while his Brexit gamble backfiredhttps://t.co/qDCmw9EwLa pic.twitter.com/QbKlTVwBdI

— Mirror Politics (@MirrorPolitics) January 15, 2019

tanned, rested and ready

A senior official, not Tusk) said earlier night that the size of the defeat implies it's not something that can get fixed with tweaking so an extension is pointless

i wouldn't treat this as a stone-cold statement of how things will with be certainty play out tho: it's still a political signal to produce an effect, the threat of non-extension to, well, i don't know how they're reading tomorrow's events or the next two weeks, so i don't know what it's aimed at producing.* a minimum part of the signal is "mere tweaks are no use, we need big changes", set against the fact that they (and everyone over here) knows TM is making no such changes… so vonc as you will

*(an election maybe?)

lol that was clearly expressed, i shd go into political commentary

A change of attitude and perspective at the very least.

xp I’d rate you over most of the existing commentariat even if you put Mr Blobby references into everything

I think VONC will be won and a very lightly tweaked WA will pass, next most likely is No Deal and abandoning the whole thing a moderately distant third.

If the VONC is lost then fuck knows. Labour still behind in the polls and will have to decide on an actual policy which will cost them votes whichever way. SNP will lose seats, at least some of which to the Tories (hello Pete Wishart and your 21 vote majority, Mhairi Black hasn't exactly endeared herself to her hometown after the hospital saga, or Hannah Bardell's biggest constituency employer closing while Scottish Enterprise stood and watched). So we could even end up with a strengthened majority in which case see above.

If Labour win it, Tusk's words tonight suggest only No Deal or revoke would be on the table. Revoke would have the back bench and membership support but probably not the front bench - the manifesto would be the only thing that helped predict but if it's a serial set of events like we've seen to date then even that might not be clear until the EU eliminate renegotiation.

Our snap @PoliHQ poll, conducted entirely after the #brexit vote tonight, shows a near majority (49%) blame Theresa May and her cabinet for the Brexit impasse in the commons (3,426 UK adults, weighted to be representative of the 18+ population) pic.twitter.com/Z775q3Wbot

— Laurence Janta-Lipinski (@jantalipinski) January 15, 2019

I think these are great numbers if they even somewhat reflect reality.

vonc if yr horny

sorry

How can you flip 230 votes with light tweaks, though?

You can’t. The big sticking point for most of them is the backstop, and that’s pretty much non-negotiable.

The whole dummy reps EU election thing is because we will not be having an EU election unless we revoke. To have any representation we must have representatives but they will have no function - so people would have to be sent as a token but with no actions. Presumably we could send the current MEPs and pay them out of govt funds but they'd play no part in proceedings (much like at the moment, amirite? Lol!!) as all they need to do is fill a technicality to allow negotiating to happen as still theoretically a 'member'. (This was explained in depth by some Belgian EU guy on Today this morning)

"Labour still behind in the polls" are they really though? I keep seeing this being repeated but never see it reflected in the actual polls which have been seesawing 5 points either way since '17 - and let's face it they are mostly noise until there is an election.

I don't think you can flip 230 with Customs Union either.

Last one I saw was Thursday, with Labour 6% behind

who are all these tories you guys have over there, I don't think I've ever even met one

so hold on a sec, did the EU rule out at the beginning of all this the possibility of negotiating an agreement that when ratified would trigger article 50?

because in hindsight that would've been less stressful on everyone

In the aggravated version they have been pretty much deadlocked and pollsters like Yougov who reveal that most UK folks don't even use trains on the day of season ticket hikes are so non-partisan.

Customs Union has Lab support though, which (in theory) gets you (most?) of them. It’s one of the few things that could pass. And one that May is implacably opposed to.

That one was done on the 5th which is now ancient history.

Westminster voting intention:

CON: 40% (-1)
LAB: 34% (-5)
LDEM: 10% (+3)
GRN: 4% (-)
UKIP: 4% (+1)

via @YouGov, 21 Dec - 04 Jan
Chgs. w/ 17 Dec

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) January 5, 2019

Westminster voting intention:

LAB: 41% (+1)
CON: 38% (-1)
LDEM: 10% (+2)
UKIP: 4% (+1)
GRN: 2% (-)

via @Survation, 09 - 10 Jan 2019
Chgs. w/ Nov 2018

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) January 11, 2019

Westminster voting intention:

CON: 36% (-1)
LAB: 36% (-2)
LDEM: 12% (-)
UKIP: 6% (+2)
GRN: 5% (+1)

via @BMGResearch, 08 - 11 Jan

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) January 12, 2019

Westminster voting intention:

LAB: 38% (-)
CON: 35% (-3)
LDEM: 9% (-)
UKIP: 6% (+1)
Grn: 4% (-1)

via @KantarPublic, 10 - 14 Jan
Chgs. w/ Dec

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) January 15, 2019

These are all from this week. But generally not worth worrying about polls too much atm.

so hold on a sec, did the EU rule out at the beginning of all this the possibility of negotiating an agreement that when ratified would trigger article 50?

It wasn’t the EU’s decision to trigger it, that was entirely on the UK.

May did not have to trigger Article 50 at any point. They could have taken ten years to devise a plan for exit. She chose to trigger it at the earliest possible moment, with no planning or consultation.

The first example of the bold and decisive leadership for which she is so widely acclaimed.

I don't think you can flip 230 with Customs Union either.

i think the "lab 6% behind" was a badly formed PV-sponsored push poll (i def saw it being roasted by ppl who understand polls, which i mostly do not)

tory vote is not going to hold up if may takes the party into an election

re: the polls - YouGov are an outlier. They consistently have figures which are higher for the Tories and lower for Labour than the other polling companies. It doesn't mean they aren't right, but they are the only ones saying that. Generally the polls show little difference between the two and neither would win a majority as things stand, though given how much things swung during the last general election campaign, just about anything could happen.

i mean if may proposed a customs union to get lab on board to pass *something* (seems unlikely but if) then lab cd probably right then peel the ERG away from supporting her in their running vonc project

The Tory vote is highly dependent on keeping the UKIP voters from 2015 onside - that’s why they have such a high floor.

Οὖτις at 11:19 15 Jan 19
who are all these tories you guys have over there, I don't think I've ever even met one

Barnsley voted overwhelmingly to leave the European Union - now many feel little progress has been made. pic.twitter.com/doopL9YA4H

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) October 20, 2017

vonc if yr horny

Changed my mind, unwelcome marriage proposal moved to plax

https://i.imgur.com/qO4KqZ4.jpg

Some pictures from the No lobby earlier:

Voting on the Prime Minister’s Deal has started. This is going to be a huge defeat for the government pic.twitter.com/Ho4t0tGlPn

— Bill Esterson (@Bill_Esterson) January 15, 2019

In the no voting lobby to vote against this deal. I’ve rarely seen it this full. May has united the Commons against her and her deal. Next step #NoConfidenceNow pic.twitter.com/uFPp9Vx2gu

— Lloyd Russell-Moyle (@lloyd_rm) January 15, 2019

The no lobby for the Government's motion... pic.twitter.com/dc6IMzGpHv

— Debbie Abrahams MP (@Debbie_abrahams) January 15, 2019

Wait you have separate lobbies?

"who are all these tories you guys have over there, I don't think I've ever even met one"

lolMericans!

they go into a yes room and a no room, it's very modern and legal

You think *that* is the weird thing about parliament?

vonc Tories? No secret.

xp they have to physically go through one of two passages and have their name taken by a teller to vote

And then kiss the Parliamentary hobgoblin

I honestly find that funnier than the mace

who are all these tories you guys have over there, I don't think I've ever even met one

where would you have, though

None of this to be read as acting superior mind you; I’m from the country where the entire legislative and executive branch have to agree on spending money every six weeks or everything shuts down

If only we could change the oath and thereby get SF to take their seats. That’s what this season needs

Never going to happen. What this season needs is a shock twist though...

yeah sf are never taking seats in the british parliament.

Most British thing ever:
Trying to get a celebration pop-up rave going after the #BrexitVote, next to the freaking Parliament. https://t.co/B7Qfn5aqzc

— Nils Herber (@NilsHerber) January 15, 2019

i shouldn't really mock their reasons for not doing so either tbh

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/06/sinn-fein-mp-british-parliament-irish-republicans-brexit

If only we could change the oath and thereby get SF to take their seats. That’s what this season needs

― stet, Tuesday, 15 January 2019 23:54 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh havent our govt over here been quick to remind them of it too

I government shut down would probably be a blessing in these circs

actual lobbies are you fuckin kidding me how the fuck do you let these ppl run anything but gauntlets

parliament probably cranky from having to get up and mill around pointlessly for every vote

who are all these tories I don’t think I’ve met one

have you met one (1) democrat

I don’t see labour supporting a second ref until they do. it’ll be VONC me daddy from hereon out until the GE. political pressure on corbyn to support refII will be high tho

they will likely include one in their next GE manifesto - it would win votes def. likely strategy: pledge to respect referendum, renegotiate deal, and then let public have final say in ratification referendum. stitches together both parts of their coalition

Would it win more votes than it would lose?

Wait you have separate /lobbies/?

Ok so i'm probably missing something here but what reason does Theresa May have to resign?

The govt wins the vote of no confidence today, yes? and the tories can't try push her out again till December, and she really does not seem like the resigning type. odds have a 2019 exit date as most likely - but thats exit date not resignation

She will never resign.

I was daydreaming a Nu-Corbyn government saying "We will rescind Article 50, and hold a referendum at the next election, towards which we'll work on the real and perceived reasons the UK voted to leave" - but apart from the mixed emotions you might expect that to cause in the EU - the MEP elections are also on a 5-year timeframe.

face me cowards!

Ok so i'm probably missing something here but what reason does Theresa May have to resign?

The govt wins the vote of no confidence today, yes? and the tories can't try push her out again till December, and she really does not seem like the resigning type. odds have a 2019 exit date as most likely - but thats exit date not resignation

Probably the worst thing that could happen to a Corbyn government would be to squeak through in an undecisive snap election and have to deliver their own version of Brexit. It would be under attack from all angles very quickly and would take up most of their resources and prevent them from being able to implement a lot of their programme. Assuming they could get it through whatever Parliament we end up with, which is doubtful unless they win a sizeable majority and that seems unlikely.

well the reason would be suffering the largest ever defeat in democratic parliamentary history, on the central project of her government for the last two and a half years

but immediately followed by winning a vote of no-confidence? "i have been delivered a new mandate to continue"

May winning might be the best outcome for tories and labour alike?

the uh jonathan freedland pièce on the vote last night is uh good. if there is to be a referendum II - and we want continuity_remain to win - then it has be done in a context where people are not feeling ground down by years and years of austerity and secular stagnation

don’t understand how there can be a big push for it after the VONC loses. what would the question even be now? can’t be may’s deal v remain, can’t be remain vs no deal

VONC me daddy

Should have been the thread title.

May winning might be the best outcome for tories and labour alike?

How so?

Btw just because the Tories can’t 1922 May again until December doesn’t mean they can’t push her out other ways. You think she’s not getting furious frontbenchers on her case and pressure from the men in grey suits?

If her cabinet quit and no-one would take those jobs? But I don't think this is the way of the Tory.

she’s presumably the band aid that is holding back a lot of very unsightly demon spirits

If VONC till you honk is really the Lab strategy (as BazGardz intimated last night) then why would anybody think Corbz' strategy will be any different to the present (i.e. say all options are still on the table and not commit to one). Much like everyone else in parliament, until theit preferred strategy is completely ruled out (number of those to date <1) they'll not change horses.

May will undoubtedly just shake her head and explain that this makes the job all the harder, not angry but quite disappointed.

called this btw

6 hours for no confidence debate today!

Another big day in Parliament today with a full day’s debate, expected to start around 1pm on the #NoConfidenceVote tabled by @jeremycorbyn following the historic, record defeat of Theresa May’s Brexit deal. Vote at 7pm. pic.twitter.com/hgPcUoDVBE

— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) January 16, 2019

I’m kind of meh over the May keeping the worse elements out - she’s governed as though she still has a majority, shut out remainers and moderates, had that awful press conference where she was visibly angry cos Tusk mocked her on Instagram...difficult to see how even one of the worse elements would act differently.

Leadsom on Today is the first time No Deal has seemed actually possible. They talk as if in denial about the scale of last night: won’t talk to JC, all red lines as red as ever, the May deal still the focus and essentially only tweaks accepted.

So now this plan to take control away from the govt and into the hands of a xbench committee seems like the best hope for a workable way forward. Will that pass muster? Seems it might.

the more they talk like that, the likelier it is tory remainers will peel off behind a VONC. you’d think they wouldn’t be amplifying those messages on the day of

Having slept on it, and unlikely as it sounds, Andrea Leadsom might actually have been right last night and the direction the EU take today and going forward might determine how this plays out.

EU play hardball: realisation the structure and processes mean you can't really negotiate in a meaningful way so vote coalesces around No Deal (everyone who wants Brexit) and Revoke (everyone who doesn't, almost all floaters). Revoke wins, issue continues like a festering sore for decades to come.

EU open renegotiation: You get a Unicorn! You get a Unicorn! Everyone gets Unicorns! No move to a cross platform answer. VONC till you honk. A50 extended till July then have to decide to take up seats which EU end up staying can only be done if revoke. 2nd ref rushed through with unclear choice and No Deal happens by default because nobody wants to own a compromise solution. Issue continues like a festering sore for decades to come.

Tory remainers will um and er and wring their hands and furrow their brows and vote with the government.

even on 28/03/2019 ?

The sheer gall and entitlement of this minority government, acting like they were appointed by god and deserve to reign forever, it's hard not to wish they lose the vonc and election just to watch them tear each-other apart, but unfortunately I have to hope they win today and have to have their face rubbed in the mess they've made.

It's pretty incredible that she postponed the vote to lessen the blow, had no idea how to do so, went to the EU with no strategy hoping to be bailed out, then suffered the worst loss in history. A complete humiliation, and a waste of time when there really isn't much time to waste. She should obviously resign. But she won't.

Someone on twitter pointed out how Cameron had fucked the country not only with the referendum but also the fixed term parliaments act.

Lammy on Today this morning - 100 or so Lab MPs writing to Corbz today to tell him to get behind PV because he's "not being honest" with the public about what the different options mean. Also said he can't get behind Norway because it's sterile ruletaking which you have to pay for.

itll be push out a50 until forever until a clear referendum win is likely for remain

i mean this seems pretty obv from this end

also fucked it by fleeing the field the day after the vote so instead of framing brexit as something softer, a variety of harsher competing brexits rushed into the vacuum

Someone on twitter pointed out how Cameron had fucked the country not only with the referendum but also the fixed term parliaments act.

FTPA was Clegg.

Which the Tories supported?

Was a classic example of "didn't think this through" from Clegg though.

mmmmm unicorny cakey goodness

Barnier: "Unanimously the European Council have always said that if the UK chooses to shift its red lines in the future ... and to go beyond a simple free trade agreement, then the EU will be immediately ready to … give a favourable response."

— Jon Stone (@joncstone) January 16, 2019

No rush.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell says Labour will make decision on which option it will back - including second referendum- in “next few weeks”. A shadow cab minister told me last night: “Jeremy is working this out for himself. He won’t be bullied by the MPs”.

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) January 16, 2019

"Jeremy is working this out for himself."

FTPA isn't the primary problem here tho- if tories and dup mps all vote for the govt, a VONC can't pass, regardless of FTPA. In fact, FTPA makes no confidence vote slightly more possible, as there is the (small) possibility of reconstituting a new govt still led by tories within two weeks, and avoiding an election.

Jeremy spoke in, claa-aahaaas, todaaaaaaay

is ilx against fixed term parliaments?

I am

they've turned out to be a total pain, so yes. Fixed terms make sense for Presidential systems or ones with clear separation of powers, not so much for archaic non-codified boondoggles such as the "Mother of Parliaments"

Whole point of FTPA was, in words of Clegg "by setting the date that parliament will dissolve, our prime minister is giving up the right to pick and choose the date of the next general election—that's a true first in British politics." - but we saw in 2017 that the PM can still pick the date of the election because if the opposition don't vote for it then they look like they're scared.

Thinking is that pre-FTPA after a loss like last night it would have been treated *as* a no-conf, the entire government would have been expected to resign and the leader of the opposition to become PM of a minority admin (which would call an election). At least that’s what happened in precedent.

That would ofc have changed the numbers last night too though — part of the “biggest defeat ever” clearly comes from Tory MPs being free to vote against the deal without also bringing down the government.

The sheer gall and entitlement of this minority government, acting like they were appointed by god and deserve to reign forever,

Ein VONC, Ein Reich...

So Barnier has said:

*The WA needs to be ratified
*Including the backstop
*Further agreements are possible if red lines shihft
*So presumably the backstop can be defused if the UK stays in the customs union / single market?

(He was speaking in a debate, as Mark's pointed out we shouldn't assume that everything the EU figures say is from the godhead just because they can put their trousers on the right way round)

Anyone else had this piece of crap through their door this morning?

What is this nonsense, Wetherspoons? I never visit your crap pubs do please don't bring your stupid free magazine to my house pic.twitter.com/LLC4a3e7UC

— David Njoku (@davidnjoku) January 14, 2019

(lol wins made the lobby joke i was congratulating myself for not making)

(and he is right to, mistakes were made)

Jesus. It’s as if we are reverting to the days of the pamphlet wars. With poorer illustrations xp

Was in a Wetherspoons last night tbh :(

my friend was horrified to receive that. I wonder why they're distributing it where they are

May won't convert 116 MPs & the EU won't budge. She'll survive the VONC & there's no majority for a 2nd ref or Norway. What are her options?

1. Adopt Labour's CU plan
2. Embrace no-deal
3. A snap GE

1 & 2 would be admissions of failure. 3 offers her a chance of redemption.

— David Timoney (@fromarsetoelbow) January 15, 2019

[banging on clipboard] snap snap SNAP SNAP... !

The other day, I was four blocks from my front door and needed a lav just a bit too urgently to make it home. Until that emergency, I classed myself as someone who wouldn’t even take a crap in a Wetherspoons.

The Wetherspoons prick is off his fucking chump tbh

(lol wins made the lobby joke i was congratulating myself for not making)

On Tuesday night Johnson was joined by other prominent Brexiter MPs, including John Redwood and Bill Cash, at a champagne celebration party at Rees-Mogg’s house.

Sir John Redwood and Sir Bill Cash, of course.

i'd like to thank ilx for forever cementing a mental connection between this historic moment in uk politics and mr blobby

VONC me blobby

10 years ago we had John Redwood, Bill Cash, Steve Food, Bob Channel Tunnel...

(the better part of the joke was nicked from Marie Le Conte)

I get that you're all cheering over May's well-deserved drubbing, but the schadenfreude is eerily reminiscent of its US variant, i.e. 'pwning the libs'. It can't be an endgame in and of itself, can it? No one seems to have the slightest clue as to what needs to be done about this cloacal mess (I don't either, of course, I'm just a bemused outsider).

We are more comfortable by and large with the prospect that all is fucked, only sacrifices to the great god Blobby can get us out of this.

i dunno if ilx has even polled the likely outcomes

The difference is the power balance. This is drinking Trump tears while waiting for his administration to collapse.

I get that you're all cheering over May's well-deserved drubbing, but the schadenfreude is eerily reminiscent of its US variant, i.e. 'pwning the libs'. It can't be an endgame in and of itself, can it? No one seems to have the slightest clue as to what needs to be done about this cloacal mess (I don't either, of course, I'm just a bemused outsider).

A bemused outsider who doesn't understand the true evil that is the Tory Party.

The similarity of Donald Tusk and Donald Trump, nominatively and pachydermically, is unnerving. I'm sure the similarity ends there, though. Oh yes, the grabbing.

as i don’t like a second referendum, my view is probably aligned most with current labour position of accept and ameliorate via common market participation. as someone pointed out on twitter yesterday this is a pragmatic, even centrist stance - it’s the supposed centrists who are proposing relitigating plebiscites, which were toxic the first time round. there’s also no indication there’s anything like enough parliamentary or party voter support for a 2nd ref.

the path to success for that is more complicated because the path to success of anything bar no deal (which doesn’t require active support) doesn’t have the numbers.

it would either require TM to reach out and offer this - she’s ruled that out - or a vote of no confidence and a GE based upon imminent and likely no deal. that as ever relies on tories not propping up a government that isn’t capable of delivering than a default no deal.

and that doesn’t necessarily solve anything of course as Labour, even if they won, would require the numbers able to pass it through parliament.

The similarity of Donald Tusk and Donald Trump, nominatively and pachydermically, is unnerving. I'm sure the similarity ends there, though. Oh yes, the grabbing.

Juncker is the grabber tbf.

"only sacrifices to the great god Blobby can get us out of this"

If that shit worked I'm sure Noel would have found enough virgin's blood to reduce lloyds bank to ashes.

I’ve been texting back and forth with my friend who literally grew up next door to David Peace, and he says all the northern working class people he grew up with outside Wakefield who voted Leave weren’t bothered one way or another about the EU but they were all about giving Cameron a bloody nose. They might well vote to stay in a second vote. The embarrass Cameron vote is strong in other places, too - even with the sort of Tory who thinks the headbangers are borderline fash.

I actually though the number of Con MPs like Heidi Allen tweeting "shocked" meant there were a large number of protest votes without thinking about the consequences last night too that might not be repeated on Monday with little to no pressure.

More outlander naïveté: why did the Tories win the 2017 snap election?

did they now

Shocked about what?

Like, if you placed a bet yesterday, the odds weren't generous at Ladbrokes.. (prob)

less facetiously: because they were the party of brexit, and because they still hadn't entirely shed david cameron's veneer of centrist common sense

xxxxp

where Peace grew up is an odd bit of W Yorkshire. I've rewired loads of its council estates and they are practically middle class in comparison to places like Chickenley which is a only few miles away but a completely different world.

lab collapse in scotland 2015 onwards is another part of the reason, pom

pls the tories we’re fighting on a significantly beneficial electoral map post-2015 disaster

plus*

all these "real leadership" Sturgeon fans seem to conveniently forget her 2nd indy reffing tactics are what handed SNP seats to the Tories.

Would it have helped Labour if the SNP had kept those seats? As Labour weren’t looking like winning them and had ruled out working with the SNP.

hmm .. that alleged coalition of chaos that Cam warned us about!

Which Labour weren’t keen on during the campaign. At all.

May refusing to confirm that the Custom's Union is a red line at PMQs, maybe? i dunno, i'm too hungover to parse this booshit

lol apostrophe

'support' for any of these options is always contextual though - what's been ruled out, what's left on the table, what might be brought back to the table via some sweaty fanfic you read on Twitter last night.

More outlander naïveté: why did the Tories win the 2017 snap election?

― pomenitul, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 12:00 (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also, they didn't. nobody won the election. they got the most number of seats but had to form a coalition gov with the DUP

so: not promising that she won't get an A50 extension, not promising that Customs Union isn't an option

i get a vibe that she'll take any deal that she can call Brexit at this point, that may be what amounts to her strategy now

If there’s a GE, can we rely on Northern Irish Remain voters to come out in their droves to kick the DUP to fuck?

revoke article 50 and call it brexit imo xp

Yes, but what she'll call Brexit is dramatically narrower than almost everyone else bar the headbangers. A Brexit that doesn't allow you to put FUCK OFF HOME posters in every shop window and on every privately-owned train is not a Brexit worth mentioning to her, and that still seems to be v. much the case xp

I should've known better than to speak of 'winning' – we occasionally get hung parliaments in Canada too. Anyway, thanks, all, for the insight.

xps

(at least, she's acting that way - i guess because the one thing that could lose her the VONC is pissing off the fash)

I’ve got a question about the potential ideal scenario

say labour wins a VONC, a GE is called and they stand on a platform to respect the result, renegotiate with different red lines, and hold a ratification referendum of some sort.

what happens if they renegotiate a norway+/permanent CU/BINO - I can see how you can maybe square it away with the public (you voted to leave, we’re leaving, the tory approach led to intractable standstill, this is the only path forward short of catastrophic no deal etc etc)

but how will they square that away with the press ? the braying will be LOUD

If there’s a GE, can we rely on Northern Irish Remain voters to come out in their droves to kick the DUP to fuck?

all these "real leadership" Sturgeon fans seem to conveniently forget her 2nd indy reffing tactics are what handed SNP seats to the Tories.

if labour under corbyn achieve power the braying will be loud anyway. fuck the press

xxp How would Corbyn's Labour in power deal with the press is a very open question though - they were largely against him at the last election and he mostly shrugged them off.

Belfast North and Belfast South are both marginals where a nationalist vote could oust the sitting DUP MPs.

They got better the better he did - at least the broadcasters did.

The press are always banging on about Venezuela and how a Corbyn government would mean people starving while not giving near as much as a fuck about the actual government talking about adequate food. I agree; fuck them, pass Leveson 2 and laws about press ownership.

my broken-record judgment on the press (if this means the papers) is that i don't believe lab *can* square with them and feebly trying will do harm so don't try -- challenge and delegitimise them instead? i'm not an OJ stan but i'm with him going in on andrew neil and the badness of writing for the sun (even if yes hypocrite much): that battle has to be begun

anyway the game is pressure and pressure back

Yeah I mainly mean the print press. You don’t get Brexit without 30 years of Sun, Mail & Express headlines screaming about the EU and those fucking immigrants.

And I’m 100% more favourable towards OJ than I was two years ago and he was absolutely right to call out Andrew Neil.

i don't believe lab *can* square with them and feebly trying will do harm so don't try -- challenge and delegitimise them instead?

this 100%. AOC is a boss at this

it's all good, the left's got The Canary

jfc i've just depressed meself

During my book publicity I wrote for/appeared in a number of publications/outlets I wouldn’t normally work with.

At the end of the last GE it was delightful to see Corbyn nyah-ing the Mail’s 20-page Labour Doom Terror Special.

BTW wasn’t it *refreshing* to see Theresa May bang in about antisemitism at PMQs as if she gives a shit about British Jewry at any other time?

apologizing and triangulating and prevaricating and all the rest of it has gotten the left nothing. AOC mashed the narrative on marginal tax rates in 5 mins more than a generation of democrats had managed. Take the game to the opposition and stop acting like your the guardians of guilty secrets

Oh how quickly you forget Novara and Squawkbox. xpost

acknowledging matt dc's point that we don't know who's ending up reading what in the wilds of the internet, the path ahead for the legacy media in the uk is continued steady collapse of readership and revenue: no one's begun to turn that round

I think they are doing this already to some degree - that video about austerity was incredible and made the case against better in a few minutes than any number of speeches.

just keep broadcasting I Daniel Blake until the GBP decides that Ken Loach must be appeased

Corbyn: this Frankenstein bill is now officially dead!

Me(small voice): Frankenstein’s monster...

Oh how quickly you forget Novara and Squawkbox. xpost

― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Wednesday, 16 January 2019 13:10 (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

eh, I know Novara/canary etc are really depressingly bad, I try to comfort myself with the fact that its early days? I think activist media can have great potential, and I look at things like DemocracyNow and the Intercept, which for all their imperfections do something important.

austerity is nothing to see. it's the nemesis of posties - low letterboxes - that is a burning injustice. Can't wait for Loach's movie about a saintly, heart of gold postie who gets a bad back from too many low letterboxes

Democracy Now feels like a very specific product of American earnestness and industriousness, Novara always seems like a punchy startup hoping to be bought out by venture capitalists.

well sarcasm aside it's not so much the crapness of individual left-ish content providers that matters, it's the steady drain of influence from the right wing print press that's heartening

I think they are doing this already to some degree - that video about austerity was incredible and made the case against better in a few minutes than any number of speeches.

― gyac,

Yes! thats a great example

SNP straight in there on the VONC by attacking Labour about their lack of coherent policy on Brexit.

Good to see Woke Soubz on form as well.

eh, I know Novara/canary etc are really depressingly bad

no idea who these are but they look inconsequential to me?

The Canary
1,519 subscribers

Novara Media
26,757 subscribers

it's the steady drain of influence from the right wing print press that's heartening

Feel like this is otm, though it's a shame their flip-flopping on Brexit isn't noticed and shamed for what it is nearly enough.

For all it's flaws I think the Graun has been covering Brexit decently, which is prob all you can ask for atm.

(I'd confess to having become a subscriber to the Graun sometime last fall if it wouldn't rake up the fp's tbrh)

Novara had a seat on the live BBC2 coverage last night. xpost

Crap Patsy! Pass the vodka.

Can't wait for Loach's movie about a saintly, heart of gold postie who gets a bad back from too many low letterboxes

Ahem

Ash Sarkar is, in old ILXor speak, grebt.

otm

Also number of subscribers doesn't matter for any reasons other than commercial ones - what's important is the sort of content that flies on social media and both the Canary and Novara fall into that category. I don't like, read or trust either but Novara is a lot closer to being a legitimate operation than the Canary, which is pure fan-fiction.

If you thought last night was bad, today is bringing out the most odious of the braying members to back the govt

(I'd confess to having become a subscriber to the Graun sometime last fall if it wouldn't rake up the fp's tbrh)

FP'd u for this

xps
I'll keep my Loach controps off here, but lol.

xxp yep, off sick today and watching this on tv, what a fucking shower of braying shits the tory benches are

novara is just people having really loud conversations in the SOAS library

'Twas ever thus. (xp)

Also number of subscribers doesn't matter for any reasons other than commercial ones

yep sorry should have specified that was youtube subscribers.

though i think youtube views DO matter

but you're right on most things to do with all this tbf (reads as sarcastic, not intended to be!)

novara isn't *quite* just that -- james butler is always worth reading and ash sarkar is a very deft media performer -- but has never shed its roots in the occupy movement of 2011-ish, including a few too many of its nastier beefs from that era, which i think has squished its traction as an org in the left as a whole (let alone beyond the left)

Bastani does well to undermine any goodwill the neutral would have for them.

genuine lol at ash sarkar last night: “as lenin said, there are decades in politics where nothing happens, weeks where decades happen, and interviews where matt hancox ages 25 years from start to finish”

bastani is novara's mr blobby, in this medium essay i will

how dare u traduce mr blobby by association with aaron bastani

good luck reconciling these two statements

May says people voted for Brexit because they felt people were not listening to them. That is why it is important to implement the result of the referendum, she says.

May going in hard on Skripal, which is an under-rated weakness of Corbyn's

being a Putin suck-up is no impediment to leading a Western government in 2019 iirc

I do like New Socialist (or 'the other NS') but they don't do podcasts or YT type content.

She says, as a backbencher, Corbyn invited IRA terrorists into the Commons after they had bombed the prime minister.

please keep reminding us of cool stuff corbyn has done, cheers

May seems to be enjoying herself here, which is unsettling.

I like that they've realised that they can't win by critiquing Labour on any actual policy issue

Ironically, Chaos Division and Delay are actually the names of May's dogs.

does she actually believe this shit

She says the government is fighting injustices, And, as it leaves the EU, the country must raise its ambitions.

She is proud of what the government has achieved. The government has the confidence of the country. Now it is asking for the confidence of MPs too, she says.

I like that they've realised that they can't win by critiquing Labour on any actual policy issue

― stuck in the Lidl with EU (Noodle Vague),

He should be wearing a tshirt that says "i got you on the policy tho innit"

i mean re novara or whatever i'm just contrasting w something like Secular Talk that has 600K subscribers, idk if theres a UK equivalent

Good thing there have never been any Tories who were members of terrorist organisations...

Had to look up who Secular Talk were because I'd never heard of them.

# of youtube subscribers not a definitive metric but Novara still beating the independent on that basis

I'd never heard of Novara but I also thought the Independent had gone bust 5 years ago (or maybe got a new name?). I guess Secular Talk not a fair comparison as not UK focussed

if we're going by subs then it's time we started talking abt one of the most important influencers in the media landscape: hbomberguy

contrapoints or gtfo imo

I think its best she doesn't get involved w british politics

May seems to be enjoying herself here, which is unsettling.

Because after yesterday, she'll get a win. And on it goes.

If everyone in the country who has said the words "just get on with it" in regards to Brexit could be shipped off to some rock in the atlantic, that would probably be a satisfactory solution.

new socialist needs a much firmer sub editor i think -- it's got better and gann is smart and engaged but few of its writers are especially sparky and some of its stuff is still quite needlessly repetitive and graceless :(

(i've actually considered offering but i assume they have no money and it wd be all fights all the time)

Because after yesterday, she'll get a win. And on it goes.

― Ned Trifle X, Wednesday, January 16, 2019 3:58 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah. I fear this as well.

If everyone in the country who has said the words "just get on with it" in regards to Brexit could be shipped off to some rock in the atlantic, that would probably be a satisfactory solution.

also this:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/2019/01/16/william-davies/leave-and-leave-again

If everyone in the country who has said the words "just get on with it" in regards to Brexit could be shipped off to some rock in the atlantic, that would probably be a satisfactory solution.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 16 January 2019 14:58 (eighteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

.. along with those people that say "Why not send Farage/Johnson to Brussels to negotiate Brexit, they seem quite keen on the idea..."

Sending Johnson to Brussels is where this all came from!

This debate is beyond turgid. This MP is up there going “What have the Conservatives ever done for us?” and is listing 8 years of their government’s “achievements”.

The PM values the mental health of the nation - ok.

“Jeremy Corbyn is the Scarlet Pimpernel of Brexit”...jfc this muck. Mr Corbynov, bring down this government!

https://vhistory.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/nigel-planer-and-tim-mcinerney.jpg

Lol, Labour will kill the poor and the Tories care about black people?!

“I feel no shame!”
I believe you.

mad-dog Mercer.

Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverley and Sam Gymiah really going the extra mile these past few days tbh.

Fucking hell Ben Bradshaw - "we need to be honest with ourselves and the public that a general election will not solve the crisis or mess made of Brexit".

And here comes the affectedly shambling figure of Boris Johnson – not so much a statesman as an Oxfam donation bag torn open by a fox – who could conceivably still end up prime minister of no-deal Britain.

Some gems in this Marina Hyde piece tbf

I agree we don't need an election while there are still Tory Labour MPs unexecuted

Soubz is pure garbage. This restriction of the UC rollout to 10000 is pure gesture politics. The full migration of everyone else on it is still running to the same timetable.

German Chamber of commerce says extension to article 50 a bad idea. ‘Better a horrible ending than unending horror’ says Volker Treier of DIHK

— jenny hill (@jennyhillBBC) January 16, 2019

damn, respeck

sehr gut

more like unending horrible ending

Richard Drax is a creature of pure undiluted evil

I thought I was watching some old pathe newsreel for a sec.

He used to be a presenter on South Today when I lived in Southampton in the late 90s and we thought he was a James Bond villain even then (obviously the name helped)

Wes Streeting (!) giving a stirring defence of Corbyn there.

Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax

gawn yourself mcshitter !

Drax lives in his family's ancestral seat, Charborough House - a Grade 1 Listed Manor House in rural Dorset. He holds the lordship of the manor of Longburton.[15]

Drax is the eldest son of Walter Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax JP DL and The Hon. Pamela Weeks and a grandson of Admiral The Hon. Sir Reginald Drax, younger son of the 17th Lord Dunsany thereby being in remainder to the ancient Barony of Dunsany (cr. 1462): the second oldest title in the Peerage of Ireland. His great-uncle was the celebrated writer and playwright the 18th Lord Dunsany, and his maternal grandfather was General the Lord Weeks.

His first wife (divorced 1997) was Zara Legge-Bourke, younger sister of the royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, relations of the Earl of Dartmouth. Drax married his second wife; Eliza, daughter of Commander James Dugdale RN (related to David Cameron); Drax has remarried and has four children in total.[16]

At least six of his ancestors, including John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax and the 17th Lord Dunsany, were Members of Parliament for Dorset and Gloucestershire between the 1680s and 1880s. A cousin is the 19th and present Lord Dunsany.[17] In 2013, the BBC revealed that his ancestor John Erle-Drax had been a slave trader, who had received £4,293 12s 6d in compensation when the slave trade was abolished.[18]

In January 2016, a Labour-proposed amendment that would have required private landlords to make their homes "fit for human habitation" was rejected by 312 votes to 219. According to Parliament's register of interests, Drax was one of 72 MPs who voted against the amendment who derived an income from a property. Communities minister Marcus Jones said the Government believed homes should be fit for human habitation but did not want to pass the new law that would explicitly require it.[14]

xp that's a fair sum - he'd have been easily able to afford an extra name from it.

always here for a fleeting mention of tiggy legge-bourke tbf

lord dunsany the horror writer was good not bad

Oh, they got this all screwed up! pic.twitter.com/4IdxAzWlLi

— Ireland Simpsons Fans (@iresimpsonsfans) January 16, 2019

the government is going to survive this no confidence vote isn't it?

Of course.

It took three goes to get rid of Callaghan when Thatcher challenged it.

In January 2016, a Labour-proposed amendment that would have required private landlords to make their homes "fit for human habitation"

Wait what

How was that not already the law

You think *that's* the most awful thing about this govern— etc etc

According to some tories this is an annoyingly centre-left country. Even if thete is a kernel of truth to that, it hasnt been much of a centre-left parliament in the last decade

Centre-left compared to the US maybe.

Ah yes, the centre leftness of asking women to prove they’ve been raped if they want to claim child benefit and of deporting black citizens.

Who said that cal? I saw a lot of hilarious frothing about the hard left (who famously can not tolerate any dissent) earlier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO7zsPQVwfw

state of this

Understand there are conversations underway right now between SNP, Plaid and LibDems re penning joint letter stating that they will not back repeated motions of no confidence if Corbyn loses tonight - so Labour would be trying again on its own

— Ross Kempsell (@rosskempsell) January 16, 2019

xxp
it was some anecdotal quote attributed to Hunt I think. It was years ago when I read it - the usual moaning about the UK electorate's attachment to institutions like the NHS.

Can’t wait til he’s PM and the press are turning out fawning pieces about him being a moderate in droves!

Understand there are conversations underway right now between SNP, Plaid and LibDems re penning joint letter stating that they will not back repeated motions of no confidence if Corbyn loses tonight - so Labour would be trying again on its own

Pure cuntery that abandons their voters. Hope labour squeezes them out in every single marginal.

This is what our country could be with a Labour government.
Watch and share 👇 pic.twitter.com/NcLXKDcZGc

— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) January 16, 2019

This PPB is really good - keep an eye out for the young Asian woman who is Jaskiran Chohan, a 24-year-old Labour councillor in Southall and ex-McDonnell staffer. Also my friend’s niece. She’s awesome.

xp. also a rumour

though I'm not sure what good successive unsuccessful VONCs does

I don’t think the leadership are minded to keep running it unless they believe they can get the votes, but fucking still. Keep punching left, guys!

SNP is to the left of labour on major policy issues

is that laura pidcock at the end?

SNP fuck with socialism Jim?

SNP are unprincipled, opportunistic cunts, they've found their perfect match in the Lib Dems. LOL Plaid Cymru.

Didn’t people once call the SNP Tartan Tories? I don’t like them because some of their big donors are nasty homophobic arseholes.

Angela Rayner says on PM tonight that even if May turned up in her office agreeing to CU and all the workers/environment etc demands in the interests of the country she still wouldn't vote with the govt on a bill.

Looks like VONC till you honk is the only policy in town.

SNP have also pushed ahead with several policies despite losing the parliamentary vote on them, insisting such a vote is only advisory.

new socialist needs a much firmer sub editor i think -- it's got better and gann is smart and engaged but few of its writers are especially sparky and some of its stuff is still quite needlessly repetitive and graceless :(

(i've actually considered offering but i assume they have no money and it wd be all fights all the time)

― mark s, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Do it for socialism ;-)

I know what you mean re: edits - the piece analyzing the situation on Brazil pre-election was at times quite hard to follow. On the other hand I love this piece on the politics of surrogacy and care. Won't read many better essays on anything this year. Gann is very good at negotiating between left labour to various anarchists critiques and it really shows in the variety of coverage.

They don't have much cash at all (see some fundraiser links now and then) and the future does seem bleak but aren't all our futures like that.

I'm the LibDems/Nats announcement is intended to make it impossible for Labour to force an election, in effect bouncing them towards backing a second referendum.

I'm assuming, ahem

SNP fuck with socialism Jim?

― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, January 16, 2019 10:23 AM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

SNP has a less hawkish foreign policy. they want to decrease military budget and scrap trident. labour don't want to scrap trident and their 2017 manifesto wanted to increase military budget by at seat 2% of GDP.

in criminal justice Labour puts more of a premium increasing numbers of police

SNP has a less nativist immigration policy.

in education labour wants to scrap tuition fees. SNP administration has done that in Scotland.

fair play to them, they’re nothing if not consistent. will always privilege the oppprtunistic politics of sectional advantage so can’t expect them to interact with the UK parliament in good faith

xps. as they should, if they're to represent their electorate

xp. does the uk parliament deserve good faith from scotland and wales?

ahem

A Scottish administration in an indepedent Scotland would not be adventuring in Yemen. Labour have ofc have highlighted foreign policy abuses so I don't take that point. Nor would an indepedent Scotland have nuclear weapons.

Fair enough on cops though lets face it they are a party of the state as much as Labour so they could increase it at some point. Both SNP and Labour are pro-EU. Unless SNP are advocating for open borders I don't know what less nativist means.

The last point is you saying they have the same policy - just that SNP could do it because they are in government.

SNP might want to reduce military spending, however, the cost of policies in the 2014 paper would have increased spending above the pro-rata of the UK defence budget and they are committed to both NATO and PESCO (if in EU) so more than 2% by default.

The 2014 White Paper advocated a points based immigration system pretty much identical to every other one on the table. Theirs would have been skewed "to benefit the economy and not flat values" which is exactly the same language as current Labour.

You've probably missed the tuition fees scandals not being in the country - they capped the amount which could be given to universities to pay for Scottish student tuition, which has led to caps on numbers of Scottish students being placed by the universities, which has led to some prospective students being turned away even (in one very newsworthy event) straight-A students.

I remain a fan of this genre

Dear @sinnfeinireland - Please can you take your UK parliament seats today (fingers crossed behind your back when you sign the oath is fine..) so the Tories can be destroyed tonight. You will gain many fans.

— Morgan Cox (@morgancox_uk) January 16, 2019

Imagine this for a plot twist: Corbyn walks into parliament tonight accompanied by...

...7 members of Sinn Fein. 🤯

Christ, I know it’s unlikely but just imagine the scenes. It’d be written about for centuries. #brexit #NoConfidenceVote

— Sam Cornwell 👙 (@Samcornwell) January 16, 2019

It’s doubly funny because it illustrates how much of a waste of time those Corbyn IRA smears are with the general public.

Tom looking his age, making me feel mine

Can you imagine having Gove commend you for your speech? I think I'd puke.

Gove killing it with a bang up to date Vicki Pollard reference

Vicky Bollard? Got his slimy finger on the pulse of the nation, doesn't he?

x-post, ha!