POLITICS CORNER

[plaques]

Have a look at THIS and recognise that Starmer's idea of making Labour electable is to move it into the middle ground and to help do this he tries to steal the Tory's clothes by making policy out of aspirations. I am not excited by his rhetoric....

Starmer's move to the middle ground is to make the Labour party electable. Most of his targets are aspirations and has been accused of becoming lie Conservatives who nobody really knows what they are standing for or what their pledges mean. Welcome to the world of politics there's a lot of stupid people out there so why shouldn't Starmer take advantage of it?
listened to a discussion between Andrew Marr and Bernie Sanders who said that the worst thing the UK could do was to sell the NHS to private enterprise. Insurance profits and pharmaceuticals would would make vast profits and the ordinary person would no longer be able to afford treatment. Don't do it.

[Stanley]

Selling NHS..... I think we knew that Ken but every time a government policy disadvantages the service in some way, like not negotiating with striking nurses, it is a positive push towards the private sector. (In that case they can give higher wages....)

[Tripps]

On the day of the one minute silence for Ukraine. Who voted for that?

I have just watched George Galloway at the Oxford Union

I've been concerned about Tobias Elwood for some time. Galloway seems a good antidote. All seemingly without any notes too. Clever man.

[plaques]

One year on. My estimate is five years. Why you may ask. That's how long it will take to bankrupt Russia. Modern wars are fearfully expensive and those who engage in them soon bankrupt themselves. Russia in its move to annex Ukraine is stupid beyond belief it is also evil in killing the very people its supposed to be protecting. All the NATO countries including the USA, UK and the majority of the European countries are finding it a cheap way to let the Ukrainians fight on our behalf in order to bankrupt the Russians. Some may see this as a cynical view when so many innocent people are suffering but we have only to look what the Tory government is pushing people into poverty while those at the top take a bigger share of the output of the working people.

Please will someone tell me I'm wrong.

[Tripps]

We've been speaking about candidate selection somewhere recently. Not everyone is happy with central control of the choice.

I've just read the personal statements of the applicants for candidature for the Failsworth Independent Party, in the forthcoming May elections. They need to choose six from a list of nine. It wasn't too difficult. The ones that left the "Word" correction suggestions still visible in their statements - more or less ruled themselves out.

**********************

On Local Government. The budget setting meeting for Pendle Council took place last night, and I popped in, from time to time.

This is how it appeared to me.
Most of the time (whilst I was watching) the meeting was suspended with no sound - just picture, whilst the party leaders had a private meeting outside the Council chamber. (Democracy in action ) Then they returned, voted in favour, and went home. I had little idea of what was going on throughout,, and the sound was impossible to make out. I think Tom Whipp does the tech stuff, and I guess has limited resources to do things, but some explanation of proceedings would have been welcome.


PS David Whipp - why does he always wear short trousers? explains it all on Twitter. Why not at the meeting?

"Conservative councillors pushed through the maximum increase in the Council Tax at last night's Pendle Council meeting. For average Band D properties, this is an increase of £103.98 (excluding any changes from parish or town councils).
Conservative budget cuts were avoided by agreeing three quarters of a million pounds in alternative savings during a lengthy adjournment. This means cuts in leisure services are avoided, and there'll be no charges for bulky household waste or replacement bins.
The full meeting can by viewed via this link. The meeting is in two halves, with the second part beginning at 3 hours and 23 minutes into the recording.
https://www.youtube.com/live/YLtsoI9Bfdk?feature=share "

[Stanley]

There is no political news today. Sunak is burying himself in NI protocol negotiations as that's safest for him. See THIS BBC report that Ben Wallace says the Ajax procurement scheme has 'Turned a corner'. About bloody time too....
"Ben Wallace said he was confident recent fixes had put the project back on track after a series of embarrassing setbacks and delays. The £5.5bn Ministry of Defence (MoD) project has been running for 12 years. It promised to deliver 589 armoured vehicles, with the first ones due to enter service in 2019. However, the Army is still waiting for testing to be completed."

[plaques]

There is no political news today. Sunak is burying himself in NI protocol negotiations as that's safest for him.

Its said he was last seen in the long grass searching for the NI protocol bill where Suella Braverman threw it before she threatened to resign. Rumour has it he has come across some tapes of Boris clapping outside No10 and singing 'Money Money Money'. There's also talk of a new sundial design where Jacob Rees-Mogg replaces the gnomon to cast the shadow with the intention of replace clocks as we move back to the 17th century. Church attendance and compulsory archery practice have also been mentioned. Stone age silicon valley here we come.

[Tripps]

To adapt a famous quote -

“It is never difficult to distinguish between a poster with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.”

― P.G. Wodehouse, Blandings Castle

[plaques]

To adapt a famous quote -

“It is never difficult to distinguish between a poster with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.”

It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine. Golf…is the infallible test. The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching him, and play his ball where it lies, is the man who will serve you faithfully and well.

Funny enough the family name is Mc............ I hope Sunak finds the ball and plays it as it should be played.

[Stanley]

And, as I have explained before, if my father hadn't deserted from the Anzacs after WW1 and take43n his mother's maiden name I would be called MacDonald.
And yes, I have multiple grievances against the shower that govern us.
See THIS BBC report on the tortures our PM is undergoing in his quest for agreement with everyone over the dog's breakfast that is the NI protocol. Any 'agreement' he comes up with will be a stitch up and not a solution. The only permanent solution for Northern Ireland is reunification with the South and for us to get out. Anyone who has read the history knows that but the big problem as far as the UK government is concerned is that they see N I as 'ours' and any withdrawal would be seen as a defeat. It would also trigger movement inside the rest of the Union and could easily mean that the whole artificial constitutional structure of the 'United Kingdom' would dissolve.
Looking at the state we are in I have to say I would cheer such a wholesale revision of our politics and society on.
So yes, I don't mind being described as not being a ray of sunshine!

[plaques]

Sunak has ordered a 'You must attend' three line whip for Monday's Commons 'discussion' on the Westminster NI agreement. Its not clear if there is to be a vote on it. Probably not because Starmer has said he will support it if it comes to a vote. As I understand it Sunak's proposals are within the bounds of the NI protocol so fundamentally the protocol hasn't changed and what we will probably see is what the EU offered over a year ago to smooth the flow of goods intended for resale in NI only. The DUP and the ERG won't be too pleased about this because it takes away a lot of their smokescreen objections to the protocol. Remember this 'discussion' was to take place last Monday/Tuesday so it has given the dissenters plenty of time to organise and absence from the Commons to save face. As always with compromises both side will claim a victory.

[Stanley]

As is usually the case these days, what we are looking at in Westminster is political smoke and mirrors which might produce a 'politically acceptable' solution but will not be welcomed by all parties. What will make the difference is what the 'living dead' do. Will the political wreckers rise from their coffins and destroy Sunak?
Whereas what we should be doing at Westminster is working on substantive matters like using the fall in wholesale gas prices to ease the burden on the poor and not just seeing it as an opportunity for higher bonuses and profits and a more comfortable tax take for the Treasury so Hunt can sweeten some of his pills in the budget.
But that won't be happening, Westminster is so engrossed in peering up its own backside that it has completely forgotten the sole reason they are there, to look after the interests of the general population.

[plaques]

Sophie Ridge interviewing Mark Francois MP - Chairman of the ERG,
What do you think of the NI agreement?
I haven't seen the Text yet so I can't really comment.
But its been in circulation for over three weeks.
I haven't seen the legal text it isn't just about trade its about Sovereignty. All laws must be determined by Parliament.

In other words it doesn't matter if the country sinks into oblivion we must be seen waving the flag. Not a word about if we were to do an American deal we would be obeying their rules. Any agreement with an another country means giving up some degree of Sovereignty. Sunak should apply a three line whip vote and remove any dissenters from the Party. Then they would be looking for a new Prime Minister. Send in the Clowns.

[Stanley]

I see that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has referred to 'Dear Rishi' and had tea with the king. If this isn't seen as pandering to the EU by the rabid Brexiteers in the Party I don't know what will.
I think I heard somewhere yesterday that the PM was expected to apply a 3 line whip to the debate on the Windsor Agreement but I doubt if he would enforce it against any opponents in the Party, he isn't strong enough for that.
I think the best thing to do is sit back and wait and see what happens. Will the opponents dare to wreck what could be a workable solution to the border problem?
We live in interesting times.....

[plaques]

All that I can see is that Boris's Oven Ready Deal still stands in law. The agreements which Sunak is touting were all available within the original agreement. Sunak has finally accepted that the original Protocol is internationally sound. Windsor.

The Windsor Framework
The Windsor Framework is an international arrangement between the UK and the EU under which
the parties commit to binding international law obligations, including changes to the Protocol itself.
The UK and EU have made clear in the Political Declaration accompanying the Windsor Framework
that the amended Protocol is governed by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.


This also means that the Protocol Bill championed by Johnson and Rees-Mogg is dead in the water.

As envisaged by the UK Government in June 2022, given the terms of the Windsor Framework and
the clear availability of a durable negotiated solution, there would now be no legal justification for
enacting the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

[Tripps]

Rishi Sunak is on a hasty 'lap of honour' visit to Northern Ireland.

He has said -

"If we get this right, if we get this framework implemented, if we get the executive back up and running here, Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position – unique position in the entire world, European continent – in having privileged access, not just to the UK home market, which is enormous, the fifth biggest in the world, but also the European Union single market. Nobody else has that. No one. Only you guys. Only here. And that is the prize.

I can tell you, when I go around the world and talk to businesses, they know. They’re like, ‘That’s interesting, if you guys get this sorted, then we want to invest in Northern Ireland.’ Because nowhere else does that that exist. That’s like the world’s most exciting economic zone."

As an apoplectic James O'Brian has pointed out repeatedly this mornig on LBC - that's exactly the status that the whole of the UK had before brexit.

Good grief. . This is surely his 'Gerald Ratner' moment. .

[PanBiker]

Indeed if he thinks that is the prize he should automatically reverse Brexit. Beggars belief how two faced this lot can be however they are Tories so I would not expect anything else.

[Stanley]

Please let us not forget what happened to get us to where we are now. A group of Tory MPs, for their own benefit, applied pressure on a weak PM (Cameron) who, to get the weight off his back agreed to a referendum even though he didn't believe we should leave the EU as we had such a good deal. The public spoke after more pressure and lies from the Brexiteers and we got the dog's breakfast that is UK politics today.
You are all quite right, we had Sunak's Irish Benefits and threw them away because we let rabid Tory right wingers have there way.
I can't see yet where this is all going. I think there is more drama to play out yet and I think Sunak knows it. I see he is telling his party not to make a crisis out of the changes... Or is he appealing to them not to upset his apple cart?

[plaques]

The Tory Party is in turmoil. The Indians are circling the wagon train. Sunak's only option was to shoot back and try to take the Chief (Boris) out of the attack. By agreeing with the EU to smooth the flow of goods from the UK to NI he has taken the steam out of Boris's and DUP,/ERG claim that the Oven Ready Deal wasn't fit for purpose. The more sane Conservatives, who can read, must agree with Sunak that this move costs nothing and paves the way for a better relationship with the EU. This looks like the end of the road for Boris and any hopes of becoming the comeback kid for PM.

Nearer home. Our Andrew Stephenson MP has always been a staunch Brexiteer and a big follower of Boris. He has recently been re-selected as prospective Conservative candidate for Pendle in future elections. Will he now fall on his sword or claim that his Brexit was different to the cockup that was going on? So far all is quiet on this subject his Facebook page and Twitter are in shutdown mode.

[Stanley]

Call me an old cynic but the current shock /horror revelations in the emails stolen by Isabel Euphemia Oakeshott have come at exactly the right time to divert attention from Sunak v. Johnson and Others. See THIS Wikepedia article to remind yourselves of her track record. You might think Typical Ham fisted Hancock to pick a ghost writer and confidant with such a reliable partner.
Here's Hancock's defence.... (LINK)

[Tripps]

This is rather sad - for her and for me - but for the record

Isabel Euphemia Oakeshott

has now changed the Wiki entry to just plain "Isabel Oakeshott"

I looked this morning and I looked tonight. It's been changed. That's a shame - I had just awarded the name 'most pretentious since Annunciata Rees Mogg', and then she goes and removes it.

[Stanley]

Well, at least we have evidence David!
I see Lee Anderson, the Tory Deputy chairman has been opening his mouth and putting his foot in it again. As an encore to no repeat offending after hanging he has come up with this gem.
People struggling with living costs were "more resourceful" in previous decades, the Tory deputy chairman has said. Lee Anderson told the BBC there was a "different culture" in his youth, and people were more likely to take on extra work. The MP - who grew up in a mining town - has faced criticism for previously questioning the need for food banks. Recalling his childhood, he said "our garden was our foodbank".
I still contend that the Hancock revelations are very convenient for Sunak as they take the spotlight off him and Brexit.

[plaques]

Sunak's NI protocol adjustment seems like a sensible compromise to most people. Something that could have been agreed over a year ago. Also its now being reported that Sunak is to take a vote in the Commons to ratify it. Meanwhile there will be a short delay until the MPs have time to read the full text before they vote. I suspect the delay is nothing to do with reading text but to give them time to reflect on their own futures as MPs. The big question is will the back bench MPs join forces with the usual suspects and try to vote it down but still lose the vote because Labour has said they would back it. In which case the bill would still go through but Sunak and the government may fall. The prospect of yet another PM selection with Buggins'turn next or the insane prospect of the Return of the Clown would mean a complete wipe out for the Conservatives. To go along with the agreement may give some MPs another two years on the gravy train and possibly longer if the normal voting amnesia sets in. Bearing in mind what they are voting for is not 'what's good for the country' but 'what's good for their pockets' the bill will pass but with lots of grumbling and muttering.

[Stanley]

I think you've got it about right Ken. I don't think that this process will gain Sunak any new friends but in pure survival terms it looks like the only viable answer to the problem with the Protocol. Mind you, it isn't only the Tory MPs who are reading the small print, the DUP lawyers are also busy and the estimate is that it will be about a month before they come up with a response. See THIS Wikipedia entry for the dates of the local elections and who is standing. These could well play a part in any political calculations connected with the NI Protocol.
Unfortunately two more years on the gravy train sounds about right.

[Stanley]

Well, it had to happen. Boris Johnson has weighed in with criticism of the Windsor Deal, describing it as a 'drag anchor' on UK growth.
It remains to be seen how many backbenchers will agree with him.