Beyond anything else, the Lib Dems switching to a policy to revoke Article 50 if a majority is achieved has meant that the party has been the centre of the political conversation for the past week in a way I can’t remember them being since the 2015 general election came and went. For the Lib […]
Boris Johnson has made a People’s Vote more likely than ever – is it deliberate?
Several Tory rebels, from those 21 MPs who had the whip removed, have publicly stated that another EU referendum might be a way out of the current Brexit predicament. Behind closed doors, several are privately considering backing a referendum. This is what was always likely to happen when Johnson kicked them out of the Conservative […]
This is what I took away from Boris Johnson’s “speech” yesterday evening
The political media like to converge on a consensus of events and to do so very quickly after something has taken place. Yesterday’s Boris Johnson rambling into a microphone for six minutes is no exception. What had been briefed heavily beforehand was that unless MPs give up on their quest to get legislation through the […]
This is what the Lib Dem messaging on Brexit should be in any snap general election
Back in March of this year, an online petition went up on the parliament.uk website. Online petitions rarely gather that many signatures, partly because they often cover obscure topics, but also because most people have cottoned onto the fact that they are never taken seriously by parliament regardless of the numbers they attract. The one […]
How Brexit created the demise (for now, at least) of British conservatism
Writing in the foreword of the 1946 edition of his own novel from 15 years previous, “Brave New World”, Aldous Huxley said this: “For the last 30 years there have been no conservatives; there have only been nationalistic radicals of the right and nationalistic radicals of the left.” Huxley saw the First World War – […]
Johnson proroguing parliament is a gigantic dare to Remainers. Here’s where I think it takes us
The big news yesterday was that the opposition leaders had managed to have a productive meeting about what do to try and prevent a no deal Brexit. Even Corbyn had been brought on side with a plan to attempt to halt it through legislation. Given the number of Tory MPs who would be willing to […]
Why revocation of Article 50 is a much larger possibility than is being talked about at the moment
The “national unity” government idea continues to hog breathing space in Westminster gossip columns. Funny, I was the one talking about it years ago as a possibility when no one thought it could ever be a thing; now I really don’t see it happening. It’s too big a leap for too many MPs to take […]
Why the polling on a government of national unity should actually give Remainers hope and urgency
The pro-Brexit portion of the print media has been talking up a YouGov poll this week, done on the topic of what the public thinks about a government of national unity to halt no deal Brexit. It found that 44% oppose the idea of bringing down Boris Johnson’s government and temporarily replacing it with a […]
Here’s an important myth we need to nip in the bud here and now, as Johnson’s premiership begins
Boris Johnson anointed his cabinet yesterday, clearing out half of what was already there. I could say a lot about this – Patel as Home Secretary and Raab as FCO are both truly horrific appointments – but I’ll leave most of that to others. I’m more confused about what Johnson thinks he’s going to do […]
Here’s the problem with Unite to Remain
Heidi Allen, the ex-Tory MP for South Cambridgeshire, has launched a new campaign called Unite to Remain. The essence of it is to create a Remain alliance, one in which certain parties step aside in seats to allow Remain parties who have a better chance of winning a clear run. Allen herself pointed to the […]