Brexit Bulletin: Has Parliament snatched defeat from the jaws of victory?

 

‘Little Jo(e) never once gave it away….’ ¹

 

Only this time Jo Swinson has really given it away.

For reasons we can only guess at, she decided the Lib Dems would support a government sponsored one-line bill enabling them to call a snap election.

There was no need for an immediate election and, in enabling this, they have undone all the hard work put into the Benn Bill and stopping No Deal, handing the Tsar the opportunity he wanted to call and win an election and to drive through whatever Brexit he wants.

My editor questioned last week’s column suggesting I wrote with a ‘hint of resignation’; he was right.

I responded by saying that, with the composition of the current parliament, I expected the Tsar’s exit deal to be watered down with amendments and, as a result losing support from his own party, namely the ERG loonies.

‘Election equals No Deal, referendum is Remain!’

I went on to say, that my real concern was an election before we leave enabling the Tsar would win a majority and push through No Deal.

I summarised by saying that I thought that Remain would win a second referendum, but the Tsar would win an election. This apparent contradiction can be explained by the first past the post electoral system where not all votes count, whereas in a referendum all votes count!

Election equals No Deal, referendum is Remain!

Ever since he was elected the Tsar has strutted around like a playground bully, acting as if he had majority when he didn’t, effectively he has been trying to govern against parliament. He has constantly tried to bully MPs into agreeing to an election and he has got his wish.

Additionally, the government have just blown £100m on an ad campaign insisting the UK was leaving on 31st October, or was this the Conservative party getting its election campaign started early, and at our expense?

Not only has his bullying got him what he wanted, the Tsar is now trying to lay the blame for not leaving on the 31st on Labour.

Ignoring the fact that Brexit has taken so long because his predecessors hard Brexit deal was voted down by many in her own party including him! Worse still, many of the electorate are embracing this story!

Now, given that so many commentators have subsequently said this parliament was ‘broken’, why am I so concerned with the forthcoming election?

‘It’s very simple: if the Tories win, their Brexit deal will be theirs to administer’

It’s very simple: if the Tories win, their Brexit deal will be theirs to administer. This means that any, and all the expected amendments to the Tsar’s withdrawal bill can be swatted away, don’t forget all the ‘bad eggs’ have been defrocked and deselected, what we are left with are believers in the Leave cause.

Worse still, if we haven’t reached agreement with the EU by the end of 2020, we leave with No Deal; If we get that far!

 

‘All the nightmares came today, And it looks as though they’re here to stay..’ ²

 

Whilst Corbyn will try and fight this election on issues such as the wealth gap, the rape of the NHS by the US, for that matter the rape of the UK by the US, this election is about one thing only: BREXIT!

No one should be under any false illusions as to US intentions. In June, Woody Johnson, the US ambassador and close friend of the US president, said every area of the UK economy would be up for discussion when the two sides brokered a trade deal.

‘this election is about one thing only: BREXIT!’

Asked if the NHS was likely to form part of trade negotiations, Johnson told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘I think the entire economy, in a trade deal, all things that are traded would be on the table.’ Asked if that specifically meant healthcare, he said: ‘I would think so.’

And, to add insult to injury, today Trump has waded into the picture, claiming that an unholy alliance between the Tsar and Farage would be an ‘unstoppable force’. I can think of many adjectives, unstoppable isn’t one of them!

An alliance between the two would almost certainly see No Deal, and this looks even more likely as Trump went onto say that the US ‘can’t make a trade deal with the UK’ under ‘certain aspects of the deal’, despite Johnson’s claims it would allow the UK to have an independent trade policy.

‘Trump told Farage he had reservations over Johnson’s deal, because it could prevent trade with the US’

Trump told Farage he had reservations over Johnson’s deal, because it could prevent trade with the US, but he denied Corbyn’s claims it would mean the NHS was up for sale to American health corporations. ‘I don’t even know where [it] started with respect to us taking over your healthcare system. I mean it’s so ridiculous. I think Corbyn put that out there, but to even think, it was never even mentioned, I never even heard it until I went over to visit with the Queen,’ he said.

We do, Donald, from your own Ambassador. As I said earlier, the rape of the UK by the US.

And, only this lunchtime the unholy alliance took a turn for the even worse when Farage launched his general election campaign, saying his Brexit party will contest every seat in the country unless Boris Johnson agrees to drop his deal with the EU and sign up to a ‘leave alliance’. For those unsure what he means it’s No Deal

Farage also praised his mate, Donald Trump, for his intervention in which he suggested the prime minister and the Brexit party should form an alliance.

At the launch in central London on Friday, Farage said his message for the prime minister was: ‘Drop the deal because it’s not Brexit. Drop the deal because as these weeks go by and people realise what you’ve signed up to … people will not like it.

‘Simply, it is not Brexit. What we’re doing here is kicking the can down the road.’

‘I have long feared a hard-right electoral alliance aiming for a majority and No Deal’

This is the situation I have long feared a hard-right electoral alliance aiming for a majority and No Deal. We will then become a vassal state of a self-obsessed US led by the most extreme president in memory.

I have written several times that to defeat this unholy had-right alliance the opposition had to be aligned, and it has not happened.

The Lib Dems appear to think that either victory or the role of kingmaker is theirs for the taking. Whilst they have even entered into the ‘nice’ alliance with the Greens and Plaid Cymru, it is just that, nice, but likely to achieve very little. A Remain alliance without Labour will make no difference.

‘all the lies, promises of returning to Jerusalem, and false visions may leave them with a hollow victory’

The Eurosceptics cancer that has plagued the Tories for years will now plague all of us for generations to come. Our only hope is demographics; year by year the average age of Tory voters gets older, whilst most younger people are more likely to vote Labour or Lb Dem.

Brexit and its aftermath might finish the Tories off; all the lies, promises of returning to Jerusalem, and false visions may leave them with a hollow victory within which lays their demise.

 

‘Bring on the new messiah, Wherever he may roam..’ ³

 

If the election plays out as I fear the country could be irrevocably divided. Our electoral system could well deliver a situation where the Tsar is able to instigate a No Deal Brexit which most of the electorate will de facto have voted against. So much for the will of the people.

‘I fear the country could be irrevocably divided’

Brexit has caused what were two streams of resentment, one driven by peoples’ perception of London’s unfair wealth and privilege, the second based on Parliaments unfair refusal to ‘obey the people’, to merge into one.

London is the most diverse metropolis in Europe; irrespective of Brexit, London will continue to attract overseas capital whether it’s from global oligarchs, hedge funds, or the location of new British institutions. London is becoming Singapore, an independent city state, and will continue to prosper, whereas the immediate future for the rest of the country could be very bleak.

Therefore, the whole concept of the ‘Union’ is now be in doubt, deep down I suspect it is already irrelevant to many. We have recently seen little value the Tsar puts on it when he cut Northern Ireland adrift without a second thought. The reality is that the Union seems to matter only to the ruling classes and revisionists dreaming of empire, maybe even the Scottish and Irish unionists realise the game is up?

And, to anyone that doubts this fact, a poll earlier this year showed that Tory voters would be ready to ‘lose Scotland’ if that ensured Brexit. Brexit is already hammering the nails into the coffin that was the United Kingdom.

 

‘Ego-maniac traitor, You never did understand, You fell in love with your ego, It did not fit into plan’ 4

 

OK Lyric spotters, this is getting ugly, and Philip’s getting angry(/ier); therein lies the opportunity for those of us with an eye on the big prize, although he’s awarding just one point a piece – text or email submissions in the usual, by 12-noon Mon 4th please.

First off the rank ¹, and neatly segued into his thinly disgusied contempt for Ms Swinson’s behaviour, lap up Mr Lou Reed with ‘A Walk on the Wild Side’. I’ll claim that as my sole victory, but mine it is.

² Nobody is going to even feign surprise the fact that The Thin White Duke makes the list, here with the corking ‘Oh You Pretty Things.

Next ³ we have a new act and a great track that was lost to me – Philip describes it as ‘a great band demonstrating the art of the perfect pop song’ so lap up Echo and the Bunnymen with ‘Bring on the Dancing Horses’.

Just to show that Philip has no monopoly on anger how about this fourth track ⁴ – ‘a perfect ending, this was from his best album, and boy was he angry’ according to our scribe, and who are we to argue – Public Image Ltd with the rabid ‘Low Life’. Enjoy

 

 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

 

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