We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thing: ‘Rasputin and his motley crew’

 

For anyone who’s confused, I have decided to rename the Weekly Brexit Bulletin, as there is a wider picture that this column wants to explore. As part of this we have the following cast:

 

 

‘And he’s just gonna really tell the boss, He’s gonna really let him know exactly how he feels, It’s pretty bad’ ¹

 

We must start where we left off last week, with Rasputin the power behind the throne of Tsar Boris. You may have gathered from last week that, whilst I disagree totally with Rasputin’s politics, I have a grudging respect for his abilities.

Last week, in a note to my editor, I wrote; ‘I have a great deal of respect for Cummings, but for mainly the wrong reasons! The thing about Cummings is that he’s almost an anarchist, he has no respect for tradition, authority, or rules, not sure where he stands on the laws! He’s tailor-made for the role, and I really think he will just go for it, it’s Johnny Rotten 40-yrs on.

‘he’s almost an anarchist, he has no respect for tradition, authority, or rules, not sure where he stands on the laws!’

Unfortunately, Rasputin isn’t what we thought; on Sunday the Observer revealed that Rasputin is co-owner of a farm that has received €250,000 (£235,000) in EU farming subsidies. Analysis of Land Registry documents and EU subsidy databases reveals that a farm in Durham, which Rasputin jointly owns with his parents and another person, has received roughly €20,000 a year for most of the last two decades.

And it isn’t only Rasputin letting the side down, John Bull(s**t) has been in the news this week. Much to my surprise this strident nationalist was taking aim at the royal family in a speech to Sydney’s Conservative Political Action Conference. Whilst he was complimentary about the Queen, ‘an amazing, awe-inspiring woman, we’re bloody lucky to have her’, other members of the royal family didn’t fare so well:

 

• ‘When it comes to her son, when it comes to Charlie Boy and climate change, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. All I can say is Charlie Boy is now in his 70s … may the Queen live a very, very long time.’
• The Queen mother was a slightly overweight, chain-smoking gin drinker who lived to 101 years old.
• ‘Well, if I want the Queen to live a long time to stop Charlie Boy becoming king, I want Charlie Boy to live even longer and William to live forever to stop Harry becoming king,’ he said.
• ‘And then he met Meghan Markle, and it’s fallen off a cliff. We’ve been told in the last week that Meghan and Harry will only have two children

 

John, this song is dedicated to you…

 

‘I said Charles, don’t you ever crave, To appear on the front of the Daily Mail, Dressed in your Mother’s bridal veil?’ ²

 

Enough of this levity let us turn to 30-pieces of silver and her conversion to hard Brexit which, of course, had nothing to do with staying in Tsar Boris’s cabinet.

In January, prior to the coronation of Tsar Boris, 30-pieces had threatened to resign from the government if she was not allowed a free vote on backbench amendments intended to stop no deal, eventually abstaining on the issue.

In a subsequent letter to constituents in March, Rudd said she abstained because she believed no deal would ‘do generational damage to our economy and security’.

30-pieces then joined with her then-cabinet colleagues David Gauke and Greg Clark to force Theresa May to take no deal off the table and stop the UK crashing out at the end of March.

Her conversion is nothing short of miraculous, shortly before Tsar Boris was anointed 30-pieces told TalkRadio: ‘Both candidates have said that no deal is part of the armoury going forward, and I have accepted that.’

‘from ‘generational damage’, abstaining in votes to the detriment of her party to ‘accepting’, do these people think we’re stupid?’

Really? Just like that? We moved from ‘generational damage’, abstaining in votes to the detriment of her party to ‘accepting’, do these people think we’re stupid? It’s the political equivalent of Saul (Paul) on the road to Damascus.

On the subject of generational damage, Dr Evil in the person of his national security adviser, John Bolton, who, in a visit to London, told us that the most isolationist US regime in living memory would ‘enthusiastically’ support a no-deal Brexit.

What a surprise, he must think we are turkeys voting for Christmas, stuffed and ready for the US to pick-over the pieces in what will be referred to as a trade agreement.

What Brexiters fail to grasp is that we are now a ‘small’ nation which needs the protection of bodies such as the WTO against predators such as the US. This is exactly why the EU was, in part, created to enable Europe to compete as a collective on the world stage.

‘we are now a ‘small’ nation which needs the protection of bodies such as the WTO against predators such as the US’

If we stand alone, we negotiate alone, can you imagine the US allowing the digital tax changes proposed by Excel when he was Chancellor?

It is the US tech giants and their scandalously low tax payments that these proposals were bought in to tackle.

However, we can sleep safely in our beds knowing that Batman will ‘fight with every breath’ to stop Johnson closing parliament for no deal.

Batman interventions could be crucial in the coming weeks as MPs against no deal attempt to find a parliamentary route to blocking plans for the UK to exit on 31st October, with or without a deal.

A cross-party group are working on a plan to thwart Johnson, which could involve either forcing parliament to sit through the conference recess or amending the Commons motion that grants the September recess to allow them time to pass legislation against a no-deal Brexit.

Wheels are already in motion, as a Scottish judge fast-tracked a legal challenge backed by 75 MPs and peers to prevent Johnson proroguing parliament, led by the Scottish National party MP Joanna Cherry QC.

 

Continuing the charge for Team Good is Excel who, this week, came out strongly against No Deal, making the following points:

 

• The hit to the economy from no deal will be both immediate and enduring
• No deal risks hastening the break-up of the United Kingdom
• Voters were not offered no deal in 2016 and did not vote for it.
• Tsar Boris’s demand to scrap the Irish backstop is a wrecking tactic designed to hasten a no-deal outcome
• A sovereign parliament can, should and will stop no deal.

 

This could see a return to rekindling a negotiated withdrawal, one that around two-thirds of Tory MPs have voted three times for. Excel’s initiative presents Tsar Boris with a stark choice; does he risk losing his power base by restarting talks with the EU, or does he ignore negotiations, maximising the number of Tory MPs who could vote him down?

‘does he risk losing his power base by restarting talks with the EU, or does he ignore negotiations’

But this doesn’t only impact the party in the commons, it is also recasting voter loyalties, both major parties now appear to have an ‘official line’ on Brexit. At the next election Tsar Boris’s Tory party will be the leavers’ party, whether Brexit has been delivered or not, whilst it would appear Labour is for remain or, at least, a negotiated exit

Labour’s position became apparent today as Sleepy, awakening from his slumbers, is offering to lead a caretaker government in order to stop Tsar Boris pursuing a no-deal Brexit

Rebel Conservative MPs, Dominic Grieve, Caroline Spelman and Oliver Letwin, plus the former Conservative Nick Boles, said they would be willing to enter talks with the Labour leader in the weeks before parliament returns from recess. These rebel Tories will be joined in the talks by SNP, Plaid Cymru and Green MPs.

Unfortunately, Snow White, the Lib Dem leader, has dismissed the idea of Corbyn leading a caretaker government as nonsense, saying, ‘This letter is just more red lines that are about him and his position and is not a serious attempt to find the right solution and build a consensus to stop a no-deal Brexit,’ she said. ‘I am committed to working in a credible way with those in other parties, and none, across parliament to stop a no-deal Brexit and will set out how that could work in my speech tomorrow.’

And, it isnt only Snow White who is doubtful about Sleepy’s overtures. It is becoming clear that a number of Tory backbenchers and some independents may only support a centrist candidate and not a current party leader for the job of leading a temporary government.

Anna Soubry, the leader of the Independent Group for Change (formerly Change UK), told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday: ‘I would not support a government of national unity that is led by Jeremy Corbyn for all manner of reasons.

‘One, because I don’t think it’s genuine, secondly because it is not going to deliver a people’s vote, which is the only way through the chaos; and, of course, he doesn’t command support or respect in his own political party, never mind across the parliamentary divide.’

The Totnes MP Sarah Wollaston, who announced she was joining the Lib Dems on Wednesday, said her new party leader was being realistic because Corbyn ‘won’t find the support of the Commons’.

‘The hit to the economy from no deal will be both immediate and enduring’

She said none of the party leaders should lead a temporary government, and that a ‘trusted figure’ such as Ken Clarke or Hilary Benn would be better.

Now, there is both fact and fantasy to consider here, all served with a large dollop of reality.

The reality is that there must be unity if Tsar Boris et al are to be stopped for surmounting parliament and inflicting a hard Brexit on the country.

The fantasy is a Government of National Unity, but it’s just that, fantasy, perhaps that’s why Snow White is pursuing this?

The fact is simple, no alternative can exist with the support of the second largest party, which is Labour, unless scores of their MPs defy the whip, they and Sleepy are the only option.

Let us hope that the saying, ‘united we stand, divided we fall’, isn’t used to describe the oppositions attempt to thwart No Deal.

 

‘We are together, we are unified, And all for the cause, Because together we got power..’ 3

 

OK lyric spotters another triple treat and I have to first confess to having failed to trouble the scorer; nul points.

Pretty poor, but before you scoff, see how you got on. Given my abject failure there are double points on offer this week – to be redeemed in the time-honoured fashion.

¹ I was cross with the first one, a much loved act, but a track I’d somehow forgotten; however, it’s now firmly in tunes reunited, enjoy The Clash with ‘Janie Jones’

Then to dispel any circulating rumours of my competence, I have to confess to not having been audibly acquainted with either of the other two tracks this week.

² In homage to Mr Farage’s rather questionable comments made in Sydney we have The Smiths and ‘The Queen is Dead’ – here performed by a rather fuller-figured Morrissey live at the Hollywood Bowl.

³ Described by the author as ‘an early 90’s monster song’ this one totally passed me by, but I’m glad to have made the acquaintance of Primal Scream and ‘Come Together’. And why not – 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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