With the German chancellor now on the way out, only one leader even remotely has the stature to fill her shoes. He’s in Rome, not Paris.
Archiv: paneuropean ideology (continentalism)
Europe is losing its moral compass – how will it find its way without Merkel?
Elizabeth and Angela: two opposite worlds, two entirely different functions, and yet, similarities. Those boring speeches no one dares to make any more. That style, that calm, that stability and that way of embodying their countries.
Merkel now embodies more than Germany; she embodies Europe. She’s a pop icon, who has entered our consciousness like a song.
Europe still lacks a unifying vision
This is not to say that strategic autonomy is a bad idea — or that the EU is doomed to geopolitical irrelevance. The prospect of a trade deal with Europe or the threat of EU sanctions can shape the behaviour of countries all over the world. But economic power and moral suasion are not always an adequate substitute for military might. (As Stalin once reportedly asked: “How many divisions has the pope?”)
Auf Wiedersehen to Angela Merkel – the colossus of Europe… who bounced Britain to Brexit. As her indomitable 15-year reign ends tomorrow, what’s next for Germany, asks DOMINIC SANDBROOK
Well-sealed windows. No other country can make such well-sealed and nice windows.’ That was Angela Merkel’s answer when, more than a decade ago, a journalist asked her what she most associated with her native land.
How a Scholz-Led Government Could Transform Germany and Europe
Social Democrat Olaf Scholz is the favorite to become Germany’s next chancellor, but he’ll need a messy three-party coalition to form a government, according to the polls.
The path to power for the SPD and its preferred partner the Green Party is complicated. It would probably involve either a more centrist alliance with the business-friendly Free Democrats, or a shift in the opposite direction in a tie-up with the anti-capitalist Left party.
Olaf Scholz Is Running as the Next Angela Merkel, and It Seems to Be Working
Mr. Scholz, a Social Democrat who is modeling himself as the candidate of continuity, has a fair shot at being Germany’s next chancellor.
‚More like the USSR at every turn!‘ Britons chilled as EU to censor UK television content
Scheming eurocrats provoked outrage when it emerged they were drawing up plans to pull our critically-acclaimed shows like The Crown and Peaky Blinders from European streaming services. The news – which emerged in a memo sent to the EU’s 27 member states – was quickly compared to Soviet Russia which was notorious for its thought police tactics.
European Union Prepares to Cut Brit Film and TV Content Post Brexit
The EU is considering proposals to exclude British programs from European quotas, a move that could severely hit international sales of U.K. films and TV series to the EU.
Merkel opposes US move to waive vaccine IP, the drive behind the commodity supercycle
German chancellor says waiver would have serious implications for production worldwide
MARY ELLEN SYNON: Why the roots of the EU’s vaccine catastrophe lie in Merkel’s shadowy past in Communist East Germany
As a young woman, Merkel was taught to believe in a Soviet system that folded 15 republics into a single state, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In the past few months, she has sacrificed all prospects of rapid vaccination – and the lives it would save – for her own population because of her dogmatic belief in folding 27 countries into a single state called the European Union.
As Filipp Piatov, head of opinion at the German newspaper Bild, wrote last week, even in such a vital matter Merkel preferred ideology to good politics – because she was ‘so eager to demonstrate the superiority of Brussels bureaucracy to the nation state’.
Labour MP issues humiliating apology after attacking ‚dumb‘ UK for rejecting EU jab scheme
Last summer Hornsey and Wood Green MP Catherine West condemned the Prime Minister’s decision to opt-out of the EU’s jabs rollout last summer, describing the decision as „dumb and dumber“. Remainers accused Mr Johnson of putting lives at risk and placing Brexit before the pandemic with the decision not to participate in the scheme.
HEADS ON THE BLOC: Angela Merkel & Emmanuel Macron under fire over EU’s disastrous Covid vaccine rollout
Tory MP Peter Bone last night said: “The EU has long-term problems partly due to its its undemocratic nature.
“It’s clear that they are not serving the nations.
“It’s breakdown will depend on Germany and France and what the people in those countries think.
German media savages the EU for its vaccine shambles and tears into Ursula von der Leyen’s UK jabs threat – while jealously admiring ‚Brexit Brits‘ for ordering vaccines THREE MONTHS before Brussels
Embarrassingly for the bloc, it appears that Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy had originally been looking to do a deal with AstraZeneca in May alongside the UK – but were blocked by the EU, which insisted it take over negotiations.
According to ITV’s Robert Peston: ‚The extra talks with the European Commission led to no material changes to the contract, but wasted time on making arrangements to make the vaccine with partner sites.‘
Angela Merkel’s disastrous legacy is Brexit and a broken EU
‚Mutti‘ is a canny and tactical politician but leaves a trail of wreckage behind her after running Europe’s biggest economy for 16 years
European leaders welcome Brexit deal as least-worst outcome
Merkel said the German cabinet would meet by telephone on 28 December to decide its stance, but added that the agreement “cannot finally enter into force until the European parliament has also given its approval”.
TRUCK OFF, MACRON: Stranded Brit truckers on the move again as shamed Emmanuel Macron is forced to reopen French border
STRANDED truckers were ready to roll again last night after shamed French leader Emmanuel Macron was forced to reopen his country’s border with the UK.
He caved in after pressure from Britain and the EU to end a 48-hour blockade imposed amid fears over the new Covid strain.
Thousands of truckers in Dover will have controversial rapid Covid test today after Macron gives way and says lorry drivers CAN now enter France if they have negative result – but freight backlog will take days to clear
The agreement requires every driver to have been tested for coronavirus, using controversial lateral flow tests, which are able to turn around results in under an hour but have had their effectiveness questioned.
Those who come back negative will be told by text message in as little as 20 minutes, and be given the green light to hit the road and head over to the continent, but positive cases will be sent to a hotel to isolate.
Von der Leyen takes control of Brexit talks in attempt to strike deal
Von der Leyen spoke by telephone to Johnson on Monday night to discuss a way forward and further calls are expected in the next 24 hours, but the commission refused to offer details.
Barnier said as he went into a meeting with EU ambassadors: “We are really in the crucial moment. We are giving it the final push. In 10 days the UK will leave the single market and we continue to work in total transparency with the member states right now and with the parliament.”
Brexit poses grave risks to UK health and care sector, report finds
The Nuffield Trust thinktank stated: “The perilously uncertain future facing the UK at the end of the Brexit transition period could put the UK’s health and care system at risk.”
The report said new migration rules, possible disruption to medicines and devices, an ongoing economic slowdown and barriers to science investment would hit the health sector.
Brexit: Johnson resists calls to extend transition into 2021
The government has ruled out extending the deadline for reaching a post-Brexit trade deal into 2021, amid a deadlock in talks and a growing Covid crisis.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and London mayor Sadiq Khan want the UK to follow EU trading rules beyond 31 December to allow more time for an agreement.
UK faces Brexit limbo after talks deadline missed
The teams led by the chief UK negotiator, David Frost, and his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, were expected to continue talks on Monday despite the European parliament’s notice that it would not vote on a deal if not secured by midnight on Sunday.
PM Orbán Sticks to Veto of EU Budget if Rule of Law Conditionality Stays
Commenting on a proposal by European People’s Party group leader Manfred Weber that decisions on issues concerning the rule of law should be left up to the European Commission while disputes should be settled by the Court of Justice of the European Union, Orbán said: “Everyone’s talking all kinds of nonsense and this is also true for Mr. Weber.”
“We’re not stupid, we weren’t born yesterday . we can put two and two together,” the prime minister said, insisting that Weber’s proposal meant that the EU wanted to “force anything onto member states that can be painted as a rule of law issue with a simple majority vote”.
Compromise on offer for Poland as EU leaders seek deal on budget
Speaking during a working visit to Prague, where he met Czech President Milos Zeman, Duda said: “There is a preliminary agreement drawn up. Work on it is still underway.”
He added: “The agreement is the result of very strenuous efforts by Poland, Hungary but also the German presidency” of the EU.
EU faces crisis as Hungary and Poland veto seven-year budget
The EU is facing a crisis after Hungary and Poland vetoed the bloc’s historic €1.8tn (£1.6tn) budget and coronavirus recovery plan over attempts to link funding to respect for democratic norms.
The move unravels months of negotiations over the scale and terms of the EU’s spending and sets the stage for a stormy videoconference meeting of the bloc’s leaders on Thursday.
Biden if elected, would quickly issue a „declaration of support for the European Union“ and „European integration“. I have issues with Trump, but crikey the UK and the world need him to win next week!!
(01.11.2020)
Biden set to focus on EU at expense of ‘special relationship’
The Sunday Telegraph can disclose, as advisers to the presidential hopeful revealed that he plans to focus on rebuilding America’s relations with the European Union.
One influential foreign policy adviser to Mr Biden told an audience in Germany last week that, if elected, the former vice-president would quickly issue a „declaration of support for the European Union“ and „European integration“.
Not surprising that Major and Blair who were amongst the most extreme proponents of Brexit are supporting the EU position on free trade throughout the UK. I predict an even bigger majority for the Internal Market Bill tomorrow
#rightthingtodo
Brexit: Blair and Major urge MPs to reject Internal Market Bill
The former leaders, both vehement opponents of Brexit, said that respecting treaty obligations was „just as important“ as domestic law, and called for MPs to reject the legislation.
„As the world looks on aghast at the UK – the word of which was once accepted as inviolable – this government’s action is shaming itself and embarrassing our nation,“ they added.
EU will have just 38 days to strike a Brexit deal, warns Boris Johnson
The UK ‚cannot compromise on the fundamentals of what it means to be an independent country‘
Just watched Angela Merkel’s speech to the Bundestag. She said to have debt sharing we’ll need to make changes to EU treaties and give more control of our national budgets to Europe and give more taxpayer’s money to Europe. She’s also going to try connect any deal to immigration.
Italy Is Discovering that European Solidarity Doesn’t Exist
(10.04.2020)
Thursday’s Eurogroup agreement promised Italy loans to deal with the health care costs of coronavirus — but refused to help it stave off economic catastrophe. EU leaders have once again put neoliberal dogmas above the welfare of ordinary citizens — further undermining Italians’ once-dogged pro-Europeanism.
Italian MEP sheds light on Germany’s ‚diabolical EU plan‘ to push its interests forward
(12.04.2020)
„It has been like this for years.“
The Italian politician added: „What Germany is doing is disgusting and I believe that the EU will look very different when this virus is over.
„The UK could have not made a better decision in leaving this bloc.“
EU project in ‘mortal danger’ if Italy and Spain are abandoned
(29.03.2020)
Conte said anybody who thinks they can force Italy to accept disciplinary terms as a condition for loans – a sort of „Troika“ regime – have gravely misjudged the mood of his nation. Italy will not take the money. “We will do it alone,” he said.
The message is that if there is no EU solidarity when it matters, then it no longer makes sense for Italy to accept EU surveillance and constraints, or for Italy to forgo use of its own sovereign policy instruments in self-defence.
„When Italy invoked the EU’s formal disaster procedure with desperate calls for protective gear and ventilators, no country responded. Germany and France instead imposed export bans. The EU’s single market did not exist when push came to shove.“
(30.03.2020)
„A response to the corona crisis in Europe based on solidarity“
Article by Heiko Maas, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Olaf Scholz, Federal Minister of Finance, on the corona crisis in Europe. Published April 6th, 2020, in different language versions in Les Echos (France), La Stampa (Italy), El País (Spain), Público (Portugal) and Ta Nea (Greece).
Can the European Union Survive the Coronavirus?
Germany, for example, caused outrage in Austria and Switzerland by stopping shipments of face masks to its neighbors. Several states have export restrictions, usually hidden in impenetrable legalese, on medical equipment from goggles to gloves and ventilators. Italy, in particular, feels let down. When it first tried to invoke an EU mechanism to share medical supplies, no member state helped. Ironically, only China sent equipment.
China sends first batch of medical aid to #Serbia; 1,000 #COVID2019 rapid test kits arrived in Belgrade on Sunday. Serbian President @avucic Aleksandar Vucic’s video on „China was the only country that would help“ went viral and received a big thumbs up from Chinese netizens.
Coronavirus Tests Europe’s Cohesion, Alliances and Even Democracy
For the European Union and the new team at its executive arm, the European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, this pandemic is a challenge to her intention to have a “geopolitical commission,’’ Ms. Stelzenmüller said — ‘‘if the member states let her.”
Brexit is a ‚historic warning sign‘ for the European Union, says Macron
Brexit is a „historic warning sign“ for the European Union, French President Emmanuel Macron said hours before Britain’s departure from the EU, adding that it meant „we need more Europe“.
Britain Is Leaving. Europe Has to Change.
Yet there is also an enormous danger in doing nothing. Imagine if Brexit does not reduce Britain to misery but instead leaves the country relatively unscathed. In that case, the very idea of Europe — that the combined power of many states results in more power for the individual state — could suffer another major blow.
And this time, it could be terminal.
The ins and outs of Britain’s 47 tortured years with the EU
The United Kingdom had been trying to join the European Economic Community since 1961, but had been rejected twice by French President Charles de Gaulle, who argued that Britain was “incompatible” and harboured a “deep-seated hostility” to any pan-European project.
Once de Gaulle stepped down in 1969, the way was clear for the UK to enter the club on the third time of trying.
Today at 11pm, after 30 years of resistance, the great people of the UK will have finally got Brexit done
Forty-seven years and 30 days after we joined. Three decades since the rot set in with the drive towards a United States of Europe. Seven years after David Cameron promised a referendum and 3½ traumatic years since Leave won it. It is hard to exaggerate the magnitude of this moment.
Britain’s long goodbye will leave an unfillable hole in the EU project
Monday January 1, 1973, the day we joined the Common Market, was cold and foggy. Ironically, planes could not fly to the Continent because airports were closed by the weather. But the spirits of the nation were lifted by our entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) after 15 years of knocking on the door. …
There has been literally not a word on this from the ‘internationalist’ TUC. Our fellow workers are engaged in mass strike action just a few miles across the Channel, and the voice of the British trade union movement is silent. Totally shameful.
Centre-left at latest election
UK Labour
Lowest seats since 1935
Austria
Lowest since 1945
Germany
2nd lowest since 1949
France
Lowest ever
Italy
Lowest ever
Netherlands
Lowest ever
Sweden
Lowest since 1908
Finland
2nd lowest since 1962
Maybe it’s not just about Brexit?
The New Right revolution
Very recently it was common to hear people ask, with a genuine puzzlement, what had happened to the prospect of a mildly centrist, progressive, pro-European political force. The December 2019 election has shattered that possibility, perhaps for ever. The Blairites in the Labour Party are a tiny, uninfluential rump. Their vocal media cheerleaders are an anachronism. The Europhile progressives who quit their parties have been everywhere rejected, not least because of Britain’s brutal first-past-the-post voting system. The Liberal Democrats have been decapitated.
But beyond the current lack of individual leaders, there is a yawning gap of vision.
‘If Labour is to ever win back the traditional working-class, it must stop treating them as though they were some kind of embarrassing elderly relative.’ My @UnHerd take on Labour’s implosion.
“Labour may die. It’s lost its home, it’s lost its heartlands… what we need in terms of leadership is people who are prepared to recognise the scale of the defeat… Labour is in danger of becoming completely irrelevant to the conversation.” – Labour’s Lord Glasman
The lesson of the last 3 years is that our elites, in a very broad sense, are deeply hostile to the democratic principle – visible in their support for EU, and in their ruthless campaign to squash a vote against it.
Seeing a lot of tweets from Labour activists saying, “We just need to fight harder next time.” No. Labour did not get smashed for want of effort by activists. It got smashed because it lost the trust of the working-class. Until this is admitted, we cannot move forward.
The arrogance and detachment of Corbyn’s middle class fan club was a factor in every seat Labour lost
The arrogance and detachment of Corbyn’s middle class fan club was a factor in every seat that Labour lost. And they were so away with the fairies that in a Bassetlaw they predicted a 1200 Labour majority on the eve of the election.
It is 95 years since Bassetlaw last elected a Conservative…
Watch the moment Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson lost her sea
Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson lost her East Dunbartonshire seat after 12 years of being the serving MP.
Every MP who defected from Labour and Tories fails to get re-elected
Every former Conservative and Labour MP who quit the parties in protest over issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism has failed to be re-elected.
Watch: Jeremy Corbyn’s resignation speech
Jeremy Corbyn has been re-elected in Islington North. But after leading his party to a second election loss, the Labour leader also announced that he would stand down before the next campaign.
In terms of seats won, this is Labour’s worst performance at a general election since 1935.
Germany is damaging the European economy. The answer? Raise German wages
Increasing wages increases consumption. Because 22% of consumption is imported in Germany – and because increasing wages doesn’t increase exports: if anything, the opposite – Germans having more money in their pockets will lead to them buying more foreign goods, reducing the current account surplus.
This won’t be easy to execute. There is a deep bipartisan consensus in Germany to maintain the status quo.
The Edition: can Remainers unite against Boris?
James Forsyth writes in this issue’s cover article that the Remain side’s inability to unite may well cost them this election and, if Boris Johnson wins, put the last nail in the coffin for Remain. On the podcast, Alastair Campbell also explains why the People’s Vote campaign seems to have imploded in recent weeks.
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson admits electoral pact plot as rumours swirl ‚Remain Alliance‘ could target 60 seats
Talks have been under way between the unashamedly pro-EU Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the Greens maximise their chances in key constituencies in the December 12 election.
The pact would see two of the three parties stand aside to favour the one with the best chance of victory – replicating the success in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election.
‘The left has turned its back on the working class’
Paul Embery talks to Brendan O’Neill about Brexit, democracy and the scourge of wokeness.
The absurdity of Labour’s enthusiasm for the European project
Instead of growing the economy by state backing and export-led growth as competitors have done, we’re left behind clinging to a protectionist bloc designed to protect French agriculture and German manufacturing at our expense.
We want to stay in the Single Market but ignore the fact that we’re running a £100 billion trade deficit in goods with it. That means the export of jobs, money and economic demand primarily to Germany.
Lib Dem Compares Brexit to Nazi Germany and Domestic Abuse
The candidate claimed that Brexit is causing divisions that have “split families and friends have led to huge rises in violent crime on our streets and domestic abuse in our homes.” He went on to say:
“We have to stop this – just as we stopped the Nazis in Germany and their sympathizers in this country at the time from destroying this country in the 1930s.”
Leading European politician Guy Verhofstadt calls for an end to nation states and says future will be one of “empires”
(24.09.2019)
At a speech at the UK’s Liberal Democrat party conference, leading EU Parliament member Guy Verhofstadt was met with thunderous applause after he proclaimed the end of the nation-state and declared the future will be based on the interactions of empires.
“In the world order of tomorrow, the world order of tomorrow is not a world order based on nation states or countries, it’s a world order that is based on Empires, China is not a nation, it’s a civilisation.
The tragedy of Jeremy Corbyn: He has betrayed left Euroscepticism. And for Remainers it’s still not enough.
If Labour wins the next election, it will hold a second referendum. The choice would be between staying in the EU and ‘leaving’ via a tweaked version of Theresa May’s withdrawal deal – that is, between Remain and Remain By Another Name. Whoever wins that rigged referendum, Brexit would lose. This internal spat is over which flavour of betrayal to recommend to the electorate, and when might be best to announce that preference.
Labour members vote to be neutral on Brexit until after a general election
Amid stormy scenes in the hall, Labour delegates then approved so-called composite motion 14 – which again supported Mr Corbyn’s Brexit position while not committing the party to pursue a particular view at a second Brexit referendum.
Labour at breaking point: Jeremy Corbyn launches extraordinary tirade at reporters at party conference as he faces humiliation at the hands of Remainer activists in crunch Brexit votes – with even his union allies abandoning him
Amid intense behind-the-scenes arm-twisting today, public services union Unison broke ranks to declared it will oppose the leader’s Brexit fudge.
But the Momentum pressure group appears to have handed Mr Corbyn a lifeline by signalling its activists will be in his camp, rather than with the Remainers.
In a shock split, its founder Jon Lansman made clear he did not agree with the decision, tweeting that ‚members should feel free to vote with their conscience‘.
Jeremy Corbyn relies on union block vote to crush members who want party to back Remain, writes Robert Peston
A source close to Corbyn tells me he expects the block vote of the unions to defeat that motion on Monday when put to conference, although another source told me the two giant unions, Unison and Unite, are no longer as one and Unison may peel away from Unite and abstain.
It is clear Labour is peddling a lie and is preparing to betray ‘the many’
Above the shoulder of every speaker at Labour Party conference reads a slogan: “For the many, not the few.” For decades, this has been Labour’s promise, but this week will show just how hollow their words ring.
Poll by Opinium for Sunday’s Observer: Con 37% Lab 22% Lib Dem 17% Brexit 12% Green 4% Second referendum strategy failing dismally for Labour. Heartland vote ebbing away. All utterly predictable. When will the middle-class liberals and Toytown revolutionaries start listening?
‚What do we want? A People’s Vote. When do we want it? Now‘ Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry joins chanting pro-EU protesters in Brighton who are demanding a new Brexit referendum
‘There’s a word for what the political elite is doing – treason’
David Starkey talks to Brendan O’Neill about the ‘lying, deceiving shits’ in the establishment.
Guy Verhofstadt speech at the UK Liberal Democrats conference [14.09.2019]
Guy Verhofstadt’s speech at the conference of the UK Liberal Democrats September 14h, 2019.
Guy Verhofstadt is on stage getting applauded for saying the world of tomorrow will be one of empires. How do these people dare call themselves progressive? Guy’s done a great job of reminding me why I voted Brexit in the first place.
The rebel alliance has taken control of parliament – and Brexit. What happens next?
Every Monday, a group of unlikely bedfellows meet in Jeremy Corbyn’s parliamentary office. Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrat leader; Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader; Caroline Lucas, the Green party’s sole MP; and Liz Saville Roberts from Plaid Cymru all gather to discuss their common aim — preventing a no-deal Brexit. This rebel alliance is more than just a group therapy session: last week, they succeeded in taking control of parliament and immediately started to give instructions to the Prime Minister.
Treasury’s Remain Plot To Ensure an Anti-Brexit Governor of the Bank of England
A leaked shortlist for the next Governor of the Bank of England made its way from the highest levels of the Treasury to the pages of The Times last Saturday, and has now been followed up by an orchestrated letter signed by Remain supporting MPs. The letter is a not-so-subtle attempt to confirm the leak by making the Civil Service’s recommendation list public and therefore making it politically harder for the Chancellor to appoint a Brexiteer to the role.
Olly Robbins, the EU’s chief negotiator, has not only been granted a knighthood by May, he’s just taken a job with Goldman Sachs – who bankrolled the Remain campaign. Maybe May just hopes he’ll keep his mouth shut.
‚The workers are coming for you!‘ Labour declares class war as Jeremy Corbyn says Boris Johnson wants Brexit for his ‚wealthy friends‘ while union baron Len McCluskey vows to fight the PM ‚in our factories‘
– Jeremy Corbyn delivered hard-Left attack on Boris Johnson in speech at TUC
– He said that the PM wanted a Brexit settlement to benefit his ‚wealthy friends‘
– Union baron Len McCluskey sent class war message ‚workers are coming for you‘
Commons chaos: Rebel Tories hint they could back second referendum after MPs scuffle in chamber in protest over shutdown
Labour MPs started singing revolutionary anthem The Red Flag after Scottish and Welsh nationalists sang Flower Of Scotland and Bread Of Heaven.
The extraordinary scenes erupted as the Commons session was closed down shortly before 2am by the prorogation order, recommended to the Queen by the Prime Minister, in an act most MPs believe was intended to prevent Parliament having a say over Brexit. Minutes earlier, Mr Johnson suffered his sixth Commons defeat when MPs failed to back his call for a snap general election.
The shameless whitewashing of right-wing Remoaners
Amber Rudd deported innocent black Britons but is still beloved by migrant-loving Remoaners.
The Remainer tyranny
This furious, anti-democratic wing of the elite, who make up the majority of the contemporary establishment, has been drifting towards extreme authoritarianism for two years now. They openly discuss overriding the largest democratic vote in British history. They condemn newspapers that use strong language to describe Remainer extremism. They make deals with the European Union above the heads of the prime minister, the Cabinet and the people to ensure that we stay in the EU for longer than planned. And now they warn the PM that if he doesn’t follow a new law insisting on an extension of the Article 50 process – and of the UK’s membership of the EU – then he will go to jail.
Theresa May leads fight to reinstate Remainer rebels as she emerges as the leading critic of Boris Johnson’s ‚brutal‘ decision to purge 21 Tories
Mrs May has raised the issue directly with Party chairman James Cleverly and Chief Whip Mark Spencer on behalf of the group that includes former Chancellor Philip Hammond, ex-Justice Secretary David Gauke and Tory grandee Ken Clarke.
She approached Mr Cleverly behind the Speaker’s Chair in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening to raise concerns about the legality of blocking any of the rebels from being candidates at the next Election.
Rogue Tories plot with Liberal Democrats: Rebel MPs stripped of the whip for voting against Boris Johnson’s Brexit policy on verge of agreeing Election pact with Jo Swinson’s party
Under the plan, if the rebels are not allowed back into the party, the Liberals and the Greens would not put up a candidate against MPs Rory Stewart, Sam Gyimah, Margot James and Dominic Grieve.
In return, if they were to beat the official Tory candidates and win election to the Commons, they would agree to take a ’soft whip‘ from the Liberals, meaning they would vote with Ms Swinson’s party on selected issues.
Love the Empire. When the EU stormtroopers are securing by military force markets and access to resources in Africa and Eurasia the Guardian will remind you oposition to this monster is because you are a racist.
Someone shared this under the Times piece. Suspect millions of people feel like this. Many, many millions. They will never come back to the parties they hold responsible.
A quarter of Lib Dem MPs started out as either Tory or Labour MPs. That means they were elected in 2017 on manifesto that promised to take us out of the EU and yet now they are sitting with the most pro-EU party. It’s embarrassing:
Labour nearly came to power with a policy of respecting the referendum despite best efforts to sabotage electoral success by the hard remain obsessed right. Now Labour has adopted their insane policy it has become a national joke. They don’t want Corbyn in power they want Remain.
Tory MPs say Labour’s election delay will lead to a ‚zombie Parliament‘
Jeremy Corbyn is paving the way for a “zombie Parliament”, senior Conservatives have said as Leave voters accused MPs of “squabbling like children”.
From ‘Stop the Coup’ to ‘Stop the Election’
We thought Remoaners could sink no lower. We were wrong.
Brexit: Opposition parties to reject PM election move
Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP and Plaid Cymru say they will vote against the government or abstain in Monday’s vote on whether to hold a snap poll.
Yes, this is Labour’s official position. An incoherent shambles. Just listen to it. Anyone who has ever negotiated anything in their lives knows why this strategy is totally bonkers.
Labour’s secret ‚Stop Boris‘ deal with the Scots: ‚Hypocrite‘ Corbyn holds talks with SNP to push General Election back to NOVEMBER to guarantee No Deal Brexit is dead (and because they believe they’d lose if it was any earlier)
– Labour and SNP chiefs met last night to agree a pact to prevent No Deal Brexit
– Jeremy Corbyn and Ian Blackford said to have agreed no election before Oct 20
– Senior colleagues are petitioning Mr Corbyn to seek an election in November
– Sources say it is because Labour MPs do not think they could win a snap election
– Mr Johnson said he would rather ‚die in a ditch‘ than ask the EU for an extension
We are where we are because Remainers have collaborated with the EU to prevent an acceptable deal
Let us be quite clear. The rearguard campaign to prevent a “no-deal” Brexit is merely a smokescreen for the real objective, which is to frustrate any Brexit at all and, in effect, overturn the referendum outcome.
The Establishment plot to shut down Brexit has entered its ruthless final phase
The bogus Labour party and Blairite forces are sabotaging British democracy
Backbench MPs will bring forward a bill today that would force PM Johnson to request a 3-month Brexit extension if he had failed to negotiate a new deal by Oct 19; bill must pass both Commons & Lords by Monday when parliament will be prorogued until Oct 14
Voters will take ballot box revenge on Remainers trying to stop Brexit being enacted
When MPs who once vowed to honour the referendum result vote instead to proceed with a dodgy Bill, enabled by their puppet Speaker, surrendering power to the EU to determine a delay of its choosing — to be rubber-stamped by our Remainer-dominated Parliament.
Will three months suit Brussels? Six, maybe? How about ten years?
Remainers will, have no doubt, sign off whatever the EU decides.
Jeremy Corbyn is accused of running scared of an election after he says Labour will BLOCK PM’s call for snap poll unless law passes against No Deal
– Boris Johnson called for snap election after being defeated by Remainer MPs
– The PM needs to secure a two-thirds vote in the Commons to hold an early poll
– Jeremy Corbyn has said he will block poll unless law is passed against No Deal
Corbyn better than no-deal Brexit, say investment banks as anti-capitalist Labour wins unlikely new City fans
Jeremy Corbyn, the scourge of bankers and avowed opponent of capitalism, is winning support from unexpected new quarters: two of the biggest global banks operating in the City of London are warming to the Labour leader.
Unlikely as it may seem, he is now seen as the lesser of two evils by analysts at Citibank and Deutsche Bank, respectively American and German titans of the financial system.
Brexit: ‚Get the bill through first‘ – Corbyn
The leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn has said that there is no consent to leave the EU without a deal and no majority for no-deal in the country.
He added that if Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to table a motion for a general election he should „get the bill passed first in order to take no-deal off the table“.
Today was a very dark day for British democracy
The political class has taken back control – from the people.
Parliament defeats Boris Johnson to take control of Brexit process
The lawmakers who voted in favor of the motion include a number of high-profile rebels in Johnson’s own Conservative Party, who now risk being stripped of their affiliation. Parliament on Wednesday will vote on a bill to force Johnson to seek a Brexit extension from the European Union.
Read the Rebels’ New Anti-Brexit Bill
Section 3, Paragraph 1 has already caught the attention of Brexiteers, as it would mean the EU can choose the length of the extension – without a limit – and the Prime Minister must agree to it.
Frenemies of the people: Remainers desperate to overturn Brexit are now posing as democracy’s champions.
Those who have been quite happy to see power drip from Westminster to Brussels are now enthusiastic converts to parliamentary sovereignty. Of course, the brand of democracy that’s fashionable with EU-loving protesters is of a very specific variety. It’s the type that places the votes of a few hundred MPs above the 17.4million members of the public who voted for the UK to leave the EU. It’s the type of democracy that demands we bend the knee to our representatives in parliament, who are expected to think and act on our behalf.
Brexit: Election discussions in No 10 amid Brexit battle
They are expected to put forward legislation on Tuesday to stop no deal under „SO24“ or Standing Order 24 – the rule allowing MPs to ask for a debate on a „specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration“.
Sources have told the BBC the bill would force the prime minister to seek a three-month extension until 31 January if no withdrawal deal has been passed by 19 October – the day after the next EU leaders‘ summit.
Boris Johnson is giving Remainers a taste of their own medicine with his Queen’s Speech gambit
Remainers have had a painful reminder of what happens when they forget Mike Tyson’s cardinal rule:: „Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.“
Time is running out for Germany’s economic miracle… can its political hierarchy be persuaded to change?
How many times does this need to be restated? Germany desperately needs to change its economic model, now more so than ever as its own economy, that of the European Union, and the world as a whole, again teeter on the brink of recession.
Most of all, it needs to make itself more reliant on internal, domestic demand, and less on exports.
‚They’re sabotaging the UK‘: Boris Johnson slams Jeremy Corbyn’s rabble alliance accusing them of undermining Brexit negotiations as Opposition leaders agree to seize control of Parliament to stop No Deal
Jeremy Corbyn secured the support of five other parties yesterday in his bid to further delay Britain’s departure from the EU.
The five other leaders had forced the Labour leader to drop his preferred option of tabling a vote of no confidence.
Instead, the opposition groups agreed to prioritise passing a law to extend Article 50 again.
Boris is serious about a deal, but the Brussels Eurocrats still want to punish the British ‘deserters’
Even the civil servants seem suddenly to be standing straighter. After three years of immobilism, dreariness and funk, the Government is again exuding purpose.
The strangling of European democracy: The EU is the high point of an anti-democratic project that has been brewing for a hundred years.
So, while the EU might well be the apogee of constrained democracy, constrained democracy has many facets. Moreover, the model of constrained democracy existed on a national level before the EU was created. Indeed, the EU can be seen as the grotesque extension of a flawed system that was first developed within nation states after the First World War. For instance, the model of independent central banking was pioneered in Germany before being transposed to the EU much later on.
Italy centre-left to seek coalition with Five Star populists
President Sergio Mattarella wants a government deal in the coming days.
Otherwise Italy faces new elections.
Die-hard Remainer Philip Hammond’s camp is blamed for leaking Project Fear 2.0 dossier as its predictions of No Deal Brexit chaos on October 31 are dismissed as ’not believable‘ and ’scaremongering‘
Former Tory former cabinet ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson claimed the leak of documents on ‚Operation Yellowhammer‘ was an example of the ‚establishment‘ plot to ’sow fear in people’s minds‘.
In a joint statement, they said: ‚This Operation Yellowhammer leak is the version of what the contingency executive put together. We remember attending a briefing on privy council terms which they said was not worst case but reasonable worst case. Theresa May had asked for this to be done. It was obviously Project Fear dressed up.
Project Fear 2.0? ANOTHER leaked No Deal Brexit dossier predicts fuel, food and medicine shortages, port chaos and Irish border disruption on Oct 31 as Boris Johnson vows to crash out the EU if necessary
– A secret Whitehall dossier outlines possible pandemonium in a No Deal Brexit
– Operation Yellowhammer casts a dark shadow over proposed October 31 exit
– Hard border in Ireland, fuel, medicine and food shortages are anticipated
– News comes as Boris Johnson prepares to meet EU leaders at the G7 this week
The EU’s latest assault on internet freedom: Soon online speech will be regulated by Brussels.
As things stand, what you can and cannot say on the internet is largely a matter for national law, decided by national parliaments. This means that every nation in Europe currently has different laws and practices.
But the EU has quietly been moving to change this. Take last year’s Copyright Directive, which more or less demands the introduction of automated content filters on social-media platforms. And last month, it became clear that an impatient Brussels wants to turbocharge this process by bringing internet regulation to the EU level, where it can pull the necessary strings.
From Peterloo to Brexit: The political class still feels nothing but seething contempt for ordinary people’s opinions.
Today is the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre, when working people in Manchester were attacked and murdered by cavalry forces for daring to demand the right to vote. And what is our political class doing on this anniversary of such an important event in British political history? They are plotting, tirelessly, to overthrow something that millions of working-class people, and others, voted for: Brexit.
Germany expects No Deal and will not renegotiate, says leaked briefing
The paper was prepared by civil servants for the German finance minister, Olaf Scholz, ahead of face-to-face talks with the chancellor of the exchequer, Sajid Javid, in Berlin on Friday.
Blow for Jeremy Corbyn’s unity government plan as Tory rebels say they will not back him as PM
Former Cabinet ministers Dominic Grieve and David Gauke both distanced themselves from the Labour’s leader’s cross-party call to back him in leading a „strictly time-limited“ government that would extend Article 50 and then call a general election.
Mr Grieve – who on Thursday agreed to sit down for talks with Mr Corbyn – said he would „not facilitate“ a government led by Mr Corbyn, according to a leaked email.
Jeremy Corbyn has sought the support of Tory MPs to form a national government. Ramsay MacDonald was the last Labour Leader to enter into government with Tories. At the subsequent election, Labour was devastated and lost 225. #NoNationalUnityGovernment
Jeremy Corbyn’s Number 10 coup: Labour leader writes to rebel Tory MPs offering to fight for a new referendum IF they help to make him caretaker Prime Minister to stop No Deal immediately
– Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of plotting a ‚desperate‘ coup
– He pleaded for support in bringing a no confidence vote to prevent No Deal
– Embarrassingly Mr Corbyn’s plans have been rejected by the Lib Dems already
The war on democracy must be diverse!
Lucas, the ostensibly leftish leader of the Green Party, proposed forming an entirely undemocratic ‘emergency cabinet’ made up of her and her exclusively female chums. Its job would be to trash the thing that 17.4million of us voted for – leaving the EU. And how did the woke left respond to Lucas’s lunacy? By pointing out that her proposed cabinet consisted entirely of white women! Yes, it wasn’t the fact that Lucas was essentially proposing a coup against democracy that got the woke lobby’s back up – it was that there were no black faces in her clique against the masses.
Italy Faces Its Moment of Truth on the Euro
Most important, the League leader will have to decide where he really stands on fundamental questions that he has dodged so far – from Italy’s economic policy to its place in the euro zone and the European Union. Before now he could blame his weak coalition partner, the Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio, or his technocratic finance minister Giovanni Tria for any difficulties. The easy ride is over.
Scandals Aren’t Enough to Stop Salvini
It’s an index of the Left’s impotence that its main hope of stopping Matteo Salvini today lies in some sort of institutional “fix” to prevent early elections.
Italian economy minister hails ‚historic‘ banking deal
A proposed new agreement on dealing with failing banks, hammered out in a lengthy meeting of finance ministers, was headed for a summit of European leaders on Thursday. Described as an „historic achievement“ by Italian Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni, the single-resolution mechanism (SRM) agency is designed to prevent failures like the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Ban
To survive the new global Dark Age, Britain must leave the tyrannical EU
As the world turns medieval, clinging to Brussels will only spell our demise
The German state’s turn against democracy
In supporting the European banking union, Germany’s highest court reveals its anti-democratic heart.
Boris Johnson could be the last prime minister of the United Kingdom
Boris Johnson, the UK’s new prime minister, wants you to know that he loves his country.
Specifically, he wants you to know that he loves the Union between the four nations that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Unfortunately for Johnson, this love is not always reciprocated.
To call the EU’s bluff, Boris Johnson must grasp he is dealing with a bureaucratic psychopath
Great strategists are unpredictable strategists. So it has been exhilarating to watch Boris Johnson hurl the lightning bolts of shock-and-awe regime change through Britain’s May-grey political skies with such unexpected ruthlessness. Since becoming PM, he has surprised everyone from paranoid Brexiteers to complacent centrists by forming a serious no-deal Cabinet and bellowing for the “abolition” of the backstop from the despatch box.
Of course, such unpredictability is anathema to homo bureaucratus, that snarling, slow-witted behemoth in Brussels that Mr Johnson must take on.
Brexit: What now for TTIP, CETA and UK trade?
(24.06.2016)
Brexit has created the potential greater democratic control of trade deals. And we must ensure we use that to craft a trade policy that is geared to justice for the many rather than profits for the few.
Jo Swinson defeats Ed Davey to become the new Liberal Democrat leader
The party’s deputy leader defeated rival Sir Ed Davey in the race to succeed Sir Vince Cable.
Ms Swinson, the MP for East Dunbartonshire, received 47,997 votes, comfortably ahead of her rival on 28,021.
OK @labourlewis @yanisvaroufakis @paulmasonnews @Another_Europe @lloyd_rm @LoveSocialism what is the plan to reform the EU? EU treaties codify neoliberalism, ECB is run by an IMF chief, Commission led by a warmonger. EU ‘socialists’ are propping up right-wingers. What’s the plan
For those asking, here is LP’s weasily apologetics for voting to endorse an unpopular conservative politician. Not inspiring #vonderLeyen :
All 10 Labour MEPs voted for Ursula von der Leyen to be President of the EU Commission. Her margin of victory was nine votes.
The EU is unreformable
‘Remain and Reform.’ That’s been the mantra of the anti-Brexit left and second-referendum campaigners since the UK’s historic vote to leave the EU. Now that the Labour Party has shamefully turned its back on Brexit and is campaigning for the overthrow of the largest democratic vote in UK history, it has been forced to adopt a Remain and Reform agenda.
Europe’s unelected leader: Ursula von der Leyen’s coronation is an insult to democracy.
Ursula von der Leyen has been confirmed as the next president of the EU Commission, winning a vote in the European Parliament by 383 to 327.
But despite the involvement of MEPs, the process that put von der Leyen in place was nothing short of a coronation.
Wonderful article on @HuffPostUK by my colleague Brendan. We have deserted our Leave voters & traditional working-class supporters. ‚Deserted‘ is the right word.
Backing A Second Referendum Could Finish Labour At The Ballot Box
On the biggest issue in British politics, Labour promised one thing before the election and then did the complete opposite afterwards. The last party that performed such an outrageous U-turn was the Liberal Democrats over tuition fees, and they were rightly destroyed in the following election.
Labour is now possibly facing that same oblivion.
As of this morning, just under five million Labour Leave voters are homeless. I’m sure The Brexit Party will be delighted.
Why the Labour party deserves to be destroyed
Already Labour are below 20 per cent in some general election polls and it is hard to see how they will survive a four-way squeeze in any snap election.
The only thing that might avoid this doomsday scenario is if the Tories manage to take the UK out of the EU by 31st October. Given that the dreadful withdrawal agreement is now dead in the water, that means, somewhat ironically, only a ‘no deal’ Brexit can save Labour.
European Commission president-in-waiting warns Britain over ‚tone and attitude‘ of Brexit
Ursula von der Leyen, the woman nominated as the new president of the European Commission, has warned the next prime minister of Britain over the “tone and attitude” of Brexit.
How about we all form a new party? True Labour?
Whilst I remain an MP I will never support a second referendum in any form, the decision to leave the EU was made in 2016 and we should respect that!
Labour as we knew it is no more
Today is a tragic day in the Labour Party’s history, and a fatal day for British democracy. It is, potentially, the beginning of the end of the Labour Party as we know it.
The announcement from .@jeremycorbyn and @UKLabour today means that Labour is now a remain party and that means one thing. We have lost 5million Labour Leave voters, possibly 100 MPs will lose their seats and Jeremy has lost the next general election
Labour: betrayer of the working class
In backing Remain, Corbyn has turned Labour into an authoritarian tool of the establishment.
EU MUST BE JOKING: Labour officially backs Remaining in the EU in huge Brexit betrayal to millions of voters
In a bombshell announcement Jeremy Corbyn said today that his party will back another divisive vote to stop Brexit – as long as the Tories are still in power.
After years of flip-flopping on the issue, he said that no matter what Brexit deal the next PM gets with the EU, they should put it back to the people for another say.
Brexit news – live: Corbyn says Labour will back Remain in new referendum as MPs’ bid to block no-deal rejected
However his message, which came during a day of meetings with senior party figures, raised fresh questions over Labour’s Brexit strategy in a general election.
It comes as attempts to stop the next prime minister forcing through a no-deal Brexit by Halloween were rejected by the deputy speaker.
Revealed: The Major Remain Campaign Donors Bankrolling Hunt’s Campaign
Overall that’s over £225,000 Hunt’s backers have donated to anti-Brexit campaigns, parties and politicians, before sticking their financial clout behind him. Tory members might well be wondering what he’s telling his hardline Remain donors that he isn’t telling them…
An appeal from Old Labour to New Labour
Get real. For the first time in a hundred years, Labour faces a working-class electorate that it doesn’t understand and doesn’t know. Too many Labour MPs talk about the working class as if they were in need of social workers, not representatives. They should get real: it is the Labour party that has left the working class rather than the working class that has left the party;
It’s time for tortured Labour to embrace its Remainer elite fate
On Thursday, for the first time ever, it fell to fourth place in an opinion poll. But just when you thought that this week would see yet another dismal chapter of Corbyn is Even More Useless Than the Useless Tories, in stepped the magnificent Ann Widdecombe.
Ursula von der Leyen: In her own words
„My aim is the United States of Europe — modelled on federal states like Switzerland, Germany or the U.S.,“ she told Der Spiegel in 2011. She repeated her call for a federal EU in an interview with Die Zeit in 2016, adding: „I imagine the Europe of my children or grandchildren not as a loose union of states trapped by national interests.“
As defense minister, she pushed for greater security cooperation in the EU, urging a „defense union“ and calling for the establishment of an „army of Europeans.“
The EU is a sham democracy, and its pitiful new leaders are the proof
Thank you, Eurocrats, for being yourselves. The best cure for Europhilia is always to observe the EU’s big beasts at their unguarded worst, wheeling and dealing in their natural habitat, unencumbered by any attachment to democracy, accountability or even basic morality.
The spectacle of the past few days made for compulsive watching: we witnessed rare footage of the secretive process that propels so many retreads and second-rate apparatchiks into positions of immense power in Brussels and Frankfurt, utterly disregarding public opinion.
French ECB Presidential Hopeful Tells Germans He’s Their Friend
(28.06.2019)
France’s top contender for the presidency of the European Central Bank is appealing to Germans to treat him as one of their kind.
Speaking — in German — to an audience of family businesses in Berlin on Friday, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau highlighted his cultural and ideological links to the country. He said he shares German values, such as solidity, stability and realism, and understands the nation’s fears over financing other countries’ debts.
German politicians want to make it a crime to burn the EU flag
The European Union flag is omnipresent in Germany. Since 2011, it has even been flying over the Reichstag – a sign, as one newspaper put it at the time, of the strength of the German political class’s commitment to the EU.
But not everyone in Germany shares this commitment.
Jeremy Corbyn ‚will TODAY back move for Labour to change Brexit policy and support a second referendum‘
A senior Labour source told The Times that Mr Corbyn was supporting the policy change.
The new policy paper has been written by Andrew Fisher, Mr Corbyn’s head of policy, and suggests a second referendum on any deal negotiated with Brussels.
As it stands Labour currently is asking the government for a custom’s union or a general election.
Jeremy Hunt claims Merkel is willing to renegotiate Brexit deal
(09.06.2019)
The foreign secretary said he had spoken to the German chancellor on the sidelines of D-day commemorations last week and she had indicated that the EU was “willing to negotiate on the package” if a new prime minister had the “right approach”.
May-Nachfolge: Nur noch sechs Kandidaten im Rennen
Im Rennen um das Amt des Tory-Parteichefs hat ein weiterer Kandidat seine Bewerbung zurückgezogen: Gesundheitsminister Hancock sich aus dem Rennen zurück. Damit ist das Bewerberfeld auf sechs geschrumpft.
#LeaveMeansLeaveMarch #BrexitMarch #BrexitBetrayal Paul Embery, „We need civil disobedience.“ (Leave Means Leave March)
Paul Embery @ Leave Means Leave March, 29th March.
The scandal of Paul Embery’s sacking
Paul Embery has spent 20 years as a dedicated trade-union official, fighting for better rights, conditions and pay for firefighters with the Fire Brigades Union. But today he revealed that he has been kicked off the union’s national executive and banned from office for two years.
Why? Because he delivered a pro-Brexit speech at the Leave Means Leave rally outside parliament on the day we were supposed to leave the EU.
Solidarity .@PaulEmbery you are a fantastic union official, a voice for working class people and. True democrat. We stand with you in solidarity and support.
WATCH | The late Bob Crow exposes the truth about the anti-democratic EU & demands Brexit on behalf of British workers ? What a far cry from today’s trade unions, where the likes of @PaulEmbery are barred from office
Support us at https://leave.eu/get-involved
This is absolutely outrageous. Solidarity with you My dear friend and fellow Democrat .@PaulEmbery Its a scandal.
Outrageous
This is a shameful and intolerant decision. Paul has fought hard for better pay and conditions for firefighters for twenty years. Please show your solidarity with Paul Embery.
I am disappointed to report that I have been kicked off the national executive of my union – @fbunational – and banned from office for two years as a consequence of my speech at the ‚Leave Means Leave‘ rally outside parliament in March.
More below.
Sure, the EU likes workers‘ rights… unless they get in the way of corporate profiteering, then the ECJ steps in and squashes them. @EddieDempsey #brexit
Brexit and the death of the British sense of fair play
Put simply, there seems to be only one side which cares about the future of our democracy and, ironically, it’s the side that keeps being labelled ‘fascist’.
„There can be no democratic choice against the European treaties“, Juncker neatly crystallises the EU’s understanding of democratic votes and referendums, namely – they mean nothing. And the EU has shown that time and time again. #progressive #brexit
EXCL Sir Keir Starmer calls for Labour to back Remain in new EU referendum
He said: „In the aftermath of the local elections and particularly the EU elections, there are many in the Labour party who feel we need to be very clear about a second referendum and about making the case for Remain.
„That’s certainly what I’m advocating, discussions are going on at the moment, I hope we can resolve it pretty soon, and that will be a material step in the right direction as far as I’m concerned.“
Battle to stop Boris: Remainer MPs launch cross-party plot to scupper a no-deal Brexit as former Foreign Secretary unveils his leadership bid TODAY with a pledge to leave the EU by Oct 31
– Boris Johnson will formally set out his stall for the leadership of his party today
– But Opposition MPs have tabled a motion to take control of Parliament and potentially pass legislation taking No Deal off the table
– Johnson has staked his leadership bid on a promise the UK will leave the UK with or without a deal on October 31
– Leadership outsiders Andrea Leadsom, Rory Stewart and Mark Harper launched their campaigns yesterday
– Michael Gove stepped up his attack on Johnson’s tax plans, calling them ‚insane‘
– European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Brussels will not renegotiate the Brexit deal, regardless of who replaces Mrs May
EU surveillance state: This week the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers debated increasing the surveillance in their Member States. US authorities could soon also wiretap legally in Europe. #5G #DataRetention #eEvidence #cloudACT
How Europe smothered the radical Left
For Streeck this is all evidence that the Left, broadly defined, is losing its soul to the European project:
“There is not even a debate on the crucial issue of whether the EU can at all be a vehicle for anti-capitalist politics. Instead, there is a naïve or opportunistic acceptance — and it’s hard to say which is worse — of the feel-good ‘Europeanism’ so popular among young people and so useful for both Green electioneering and European technocrats seeking legitimacy for their neoliberal regime.”
AG William Barr Doesn’t Want The Government Spying On The President But Thinks It’s OK If It Spies On Everyone Else
Let me restate that: William Barr is opposed to certain, very narrow subsets of domestic surveillance. Specifically, Barr doesn’t think the government should have spied on Trump and his campaign staff, if that’s what actually happened, which Barr doesn’t actually seem to know.
But if you’re literally anyone else, domestic surveillance is just another name for national security, whether you’re a random Verizon customer or one of the world’s most useful websites.
The Wikimedia Foundation sued the federal government over domestic surveillance back in 2015. The suit lives on four years later …
Security Union: Commission receives mandate to start negotiating international rules for obtaining electronic evidence
Today, EU Member States agreed to give two mandates to the Commission to engage in international negotiations to improve cross-border access to electronic evidence in criminal investigations.The Council agreed to provide the Commission with negotiating mandates for negotiations with the United States and for the Second Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe “Budapest” Convention on Cybercrime.
It is like the ‘Left’ have such a short memory. The EU wanted TTIP more than anyone, that would have destroyed what was left of the social state in Britain. The EU is already pressuring nationally owned industries to liberalise and privatise. This is happening *now*.
Brexit latest news: Change UK splits as six MPs quit and Anna Soubry appointed new leader
Change UK has spit with six of its 11 MPs quitting the party.
Interim leader Heidi Allen has left the party, alongside Sarah Wollaston, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker, Angela Smith and Chuka Umunna.
Anna Soubry has been appointed the party’s new leader.
The strange death of Labour Britain
One of the most striking but neglected outcomes of the European election last week was the complete collapse of the Labour Party in traditional Labour territory. From Ashfield to Redcar, Merthyr Tydfil to Middlesbrough, Barnsley to Bolsover, most of Britain’s working-class and pro-Brexit areas abandoned the traditional defender of the working class. Instead, they put their tick next to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, a party only launched six weeks earlier.
DAN HODGES: Is Labour about to declare itself the party of the smug metropolitan elite?
Someone needs to wake up and recognise that fact. Labour is preparing to abandon the North. It’s preparing to abandon millions of supporters who have helped sustain the party over generations.
And it’s about to create a political vacuum that will see what’s left of a once-proud party implode.
Michael Gove tells Cabinet ministers he is prepared to delay Brexit until late 2020
The Environment Secretary has told colleagues that a no-deal Brexit in October risks triggering a General Election that will put Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.
His position puts him directly at odds with other Brexiteer leadership candidates including Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, who have committed to leaving on time with or without a deal.
Sajid Javid reveals he is prepared to take Britain out of EU without a deal
The Tory leadership contender has revealed a five-point plan on Brexit which he believes are an „honest, credible set of proposals that recognises the significant challenges we face“.
Mr Javid rules out holding another referendum or an early general election, says he will not revoke Article 50 and vows to ramp up preparations for No Deal if he becomes prime minister.
CFA franc
The currency has been criticized for making economic planning for the developing countries of French West Africa all but impossible since the CFA’s value is pegged to the euro (whose monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank).[3] Others disagree and argue that the CFA „helps stabilize the national currencies of Franc Zone member-countries and greatly facilitates the flow of exports and imports between France and the member-countries“.[4] The European Union’s own assessment of the CFA’s link to the euro, carried out in 2008, noted that „benefits from economic integration within each of the two monetary unions of the CFA franc zone, and even more so between them, remained remarkably low“ but that „the peg to the French franc and, since 1999, to the euro as exchange rate anchor is usually found to have had favourable effects in the region in terms of macroeconomic stability“
French colonialism lives on in Africa
CFA franc. These two words probably do not mean much to most readers, but they encapsulate one of the world’s most enduring – and little-known – economic experiments. In the simplest possible terms, the CFA franc is a currency used by 14 countries of Western and Central Africa, all of which are former French colonies.
Conservative Party donations fall by £3.8m
It had been a „challenging fundraising year“ for all parties, the Tories said.
The figures do not represent all donations, as only those above £7,500 have to be reported.
Business lobby group CBI warns Tories over no-deal Brexit
A no-deal scenario would do „severe“ damage to businesses, it said in an open letter to all the MPs running to lead the party.
Director general Carolyn Fairbairn warned them that smaller companies cannot afford the necessary preparations for leaving without a plan.
John Bercow’s bloated ego used to be written off as just tiresome but it’s serious
WON’T somebody rid us of this troublesome Speaker?
‚There’s a deep pit in Hell reserved for you, Michael! Boris Johnson allies react with fury as Gove stabs ex-mayor in the back saying he is not up to being PM – and insists HE should get the job instead
(30.06.2016)
– Boris Johnson abandons ambitions of becoming PM after Michael Gove drops him and launches own campaign
– Justice Secretary says Johnson was not up to job and questions if his ‚heart and soul‘ were in pushing through Brexit
– Boris aide said to have vented anger at Gove in expletive-laden text accusing him of plotting to win keys to No10
– Furious Conservative MP Jake Berry says on Twitter that there is a ‚very deep pit reserved in Hell‘ for Gove
– Alliance between Leave campaigners ripped up as Treasury minister Andrea Leadsom enters Tory contest
– Home Secretary Theresa May installed as favourite after delivering bravura performance at her launch
STEPHEN GLOVER: Putting Boris in the dock over his EU claims isn’t just dotty. It’s a deeply sinister attack on our freedoms
This time next year, will Boris Johnson be installed in No 10 as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and First Lord of the Treasury?
Or will he be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure, dispensing coffee in the prison canteen and running journalism lessons for fellow jailbirds while waiting for his next visit from the ever-loyal Jacob Rees-Mogg?
I suppose the first outcome is rather more likely.
Boris Johnson victim of ‚plot to stop Brexit‘ as he faces criminal trial over Leave campaign
Marcus Ball, a Remain-backing campaigner, took out a private prosecution against Mr Johnson, claiming he was wrong to say during the EU referendum campaign that Britain gives £350 million a week to Brussels.
Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt warns against sending ‚ultra hardliner‘ to negotiate Brexit
The Foreign Secretary, a Tory leadership candidate, refused to commit to taking the UK out of the EU before the October 31 deadline but said the bloc would back down because they do not want the “shadow of Brexit hanging over them”.
No confidence in the German establishment
The pro-EU parties crumbled – but a coherent Eurosceptic force is sorely lacking.
Isolated and vilified, Speaker John Bercow is clinging on to get the Brexit he wants
John Bercow may not be Brexiteers‘ favourite as Speaker as the House of Commons, but he has sought to live up to the spirit of Brexit by constantly letting the expected deadline for his departure slip.
John Bercow vows to stay on as Commons Speaker beyond summer
Mr Bercow had reportedly told friends he was planning to stand down in the summer, having spent 10 years in the post.
‚EU won’t change one dot or comma‘: Nigel Farage declares it is ‚absolute rubbish‘ to suggest new Tory PM could renegotiate May’s Brexit deal as he blasts Jeremy Hunt’s No Deal u-turn
On Fox News last night, Mr Farage vowed: ‚If we do not leave the European Union on October 31, I will lead the Brexit Party after that into the next general election and we will sweep away parties that have dominated British politics for over 100 years.‘
Outside the M25…. Brexit Party to the left of them. Brexit Party to right of them. Brexit Party to the front of them. Into the valley of death rode the Labour Party.
Merkel Cancels Resignation, Decides Successor Not Up to Job
If the Tories thought they were having trouble getting rid of Theresa May, they should spare a thought for the German CDU where Angela Merkel has just announced that she won’t be resigning as German Chancellor after all.
Merkel Decides Her Chosen Successor Isn’t Up to the Job
Merkel has decided that Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who took over as leader of the Christian Democratic Union in December, is not up to the country’s top job, according to two officials with knowledge of her thinking. As a result, the chancellor has become more determined than ever to stay in power until her term ends in 2021, the officials said.
Labour now looks set to back a second referendum, with the option to remain and Labour would campaign to remain. This is suicidal- but hey, London and Brighton will be happy. Labour starting down the path of other left parties- abandoning the core. Its a perilous route.
REMAIN IN THE CHAIR: Remainer John Bercow vows to stay on as Speaker past July as he threatens to block No Deal Brexit
REMAINER John Bercow has vowed to stay on as speaker of the House of Commons past July after threatening to block a No Deal Brexit.
The move risks sparking a fresh rift with Eurosceptic Tories, who have accused him of using his supposedly neutral role in Parliament to try to keep Britain in the EU.
Corbyn backs referendum on Brexit deal after voter exodus
The Labour leader said he was “listening very carefully” to both sides of the debate after the party fell behind the Liberal Democrats and also lost ground to the Greens.
Labour’s preference would be a general election but any Brexit deal “has to be put to a public vote”, he said. Several Labour sources noted this was a shift from his previous position that a second referendum was being kept as an option on the table to stop a damaging Tory Brexit.
This isn’t about Brexit. Backing remain now would wreck Labour
Trying to overturn the referendum result would alienate voters who trust us and end all chance of winning a general election
Euro Elections – Labour’s choice: pander to the siren calls of its cosmopolitan patricians, or trust the euro-sceptical plebs. It’s a choice between elitism or democracy; between the London centric chattering classes or the Labour heartlands; between electoral oblivion or power.
Brexit Derangement Syndrome has been on full display today. Remoaners are saying that Farage didn’t really win, Change UK did well, and there is no mandate for Brexit. These people aren’t only out of touch with voters, they’re out of touch with reality
So looks like EU voters weren’t much interested in Varoufakis #diem25 and in their own words: „A European Spring“.
SYRIZA plays down defeat seen in exit polls
Governing SYRIZA “did not sustain the strategic defeat that New Democracy was looking forward to,” government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said on Sunday after exit polls gave the conservative opposition a solid lead over the leftist party.
Klaus Regling is doing his best to play down the fact that the ESM is becoming the paramilitary wing of the Hanseatic League with new powers over budget surveillance and debt restructuring #Eurogroup
(19.11.2018)