2018 Dec 15 - What keeps May going?
This week Theresa May finally grasped the idea that her deal has about the same chance of being formally enshrined in law as the 5-second rule or that one about stepping on the cracks in the pavement. A few days later and she flew out to Europe once more, expecting the EU commission to ditch ideological purity in favour of pragmatism or economics. There's about as much chance of that happening as there is of seeing Jade Goody being the face on the back of the new £50 note. After 2 years Mrs May seemingly still doesn't get it that the EU will never settle for anything other a deal that involves More Europe. To them the deal as it is gives them Northern Ireland. That's a cause for which the IRA fought unsuccessfully for decades, yet Brussels managed to do it in less than 2 years. Unless I'm wrong and the Prime Minister's simply adopted a mantra of "aim low so you’ll never be disappointed"
This last week Mrs May also finally faced a vote of confidence by her party in which she won albeit she received less than 2/3rds of the votes. This vote may have been a great song and dance number for the news media to discuss for 24 hours but in the long run it was ultimately as meaningful as deciding whether to wrap your fish and chips in the Telegraph or the Daily Mirror.
At this stage it doesn't matter who's in charge of the Conservative party, which I guess is good seeing as how nobody is. But as of this week it's now 7 days less than it was last week and Brexit is steadily coming down the line in March. Also in March? It's St Patricks Day so you can kiss goodbye to any chance of Jean Claude Juncker being in a sober state to make any last minute changes to the timetable. The irony really is that it was the remain camp that insisted that everything having to go before parliament. Now even if Mrs May formally came out and decided she wanted to cancel Brexit, she'd have to go with the LibDems instructions and get parliament to vote on it. It's likely the one single policy to have come out of the words of Nick Clegg and Tony Blair that I wholeheartedly endorse. On that bombshell I'll leave it.
This last week Mrs May also finally faced a vote of confidence by her party in which she won albeit she received less than 2/3rds of the votes. This vote may have been a great song and dance number for the news media to discuss for 24 hours but in the long run it was ultimately as meaningful as deciding whether to wrap your fish and chips in the Telegraph or the Daily Mirror.
At this stage it doesn't matter who's in charge of the Conservative party, which I guess is good seeing as how nobody is. But as of this week it's now 7 days less than it was last week and Brexit is steadily coming down the line in March. Also in March? It's St Patricks Day so you can kiss goodbye to any chance of Jean Claude Juncker being in a sober state to make any last minute changes to the timetable. The irony really is that it was the remain camp that insisted that everything having to go before parliament. Now even if Mrs May formally came out and decided she wanted to cancel Brexit, she'd have to go with the LibDems instructions and get parliament to vote on it. It's likely the one single policy to have come out of the words of Nick Clegg and Tony Blair that I wholeheartedly endorse. On that bombshell I'll leave it.
This week Theresa May finally grasped the idea that her deal has about the same chance of being formally enshrined in law as the 5-second rule or that one about stepping on the cracks in the pavement. A few days later and she flew out to Europe once more, expecting the EU commission to ditch ideological purity in favour of pragmatism or economics. There's about as much chance of that happening as there is of seeing Jade Goody being the face on the back of the new £50 note. After 2 years Mrs May ......