Thursday 26 January 2017

Mr Whippy - The Brexorcist

A single whip is simply a guideline, while a double whip (or two line whip) is stricter - and attendance at the vote is required. The three-line whip is a 'vote with the party or get out'. The number of lines comes from the number of times that a vote is underlined by the Chief Whip in the parliament's schedule.
-WIKI

http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1441974371i/16176015._SX540_.jpg
THE BREXORCIST


 Corbyn told Sky News: “It will be a clear decision that we want all of our MPs to support the article 50 vote when it comes up next week. It’s clearly a three-line whip.

Corbyn may the worst leader of the labour party since ..well... the last one, but he does possesses a low cunning.  A Kremlin politburo apparatchik  like ability to plot his way through the beloved arcane rules and obscure minutiae of the Labour Parties rule book. 
The workings of the process that allowed him and his entryist followers to infiltrate and usurp the positions of power and influence within the structures of the byzantine cult of the left.

For decades Labour have enjoyed the Tory parties discomfort at being unable to reconcile the two opposite wings of their pro and anti European MPs. Europe has been a topic so toxic that it has fractured the party on more than one occasion. And ended the career of more than one leader. 
UKIP arose from Tory members dissatisfaction with the decision to always back the EU all the way towards the ever closer political union and eventual federal superstate.
The Referendum on Europe occurred as a direct result of David Cameron trying to stop the UKIP insurgency from stealing 15% of his natural supporters.

For a long while now, Labour has been very happy with the evermore socialist embrace of the EU. Evermore regulations and unlimited free movement have been seen as a wonderful opportunity for the labour party to  bask in its virtue, top up its voter base, occupy the metropolitan cities and call anyone they don't agree with a racist. 

The science was settled. 
The EU was lovely and all bar a tiny percentage of its MPs and fellow travelers on the progressive bandwagons agreed.

Sadly for Labour, one of their minuscule number of anti-European Union MPs was lifelong backbencher, anti-corporation, anti- the disallowed state investment and anti-tax rise restricting Jeremy Corbyn.
And he now, and always has, wanted to leave the EU. 

Corbyn has told his Remainer MPs that they MUST vote to leave.

It is a golden opportunity for the newly launched Post-Truth-Pre-Trump agitator.

He is a disastrous leader whom most Labour MPs would like to get rid of. But he has won an overwhelming popular mandate not just once, but twice. Much of his Northern heartland voter base would like to leave the EU. His chief opponents are staunch remainers. He forces them to choose between backing or sacking. Most of his very pro EU supporters within his Shadow Cabinet have now said they will obey the leader, after originally suggesting they would not. 
Jeremy's whips and Comms will have told them that if they vote against, with the Labour's-Red Tories, Jeremy will fall, and the Communist-Socialist-Trotsky-Stalinist project will fall with him. The Blairites {spit} will have won and will take back the labour party from the people!

Some will quit his cabinet. But not enough to worry him, he's enough supporters if they all manage two or three roles each. 

A great win for Jez. An epic fail for Labour who within just 6 months have gone from Europe being the sole issue that united the warring factions, to itpossibly being the crisis that finally breaks the labour party.

Meanwhile, the 'broken Tory party' have mostly united around their Brexit leader and can safely watch the meltdown that will engulf their opposite numbers.

And reflect how very fortunate they are that, just for once, it isn't them tying themselves in knots over Europe.

34 comments:

Nick Drew said...

I like the idea Corbyn is utterly incapable of bending to the dictates of political necessity, or of changing his long-ossified opinions; and that this is one of the reasons he is adored

note how quickly this principled, life-long anti-nuke-wallah came round to loving Sellafield when it was pointed out to him that Copeland depends on it / the unions are 100% in favour / his arse is on the line in the upcoming by-elections

I am sure this endears him no end to the Momentum pants-wetters

Nick Drew said...

That said - https://order-order.com/2017/01/26/corbyn-refuses-five-times-say-supports-new-copeland-nuclear-power-plant/

so Sellafield is in the clear by Jezza; but altogether a bit more equivocal on Moorside, though ...

Blue Eyes said...

The other evening Evan Davis of Newsnight asked "where are the Tory Remainers?". Whichever non-entity journos he was interviewing said "oh they will pitch up later on". I think more likely they have accepted the referendum result.

Look how loserish Lucas, Leslie and Lammy look. Protesting a bill that puts into effect the will of the electorate. Jezza looks almost statesmanlike in comparison.

May is crushing the opposition, and if the Lords screw up she will have a 100+ majority by the end of April.

Electro-Kevin said...

Excellent topic title. Worthy of The Sun. This site is coming up in the world, I tell yer.

Anonymous said...

Corbyn should stay in situ for as long as possible.
With a Blairite in place achieving Brexit would become more difficult. It is also arguable, though I've never read any piece which covers it, that his general lack of intensity -aka fucking around -during the referendum campaign may have helped to swing the vote.
Hence the continuous attacks on him by the Guardian and generally iffy coverage of a labour leader by the BBC and others(how unusual!). Mandelson and Blair must absolutely hate him.

As to his general politics, his IRA and generally 1970's lefty slant is anathema to me but I can see where he is coming from and up to a point there is a certain honesty in his position.

James Higham said...

All sounds very Madam Lash. Punish me, I've been a naughty boy.

mike fowle said...

It's interesting that for the Stoke on Trent by election, the Labour candidate is a fervent Remainer. In the referendum the vote was 81,000 to leave 36,000 to stay.

Electro-Kevin said...

I don't think any MP should be forced to vote for the bill unless the following applies:

- they voted for the Referendum Act

- their constituents voted for Brexit

I am mildly bothered that the bill does not include mention of leaving the EEA. I thought this was the major contention of the Remain side - that leaving the Single Market was not what the Brexit voters intended to do. (AKA staying half in the EU rather than half out of it.)

If there is no market for a true Labourite Labour then The People should decide to wind the organisation up - at the ballot box. I don't see why the country should preserve fixed parties.

In fact, surely we are coming to the point where we don't need MPs. Where we can have direct democracy via the internet (so long as it is secured.)

It couldn't be any worse, surely ?

Nick Drew said...

the A50 vote, coupled with the by-elections, should provide excellent illumination (not to say stress) on corbyn's & labour's current abject position

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2017/01/why-has-jeremy-corbyn-committed-labour-voting-article-50

McDonnell has been quiet for a while ... the dog that hasn't barked

Elby the Beserk said...

Nick - Corbyn is MacDonnell's sock puppet. When the time is right he will strike and Corbyn will be ... terminated. He's far smarter and more devious than Corbyn, but it will make no difference. None but the committed (in all senses of the word) will vote for a Labour Party whose leader's here was a mass murderer.

Meanwhile, all we can do is stand back and giggle.

R E Moaner said...

Has any read the actual Act. It's the political equivalent of a blank cheque.

Enough to make your eyes swivel

Flagwaver said...

1. It is a Bill. Parliament has to pass it before it is an Act. You may think this is pedantry but people's understanding of our system seems limited.

2. If passed as drafted it gives the PM the power to notify. Nothing more, nothing less. It does not force her to notify, it sets no deadline. It does not give her the power to repeal the ECA 1972 (as amended).

It is worth noting that the act implementing the referendum lock is still in force as far as I know, so if an amendment or replacement of the EU Treaties is negotiated, we will have another referendum unless Parliament decides to repeal that act. That is quite important in respect of EK's comment.

Anonymous said...

EK - Tulip Siddiq was one of the 540-odd MPs who voted aye on the final Commons stage of the Referendum Bill (amendment after 3rd reading), so she really is an anti-democrat. Only the SNP have consistently voted against plus a few like Flynn, Skinner, Godsiff.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmhansrd/cm150907/debtext/150907-0002.htm#15090715000001


It's a funny old world. As I understand it, the many administrators who hold British nationality and work in the European Commission have spent a lot of time pressing for the EU to be more "open-market" and globalist - in other words to make say France more like Britain, a low-wage, low-productivity, "open-for-business-everything-for-sale" place. I'm rather fond of France the way it is, and would hate to see it become more like the UK.

Then, having as they say failed to secure their base (and not having realised that what they've been promoting as a vibrant and innovative UK has also been seriously pissing more and more working Brits off), we are suddenly out and the ground is chopped from beneath them. You can see why the Euros might be pissed off with us - 'we're doing what you want and you're sodding off!'. Of course, what Brit nationals in Brussels wanted may not have been what Brit nationals in the UK wanted.

And then our Prime Minister, who was a Remainer and who, only a few short months ago when Trump was a rank outsider, felt happy to join with the entire Brit political and media class in abusing him and taking the mick, suddenly finds he's US President and practically our only Brexit ally. So now she has to 'right-about-turn' and be as nice as she can be without being nailed as too much of a hypocrite.

You could write the last year as a political comedy.

Anonymous said...

PS - what a very wise man the late Charles de Gaulle was. A great French patriot. And what a very good writer Charles Moore can be.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/04/de-gaulle-knew-it-britain-does-not-belong-in-the-eu/

"An enjoyable aspect of the EU referendum campaign is the nervous condition of the Financial Times. Unable to maintain its usual pretence at judicious balance under the strain, it has become the Daily Mail of the Europhile global elites, warning of the Seven Plagues which will afflict us if we vote to leave. Rather as the Mail loves the headline beginning ‘Just why…?’, so the FT all-purpose referendum headline begins ‘Fears mount…’"

Jan said...

Either he's played a blinder or he has had luck on his side. It's probably the latter as no-one could have plotted their way through all the latest developments of British politics over the past few years. If it means the demise of the Blairites then good on him.

Nick Drew said...

Anon @ 12:33

the many administrators who hold British nationality and work in the European Commission have spent a lot of time pressing for the EU to be more "open-market" and globalist

yes, abolutely - in my sphere (energy) Brits have written the book, against initially fierce opposition from FR and DE

'we're doing what you want and you're sodding off!'

yup - our work there is done!

Bill Quango MP said...

ND : No idea why people think Corby has principles. He changes them more often than most. My sister-in-law loves him. Thinks he is a wise and principled man.
Mind you, she's from Brighton, so by comparison...

BE: Quite true - The true Remainers can be counted on one hand. BBC has the same crew on the revolving door of woe. Few others want to join that group just yet. Prefer to see how it all goes.

Anon/JH - Corbyn was instrumental in getting the remain vote to stay at home.
From the Brexit books it is very clear he and his did team the barest minimum they could get away with to support his parties 99% loyalty to the EU.
Corbyn's office and the official 'stronger in' campaign met just once.And nothing was agreed. Seamus Milne made sure Corby's pro-EU uttering were just tacked onto a speech in whatever union canteen he was speaking at that day.
And he went on holiday for 2 of the six weeks of what labour was calling "The most significant political moment since WW2.

You can be sure that Corbyn was/is an outer

Bill Quango MP said...

Elby - the man has the undying love of his followers.

The Messiah appears to the true believers.It might all end up a bit Jonestown.

Mike Fowle - Labour as a party are 52% remain-48% leave. A party with a split voter base. 100% opposite views on one issue. That's why the Lib dems are yapping so excitedly. They can see plenty of treats to steal from the old dog.

R E Moaner: A lot of the stay camp seem to have no understanding of the process to leave. Partly just willful ignorance. Partly a blind hope the six months delaying game can be played indefinitely.And it seems, partly, blind hysteria.

Anon - Love that quote about the FT being the Daily Mail

Elby the Beserk said...

Tim Shipman's riveting and ecellent "All Out War" demonstrates in spades that Corbyn wanted nothing to do with any referendum campaigning. Asked to attend some briefings at 8.30am - too early they said. Agreed to turn up at 9am and didn't. Didn't want to know. Rather be growing his marrows.

And no, the man has no principles whatsoever, nor has he done a real day's work in his life.

Blair => Brown => Miliband => Corbyn = death wish.

Bill Quango MP said...

Elby - I was going to write us a review of that book as it the best political book since rawnsley's end of the party.

However - Iain Dale, himself a publisher, has written an excellent one for anyone who is interested.

http://www.iaindale.com/posts/2016/12/27/book-review-all-out-war-by-tim-shipman-without-doubt-the-political-book-of-2016

Electro-Kevin said...

Thank you Flagwaver and Anon. Mrs May has been saved by the Brexiteers in Britain, with whom President Trump, it seems, has some affinity. He'll know fully how she really thinks.

Elby the Beserk said...

BQ, yes, it is a good old-fashioned cult tho' I am trying to work out what their particular rapture will be.

And it may be that UKIP more than Loony Farron's Lib Dems benefit most from this - certainly in the old Northern Labour heartland, who Labour turned their back on long ago, as evinced by Gurner Brown and Mrs. Duffy.

Oh what a long time ago that now seems!

I do rather like it then the World gets turned Upside Down


andrew said...

anon @12.33
I'm rather fond of France the way it is, and would hate to see it become more like the UK.

So am I - as a place to go on hols.

otoh if I lived there and was from an ethnic minority, or unemployed, I think france increasingly resembles the uk of the 70s.

Anoneumouse said...

Check your blog email

Anonymous said...

I see another one who voted for the referendum, Jo Stevens, has consulted her conscience and decided she doesn't like the result.

Andrew - I'm not sure many people think of the banlieus as 'France', the inhabitants certainly don't consider themselves French (see below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0RrhBrMXbw

R E Moaner said...

R E Moaner: A lot of the stay camp seem to have no understanding of the process to leave. Partly just willful ignorance. Partly a blind hope the six months delaying game can be played indefinitely.And it seems, partly, blind hysteria.

I'd go for the last one - blind hysteria. I love Britain and the British but have to say you have an inbuilt belief in your superiority. This leads to a Trump like self-belief and a penchant for trying to bully "inferiors". So how did Hong Kong work out for you.

Anonymous said...

"So how did Hong Kong work out for you"

Funny, I'm just reading Chris Patten's book on that very subject. Hong Kong worked out a lot better for its people than mainland China worked out for theirs over the last hundred years. John Cowperthwaite is one of those colonial public servants that we don't seem to make any more.

"He refused to collect economic statistics to avoid officials meddling in the economy"

There was little we could do to hold onto it once the New Territories lease ran out. The self-belief needed to fight the Red Army alone in its back yard would be at insanity level. Alongside the Yanks we put up a decent show - see below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Imjin_River

Blue Eyes said...

What does that even mean?

Blue Eyes said...

Sorry anon, that was aimed at REMoaner

Electro-Kevin said...

Aye Blue. A belief in superiority. From the land of Michael Palin and George Formby.

Elby the Beserk said...

andrew said...
anon @12.33
I'm rather fond of France the way it is, and would hate to see it become more like the UK.
=======================
Vice versa in my case... tho' I suspect we too are on the same path.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9791/france-islamization

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9741/islamization-britain

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9700/germany-islamization

And these deeply alarming video by a very eloquent Algerian Muslim on what is happening in France.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqLvOK2jhZM

rwendland said...

ND> That said - https://order-order.com/2017/01/26/corbyn-refuses-five-times-say-supports-new-copeland-nuclear-power-plant/ ... altogether a bit more equivocal on Moorside, though ...

But note that the CEO of Toshiba, owners of NuGen who hope to build Moorside, has also become very equivocal on new nuclear, floating the idea of just "building turbines and other equipment" and maintenance of plant it already built. Unclear yet what this means for Moorside (who have been told they need to find all finance externally).

Maybe Corbyn is prescient on this one?

FT says:

"Toshiba ... said on Friday it was “re-examining its relationship” with Westinghouse — the struggling US nuclear group in which the Japanese group bought a controlling stake a decade ago.

Analysts identify the Westinghouse deal, which forced Toshiba’s Japanese management to cope with risks they were ill-equipped to handle, as a pivotal moment in Toshiba’s decline. Mr Tsunakawa said the company’s nuclear business would now “aim to proceed by becoming stronger at cutting out risk”.

Mr Tsunakawa used Friday’s press conference to apologise for the “damage caused” to investors from the Westinghouse subsidiary, where delays and cost overruns on nuclear construction projects in the US will now be expressed as writedowns that analysts estimate could be as high as $7bn."

... Tsunakawa, said it would “reconsider the future of the overseas nuclear business”.


Remember Gordon sold Westinghouse in 2006 to Toshiba for a vast $4.3 billion profit (400% over 7 years). Looks a very good move now, otherwise we'd be paying the tab instead of Toshiba.

Nick Drew said...

maybe prescience (see how broad-minded I am!) ... but if he was really reflecting on uncertainty within the project sponsors, wouldn't he have replied rather differently?

- in a way that would have shut the interviewer up (they know when they are beaten) instead of giving him an opportunity to do a Paxman/Howard on him

with a confident, up-to-the-minute knowledgeable response he could have come across as on-the-ball, instead of politico-shifty

rwendland said...

I agree Corbyn's response was pretty generalist, as is his way. Though in his ITV interview he did say "there are financial problems that Toshiba are facing at the present time, so it's a bit unclear ... the Government is going to have to make that decision [in 2018] on the basis of the issues facing the company and the area at the time and we are some way off that." At some point before the general election he needs to come across as more knowledgeable on economics - even mention some numbers, shock horror!

But I'm not sure mentioning the Moorside hard facts to the Copeland voters would be a vote-winner.

I've always been quite puzzled by the Moorside choice, even before Toshiba's troubles. The site has about a 5% electricity transmission loss compared to southern sites like Hinkley, Oldbury and Sizewell to contend with. They have the £2.8 billion cost of an electricity connection to the national grid to pay somehow. Even with cheaper site costs, that does not counter the large disadvantages of this site - I can only assume some strange politics went into the choice of this site.

Now that Toshiba will not provide finance, and the AP1000s seem to be proving to be almost as hard to build as the Areva/EDF EPRs, I doubt Moorside is a runner.

Seems to me just saying "nuclear power is part of the future energy mix" might be a good compromise for a man who won't tell fibs.