In his statement Johnson underlined his pledge to ditch the Irish backstop, and ramp up preparations for no deal, and to leave on 31st October regardless of what happens.
Mays withdrawal agreement has been binned, however in a phone call Juncker signalled the EU27s intention of sticking with the deal already negotiated by the British Government. This includes the backstop.
Juncker told Johnson that the EU would be prepared to alter the political declaration. Ireland has declared itself as “alarmed” Barnier signalled that Johnson’s rhetoric almost certainly meant that the U.K. was going into a GE.
Expect a huge public information campaign and a large level of spending in preparation for no deal.
This is from Twitter but also reported in several national newspapers:
Dominic Cummings has notified Conservative MPs that if they vote for the extension legislation next week, they will be "automatically deselected" before the next election via Conservative Central Office "even if their local organisations stand by them".
How can this unelected bureaucrat do this? It might galvanise the Remainer MPs into action.
I posted about that news earlier - shocking isn’t it? Anyone on here who talks about democracy really needs to reflect on whether this form of democracy is really what they voted for.
What is so alarming about Cummings and his belief in nihilism is that it is straight out of the Bannon stable, who describes himself as a Leninist.
Followers of this form of anarchistic nihilism constantly appeal to the “people” to reject the elite. Nihilists are intent on tearing everything down, and have no fear of the result of this. Look at the way he has attacked the civil service and his opinion of MPs.
The political spectrum seems to be not so much a straight line but a circle.
If you go far enough towards the extremes the extreme right and extreme left meet together, their chief aim being a stripping away of people's rights and enabling a dictatorial control.
I don’t think the Liberals have moved to the right, have they? My branch certainly haven’t. As varian say though, perhaps it depends on your starting position.
I wasn't a fly on the wall, so don't know for sure if it's true, but loads of media from the Sun to the Telegraph are reporting this...
At a weekly gathering of special advisers in No.10, Cummings was queried about Sonia Khan’s dismissal. According to several individuals in the room, he responded “if you don’t like how I run things, there’s the door”, adding that critics could “f*ck off”.
The accusation is coming from Momentum, who attack the LDs for being part of the coalition which was responsible for austerity. Hence, the alleged move to the right.
I would agree that Labour have definitely moved to the left. SNP looks about right, Tories have certainly moved right within the last few months but I wouldn’t put the LDs further to the right. I think they’ve attracted moderates from Labour and the Tories, so probably a bit to the left of that position if anything imo
I have no idea what momentum think growstuff; what I posted was purely my own view. However, it seems to that I am not the only one if you look at the graph so please don't start the Momentum accusations. I have always believed the Liberals were a right of centre party which is why, as long ago as 1988 I decided not to join them when they merged with the SDP. As far as I was concerned there was too much right of centre liberalism and not enough left of centre social democracy. I haven't seen anything to change that opinion over time except, more recently, a move slightly more to the right.
Well, I do know what Momentum think because I know an activist very well. We sometimes have some quite heated debates about the position of the LDs, of which I am a paid up member, so please don't start accusing me of making unfounded accusations. It's very obvious if you follow Twitter where the accusations against the LDs are coming from. I'll hold my hands up here and state that I'm not proud of the LD's coalition history, but Momentum sneering has a distinctive "flavour".
All I know about the LD's is that, since the referendum they have been the only party to represent my views on Brexit and the EU and for that reason I am incredibly grateful to them at a time when no one else seemed to represent me.