TMay’s great current strength is that there’s little conviction that anyone else could do better
So another day of Theresa May’s leadership begins and no doubt she will be under pressure yet again by her party and maybe even the official opposition about her stance and approach to Brexit. Later she’s facing the Conservative backbench 1922 committee of which there was some overblown talk over the weekend off this being a “show trial.” That of itself illustrated the schism within the party. Well the rhetoric has been toned down a fair bit and the PM…
The new regime at the Daily Mail is going to make it make it harder to oust TMay
The Mail turns its fire on the Tory plotters who are trying to oust TMay pic.twitter.com/0EFC8l78w3 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) October 22, 2018 Now the plotters are being dubbed the “peacocking saboteurs” One of the most important things that happened to British politics this autumn was the change of editors at the Daily Mail. Hardline brexiteer, Sir Paul Dacre, is no longer in the post which is now held by pro-Remain, Geordie Greig. In my post on the ending of…
A Nation once again? – Part 3 lessons from abroad
In the final of three articles Alanbrooke looks at Irish affairs There are numerous examples of states being put together in modern times. The closest and probably most studied is Germany. It is almost at 30 years since the wall came down so there is quite a period to look at. The situation is also not that dissimilar to Ireland – a larger more prosperous neighbour takes over its sizeable but smaller struggling neighbour. How has Germany fared? Unity is…
A Nation once again? Part 2 – Culture and politics
In the second of three articles Alanbrooke looks at Irish affairs In the previous article I looked at economics which is quite a hurdle. This article looks at the longer term issue of the impact of putting two sets of people together. In Ulster the past always lies ahead of us, so somewhere along the line somebody needs to be squaring circles. The North, trapped in its history and with a victim mentality, somehow needs to fit in to a fast…
Whatever the numbers today’s march will reinforce both CON and LAB anti-Brexit MPs
This’ll ratchet up the pressure for a “People’s vote” Inevitably there are massively different estimates of how many people have been marching in London today against Brexit but judging by the TV pictures it does seem to be very large. Whether it’s up to the anti Iraq war demonstrations of 2003 I don’t know but it’s still pretty substantial. The organisers are lucky that it is commanding a lot of attention by the media and the pro-Brexiteers who have been…
Brexit: The three key concessions
I have been wary of writing on Brexit. The vast majority of the visitors to this site are clearly informed – and informedly clear – with respect to their opinions on the matter. However, with Mike’s indulgence, I would like to pose some questions for discussion. The weakness of the British position now has little to do with the Parliamentary arithmetic. Indeed, as Alastair Meeks presciently wrote in July 2017, there can actually be negotiating strength in what he termed…
The DUP are not as supportive of Brexit or as united as it might appear
There’s a widespread assumption that the party that supports TMay’s minority government, the DUP with its 10 MPs, is rock solid in its view on Brexit and there’s no wiggle room. That perception is certainly a good bargaining chip for its relations with London but is this view correct? Could it be less united and less supportive of Brexit as might appear. Last night the person I go to on Northern Ireland politics who has proved to be solidly reliable…