UK Politics Thread

[RAvery]

Approximately when can we expect Brexit propaganda on posters on dorm room walls and novelty mugs?

Everybody sing along with Brucie!

[KarlS]

I quite like the suggestion that the EU27 should just vote to grant the UK a lengthy extension even if they don’t ask for one. It would only become effective if the UK consented, but then at least Johnson would have to put some effort into explaining how everything bad about no deal is our fault.

[gadgetgirl]

328 works out to 52% – slightly more than the popular vote that started all this in the first place:

BBC Politics (BBCPolitics)

[nimelennar]

I heard they were planning on limiting the amount of debate on the anti-no-deal legislation in order to prevent BoJo from tying it up in 90 hours of red tape; any word on if they succeeded in that?

Edit to add:

Also, I keep hearing the term “remove the whip.”
I get that it’s kind of being used in the sense that these MPs are being thrown out of the Conservative Party, but I feel I’m missing the nuance of it. Can I please get a more precise explanation about what’s being done to the “rebel MPs?”

Edit to add #2: Here’s the “90 hours” thing I was talking about:

Nicholas Watt (nicholaswatt)

Nicholas Watt (nicholaswatt)

Nicholas Watt (nicholaswatt)

Nicholas Watt (nicholaswatt)

Nicholas Watt (nicholaswatt)

[gadgetgirl]

It really sounds like the speaker did their job, which is amazing. When Canada had Harper, the speaker let the Cons get away with stuff even elementary school kids know is not procedure.

As for the drums and torches – I’m envious, not that they were needed, but that they appeared. Canadians haven’t had that sort of passion about politics since before I was born.

[nimelennar]

When an MP defies a three-line whip, the worst possible outcome is that they can be deselected, which is to say that the party turns around and says “this person is no longer our representative and we don’t support them, but we have a new representative who would like to take the seat instead.”

If that happens, the politician will likely face a vote at local party level and if they lose it (which happens 90% of the time), they lose their job and they have to recontest their election as an independent. Most MPs realise this is futile and resign.

Ah, okay. That makes sense.

We have Whips in Canada, too (I think the US has them as well), so I got that part; I just was unclear about what the consequence being threatened specifically by “removing the whip” was.

Thanks!

[nimelennar]

Got it, thanks.

[nimelennar]

Parliament is prorogued from Monday

They’ve finalized that? Last I heard, the prorogue started sometime next week, but an exact date hadn’t been set.

[RatMan]

The only thing that could make this picture better would be if Soames was also in it.

[jerwin]

(((Alex Sobel MP))) (alexsobel)

wtf?

[smulder]

We can be bigger bastards than them

this seems like modern politics in a nutshell right here

[jerwin]

Brexit: Lords agree to push through bill preventing no deal by end of Friday

[smulder]

How is this even supposed to help?

Passing a law that says “we can’t leave without a deal” doesn’t stop the clock from running out.

[smulder]

It seems optimistic to assume that Boris would do as he’s told, especially that particular thing

I think he specifically said “I refuse to do this”

[gadgetgirl]

Limbo is far from ideal but it’s still preferable to people dying because there isn’t enough medicine to go round and a return to violence in Northern Ireland.

This is the part I’m wondering about – what happens when the extensions run out? Does the UK try to convince the EU to take them back at some point?

[RatMan]

Ya know, this critter could solve some significant problems in about one second if it wanted to.

[RatMan]

This nightmare is never going to end.

Britain's House Of Lords Approves Bill Blocking No-Deal Brexit

[CleverEmi]

Please forgive a silly Yankee question, but is y’know, just staying an actual option? Because that would seem like a reasonable path forward.

I mean, I’m saying this from the septic tank that is the USA, so no shade, it just seems like self-inflicted wound. In that way, we do seem to have much in common, as in cutting off our noses to spite our racist faces, err… something like that.

[MarjaE]

52% of the voters said “yes” to an ambiguous referendum, so anything short of the most extreme Brexit-- currently no deal, maybe Fuckwad will start insisting on nuclear strikes to up the ante-- is obviously a betrayal of the will of the people, as revealed to the leaders of the Brexit movement.

Ur-Fascism may apply.

1. Cult of tradition. doubtful, since they’re willing to sacrifice parliament and all of Britain’s constitutional traditions.

2. Rejection of modernism. not sure.

3. Action for action’s sake. definitely.

4. Disagreement is treason. likely, given their rhetoric and BoJo’s purge of the Tory party.

5. Fear of difference. definitely, considering anti-immigrant hatred.

6. Appeal to a frustrated middle class. not sure.

7. Obsession with a plot. given the state of the world, who wouldn’t have this?

8. Followers feeling humiliated. ditto.

9. Life is permanent warfare. doubtful.

10. Contempt for the weak. definitely an issue with Tory policy in general, e.g. disability cuts.

11. Everyone is educated to become a hero. doubtful.

12. Machismo. not ready to look into that, þyvm.

13. Selective populism. definitely, what got me checking the list.

14. Newspeak. not sure.

[nimelennar]

is y’know, just staying an actual option?

From what I’ve heard, revoking Article 50 is an option, but the “remain” vote would have to have at least as much weight as the “leave” vote did. Which means another referendum.