General Election Alert!

In Oslo the PM says she is emphatically not preparing for another general election

— Ben Wright (@BBCBenWright) October 30, 2018

Labour Backs Tory Budget

Shadow Chancellor @johnmcdonnellMP tells @BBCr4today he won't oppose Tory promise of £2.7 billion income tax cut as it will inject demand into economy. Labour backing tax cuts as Tories pledge to end austerity. Interesting times

— Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) October 30, 2018

It should also be remembered that labour are backing Brexit, which means there is no Opposition party at the moment!

Nuance Dear Boy, Nuance! - #Budget2018

Whereas May said it was over...

Who Used To Be Home Secretary?

We have published our report on 'Policing for the future'. Read the report and more here:https://t.co/dugsvYhrZV

— Home Affairs Committee (@CommonsHomeAffs) October 24, 2018

"Policing is suffering from a complete failure of leadership from the Home Office, especially on responding to new and changing crimes."

The Shitshow Is Imploding!

via GIPHY

Andrew Bridgen claims that No 10 was behind the comments about sticking a knife into the PM and bringing a noose to the '22. Eh?

— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) October 24, 2018

Priority Seating For The Privileged

Northern Line this morning, Sir Keir Starmer in a priority seat obviously, pic.twitter.com/w1nDJCpMRM

— Eye Spy MP (@eyespymp) October 23, 2018

May Will Go On, and On, and On!

"Sometimes I think Mrs May could be ousted tomorrow. Other times I think my great-great-grandchildren will awake to the news that Mrs May has just negotiated a 95th extra year for the transition period" @MichaelPDeacon speaks for all hacks

— Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) October 23, 2018

Downing Street In Full Bunker Mode

EXCLUSIVE: Theresa May today held 1½ hour conference call with Cabinet in bid to shore up support

I'm told it didn't go well:

* Esther McVey said she was 'devastated' by plans
* Sajid Javid asked PM if she had 'explicitly threatened' EU with no dealhttps://t.co/SkWxM5WNf6

— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) October 21, 2018

This will not end well!

Question For Theresa May

Why the hell are you still hanging around in Brussels?

Whilst the cat's away...

David Davis will be installed as temporary leader, if you don't sort yourself out.

Cri de Coeur - Liz Truss Take Note!

In order for the UK to face down the darkness of the ongoing Brexit "negotiations" with a degree of calmness and fortitude, it needs a leader/government that displays leadership, fortitude and competence!

We changed Prime Minister when facing a Nazi invasion, now we can't even change Speaker!

Theresa May's Problems

Theresa May's problems, & by definition the UK's problems, are that 1 She is indecisive & 2 She has no majority mandate to negotiate. Hence no one knows what she wants, because she doesn't know herself; even if she did she wouldn't be able to carry the Tories/parliament with her.

— Ken Frost (@ken_frost) October 18, 2018

Labour Loves Bercow

Not stunned by much in politics. But pro-Bercow Labour saying Speaker's anti-Brexit role trumps bullying report is just jaw-dropping.

— Iain Martin (@iainmartin1) October 16, 2018

Universal Credit Rollout Delayed

BBC News - Universal credit rollout delayed yet again https://t.co/HVq7jdx5T4

— Guy Smith (@GuySmithtax) October 16, 2018

A rare display of commonsense from this government!

Austerity Is Over!!!!!!!!!

When Theresa May announced, in her recent conference speech that austerity was over, many in the media and politics dismissed it as BS.

However, I refer you to the news on the BBC today that say senior judges in England and Wales could be set for pay rises of up to 32% if recommendations made by the Senior Salaries Review Body are accepted.

The move aims to address low morale among judges and to compensate them for changes to their pension scheme.

The recommendations would see a High Court judge receive an additional £60,000 a year.
Crown Court judges would receive a 22% rise - taking them to £165,000 - and district judges would get an 8% rise.

Clearly austerity is definitely over, as there is no way judges would get such a stonking pay rise if others in the public sector didn't as well!

"No Vacancy" - But Here Are The Rules!

Lots of wild and loose talk about leadership moves. There is no vacancy. However, on a technical point, if a vacancy did arise process need not take more than 2 working weeks - 4 days in Commons (if needed) and 6 days with membership - does not need to be an overly long process

— Mark Pritchard MP (@MPritchardUK) October 11, 2018

The Duplicitous DUP

This is extraordinary. In the event the DUP vote down the budget: “No10 sources also insisted the move would be a clear breach of the Tory-DUP confidence and supply agreement – meaning Ulster would also have to pay back its £1bn bonus from the government.” https://t.co/cgQiIiunRV

— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) October 11, 2018

Sadly, because of Theresa May's disastrous decision to call and election and then botch it, the country is being run by government propped up by the DUP (who demanded £1BN for their support).

Now that things are hotting up wrt Brexit, the DUP is relishing its position of "power broker", or more accurately in this case "power destroyer", and is threatening to vote against the Budget if their Brexit "red lines" are crossed.

The DUP claim to want to be treated as the same as the rest of the UK. This is all very well, noble and commendable. However, when it comes to other laws (eg abortion) the DUP are "strangely" reluctant to follow the UK's lead.

Inevitably, as could have been predicted when the confidence and supply deal was brokered by May, this particular house of cards looks like it is about to come crashing down to earth.

As and when it does, I will be most fascinated to see how May gets the £1BN back!

American Curse of Paid Protesters Infects The UK

Hats off to Steve Coogan, Patrick Kielty, Ian McEwan, Alastair Campbell, Eddie Izzard, Sir Patrick Stewart and Delia Smith who are on the list of sponsors to help pay for protesters to travel to London for the anti-Brexit #PeopleVoteMarch on October 20th.https://t.co/xaisBP7SSp

— James Melville (@JamesMelville) October 9, 2018

Tories Whipping Labour MPs

Such is the bizarre state of British politics, that we have finally crossed through the looking glass, and are now in a world where Tory ministers are in talks with aaround 25 Labour MPs to secure Theresa May's widely despised Chequers Brexit deal.

Seemingly the Government’s whips’ office has spent recent months making contact with the MPs, as a back-up option for when May’s Brexit deal is put to a vote in Parliament in early December.

Methinks certain Tories will not be best pleased by this!

The End of "Austerity"?

May will have to find at least an extra £20billion to spend on public services to fulfil her pledge that austerity is over, according to the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Paul Johnson said even that amount of additional funding “won’t feel particularly generous” and would almost certainly have to be found through borrowing because the Government would “really struggle to get tax rises through” Parliament.

Basically, Theresa May shrouded her "end of austerity" in the cloak of "a good Brexit".

The reality is that we have, at this stage, no way of knowing if there will be a "good Brexit" and what, exactly, she means by an end to "austerity".

May has no grounding/understanding in finance/economics so it is very doubtful that she understood what she mean either!

Dancing Queen - The Flame Is Always Brightest Just Before It Fades

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May dances to ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ as she begins her #CPC18 speech. Watch live: https://t.co/qk6dnjonGk pic.twitter.com/rgcyOIoitb

— Reuters TV (@ReutersTV) October 3, 2018

At This Rate, The Other Bloke Will Win!

Ominous for the PM? Security guard at Tory conf tells me: "I saw the telly last night and her speech sounds like she's talking about *more* years of austerity. Oh yeah that's really want we want isnt it? If she keeps that up, the other bloke is going to win."

— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) October 3, 2018

Not In The National Interest To Have General Eelection Yet

"It is not in the national interest to have a general election" - PM Theresa May tells @BBCBreakfast https://t.co/CNATObuLrV pic.twitter.com/2t9s6sKejY

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 2, 2018

She is correct.

However, neither is in the national interest that she continues to be Prime Minister once the Brexit deal has been done, or walked away from.

EU Not The Same As The Soviet Union

BREAKING NEWS: UK prime minister Theresa May says the EU is not the same as the Soviet Union.

— Jamie McGeever (@ReutersJamie) October 2, 2018

Boris Trolls May

Boris Johnson has been snapped running through fields near his home. But was he also attempting to "troll" the PM, who famously said her naughtiest moment was running through fields of wheat as a child? 🤔https://t.co/374yaknYNn pic.twitter.com/utHH50Jmqn

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) October 1, 2018

Boo Boris!

‘Anyone But Boris’ group of Tory MPs plan to boo him at conference Brexit rally on Tuesday;https://t.co/eEpNeJk5DV

— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) September 30, 2018

How very childish!