Brexit.

Innula Zenovka · Oct 26, 2020

Bartholomew Gallacher said:
Well even if BoJo is not any longer, the Tories still have two major problems:

a) the ERG with its heavy influence
b) the new wave of nationalism in the UK right now.

I don't doubt that Mr. Sunak is a serious, intelligent man. What I do doubt it the UK's readyness for a prime minister with Indian heritage though, and especially the Tories, so Gove is for me the more likely Tory outcome right now.

The ERG was influential only because the government depended on them for its majority from 2017--2019.

That's the only reason anyone had to listen to them and the DUP -- it was an identical situation to that of John Major when he was trying to get the Maastricht Treaty ratified in the 1990s, and he had to try to win over a bunch of crackpots whose influence was out of all proportion to their ability.

Now Johnson has a large majority, he doesn't need them any more.

I really don't think Sunak's background is going to be a problem, any more than was Michael Howard's being Jewish an issue when he led the party in 2003--2005, though back in the 1980s that was certainly a reason why so many Tory MPs disliked Margaret Thatcher's then Home Secretary, Leon Brittan.

The Tories are still racists, but they're a lot more selective in their racism than they used to be.

Time will tell, and we'll have to see how Sunak looks in six months' time, but I can him as PM far more easily than I can see Gove, since Gove is just so untrustworthy and too much implicated in Brexit.

Arkady Arkright · Oct 26, 2020

Innula Zenovka said:
since Gove is just so untrustworthy

Sid · Oct 26, 2020

Gove as PM would be an equally big disaster as PM as BoJo IMHO.

Tirellia · Oct 26, 2020

I think that Gove would make a reasonable minion. He's not an absolutely terrible person and he's reasonably intelligent. He could be given a department and be told he's there for this parliament and the next with no possibility of promotion or reshuffle. Then I think he could do a decent job. And that's about as much praise as I can offer to Gove. Now I need a strong drink. Or three.

Innula Zenovka · Oct 27, 2020

Tirellia said:
I think that Gove would make a reasonable minion. He's not an absolutely terrible person and he's reasonably intelligent. He could be given a department and be told he's there for this parliament and the next with no possibility of promotion or reshuffle. Then I think he could do a decent job. And that's about as much praise as I can offer to Gove. Now I need a strong drink. Or three.

Yes, he was pretty good as Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, trying to clear up the mess Chris Grayling had made (though I suppose Grayling's successor in any job is bound to look good in comparison) and seemed genuinely interested in his work at DEFRA.

But I cannot see him as PM.

Innula Zenovka · Oct 27, 2020

Not really Brexit, but since we were talking about Sunak

Rishi Sunak's ambition is on a collision course with Boris Johnson's ego | Rafael Behr

Tensions over spending offer a taste of Tory strife to come, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

www.theguardian.com

Stora · Oct 29, 2020

Again not Brexit but somehow maybe related on why Labour did so bad at the last General Election.

Labour suspends Jeremy Corbyn over reaction to anti-Semitism report

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has suspended Jeremy Corbyn from the party over his reaction to a highly critical report on anti-Semitism.
The human rights watchdog found Labour responsible for "unlawful" harassment and discrimination during Mr Corbyn's years in charge of the party.
But Mr Corbyn later said the scale of anti-Semitism within Labour had been "dramatically overstated" by opponents.
Labour said he was being suspended "for a failure to retract" his words.
Mr Corbyn reacted by calling the move "political" and promised to "strongly contest" it.

Labour suspends Jeremy Corbyn over reaction to anti-Semitism report

Innula Zenovka · Oct 29, 2020

I'm very pleased Labour has acted so swiftly to suspend him -- I think it was the Party's Disciplinary Unit that suspended him, not Starmer (important because on the main EHRC findings was that the Leader's Office interfered in how complaints about antisemitism were handled, and one of the main recommendations is that, in future, complaints be handled independently), but one way or the other, it needed to happen.

I've never been a fan of Corbyn, who was a nuisance on the back benches and catastrophic as leader. He knows he opposes racism (which I am sure he does) so he knows nothing he says or of which he approves can possibly be antisemitic, because that would be racist, which, by definition, a socialist cannot be, and any attempt to say otherwise is a Tory and Zionist smear. QED.

Anyway, Starmer seems determined to act decisively, which I hope means we in the Labour Party can soon put this shameful episode behind us.

Kamilah Hauptmann · Oct 31, 2020

"I'm just tucking my shirt into my trousers."

Innula Zenovka · Nov 1, 2020

One bit of good news (possibly indicating that HMG has given up on the possibility that Trump will be around next year to agree a fast-track trade deal with the UK).

From an article by Liz Truss and George Eustace, the relevant ministers, in the Mail on Sunday (sorry)

LIZ TRUSS and GEORGE EUSTICE: It's our mission to help farmers thrive

It's no wonder our farmers put the Union Flag symbol on their produce with pride. They know that most Britons are likely to buy items of food and drink if they know they come from this country's soil.

www.dailymail.co.uk

The Government is backing some of the toughest sanctions in Europe to stop animal cruelty.

We will be making the case worldwide for improved animal welfare standards – an opportunity denied as part of the European Union. Chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef are already banned in the UK and we will not negotiate to remove that ban in a trade deal.

We will also maintain our independent Food Standards Agency.

We will make sure – by using a range of tariffs, quotas and safeguards – that Britain's farmers are not undercut by unfair competition from those with lower standards.

Throughout our trade negotiations, we will keep farmers closely involved through the Agri-Food Trade Advisory Group.

ON Friday, we tabled an amendment to the Agriculture Bill to bolster parliamentary scrutiny of free trade agreements. It will place a duty on the Government to report to Parliament on the impact of trade agreements on the maintenance of food, welfare and environmental standards.

Also, we have the independent Trade and Agriculture Commission, under the chairmanship of the trusted former Food Standards Agency head Tim Smith.

Dozens of experts have contributed, hundreds of voices have been called for evidence, while local farmers, businesses and MPs have been involved in roadshows and round-tables.

Thanks to the Commission's excellent work, we are announcing today that it will be made a statutory body which will give independent advice on trade deals as they go through Parliament.

These measures represent a very welcome reversal of the government's previous position, which sought to weaken, or at least to keep open the option to weaken, existing protections and standards, during the negotiations on a possible free trade deal with the US.

ETA

The National Farmers’ Union president, Minette Batters, declared the move to put food standards into primary legislation a “landmark moment for the people of the UK, for our countryside and the future of the food on our plates”.

The U-turn over the agriculture bill comes just days after Boris Johnson met Batters for a private meeting over food standards.

She said the prime minister had responded to the NFU petition, which had been signed by more than 1 million people, and the campaign by animal welfare experts, environmental charities, politicians and celebrities including Jamie Oliver and Joe Wicks.

UK will not import chlorinated chicken from US, ministers say

Britain will also ‘not negotiate to remove ban’ on hormone-fed beef in post-Brexit trade deal

www.theguardian.com

Arkady Arkright · Nov 3, 2020

This article from the Independent discusses both Brexit and the UK's Covid response as a class issue. I very much liked one commenter's description of Boris as a "Poundland Trump" ...

The elite have not had to overcome adversity and are therefore ill-equipped to cope in a crisis – sound familiar, Boris?

Bartholomew Gallacher · Nov 3, 2020

Well COVID19 is of course a class issue; the poorer you are the higher is the chance that you'll suffer more in many countries compared to being wealthy.