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Stand back everyone. Dave has spoken
David Cameron joins ex-PMs warning against Boris Johnson's Brexit bill
Nothing on whether he feels any responsibility for the greatest ****-up any country has ever inflicted on itself, but, you know... nice of him to chip in. I'm sure we all greatly value his opinion
Nothing on whether he feels any responsibility for the greatest ****-up any country has ever inflicted on itself, but, you know… nice of him to chip in. I’m sure we all greatly value his opinion
It is just a soundbite for him. He knows he will just be dismissed as a bitter remoaner by the loons anyway.
Doesn't even register.
Wrote to my MP - turns out they are happy to be a law breaker. I might head to something they hold dear & break the law there is a small a specific way.
Thank you for contacting me again.
Last week, Wednesday saw Back British Farming Day, the national day to celebrate our support for British Farmers.
I took the opportunity to meet with leading Cornish food producer Riviera Produce, who supply to some of the UK’s major supermarkets. One interesting fact I learned from my visit is that currently Cornish cauliflowers reach 95% of British supermarkets, a really positive example of how our supply chains currently work. This is just one element of our current arrangements that would be disrupted if the EU get their way in the current Brexit negotiations, hence why the Government is bringing forward the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill, which caused controversy and probably considerable headaches around the EU negotiating table last week.
With the end of the Brexit transition period, the UK will leave the EU single market. The EU legal underpinnings for free trade in goods and services between the four nations will fall away. To prevent new barriers to intra-UK trade from emerging the Government has proposed a new legal framework: the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill.
The aims of the Bill are to provide continuity for businesses and citizens and improve competitiveness and business environment across the UK. The Bill will contribute to general welfare and prosperity in all nations of the UK. A UK internal market will help the UK in reaching international trade agreements and allow the benefits of those agreements to extend to all parts of the UK.
The provisions of the Bill set out general principles for market access and support, affecting trade in goods and services. The UK internal market principles would apply all to nations of the UK equally.
There are several principles within the Bill.
The first principle means that if a good or service can be legally sold in one part of the UK, then it can be sold in any part of the UK. This is the principle of mutual recognition.
The second principle prevents parts of the UK treating goods coming in from other parts of the UK less favourably than local goods. This is the principle of non-discrimination.
Other principles include the introduction of a unified system for the recognition of professional qualifications across the UK for professions that are regulated by law, the establishment of an independent Office for the Internal Market and a proposal that Restricts UK authorities from using their powers after the transition period in a way that might result in the introduction of checks, controls or administrative processes for goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.
Importantly for areas of the UK like Cornwall that have previously been in receipt of EU funding, the Bill also creates a new power allowing ministers to provide financial assistance for a wide range of different purposes. This power is intended to be used to replace the funding that the EU currently distributes within the UK. The Bill also contains provisions on government financial assistance and clauses that in effect give the UK Parliament the exclusive right to legislate on how subsidy controls will work in the future.
The Internal Market Bill is one that will provide the foundation for our internal economy as we move beyond Brexit, and allow the Government to replace EU funding with monies that are better targeted and easier to access than what we have received in the past. It is one that I fully support and I look forward to seeing it pass through Parliament and become law.
Thank you once again for getting in touch and if I can be of further assistance with any other matter, then please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,
Cherilyn
Dave has spoken
So, that’s all the past Tory leaders apart from IDS? Howard was fuming about it, and no one can dismiss him as a “remoaner”.
Wrote to my MP – turns out they are happy to be a law breaker. I might head to something they hold dear & break the law there is a small a specific way.
I've written to my MP too. Not that I expect a reply. He never replies to anyones letters or emails and immediately blocks anyone who asks him questions on social media.
I know which way he'll vote, of course. He's one of the new 'Red Wall' Tories, so he's a full on Brexiteer and will vote for whatever Dom tells him to vote for.
The irony is that he was, prior to being an MP, a criminal defence lawyer. I'm not sure how that fits with a positive endorsement of breaking the law, whether in 'a small a specific way', or otherwise.
I’ve written to my MP too. Not that I expect a reply. He never replies to anyones letters or emails and immediately blocks anyone who asks him questions on social media.
Ours has blocked me on Facebook, but not twitter - & generally replies to my emails.
Yup, he'll just get a court injunction so that the answer to the question "how many people have you ****ed and then dumped 9 months later" goes from "It's a secret but it's probably 6, maybe" to "It's a secret but it's the entire population of the UK"
Well who would have thought it Ed Miliband tearing Boris a new one... and generally doing a proper job on the Internal market..
Well who would have thought it Ed Miliband tearing Boris a new one… and generally doing a proper job on the Internal market..
If only he could eat a bacon sandwich we wouldn't be even talking about this...
I am assuming this is Keir's speach the way it is structured but Ed is delivering it brilliantly
If only he could eat a bacon sandwich we wouldn’t be even talking about this…
Was never a huge fan of ED M, but It's surprisingly easy to get a really horrific picture of someone eating if you have a camera that takes 14 pictures per second and a big SD card.
In other news:
Arlene:
“We are not the play thing of the European Union and it causes great difficulties here in Northern Ireland when people use Northern Ireland in that fashion.”
Leo:
“Countries all around the world, are wondering if this is the kind of place we can do any deal with or any treaty with.”
Arlene really is as thick as mince, isn’t she? He’s thrown her under the bus once and she’s deluding herself if she thinks he won’t do it again at the drop of a hat when it suits him
Looks like Cummings is doing his bully-boy thing again. He really must be spectacularly deficient in certain physical quarters to carry on the way he does
https://twitter.com/tnewtondunn/status/1305458599137890305?s=12
Even with an 80 seat majority, he’s going to run out of MPs to boot out of the party before long.
This sums up the insane world of the Cummings Tory Party
https://twitter.com/trevorgreetham/status/1305485230388674561?s=21
Ed Miliband tearing Boris a new one… and generally doing a proper job on the Internal market..
I didn’t vote for Labour under Miliband, and if I met him, I’d apologise. But his ‘controls on immigration’ mug (we’ve had controls in place for over 200 years unbroken now) helped to get us where we are now… with the lie that we had to leave the EU to prevent ‘uncontrolled immigration’ taking hold in the minds of the public even in the Labour voting heartlands… and that’s why they are no longer Labour voting heartlands. He contributed to that. But… he’s been pretty good on his current brief since Starmer appointed him… he’s at the right level now… a candidate to be a minister, not a leader of the country (or of an election campaign).
https://twitter.com/screamofficial/status/1305570043934257152?s=21
https://twitter.com/iamhappytoast/status/1305568921769082886?s=21
That is ****ing brilliant!
He really must be spectacularly deficient in certain physical quarters to carry on the way he does
Ask Boris, he noshes him off whenever Dom says so.
I listened to Boris getting his arse handed to him by Ed Miliband. Watching it is even better.
Like a naughty schoolboy who’s just been told that, no, I don’t believe the dog ate your homework
binners
Nothing on whether he feels any responsibility for the greatest ****-up any country has ever inflicted on itself,
To be fair, he didn't invade Russia
I listened to Boris getting his arse handed to him by Ed Miliband. Watching it is even better.
Like a naughty schoolboy who’s just been told that, no, I don’t believe the dog ate your homework
Yeah, but that wasn't the look of someone getting angry over something that actually matters to him. It wasn't even the look of someone who is narked because he has been shown up for being lazy and useless.
That look said to me "I don't give a shit what you're saying or that I can't answer it. I'm out of here in less than six months, then I am untouchable".
I don't think I could ever tire of punching that ugly gloating mug. The only way I would consider stopping is if I could divert my attentions onto Cummings.
To be fair, he didn’t invade Russia
Yeah, hard to match this.
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That momentary look of blind terror on Johnson's face when Milliband challenged him to specify the sections of the bill and protocol which did what he claimed they did. Priceless.
That momentary look of blind terror on Johnson’s face when Milliband challenged him to specify the sections of the bill and protocol which did what he claimed they did. Priceless.
Not priceless. Johnson knows exactly the price and he's being paid that plus 50%.
He doesn't give a shit, because soon he won't have to.
Why are you all convinced his time is short?
No one knows for sure how long Johnson will stick around for
but hes notoriously lazy & Im not sure he fancies the next decade of grinding brexit negotiations any more than the rest of us do
Why are you all convinced his time is short?
He hasn't got the attention span or attention to detail or plain effort to see anything through fully.
This is part of the reason for all this 'rip up the rules' brinkmanship. Albeit a minor one next to the fact that Brexit is an utterly stupid and self-harming idea.
He isn't going to stick around to actually eat the shit sandwich.
My money is on some kind of covid-related longterm health excuse in late Jan or early Feb.
Nothing to do with being permanently pissed, obviously.
Yip. Like his old Eton chum Dave, he’ll simply stroll away from the smouldering wreckage, whistling.
He’ll be gone by the second week in January when the true horror of no deal becomes reality. As Milliband pointed out accurately today, he’s never taken responsibility for anything in his life. I seriously doubt he’s about to start now
There is a lot of talk of how passing the internal trade bill will ruin the UK's reputation. Surely even talking about the bill in Parliament is enough to do that. It shows that the PM and the government want to act in bad faith and are willing to break the law (again). It shows that they want to override devolved Parliaments and grab powers back. It shows complete and total arrogance and I really hope enough Tory back benchers vote against their whip to stop Boris and Cummings in their tracks.
I certainly wouldn’t bank on that. Brexit is littered with the cowardice of Tory Backbenchers who turned out to be all talk
The bill will pass & then when the consequences of this play out, Johnsons next transgression/lie/crime will have to be even bigger than the last
Theres no way enough backbenchers will turn against him, theyre craven
That look said to me “I don’t give a shit what you’re saying or that I can’t answer it. I’m here for years, and I am untouchable”.
[fixed]
All this talk of him getting bored/tied and moving on… the same was said about Trump… these people won’t willingly leave their castles… being out of their depth doesn’t matter to them, because the little people pay the price… they get to keep wearing the crown.
Johnsons next transgression/lie/crime will have to be even bigger than the last
Which is why he won't last. That succession of needing to tell ever bigger lies won't even appeal to Johnson. He only became PM for his own ego and the Tories only let him because of his supposed razzamatazz. He never did believe in Brexit.
He isn't going to stick around dealing with something he probably views as something that was not his problem in the first place.
He won’t be dealing with it, we will. He’ll just carry on with the cosplay Churchill thing, and signing off on billions of our money going to shell companies.
Was hoping the majority would have been smaller yesterday, but BBC coverage suggests it will be later votes on amendments that may flush out the MPs with spines.
I intend piling in to my MPs inbox later - much as I don't like her, she has gone against the party whip before, and she isn't in a safe Tory seat by any means.
I listened to Boris getting his arse handed to him by Ed Miliband. Watching it is even better.
Like a naughty schoolboy who’s just been told that, no, I don’t believe the dog ate your homework
Yeah, but that wasn’t the look of someone getting angry over something that actually matters to him. It wasn’t even the look of someone who is narked because he has been shown up for being lazy and useless.
That look said to me “I don’t give a shit what you’re saying or that I can’t answer it. I’m out of here in less than six months, then I am untouchable”.
I don’t think I could ever tire of punching that ugly gloating mug. The only way I would consider stopping is if I could divert my attentions onto Cummings.
Bagsy second in the queue!
Boris looked drunk or stoned to me. Glassy eyes, wandering focus, wobbly head etc. He definitely wasn't focussed on the job in hand.
He never is.
The joy of Millbands demolition job was that Alok Sharma was meant to be delivering that speech who gets through anything by sending everyone to sleep.
But once the lazy egomaniac found out that Starmer was absent he thought he'd get an easier ride off Milliband and get away with just doing his usual bullshit and bluster routine.
Boy, did he get that one wrong
John Crace's summary in the Guardian is particularly good
Ed Miliband revels in making Boris Johnson look like a second-rate conman
I believe the real problem is that the paper based system doesn't actually exist at the scale that will be needed either.
https://twitter.com/adampayne26/status/1305978647061434370
Just starting on R4 now, 'More Or Less'.
Another bullshit free takedown of Boris's bullshit.
I believe the real problem is that the paper based system doesn’t actually exist at the scale that will be needed either.
But it is 'world-beating', yes?
I expect something Cummings is working on is a new catchphrase for stuff that inevitably turns out to be shit. People are already widely using 'world-beating' in a sarcastic way.
Whatever next?
'Gold Standard'?
'Premier'?
Policy announcements as hand carwash options.
But it is ‘world-beating’, yes?
You misheard... they said 'beta', not 'beating'.
Logistics UK says it learned today that the Smart Freight System being developed by the government for handling cross-border trade won’t be ready for Jan
Well, who'd have thunk it? A government IT project behind schedule? Did they mention which January they were referring too? 2030? 2035? No mention of the inevitable cost increases? What do we reckon? triple the original estimate? quadruple?
Well, who’d have thunk it? A government IT project behind schedule? Did they mention which January they were referring too? 2030? 2035? No mention of the inevitable cost increases? What do we reckon? triple the original estimate? quadruple?
I'm sure someone will be along on January 2nd to say that it will be ready 'within weeks', and 'world-beating' as well.
It seems only fitting for this country that the seamless, invisible border solutions proposed by David Davis - just keep saying the word 'technology' and everything will be fine - is now going to be thousands of jobsworth blokes in hi-vis jackets, wielding clipboards.
The perfect image for 'Global Britain'

A government IT project behind schedule?
Are systems in place in Ireland, Holland and France? (of course they are)
Did the EU offer to give us more time to put our systems in place? (of course they did)
Brilliant Binners
Lord keen the advocate general for Scotland has now resigned over the NI issue. As cherry points out is going to be very hard for the tories to find someone to replace him.
Just can't stop making a mental connection with what appears to be a recent crazed rush and acceleration of behaviour with the diasppearance of a certain MP over the summer.
Is there a separate EU thread? With what’s happening in Poland and all...
Start a thread on Poland’s anti LGBT+ laws… and the MEPs pushing for action… I’ll see you there… let’s see how long it can stay open…
anyone shocked?
Just in...
Joe Biden
@JoeBiden
We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.Any trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.
And this from Congress to johnson...
https://twitter.com/HouseForeign/status/1305935896630493184?s=20
I was privileged to visit Northern Ireland last weekend for the first time. Quite humbling to see the scenes of the Troubles close up. I defy anyone who has been there not to consider the primacy of the Good Friday Agreement over some petty Brexit negotiation. The US are telling (yes telling) us the way forward. We ignore it at our peril.
So sending Raab over there hasn't been such a success
I'm shocked, he seems such a charming & honest person
I defy anyone who has been there not to consider the primacy of the Good Friday Agreement over some petty Brexit negotiation.
Having spent a lot of time over there at the height of the troubles (in 'Bandit Country'/ South Armagh), the one thing that annoys me most about Brexit (and there are many things) is the casual disregard with which the GFA is being put in jeopardy.
Only the most deranged lunatic would flirt with anything that risked a return to the violence of the past. But thats where we are. We do indeed have deranged lunatics at the wheel. Everything must be sacrificed on the alter of their nationalist populism.
It's coming to something when the present American administration is telling us that we're being reckless.
The fact that this country is advocating breaking international law is bad enough. That the issue they're doing that over is one that threatens to plunge an area of the UK back onto a de facto war footing is beyond madness. Its not just that they don't understand the politics of NI (they don't), they don't even want to. They just don't care.
Its absolutely insane!
We will soon be (or are) moving from the sellers of Brexit saying the NI situation is a "non-problem" or solvable via "technology"... to where we all know they will end up... using the Brexit mess to try and diminish the Irish government and Irish people (both sides of the border), and trying to make them do as we say, not as they seek to agree with their partners in the EU. While for many who supported Brexit the NI situation is just an inconvenience they don't have the means to do away with... amongst those pushing it hardest there are some who seek to damage the interests of the EU, Ireland, and anyone in NI who isn't a Union Flag waver... to not recognise that and act accordingly (be that key responsible people in positions of power in the EU, USA or UK) would be very dangerous.
We will soon be (or are) moving from the sellers of Brexit saying the NI situation is a “non-problem” or solvable via “technology”… to where we all know they will end up… using the Brexit mess to try and diminish the Irish government and Irish people (both sides of the border), and trying to make them do as we say, not as they seek to agree with their partners in the EU.
I believe the fashionable turn of phrase for Northern Ireland in the context of Brexit/GFA is 'loose ends'.
Populist shysters.
Our problem is, that from the point of view of an American politician of any stripe, there is little or no political capital for an American politician to successfully sign a free trade agreement with Britain. The very closeness of the relationship means the best response they could hope for from their electorate would be “so what?”, and some of their voters would be hostile to any agreement.
Balancing this, particularly on the eastern seaboard, the mid west and the south (basically anywhere with an Irish population) the consequences of being seen to be “selling out the old country to the Brits” would be an electoral drubbing. Little upside, considerable downside and a certain knowledge that we need them much more than they need us means we will have lots of polite meetings, but no progress unless it is us rolling over and letting the US walk all over us.
the consequences of being seen to be “selling out the old country to the Brits” would be an electoral drubbing
Which is precisely why we will never get back anything we lose on, for example, the NHS.
Once US Pharma and Healthcare Insurance are balls deep, no US administration would be willing or able to reverse it.
Once US Pharma and Healthcare Insurance are balls deep, no US administration would be willing or able to reverse it.
Everything about Brexit has the word 'irreversible' stamped all over it.
This is a ram raid. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the hard-right disaster capitalists to tear up 70 years of socially liberal progress and return us to the social realities of the 1930's.
No NHS. No welfare state. No workers Rights. No environmental controls. A moneyed elite of untouchable robber barons in complete control of the nation and a population regarded as little more than cannon fodder and serfs.
They need complete chaos in need to facilitate this. Hence the headlong rush for No Deal. Nothing less will provide them with the cover they need.
When we're plunged into bedlam in January, just watch the speed with which the cornerstones of a civilised society, that we presently take for granted, will be torched. They've been planning for this moment for decades. They won't waste a second.
Binners in fine form today
For the last 4 years I've been becoming Marvin. The transition has been fully completed over the last few months

Rare sighting of Binners...
Ladies and gentlemen.... the UK Foreign Secretary....
https://twitter.com/EmmandJDeSouza/status/1306319236583903234?s=20
You'd think that as the central conundrum of the Brexit he campaigned for he might have set aside the time to read the whole 35 pages of the GFA, but no. Why would he do that?
...the Center parcs welcome brochure probably runs to 40 pages
Or , as it's Raab we re talking about 'american psycho' by Bret Easton Ellis. 500 pages?
Word count comparison - for context:
- GFA 12,000 words
- Matilda by Roald Dahl 40,000 words
In general...
Novel - 40,000+ words
Novella - 17,500 to 40,000 words
Novelette - 7,500 to 17,500 words
Short story - upto 7,500 words
How many words has raab read to his children over the course of 2 or 3 nights?
How little effort would it take to read and understand 12,000 words of plainly written text?
Raab couldn't read the instructions on a pot noodle never mind the GFA
It's indicative of how seriously this lot and their 'we've had enough of experts' mentality take their responsibilities. ie: hardly, at all.
Right from the top down with Boris 'Details Man' Johnson who clearly still hasn't read either the withdrawal agreement or the GFA either.
Raab has form. Remember that this is the man who as Brexit secretary was not only surprised to discover how dependent the UK, as an Island, was on its ports, but he openly vocalised this pig ignorance and stupidity on live TV.
He was actually so dense that he didn't even realise that informing the world of this groundbreaking discovery would signal up to anyone who was in any doubt that he's as thick as mince. If anyone over the age of 4 had told you this, you'd think they were a bit slow on the uptake.
Has anyone ever asked the Pope if he's sat down and read the entire Bible? I bet he just skimmed through to the relevant bits - I mean, all that 'x begat y' stuff, who needs it? Just pick out the verses that say gays will burn in hell, and the jobs a good'un.
Has anyone ever asked the Pope if he’s sat down and read the entire Bible?
In fairness to the Pope, he actually needs an international trade agreement if he wants to nip out for a paper, panini and 20 B&H.
Raab couldn’t read the instructions on a pot noodle never mind the GFA
The GFA is written in very simple and concise language.. A five year old could understand it.
For very good reasons it seems, to stop future dodgy PMs and MPs trying to misinterpret it.
I'd wager it's more difficult to work out how much boiling water you should put in a pot noodle, than it is to misunderstand the GFA.
to stop future dodgy PMs and MPs trying to misinterpret it.
Ha! Who needs to misinterpret it when you can just pretend it doesn't exist? That'll teach you to overestimate the integrity and intelligence of the UK Government.
Ha! Who needs to misinterpret it when you can just pretend it doesn’t exist? That’ll teach you to overestimate the integrity and intelligence of the UK Government.
Yes, more the fool, me. Which is actually what the rest of the world is thinking about trusting the UK in any future trade agreements.
Raab couldn’t read the instructions on a pot noodle never mind the GFA
Dominic 'Doh so this Dover place is actually quite important' Raab.
Thick, arrogant, dissembling, disingenuous, dismissive cockwomble. Just like his boss.
And Boris Johnson.
You’d think that as the central conundrum of the Brexit he campaigned for he might have set aside the time to read the whole 35 pages of the GFA, but no. Why would he do that?
To be fair to Raaaaaaaab, the big print version (incorporating easy to understand cartoons of Seamus Greenhat and Johnny 'Mad Dog' Orangehat and their many potential disagreements) probably runs to nearly 80 pages. With a little yellow duck to spot on every one.
Also, why bother understanding something when you're just going to proceed by pretending it doesn't exist?
Who would you believe - Road Haulage Association and associated trade bodies or a gov spox?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54194339
From that:
To help businesses prepare, we have launched a major communications campaign
Stop campaigning, start governing! They created this job for themselves, yet can’t be arsed to get on with it, they just keep telling us that it’s happening, ready or not. Thanks for nothing.
From that Beeb article that Frank linked to:
In Kent a coronavirus testing centre has been closed to make way for a lorry park to accommodate post-Brexit customs checks.
Pretty clear where the priorities lie for this bunch of crooks.
Why did they mention her husband?
Perhaps or the same reason as they usually mention the Queen when reporting on Philip. It's quite heartening the number of people resigning over the "illegal" law.
In other news, what do the red, blue (turquoise) and green mean? I'm green which I'm very happy with but some of the reds are definitley not socialist and the most of the blue's are leftward leaning.
what do the red, blue (turquoise) and green mean? I’m green which I’m very happy with but some of the reds are definitley not socialist and the most of the blue’s are leftward leaning.
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