Yay or nay - should Britain vote to leave the EU?

[Mugwump]

Leadsom the fraud, pulls out of the race to be P.M.
Once outed, she had nowhere to go.
I hope she doesn't try to play the victim as that would be truly sickening.
No Brexiters left in the running now.

if there is one silver lining in all this, it is that crises have a way of flushing away the lightweights who feed on the crumbling margin of political life. Johnson and now Leadsom (and a bloke called Gove), who were all previously taken seriously, have now been exposed as fleas and poseurs. In May, we are left with someone who might - just - be up to the job, on the Tory side at least. There is no sign of that in Labour, though eventually I trust that the acid will burn through deeply enough to destroy the Troskyists who have now taken over that great and important party.

[Jezza]

Angela Eagle has launched a leadership challenge against Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour Party leadership.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07 ... eresa-may/

[sixpoints]

Leadsom the fraud, pulls out of the race to be P.M.
Once outed, she had nowhere to go.
I hope she doesn't try to play the victim as that would be truly sickening.
No Brexiters left in the running now.

if there is one silver lining in all this, it is that crises have a way of flushing away the lightweights who feed on the crumbling margin of political life. Johnson and now Leadsom (and a bloke called Gove), who were all previously taken seriously, have now been exposed as fleas and poseurs. In May, we are left with someone who might - just - be up to the job, on the Tory side at least. There is no sign of that in Labour, though eventually I trust that the acid will burn through deeply enough to destroy the Troskyists who have now taken over that great and important party.

Good way of putting it M.
This is undoubtedly a time that needs the best leadership the UK can muster. As the dreamers, blowhards, fantasists and party hacks are put under the microscope they will crumble. That goes for both sides of politics. May seems to be the best bet. Good grief she will need to step up as the tough negotiations with the hard nosed and experienced EU on all matters in all industries in finance, trade & people movement begins.

[Wokko]

[regan is true fullback]

I thought fourteen year olds liked fart jokes...

[stui magpie]

Leadsom the fraud, pulls out of the race to be P.M.
Once outed, she had nowhere to go.
I hope she doesn't try to play the victim as that would be truly sickening.
No Brexiters left in the running now.

if there is one silver lining in all this, it is that crises have a way of flushing away the lightweights who feed on the crumbling margin of political life. Johnson and now Leadsom (and a bloke called Gove), who were all previously taken seriously, have now been exposed as fleas and poseurs. In May, we are left with someone who might - just - be up to the job, on the Tory side at least. There is no sign of that in Labour, though eventually I trust that the acid will burn through deeply enough to destroy the Troskyists who have now taken over that great and important party.

Good way of putting it M.
This is undoubtedly a time that needs the best leadership the UK can muster. As the dreamers, blowhards, fantasists and party hacks are put under the microscope they will crumble. That goes for both sides of politics. May seems to be the best bet. Good grief she will need to step up as the tough negotiations with the hard nosed and experienced EU on all matters in all industries in finance, trade & people movement begins.

Yep. So explain how Boris Johnson being the new foreign minister works with that?

[Pies4shaw]

If he still harbours leadership ambitions, as the new PM probably suspects, he has the chance to bury himself completely in this role.

[stui magpie]

^

Surely it doesn't need that? The boy would be out of his depth in a wading pool.

Wannabe Trump but more Clive Palmer

[Mugwump]

if there is one silver lining in all this, it is that crises have a way of flushing away the lightweights who feed on the crumbling margin of political life. Johnson and now Leadsom (and a bloke called Gove), who were all previously taken seriously, have now been exposed as fleas and poseurs. In May, we are left with someone who might - just - be up to the job, on the Tory side at least. There is no sign of that in Labour, though eventually I trust that the acid will burn through deeply enough to destroy the Troskyists who have now taken over that great and important party.

Good way of putting it M.
This is undoubtedly a time that needs the best leadership the UK can muster. As the dreamers, blowhards, fantasists and party hacks are put under the microscope they will crumble. That goes for both sides of politics. May seems to be the best bet. Good grief she will need to step up as the tough negotiations with the hard nosed and experienced EU on all matters in all industries in finance, trade & people movement begins.

Yep. So explain how Boris Johnson being the new foreign minister works with that?

Umm.... thinks.... scratches arse.... errrmm.... nope, don't think I can.

The two other large foreign-policy roles - Brexit minister and Trade Secretary - are also EU sceptics. I imagine her thinking is that we will have to backtrack as we engage with the real world trade-offs involved in dealing with the EU ... and these guys may be believed, rather than being seen as "backsliding remainers". It's a fairly politically astute move, seen in that light, though the only job I would give Boris is as an exhibit in a glass case at a museum.

If nothing else, it'll be fun watching someone arrive in Washington as foreign secretary who not too long ago described Hillary Clinton as having the persona of a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital, Obama as "part-Kenyan with an ancestral dislike of the UK", and said the only problem with New York is that you might run into Trump. Oh well.

[David]

^ I do find it perplexing that anyone takes this fellow seriously enough to give him any kind of responsibility. As a mayor, sure (that position seems to attract such types). As a clownish celebrity campaigner for a given cause, sure. But as someone with a serious role in government? Can someone fill me in on what I'm missing here?

[Wokko]

I'd say he was promised a major portfolio to drop out of the race for PM.

[Mugwump]

Yeah Nah, Wokko. Johnson was knifed by his own campaign manager, who completed the coup de grace after many others had walked away because he was so unprincipled in supporting Brexit in pursuit of his own political ambition (having previously been a strong supporter of the EU). His inability to organise a campaign and recall to whom he had offered what also seemed to be a factor. How that qualifies him for one of the great offices of state is a mystery to me. He backed Leadsom for the leadership not May, so I think it is pretty clear that dropping out of the race was not a factor in him being rewarded by May.

Why did May choose him ? I suppose because the real foreign policy agenda of the next 5 years will be built around trade and Europe - and she has put two hard nuts into those jobs. Presumably Boris is really there as a marketing device for a certain kind of eccentric Britishness, where he has a strong brand. He also appeals to a certain kind of Tory crusty. It still seems an odd decision to me, but I guess that was the thinking.

[Wokko]

Fair enough, British politics always seems so messy.


In other news, May is willing to launch the nukes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZPVqoF7j5M

[Mugwump]

^ yes, she answered that well. No waffly equivocation, no self-defeating virtue-signalling, just the one answer that might make a potential nuclear aggressor stop and think that this might be the ultimate suicide note : "Yes". I recognise that acts of suicidal aggression are becoming more popular in some parts of the world, but dictators do not usually volunteer for those.

May has already shown a steely tendency to act within the world as it is, not as she wishes it might be. She is also reflecting a strong sense of dignity and propriety in office. Early days, but she looks very promising.

[thesoretoothsayer]

Ringo has come out in support of Brexit.
Argument is now closed.

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status ... 6002717699