May running scared from debate shows even SHE has no confidence in herself
December 17 was a big day in the House of Commons.
Theresa May turned up to report her pathetic – miserable? Abject? – failure to bring back anything useful from her meetings with EU leaders last week over her Brexit deal (in fact she ended up with less security than when she left the UK).
Jeremy Corbyn told her to stop hanging about and set a date for the delayed “meaningful vote”, in which Parliament can provide its verdict on the deal, demand changes, and even delay the UK’s departure from the EU, if it is deemed necessary in order to get an acceptable agreement.
Mrs May said it would happen on January 14, nearly a month from now and five weeks after the date originally set for the vote (which Mrs May called off when she realised she didn’t have a chance of winning it).
Mr Corbyn said, “I should bleedin’ cocoa,” or words to that effect, and tabled a motion of “no confidence” in Mrs May. And didn’t she look old, when he was doing it? Tired out; defeated … I wouldn’t be surprised if she resigned.
It is unacceptable for the country to wait another month before Parliament has the chance to vote on Theresa May's botched deal.
Therefore I have tabled a motion of no confidence in the PM this evening, so Parliament can take back control. #NoConfidence pic.twitter.com/IRXeaScpZm
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) December 17, 2018
In her immediate response, though, Mrs May… ran away.
She scuttled out of the House of Commons like a scalded rat.
Wow – Theresa May storms out seconds after Jeremy Corbyn announces he will table a no confidence motion in the Prime Minister: pic.twitter.com/2MkrWPE4xa
— Dave Ward (@DaveWardGS) December 17, 2018
Subsequent developments suggest she cleared off to get legal advice on reasons to deny Mr Corbyn his debate (the government may refuse to allow a debate and vote on his motion, although a good reason is expected).
https://twitter.com/liamyoung/status/1074731124126044160
Before she responded – not in person, of course; she got some flunky to do it – both the Democratic Unionist Party (which had been propping up Mrs May’s minority government until its MPs realised she had double-crossed him over the Irish border ‘backstop’ arrangement) and Jacob Rees-Mogg, spokesman for the Tory backbench European Research Group (who had demanded his own vote of “no confidence” – in Mrs May’s leadership of the Conservative Party because he didn’t like her Brexit deal either) declared that Mrs May had their full support.
This means the DUP is now a gang of hypocrites who have betrayed their voters by supporting a deal that could lead to Northern Ireland quitting the UK and rejoining the Irish Republic…
Tonight, the DUP confirm that they will ride to the rescue of Theresa May in tomorrow’s No-Confidence Vote. The unionists who want you to believe they’re upset about May’s Border in the Irish Sea will single handedly ensure she survives. Wait until their voter base find that out.
— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) December 17, 2018
… and the ERG, along with any other Tories who voted against Mrs May but planned to support her in Mr Corbyn’s vote, are also a gang of hypocrites because they actually voted to remove Mrs May from office, less than a week ago.
How exciting. @jeremycorbyn tables a vote of confidence in @theresa_may, so we face the delicious prospect of @Jacob_Rees_Mogg explaining why he now has full confidence in her just 5 days after insisting she should step down.
— Dr Phil Hammond 💙 (@drphilhammond) December 17, 2018
These 2 clips, just 7 days apart, sum up the rank, self serving hypocrisy of Jacob Rees Mogg and every thing that is rotten in this Government which now puts desperate self preservation before national interest pic.twitter.com/bDGpQHM6xh
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) December 17, 2018
To quote the (soon-to-be-former?) prime minister herself, nothing has changed – so the 117 Tories who voted against her have no reason to change their minds.
The question for those 117 Tories tomorrow is this: if she’s not good enough for the Tory party, how can she be good enough for the country? #noconfidence pic.twitter.com/KmXd8YJKb9
— Dave Ward (@DaveWardGS) December 17, 2018
Right wingers are NOT liking me pointing out that Corbyn just either made 117 Tory MPs total hypocrites, or forced their hand either way. The more they don’t like it, the cleverer I know it must be.
— Sue Marsh (@suey2y) December 17, 2018
2 of 2
Corbyn traps Tory MPs with misfeasance by putting party before country, breaking the oath they took and intentionally undertaking misconduct in public office.
— Ron Moore MP (@RonMooreMoreRon) December 17, 2018
(That’s unless you count the fact that Brexit is due to happen right before a new EU law comes into force that penalises tax evaders and Mrs May’s plans ensure that it won’t apply to the UK – although the reason they might want to get out of the bloc before falling under the jurisdiction of such legislation just… I don’t know… escapes me.)
The reason May wants to avoid an extension to Article 50 at all costs is it will expose a few very rich people to new EU tax evasion regulation. The country is a hostage to corruption.
Simples
— Ros Chappell 🇺🇦StandWithUkraine ⭐️UK Rejoin 🇪🇺 (@RosChappell) December 17, 2018
Late in the evening, Mrs May’s flunky turned up with an excuse to deny Mr Corbyn his vote of “no confidence” in Mrs May.
As of now, 8.50pm, govt will NOT allow time for Jeremy Corbyn's motion to be debated becuase it would be in words of a number 10 source, 'silly political games' – because it would have no status under law (discuss)
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) December 17, 2018
I consider myself to be a sensible , well balanced person, but NOW I'm beginning to take the view that under this Govt, Parliamentary Democracy is a FARCE.
— Clare Hepworth OBE (@Hepworthclare) December 17, 2018
No sweat. It seems Mr Corbyn intended to escalate his motion to “no confidence” to one in the government if the government blocked his motion against Mrs May – for obvious reasons.
Am told Labour chief whip Nick Brown told PLP if the government doesn’t grant time for Jeremy Corbyn’s no confidence motion in Theresa May then Labour will escalate: no confidence motion in government as a whole under Fixed Term Parliaments Act. That has to be granted time
— Nicholas Watt (@nicholaswatt) December 17, 2018
As it is, he was pre-empted by the leaders of the other opposition parties. They wanted to make Labour look bad for failing to demand a vote of “no confidence” against the government in the first place (even though such a vote would have been lost; the motion against Mrs May had to come first, because it puts the screws on the other MPs who had turned on her).
This is a cynical move that only reduces the prospect of defeating the government. These parties don't care about defeating the government, they only care about making sure the motion is defeated. From the turncoat who sold out his party for a ministerial limo, I'm not surprised. https://t.co/XR5z2pJ4lz
— Paul Sweeney (@PaulJSweeney) December 17, 2018
Oh yeah, and the Tory-supporting mass media have been pretending that those other opposition leaders are right, in a desperate bid to stop Mrs May and her Brexit deal looking like what they are.
Now Corbyn is very close to power.
Watch as MSM try to defend the indefensible – May – and to destroy, if they can, her Socialist opponent.— Tom London (@TomLondon6) December 17, 2018
Apparently someone on Newsnight didn’t get the memo and called them for what they are.
DID #NEWSNIGHT REALLY JUST COMPARE MAY'S BREXIT DEAL TO A TURD 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/hRaC3Wwccv
— Steve Topple (@MrTopple) December 17, 2018
So at start of play on Tuesday:
- The DUP have been outed as hypocrites for supporting Mrs May in spite of that party’s own policies.
- The ERG has been outed as hypocrites for supporting Mrs May in spite of her failure to give them any of the assurances they wanted.
- The Tory backbenchers who voted against Mrs May last week will be hypocrites if they don’t vote against her in whatever “no confidence” motion actually happens.
- The leaders of the opposition parties that aren’t Labour are hypocrites because they have been briefing against Mr Corbyn for failing to call a “confidence” motion against Mrs May’s government that they know can’t be won on its own; the people mentioned immediately above had to be reminded of their own behaviour first.
- The Tory-supporting mainstream media are a very poor joke.
- Mr Corbyn is golden.
- And Theresa May is toast. It is clear that she does not have the confidence of the House of Commons; otherwise she would have allowed MPs to discuss the motion of “no confidence” in her.
Corbyn hasn't just out-manoeuvred May, he's out-manoeuvred all Tory MPs, the Conservative Party and the UK government. #NoConfidence
— Thomas H. 💙 (@THemingford) December 17, 2018
I can’t wait for whatever happens next. If someone calls Mr Corbyn an anti-Semite again, we’ll know they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel.
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The Daily Telegraph the Times are doing their best to spin this as May being some sort of valiant hero. I suspect they may have overreached themselves this time, you can only stretch credibility so far before it snaps. The rest of MSM appear to be either studiously ignoring events or are broadly neutral (at least on their front pages)
“May dares Corbyn to call vote of confidence,” says the lead headline in the Daily Telegraph.
The same headline appears on the Times’ main story, which also says that the Prime Minister has secured the backing of Conservative Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party if the opposition takes up her offer.
The i focuses on Jeremy Corbyn’s motion of no confidence in Theresa May, as the Labour leader accuses her of “dither and delay”. Criticised from “all sides”, May insists the choice is “her deal or no deal”,
Theresa May is pushing the Brexit vote “to the wire”, according to Metro. The paper says that an “angry” Jeremy Corbyn accused the prime minister of “running down the clock” by setting the date for the vote on her deal in mid-January.
Meanwhile, ministers will be told to start spending £1.5bn set aside to prepare for the prospect of leaving the EU without a deal, the Daily Express says. The paper says that only a third of the money has been used so far.
Theresa May “will step up warnings” about the risks of no deal as she tries to win support for her EU withdrawal agreement, according to the main story in The Guardian.
Enter new antisemite allegations stage left.
Tories will be trolling through all Corbyn’s social media accounts as we speak, looking for anything juicy they can use. They’re probably also trolling his sons and his brother for the same reason. Anything goes.
These asshats are the biggest hypocrites going. They make me sick. In order to get a grip on Brexit, the architect of the duff deal needs to be gone. Rees-Mogg said so himself. Yet they will all support her to ensure she continues to make an utter and complete shambles of Brexit.
Party before country, on a grand scale.
Well she didn’t run away it is normal for the p.m. to leave after such debates or pmq’s, but she looked distinctly grey.
You can’t accuse her of being a ReMAYner though (as you usually do).
Nice on Mike.