Ruth Davidson: This may be the only way Boris Johnson can be sure to get her message.
Boris Johnson’s decision to silence Parliament in order to push through his idiotic “no deal” Brexit is splitting the Conservative Party.
Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Tories, seems likely to quit tomorrow (August 29) over Dictator Johnson’s behaviour.
Who knows how many other Conservatives are similarly incensed by what Commons Speaker (and a Conservative MP) John Bercow has called a “constitutional outrage”?
But let’s not forget that Jeremy Corbyn is the party leader who’s supposed to be so divisive he shouldn’t be prime minister, right?
Ruth Davidson is on the verge of quitting as leader of the Scottish Conservatives, BBC Scotland understands.
Ms Davidson has been deeply unhappy with the prime minister’s pursuit of a possible no-deal Brexit.
She is said to be considering her position, with a statement on her future likely to be made on Thursday.
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Is he still in his new job as Chancellor of the Exchequer? Will he be delivering the speech on the spending review next week?
I guess that principle didn’t last very long, then.
Okay, how about fellow former Tory leadership candidate Matt Hancock?
Dear @MattHancock, In the light of this letter you wrote a couple of months ago, you'll be tendering your resignation I expect. Today? Regards, Tom https://t.co/3QkLjcQYkY
The letter says “attempting to prorogue Parliament to deliver a no deal Brexit is neither serious nor credible… One of the benefits of Brexit is to restore Parliamentary sovereignty to the UK [he was wrong about this; Parliamentary sovereignty has never been surrendered by the UK]… To suspend Parliament explicitly to pursue a course of action against its wishes is not a serious policy of a prime minister in the 21st century”.
That is, unless the prime minister is Boris Johnson, of course.
Is there any movement out of the Cabinet on Mr Hancock’s part?
Not yet, it seems.
No – in fact they all appear to be perfectly happy to support a course of action they previously said they could not possibly accept.
They’re all on Twitter, though – so why not get in touch and ask them when Dictator Johnson will receive their resignation letters?
Amber Rudd is @AmberRuddHR
Sajid Javid is @sajidjavid
And Matt Hancock is @MattHancock
Dave M has already made his feelings clear:
Hi Amber Rudd, you'll lose your seat in a few weeks time anyway so you may as well resign now and at least then people will think you had a few principles
If you can send them something wittier than Dave, please feel free to send it here too.
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It won’t make a blind bit of difference, of course.
Like the petitions that have popped up online demanding that the decision to prorogue Parliament be reversed, mass demonstrations by the people of the United Kingdom won’t affect Boris Johnson at all.
He doesn’t care what you want. He doesn’t do anything for you. He’s doing it all for himself.
He is, in a nutshell, a Conservative Party MP.
But it does stand as a historical record – that one of Boris Johnson’s first acts as prime minister was to reject democracy, and the people stood up against him in protest.
Here’s a selection of images of the demonstration(s), from Twitter:
Fantastic turnout at such short notice down at Parliament Square.
So take heart! And make sure your MP knows what they have to do.
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Two-fingered salute: His decision to shut down Parliament shows that this rude signal is all Boris Johnson has for democracy.
Boris Johnson’s demand that the Queen prorogue Parliament in order to ensure that his “no deal” Brexit cannot be stopped – and her meek submission to it – has shown that the UK’s democracy is at risk of collapsing: We are threatened with dictatorship.
Some of us have been watching it coming for years.
The first move was the economic crisis of 2008 onwards, leading to the collusion of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in order to form a Coalition government that imposed austerity on the majority of people in the United Kingdom.
The reduction of money for public services led to splits in society, with groups lining up to demonise other groups – supported by highly-inflammatory rhetoric from the government.
Most notable in this was the demonisation of the sick and disabled – with the conscious collusion of the mainstream TV and print news media (consider the effect of so-called documentaries like Benefits Street, for example).
This in turn made it possible for David Cameron to call a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, partly because people in his party were claiming that EU regulations were the country to accept excessive numbers of immigrants from other EU countries.
The result of that referendum was three years of deadlock as Parliament struggled to agree an agreement on the manner of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union that everyone could accept. This could have been avoided if Mr Cameron had taken the time to define the terms on which the UK might leave, before the referendum was held. He did not.
It also gave a huge platform to demagogues – politicians appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than using rational argument – most notably Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson.
Mr Cameron, who became prime minister in 2010 despite the fact that his party did not have a majority in Parliament at the time, resigned after it became clear that the referendum result was to leave the EU. This was in contradiction of his own promise to stay and enact Brexit, in the run-up to the vote. He was replaced by another unelected prime minister, Theresa May – who resigned earlier this year, having failed to take the UK out of the EU.
Now we have a third unelected Conservative prime minister, Boris Johnson, who is determined to take the UK out of the EU on October 31, preferably without a withdrawal agreement. He knows that Parliament will prevent this if it can. A known liar, he has lied again in order to wrong-foot his political opponents and steal power from Parliament to ensure that he gets the Brexit he wants.
As the BBC’s Iain Watson tells us:
This is the precise wording Downing St gave me in response to the Observer story this weekend on suspending parliament re #brexit: ”the claim that the govt is considering proroguing parliament in Sept in order to stop MPs debating Brexit is entirely false.’' #prorogation
Now Dictator Johnson is saying there will be “ample time” for Parliament to debate Brexit.
This can only be seen as another lie.
But the real issue now is this:
History is repeating itself. We have seen these developments elsewhere.
Do you know where?
It happened in Germany after Hitler and his Nazis took over the government of that country.
Hitler did not have a majority in the German parliament when he took power in 1933 – he relied on the collusion of others, as David Cameron relied on the support of the Liberal Democrats.
Hitler used Germany’s economic weakness during the time of the Weimar republic to demonise groups within German society – most notably Jews, but also the sick and disabled who he described as “useless eaters”. The Coalition government – and every Conservative government since – have persecuted people claiming benefits because they are sick or disabled and, while not gassing them to death as Hitler’s Aktion T4 programme did, they have “nudged” these people towards death by denying them the wherewithal to survive by sanctioning their benefits, or removing them altogether.
The first political opponents that Hitler removed from Germany altogether were Communists, and it is unlilkely to be a coincidence that Tories have constantly referred to Jeremy Corbyn as a Marxist, and his Labour Party as Communists (in fact, Labour is a democratic socialist party, which is not the same at all).
There has been a huge amount of mass media collusion with the Coalition and subsequent Conservative governments. Hitler controlled the German mass media with an iron hand.
Hitler rallied the German people around powerful feelings of nationalism and Brexit has allowed modern demagogues like Boris Johnson to kindle such feelings in the UK.
Hitler had no regard for human rights. In their plans for the UK post-Brexit, the Conservatives intended to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a “Bill of Rights” in which no UK citizen would have any rights beyond what would be decreed for them by our Tory masters.
The list goes on and on (the above are just off the top of This Writer’s head).
And now Parliament is being prevented from sitting for most of September and half of October, leaving it without enough time to stop Dictator Johnson from achieving his “no deal” Brexit – in defiance of democracy.
I know – you thought you were living in a democracy.
So did the Germans!
Many years ago, in the early days of This Site, I used to paraphrase the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller, who wrote of the Nazis:
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me.
I used it to highlight the plight of the sick and disabled, changing the first line to “First they came for the sick and disabled, and I did not speak out because I was not sick or disabled”.
Now we know what my last line should be:
Finally, they came for democracy – and now it doesn’t matter whether I speak out or not because nobody will listen.
That is the situation we face, it seems.
You can watch it getting worse and do nothing, and then tell me I was right when it is too late to reverse this disaster.
Or you can actually get up and stop it.
What are you going to do?
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Boris Johnson has asked the Queen to suspend Parliament from September 10.
The only possible reason for this is to prevent MPs from stopping the imbecilic ‘no deal’ Brexit he seems determined to force on us all.
It is an insult to Parliamentary sovereignty – the very sovereignty that Brexit was intended to restore – and a step towards Mr Johnson becoming a dictator, rather than a democratic leader. Remember, only 0.14 per cent of the electorate made him prime minister.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the plan to suspend Parliament is “an outrage and a threat to our democracy”.
“I am appalled at the recklessness of Johnson’s government, which talks about sovereignty and yet is seeking to suspend parliament to avoid scrutiny of its plans for a reckless no-deal Brexit. This is an outrage and a threat to our democracy.
“If Johnson has confidence in his plans he should put them to the people in a general election or public vote.”
Commons Speaker John Bercow has called the demand a “constitutional outrage”.
He said: “However it is dressed up, it is blindingly obvious that the purpose of [suspending Parliament] now would be to stop [MPs] debating Brexit and performing its duty in shaping a course for the country.”
BoJob has responded by saying the claim is “completely untrue”. But it will have that effect, won’t it?
He came out with a load of blather that didn’t make sense – firstly that he did not want to wait until after Brexit “before getting on with our plans to take this country forward”. But with Parliament set to return only on October 14, it seems his own plan is to do exactly that.
The reason I suggest this is that BoJob also insisted there would still be “ample time” for MPs to debate the UK’s departure from the European Union before it was too late to do anything about it.
I make it 15 debating days at the most – but by October, it is most likely that time will have run out for anyone opposing Dictator Johnson’s reckless plan to do anything about it.
And the week Parliament returns from recess is likely to be occupied with a debate on the 12-month spending round to be announced by Chancellor Sajid Javid on September 4.
This is uncommonly early – certainly earlier than expected – and suggests that BoJob is trying to fill Parliamentary time in order to prevent discussion of Brexit.
BoJob said he wanted to bring forward his “very exciting agenda” – worrying words in themselves as they suggest that he wants to jolly us along with upbeat adjectives, while the meaning behind his words may be very different indeed.
And what of opposition parties’ intention to block ‘no deal’ Brexit with legislation?
That was the upshot of the so-called Church House Agreement (why do people have to come up with such pretentious names for these deals, especially at times when we don’t know if they’ll achieve anything?).
That choice seems to have been made after party leaders failed to agree on support for a vote of ‘no confidence’ in BoJob’s already-nightmarish government.
It is possible that he has announced his current plan in response to their deal, knowing that they won’t be able to stop him having his way.
So it seems, in the end, a vote of ‘no confidence’ may be the only way to stop him.
That would put the focus back on Jo Swinson and the Liberal Democrats, who have refused to support the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister for even a limited period.
Is she so desperate to keep him out that she’ll betray everyone who voted ‘Liberal Democrat’ in the belief that they would stop Brexit?
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Have a look at this video and consider the question at the end:
In the light of this, do you think Mr Johnson has any business being in charge of what is done with the nation’s money?
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Carol Jones was more than £2,000 in debt when she died of cancer, because the Department for Work and Pensions had stopped all of her benefits.
Ms Jones, 65, who had been fighting liver cancer for two years, had been admitted to the Royal Stoke University Hospital in May and then a Leek care home before losing her fight for life last week.
She had not received any of the DWP’s correspondence and had therefore been unable to respond to it.
Fortunately her twin brother David Agar discovered the debt – and the cause of it – and was able to rectify matters.
But this could have happened to an uncountable number of seriously-ill benefit claimants. Perhaps it already has.
The DWP’s comment to the Stoke Sentinel is despicable – and puts the problem in perspective: “We do not stop benefits because people are in hospital.”
That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the fact that Ms Jones, who lived alone, had not been asked to provide details of anybody else who could have handled her affairs.
Several members of This Writer’s own family have undergone treatment for cancer and I know that – successful or not – it can totally incapacitate a person.
If that happens, they need someone else to take over matters that concern them – for the period they are unable to cope themselves.
The DWP needs to accept this, and to ensure that details of such a person are discussed in claims for sickness and/or disability benefits.
That would prevent debts from stacking up that a deceased person would likely leave to their relatives, and which may drive a survivor to the grave after all.
It seems only common sense. Why hasn’t the DWP implemented it already?
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Harriet Harman: She says she didn’t talk with Jo Swinson.
Here’s a fascinating piece of information from Skwawkbox.
We already know that novice Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson claimed she had spoken to both Kenneth Clarke and Harriet Harman about one of them leading an interim government following a vote of “no confidence” in Boris Johnson’s administration.
This Site quoted her comment when challenged on this: “I have been in touch with them because obviously you don’t just mention people’s names without checking that they’re OK with that.”
That quote was in my article showing that Mr Clarke had not been in contact with Ms Swinson. He said: “I’ve been on holiday for two weeks and missed all this. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
Now it seems Ms Harman has said she never spoke to Ms Swinson either.
In an email to members of her Camberwell & Peckham constituency party, according to Skwawkbox, Mr Harman wrote: “I can reassure you that I have not been involved in any closed door, cross-party talks between Labour and Conservative backbenchers and the Leadership of the Liberal Democrats.
“I support Jeremy Corbyn going for a vote of No Confidence in Boris Johnson. And will, of course, vote for it.
“It is… the clear constitutional right of the Leader of the Opposition to have the first attempt to form an administration if the Government fails.
“I back Jeremy Corbyn’s determination to do everything possible to prevent the terrible damage to our country that will be caused if the Government stampedes into a No Deal Brexit.”
Now I hear that opposition leaders including Ms Swinson have signed a declaration to do “whatever is necessary” to stop a “no deal” Brexit.
But discussions centred on ways of using the law to prevent such an event, with minimal talk about the “no confidence” vote.
Was this because of Ms Swinson’s reluctance to support Mr Corbyn? If so, shouldn’t the clear evidence of dishonesty mitigate against her?
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