In short, the White Paper is not intended to be the final stage of a transition to a "softer Brexit", but rather the first stage in the establishment’s campaign – led by the senior civil servants at No. 10 – to reverse Brexit.
One strong piece of evidence for this comes from the fact that was an “alternative” White Paper being prepared by the Department for Exiting the European Union. This was developing the “Canada plus plus plus” free trade deal, the only sensible deal consistent with the referendum result. This proposal was trashed by the No.10 civil servants which led to David Davis’s resignation. The same civil servants now want to close DexEU down.
Then add in the deliberate incompetence of the UK’s negotiating strategy. Triggering Article 50 before we were fully prepared. Agreeing, in the context of the fixed two-year time frame for the negotiations, to the sequencing of the three stages of the negotiations (divorce, withdrawal and future relationship) where the EU alone determines when each stage is finished. Agreeing to pay a £39bn divorce bill before any trade deal was in place. This is all part of the Mad Hatter’s strategy. Lord Kerr, the British civil servant who drafted Article 50, said that he deliberately chose the short two-year time frame to make it virtually impossible for any country to leave the EU. Lord Heseltine said on the day after the referendum that Brexit would never happen.
The final piece of evidence was the immediate call from strong Remain supporters for a second referendum with three options – accept the terms of the White Paper, go for a “no deal” or stay in the EU – whose only purpose would be to split the Leave vote.The price of democracy is constant vigilance. US readers will wonder why these senior officials are not being dragged before Parliament; Congress or Senate would not be so lenient. But Westminster is not Capitol Hill. Despite 400 of 650 Commons seats having voted Brexit, and 82.4% of UK voters voting for the two main parties in 2017 both of which had Brexit as a manifesto commitment, most MPs quietly support the coup being attempted by our civil servants.
We leave the coup plotters a warning. You violate British democracy at your peril - so long as we preserve universal suffrage and the secret ballot, we can still have your heads on the block. Democratically and literally if we have to. And that applies to any guilty ex-MPs a new Brexit election displaces.
14 comments:
I am greatly heartened by the absolute determination of the electorate to get what they voted for in 2016. If either May or any other leader attempts to fob us off with anything less then there will be mayhem at the next General Election.
Procrastination is the thief of democracy....
I see these 'negotiations' being extended with an open completion date due to 'complexities' and, all the while, the British taxpayers filling the EU coffers accordingly.
There is one thing we can do and do immediately and that is STOP PAYING. If anything will motivate politicians it is the loss of the means to manipulate the money flow. It has a very good tendency to concentrate minds.
He who controls the purse strings controls the narrative.
NO MORE MONEY until the UK gets a satisfactory deal.
We go out NO DEAL.
To Hell with their Project Fear bullshit around that. No more talk, no more extensions.
NO DEAL IT IS.
The only people that ever seem to write about "a deal" are remainers.
I wonder if there is some connection between the two?
As JRM has pointed out, on the day we leave, the EU withdrawal act has ensured that we have the same rules as the EU, so we don't really have an issue with this, we just carry on and make adjustments to suit OUR purposes following the leaving date. This is already law... We as an independent country will of course choose adjustments that suit US.
All that shit about planes falling out of the sky is just that... Unless the EC want to punish us.
Go ahead, make our day, see what the EU corporates have to tell you about that.
John of Enfield: I like the sound of "mayhem at the next General Election" but having observed and voted for a few decades I am somewhat jaded about the allegedly stroppy nature of the Brits. We used to be stroppy, certainly, and in the Middle Ages we were notorious across Continental Europe for our uncouth violence and military prowess; even into the early 20thC we were a robust lot. But today? For example, for many years polling has revealed consistently that we resent mass immigration an awful lot, and want it slashed; successive governments fail to do this, and the general public just votes them back in so that they can continue to scorn the popular will.
What form will this "mayhem" take? Current polls suggest Labour might benefit - an extraordinarily perverse result for all those folk thoroughly cheesed off with both the EU and mass immigration! Corbyn & MacDonnell would screw us regarding both those, but does this get through? Seemingly not. Might the UKIP vote expand enormously - as it needs to, given the huge handicap facing new entrants to Westminster - with a mass of UKIP MPs stirring things up in the HoC? I doubt it. Too many people say they're really fed up with the lies & complacency of the Lab/Con duopoly but only rarely do they put their votes where their mouths are.
I'm not optimistic. Maybe a huge rabbit will be pulled out of the Brexit hat, a further example of our ability to cobble together something at the last minute - but as May's ability to stay anchored to Downing St defies all probability, despite her staggering incompetence and duplicity, seems to me the odds are agin it.
New British Information Unit Fighting ‘Alternative News’, Promoting Govt-Approved ‘Facts
https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/07/20/uk-gov-fights-alternative-news-websites-promotes-facts/
The BBC already is a approved fake news provider - government funded too.
Then from the RRU ( Rapid Resppones Unit) based in the heart of Whitehall itself
https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/news/alex-aiken-introduces-the-rapid-response-unit/
Based across the Cabinet Office and No.10, the RRU is neither a “rebuttal” unit, nor is it a “fake news” unit. During this pilot period, we’ve tested the concept, evaluated the impact of specific initiatives and examined how strongly stories are shared online.
After a lot of fluff, this
1. As press officers we know that rebuttal will often not be an appropriate course of action.
2. As digital content experts we know that pithy, polarised untruths cannot and should not always be met with snappy responses.
3. As communicators we all know that good communication starts with listening, and that we must be alert to what is being said about government policy, including mis- or disinformation.
4. Finally, as civil servants we know that impartiality, accuracy and transparency is absolutely fundamental to everything we do.
First two – nonsense , followed by a lie and the final Big Lie of the Orwellian type.
This is real frightening. What chance real Brexit when the government itself is engaging in manipilation of search engines.
DP111
To anonymous:
"This is real frightening. What chance real Brexit when the government itself is engaging in manipilation of search engines"
Those that live by the digital sword can just as easily die by the digital sword. I'm not advising anyone to do something illegal but modern governments are not yet nimble enough to dodge social media outbreaks or those who hack websites. Perhaps people might turn away from buying licenses or entering tax details on line and fall back to snail mail. Perhaps everybody could query their Council Tax, by letter. Perhaps UKIP could campaign on 'Lend us your vote for one election to ensure proper Brexit'. I'm sure there are lots of ways for the public to signal their disgust.
anonymous @19:51 - Thanks for that very informative link to RRU.
How interesting that our masters now admit to viewing ALL communication as a military issue. They even define it as one which requires "Rapid Response" - and which therefore justifies their "listening" and tactical manipulation of what they think they hear.
Of further import, however, is that the article examplifies their own subjugation to franco-german claptrap. That is to say, they attempt (and pretend) to communicate: by using a miasma of verbiage. The ploy obscures truth even as their word use insults a culture's grammar and syntax.
In this case, a muddle of split infinitives and computer jargon befuddles the reader/listener. The mess may even irritate. I took some pleasure, however, in the irony of their solecism "There is now an opportunity and urgency* for the UK Government to set the highest standards".
Language deconstruction notwithstanding, their "highest standards" manifest dedication to marxist-inspired philosophy and even support the suspicion that these writers are not native English speakers. You are right, and we should be alarmed. Via their computerized god in the sky**, "Government" now campaigns against People, fighting us in the head, in the home, and in the school . . .
____________
* A quick glance at the OED confirms that "Urgency" is a non-count or "mass noun" - which is why it doesn't work here with "an".
** e.g. Microsoft's "Cloud" and its appropriation of the Word. The Word in the sky . . . the one that fosters unTruth.
Re mine at 22:04. Sorry, but I couldn't edit the typo for "exemplifies".
I'd also like to add re Radders' final comment in his post today: " ... - so long as we preserve universal suffrage and the secret ballot, we can still have your heads on the block." The way it's all going, they May not escape the final outcome - nor will we escape the way to accomplishing it. Meanwhile though, I'm concerned about the security of those ballot boxes and . . .
Except their heads won't be on the block, literally or even figuratively-speaking, will they.
They are more likely to be rewarded and elevated to the House of Frauds for their services to the Establishment.
This country isn't a democracy.
“We leave the coup plotters a warning. You violate British democracy at your peril - so long as we preserve universal suffrage and the secret ballot, we can still have your heads on the block.”
In theory this is true, but they believe that they are safe with the current FPTP system to elect MPs, especially with an opposition that does not care whether we remain or leave the EU just as long as they can gain power to destroy capitalism.
If we wait until the next time we have a vote it may be too late.
So can anything be done ?
The Conservative Party will only react if they feel they will lose power as was shown when UKIP came first in the 2014 EU MEP elections and the Conservative Party came third.
Then they reacted and offered an EU referendum to absorb the UKIP votes and to remain in power at the following GE (believing they would win the referendum to remain in the EU).
Otherwise they are completely happy to break election manifesto promises, such as their promise to reduce immigration to the “tens of thousands”, even when polling shows that 70% of the population believe that immigration levels are currently too high.
So it is necessary to make the Conservatives feel they will not win the next GE and the only way this can be done is if there is a UKIP revival.
If just 10% of those that voted Brexit were to join UKIP then the Conservative Party would take notice and act accordingly. It is not necessary for there to be UKIP MPs. Just the threat of UKIP MPs will be sufficient and this needs to be done before the next GE.
So, although I have never been a member of a political party before, I feel I must show the Conservative Party that their current Brexit policy is totally unacceptable by supporting the only party which believes in Brexit, which I will do by joining UKIP.
"You violate British democracy at your peril - so long as we preserve universal suffrage and the secret ballot, we can still have your heads on the block"
We've executed a King before, so don't think the exercise can't be repeated.
"Triggering Article 50 before we were fully prepared."
Who would have made the decision that we were "fully prepared" ?
Gerard Batten of UKIP warned all along that Article 50 was designed as a trap to keep us in the EU. Of course as usual the government didn't listen, especially not to anyone who has in-depth knowledge of the subject. And certainly not to UKippers.
Post a Comment