Yesterday's parliamentary vote made British history - the government's Brexit deal lost the support of a vast majority of the House of Commons, losing by 230. To put this in perspective, this is the BIGGEST LOSS EVER for any government in UK's history. To make matters worse, the Prime Minister Mrs May, refused to resign afterwards, and seems incapable of adjusting her bearings sufficiently to locate a compromise Plan B that could pass, before a No Deal Ultra-Hard Brexit occurs on 29 March - the so-called Cliff Edge.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House, Mr Bercow, seems driven to enter history as the man who undermined executive authority in the parliament, moving the control of the order of business from the Cabinet to the back benches; such a transition would represent a revolution no less significant than Cromwell's time, in terms of the sudden shift of power in the land. Making this turbulent, exciting, and deeply worrying crisis in British democracy all the more fraught is that NO ONE KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT.
Let us step back - we are talking about the seat of the home of parliamentary democracy - the MOTHER of all parliaments IN WESTMINSTER - the place that voted to outlaw the slave trade, and that voted to never surrender to the Nazis. Great Britain was formerly known - for all its colonial and post-colonial affronts - as a very stable place to do business, live, and work. It was not, as it were, Italy, with constant upheavals and weak governments often toppling. However, all that has changed. Today, the UK, which foolishly decided to embrace buccaneer gonzo tendencies and sail the high seas of Brexit, has sailed off the map, into what everyone has called Uncharted Waters. There Be Monsters.
If compromise was in May's DNA, something pardonable might happen next week; if the EU had more wriggle room, they too might budge. But the final red line is Ireland's borderlines, the infamous Backstop, and it seems hard to believe that can be altered. Given the worlds apart and the little time left, a NO DEAL looks likely. Remember, this blog predicted a Trump win when no one else did; we are not bad at prognostication. There is time, to swing this super-tanker ponderously around. But it will take the sort of moral and intellectual effort and flexibility so far sorely lacking at the helm. Meanwhile, the economy may dive like a sub. Friends of the UK need to be concerned for us at this time. And watch.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House, Mr Bercow, seems driven to enter history as the man who undermined executive authority in the parliament, moving the control of the order of business from the Cabinet to the back benches; such a transition would represent a revolution no less significant than Cromwell's time, in terms of the sudden shift of power in the land. Making this turbulent, exciting, and deeply worrying crisis in British democracy all the more fraught is that NO ONE KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT.
Let us step back - we are talking about the seat of the home of parliamentary democracy - the MOTHER of all parliaments IN WESTMINSTER - the place that voted to outlaw the slave trade, and that voted to never surrender to the Nazis. Great Britain was formerly known - for all its colonial and post-colonial affronts - as a very stable place to do business, live, and work. It was not, as it were, Italy, with constant upheavals and weak governments often toppling. However, all that has changed. Today, the UK, which foolishly decided to embrace buccaneer gonzo tendencies and sail the high seas of Brexit, has sailed off the map, into what everyone has called Uncharted Waters. There Be Monsters.
If compromise was in May's DNA, something pardonable might happen next week; if the EU had more wriggle room, they too might budge. But the final red line is Ireland's borderlines, the infamous Backstop, and it seems hard to believe that can be altered. Given the worlds apart and the little time left, a NO DEAL looks likely. Remember, this blog predicted a Trump win when no one else did; we are not bad at prognostication. There is time, to swing this super-tanker ponderously around. But it will take the sort of moral and intellectual effort and flexibility so far sorely lacking at the helm. Meanwhile, the economy may dive like a sub. Friends of the UK need to be concerned for us at this time. And watch.
Comments