By Steve Parkhurst, Senior Editor, USDR.
Looking at the news and opinion out of London each day.
5-7-19
Labour Remainers demanding a second referendum are wasting their breath
Expectations of a resolution to the ongoing cross-party talks on a Brexit deal are so low that many will have forgotten they’re even taking place. The primary reason for the scepticism is that both sides entered the discussions with entirely the wrong motive.
A crowdfunded prosecution of Boris Johnson is nothing to celebrate
I have often wondered what would happen if politicians were bound by the same rules as advertisers, or if manifestos were brought within the scope of the trading standards laws. What if we could take legal action against a government for failing to provide the extra NHS beds or school places they had promised? Given the propensity for governments to excuse themselves from their own legislation when it suits them – Blair’s government simply passed a clause excluding political parties when Labour’s women-only shortlists fell foul of sex discrimination legislation – it is hard to imagine such a law being passed by Parliament.
The future of Mrs May
People write in to tell me the Conservatives need to get rid of Mrs May as PM. Others write in to tell me to leave the Conservative party altogether because of the way she has handled Brexit. I intend to remain a Conservative MP. I was elected as one, and wish to influence the future course of the present government as I was elected to do.
5-8-19
Theresa May targets July 1 as new date for Britain leaving EU
Theresa May is targeting July 1 as the day Britain leaves the EU after abandoning a deadline for a Brexit agreement with Labour.
It’s time to set the mortgage prisoners free
When selling these books the Treasury should make sure there are protections so that borrowers do not lose out.
5-9-19
How much longer can Theresa May ignore the fact that much of her party wants her to go?
It is almost surreal to watch Prime Minister’s question time take place in the midst of the greatest political crisis of modern times, with that crisis’s cause hardly meriting a mention during Commons exchanges lasting 50 minutes.
Tories are held hostage as Euro elections loom; All London’s a new stage
There are governments which do things, and governments which have things done to them. Theresa May’s ailing administration is firmly in the latter category.
Threats against MPs reach ‘unprecedented’ levels, police chiefs reveal
Threats against MPs have reached record levels in the wake of the Brexit referendum, police chiefs have revealed.
5-10-19
How do the Project Fear prophets explain the good news about Britain’s economy?
Of course, we shouldn’t read too much into a set of good economic figures when they are so obviously down to stockpiling ahead of Brexit. If GDP rose by 0.5 per cent in the first three months of 2019 it was only thanks to all that condensed milk we have all stacked in the understairs cupboard – that and the riot helmets we all went out and bought in case of a hard Brexit and the marauding masses trying to break into houses in order to pilfer our said emergency store.
Cringe-worthy politicians like Vince Cable need to learn the art of swearing
As stirring calls-to-arms go, the Liberal Democrats’ latest effort lacks a certain subtle something. “Bollocks to Brexit” crows the manifesto for their EU elections campaign. I’ll say this for the flyer delivered by Nigel Farage last week (well ahead of the Lib Dem game): it had lovely manners. No four-letter words, no eight-letter words, no dirty doodles in the margins.
My letter to the Attorney General about the delay Brexit Withdrawal Agreement
Given the government’s difficulty in replying to this, I am re issuing it and encourage all to circulate it more widely. The conventional media refuse to ask these questions of the government and supporters of the Agreement.
5-11-19
Modernisers may not trust Johnson, but they should learn from him
He knows that you don’t get to enact a vision for the country until you can thread it first with the fabric of your party.
When will Theresa May bring the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to the Commons?
Theresa May has one last hope for getting her Brexit deal through. As I say in The Sun this morning, she can bring the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to parliament and try and get MPs to vote for it.
Feminism has succeeded – so why don’t we call it quits?
You would think that the British Film Institute’s sponsorship of a month-long festival celebrating some of the most memorable female characters in cinema would draw plaudits from feminists. You would be wrong.
5-12-19
There are too many Conservative leadership candidates
The contest may or may not produce a Snow White. But statistically, there are bound to be more than seven dwarves.
5-13-19
Sorry Boris, we can’t keep throwing money at an unreformed NHS
It’s time we had a rational conversation about this sacred cow
Both Labour and the Tories have gone awol on Brexit
One party insists Brexit is a distraction, the other is fixated on a leadership contest. But for the voters there is no exit hatch
Why the ’22 Executive must tell May to go this week
The unrebuttable fact is that the Prime Minister is in breach of her word, and that the collapse of trust in the Party threatens to be terminal.
The party leaders have failed on Brexit. The UK’s fate is now in MPs’ hands
Last time round the Commons funked it. Now it must work across party lines to agree on a deal – and deliver it
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Across The Pond is edited daily by Steve Parkhurst. Steve is a political consultant, a baseball beat writer, a writer at his blog as well as a Senior Editor here at US Daily Review. Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveParkhurst
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