It would indeed make a cracking fictional drama, yet this is real and people's lives and futures depend on the outcome. Is this the week of the final episode...........or are we going to be left hanging on for a second series?
Is an agreement far or very close as some seem to suggest? Will the cabinet provide a united front on Tuesday or will there be resignations? How will May be received as the pre-banquette entertainment on Wednesday? Will this story EVER end and.............what will I do with my life , if it does?
Apparently one Tory MP likened May's problem to that of a chess player on the brink of defeat after a very long game in which she had been slowly and progressively outfoxed. “Whichever move she makes now, she gets forced further into the corner. She has tried everything. Unless I am missing something, there is no other move left on the board.”
On the face of it the problem may simply boil down to, how do you define the time limitation to any future customs union (to please the home market) without, at the same time, defining a time limit (to please the EU)? I reckon some kind of wording will be adopted, which will leave the final text open to interpretation............anyway, let's assume that, otherwise we can't move on.........then the REALLY intruiging, number crunching stuff begins. A look through the Sunday papers gives us a flavour of what to expect.
Well, the Sunday Times and Telegraph illustrate the problems May faces from the Brexiters as Davis incites rebellion in the Cabinet against the 'Holy Grail' of an agreement.........days (hours) away from being agreed. Just how many of them would have the balls to vote down what they would consider to be a bad agreement?...........quite a few by the look of it. The DUP are VERY angry
and have VERY red (orange) lines that they dare the Tory Party to cross. It seems likely that, following their meeting, Arlene Foster won't be on Michel Barnier's Christmas card list. Then the Observer pops up with the story that, up to 15 Labour MP's are prepared to vote with the government so as to avoid a no deal Brexit..........how will that go down with the Labour hierachy? The deal, IF it comes about, almost certainly won't fulfil the (is it six?) (impossible) criteria to get official Labour support. How will the party react??? When it comes down to it, would those Labour MP's risk their political futures in backing the Tory government and maybe destroying Corbyn's dreams and hopes for a General Election?
Whatever people voted for back in June 2016............surely it wasn't for this chaos?
Meanwhilst, with eveyone's eye on the Brexit ball, fracking sneaks in through the back door. This clearly illustrates the Tory governments green credentials and one could have the slightly more sympathy with it (which I don't) if prospecting had been given the go ahead in Oxfordshire, Bucks, Berkshire and Surrey, rather than 'up north' where they all vote Labour anyway........don't they?
Finally, this Jerusalem Jez dreams about..............the General Election where he (dreams) will be swept into power to replace the hapless Tories. It really beggars belief that with the totally incompetent shambles of a goverment we have, they have actually INCREASED their lead over Labour to four points in the latest poll!
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...oint-lead-over-labour-despite-brexit-troubles
Surely any affective opposition, given the circumstances, should be streets ahead of the government at this conjuncture. Can anyone suggest why that is not the case???