48 Letters Reached

[Kromovaracun]

May now faces a vote of confidence in her leadership of the Tory party this evening.

If she loses, then the wider party membership (such as there are any...) gets to vote. Unless, of course, anyone runs unopposed.

Predictions? Hopes? Fears?

[Barmaid]

Which is normally political speak for "I cant stand the cow and I have a knife in my Gucci handbag right now".......

[cassa333]

Just what I was thinking Barmaid.

There is no real reason to delay Brexit.

Give the EU one week to come up with a solution. No solution we leave on WTO.

Then we have time to plan properly for WTO and able to actually negotiate a deal withthe EU on equal terms. Which is something we can’t do while 8nor with the deal on the table.

[anneasquith]

This country is a laughing stock in Europe and even further ( america). The government started to build a piece of flat pack furniture , they ignored the the written instructions. No one could assist, it had never been before. But with arrogance and ignorance they ploughed on and on and on. So the result is there are screws missing. Dump the old furniture, and the so called builders. Bin them with what's left of the flat pack.

[ummmm]

I don't think the UK is a laughing stock.

[naomi24]

I do.

[jim360]

The main problem with this leadership challenge is that it's come 18 months too late. Should have happened straight after the General Election. As it is, right now, it's self-indulgent party manoeuvring that probably will end up being self-defeating too. Either Theresa May wins and everyone wonders what the point was except to destroy any authority she and the government have even more completely; or she loses and there must be a protracted leadership battle at exactly the time when decisions need to be made on Brexit *now*.

Neither outcome is palatable. It speaks to how pathetic the Tory Party is that they choose now to resolve issues that should have been sorted months, if not years, ago.

And as to the question of who replaces her: Leadsom has come out firmly in favour of the Deal on the table in the last few weeks, so she's no hope for you lot; Rees-Mogg won't stand, and if he did, he'd lose heavily -- and quite right too, the incompetent bungler could barely organise a small coup three weeks ago; BoJo sounds good but only because he's consistently tried to wash his hands of any responsibility from this.

Tories have no-one to turn to, and no time in which to turn to them anyway. Let us hope that they don't drag the country down with them.

[sedge47]

To paraphrase Kenneth Williams "In for May, in for May, they've all got it in for May".

[gulliver1]

Theresa is causing Mayhem.

[Philoctetes]

I do wish that people would include in their comments on this situation what their alternatives are. And say exactly what May has done differently from what any other sensible leader would have done

[Kromovaracun]

She did trigger article 50 without any preparation. And call a cynical, power-grabbing election which seriously destabilised parliament.

[Spungle]

I have no doubt that the party will back Mrs May tonight, and that means she will be leader for at least another year (as they can only have one leadership election per year). This will give the government the stability it needs to see it through the leaving of the EU, and should also quieten the rebels, who will be shown publicly to be in a minority. I think this can only be a good thing for the Brexit process and provides the continuity necessary. The alternative of a bumbling David Davis leadership is unthinkable and would not solve any of the problems currently facing the country.

[ichkeria]

Several MPs have said they will resign if Johnson or Mogg becomes leader. An unlikely scenario, but for the mere threat to be uttered publicly indicates what a state the party is in.

[mushroom25]

//She did trigger article 50 without any preparation.//

she did the informing. but the decision to do so was ratified by parliament. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/9/section/1/enacted

she acted with their authority, conferred by a majority of 5 to 1, even. if the decision to enact article 50 was such a dud, why didn't parliament - allegedly the collective political brain of the uk - detect this?

[ichkeria]

“Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench committee” literally does have 48 letters.
Maybe there’s been a misunderstanding ;-)

[Kromovaracun]

To be fair, that's true, mushroom. Parliament does share in the responsibility for that reckless decision. Although I think ultimately May must be accountable.

[jim360]

Ever since the referendum, Parliament's found itself hamstrung because of the need to be seen to implement "the will of the people" as quickly as possible. Now, to be clear, once the 2016 referendum was held, Parliament and government certainly should have been working towards leaving the EU, but they also had a responsibility to act in the best interests of the country. That requires taking more time and care than actually was provided, giving the legislation more scrutiny than they did, and generally making sure that the process was done properly rather than quickly.

[New Judge]

"If we get a new PM A50 will be delayed..."

Just on a point of order, we cannot unilaterally delay our departure. The two year notice period provided by A50 is fixed. We can only extend that notice period with the unanimous agreement of the remaining 27 EU members. However, an ECJ ruling earlier this week (which was, curiously, provided in a few days rather than their more usual 18 months) said that we can withdraw A50 entirely if we wish.

[New Judge]

"....generally making sure that the process was done properly rather than quickly."

Neither of which has been achieved.

[jim360]

Indeed not. But it's hard to imagine how it can have gone much quicker.

[New Judge]

It would not have gone much quicker but it may have reached a proper conclusion (which it has not yet). The way to have done that was to make it absolutely clear from the outset that if a leaving deal suitable to the UK was not reached we would leave without one. That option should always have been on the table (and suitable preparations made to cope with it) but it never has been. You cannot expect successful negotiations to ensue when one side knows that the other will not, under any circumstances, play its trump card.