Agent Cob Has Been Bleating About An Election For 2 Years..........

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49574217
Now he don't want one! PMSL! Be careful what you wish for Jezza!

[Ken4155]

Oh come on 3T. Even Corbyn realises that BoJo is trying to spring a trap. He calls for an election, gets voted in, then he moves the election date until AFTER the Brexit deadline, thereby getting his way on leaving without a deal. If you watched any of the coverage yesterday, and i'm sure you must have, you will have seen Corbyn say that he would be all for a GE. But only once the no-deal scenario is off the table.

[Zacs-Master]

He do want one. But only if a NDB is off the table and only after 31st Oct.

[ToraToraTora]

yes, ken, but no one has yet explained how no deal could ever be off the table. the absence of no deal = deal and the only one we have wont pass. People keep going on about stopping no deal but they never seem to have a valid mechanism to do so. The only way is to cancel A50 and I think even the VBQC would balk at that.

[Ken4155]

Let's face it, TTT, the entire Brexit strategy has been totally mishandled since the day the votes were counted, beginning with Cameron the Coward's resignation. He should have stayed, set up a cross party negotiating team, mainly made up of Brexiteers, and seen the job through. Since he went we have seen just how duplicitous our elected representatives truly are. All pretending to do what's best for the country yet all having their own career-bound agenda. The end result is this chaos we now find ourselves in. No-one, least of all Johnson and Corbyn, can hold their heads high. But i don't expect to see any of them hanging their heads in shame, anytime soon.

[ichkeria]

Shortly before Johnson prorogued Parliament the opponents of a no deal Brexit, wisely in my view, decided that to pursue their aims it would be better to proceed via parliament than to push for an election.
Johnson and the government, as is their right, ate trying to pursue their aims. In the circumstances the opponents of the government are disinclined to play aunt sallies to the tactics of the government.
That’s perfectly understandable.
As to the Bill, there are several amendments to it, notably one from Stephen Kinnock tying the extension into another vote on the original deal if need be.
If enough Labour MPs could be persuaded of the need to support it the backstop objections would not matter.
A lot of what is driving this is a lack of trust of Boris Johnson, that he would stick to an election date of Oct 14, that he really is pursuing a strategy of engagement with the EU, and that this is not merely party management to save the Tory party as he sees it by delivering Brexit at no matter what cost to the country.

[jim360]

Timing is everything. Corbyn knows that if he has an election now then it's part of Johnson's transparently obvious strategy to run down the clock and thus trap everyone into Johnson's (and Cummings's) timetable. Whereas if he waits just a little longer then at least Johnson won't be able to do anything with regards to an October 31st exit until after the election.

[naomi24]

His face said it all last night. Election?!!! Oh no!!!!! Rabbit caught in the headlights! He's nothing but a bag of wind.

[jim360]

It's amazing how people can have different readings of the situation. Meanwhile isn't it remarkable how someone who has spent the Summer insistent that they would neither prorogue Parliament nor call for an early election, and now has done precisely those things at the first opportunity, is somehow seen by some in this thread the more trustworthy person in all this :/

[gulliver1]

So Corbyn gets as crafty as Johnson , and that makes him a " bag of wind " what a juvenile reply.

[retrocop]

//Meanwhile isn't it remarkable how someone who has spent the Summer insistent that they would neither prorogue Parliament nor call for an early election, and now has done precisely those things at the first opportunity,//
Lol
Some might call that tactics or strategy.Keep the opposition on the back foot and don't blab your plans in advance

[jim360]

It doesn't say much for Johnson's strategy if it consists of mainly lying through his teeth.

[naomi24]

One could almost believe that Jim is privy to inside information .... if they were stupid enough.

[gulliver1]

Meanwhile the whole country is at the Mercy of Cunning Cummings, Dozy JRM, and IDS, with Boris waiting on the side line for their instructions

[jim360]

I'm not privy to any inside information. I'm just analysing the situation from what's available publicly as best I can. Whether or not I'm right only time will tell.

[Gromit]

// Some might call that tactics or strategy. //

Lying about your intentions, and sowing disinformation is a tactical move. But it is dishonest, and should not be condoned.

[naomi24]

Ironic isn’t it. Remainers have spent the past three years lying outrageously – and yet now they’re all jumping up and down in indignant protest because they think someone who isn’t one of their mates - is lying. Funny old world. Sanctimonious hypocrisy doesn’t touch it.

[jim360]

It seems impossible these days to evaluate anybody's actions on their own merits. So often the only defence is to say "yeah but your side did the same thing". What's the old saying -- two wrongs don't make a right? What happened to all that?

The fact is, then, that we don't *think* Johnson is lying -- we *know* he was. Is that, on its own merits, acceptable? If so, why, and if not, what is the harm in saying so? Remain supporters can answer for their own lies separately, where appropriate.

[Zacs-Master]

Well, there are two sides to the sanctimonious hypocrisy coin. The opposite one being that leave voters have exposed our government as being anti democratic but yet still want us to leave the EU and give them complete control over us.

[naomi24]

Jim, no, lies are not acceptable – not in my book anyway - but that doesn’t stop liars criticising other people for doing exactly what they do themselves.

[jim360]

// lies are not acceptable – not in my book anyway ... //I'm glad to hear it, Naomi.

Leaving that aside, though. The timing of an election is key, and remarkably Johnson has created a situation where it's in Corbyn's power to decide what the date of such an election will be, rather than the other way round. Whether that was part of Johnson's plan is anyone's guess. I doubt he can be happy being the lamest of lame-duck PMs there has ever been.