May Day for the Tories

The UK PM's last day is June 7, giving her the fifth shortest term in modern British history.

Jonathan Pie provides an obituary.

You know the Conservatives are in trouble when THIS guy is considered the front runner to replace her.

You'd think with such an existential issue as Brexit looming over the UK like a falling henge, and with a schizophrenic and collapsing minority coalition government that can't decide should it stay or should it go, the obvious and necessary next step would be to call new elections so that a government with at least a modicum of legitimacy and coherence can negotiate a final deal with the EU that actually makes a bit of sense.

Calling new elections likely means that Jeremy Corbyn becomes PM, and we already know what the toffs in the UK establishment think about him.

So instead, the Tories will muddle through and, with their stiff upper lips clamped firmly to the backsides of the London bankers, hold yet another Upper Class Twit of the Year competition to see who can top Theresa May's record for shortest PM term this century.

With any luck, it'll end up a tie.

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

up
0 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

up
0 users have voted.

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

up
0 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

vtcc73's picture

was possible and what was possible wasn’t likely to get through Commons the plan was to waste as much time as possible before May quit. Then the Tories could save some face but give Boris no time to get anything acceptable negotiated. Let Boris bear the pain and the blame for a hard exit. “See, he couldn’t do anything either. Look at this mess.” might be enough to bring him down too. But that’d be too risky wouldn’t it? He might pull off a miracle. Now the play looks like to burn down the house so Boris gets the full discredit for what follows. Conservatives are never willing to pass up a crisis to capitalize on are they? Big crisis brings big capital. But only for them.

up
0 users have voted.

"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@vtcc73 @vtcc73

by offering no real option to a hard Brexit while at the same time frightening the bejesus out of everyone about the consequences.

Now that the original Brexit date has been extended, the Brexiteers are not putting up with her game of chicken anymore.

So yeah, May was stalling, but not just to screw Boris.

Her larger goal in delaying a deal was to scare up a second vote and overturn Brexit altogether.

up
0 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

vtcc73's picture

@Not Henry Kissinger @Not Henry Kissinger @Not Henry Kissinger Scare people enough and a redo would inevitably be an option but then time ran out. The Tories have been repeatedly falling back to new defensive positions until now their backs are to the sea with no way forward. They know they’re going swimming but want to cripple their biggest foe as badly as they can. That’s the point I was making about Boris. Like you, I think they were in deep denial that Brexit would really happen and thought they would slip out of the noose. That delusion died with May’s resignation.

up
0 users have voted.

"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

know how clueless they appear to their western allies? Makes our congress look almost effectual by comparison.

up
0 users have voted.
Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@QMS @QMS
Congresscritters are just as clueless as MPs.

The Brits are just a lot better at making fun of their politicians than we are.

up
0 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

@Not Henry Kissinger
I liked it when a bunch of them mooned the assembly. That's what we need in our circus. More and better clowns.

up
0 users have voted.
Not Henry Kissinger's picture

Bloody hippie.

up
0 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

snoopydawg's picture

Did she shed any tears when the Grenfel towers burned down? For blaming Russia for the Skripals poisoning? For the attacks on Britain's social programs? For anything that didn't affect her? No no no and no!

She'd no tears for May.

The reality is that she will go down in history as one of the worst British premiers. As a member of Parliament she voted against reducing the age of consent for gay people, against gay couples adopting, and failed to show up for many of the votes repealing Section 28, a draconian law that banned even the mention of homosexuality in schools.

But it was May’s six-year turn as Home Secretary starting in 2010 that really saw her come into her own. Where Labour had previously been forced to sack draconian home secretaries one after the other, May was impervious to scandal. It was clear that her attitude and that of the Conservatives was to legitimize state cruelty. No secret was made of the deportation centers that held people in appalling conditions, privatized and outsourced to some of the worst-performing companies like G4S and Serco.

May’s plan was to be cruel in policy while keeping her head down and refusing to respond to scandal. It worked for her. In 2011, I put £20 on her becoming the next prime minister. The plan was clear: May was the closest minister to David Cameron, after George Osborne. If she could hold on and refuse to resign, she could accumulate media exposure and get a reputation as calm and capable. It worked: some journalists described her as “a safe pair of hands.”

Her habit of ignoring crises was best shown in the Windrush Scandal that saw thousands of migrants who arrived in Britain young or were born here denied the rightful legal documents, then deported, detained or threatened with deportation afterwards. At no point did May or other ministers mention the fact that it was May who was in the Home Office at the time and responsible for the whole sorry mess. Instead she fell silent for several days until Amber Rudd, who had succeeded her as home secretary, resigned to take the blame. People discussed Tony Blair’s “Teflon” qualities, but absolutely nothing seems to stick to May, including all of these senseless and cruel deportations.

Her legacy then is one predominantly marked by racism and deportations. But May apparently always wanted to be prime minister. She was reportedly annoyed as a young analyst at the Bank of England when Margaret Thatcher won the job, as it meant she couldn’t be the first British female premier. She got her prize, but at what cost?

up
0 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.