Solid Workers

The decision of Boris Johnson to prorogue parliament for 35 days, and securing the Queen's assent for this has caused some in the remain movement to see the British constitution and British democracy for what it is: a system rigged by design to prevent meaningful scrutiny and accountability. This is significant because for the more liberal end of the movement, there is - or was - a pronounced if touchingly naive faith in institutions, the hopes that somewhere lurking in the Byzantine corridors of state a deus ex machina would activate and stop Johnson, and perhaps even stopping Brexit without us having to do anything. The Queen was one. The courts another, hence the alacrity with which Gina Miller and friends takes to them (which is a waste of time - the problem with Johnson's suspension of parliament isn't that it's illegal but it is entirely constitutional). And as these levers have proven to be duds or non-existent, so the movement is radicalising with calls for ...

Who hasn't looked over the edge of a tall building, a cliff, a canyon, or a hole and found themselves filled with a vertiginous feeling? Well, a a week into Boris Island and we find this discomforting sensation is the basis of the new Prime Minister's Brexit strategy. Consider the developments that have taken place since we last expended some words on Boris Johnson. He's visited the regions and the nations of the UK, bringing with him everywhere his boundless optimism and booing crowds. He met with Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh and revealed to her his Brexit plan was, well, keep your fingers crossed. He went to Wales and said a no-deal Brexit will be the EU's fault . And his visit to Northern Ireland was less than a roaring success, with attempts to get Stormont talks moving again falling flat and Sinn Fein raising the prospect of a unity referendum in the event of no deal. For those of us who'd like to see a united Ireland, every cloud. In no uncertain terms it has...

Who tuned in tonight to watch Andrew Neil grill Jeremy Hunt? Not me. As he's not going to win, there's little point dwelling upon his interview. Tonight then was all about Boris Johnson. Did we learn anything new, or were all our preconceptions reconfirmed? We know from decades of suffering this oaf how he elbows his way into the centre of attention, and through a series of studied ruses not only monopolises it but manipulates the situation. As Hunt observed in a rare moment of insight during the ITV debates earlier this week, Boris Johnson will make you smile and while you're laughing you've forgotten how he didn't answer the question. That might work with the less experienced interviewer, or a one shot questioner in a press conference, but in a half hour sit down with the country's fiercest politics inquisitor? Andrew Neil started off softly, asking Johnson about his character and whether he could be trusted. Perhaps expecting something a bit tougher, Johnso...

They might turn their backs when Ode to Joy is played, but they certainly won't turn their backs on the salaries, perks, and very generous expense accounts. Nevertheless, the Brexit Party's miserable stunt in Strasbourg earlier can be considered an unqualified success. It led the news across all channels, upset swathes of people they like upsetting (liberals, centrists, leftwingers), and no doubt provide for a frisson of smug satisfaction among the BXP fraternity sat at home. Indeed, in another context and with quite different politics involved, the likes of Nigel Farage and his right wing cheerleaders might call it an example of virtue signalling. For instance, I wonder what they made of Liberal Democrat MEPs who sat there during their silly little protest wearing 'Bollocks to Brexit' t-shirts? Yes, it was disrespectful of EU institutions, and yes it does remind the bloc of nations of how petty minded and unserious the UK can be. A reminder set to be repeated once B...

No matter how you slice and dice it, last week's EU election results were an abject disaster for Labour. Yes, the Tories polled nine per cent of the vote which probably makes it their worst result ever, but when you answer it with a return of 13% that's hardly compensation. And then there is the YouGov poll that put Labour and the Tories level pegging ... behind the Brexit Party and the Liberal Democrats for a general election. Appalling. Thankfully, polls are a snapshot , not a forecast, and what they have captured is an electorate basking in the full glow of EU rebellion - the backwash of the results, if you will. And there is precedent for this. Remember Cleggmania when, in the enthusiasm of the 2010 leaders' debates, the LibDems powered to second place in the polls? Or, even further back, how the formation of the Social Democratic Party was treated as a blessed relief from two-party politics and topped Westminster voting intention? Does that mean we can put our feet...

On Twitter earlier, lefty comedian David Schneider wrote "Good to hear Shami Chakrabati clarifying Labour’s position on free movement which is that it will end but only as it was under the EU so it won’t end fully though it might and if it doesn’t end it won’t be totally free. Unless that’s what happens. Simples." Well then. There's something peculiar, isn't there, about a particular fraction of otherwise progressive types who seem intent on confounding us with these increasingly erratic and incomprehensible takes, in this case about a line in the last Labour manifesto declaring that upon leaving the EU free movement will end. It's peculiar because if you give the situation a few seconds thought, it isn't. If/when we leave, free movement for EU citizens as it exists now, and the rules under which it exists, will end. This is simply because those rules will not exist any more. They will cease to be. That’s what 'ending free movement' in this context me...

Brexit's not going well, is it? The right wing press give voice to the tortures of the Tory backbenches. Imagine their pain, feel their agony. They achieved their heart's desire, a vote affirming their dream of leaving the European Union. And for the best part of two years, their Prime Minister has strung them along. At the height of her powers in 2016 she declared for a hard Brexit, and the Brexit hardcore squealed with glee. And immediately after the election, Theresa May gave her parliamentary party all the assurances that nothing had changed. Brexit was about "controlling our borders", kicking the European Court of Justice out of UK law, dark blue passports, back off Brussels, and signing new trade deals . These fantasies all appeared within reach and, well, May kiboshed them. Not only does her deal cede a great deal of leverage to the European Union should the UK fall into the backstop arrangements, parliament has repeatedly reminded the ERG that their favoured s...