Fictitious scenario. The date is Monday 22 July, the day before Boris Johnson is expected to be approved leader of the Conservative Party, and two days before he is expected to go to the Palace to see the Queen. Jeremy Corbyn announces he will make a public speech, explaining Labour’s […]
At the Freudenstadt Symposium on European Regionalism this past weekend I was rather flummoxed by a nevertheless amusing question by someone in the audience. Are there any implausible, but still just about viable, Brexit scenarios you have not thought about? I was asked after I had presented my latest Brexit […]
In 2014 the race to become President of the European Commission – using the new Spitzenkandidat process – was a two-horse race, and months ahead everyone knew who would likely win – Jean-Claude Juncker (EPP). Martin Schulz (PES) put in energy and determination, but the EPP emerged as the largest party after […]
One of the consistent outcomes in my latest round of Brexit Diagrams has been to foresee a General Election as the most likely outcome of the Brexit process. “But a General Election is not an outcome!” has been the common retort from my readers. “Do any of us know how […]
So the Heads of State and Government put in an all-nighter at the European Council in Brussels. And this morning at the time of writing there is still no consensus as to who will get any of the EU’s top jobs, President of the European Commission foremost among the positions […]
So you want to go to the only place in the world that still has the hammer and sickle on its flag? A largely unrecognised state? One with a statue of Lenin in front of its Parliament? And you want to do that in 2019? And you want to do […]
For years now Twitter has been my main professional social network. It is (or has been?) the way to keep in touch with what is going on in politics, and to seek to influence it in some way. I have also written a lot about it – all gathered here. […]
So May has gone. Or at least said when she will go. Her statement today that she will stand aside on 7th June, together with the announcement by Brandon Lewis and others about the timetable for the leadership election that will conclude by mid July, gives us the framework. Into […]
Just over a year ago I was speaking on a panel about Brexit at King’s College London with Richard Graham, Tory MP for Gloucester. “The democratic tradition” Graham said in sickly smooth tone 23 minutes in, “is much deeper in the UK than anywhere else in the European Union.” He […]
So with less than a month to go until Brexit (or it being delayed or cancelled), I am setting off around Europe, talking to different groups about the UK’s exit from the EU, and what we can expect between now and 29.3.2019. Details of all the events are below and […]
Back a decade ago when I was building websites for politicians as a job, one of my clients wrote the following: I was born in a council house in Kendray, a district of Barnsley, on the 9th April 1955. Apart from my time at university I have always lived in […]
42 days to go to Brexit. Just over 1000 hours. And we still do not know what is going to happen in the Brexit saga. Yet as the clock ticks, some things become clearer. My Brexit diagrams have fewer branches. There are fewer possible outcomes. An early general election (or […]
Just in case calls to scrap the backstop weren't enough, @BorisJohnson now reportedly wants to force Ireland out of the EU's single market.
The question is only whether this is deliberately designed to squash any remaining good will or a total ignorance for EU/Irish position? https://t.co/CuzCGn1HAT
This is barking, even by recent standards.
18/08: Boris tells EU the backstop does not respect sovereignty of the UK
20/08: Boris suggests IE should leave the single market because a narrow majority of people in the country next door voted to leave the EU. https://t.co/tWi7DhG72H
@jonworth The Labour VONC has to be held after the Tory rebels move their legislation and fail. That's the current thinking
