Brian Walker – Page 22 – Slugger O'Toole

An Amber warning of revolt is delivered as May’s Brexit strategy implodes. A new Battle of Britain is about to begin

Brian Walker on February 23, 2019, 12:00 am

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This sort of thing just doesn’t happen in the British political system – a cabinet ultimatum to the prime minister delivered in the Daily Mail If we don’t get a deal next week we MUST delay Brexit’: MPs Amber Rudd, Greg Clark and David Gauke appeal for Tory unity as party is engulfed by bitter in-fighting By David Gauke, Amber Rudd and Greg Clark for the Daily Mail Once the deal is passed, the benefits will be felt nationally. Optimism …

In letting the Brexit crisis mount so high, you’d think we were in the early Middle Ages

Brian Walker on February 22, 2019, 11:10 am

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It’s become just like the filioque controversy that led to Great Schism of 1054 don’t you think? You know, when the Roman church tried to foist a change of theology on the Orthodox Greeks of Constantinople. In what became the Nicene Creed the Romans insisted on the Holy Spirit “proceeding from the Father and the Son. But the Greeks weren’t having any of “the Son” business, (“filioque” being Latin for “and the son” for all you ignorant Prods.) And never …

Northern Ireland could be caught in a tariff trap imposed by a British minister. How can such a muddle be avoided in future?

Brian Walker on February 21, 2019, 1:04 pm

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Whatever that latter day Rumpole attorney general Geoffrey Cox comes up with by way of alternative arrangements to try to seal the withdrawal deal at Sharm el Sheikh at the weekend, Northern Ireland’s own arrangements are the least likely to be replaced, as the Irish Times’ Denis Staunton has warned. and is bound to cast fresh doubt on the DUP’s support for a revised deal. (Attorney General) Cox wants the EU to make explicit the temporary nature of …

Can May hold it together or enough defectors pull it apart to strike a deal by 29 March?

Brian Walker on February 20, 2019, 4:35 pm

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British politics has reached the surreal stage as the No Deal deadline approaches. Although aware of the mounting panic at the prospect of No Deal in the real world, they seem too absorbed by their own battles and intrigues to rise to the level of events and be relied on to meet their self imposed deadline of 29 March. Or else like most of us they secretly believe the other guy will do it for them, the EU, a cross …

We should at least discuss a border poll, says Colin Harvey. Why not indeed

Brian Walker on February 15, 2019, 7:48 am

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Colin Harvey, Queen’s law professor and an authority on human rights law identifies as a prominent member of nationalist civil society. This is his latest call for a proper discussion of a border poll. My sole concern here is to suggest that in tackling one of the consequences of Brexit – a hard border on the island of Ireland – a principled way forward is to ask people in this region whether they wish to remain in the UK or …

Things fall apart… but if a new centre is forming, it’s more like a rough beast at the moment

Brian Walker on February 14, 2019, 8:46 am

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As Mrs May faces another defeat … on the Conservative side.. Hardline Brexit supporters are threatening to inflict yet another Commons defeat on Theresa May because they fear the government is effectively ruling out leaving the EU with no deal. Members of the Tory European Research Group are unhappy with the wording of a No 10 motion because it endorses parliament’s vote against any Brexit without a withdrawal agreement. The motion for debate on Thursday simply affirms “the approach to leaving the EU” backed …

Rumbled! Theresa May’s secret plan to extend Article 50 and stay close to the customs union long term.

Brian Walker on February 13, 2019, 12:28 am

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Theresa May will not mind being forced to extend Article 50 in fifteen day’s time by a cross parliamentary vote, if Tory Brexiteers try to veto whatever she brings back from Brussels. Long suspected as inevitable despite her constant denials, the evidence for this comes – would you believe it ? from that old faithful of hacks’ sources,” overheard in a bar” – in this case by ITN correspondent in Brussels , Angus Walker. Last night, I’d been reporting …

Theresa May is prepared to go right to the brink. The Remainers’ last chance is 27 February

Brian Walker on February 12, 2019, 6:27 pm

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Against most expectations, Theresa May has all but abandoned any effort to strike a cross party agreement with the Labour front bench. To concentrate minds, a cliff hanging finale as late as 26 March – three days before Leave day – is now looking likely. You don’t need to get into her head to come to this conclusion. It’s nakedly obvious from her statement and the exchanges in the Commons today. She’s challenging all sides who so decisively turned down …

Despite the coyness at dinner in Phoenix Park, Brexit should be no barrier. We cannot escape the urgent need for a resumption of close British-Irish relations

Brian Walker on February 9, 2019, 10:56 am

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However they’re phased and whatever the context, close British Irish engagement on both Brexit and rescuing the GFA are essential. Who with any wit can doubt it? Brexit provides no excuse. Indeed, it’s one of two pressing reasons for close encounters, the other being the Stormont stand-off. Dinner in Farmleigh House may have been in Theresa May’s programme of displacement activity as she mulls over Labour’s offer to talk and runs down the clock, but at least it displayed dim …

Ah,oh… UK government gets a little rough with the DUP

Brian Walker on February 8, 2019, 8:47 pm

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From the champions of the precious Union and the busy custodians of devolved government , the crudest bit of spin I’ve seen in a long time, so crude it makes me giggle. Not that it isn’t plausible, mind you! I’m sure Sammy will take it on the chin One senior minister said the prospect is “very real” and very much on the prime minister’s mind. A second cabinet minister warned the government risked “sleepwalking into a border poll”. And a …

Theresa May must do business with Jeremy Corbyn. So is it goodbye DUP?

Brian Walker on February 8, 2019, 2:50 pm

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In her heart, Theresa May must realise that her desperate attempts to hold a Conservative majority together and avoid a crash out No Deal in fifty days’ time are on the point of collapse. She told Donald Tusk yesterday that her party would never unite behind Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit letter and that 30 of her MPs would never back her deal unless changes were made to the Irish backstop. To hear them all talk you’d think they had all the …

The creeping reality is dawning of what extending Article 50 means

Brian Walker on February 6, 2019, 3:45 pm

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To clear my head, I’ve done a round up of expert comment of where we are and what might be done, with 51 days to go to Brexit. Most of it implies or supports an extension of Article 50. But the heavy squeeze on Mrs May is on with a vengeance. The EU don’t look like granting it unless she drops options they’ve already rejected And that excludes the options in her Commons mandate. So this week, back empty …

From Donald to Theresa, the bluntest of messages. Nothing doing unless you drop the Brexiteer options

Brian Walker on February 6, 2019, 3:14 pm

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With 51 days to go to and Brexit clarity as elusive as ever, EU council president Donald Tusk drops a not so subtle hint that most of Mrs May’s renegotiation options are no goers. Afterward meeting Leo Varadkar, Tusk said those who promoted Brexit without a plan for leaving deserve “a special place in hell”. There are 50 days left until the UK’s exit from the European Union, following the decision and the will of the UK authorities. I know …

Mrs May’s tilt towards nationalism in Belfast implies an appeal to Varadkar to be more flexible about the backstop

Brian Walker on February 6, 2019, 1:15 am

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Northern Ireland does not have to rely on the Irish Government or the European Union to prevent a return to borders of the past. The UK Government will not let that happen. I will not let that happen. A fundamental belief in the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is part of my political heritage as a Conservative and Unionist – and that will never change. But the Unionism I believe in is one that respects absolutely the central …

It’s Ireland’s call as well as England’s – and both can still win the match!

Brian Walker on February 3, 2019, 1:40 pm

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Let’s go straight to the bottom line. Ireland and EU26 say the backstop is necessary to prevent a hard border. The UK says insistence on the backstop in its present form is the best way to guarantee a hard border. These are expressions of perfect deadlock. Nevertheless, after the defeat of the withdrawal deal by over 200 votes, Mrs May is returning to Brussels to seek an “alternative” to the backstop, either a time limit or unilateral exit mechanism to …

The personal strains imposed on identity by Brexit, as Theresa May struggles to build support for a renegotiation

Brian Walker on January 31, 2019, 11:46 pm

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With cabinet ministers admitting as much and an extension to Article 50 looking ever more likely, the Daily Mail carries this busy chart purporting to describe Theresa May’s renegotiation agenda with the EU. It reads like a Brexiteers’ dream. Her idea of doing a DUP-type deal with Labour leavers isn’t going down particularly well with the comrades who recognise ” Brexit bribes” when they see them. Nick Timothy. Mrs May’s sacked joint chief of staff now a loose cannon is …

The Good Friday Agreement is in the frame for Theresa May’s challenge to the backstop

Brian Walker on January 31, 2019, 3:01 pm

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In their renegotiation campaign the UK government are offering belated assurances that the proposals they’re about to make to replace or qualify their backstop involve no weakening of their commitment to the Good Friday Agreement. The attention-grabbing part of foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt’s BBC interview was his hint – subsequently denied by No 10 – that withdrawal might have to be delayed to after 29 March. While he declined to give details, the “ alternative arrangements include: a “trusted …

Brexiteers are starting to fear that May will bend to reality

Brian Walker on January 31, 2019, 1:38 am

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He was the unlikely hero of the hour. In the Commons last night with his voice shaking, Tory MP Oliver Letwin, the backroom politician who was the chief policy coordinator of the Cameron coalition, made the most striking statement of the day. “I’ve actually got to the point where I am past caring what the deal is we have. I will vote for it to get a smooth exit.” On the face of it, a very irresponsible statement indeed from …

Theresa May’s win gives her the scent of bigger victory, courtesy of divided Labour

Brian Walker on January 30, 2019, 12:15 am

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Quite a coup, to turn a defeat by 230 votes into a victory by 15 votes in a fortnight – a victory courtesy of the DUP by the way. Rather sadly, the big losers of the day were the supporters of a second referendum. But what sort of victory? It required turning 180 degrees from insisting hers was the only deal, to agreeing to renegotiate the “significant and legally binding change to the withdrawal agreement” she insisted was impossible only …

Enter the “Malthouse compromise.”

Brian Walker on January 29, 2019, 11:20 am

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In the present fevered atmosphere, what seems like a Eureka moment inside the Westminster bubble may not survive the cold light of day. Nevertheless, in Tory ranks excitement is building over the Malthouse compromise, a plan co-ordinated by a minister Kit Malthouse proposed by leading soft dealer Nicky Morgan. This would extend the transition period from the end of 2020 to December 2021 and allow the UK and EU to “prepare properly” for WTO terms or “obviate this outcome by …