Monday 5th August 2019

[refitman]

Morning all.

[HindleA]

Can the football season stop now?

[RogerOThornhill]

Morning all.

I make it that this initial £1.8bn is 5 weeks worth of the "Let's give it to the NHS instead" sum of £350m a week.

So the next tranche will be announced mid-September right?

Or, if you want to be picky and make it from once we've actually left, then a week into December.

[gilsey]

Morning all.

I make it that this initial £1.8bn is 5 weeks worth of the "Let's give it to the NHS instead" sum of £350m a week.

So the next tranche will be announced mid-September right?

Or, if you want to be picky and make it from once we've actually left, then a week into December.

See also

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[AnatolyKasparov]

New poll in Scotland shows 52% (that figure again) support for independence.

Triumph for Johnson!

[PorFavor]

Around 4,500 Tesco Metro staff to be made redundant (BBC News).

Jobless figures to go down again, I predict.

[PorFavor]

Good morfternoon.

[citizenJA]

Good afternoon, everyone.

[citizenJA]

I've got to get away from the news. I'll be back in a day or two.
I love you.
cJA

[AnatolyKasparov]

Enjoy your break, I expect this place to be fairly quiet in the next few weeks.

Events always permitting!

[adam]

Boris Johnson has no intention of renegotiating Brexit deal, EU told: No-deal Brexit is British PM’s ‘central scenario’, chief Brussels envoy reportedly says

Boris Johnson has no intention of renegotiating the withdrawal agreement and a no-deal Brexit is his “central scenario”, European diplomats have been told, amid hardening evidence in Westminster that the government is expecting to crash out of the EU.

We have a government but no governance - absolutely no sense at all of settled policy or intent. This central scenario was a million to one chance a couple of days ago. One recent story talked about Trump style game theory but was roundly criticised for talking bollocks - it's being impossible to pin down, having no substance, having no arguable or arguable-against position. No governance. Just a bunch of RCP/Spiked/TaxPayersAlliance/AdamSmith/VoteLeave pricks who believe in chaos

[AnatolyKasparov]

Tonight's headline - "PM will defy vote of no confidence".

I mean, he actually can't - can he??

[adam]

Tonight's headline - "PM will defy vote of no confidence".

I mean, he actually can't - can he??

I think this is now exclusively governed by the FTPA, which says

(3)An early parliamentary general election is also to take place if—

(a)the House of Commons passes a motion in the form set out in subsection (4), and

(b)the period of 14 days after the day on which that motion is passed ends without the House passing a motion in the form set out in subsection (5).

(4)The form of motion for the purposes of subsection (3)(a) is—

“That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government.”

(5)The form of motion for the purposes of subsection (3)(b) is—

“That this House has confidence in Her Majesty’s Government.”

So he in theory would remain PM until there was another one to appoint which would either happen through the conservative party or some kind of coalition in the 14 days or would happen after a General Election. But he would remain PM until there was another. Calaghan lost a confidence vote on 28th March 1979 but he was Prime Minister until Friday 4th May. I can't imagine Johnson would care very much about the etiquette of how he should be behaving in office if that happened.

[AnatolyKasparov]

He might not, but that surely doesn't mean that he can do what he likes?

We are very possibly learning, again, the drawbacks of having an "unwritten" constitution.