The Easter recess

My Parliamentary office will be open today and next week as usual, closing for Good Friday and Bank holiday Monday only for Easter.
I will be mainly in the constituency for the two week-ends and next week, and will provide my usual 7 day a week response service to constituents with emails and urgent problems.
I have made my views clear on how the UK should now proceed to leave the EU, and will write at greater length about that next week again.

49 Comments

  1. a-tracy
    April 12, 2019

    John, have a full holiday, time away there is no other parliamentarian that deserves a break more. You have been betrayed take the time to think and rest ready for the trouble ahead.

    1. eeyore
      April 12, 2019

      Seconded.

    2. Atlas
      April 12, 2019

      Agreed, a-tracy

    3. sm
      April 12, 2019

      Seconded.

    4. JoolsB
      April 12, 2019

      Yes have a well earned break John and recharge your batteries ready for the fight ahead. Happy Easter to you and your family.

    5. Andrea Wood
      April 12, 2019

      Thirded!

  2. Everhopeful
    April 12, 2019

    Yes…well…you are a statesman.
    I dare say this politiciansā€™ break was planned well ahead to give May an opportunity to dodge all the well-deserved blame. ( And plan the next stitch up?).

  3. ChrisS
    April 12, 2019

    I don’t know any Conservative voters who will be voting for the party in either of the May elections.

    We all know that the only way to get rid of Teresa May is to ensure that the Conservative Party gets a real trouncing in both sets of elections. It will be unfortunate that a lot of good Conservative councillors will lose their seats but that will be a price well worth paying.

    The Leave vote will inevitably be somewhat split between UKIP and Nigel Farage’s new Brexit party but, hopefully, voters will realise that Nigel is the one person that has remained true to his word and the Brexit Party will get the lion’s share of the vote.

    As for Labour, I imagine that they will be decimated in what was their Northern Heartlands and rightly so.

    1. Lifelogic
      April 12, 2019

      It will be a greet shame to see some good real Conservative Councillors kicked out and replaced with lefty, wasteful, dopes. At the EU elections clearly little damage is done by not voting Conservative as MEP are powerless anyway. Just a superficial fake veneer of pretend EU democracy – albeit a very expensive one.

      1. ChrisS
        April 12, 2019

        Just because some Conservative councillors lose their seats, it does not mean that they will be replaced by left-wing Labourites.

        In my area the Brexit Party is likely to pick up quite a few of the seats.

        We have to get the message across to those at the top of the Conservative Party that they are going in completely the wrong direction. We must get a new leader in place that can reverse the decline as soon as possible Not just because of Brexit, but in order to have sufficient time to repair the damage done by May before the next general election.

      2. Al
        April 12, 2019

        “It will be a greet shame to see some good real Conservative Councillors kicked out and replaced with lefty, wasteful, dopes.” – Lifelogic

        That would be a shame, but it is as well to check where candidates stand personally before deeming them good Conservatives just because they are party members. Mine, for example, campaigned actively for Remain and support May and Hammond completely. Therefore I do not support them.

      3. Fred H
        April 12, 2019

        I don’t agree. Electing pro-Brexit UKIP/Farage types as MEPs will demonstrate the wrath of so many in the UK. Should they take seats in the EU Parliament I expect the to cause maximum difficulty just like the SNP and DUP have done in London.

        1. Fedupsoutherner
          April 12, 2019

          Fred. Agree with you. The three main parties need a wake up call. I would love to see them wiped off the political spectrum. Its what they deserve. They have betrayed the nation.

    2. a-tracy
      April 12, 2019

      Is it a price worth paying though ChrisS these councillors decide school governors, how to spend local rates, what services to support and cut. If you elect just socialists you’ll be sorry – every local area I’ve lived in all my life have been labour controlled, they have the worst schools, the worst planting and the most spending on themselves and their local offices and officers, the worst allowance and allocation of house building which gives no priority to the looks and beauty of the local area, they allow industrial areas to make whatever noise they want and expand them behind close doors, they remove local people’s meetings and say and support their main Cities.

      1. Peter Lavington
        April 12, 2019

        Well then, any Conservative candidate must make their view clear. Either for May’s treaty or against. The label ‘Conservative’ no longer means anything now.

    3. stred
      April 12, 2019

      Even if May is deposed, she has left the next leader unable to expose the deliberate concealment and delays in preparing for leaving on WTO and other non-trading matters. It is now reported that an incredible Ā£4bn has been spent on preparation by the civil service and that her right-hand man Sedwill, as her chosen head of the civil service, has ordered a halt to any unfinished preparations. In addition, an agreement has been signed, without discussion in parliament or cabinet, to do nothing to upset the EU until 31.10.19 including leaving on WTO terms and asking for a continuation of trading until a deal is agreed. (see Facts4EU)

      In other words, May and the civil service chiefs are carrying out their plan to reverse Brexit or leave on almost identical terms under EU control. May has consistently misled the HoC in claiming otherwise, as proven by the various legal analysis and anonymous civil servants who are exposing this subversion. Let us hope that during the break, instead of going away and being unable to challenge the PM, loyal MPs contact loyal civil servants confidentially and find out exactly what has been going on. Then, on her return she can face the music.

      1. Stred
        April 13, 2019

        Apparently, Sedwill says he is bringing all the departments together in order to provide s better Brexit. Ie. Bringing the departments which have been working hard to provide a real Brexit and saying so back under his control in order to make sure that the EU WA Brino goes through. The audacity of the plot is staggering.

    4. rose
      April 12, 2019

      My fear is that as in 2017 when we lost Peter Lilley, a lot of good people will be punished and the authoress of their misfortunes will still be there, kept in place by her nameless, faceless, unconstitutional puppeteers, the people who decided Sir Roger Scruton must be sacked because someone had been nasty and untruthful about him on Twitter; the people who over rode the law of the land in cancelling Brexit.

    5. JoolsB
      April 12, 2019

      Let’s hope you’re right ChrisS but as far as getting rid of May goes, I have a feeling no matter how much the Tories get a hammering in the forthcoming elections, it will be everyone else’s fault but hers

    6. Steve
      April 12, 2019

      Chris S

      “We all know that the only way to get rid of Teresa May is to ensure that the Conservative Party gets a real trouncing in both sets of elections.”

      Well short of bumping the woman off, you could be right.

      Though it is typical that they’d need a good hiding at local elections to realise what they must do, rather than just taking heed of what their electors have been telling them all along.

      When we say get rid of the PM, what we are also saying is that by refusing to do so, the party is unelectable.

      Heed this, conservatives; we pay your wages, we elected you based upon the effectiveness of Theresa May’s lies, we’re seriously pi**ed and we’re hell bent on revenge. It will be merciless – believe it.

      Do as we say NOW……..or face voter’s wrath and find yourselves permanently out of politics and ashamed to show your faces in public.

      Get rid of Theresa May, and get us out of the EU on no deal / WTO. Nothing else will suffice, and is what we expect and demand of you.

      1. Fred H
        April 12, 2019

        exactly. just what I think.

    7. Fedupsoutherner
      April 12, 2019

      Chris’s. Brexit party for me. Farage is truthful and a patriot. The media will paint him in a bad light similar to Trump but hopefully the public will see the light.

  4. Patrick Hanson-Lowe
    April 12, 2019

    Iā€™d get behind the new Will of the People and work out how we are going to make the most of Remaining if I were you John

    1. John Hatfield
      April 12, 2019

      The will of which people, I wonder, Patrick. Certainly not the majority.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        April 12, 2019

        John. The majority that voted. Hadn’t you heard? Leave was the majority.

  5. agricola
    April 12, 2019

    Chocolate in moderation and concentrate on the golden egg of leaving the EU.

  6. Denis Cooper
    April 12, 2019

    Well, JR, I would be interested to know how you think this will end when:

    1. Not only has the EU repeatedly said that it is not prepared to negotiate any changes to the Withdrawal Agreement, our own Prime Minister has stopped asking for any changes and instead is perfectly happy to simply relay the EU’s view on the matter.

    2. After a sustained, well co-ordinated and effectively unchallenged, and highly successful, scaremongering campaign neither the UK government nor the UK Parliament is prepared to countenance the UK leaving the EU without a deal – “crashing out”, “falling over the cliff edge”, it would be “catastrophic”, “disastrous” – and it really makes little difference whether or not contingency plans have been drawn up and preparations made.

    3. Clearly at present the EU is prepared to allow the UK to remain a member for as long as it takes for us to have a change of heart, as may be manifested by a repeat referendum, or just by MPs agreeing to vote for the government to revoke the Article 50 notice.

    As the bard explained:

    “There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.”

    but unfortunately we have missed that tide, which began to turn immediately after the 2017 general election and is now running strongly against us.

    1. Denis Cooper
      April 12, 2019

      Philip Hammond on Sky News, about the reported discontinuation of preparations in case the UK left the EU without a deal:

      “It would have been irresponsible not to prepare for no deal so long as it was a real possible outcome.”

  7. Lifelogic
    April 12, 2019

    Thank you for all your efforts and please do all you can to save us from May’s appalling Ā£39 billion non Brexit straightjacket and from Hammond’s absurd taxes and above all confiscatory Corbyn/SNP.

    Let us finally escape the EU and restore the Conservative Party from its current pro EU, tax to death, endless waste and its Libdim lunacy.

    Roger Scrutonā€™s sacking exposes the Toriesā€™ cowardice says Douglas Murray in the Spectator – he is quite right as usual.

  8. Tweeter_L
    April 12, 2019

    I’d just like to endorse the good wishes and thanks posted above.
    Sir John, you are a scholar and a gentleman. Your blog is the first thing I read online in the morning in these depressing times as you always offer a thoughtful and measured perspective on the shenanigans in our shameful Parliament. Thank you for all your efforts towards a clean exit from the EU. I hope you will have a good, relaxing Easter break.

  9. rose
    April 12, 2019

    A very happy Easter to you Sir John and your family. Thank you, as ever, for a unique contribution, beyond price, to our public life. You really do represent the people.

  10. Everhopeful
    April 12, 2019

    May has cancelled all prep for No Deal?
    If true…then she must be planning to revoke Art 50?
    Surely taking part in E.U. elections is statement of stay in EU intent?
    Why is she not more concerned about dropping in polls?
    Very sinister.

    1. Stred
      April 13, 2019

      That or making sure that the choice will be her Brino capitulation or no Brexit. It’s blackmail.

  11. Roy Grainger
    April 12, 2019

    Both Labour and Conservative canvassers for the local elections are meeting with unprecedented hostility on the doorstep. All the conditions for the rise of new, possibly extremist, parties are in place and it is the Remainiacs who will be entirely to blame.

    1. Margaret Robinson
      April 16, 2019

      Or until brexit is sorted leave mp,s should join the relatively fast increase in SDP Party. Get back to the basics of family community and stability and social capital with regulated capitalism social cohesion. Its possibly the only way they wll remain in parliament

  12. Peter VAN LEEUWEN
    April 12, 2019

    Today saw the start of the Brexit Party. Surprise surprise, when I heard your Nigel Farage seemingly quoting me when he spoke about the state of UK democracy (“unfit for purpose”).

    1. Old person
      April 12, 2019

      Our Parish Clerk has just received the official notice of European Parliamentary Elections on the 23rd May 2019.
      The Government choosing to obey the law in this case.

  13. Gary
    April 12, 2019

    Before you go on your hols..Regarding Assange..there are some government types trying to make out that what is happening is not political and yet every newspaper and TV political current affairs programme in the land is saying otherwise that yes it is political..in fact wholly political..what did that famous american actor P Anderson say..only that the UK was now Americas bitch.

  14. Steve
    April 12, 2019

    Well done Mr Redwood, enjoy a much deserved break.

  15. JoolsB
    April 12, 2019

    I see Nigel Farage’s Brexit party has launched today and Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister has resigned from the Conservative party and put herself forward for election. Maybe over the Easter break her brother and the few remaining democrats left in the party masquerading as Tory and who believe in honouring the referendum result could follow suit and leave the party to May and the the Liberal lefties. Then when May has totally destroyed the party, they could all re-name themselves as the New Conservative party.

    John, one of your colleagues last night called those of us who want a true Brexit as vile hardliners. This is obviously the contempt in which the majority of EU loving MPs hold us for voting the wrong way.

  16. MPC
    April 12, 2019

    Looking forward to your further insight next week. No matter how bad things are we have to try and stay as positive as we can and respond to you with some thoughts on strategy that may perhaps assist you. Thanks again for all your hard work.

  17. David Maples
    April 12, 2019

    If Boris gets the leadership(our only true vote harvester), and if we then leave with no-deal, I hope when he goes to Brussels(or preferably, they are made to come to us), that he has you on one side of him and Jacob Rees-Mogg on the other. He’s very charismatic, but without a mind for detail, or a talent for negotiating.

    1. JoolsB
      April 12, 2019

      I hope if that happens, Steve Baker, Andrew Bridgen, Peter Bone, John Baron and Mark Francois will also be rewarded. No Amber Rudds or any of the current EU loving wets must ever be allowed near cabinet again and that includes Hammond. As for Gove, Leadsom and Mordaunt, they also belong with the never agains for backing May and her attrocious deal.

    2. ChrisS
      April 12, 2019

      Have you not yet learned, David : we cannot leave under WTO terms, there are simply too many Remainer MPS in Parliament to allow that to happen !

      Like it or not, May has put us in a position that her deal is now the only way out of the EU. Brexiteers like our host, having voted against the deal at the third attempt, have now pretty well ensured that we will end up within a Customs Union as the price for Corbyn’s support.

      We will have to rely on a new Conservative leader to undo the immense damage done by May, Grieve, Soubry and co and revive the party. If he can win the next election on a proper Brexit manifesto, we may finally be free of Brussels. Maybe.

      1. Stred
        April 13, 2019

        May’s EU WA is worse than staying in. Then the Brexit party MPs and Ukip can stay in the European Parliament causing problems for years, until the next general election, after which Brexit parties can have revenge on the traitors and just leave without A50 trap and offer free trade for EU products or 20% on cars and cheese.

    3. Fred H
      April 12, 2019

      I’m afraid the Tories are thin on the ground for vote-winning types. Boris might be a sound campaigning choice, but he certainly ought to face competition for PM. His smart ‘foolishness’ has to stop once in office.

  18. Ian
    April 12, 2019

    Dear Sir John,
    Make the most of your little break, very best wishes to you and yours.

    Boris would be a wonderful breath of fresh air, and with help from real Leavers, it will be such a relief for all but the EU lovers.

    Just a dream sadly at the moment.

  19. John Hatfield
    April 12, 2019

    Banging your head on a brick wall John. May’s handlers are not going to budge.

    Never mind. What you do to keep my spirits up is much appreciated.
    You work too hard. Have a good (relaxing) Easter if you can.

  20. James Bertram
    April 12, 2019

    Enjoy a well deserved break, Sir John.
    Perhaps time for some quiet plotting?

    Some rays of hope:
    10,000 signatures to change that constitution of yours, enabling you to get rid of May very soon.
    Ways to ensure we fail to hold the EU elections.
    Organising your Real Tory Party with local associations before mass resignations.

    Your dedication is much appreciated.
    Good luck.

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