The Prime Minister had no choice but to hold an election close to Christmas. The old Parliament had degenerated into an uncontrollable shouting match, preventing government and making us look ludicrous abroad. When you can not even pass a budget it’s time to ask the people.
Necessity does not  make Christmas a good time to be campaigning and I trust it does not become a habit. It was cold and wet for much of the time, with slippery steps and paths, more dangerous in the dark when the sodden leaves were concealed in the shadows. The Labour candidate in Wokingham had an unfortunate fall at the start of the election and had to struggle on crutches for most of the time. I felt sorry for her, as it must be  so frustrating and painful when you wish to dash around to meet as many people as possible.
I had to hone my skills at carrying a bundle of leaflets in one hand, an umbrella in the other, and then working how to battle with the letter boxes near the ground with highly sprung backs and tough brushes. If you abandoned the umbrella the leaflets soon got ruined by the rain. It was necessary to locate the prevailing wind and park the umbrella where it could not blow away whilst tackling the more aggressively defended  letter boxes.
We candidates are all volunteers, and I am not seeking any sympathy for us. We do not have to do it, but we did  have to fight that feeling of wistfulness as we watched everyone else getting ready for Christmas. Through lit windows we saw the trees and tinsel appear. The outsides of some houses were joyously lit up by great light displays or illuminated Santas and reindeer, making it a bit easier to find our footing as we went from house to house. We returned to our homes converted into leaflet stores and canvass offices feeling a bit like the person made to stay on duty during the party.
For MPs rightly stripped of office as soon as Parliament dissolves it is perhaps the busiest season for official duties. They  all had to be binned. The two wreaths I had bought to lay at local war memorials sit in the corner of my office. I had to cancel my attendance at the Winter Carnival, pull out of reading a lesson at a civic service, and was told politely I was not wanted at the schools’ carol concert which is a highlight of the year in Wokingham Borough. There was no question of dropping in on nativity plays, charity events or other Christmas specials. I will return to Westminster on Monday to a pile of Christmas cards ordered well before the election which could not be signed or sent as they have on them the Portcullis logo and MP designation.
The public was generally  understanding of visitors after dark as they sensed the importance of the election and the limited time for parties to get their message across.
I hope in future we return to spring or early summer elections. There is so much more daylight, it is a bit warmer, and the official calendar is less packed with must do events even allowing for the popularity of summer fetes. I like Christmas and it will great this week-end to be able to do some Christmas shopping and decorate my home. I will get Christmas done!
December 14, 2019
” I will get Christmas done! ”
– and you will undoubtedly get it done properly!.
All we can do is hope that Boris does the same with Brexit.
December 14, 2019
He can do what he likes now.
He has the nativists’ votes safely in the bag, and he doesn’t need the ERG or the DUP either.
In five years’ time they’ll have forgotten whatever he did anyway.
December 14, 2019
What a sourpuss you are, Martin.
December 14, 2019
Oooh bitter !
You sure can’t lose with dignity can you. LMAO đ
December 14, 2019
Still a sore loser, then, and one who has learned nothing.
December 14, 2019
And Merry Christmas to you too, Martin.
December 14, 2019
Sir John,
You’ve earned a well won Christmas rest, many congratulations. It was worth the effort.
Lets hope our ‘faith’ in the new PM will also be rewarded with a fresh, new WA, or none at all, and a reasonable FTA with the EU. Do I also believe in Santa….perhaps!
December 15, 2019
Except that the process of going around knocking at doors [and in bad weather] is humbling, and could help some politicians not get too big headed, I was surprised at my own ignorance that a stateman such as you, Sir John, should have to be doing all that miserable donkey work!
You’ve been a minister in the past, an adviser to Mrs Thatcher, and you’re a Lord. I think you should be given digity and respect .
December 14, 2019
Everyone in UK politics, no matter what their role, who is going to be involved in 2020 with the governance of the country needs to take just a few days off at Christmas.
The past year has been exceptionally stressful in one way and another, and I hope both Government and Opposition members and advisors will, for their own good and that of the country, take some literal and metaphorical deep breaths and prepare their minds and bodies for the difficult tasks ahead.
I wish you and your community of blog readers and contributors a Happy Christmas and a fulfilling and healthy New Year.
December 14, 2019
Bit like the Battle of the Bulge. Not anticipated, but dealt with proficiently when push came to shove. What stands out for me is the inherant common sense of the UK electorate and their willingness to play their part in adverse circumstances. Many of them have undoubtedly taken a gamble in supporting Boris, a move outside their DNA. With the freedom this majority allows make sure they are not let down. As I said yesterday the EU will not understand the significance of the result because they do not do or accept democracy. Make them understand.
As an aside I see the SNP will be back with all their vociferous attack dogs. Bare in mind they they got 1.24 million votes and represent about 3.9% of votes cast in this UK election. Very small beer in the scheme of things. Toss them the odd plastic bone from time to time. I do not denigrate the achievements of the Scots. For those who have travelled the World there is hardly a nineteenth century bridge the Scots have not built and much more besides. They are an inventive hard working nation deserving more than the contradictory claptrap of the SNP.
December 14, 2019
How large an additional fish and meat quota would Boris demand for an EU demanded second Scottish referendum, as part of the new improved Association Agreement?
A Scottish “backstop” could have a distinctly Irish look to it. Scotland remains “de jure” in the UK and “de facto” in the EU. Exactly the same as Northern Ireland! One has an EU frontier in the Irish Sea; the other, the 96 miles between Marshall Meadows Bay and the Solway Firth.
Crazy, you bet! But anything is possible in the next twelve months. I say there is no future for a disunited UK. The above would separate the leavers from the remainers, exactly as the referendum decided. What say you?
December 14, 2019
agricola
“They are an inventive hard working nation deserving more than the contradictory claptrap of the SNP.”
But then again the SNP, of which it must be said represents a threat to the United Kingdoms, was elected fair and square by the scots.
So logically it is a reflection of what the scots think of us.
Fine, as far as I’m concerned Ms Sturgeon should be granted her indyref 2, but this time on condition that it must include ballot of the whole UK. And on condition that Scotland will not keep the pound, the Barnett formula and associated bribes will cease on the eve of election, and there will be a hard border between England and Scotland. Neither will we be providing defence for Scotland – I wonder if Ms Sturgeon is aware of what can often be seen off the northern Scottish coast.
If Scotland wants out it can be arranged, but everything it gets from us will stop. There can be no cake-ism in this.
The SNP should be careful what they wish for, and for good reason; ….we’re sick to the back teeth of their whinging and frankly sectarian rhetoric, often voiced in a most unpleasant and rude tone.
December 14, 2019
I come away with enormous sympathy for postmen/women, whoever thought it was a good idea to install letterboxes 6 inches from the ground and then defend them with stiff brushes, a flap and and angry dog should be made to use them for a couple of days.
December 14, 2019
I agree with you David. Having hand mailed many many thousands of flyers I hate the low letterboxes with brushes. Backbreaking, difficult to post a pristine flyer through them without scrunching it into something resembling a creased burger wrapper and, after a couple of dozen, quite exhausting. Poor old posties, having to deal with those every day.
Regarding your own re-election John, congratulations. I’d read that you were under extra targeted pressure from other parties this year. I’ve been a distant admirer of you and your politics for decades and was delighted you beat your rivals once again this week.
December 14, 2019
Good morning.
No one really wanted yet another GE, but when you have politicians and political parties reneging on promises made in the last election, and an opposition determined to use BREXIT to damage the government and the UK, then what else can we do ?
Labour and the LibDems have been rightly punished for their obstruction of the democratic will of the British people. Those in the Conservative Party who did likewise have either left politics or, stood as independents and lost. Yes Anna I am thinking of you ! There are of course some elements of the same still in the Tory Party but, with a good majority I think party discipline can be maintained and we can get back to governing the country post BREXIT.
My concern, and that of a great many others, is that we will get a BINO. Under the current WA it looks very likely and, I have to say, that this will comeback to bite the Tories once the electorate find out. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!
Another good thing about this is, finally we can put to bed the threat of a second referendum. Political ghosts from the past, Christmas or not, will have to Remain silent.
Finally. Once again may I congratulate our kind host on his re-election. Like many here I am sure, after our own MP’s we checked his next and it was good not to have too many frighteners on friday 13th.
đ
December 14, 2019
Why now ?
December 14, 2019
December is not ideal for a GE but Parliament had gone ‘rogue’ and was achieving nothing but further distrust and frustration.
I hope your remaining Christmas period is the best ever, and makes up for the December campaigning.
December 14, 2019
All best wishes for a great Christmas
Next yearâs trade deal with the US will Make Atlantic Great Again.
Then, and only then, we can negotiate a Canada-like deal with the EU.
Statesmen appreciate the importance of sequence and timing: politicians just like talking and activity
December 14, 2019
I must admit I had never given this side of things a second thought. It was easy for me being retired and being able to get to my polling venue easily. This must have been difficult for many members of parliament and the public but the results were worth it. Thank you John for your hard work and dedication and to your family.
December 14, 2019
Sir John conjures a picture of absurd misery. Let him be reassured: for those of us in the audience it makes high comedy. Thatâll teach Parliament to muck the sovereign people about.
But we can afford to laugh now. A week ago things were different. This PMâs power of pulling order from chaos is astonishing and, for the first time since 1992, we have a rider worthy of the steed. This will be an historically great government.
December 14, 2019
What do you mean?
Most of those in this Parliament are the same people who were in the last one.
The people are not sovereign under the UK Constitution. Parliament is.
December 14, 2019
Martin, In a democracy the people are sovereign. That’s what the word democracy means.
December 14, 2019
Marty … you really should make better points. Mathematically most are indeed the same, however, the Tories as an example now have 109 different MPs. We wanted change – we got it.
December 14, 2019
That is a meaningless phrase Martin.
The people vote and create a Parliament.
December 14, 2019
MiC
“The people are not sovereign”
Test us and see what happens.
December 14, 2019
National sovereignty – such an outdated concept, according to your kind, Martin, so why on earth should you concern yourself with any question of whether British sovereignty rests with the British people, the British Parliament or the British monarch?
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2013/02/02/a-pretend-parliament/#comment-162021
âHow should it be done? Toynbee said âI will merely repeat that we are at present working discreetly but with all our might, to wrest this mysterious political force called sovereignty out of the clutches of the local national states of the world. And all the time we are denying with our lips what we are doing with our hands … ”
Following in his footsteps your primary loyalty is very clearly to the would-be-sovereign EU, not to this country, and you should think yourself damn lucky that natural born UK citizens are not required to take an oath of allegiance in order to secure their status.
Personally I think there would be a lot to be said for doing that, but it has never been part of our political tradition.
December 14, 2019
It seems that the BBC (with Any Questions and Question Time yesterday and the election coverage) still seem to want to continue their foolish agenda when selecting the panel of roughly 80% remainers, 85% lefties and 100% misguided climate alarmists. Kinnock junior is a very misguided and unpleasant man indeed. BBC group think chairmen, all the BBC presenters and most of the panels were/are hugely out of touch with the more sensible views of voters.
All presenters are of course lefty BBC think art graduates too.
December 14, 2019
David Bellamy who sadly died this week , a proper scientist and celebrity, was effectively sacked and banned from BBC because he would not accept man made climate change guff. Attenborough did not originally, he changed and is a regular Feature!
December 14, 2019
Indeed most sensible physicists and scientists think climate alarmism, at the very least, has been a gross exaggeration. The idea that atmospheric CO2 concentrations are some kind of world thermostat is clearly complete lunacy. I think, on balance, higher CO2 levels are actually a net benefit to the world , as does Freeman Dyson and many other sensible people.
I find that the more people believe in this new âscare them to deathâ cult/religion the less science or engineering they know or understand. The BBC even think electric cars are zero-emission. BBC types often talk of renewables farms generating x megawatts of energy – so ignorant are they the cannot even use a unit of energy!
December 14, 2019
How does the BBC think metal is made for wind machines that work now and again? Is someone going to tell them blast furnaces powered by coal still exists as it adds carbon to the metal!
December 15, 2019
Indeed vast amount of non renewable energy are use in manufacturing, maintaining and installing wind farms, solar arrays, car batteries and the likes. They are far from low carbon, need spinning back up and make very little difference at all to net CO2. Not that CO2 is even a real problem – on balance it is probably a good think.
December 14, 2019
Lifelogic
“BBC types often talk of renewables farms generating x megawatts of energy â so ignorant are they the cannot even use a unit of energy!”
Well as I understand it LL, the unit of energy is the Joule, and the unit of power is the Watt.
However for motive power i.e. electric vehicles Horsepower is the appropriate unit. Watts / 746 = HP, if memory serves me.
However the Joule is not used to quantify the generating capacity of a power station. The Watt is used.
Correct about electric cars – they are not ZEV’s in the strict sense. They still need to be charged which means CO2 somewhere in the process.
There’s also the question of all those defunct Lithium batteries. A toxic time bomb in my opinion.
If we are to have petrol taken off us then, in my opinion, the only acceptable alternative would be Hydrogen (internal combustion engines run very well on hydrogen, better than petrol actually) or gas turbine – electric using bio fuel, or again hydrogen.
Milk float technology won’t work. It has to be ‘charge on the go’ using hydrogen – the most abundant and the cleanest element.
December 14, 2019
Google Milankovitch cycles. Its were the Earths orbit and the degree of tilt impacts the weather and in due course the climate. Add in the varying intensity of the Sun and change in land use particularly the rain forests and you will see why we have a changing climate. As was always so. Not the balony peddled by the left wing media and climate religion!
December 14, 2019
It’s ironic that this happened at Christmas when the previous PM wasted 3 years, rain or shine, pretend-negotiating a contract with the EU, for more time only to be wasted by Parliament in delaying denying an earlier election. Only for many of the folk delaying and obfuscating to be dispatched at the ballot box. Karma all round.
No more wasted time please.
December 14, 2019
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7791339/Defectors-left-parties-amid-Brexit-turmoil-lost-seats.html
And this people is why these bunch of muppets didnât want a General Election because they knew they would be kicked out of Westminster , so bye bye and now your free to go live in your beloved Europe , as for the Election in winter it really made no difference the outcome would have still been the same a whopping majority for the conservatives no matter when it happened, but beware like millions more like myself you only borrowed my northern vote so do what we voted for , because donât forget as Iâve said on other occasions we are your boss and we will kick you out next time if you donât carry out your manifesto pledges
December 14, 2019
Mick
“….we are your boss and we will kick you out next time if you donât carry out your manifesto pledges”
Exactly. And if they go back on their word next time it will be terminal, kaput, busted.
December 14, 2019
Shock horror, prospective MP’s having to cope with winter weather just like millions of people have to in their daily working conditions, my local royal mail delivery staff are out in such conditions 6 days a week for example, especially “at Christmas” (that is not for another 10 days anyway)…
Its not necessarily when but how the UK does politicos that needs to change!
December 14, 2019
Might I add my congratulations to yourself, Boris and all Tory MPs and party workers on this victory. Although I suspect a huge Thank You must go to one Mr Jeremy Corbyn, just as it had to go to Mr Foot in 1983, for without such an ‘enlightened’ manifestos who knows how people would have voted.
December 14, 2019
Your biggest thank you should go to the eleven-billion-a-year industry that is the UK’s privately-owned, right-wing press, dedicated to attacking any Labour leader or policy, as has always been the case.
And to the BBC, for remaining silent on that fact.
December 14, 2019
Martin, The right wing press is bought voluntarily by people. They are free to buy the left wing press instead. But they don’t. Perhaps because they’re served far left propaganda on a daily basis by the BBC, so there’s no need? I suppose if you became Party Secretary you could force people to buy your Remain and far left newspapers. But until then you’ll have to forgo control of the rest of us.
December 14, 2019
You forget the Morning Star The Daily Mirror The Independent The Observer The Guardian and TV Channels like Sky News Channel 4 and 5 news.
And to claim the BBC remained silent is beyond silly.
Until the left begin to properly analyse why they have lost the last four elections they will never win.
You carry on blaming external issues.
It suits me.
December 14, 2019
@MiC; Yes, blame anyone other than those who wrote the manifesto, made the (unbelievable) promises, created a cult out of Corbyn -and party, why not…
The Tories & Boris got a mauling in the broadcast media, probably far more damaging than the mauling Labour & Corbyn got in the right wing press, due to the far wider reach.
As for the BBC, did you laugh (at the Tories expense) when Andrew Neil made that monologue to camera, pleading to be granted an ‘interview’ with Boris Johnson?
December 14, 2019
Pathetic.
December 14, 2019
What a dreadful choice the people of Maidenhead had. The dire, failure and fake Conservative Theresa 9% May, another Libdem, Labour and a Green. Four, pro EU lefties, tax borrow and waste, PC, greencrap pushing, red tape spewing lefties.
December 14, 2019
Your post resonates … Here in Scotland we also had ice, and it gets dark up here around 4pm.
Slippery leaves are the devil (and some weren’t cleared on a pavement leading to a polling station up here – what is the world coming to?). On leaflet delivering, I recommend a hat (not umbrella), and one of those conference bags with a shoulder strap.
On letter boxes at the bottom of the door, we were beaten to action by Vicky Ford MP, who brought in the Low-level Letter Boxes (Prohibition) Bill 2017-19. Won’t change existing doors, of course.
December 14, 2019
https://services.parliament.uk/Bills/2017-19/lowlevelletterboxesprohibition.html
“Last event
1st reading: House of Commons1st reading: House of Commons 16 January, 2019 | 16.01.2019”
December 14, 2019
And you couldnât have had a better Christmas present. Now sit back and enjoy.
December 14, 2019
I will get Christmas done!
Make sure you get it done by December 25th, “do or die”!
December 14, 2019
I will get Christmas done!
Make sure you get it done by December 25th, âdo or dieâ!
Don’t worry JR you won’t have to be found dead in a ditch if you fail.
December 14, 2019
Having elections on a working weekday is about the crudest form of voter suppression you could imagine, and yet that’s what we have here, predictably.
Elections could at least be on a Sunday, as they generally are in most more civilised countries.
The young, working long hours would then not be so disadvantaged as a group against the retired or the idle rich.
December 14, 2019
Polling station are open from 7am to 10pm.
It takes just a short time to vote.
Try and think of another reason why Corbyn and the Marxists lost.
I love the entertainment.
December 14, 2019
@Edward2; Indeed and for those who really do have problems casting their vote on a Thursday they can always apply for a postal vote, or appoint a proxy.
December 14, 2019
Totally agree Jerry.
December 14, 2019
Do give over with your silly straw men.
That was not the main reason for which the Tories won, but it probably helped them if anything.
Thanks to Tory employment “law”, many people on ZHCs are sat around on 24/365 unpaid standby, waiting for the ‘phone to ring and then having to work any hours at short notice, often very long days.
That might well be on polling day.
If nothing else, it would simply be more civil to vote on Sundays, as happens in more polite countries.
Incidentally, what did you think of Al’s speech yesterday?
Especially the part about tackling climate change?
December 15, 2019
@MiC; You keep ignoring the two elephants in the room that proved disprove your arguments, namely postal and proxy voting.
There are many people, on salaried contracts, who work very long hours and/or work away from home (sometimes at very short notice) but do we hear them complain about not being able to vote. Then of course every self-employed sole trader is, in effect, on a ZHC, and those Sole Traders who offer a emergency call out service often work very unprintable hours indeed but do we hear them complain about not being able to vote?
What about tackling ‘Climate Change’, next you’ll be demanding that man turns back the tide, we need to adapt, not tax and spend trying to turn back nature…
December 15, 2019
If they are on temporary contracts “24/365” as you claim then a Sunday polling day will be of little advantage to them compared to a Thursday.
Postal votes are easy to arrange or you can arrange a proxy vote.
Many people are busy working on Sundays.
Give up Martin this isn’t voter suppression.
Come up with another reason Corbyn and the Marxists lost.
December 15, 2019
Martin, you claim that people are waiting by the phone for work every day of the week. So how does moving the polling day help?
December 14, 2019
Dear Mr. Redwood,
@Edward2
I enjoyed your reply Edward2!
December 14, 2019
Well thank you Alan.
December 14, 2019
@MiC; What ever day of the week Polling Day is will have problems, hold it on Saturday and it will affect sporting activities, Sunday will cause an outcry amongst many – and how many work on your suggested favoured Sundays in our 24/7 modern life?
Indeed some do not vote (be they young, middle-ages or old), not because they find it difficult but from disinterest, why might that be…
December 14, 2019
Oh dear, Martin, hasn’t someone carefully explained to our young in words of not more than two syllables plus suitable illustrations, what postal voting is all about?
December 14, 2019
I’m in my seventh decade, after a long and fruitful life.
And I have a postal vote.
Many busy people forget to arrange them, however.
December 14, 2019
MARTY – – Isn’t that their problem? My heart bleeds.
December 15, 2019
Martin in Cardiff
“I have a postal vote”
So do I but for the first time in my life I haven’t bothered to vote. My constituency has been Conservative since its beginning and will never change. The way our so-called democratic system works I have been disenfranchised along with millions of other people.
My vote would have been wasted. Our democracy is a sham. It always amuses me when our politicians lecture other countries on the matter.
December 15, 2019
People have fought and died to get the right to vote.
I would never not vote.
No vote is really wasted.
I lived for years in a “safe seat” but in a sudden surprise result it changed to a different party.
If you and others like you never had voted that change would never happen.
Anyway all votes are counted and a good constituency MP should take into account the numbers of votes for opposition parties.
December 16, 2019
@Edward2; There are some very safe seats, had either my own MP or our host lost their seats I suspect we would now be looking at a Labour majority that makes the 1945 result look marginal….
People have indeed fought and died to get the right to vote, but many more fought and died to keep the right to CHOOSE how they vote or otherwise.
December 14, 2019
MiC
“Elections could at least be on a Sunday, as they generally are in most more civilised countries.”
And talking of being civilised, what say you of your lot already on the streets balling and shouting that you don’t recognise the outcome of a democratic ballot ?
You lost the 2016 referendum, you whinged and moaned ever since, you lost May’s GE, now you lost this one too. Guess what….all three were democratic ballots.
What is it about you minority hypocrites objecting to democracy when it doesn’t go your way ?
You don’t sound very civilised to me.
December 14, 2019
They are no more “my lot” than you would say the EDL or BF mob are yours. They deserve each other I think.
December 14, 2019
I’m retired Marin – and the idea of being one of the “idle rich” quite appeals to me to be honest – but unfortunately I have Grandchildren (so cannot be completely idle) and I don’t have the luxury of an indexed-linked final salary (like many public servants including my new Hero, Jeremy Corbyn – the charming old plonker that saved Brexit – LOL! )
Of course, it probably doesn’t occur to you that us ‘Oldies’ once had large mortgages, worked long hours as well as having long commutes, brought up our families as best we could and generally just got on with life. So stop whinging and get on with yours – and with any luck you might live to a good old age, become a bit “idle” and perhaps even have a saved a penny or two…
December 14, 2019
Marty, I live close to a primary school and a secondary school. Also a few hundred yards from a station….lots of grandparent child walkers and greyhaired volunteers off to ‘work’. 7am to 10pm shouldn’t be a problem and ALL of them go past our polling station. The younger adults seemed to be content in their big SUVs – little interest in voting, just drove on by.
December 14, 2019
Oh dear (again) M in C.
More sounds of barrel scraping!
Cheer up! It’s Christmas!
December 14, 2019
This is very true Martin. I managed to vote on my way home from collecting my son from school. I had the afternoon off as Iâd been to his school carol service. Usually I get there right at the end of voting – having has to dash back from work. Many of us are out first thing and not back til late everyday – as we have all this tax to pay so the old people can get their pensions.
A polling station during the day was a revelation. It was like a Zimmer frame museum. You couldnât move for old biddies moving in random directions. Average age must have been close to 3 figures.
Really we need an age limit on voting – of 10 years below life expectancy. So about 70. At the moment all these old people are imposing a future the young. A future they themselves will not have to experience.
December 15, 2019
Andy
You don’t actually pay much tax for other people’s old age pensions.
Individuals (and their employers) pay National Insurance for decades and that pays for their state pension.
Many retired people now have private pensions which individuals pay into for decades.
Being a business owner I’m puzzled why you are so lacking in understanding of this topic.
December 14, 2019
I don’t see the problem myself.
Socialists have all day to get to the polling station. The rest of us do it when we finish work.
December 14, 2019
Well, at least as far as national elections and referendums are concerned I would seriously consider stripping voting rights from people like you whose primary loyalty clearly lies elsewhere and not with this nation. Why should somebody with foreign allegiance be allowed to have a hand in the government of our country? There are plenty of decent people around the world who could come here and become loyal citizens, we do not need people who have been born here but are disloyal.
December 14, 2019
Already Brussels is saying that we will have to follow EU rules and match EU tariffs together with continuing giving access to UK fishing waters if we want an FTA.
What’s the betting we have a going nowhere transition period until 2022 before rolling over completely.
December 14, 2019
I’m more confident that a stitch up can be done in time for us to ‘leave’ by the end of next year.
December 14, 2019
Simeon
Boris HAS to deliver what we want. It’s going to be a simple choice; bend to the nasty ungrateful EU and face our wrath, or stand by us through thick and thin.
We’ve just had and won the most important general election since WWII. Boris knows what his job is and what we expect of him.
Moreover I think the conservatives might just have survived what most would describe as a terminal phase. They were fatally poisoned, but got through it. I honestly don’t see the party walking into this scenario ever again.
Hopefully they’ll keep a close eye on their own in future, and deal swiftly with any signs of socialism and liberalism in their ranks.
I think the conservative party will learn from this.
December 14, 2019
Steve
You are a great deal more optimistic than I. I would suggest that the likes of you and I are in a small minority; my belief is that a very large majority will, whilst not being happy with BRINO/Remain, suck it up. I think for BJ to suddenly abandon his ‘great deal’ would herald a(nother) serious crisis of democracy. But I just don’t see him doing it, despite, in theory, being able to do as he pleases.
As for the Tories more generally, I see no reason to believe they’ve changed. They rebadged themselves, by swapping BJ for May, and they rebadged the WA in the same way. I am willing to stand corrected, but am not at all worried that I will be required to rise from my comfy chair. We watch and wait.
December 14, 2019
And “next year” – like tomorrow – never comes.
December 14, 2019
Actually, I think that big business will demand that things are sorted quickly, for certainty’s sake. And the less time there is for scrutiny of what is going on the better.
December 14, 2019
Ian Wragg
“Already Brussels is saying that we will have to follow EU rules and match EU tariffs together with continuing giving access to UK fishing waters if we want an FTA.”
This is called blackmail, and is coming from countries that would not exist were it not for Britain.
Boris must call their bluff and simply say; ‘screw you, screw your FTA, and next time you need liberating from tyranny we won’t be listening’ Oh and by the way you don’t get a penny of the ÂŁ39bn which we don’t owe in the first place’ Oh and of european cars……they’re banned. ‘
T. May was a capitulator, but now Boris Johnson has a big majority the EU won’t be able to push him around….all he has to do is stand firm and not sacrifice any red lines. Let’s hope he has the bottle, unlike his predecessor.
December 14, 2019
Ian – so we don’t get a FTA. Pretty tough on all those EU exporters to UK. Expect raised unemployment and businesses diving across the 27.
December 14, 2019
Please explain why the exporters to the UK would be affected. They have a sizeable trading surplus with us.
December 14, 2019
without a FTA I assume prices will go up to us? The EU exporters will find we won’t buy so much!
December 14, 2019
Well, Boris Johnson is the First Lord of the Treasury and he should order its officials to seek outside advice and revise their models to produce more realistic predictions of the economic effects of the UK leaving the EU without any special trade agreement.
Not the drastic “no deal” scenario of leaving the EU without any agreement at all on anything, but just without any special trade agreement, defaulting to the WTO treaties to which we are all already parties – which new Treasury predictions might then be more in line with those supplied to the German government:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/09/22/will-a-gloomy-treasury-try-to-stop-a-budget-for-growth/#comment-1057462
“I would also refer back here to comments on the contrary advice given to, and apparently accepted by, the German government, for example on March 7:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/03/07/euro-area-growth-falls-away/#comment-1001064
â⊠Ireland would be hit three times harder than the UK by a no-deal Brexit, taking a massive 8.16% hit to their economy ⊠that for GB is only 2.76% ⊠with appropriate mitigation the damage for GB could be limited to just 0.5% ⊠â
âFor the UK, those numbers can be compared to a previous ifo estimate of 1.7%â
December 14, 2019
Bingo. You got it. This is how it works. Well done. (We told you this in 2016 by the way).
The EU will protect its own interests. And it is not in its interests to allow the UK free and frictionless trade with the single market unless the UK follows the same rules as other countries. The more rules we follow the freer and more frictionless the trade will be. The more we diverge the more barriers there are.
This has always been the heart of the Brexit trade debate. Johnson now has to decide whether to sell our northern Labour supporters who have leant their votes or the ERG. I think he will see out the ERG – but we will see.
If he does we will have the delicious irony of Brexit meaning that we still have to follow most single market rules, we still have to pay to take part but we get next to No say in his the rules are made. We will become rule takers not rule makers. Which shows Take Back Control up as the most inaccurate of slogans.
December 14, 2019
Andy
Except for one detail: we don’t need the EU.
December 14, 2019
Andy, All states on the planet which are not in the EU, trade with the EU without being in the EU, or even being “rule-takers”. And it is illegal under WTO rules to pay for trade, so you can forget that too. Your Remain propaganda was wrong in 2016, and it’s still wrong now.
We voted to Leave the EU, no ifs, no buts, no part Leave, and without returning to it via new treaties. The less we have to do with the EU – as an ideology and a political empire – the better it will be for the UK, our people, and the people of Europe.
December 14, 2019
His likely reshuffle looks as if you are correct yet again, Andy, even according to the Daily Mail.
It’s also supported by what Varadkar says having chatted to him.
December 14, 2019
The EU single market does not matter to us as much as you pretend.
December 14, 2019
If Boris gives away our fish for a trade deal I will be out on the streets.
December 14, 2019
Nick C
“If Boris gives away our fish for a trade deal I will be out on the streets.”
I’d simply vote against him and his party at the soonest GE, as would most of the country.
If he gives in to EU bullying he and his party are toast.
December 15, 2019
That’s in five years time.
There will be about three million fewer of his core demographic by then, and those who remain will have forgotten all this by whenever their right wing media do that for them.
December 14, 2019
Hilarious.
I’ll be there helping you across the road.
December 14, 2019
He will. And send us some pictures. Be careful not to trip on the kerbs.
December 14, 2019
Why don’t you put the wreaths outside the local Labour office with a picture of Corbeau and a copy of chairman Mao’s Little Red Book and a Christmas card.
December 14, 2019
And should you suffer any adverse criticism, confirm you were present at the wreath-laying but not involved.
December 14, 2019
I think Mr Corbyn was present at the election but definitely wants you to know that he wasn’t involved.
December 14, 2019
love it – – -witty from f.57 and NickC (I agree with Nick).
December 14, 2019
You are describing what my late Husband and I did for many years, albeit in better weather.However, it often rained even at that time of year.
Many hours were spent pounding the pavements, leafletting, and not only try to help in our own Constituency (Eddisbury), but also doing lots to try and help in the neighbouring Constituency (Weaver Vale).
We had our moments with dogs grabbing the leaflet (and our hands).
However, it was something that we were pleased to do, and we made many friends that way. Without volunteers going out in all weathers, many MPs would probably not get elected.
December 14, 2019
I have to say the local Lib nodemocrats walked round 3 leaflets, + the poor postman having to go to every door on 10 more occasions with more of their propaganda, also deserve recognition. Shame they got hammered by the people loyal to Sir John. I wonder if the Dr is applying for locum posts far away – doubt he would be welcome in many surgeries.
December 14, 2019
JR: “It was cold and wet for much of the time, with slippery steps and paths, more dangerous in the dark when the sodden leaves were concealed in the shadows.”
You’ve won your election, congratulations. Normal service is resumed.
MPs find they have to live and work under the same conditions in the Winter as everyone else. Find they don’t like it, legislation to outlaw snow and ice in the Winter to follow.
December 14, 2019
Well done that gives me a new perspective.
I watched the BBC election coverage which Was first rate ,balanced ,informative and well presented .Went to bed once the exit poll was validated and was up at 8am to see the final results,watched till the programme ended at 9am .
Then came the sea change as Emily Maitlis started to question newly elected MP Helen Whately . M was aggressive in her questioning bringing out all the BBC ideas of dishonesty of Boris …..I switched off as it seemed that someone had declared business as normal from now on .
Later my wife wanted to watch Question Time . This had truly reverted to the biased format we are used to – audience packed with the nastiest activists , Fiona B choosing the most virulent to speak ,giving them full rein , speaking over Grant Shapps so I was soon shouting at the Box .
Please rid us of the poll tax and let the BBC pay for its own propaganda with its own revenue .
December 14, 2019
Indeed the less money the BBC have then the fewer overpaid misguided lefty art graduates, magic money tree economists and climate alarmist nutters they can afford employ. They would have to stop their BBC group thing, wrong on everything lunacy and would have to move to be in tune with the far more sensible view of the public.
Who knows they might even have a programme pointing out that the gender pay gap is purely due to the work life balance choices the genders take and jobs and subjects they choose to do or study. Combined with the career gaps they choose to take.
December 14, 2019
Or the Climate Alarmism has been âa bit of an exaggerationâ to say the least and there has been no significant recent warming, perhaps starring Piers Corbyn. That actually the war on âCarbonâ has been very expensive and has done far more harm than good too.
December 14, 2019
Indeed and Grant Shapps is another remainder LibDim fake Conservative at heart in the T May mode anyway.
December 14, 2019
Not a single real leaver or proper Conservative on the Question Time at all.
December 14, 2019
Nor any real leavers on Any Questions. Chris Mason does at least seem to be slightly brighter that the average BBC chairman or presenter (a North Yorkshire grammar school then Christs College Cam). Not that that is a high bar to jump. Cannot see what he read on wiki so assume it was English or similar.
December 14, 2019
I was right, he is a bit brighter – coming second in the Cambridge exams it seems – all be it only in Geography – still generally better than English, Languages, PPE or Law I usually find. Theresa 9% May being rather a glaring exception to this rule.
December 15, 2019
Lifelogic
Did you manage Cambridge? Or was it red brick?
December 15, 2019
Yes I managed to get to Cambridge (Maths/Physics) then some solid state physics and electronics. But a long way off senior wrangler far, far too lazy and far too many other interests.
December 14, 2019
Merry Christmas Sir. I hope you and your family have a good one. I feel certain yours will be a lot better than Doctor Lee’s and deservedly so.
December 14, 2019
MickN – -oh I don’t know – near Christmas locum shifts pay rather well! Redundancy pay too!
December 14, 2019
So the scientific illiterate and totally deluded (and used by evil organisations) Greta Thunberg is to be a guest editor for the Today Programme. Surely the BBC have far more than enough of this type of editor dope at the BBC already?
I do not suppose any sensible climate realists or solid/sound physicists engineers will be allowed to question her dismal and very damaging climate âalarmistâ religious beliefs or her idiotic proposed non solutions. How much depression or even suicides has her damaging religion caused to the more gullible people and children so far? It is surely a form of child abuse. Surely she would be better on their religious slot where crass, idiotic, half baked people of religion give us their âthought for the dayâ. Invariably aired by foolish and deluded dopes who âbelieveâ rather than think.
December 14, 2019
My goodness me – your side has just won convincingly a General Election, and yet you are still as ragingly angry as ever, judging by the tone of your posts.
Do you think that you might possibly have a problem in this respect?
Anyway, your PM said in his speech yesterday that tackling climate change was a priority for the Government, so I think that you need to become accustomed to hearing more from and about this young lady.
December 14, 2019
Hopefully someone will explain scientific, climate and engineering reality to Boris and he too will drop all the green crap like Trump.
MIGHT BE INTERESTING TO QUESTION THE DRAMA QUEEN Greta on why and how she has been conned into this alarmist drivel. Who did this child indoctrination/abuse on her?
Was it the school, the BBC, the dire inconvenient truth movie, charities, internationally organisations?
December 14, 2019
Martin, Boris is not “my” Prime Minister, he is the Queens’s or the country’s. It is simply hubris to talk about “tackling” climate change. Until someone can prove definitively that the CO2 in the sinks and sources in 1850 are the only viable levels, and that the global temperature in 1850 is the optimum, I will continue to know that CAGW is a hoax.
December 14, 2019
Well, it appears that you have elected a Government under a PM who consider it to be genuine.
I doubt if they care whether you believe it to be a hoax or not.
I’m simply reporting speech.
December 14, 2019
The real evidence suggest that higher CO2 levels that are greening the planet and increasing crop yields so wonderfully are actually a net positive for the world. As Freeman Dyson and most other sensible physicist and engineers believe including Corbynâs brother Piers.
December 14, 2019
I heard her referred to as the Doom Goblin the other day. Still chuckling.
December 14, 2019
Indeed, but I feel sorry for her she is surely a victims of the alarmist propaganda and is being used. She need to go and learn some real physics.
December 14, 2019
I doubt if anyone will even mention the environmental irrationality of travelling for weeks on a ÂŁ millions racing yacht for weeks (with the crews flown as needed) rather than just getting an economy flight on a direct plane which had a few empty unused economy seats.
December 14, 2019
Corbyn’s brother Piers said that we should not be basing policy based on the views of an ignorant brainwashed child. Perhaps the BBC could suggest a discussion between the two. This would make for interesting radio.
December 15, 2019
Stred
Joan of Arc was only 19 years old when she was burned at the stake. By that time she had headed an army that liberated her country from an invading oppressor (England).
Innocent, brainwashed child? Still worshipped after nearly 600 years. Who remembers the names of her adult oppressors today?
December 14, 2019
I have never stood for parliament, but I have stood as a candidate for the Council. I know about delivering leaflets! And in the rain too.
I also remember trying to do it after dark and being stalked by a suspicious householder as I trudged up his long path!
And the awful low letter boxes.
So, well done! And most of all I appreciated your remark about the poor Labour woman candidate who was forced to do it on crutches probably in considerable pain too.
That concern for the other side, sadly, is totally missing in the Canary and the Swawkbox websites.
December 14, 2019
A little taste of what real workers have to deal with.
December 14, 2019
Our host should have employed those latest rubber dinghy arrivals to the South Coast to deliver the leaflets. Bet they were sat somewhere dry and warm, enjoying what the UK taxpayer provides.
December 14, 2019
My Lions Club has exactly the same problem as you outline JR when we go around with our Santa Sleigh collection each year, again that is a one month exercise each year, again in the dark and rain, only this year fewer people opened the door because people thought we were canvassing Politicians, hence our receipt of donations are also down.
Have to agree some properties are like an obstacle course, with trip hazards, overgrown bushes, builders rubbish, and poorly parked cars, whilst you are also trying to find a door bell, knocker, or pull on a letterbox flap all with gloves on whilst holding a collection can and a torch, does not work well at all.
Properties with automatic security light sensors are an absolute dream !
An umbrella would be absolute luxury, we put our leaflets in a small shoulder bag.
Thus perhaps we should all feel sorry for the postman and delivery drivers who work with such conditions all year !
December 14, 2019
Perhaps your memory fails you. ERG and Johnson said Mayâs deal was dead. His deal is Mayhabâs servitude plan and now the Tory party are all supporting it!
First job leave clean break no WA or PD, change parliament act, climate Change Act, get rid of Supreme Court, quangos, get rid of mayors no need of many tiers of govt.(they will dilute power and frustrate like devolution), change selection procedures to All publicmservices and judiciary to get rid of left wing PC crap etc. This will Send out a clear loud message to remain metropolitan elite establishment. Disband and disperse them. Everyone knows get main business done in first two years. No time to dilly dally.
December 14, 2019
Well, as an electoral position it worked rather well, didn’t it?
Johnson can do as he likes now, with a majority of eighty.
He sounds to me like he’s now aiming to please the fifty million who did not vote Leave, even if perhaps over the seventeen million who did, which would make electoral sense, on the other hand.
December 14, 2019
More nonsensical use of statistics Martin.
Those 50 million might all be leave supporters for all you know.
Like every nation we have some simple rules on voting.
You have to be a citizen and you have to be 18 years old or above.
And we don’t make voting compulsory.
December 14, 2019
Dear Mr. Redwood,
Final Score:
Edward2 (2) vs MinC (0)
December 14, 2019
Martin, If 50 million did not vote Leave, 51.25 million did not vote Remain. Whichever way you twist it, Leave still won.
That some Remains are still trying to change the Referendum rules over 4 years after Parliament set them up, over 3 years since the vote, and after both campaigns agreed to them, is ludicrous and pathetic.
December 14, 2019
That has no bearing on Mr. Johnson’s calculus as to what their priorities might be.
And there are far more of them than there are of you.
That will not be wasted on him.
December 15, 2019
If Boris governs for the benefit of the whole country that will be a good thing.
I can see him easily serving two terms, possibly three.
December 14, 2019
MiC
“He sounds to me like heâs now aiming to please the fifty million who did not vote Leave”
No he’s trying to unite the country, which speaks highly of him.
But it won’t work of course since most of those who voted leave are never going to forgive what you and your kind tried to do to our country, and we won’t rest until you’re no longer a threat to democracy.
“Johnson can do as he likes now, with a majority of eighty.”
And you love it mate. Ha hađ
December 14, 2019
Martin
Given that the total UK electorate is only about 46 million, your post about 59 million voters shows that Remainers would use the end of EU worship as a justification of the means of voter fraud
December 14, 2019
From the letter pages of this week’s Maidenhead Advertiser:
“Of course in an equally meaningless calculation an alternative allocation of the no-shows could have them as part of a 65.3 per cent majority who did not register any objection to Brexit.”
December 14, 2019
They will clean up the WA especially in respect of NI (which is abandoned to the IRA – if in doubt think Dodds). The ERG is much strengthened!
Have Hope!
December 14, 2019
Might I add sort out the electoral boundaries whilst you have the chance. Also restrict postal votes to those that genuinely cannot get to a polling station on election day. The abuse has to stop.
December 14, 2019
Hope
”… said May’s deal was dead.”
As pledged on the site – standup4brexit.com – by many of those, including Mr Johnson himself.
But I suppose they’ll say that it’s not ”May’s deal” if they want to pursue it.
December 14, 2019
A bit like the EU constitution it is not a âconstitutionâ it is now the Lisbon Treaty. Oh sorry it seems it is no longer a treaty according to Cameron as it has been ratified so it just law – This so Cast Iron can excuse rating on it.
December 14, 2019
Hope, I think it’s easier to just accept that, unless and until a genuuinely great person emerges to sort out this hell-hole of a land, things can only get worse.
What you propose is good, but in most cases is the precise opposite of what this new government says it will do.
As the sign says, this is the People’s Government. The People voted for it knowing that BJ is a liar and a shameless self-promoter. The People are responsible for what is to come. On a macro level, that is justice.
December 14, 2019
Good morning JR
I dissect your fine post:
“The Prime Minister had no choice but to hold an election close to Christmas.”
I agree, he absolutely did the right thing.
“The old Parliament had degenerated into an uncontrollable shouting match, preventing government and making us look ludicrous abroad.”
Indeed it had. Many countries must have had an eye on us and wondered what on earth had happened. I believe steps should be taken to ensure this does not happen ever again, you can’t even begin to imagine the outcome if we were faced with the possibility of heavy attack by another country. These goons need routing from power – they’re a security risk. Thank God they weren’t in power in 1962.
“…was told politely I was not wanted at the schoolsâ carol concert ”
Why ?
I think you should tell us what their excuse was, or what you know the real reason to be.
“I will get Christmas done!”
Good will to you Mr Redwood, have a god one Sir.
December 14, 2019
“Not wanted at the school’s carol concert” – because unless the headmaster invited all the other GE candidates it would have correctly been perceived as politically favouring one person.
And someone should have warned that idiot Jess Phillips about handing out food tokens and the concept of ‘treating’.
December 14, 2019
sm
“because unless the headmaster invited all the other GE candidates it would have correctly been perceived as politically favouring one person”
Well just goes to show how shallow some people’s minds must be.
It isn’t as if the TV cameras were going to be there. Can a man not go to a festive event like this and receive peace and good will ?
Sometimes I think we live in a sad world.
December 14, 2019
Gordon Brown had his ÂŁ500? baby bond (bribe) leaflets that were handed out by candidates as if they were gift from Labour for voting for them. With luck my youngest daughter might get a decent 18th birthday party out of it about 4 years time. What a moronic policy and total waste of tax payers money the scam was. Just like almost everything else the âno return to boom and bustâ idiot Brown did. Not as bad as the counterproductive war propagated on a blatant lie I suppose.
December 14, 2019
He had little choice once he had alienated the DUP.
To quote another part of my comment submitted on Wednesday but not deemed fit for publication, at least not on the eve of polling day:
“We are only having this election because Boris Johnson alienated the DUP; bear in mind that it was their votes which tipped the balance in the division at the Saturday sitting of the Commons and then again on the programme motion the following week.
And it is hard to believe that even now it is not clear whether or not the DUP have good grounds for rejecting Boris Johnsonâs deal, as we still have the extraordinary situation of the Prime Minister and his Brexit Secretary contradicting each other.”
But once again I will point out what should be obvious … ”
with more of that comment hopefully appearing in my reply to Ian@Barkham
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/12/14/christmas-elections-should-be-a-last-resort/#comment-1077087
starting with:
“… after we have left the EU the Irish Republic and the EU will continue to have a legitimate interest in the quality of the goods carried across the Irish land border into their territory, but not in the quality of the goods circulating within the newly separated territory of the UK.”
December 14, 2019
Lovely writing John ..
December 14, 2019
Delivering leaflets is ghastly.
Letterboxes are finger traps for the unwary like the occasional exploding dog on the other side…if not escaped, (or released), snapping at oneâs heels.
The worst is the â Oi! What are you doing?â Hasty retreat back up garden path.
Still..all necessary evils if the message is to be put out.
Shame that (here) the candidates no longer come round..but understandable I guess considering hostility,dogs,letter boxes etc.
December 14, 2019
Well done John. Think of the poor volunteers who did same but without a âjobâ at the end of it!
We had to invent the computer to win WW2, we had to win Consett, and Blythe, and Mansfield to win Brexit! No wonder itâs been such a massive effort.
But worth it!
We each get The United Kingdom for Christmas this year. Put something to represent it, (I bought cookie cutters shaped like Great Britain and NI) under the tree for posterity. Many generations from now, a Redwood will hang a rusted, tattered little emblematic UK on the tree and say – thatâs what our forebear. did in the Great Secret War. The Merriest of Christmasses to you Sir John.
Reply Thanks. Each year I buy a suitable ornament to add to the tree collection. I have just been adding a model Big Ben, and The British lion to the lights and baubles as I get round to dressing it.
December 14, 2019
JR, I can commiserate – I was out leafleting too. Though for me it was for UKIP and the Brexit party and, not being the candidate, I chose the better days.
Understandably there were far fewer people out than previous campaigns. But every person I did speak to was keen on Brexit. However that did not convert into votes for us. It looks like people voted Conservative instead. That makes the Tory win much more fragile than some in the Tory party think. It is not a cash splash that people want, but Leave.
December 14, 2019
They’re going to feel very let down if Boris pushes through with the “I can’t believe it’s not vassalage” WA.
December 14, 2019
The whole nation has enjoyed a deliverance.
In this season of goodwill, let us hope the Labour Party might eventually enjoy its own deliverance. It has been offered a chance with Mr. Corbyn’s decision not to lead it in a future election – although why he thinks he led it in the last one and the one before is not clear.
December 14, 2019
Formula57, Having worked alongside and against the far left, it does not surprise me that Jeremy Corbyn has refused to do the decent thing and resign. Their extreme belief is an ideology which is more important than “bourgeois” concepts of truth, honour and decency. And Labour MPs won’t be able to dislodge Corbyn anyway.
December 14, 2019
Yes well done Sir John – I always say to those kind daily workers I see going the extra mile:
There’s those who can do it and…
there’s many who can’t and…
there’s some who would run a mile (away from it) if they could!
When the going gets tough the tough get going.
As a paper boy in windswept Manchester years ago it was character building stuff braving cold dark mornings as I am sure Scotland, Ireland, England & Wales still are unlike warmer climes.
A Labour MP knocking on a door recently asked “Can I count on your vote?”
To which the reply was well “What are you offering?”
“It’s all in our manifesto!” was the response.
“What about Brexit?”
“Ah!” finger raised and a Smile…
(Silence – there be Dragons…..!!!)
And with that – exit left Pronto..
(Aside -We thought the Boris Brexit Bounce had instantly occurred yesterday when the local hospital car parking was free but it was due to machines being out of action…).
December 14, 2019
Sir John
I am pleased you are still in Parliament and you have been re-installed as our MP.
I would just hope the much-needed new influx to the Palace of Westminster matches up to the integrity you and others have shown. We need and this election has shown that our Democracy is about reinforcing the idea, that being a member of parliament is a calling as much as it is about anything else and our MP’s are there to serve the People – not fight them.
Our Democracy model and Laws in the traditional sense are not compatible with the EU model. While being good neighbours, friends and trading partners, the seepage of the EU methods has been at the expense of our freedoms, our laws and our democracy. Whether the UK is rich or poor it is first and foremost about our freedoms and our democracy. Freedoms to address the issues that matter, freedoms in Law that can be amended, repealed and acted on under the control of the people we have chosen to represent us. Freedom to make our own mistakes and learn by them.
No condition of trade should impede on our laws and our democracy. While we donât know what the next stage of any agreement with the EU will bring, there should be a clear divide between those rules for âthoseâ that wish to trade with the EU and how we act internally and with others – they are not our Government, our Rulers, our Overlords – so should have no say.
December 14, 2019
You are spot on with your last two paragraphs. Too many people assume that the “EU model” for unfettered trade, the “Single Market”, is the only possible model when it is a model designed primarily for political purposes.
Here is part of a comment I submitted on Wednesday:
“… after we have left the EU the Irish Republic and the EU will continue to have a legitimate interest in the quality of the goods carried across the Irish land border into their territory, but not in the quality of the goods circulating within the newly separated territory of the UK.
This is not just my point, repeated ad nauseam for over two years now, but essentially one belatedly made by a group of authors including Sir Jonathan Faull, who previously held a high position at the EU Commission:
https://verfassungsblog.de/an-offer-the-eu-and-uk-cannot-refuse/
âUnder this proposal it will be a violation of UK Law backed up by severe penalties (including if so wished criminal liability) knowingly to export, through the frontier between the North and the Republic, goods which do not comply with the regulatory standards of the EU.â”
One has to ask why Theresa May did not want to pursue that line even though it had been drawn to her attention, and one has to ask whether Boris Johnson will also continue to ignore it.
December 14, 2019
Boundary changes must be imposed especially in Scotland. It is preposterous that Scotland is allocated 48 seats in the Commons
Everything must be done to prevent Socialists and Marxists from ever gaining power and imposing their deceitful and divisive political ideas upon the British population
Forget Xmas. The next battle against Marxist Labour’s only just started
December 14, 2019
What fun it must be in your household.
December 14, 2019
All Labour MPs like Cooper, Kinnock, Benn, Starmer, Thornbury (who sneered at white van, working class men) must be reminded how they were prepared to support such vile anti semitism, terrorist sympathasres and Marxism to run throughout the party and country to gain power. Every effort should be made to call them out and oust them. Ashworth proved they were all aware and reminded by Labour supporters!
To think the likes of Starmer former head of CPS. Undoubtedly promoting and hiring people of the same like. Hence why the need for radical change the hard left wing in judiciary, and all senior public service selection procedures.
December 15, 2019
Hope: “and Marxism to run throughout the party and country ”
The Blairite Judicial Appointments Commission & Supreme Court was an artifice to entrench Blairism into the UKâs Constitution.
Members of the Supreme Court are also appointed by the Judicial Appointments Commission which was specifically and openly set up by Tony Blair and his friend Lord Irvine, his Lord Chancellor, to, as Lord Irvine, put it to âensure that nobody with Reactionary Views can be appointed or promotedâ as a Judge.
Abolish or reform the Judicial appointments commission. Urgently.
December 14, 2019
In many countries, eg Australia and the USA, the post is delivered to a box fitted to a post near the gate, or to the garden fence unless, of course, the front door is directly adjacent to the public footpath. This greatly reduces the risk of dog attacks on postal workers, paper boy/girls, and leaflet deliverers, as well as making the whole process much quicker and more efficient.
Maybe a private members bill if Parliamentary time will allow?
December 14, 2019
Bu there is also the big problem with security-gated estates and apartment blocks.
December 14, 2019
While all good government thrives by being challenged by opposing views and each tribe within Parliament is there to challenge the other. I note that the Corbynistas, the Metro Marxists are convinced that their policy of destroying society to remodel it their own image is still believed. They are still convinced their manifesto is what society needed as long as they were de facto rulers. Their doctrine seems to be against everything that is required in a free democratic country – do hope they do not change.
It is interesting the society inside the M25 with its Main-stream-Media/BBC are still agonising why the rest of the Country didnât buy into their proper gander, their desire to distort democracy, their concept of only their hypocrisy is the only correct one. It only goes to show they are tainted by too many lunches at the Groucho Club, it is polarising their vision of reality. They same reasoning can be applied to the heard mentality of believing in the purpose of social media.
While instinct says we need to get rid, move on, there are better things in life. There is the other thought letâs hope they donât change, let them continue, keep them as a constant reminder â of how diabolical the human race can be to one another. They might one day realise the rest of society is thriving, contented and living a full life, and in the end they were an irrelevance .
December 14, 2019
I hope weâve got Dominic Cummings lined up for the next Scottish referendum. Under no circs should it happen before the next Holyrood election, for which we should try to persuade Ruth Davidson to return to her natural post. Nor should it happen before a couple of years after a U.K.-EU FTA has come into effect, so Scottish voters can make a rational and informed choice.
December 14, 2019
On a wider point, I hope that this election has indicated the end of Personality driven politics. Had the people voted by way of the personality both the TBP and Labour parties would currently be meeting with senior Civil Servants at the Cabinet Office, trying to form a coalition, being the two largest parties in the new parliament!..
Instead the electorate showed much sense, despite the usual mass media attempts at distraction, voting on the published and indicated manifestos put forward.
December 14, 2019
JR, your remarks about the dark and the weather and inconvenient letter boxes bring it all back and I have to admit that in that respect it came as a relief when Nigel Farage stood down the Brexit Party candidate here in Maidenhead and released me from my promise to deliver her personal leaflets to the 3500 properties in Belmont ward … one reason I hate elections, preferring to deliver leaflets at times of my own choosing.
Incidentally you do not mention the dogs lurking silently behind the inconvenient letter boxes, much worse than noisy dogs indoors, or dogs outside on the loose; my dictum was “There is always another letter box” and so I would pass by the ones which looked difficult and potentially time consuming or positively dangerous.
After one sanguinary incident in Woodley I learned to always take a couple of plasters with me. Not that the dog was malicious, in fact it was a nice friendly dog, it had just mistaken my fingers for a gift of sausages being pushed through the door.
Happy days? Not really, more of a long wearisome slog over two decades, starting with the EU Parliament elections in June 1999 when I did my bit to help get Nigel Farage first elected under the new D’Hondt PR system:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_European_Parliament_election_in_the_United_Kingdom#Electoral_system
But it got me out in the fresh air and stopped me getting too lazy and fat …
December 14, 2019
“An uncontrolled shouting match”? An apt description for those ridiculous TV debates that now appear every time we have a GE. If we must have them, make the Candidates act as sole defendants in the witness box where they cannot be interrupted while they give evidence of their intentions. They can be cross-examined in a similar manner.
BTW SJ, as an ex-leaflet delivering pro, I can advise you to use a waterproof shopping trolley next time. Just pick out and protect the few you need at any one time and keep the rest in the dry storage.
That the elector turnout approached 70% tells us that the true Brits will brave all weathers regardless of the time of year when they are voting for their democracy and the freedom that goes with it. Yippee!
December 14, 2019
Here in South West Surrey, the Lib Dems literally “blitzed “everyone with letters and leaflets…to an annoying and excessive level, from my point of view.
It reached the point where I put a note on my postbox –
“No more Election Leaflets Thank You”.
It was never that bad before. But who funded the Lib Dems? It must have been very costly.
So much for saving the Environment/trees.
The blitz seems to have worked, to some extent.
Jeremy Hunt’s majority was greatly reduced…although he got re-elected.
December 14, 2019
Well I suppose Hunt is marginally better than a Libdem and was good at apologising for the appalling NHS for many years. Though he did nothing at at all to sort the dire NHS mess out which is not difficult.
Like May he has not got a real Conservative bone in his body. Oxford PPE yet again nearly as dire as Greg Clark and the other traitors.
December 15, 2019
GetBrexitDone: “It was never that bad before. But who funded the Lib Dems? It must have been very costly.”
It was and you did, though your taxes.
December 14, 2019
Congratulations on the fine result in Wokingham and in the country. I know you had some very unpleasant things thrown at you, including that scurrilous leaflet, and am extremely glad that voters ignored it and re-elected you.
December 14, 2019
The activist, pro-Labour BBC needs to be put into the ground, and quick before it builds up a head of steam. It will continue to sow division and pump out lies unless it is dismantled
December 14, 2019
Congratulations on your re election and I wish you a happy XMAS.
Lets now hope we don’t have another GE for 5 years or any more referendums though obviously I am minded about a certain party in the Northern part of the UK itching to stir up trouble.
December 14, 2019
Well done Sir John. Happy Christmas.