ERG refusenik Mark Francois has written to Graham Brady, Chairman of the 1922 Committee, calling for an “informal ‘Indicative Vote'” on Theresa May’s leadership of the Conservative Party. The rules say that formal votes initiated by letters to the 1922 Committee chairman can only take place once a year…
The letter, first published by BrexitCentral, doesn’t hold back, beginning with “Enough is enough! If she goes by Wednesday we can Leave on Friday.” It ends with “she said ‘I will continue to serve fior as long as you wish me to’, it is now time to test that wish.” Punchy…
Rampant Remainers succeeded in ramming an entire Bill through the House of Commons in under 6 hours yesterday – predictably the process was an utter shambles, MPs had no idea which amendments were which, report stage and a third reading debate were entirely skipped and the Bill was so poorly drafted in the first place that Jolyon almost had a meltdown. Mark Francois has been responsible for some fairly fruity outbursts recently but his biblical admonishment last night was on the money:
After the hours of chaos, Yvette Cooper only succeeded in getting her Bill through by a single vote, 313-312. Any number of MPs have been singled out as the guilty party, 20 Tories including 17 former ministers either rebelled or abstained. Literally guilty Fiona Onasanya trapsed through the Aye lobby complete with electronic ankle tag…
Ultimately it changes little, May was always going to seek a longer extension at next week’s European Council in the circumstances anyway. Conspiracy theories that May’s Corbyn pitch is a trap or trick to run down the clock are operating in a parallel universe. Make no mistake, Number 10 is in total chaos and acting purely out of desperation now. May’s long-term strategy was always to trigger an 11th hour crisis in the hope of bouncing MPs – she never for a minute anticipated that it would be so utterly out of her own control…
David Lidington’s lacklustre performance at the Despatch Box was summed up by his dithering response to this question from Mark Francois on whether it was still Government policy to “replace” the backstop, after already refusing to commit himself to leaving a customs union in response to Greg Hands. Not hard to see why Brexiteers have little faith with lifelong Europhile Lidington now supposedly leading the renegotiations…
The row over Bercow’s decision to overrule his clerks and Parliamentary precedent to select Dominic Grieve’s amendment has triggered a barrage of points of order from furious MPs which is still ongoing half an hour after the end of PMQs. And is far more entertaining…
ERG Deputy Chair Mark Francois asked a particularly pointed question resulting in cheers from MPs and jeers for Bercow. Bercow knows he can continue to act with impunity as long as Remainers are happy to keep turning a blind eye to his behaviour…
