NICOLA’S LEFT DIZZY BY THE FASTEST U-TURN IN HISTORY
SO, general election by Christmas, anyone? Given the House of Commons has voted down almost every permutation of Brexit or not-Brexit that has come its way – Theresa May’s deal, No Deal, customs union, second referendum – as well as voting to put off a final vote of Boris Johnson’s deal (the only option to indicate majority support), the Prime Minister has said it is time for some other people to vote as well. Namely, the country.
But if the thought of struggling to a polling booth en route to do your Christmas shopping fills you with dread, don’t worry.
Opposition parties, who have been screaming for an election for months – and who have liberally sprinkled talk of ‘kicking the TOARREEE Prime Minister out of office’ across every public statement since his election – have decided they are not going to pull the trigger after all.
Nothing to do with the Conservative poll lead, which indicates this minority Government could well be transformed into a majority one. No, sir. It has everything to do with a point of principle on, ummm, examining a withdrawal bill they are already publicly committed to voting against. Right.
Thursday was a particularly joyous day for people who enjoy watching a political U-turn commonly referred to as ‘the reverse ferret’.
At lunchtime, Nicola Sturgeon put out a public tweet linking to an article saying, ‘It’s time for Remain to push for an election’, and urging opposition leaders to do just that – envisioning an outcome where Labour is the largest party and relies on either the Lib Dems or SNP for support.
She added: ‘This analysis is spot on IMO [in my opinion].’
The First Minister’s intervention came after Labour had called for a pre-Christmas poll.
The endearingly hapless Richard Burgon MP had been sent out to be the party’s media man and told Radio 4’s Today programme that ‘Labour’s position is that as soon as No Deal is off the table, we want a general election’. He continued on Sky News: ‘I’d like to see an election before Christmas’.
So it must have been manna from heaven when, at around quarter to six, the leader of the House of Commons told MPs the Government would introduce a motion on the Monday for a general election to be held on December 12.
The opposition parties could now put their money where their mouths were. Tomorrow would see them all trudge through the voting lobbies to take the question to the country. Wouldn’t it?
THE Westminster journalists were as desperate as the rest of us to find out whether they would follow through on their much-heralded wish for an election. True to form, Nicola Sturgeon had her Twitter fingers twitching in double-quick time.
Her climb down sniffily declared: ‘Elections should be exercises in letting voters decide, not devices for charlatans to get their own way.’
Three minutes later, the BBC’s Vicki Young put out official confirmation – ‘SNP say they won’t vote for an election on Boris Johnson’s terms.’
Cheering a vote at lunchtime only to reject it by tea must be some kind of record.
But surely the man who purports to be Britain’s next
Prime Minister, Jeremy Corbyn, would jump at the chance to walk into Downing Street at the earliest opportunity?
Errr, not so much. With his shadow cabinet and his parliamentary party split down the middle between the bullish ‘bring it on’ brigade and those terrified of losing their seats, the Labour leader could do only one thing with the most pressing question of the day – abstain entirely.
And so the Labour whips sent round an email telling party members the official position was not to vote at all.
If anyone had missed the news on Thursday, they would have woken up on Friday none the wiser that anything had occurred at all. As you were.
So round and round we go. The country watching their representatives fail to coalesce around a position, fail to pick an alternative and fail to dissolve the House and let a new Parliament try.
What a thoroughly depressing stasis.