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by repolfx
2519 days ago
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The alternative view is that this is the first reasonable and moderate cabinet since the referendum. Consider that it's the first one which appears to be serious about actually doing what the government repeatedly said it would do, both before and after the vote. A government doing what it promised it would do is reasonable. It is led by a man who wants very much to reach an acceptable deal with the EU, but will leave without one if the EU makes it necessary. That's a reasonable and moderate position of the sort that millions of business leaders take every single day. The previous cabinet had a position like this: we're saying we'll leave no matter what, but we're lying because we definitely won't ever leave without a "deal" of some sort, which basically means the party we're negotiating with can propose whatever terms they like and we'll always accept them regardless of how terrible. Thus an "agreement" which is universally regarded as awful is presented as the only possible path forward, other than ignoring the biggest vote in British history. That's not at all a reasonable way to go about negotiations or politics. Nor is it even slightly moderate - "we must accept terrible terms or else we'll be destroyed" is an unusually extreme belief, of the sort usually held by countries which just lost a war. Patel may have broken some ministerial code, and that's bad. But the former Prime Minister and her cabinet said 108 times the country would leave the EU on the deadline with or without a deal and they were lying every single time. The cabinets before that told voters they were committed to bringing down immigration, but after leaving government Osborne admitted the cabinet never believed in their stated goal, didn't want to do it and therefore just ignored it. That sort of blatant, knowing manipulation is far, far worse and completely destructive to trust in politics. Meeting Israelis without filing the right paperwork is trivial compared to it. |
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Unless there is an election and the Tory party are returned with increased majority, it is certain that the current prime minister will have as little success in the house as his predecessor. They have a majority of 3, soon to be 2, held up by the DUP. There are enough moderates left in the Tory party to lose the government a vote on every problematic exit scenario, and on a no-deal exit, just as was the case for Theresa.
> Meeting Israelis without filing the right paperwork is trivial compared to it
No, it was worthy of dismissal. She preempted that by resigning. She was not Foreign Secretary or Prime Minister. It was not her role to make policy on the hoof on a topic irrelevant to her office. She blew her chance to explain by continuing to leave out some of the meetings, resulting in a second summons to Downing St. She does not deserve to return to senior office.