Brexit Confusion Continues...
The May deal vote was expected to fall at the first fence. The size of defeat was a shock to all. 432 MPs voted against the proposal. The Government was defeated by an unprecedented 230 votes.
The Conservative party was in tatters with both sides of the Brexit debate voting against the deal. Decisive leadership was required to restore party unity. Jeremy Corbyn obliged calling a vote of no confidence in the government. Tory whips just flicked the feather duster to guarantee support, with the backing of the DUP.
If the Labour leader has a strategy it remains well cloaked. The confidence vote provided a welcome delay for the Prime Minister in an attempt to find a solution to the current impasse. Welcome relief as rebel ranks rallied behind the weary front bench,
Sterling rallied closing at $1.2894 by the end of the week. A postponement of the March deadline a possibility. A revised deal to include the Single Market and the Customs Union now a probability.
It is clear a Conservative Party so divided, cannot deliver a solution to the quandary. A cross party agreement is the solution. If only Corbyn would abandon the illusion of a possible snap election and a move into Number Ten, then real progress could be made perhaps.
Boris Johnson was in Stafford this week, delivering a potential leadership speech at the JCB factory. Digging a hole in front of a digger, the would be leader of the party denied any suggestion he had mentioned Turkey and the potential 77 million immigrants from the East prior to the Brexit vote.
According to Henry Zeffman in the Times today, Johnson in 2016 had said, "I cannot imagine a situation in which 77 million of my fellow Turks can come here without any checks at all." Pressed by Channel 4 news, Johnson said "I didn't make any remarks about Turkey, mate". Yep fake news ... mate ...
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