Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The frantic effort to assemble a workable government out of Britain’s recent national election shambles has taken a delightful new twist, with a surprise demand that Nigel Farage be given a key role in Britain’s new government.
Nigel Farage to be given role in Brexit talks under DUP-Conservative deal – reports
- Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage could be ennobled or given key government role under a DUP deal.
- British Prime Minister Theresa May to face important talks in proposed alliance deal between the Conservatives and the DUP.
- Farage has previously hinted at a return to politics and has been in talks with UKIP’s largest funder.
Karen Gilchrist | @_karengilchrist
British Prime Minister Theresa May could be under pressure to give extreme Eurosceptic Nigel Farage a key role in Brexit negotiations if she strikes an alliance deal with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), according to new reports.
Senior figures in the DUP have told May that she should keep Farage close and allow him to contribute to EU talks in an effort to prevent him from returning to the helm of UKIP, the party he once led, and launching a counter-campaign against her Conservative party, sources told the Sunday Times.
The figures have also suggested that Farage’s suspected return to UKIP could be abated with the promise of a peerage. Farage is said to have been in talks with Arron Banks, one of the party’s biggest donors, on Friday to discuss the future of UKIP, one of the Conservative’s closest competitors.
“They hold a few cards,” the source said. “They want Farage as a lord or a role in government or he and Arron will put something together that will cause trouble for May.”
…
While climate isn’t Nigel Farage’s primary concern, there is no doubt he is a skeptic. For several years, Lord Monckton served as Nigel Farage’s UKIP climate spokesman.
The Democratic Unionist Party, who are making the demand, hold the balance of power in the new UK parliament. Their support is absolutely essential for any hope for embattled British PM Theresa May to form a stable government.
This is a wholly unexpected and delicious twist from the fallout of a UK election, which until polling day presented the British people with a choice between hardline green globalists and raving loony green globalists.
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This is fake news Eric.
As is anything else that presents the sceptical viewpoint /sarc
This is simply completely fanciful.
Michael gove has been made environment secretary who demanded climate change be removed from schools geography courses….but instead put it into science classes
Tonyb
This is what melanie phillips calls for in her post today explicitly to send a message over brexit not being negotiable.
Also I warned last week that jeffrey sachs was involved with numerous other activities beyond climate change. This today https://gemreportunesco.wordpress.com/2017/06/12/the-2020-gem-report-will-be-on-inclusion-and-education/#more-10323 has him also in charge of the global education reports that drive K-12 ‘reforms’ in every country in ways few understand accurately.
It lies at the core of the SDGs to create a different kind of consciousness known as Arationality.
Makes it easier to sell CAGW too.
http://www.melaniephillips.com/mrs-mays-human-shield/ is the link I mentioned above.
The DUP is more conservative than the Conservatives. That is not fake news.
True! They make Republican right look liberal!
Except for a couple of dozen Freedom Caucus members, the vast majority of today’s Republicans might as well be Bernie Sanders supporters, Griff. (They supported everything Big O wanted–’nuff said!)
Griff, this why I am an Independent. Left the corrupt democrat party 25 years ago,never joined the Republican party,but been voting for some of the republicans running for office,NEVER for a democrat!
More conservative on some issues, but less Euroskeptic, which is the relevant concern. Like other Northern Irish, they want to keep free trade with the Republic.
Exactly, Paul. unless AGW has caused hell to freeze over, it’s not going to happen, more’s the pity.
Well Wonders will never cease, for once I actually agree with Griff!!!
Eric Worrall:
God alone knows where the idea of Farage becoming part of UK government originated; UKIP’s PR machine? Support for his Party (UKIP) has collapsed, and Farage has repeatedly failed to get elected as an MP including in the recent General Election.
No single Party won that General Election, The Tories won most Parliamentary seats but lost their overall majority in Parliament. Therefore, the Tories are seeking alliance(s) with other Parties to obtain a coalition that will give them an ability to form a working government. Farage is not an MP, UKIP has no MPs and its political influence has evapourated with its loss of support from the electorate. The Tories have nothing to gain except even more loss of credibility from allying with Farage or being seen as allaying with Farage..
In summation, Farage becoming part of UK government is as likely as me jumping to the moon.
Richard
Respectfully Sir, you are correct as far as you go, save that the Tories did win the election by 318 to 262 seats. They may have lost seats while Labour gained, but that is irrelevant as a matter of law and the constitutional conventions. That they are technically short of an absolute parliamentary majority is also irrelevant.
The Tories were (and remain by convention and law) the government of the day. Being short an absolute majority simply means they have to seek consensus to pass legislation, rather than ram their agenda through. That is no bad thing – and on the main issue of the day ie Brexit, the Labour and Tory manifestos are clear – UK leaves the Common Market. Even John McDonnell acknowledged that in interviews, several times.
As to Farage costing the Tories credibility – that may be the view of London or Westminster elites and chattering classes (consisting of the sort that advised May to go to the country with the manifesto she did). As the outcome of the election clearly demonstrates, these people simply have no idea what the views are of the country beyond the M25.
Farage did not stand in the election last week – so of course he could not be elected .
I agree with KO that Farage working with the Tories could enhance their prospects with a significant chunk of the electorate.
KO is quite correct: Farage is extremely popular with huge swathes of the British public. He is the most effective politician of his generation: he more or less single-handedly forced the Referendum onto the ‘Establishment’ and was personally instrumental in securing the Brexit vote. In my own area of East Anglia which voted around 70% for Brexit, Farage is much admired, and there is huge anger at the continued cold-shouldering from the main party politicians.
Farage didn’t stand in the recent election, having had the Thanet seat stolen from him by the Tories in 2015. Quite a number of ballot boxes went ‘missing’ for a few hours before the count that night. Anyone who knows the area, and the politics on the ground there, is quite sure Farage won the vote, even though he didn’t win the count. It’s now the subject of a corruption enquiry.
I’m not a UKIP member but I can recognise a successful politician when I see one. The main reason Farage is so effective is that he is always in total command of his brief, and is very fast on his feet. Nobody in the UK understands the workings of the EU better than he does; using his expertise in this area to facilitate negotiations would not make him ‘a part of the UK government’.
richardcourtney
I disagree entirely. There are very many voters in Britain who would be delighted to see Farage as a member of the government whether he is an MP or not. He has a powerful following and would be great support for Mrs May, Brexit and a powerful sceptic global warming voice. Get him in asap.
KO:
I said
That is true, but you have replied
That is twaddle! A victory is NOT observed by counting individual battles won.
The Tories lost their overall majority and no amount of spin can reasonably portray that as a victory especially when they chose to call the election when they had no need to.
Richard
KO, Old England, San The First and George Lawson;
Your hopes, wants and pipe dreams do not alter the fact that there is no chance whatsoever of the Tories bringing Farage into their government because – as I explained – they have nothing to gain from doing it and they don’t like him.
Richard
A bit OT but the Coservative platform on Climate is a very broad church.
They leave themselves plenty of time to sort things out.
‘An independent review into the Cost of Energy, which will be asked to make recommendations as to how we can ensure UK energy costs are as low as possible, while ensuring a reliable supply and allowing us to meet our 2050 carbon reduction objective…We were the first country to introduce a Climate Change Act, which Conservatives helped to frame, and we are halfway towards meeting our 2050 goal of reducing emissions by eighty per cent from 1990 levels.’
I am sure if they can fit in the Scots and Northern Irelanders, there will be a safe place for Farage.
Oops! That page can’t be found.
It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try one of the links below or a search?
On Mon, Jun 12, 2017 at 8:15 AM, Watts Up With That? wrote:
> Eric Worrall posted: ” The frantic effort to assemble a workable > government out of Britain’s recent national election shambles has taken a > delightful new twist, with a surprise demand that Nigel Farage be given a > key role in Britain’s new government. Nigel Farage to be given ” >
I found the page no problem.
And there are no ‘links below’ in your post?
Might have been my fault sorry I glitched the publish process a bit. Should be all OK now hopefully…
http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/815954/DUP-Nigel-Farage-Ukip-Conservative-Brexit-Theresa-May
suggests there is some substance to the story
As does
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/12/nigel-farage-to-gain-brexit-role-under-dup-conservative-deal–reports.html
If it is fake news, its being reported in more than one place.
We will see eh?
One or two people may have “called for it” but the CNBC headline “Nigel Farage to be given role in Brexit talks”, as if it’s established fact, is certainly fake news.
The Express, remember, is the paper that regularly has stories claiming that Britain is about to be plunged into a record-breaking Arctic freeze this winter.
First Eric, for you to notice, Nigel Farage’s UKIP elected 0 (ZERO, yes, a round and empty ZERO!!!) seats. It gives you an idea how much Britains respect Nigel Farage elusive and windy ideas. Do not put any bet in this guy because all europeans, including Britains, are aware that he is a joke, almost behaving like a mental retarded, who lived basically from payment from the EU parliament. Only Trump see any merits in this guy, go figure… As a climate skeptic myself I do not want, by no means, to be confused with this guy’s ideas.
Farage had nothing to do with UKIP at the GE, it was Paul Nuttals UKIP as Farage had stepped down.
Farage had nothing to do with UKIP?
Three of the last six UKIP leaders were Nigel Farage. He never won a seat despite trying at least 8 times
No wonder he didn’t win.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4305218/Farage-accuses-Tories-secret-poll-plot.html
Did Carswell pass confidential Ukip data about local voters to the Tories to help them defeat Farage? Astonishing claim made to police as electoral fraud inquiry grows
•Farage lost the Thanet South election in 2015 to Tory Craig Mackinlay
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4565696/Tory-Craig-Mackinlay-CHARGED.html
Conservative candidate Craig Mackinlay, 50, has been charged with offences under the Representation of the People Act
AndyL
kindly read what I posted: Farage had nothing to do with UKIP at the GE
GE being the General Election.
I’m well aware of his history.
First JN its NOT Nigel Farages UKIP
It never was and after he resigned as leader it was torn apart by people who turned out to be conservative plants leaving it and slating it.
And it did gain 15% of the popular vote last election. Coming third behind the two main parties.
That it won not a single seat was down to the nature of UK politics and geography.
As for your unpleasant attacks on Nigel, I will leave others to judge a man who has campaigned tirelessly for and end to Britain’s membership of the European union and has had almost no free time for a decade as a result.
You may think that is a misguided objective, but you cannot slight Nigel’s dedication to achieving it, or his instant resignation from UKIP once he considered that he had.
Leo, that was until people listened what he said in the day after the Brexit referendum. Basically the guy did the mess, which will be a costly decision for Britain, and the day after washed his hands from it. i do not agree with most of the EU organization and politics. That does not mean that you cannot make your effort to improve it. The world is no more a place for be proudly alone but to establish bridges for cooperation and strong alliances, where national autonomy can be, of course, defended. That’s the right way to improve things, not be segregative. This Nigel Farage is an opportunist, which only known activity is being milking the EU parliament for more that 20 years, the same one he stands against. My grandmother use to say that “we should not spit in the dish you eat from”. You can improve the dish, you can demand it to be cleaner, etc.
JN
you are making predictions of post Brexit economics as irrational as the predictions made by climate alarmists. And without wanting to get into a debate over the rights and wrongs of Brexit, the fact remains that the UK represents 20% of EU GDP, France is another 20% and Germany 30%, the rest is split amongst the remaining members at about 1%GDP each. No organisation I’m aware of can take an overnight 20% hit to its turnover without suffering badly. The UK, on the other hand, retains 100% of it’s 20%. From that perspective, there is nothing wrong with Brexit.
UKIP and Farage promoted the concept of immigration control, something like stopping 400+ British National ISIS fighters who returned to the UK without challenge. Since then we have had 3 terrorist attacks in the country, I don’t believe that’s coincidental. Prior to Farages pressure on immigration, the UK had no idea of the net immigration numbers so from that perspective, I think he did the country a favour by making our government do some simple arithmetic.
And whilst unrestricted immigration might seem like a nice cosy idea and good for the host countries, what damage does it do to the source countries who lose academics and workers to wealthy western Europe to work as toilet cleaners? From almost any perspective, apart from the wealthy west’s, uncontrolled immigration is a bad deal.
But more than that, Farage wanted us out from under the yoke of a European Bureaucracy with no elected or answerable officials making deals, laws and regulations in secret whilst the taxpayer is expected to cough up for expensive and frequently insane projects, not least climate change, that serves only a protectionist state. We may also have dodged a bullet by avoiding Germany raising a European Army, something I never believed would ever be considered again.
You might also bear in mind that all but one of the most oppressive states of the 20th Century, The USSR, Nazi Germany, China, Spain and N. Korea, amongst others, were left, or extreme left wing organisations which UKIP is palpably not.
And UKIP are, to my knowledge, the only UK party with a member who actually knows what he’s talking about relative to climate change, Roger Helmer.
So what’s more important? Dealing with the problem of immigration control every country in Europe is objecting to, which will, in part at least, be addressed by Brexit anyway, or dealing with a bogus climate scam which the UN has confessed is it’s route to global governance?
I have never voted UKIP but its value to this country is considerable. Some might see the current political situation as a mess, but I consider it a huge opportunity, and it’s regrettable that Farage won’t represent the country in an official manner as he’s one of the most intellectually capable politicians in the country.
HotScot June 12, 2017 at 6:57 am
Very well said indeed, HotScot. I concur with all you said. Nigel Farage though, is rather polarising I admit; a little bit like Marmite – people seem to either love him or hate him. I put myself in the first bracket. There are few, if any, of the current crop of politicians who have as much charisma as he does though.
You mentioned the excess migration suffered by this country (the UK). I must remind people that it is only a small group of islands with VERY finite room and resources regarding housing, education establishments, the NHS services etc, all of which are under enormous strain to cope. It seems the majority of migrants are young and, not unnaturally, procreate, thereby putting more strain on our limited resources.
Personally, I would love to see Nigel taking a leading position. He’s not one to be hampered by political correctness either!
Leo
I think you will find they won 1.5% , not 15%
tonyb
Tony,
IMO Leo was referring to the 2015 election, in which UKIP finished third in popular vote, with about 13% of the total.
HotScot
I’m not sure the economics are as simplistic as you imply.
Just taking the car industry in the UK. When the EU suffers as a result of Brexit and tariffs being imposed (not to mention a fall in the value of the £) and car sales fall in both the EU and the UK and cuts are made by hard nosed industrialists. 70% of car components are imported into the UK and will effectively have tariffs applied twice, once on import and again on exported finished vehicles. Where do you think the cuts will be made? Mini (BMW) already manufacture in Holland and could move new models there or to Bavaria, Toyota in France Macron would be happy to encourage a move over the channel, GM-Vauxhall are owned by PSA of France (Google Ryton in Coventry for their track record). Land Rover-Jaguar are owned by an Indian company, Lotus by a Malaysian company neither have a reason to stay UK based. The only UK manufacturers not able to shift into Europe are Honda, Nissan and Morgan, Nissan have been promised subsidies for electric car infrastructure. The UK has the most relaxed laws on firing employees and closing factories. Many other non-UK owned global companies will apply the same thought processes.
Freedom of movement wasn’t a problem when UK pensioners moved to sunnier countries, for many years the UK was a net exporter of people to the EU. Only when Tony Blair made the grave error of not restricting movement from the new members and employers of all sorts discovered cheap workers did it become an issue. Something else Blair/Brown screwed up. It does raise the interesting question of what happens when EU citizens working in the NHS go in one direction passing infirm pensioners coming home in the other. As you can see I may be amongst the infirm re-imports.
Tariffs are irrelevant to trade these days. Something that can be sorted in a few minutes. Non-tariff barriers is a completely different world and that is where the problems lie. Not that many understand this, and Farage would certainly be among them. For the leader of a party dedicated to leaving the EU you would think he should be on top of the subject but sadly he didn’t do detail. So therefore despite being dedicated to leaving the EU, Ukip had no exit plan. In fact Farage was against having a referendum, he wanted to win seats in parliament and force it through that way. That was never likely. To his credit he got Ukip to the point of scaring Cameron into promising a referendum to buy off Ukip votes. The problem Cameron had was to then win the 2015 election when he didn’t want to.
Thank you Hot Scot. Farage irritates the hell out of the chattering classes and the political establishment, but he’s damn effective at representing the views of the ordinary people of this country, those views which have been dismissed for generations.
Polling third place in the GE of 2015 was a terrific achievement. UKIP won far more votes than several parties who did send MPs to Westminster. It’s pretty certain that Farage did win the seat he contested, as anyone who knows the constituency would have told you. Why did several ballot boxes go missing on the night?
As for living off the EU: Farage took his salary to plough into UKIP to achieve the party’s goal of securing Brexit. Good for him! He didn’t need to live off the salary himself – he was already well off. He’s been a successful businessman in the real world, unlike most politicians.
Corrections:-
1. “Britons” is the correct spelling (not Britains).
2. “mental retarded” – this is an illiterate phrase; seek advice from a teacher of English.
Warren, you should notice when a person is not writing in his mother language. I would’t criticize you for not speaking mine as good as I do. I guess that despite my apparent illiteracy, you got the idea…
JN, if we didn’t notice it’s probably because you write very well in your second (or third or …..?) language. Congratulations. : > )
He left the party after his job was done. If the Conservatives start backtracking he will be back and he will regain his following.
,
Well, as he said having secured Brexit vote : you’re not laughing now , are you?
He’s is not a joke, he is very articulate and witty. He has a comical face but don’t be fooled. He has succeeded in making probably the most significant change in european politics in at least a generation.
If you don’t like his position that is another thing.
Just your opinion June, without Nigel there would have been NO referendum and NO Brexit, I gather you are in the remain camp.
First of all the UKIP party is in the process of disbanding. Nigel Farage stood down as leader after the referendum vote as the job was done. They did not bother to raise money for candidates at this election. If you care to look at the last election you will see that 12.7% of the UK voted for UKIP but with the archaic voting system meant they did not gain a seat but the SNP had only 4.7% of the vote managed to get 56 seat, nearly 10% of the seats available. You know full well that the support is still there in the UK and thst YOU see him as a joke, not the UK or Europe where he has been a constant thorn in the side of Juncker and others. Counting the numbers of seats won in a UK election is a very easy was to hide the true level of voting and is as reliable as climate data.
Well said Andy!
The UK rejected a form of proportional representation in a referendum, so one assume they are happy with this the FPTP system which leads to strong and stable government.
IIRC, what Brits rejected was a form of ranked voting, aka instant runoff voting. Alas.
in the last election most of those who voted for UKIP because of Brexit voted for the Conservatives. Some, who were primarily just anti-establishment or angry at May voted Labour. There was not much reason to vote UKIP, since Brexit was now a reality in some to be determined form, unless they were a party member or some such thing.
Incidentally, the reason the Conservatives lost so many voters so quickly was because they put up a proposal that would result in middle-class people having to pay more money for social care (such as nursing home care, which is not free) and it will be taken out of people’s estates, including their houses. Essentially the government would take half the value of your house when you die if you went into a nursing home. This was not popular. Didn’t really have that much to do with Brexit, Corbyn being popular, or May being unpopular.
As Mrs May has just shown. 😉
JN – I’m intrigued by your comment about his elusive and windy ideas. Which ones exactly? In my opinion he speaks the truth that political correctness tries to conceal. He must be onto something because Soros spends so much time and money trying to shut Nigel down!
Well said Christopher. Farage is hugely admired by most patriots here. Visiting any of the Brexit pages on Facebook – and there are quite a few – will make this very clear. We would never have secured Brexit, something I have longed and striven for, for nearly 40 years – without Farage’s energy and determination, allied to a complete and detailed grasp of his brief (ie the EU in all its baroque and corrupt workings).
” Only Trump see any merits in this guy, go figure…”
I see merit in Farage. To me, he looks like one of the few sensible European polticians around. England would thrive under Farage, imo. England currently seems to be sinking into the socialist swamp, so Farage may be just what the doctor ordered. You could bet there would be a fine relationship between the U.S. and Britain if Farage were in the driver’s seat. That would certainly beat having to deal with the communist, anti-American, British Labor party.
They call Farage an “extreme Eurosceptic”. That’s how the Left labels all their opponents on the right. All of them are extreme, according to the Left, if they are anywhere to the right of socialism/communism/totalitarianism.
The European Far Left calling the Right extreme. That’s ironic.
Nigel for Prime Minister
JN,
I like Farage.
When the citizens of EU are paying $100 per day to prop up an out-of-control European “Parliament”, they might like Farage too.
When the people of the USA, Canada and Australia are paying $100 per week for unreliable renewable energy, then those folk might also come around to like Nigel Farage.
Incidentally, those two little monetary predictions aren’t quite as far away as the naïve folk in our societies might think.
Link works for me. If it’s CNBC it must be true!
/sarc
It appears to be a bit of media sh*t stirring as the Express has the story as well, as Leo Smith above posted.
Eric,
You may be right or not and I rather fancy that the truth of it will emerge this week.
Do let us know what you think when you see the boat being launched. Thanks as ever.
Regards,
WL
With 30-some members in Parliament, including a near-sweep in its home territory, the DUP is a substantial, or at least non-fringe, party. Its climate-skeptic position falsifies the common warmist and MSM claim that the U.S. is the only country with a non-fringe party that holds such a position.
PS: The climate-skeptic parties in Australia, OTOH, ARE fringe entities, even though they hold the balance in the senate there.
The DUP has 10 seats out of 650.
Voting in Northern Ireland is largely on sectarian lines – I very much doubt the number of seats they won has anything to do with their climate policy
You’re right about DUP’s having only ten members; I was mislead by a graphic after the election showing 30-some members in the “Other” category.
It’s also true that their electoral success wasn’t due to their climate-skeptic position. But saying that doesn’t falsify my claim, which wasn’t about the vote-getting prowess of a non-fringe climate-skeptic party, but only about its mere existence. (What I wrote was, “Its climate-skeptic position falsifies the common warmist and MSM claim that the U.S. is the only country with a non-fringe party that holds such a position.”)
This story just shows you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the web
Former Northern Ireland Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson of the DUP, is an AGW sceptic: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/sammy-wilson-i-still-think-manmade-climate-change-is-a-con-28515999.html
Sammy was my MP until the boundaries changed a few years back. It was interesting…
DWR54
Great article.
IF this comes to pass then this is great news.
However, I am extremely sceptical that it will come to pass. The Conservatives do not like Farage. The BBC do not like Farage, and they will certainly do their best to scupper such an appointment. There will be a barrage of biased news, more correctly termed views briefing against this appointment.
Farage doesn’t like the Tories either so that’s a neat symmetrical arrangement there. To he brutally honest though Farage does have a bit of a problem with the truth for most politician’s and many of the public’s taste. He tells it.
Enoch Powell also told the truth from his constituents perspective. He repeated what was being said in the street about Commonwealth immigration and was sacked by Heath for it.
So much for politicians respecting the view of the people.
Nor am I passing any judgement either way on the speech.
Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t the BREXIT vote an attempt to keep Conservatives from defecting to UKIP?
Exactly.
Sad thing is, Griff, that you don’t see any cunning plan by Farage as being part of the ref decision. People underestimate Farage at their peril.
If May should indeed propose to give Farage a role, that will only give more ammunition to her rivals in her own party and accelerate her downfall. It is kind of strange anyway that she is trying to hang on after her unprovoked election defeat.
If Farage outshines May during the negotiations (as he might with his rhetorical flair), then maybe he’ll be mooted as one of May’s potential replacements should her hold on her position wobble. Farage would have been a far better campaigner for the Conservatives in the recent election than she was. Probably he’d be a better campaigner than the other conservative candidates for the premiership.
How soon will British bookmakers offer odds on his getting that job? And what will those odds be? At 50-1, a flutter would be a good investment. At 10-1 or lower, it would be a hint to the Tory leadership from the public on what they’d like to happen.
If Farage got in, he might appoint Monckton to some cabinet position, after he was given a safe seat to campaign in by the timely retirement of a current MP. It would be worth doing just for lulz. (I wonder if this thought has occurred either of them. I suspect it has.)
Such an appointment would give progressive Britons their very own Derangement Syndrome, and non-progressive ones a fit or ten of Jovian laughter.
PS: If Farage were allowed into Parliament via election to a safe seat retired-from for his convenience, then the rhetorical flair he showed in the EU parliament would also stand out vs. Labour in Parliament and entertain Britons watching the highlights on TV. Britons like quick-witted and witty personalities in Parliament. The Tories need such a person—they are mostly “Wets.”
Roger, Farage isn’t a member of the Conservative party. The Conservative party loathes Farage and Farage loathes the Conservatives. There is more chance of Kim Jong-un holding office with the Tories than Nigel Farage.
Well, the Conservatives allowed one non-Conservative MP to cross the aisle and become a big-time PM.
Maybe a Conservative MP who likes Farage more than his own party (and apparently there are such persons) would retire, giving Farage a chance to win under the UKIP banner. He would win if the Conservative party didn’t contest the seat. And they might not contest it, fearing that doing so would split the vote and give the seat to Labour. At 50-1, it’s worth a flutter. Kim Jong-un is a 500,000-1 shot.
Roger
The PM you are referring to crossed the floor (not the “aisle”) a second time to rejoin the Conservative Party
I think we’re all getting a little carried away here 🙂
Wishful thinking perhaps, Farage and Monckton, what a double act.
Stranger things have happened lately !!! LOL
Very true.
Yes, Laurel and Hardy. Physically at least.
This is excellent news. Finally Nigel Farage will uproot himself from the European parliament seat.
Nigel Farage is the only outstanding politician we have had in the UK since Margaret Thatcher. All the PMs and most of the MPs since her have been a bunch of losers.
Agreed, Philip.
Absolutely!
Interesting that it took a woman to wipe out the Tories in Scotland and another to revive them 30 years later and yet another to turn Brexit into something of a farce.
Agreed, re Farage. He speaks truth to power, with no fear or favour.
It’s interesting that three of the four countries of the UK are now led by women!
A good move if it happens.
Never going to happen.
Farage is toxic to the Tory party (as is failed UKIP)
And Trump isn’t too popular… which is why Downin gStreet is leaking he has cancelled his UK trip (said to May he wasn’t coming if there were going to be protests -and for sure there would be)
Some of the DUP are climate skeptics… (they are also anti gay, anti abortion and linked to a dodgy sectarian past.)
But the UK govt as an entity is firmly pro climate science, the climate act and more renewables (except for Gove, newly returned to cabinet)
Which just goes to show what a bunch of idiots most of the govt (and MPs generally) are.
Agreed Dave.
…And Clinton has an 89% chance of winning !!! Polls nowadays are meaningless !
Griff,
Could you supply any evidence that the DUP is anti-gay? Do their policies include imprisonment of homosexuals? Do their policies include exclusion of homosexuals from employment? Do their policies include exclusion of homosexuals from studying at universities?
If you mean that they do not agree with changing the definition of marriage that has been used by all civilisations for thousands of years then say so. But don’t use silly terms such as ‘anti-gay’.
The Guardian called the DUP ‘climate deniers’. We all know how silly and meaningless that term is, and perhaps insulting. Similarly using the term ‘anti-gay’ in relation to the DUP is silly, meaningless and insulting.
Anti-abortion? Yes. They actually believe that unborn babies have a right to life. It’s strange, isn’t it that in the UK it is illegal to remove eggs from birds’ nests but not illegal to end the life of an unborn human being. And if an unborn baby has any kind of slight disability such as a cleft lip its life can be terminated right up to birth. Oh, and it’s okay in England to abort a baby just because it’s a girl.
A dodgy sectarian past? That’s another of those undefined claims made without providing any evidence. What exactly is meant by ‘dodgy’? (For the record, I’m not a Protestant. I’m actually a Catholic and if I lived in Northern Ireland I would probably vote DUP as it is the only party that still stands for traditional Christian morality. Sinn Fein is no more Catholic than Donald Trump is a Democrat.)
Well this article says (and apologies if anyone finds it offensive, I’m just quoting the article):
“Ian Paisley Jr, son of the party’s founder Ian Paisley, has previously called homosexuality “immoral, offensive and obnoxious” and said he was “repulsed” by gays and lesbians.
The party once championed a campaign called “Save Ulster from Sodomy”.
Former DUP health minister Jim Wells told a South Down hustings in 2015: “The gay lobby is insatiable, they don’t know when enough is enough.”
He also said children who were raised in a homosexual relationship were more likely to be abused or neglected. He later apologised for the comments.”
And so on.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dup-hung-parliament-results-policies-manifesto-abortion-gay-marriage-climate-change-who-are-they-a7781656.html
I am not putting forward a viewpoint on the difficult issue of abortion… all I can tell you is the DUP attitude is very far from the prevailing view in mainland UK.
[your view on climate might also be “very far from the prevailing view in mainland UK” -mod]
Alba, your evaluation is correct.
“Oh, and it’s okay in England to abort a baby just because it’s a girl.”
I hadn’t heard that one before. Maybe you are talking about China?
TA,
In England you can abort a baby for any reason, which of course includes if it’s the wrong sex.
Under China’s one child policy, parents more often than not chose to keep aborting girls until they had a boy. In the West, it’s more often because they already had a child of one sex and wanted one of the other, but not more than two en toto.
Chimp
aborting a baby in the UK because it is the ‘wrong’ sex would be illegal – indeed people have been prosecuted for it
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11217504/Doctor-to-appear-in-court-in-UKs-first-gender-abortion-prosecution.html
lying again griff?
wash yer mouth out with soap!
Depends how you measure failure, Griff. By your lights, Caroline bloody Lucas and her Green party are even bigger losers. hey certainly polled a great deal less that UKIP in 2015.
Griff,
The UKIP obviously succeeded spectacularly, but as a one-issue party, its success meant its end. As shown in the recent election, its adherents went backs to their former parties now that the UK is indeed seeking the independence which the UKIP sought.
Electorally they were a complete bust. Very many of their candidates/spokespeople have had to suddenly resign/withdraw after making fools of themselves. They were just our Nigel and Aaron’s money.
As if Labour and Tories have never made fools of themselves or been found guilty of various violations.
You’re a hoot!
And the Greens gave us Natalie Bennett. ‘Nuff said.
“And Trump isn’t too popular… which is why Downin gStreet is leaking he has cancelled his UK trip (said to May he wasn’t coming if there were going to be protests -and for sure there would be)”
This lie has been denied on both sides of the Atlantic, Griff.
More accurately I should say: This “MSM” lie has been denied on both sides of the Atlantic, Griff.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/18/nigel-farage-theresa-may-has-banned-cabinet-ministers-speaking/
(last time this was suggested and what Downing St said then)
Leaders of the Conservative party hate Farage and any attempt by a Tory prime minister to give him the time of day, let alone a serious role, would destroy the party and collapse what little of a government we have at the moment.
His appointment to any negotiating role with the EU would have a catastrophic effect and lead to more problems than any possible gain.
Much better, and non-fake news, is the appointment of Michael Gove to be in charge of the environment department. Gove previously opposed the green corruption in British schools whereby our school textbooks have been turned into half-witted propaganda about modern life destroying everything.
Hopefully he will go after the unending nonsense that is big green.
But he won’t: UK govt is committed to renewable energy, the climate act and climate science
Um no, I think you’ll find that it is you who is committed to those things.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/04/renewables-investment-uk-fall-95-percent-three-years-study-subsidy-cuts-emissions-targets
..Griffy seems to live in an alternate universe !
Griff, the Government and the Civil Service may be committed to renewables and the climate act, but they certainly aren’t paying any attention to climate science. If they were they would scrap both the climate act and the commitment to renewables.
This is amazing. Not only is Griff an expert on “climate science”, he is an expert on UK politics.
I live there and vote there Jim…
Seems to me there’s a lot of folk posting here who have an expert opinion on Trump’s govt ?
Corbyn’s commitment to the climate consensus is lukewarm, as has often been noted. Maybe his party, plus closet-skeptic Conservatives (who exist, as has also been noted), plus the DUP, could unwind or dial down Britain’s climate commitments when their high costs, intermittence, and tiny global impact, combined with a recession, becomes plain to a majority of the electorate. That ought to happen within two or three years.
Is that right, Roger?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-donald-trump-paris-agreement-withdraw-climate-change-labour-election-2017-a7768481.html
Griff – Please read David MacKay’s “Sustainable Energy – without the hot air”. You will find it enlightening and should be able to relate it very easily to your views. The arithmetic he uses is remarkably straightforward. Enjoy!
You’re right, Griff. I confused Corbyn’s lukewarmness on Brexit with the different issue of climate change.
“Griff June 12, 2017 at 10:14 am
I live there and vote there Jim…”
But you don’t do so in Australia, and yet you appear to be an expert on state Govn’t energy and climate policy and renewables here too.
Griff is an expert on anything and every thing.
You just ask Griff.
Just posted the Consevative climate platform up top in another context.
An independent review into the Cost of Energy, which will be asked to make recommendations as to how we can ensure UK energy costs are as low as possible, while ensuring a reliable supply and allowing us to meet our 2050 carbon reduction objective…We were the first country to introduce a Climate Change Act, which Conservatives helped to frame, and we are halfway towards meeting our 2050 goal of reducing emissions by eighty per cent from 1990 levels.
In 33 years a lot of politicians will be earning their well earned pensions.
If the consevatives were truly comitted they would have already shut down whole counties, as happened in SA, when they introduced renewables.
Robin – Mackay’s data is out of date: the technology has moved on.
One could say that Nigel Farage is to the UK politics what Piers Corbyn (not to be confused with his younger brother Jeremy) to the climate science.
My problem in judging the Nigel Farage situation is that all the US sources that cover UK politics are hostile to the UKIP, as with the NY Times, as are the UK press with a significant online presence. It it rather parallel to making a judgement on US politics by following the legacy broadcast media.
A friend posted a link to the NYT’s take on our recent election and what it told us about attitudes to Brexit on FB yesterday. It was so wide of the mark I didn’t even bother to finish it. I can’t imagine where they were getting their information, but I’d guess their informant has never been outside the M25 (the London peripheral ringroad).
Here’s how Farage addressed not only the former Belgian prime minister, but also the Belgian people. Sinn Féin in the opposite extreme has a reputation of similar talents.
…WOW, that was brutal….sounds like Trump ! Brutally honest, just what the free world needs right now…IMHO
Brutal alright, but the clip was taken over 7 years ago. It’s nothing unique or useful either. English can do whatever they want, but I have no intention of being associated with Farage and/or providing a raison d’être for the European watermelon extreme because of him.
The insults seem very personal, but they were probably not meant that way – this is just Farage’s way to draw attention to himself and to the EU’s non-democratic way of making decisions and appointments. You don’t have to like the guy, but he clearly is very good at his game.
Farage can have his democracy with Prince Charles as the future Head of the Commonwealth. Doesn’t change anything for me though – Americans were right 244 years ago.
Some more classic Nigel:
On Junckers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPTMPXZNVQM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAISBM4qiv4
Headline:
Trump Supporter and Climate Skeptic Nigel Farage to Have a Major Role in the New UK Government. (So it’s a done deal, then?)
What the article actually said:
British Prime Minister Theresa May COULD BE under pressure to give extreme Eurosceptic Nigel Farage a key role in Brexit negotiations if she strikes an alliance deal with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), ACCORDING TO NEW REPORTS.
Senior figures in the DUP have told May that she should keep Farage close and ALLOW HIM TO CONTRIBUTE to EU talks in an effort to prevent him from returning to the helm of UKIP, the party he once led, and launching a counter-campaign against her Conservative party, SOURCES told the Sunday Times.
Well, not quite, then.
Headline: “to have a major role”. Article: “allow him to contribute”.
And it all comes from “new reports” and “sources”.
Seems like the headline was a bit off mark.
Well, if May wants a majority, she MUST cave to their demands ! PERIOD ……..
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/12/us-opts-out-g7-pledge-paris-climate-accord-irreversible#img-1
WTF? a table made of grass. Well that is sure to “save the planet”.
Whatever the ebb and flow of the current political situation here in the UK involving the Tories and the DUP, Nigel Farage, the failed ex-leader of fringe party Ukip, will never be part of it and to suggest otherwise displays a complete ignorance of UK politics, particularly if you choose to use the Daily Express to back your position…
So, let me get this right. The UKIP was founded to get Britain out of the EU. Last year, Britain voted to leave the EU. And Farage failed?
You can say a lot of things about him–that he probably did as much harm as good for his cause, for one–but ‘failed’ is not really one of them.
“a complete ignorance of UK politics”
That’s what they were saying last year to anyone who thought Britain would vote ‘leave’.
If you’d been following events during the EU referendum campaign you’d have been aware of the fact that Farage was marginalised to the fringe from the start, he had nothing to do with the official Vote Leave organisation, and we won the referendum vote in spite of Farage’s various foot in mouth attempted interjections.
You can also take Farage’s failed attempts to interject himself as an intermediary between Donald Trump and the UK government as a good example of how anything to do with Farage will always be kept at least two barge poles distant from reality.
Hth.
Jabba, Farage has a huge personal following: if you don’t know this you are not very well informed. Go on any of the big pro-Brexit pages on FB and you might learn just how popular he is. The political establishment does itself no favours by its constant attempts to marginalise him, quite the contrary, it just shows how out of touch with grass roots feeling it is.
“Farage was marginalised to the fringe from the start”
Utter rubbish.
Are you a D.Nying Putty cat Jabba ?? LOL….I think the MSM laughed about the same thing with U.S. PRESIDENT D.J. Trump…
So far Farage has tried and failed seven times to get elected to the HOC as an MP over a period of twenty years, speaks for itself…
Emboldened cabinet Remainers outnumber the cabinet Brexitiers, and the Mekel – Marcon duo know it.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/06/12/15/415AC7D500000578-4595498-The_new_Cabinet_unveiled_by_Prime_Minister_Theresa_May_yesterday-a-41_1497278082058.jpg
As far as I see it ‘Brexit means no Brexit’