Remainers undermining the principle of democratic consent? A letter in The Week.

The letter below, published in The Week (October 19), suggests the Remain-backing establishment risks undermining the principle of democratic consent.  In my opinion they have already very seriously damaged the principle of democratic consent, and if the vote to leave the European Union is set aside they will have destroyed it.

Referendum Confusion

To The Daily Telegraph

I am yet to hear a single advocate of another EU referendum explain why anyone would trust Parliament to implement the result.  If the first referendum was advisory and the electorate did not understand the question, why would a second referendum be binding and clear?

Moreover, since the Remain side has already been defeated by the massive margin of 1.3 million votes, the only democratic choice available on a hypothetical ballot paper would be between the Withdrawal Agreement and leaving with without a deal. 

Britain’s Remain-backing establishment risks undermining the principle of democratic consent with its determination to overturn the result of the “once in a lifetime” referendum.

Philip Duly, Haslemere, Surrey

Frederick Forsyth and the true meaning of "no-deal" Brexit. A letter in The Week.

I came across this interesting letter from best-selling author Frederick Forsyth which focuses on the meaning of words, and not what people would like or think them to mean. The letter, reproduced below, was first published in The Daily Telegraph then published in the 12th October edition of The Week.

Another Brexit casualty

To The Daily Telegraph

Among the many casualties of the litany of incompetence befalling our country, we now count our national language and the meaning of words.  We are told that “no-deal” must be swept off the table.  But “no-deal” is not a presence, it is an absence and by definition you cannot abolish an absence.

The only deals realistically before us are “no-deal” or Michel Barnier’s deal, which he has told us many times is not for variation by so much as a comma.  And that deal requires the UK to live on its knees forever.

I never cease to be surprised at the number of mediocrities in high office who seek my vote (when I am allowed to have one) to support them in this grovel.

So please let us have our general election as soon as possible so that we may, with silent votes rather than placards, usher the appeasers back to that oblivion for which nature so amply equipped them.

Frederick Forsyth, Buckinghamshire.

Parliamentarians flummoxed by the possibility of a post-Brexit traffic jam at the Port of Dover.

I had a letter published in the Western Daily Press on September 19th.  The editor gave it a rather odd title, but otherwise it was un-edited.

Brexit needs help of our world war heroes.


After over two years of slaughter World War One had reached a stalemate when David Lloyd George became Prime Minister in December 1916.  With ministers of the calibre of Winston Churchill, Arthur Balfour, Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin serving in his Coalition Government he refocused the nation’s efforts and set Britain on the road to a victory achieved less than two years later. 

Today, nearly three and a half years after the people voted for Brexit, with modern communications and other technologies Lloyd George and his Government could not have dreamed of, our politicians seem totally flummoxed by the possibility of having to deal with a post-Brexit traffic jam at the Port of Dover. 

Thank goodness none of our present crop of shallow parliamentarians was in office when this country was involved in a World War.

S.W.
Ilminster, Somerset.

After 46 years in the European Union the United Kingdom is no longer a bastion of democracy.

My  letter in the Western Daily Press September 16th.

UK no longer a bastion of democracy.


What nation has a Parliament which refuses to uphold a referendum result, does not allow a General Election, passes a law which could see a Prime Minister sent to prison, and votes to intercept the private communications of political staff? 

Communist China or perhaps Putin’s Russia?  Maybe a failed Third World state or a despotic Middle Eastern regime?


No - the United Kingdom.  It is obviously no longer a shining example of democracy or a bastion of personal privacy.  Being a member of the European Union for 46 years has brought the nation to this.

S.W.
Ilminster. 

Update 29 September. 

Apparently this letter also appeared in the Bath Chronicle on September 19.

The EU Referendum, Brexit and the broken promises of Labour and Conservative politicians.

After some considerable time I have resumed writing letters to the press.  I had the one below published in the Western Daily Press today, September 12th.

Promise not worth paper it's written on.

It’s now over three years since people voted to leave the European Union, and over two years since a General Election in which both the Labour and Conservative parties pledged that they would uphold the 2016 referendum.  Events have proved that party manifestos and leaflets containing such promises were not worth the paper they were written on.
With the Battle of Britain Day approaching perhaps I might take the liberty of saying, in the style of Churchill: “Never in the field of democratic politics have so many been deceived by so few”.  

S.W. 
Ilminster, Somerset

The British Political Establishment - not delivering what you voted for!

I came across an interesting article from Vernon Bogdanor in The Guardian this week.  He makes the interesting point that MPs could connive to block Brexit indefinitely.  This is what he had to say:

 “. . . were Parliament to pass legislation preventing Britain leaving the EU without a deal, Brexit could be delayed forever, since the Commons would then be free to reject every deal presented to it”.

He also writes:

“ Looking at the sorry performance of the House of Commons elected in 2017, it is difficult to avoid remembering Winston Churchill’s condemnation of the parliaments of the 1930s as being “ decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent”.  Parliament has shown itself not to be the solution to Brexit but the problem.”

Here is a link to the article:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/29/parliament-brexit-prorogue-mps-alternative-no-deal

Meanwhile, on a similar theme, this was my favourite letter of the month taken from the August 24 edition of The Week.  It was originally published in The Sunday Times.

Getting what you voted for.

To The Sunday Times

Michael Heseltine and Betty Boothroyd get into an awful lather about the “subversion” of Parliament as they attempt to stop us leaving the EU.

They overlook the facts that MPs voted in favour of holding a referendum; that the majority of MPs were elected on manifestos that pledged to honour the result of that referendum; that MPs voted to trigger Article 50 in the knowledge that it committed us to leaving; and that it was MPs who voted down the deal that was negotiated with the EU – on three occasions. 

If the result of all this is the UK leaving on 31 October with no deal, that is the result of decisions made by Parliament.  Where is the subversion?

Eileen Haxby, Harrogate.

Tim Montgomerie on Ian Dunt. My favourite tweet of the month,

On the 23rd July Tim Montgomerie, British political activist and columnist, tweeted:

"Delivering Brexit isn't just about delivering Brexit anymore.  It's a culture war.  It's about defeating foul-mouthed anti-democrats like Ian Dunt who think that the views of the elite matter more than the views of the majority."

Mr Dunt, editor of politics.co.uk  is a regular on Sky News, which says a lot about that channel's standards.

Incidentally, also on the 23rd BBC presenter Nick Robinson tweeted this, perhaps the daftest tweet of the month:
""You broke it. You own it".  As true for Boris and Brexit as it was when Colin Powell warned George W. Bush about invading Iraq."

However difficult and chaotic Brexit might possibly be, comparing it to invading Iraq is just plain silly.

Brexit Party MEPs turning their backs on the EU anthem was crass, but comparing them to Nazis is preposterous.

The act by Brexit Party MEPs of turning their backs as the EU anthem was played at the opening ceremony of the European Parliament was crass, but comparing it to how the Nazis behaved in the Reichstag is preposterous.

One moment Brexiteers are accused of being “Little Englanders”, the next Nazis.  However, I doubt Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party want to invade Poland and France, march on Moscow, conquer the world and build concentration camps on Dartmoor!

Gavin Esler, former BBC Newsnight presenter and EU Parliamentary candidate for Change UK, said the Brexit Party had ‘shamelessly copied the Nazi Party’, on the basis that the Nazis once turned their backs on a Jewish speaker in the Reichstag in 1930.

Mr Esler is a member of the Remainer elite that are absolutely committed to stopping Brexit, even if the EU Referendum result of 2016 has to be set aside and faith in democracy shattered as a result.

Be that as it may, I sent the letter below to the Western Daily Press, I haven’t seen it published yet!

Dear Sir,

Brexit Party MEPs turning their backs as the EU anthem was played at the opening ceremony of the European Parliament was a boorish act, but not as boorish as Liberal Democrat MEPs wearing yellow vests emblazoned with “Bollocks to Brexit".  MEPs, whether Brexiteers or Remainers, should set high standards of civility, and not exhibit such oafish behaviour. 


Update September 9th.

It seems the above letter found its way into the Western Morning News on July 8th!  

Taking the Brexit buscuit and leaving the crumbs. An exchange of letters from The Week.

I enjoyed this exchange of letters in the The Sunday Telegraph which was republished in The Week magazine on June 15.

Taking the biscuit . . .

To The Sunday Telegraph

If 52 per cent of the electorate say they like biscuits, it does not tell us what proportion favour particular varieties, such as garibaldi or nice.

Apply this to Brexit, and the vote does not indicate a majority for any particular deal.  In such circumstances, surely the democratic process demands public confirmation of any deal accepted by Parliament.

Robert East, London

 . . . leaving the crumbs.

To The Sunday Telegraph

Mr East’s analogy is flawed.

It makes no sense at all for those who don’t like biscuits to choose which ones should be eaten by those who do.

Michael Maughan, Tynemouth, Northumberland

Reflections on the remarkable EU Parliamentary Elections in the UK.

English Democrats becalmed.  Brexit Party is in full sail, leaving UKIP and all the others floundering in its wake.

The English Democrats received 39,938 votes in total in the 4 regions in which they stood; East of England, North West England, South West England and Yorkshire and The Humber.  In a previous blogpost I wrote that they would not retain their £20,000 worth of deposits and would do well if they garnered 40,000 votes – so I was not far wrong.  It was a gallant effort by patriotic candidates to raise the subject of English nationhood, but their voices were drowned out as The Brexit Party roared onto the scene.  Robin Tilbrook’s party may one day have a chance to prosper if and when the SNP enter a coalition with Labour and or other left-wing parties to form a government in Westminster.

I suspect UKIP will gradually fade from the scene and most of its 554,463 voters, 3.3 per cent of the vote,  will eventually  drift over to The Brexit Party and give further impetus to its 30.5 per cent of the vote.

The future of the Conservative Party and The Brexit Party will be decided by October 31.  If there is no Brexit by then the Conservatives are doomed as their Brexiteer supporters will jump ship to Nigel Farage’s party.

Jenny Knight and Mike Blundell step up to the plate for the English Democrats in the South West Region's European Union Parliamentary Elections.

I have come across very little in the West Country papers referring to the policies Jenny Knight and Mike Blundell are advocating as they step up to the plate for the English Democrats in the South West Region in the EU Parliamentary Election – an election that this country would not be participating in had the British Political Establishment honoured the result of the 2016 EU Referendum.  

However, I did find this from the North Devon Gazette:

English Democrats

The English Democrats firmly believe in leaving the EU and 'putting England first' - including campaigning for the creation of an English Parliament.

It is putting up two candidates for the South West - Jenny Knight and Mike Blundell.

First candidate on the ballot, Mrs Knight, said: "I am from a Devon military family from Great Torrington and went to school in Bideford, North Devon but now live in Somerset. I am a local historian having written guide books on Bath.

"I am standing for the English Democrats Party whose manifesto includes leaving the EU and Putting England First. We also campaign for England to have her own Parliament to equalise that of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"I am also supporting those women born in the 1950's who suffered financial hardship when the state pension age was raised for women from age 60 to 66, with little or no notice and implemented through the 1995 and 2011 Pensions Acts. Thousands of women in the South West were affected, losing in general up to £45,000 each.

"If elected I will campaign with Pension Reformers United for all those women across the South West who, quite rightly, feel they have suffered an injustice at the hands of successive Governments and deserve recompense."

Second candidate, Mike Blundell, said : "The European Union is an inward looking, authoritarian and inefficient institution. The sooner we are out of it the better.

"I am a family man, living and working in Bristol for more than 30 years. In that time I have experienced the decline in the quality of our public services.

"We should be spending our taxes on improving our hospitals and schools and not being forced by the European Union to have them spent funding subsidies for tobacco, wine and sugar. We can add to this slipper farmers, receipt free MEP expenses and the endless travel between Brussels and Strasbourg.

"The EU is outdated, it is the past. Time to say goodbye."

Good for them for standing.  In present circumstances, they will have done well if they receive more than 10,000 votes.

Here is a link to the whole article:

https://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/politics/euro-election-south-west-candidates-1-6056398

UK EU Parliamentary Elections 2019. The Brexit Party, English Democrats and UKIP take part, but the SDP and For Britain Movement are absent.

The British Political Establishment, which obviously believes in democracy only when doing so suits its purpose, has ducked, dived, dodged and weaved to such a disgraceful extent that Brexit has now been delayed and betrayed.  Three years after the EU Referendum we are still in the European Union and about to take part in the EU Parliamentary Elections on May 23.

The establishment parties in Westminster are dominated by Remainers, so who should Brexiteers vote for?

The obvious choice is Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party which has burst dramatically upon the scene and rides high in the opinion polls.   It will stand in all the EU’s Parliamentary Constituencies in the UK, except Northern Ireland. 

Without Farage UKIP seems to be in chaos having courted Tommy Robinson and his followers only to see him stand as an Independent. 

The English Democrats stood in all of England’s constituencies in 2014.  They are standing in only four constituencies this time; the East of England, North West, South West and Yorkshire and Humber.  A gallant effort to promote English Nationhood, but they will lose £20,000 in deposits and will have done well if they gather 40,000 votes.

Meanwhile the other minor Brexiteer parties, the SDP and Anne Marie Waters’ For Britain Movement are nowhere to be seen.

I will vote for either Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party or Robin Tilbrook’s English Democrats, and make my decision in the polling booth!

Robin Tilbrook, Chairman of the English Democrats, bids to prove in the High Court that the UK has already left the EU.

Robin Tilbrook, Chairman of the English Democrats, is using the Gina Miller case to show that the United Kingdom has left the European Union and that the Prime Minister had no legal authority to extend Article 50 without an Act of Parliament.  He has served papers, in person, to the High Court suggesting that the UK has already left the EU which, if upheld in court, would mean that the government is proceeding with negotiations as if we are still members when in fact we left on 29 March.   

Sir Richard Aikens, a former appeal court judge, has previously said that the legality of Theresa May’s delay to Brexit should be tested in court.  It will be interesting to see if those in the British legal establishment find any illegality with the British political establishment’s Brexit shenanigans.

Mr Tilbrook’s action has been lengthily reported in the Daily Mail, below is a link to the article:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6879215/English-Democrats-begin-court-battle-prove-UK-left-EU.html

Here is a link to the English Democrats’ website.

https://www.englishdemocrats.party/

Recent opinion polls and local council elections results. A sign of things to come?

There was an interesting ComRes poll carried out between 15 and 17 March, the week before the Prime Minister made her latest trip to Europe to plead for more time to kick the Brexit can even farther down the road.  Its results showed that the Labour and Conservative parties were neck and neck, but could not manage 70 per cent between them!  TIG was on 7 per cent and UKIP on 6 per cent, the Liberal Democrats, longstanding opponents of Brexit, were in the doldrums on 8 per cent – presumably there was no prompt for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.   And, don’t forget, this poll was taken before Mrs May’s foray across the English Channel to delay Brexit.

Following the ComRes poll there were some real ones last Thursday when a cluster of council by elections took place. No earthshattering upsets, but a trio of results caught my eye. 

In two wards UKIP had candidates.  In Kensington and Chelsea’s Delgano ward UKIP had 5.7 per cent of the vote, not having stood a candidate last time, and in Newcastle-under-Lyme’s Holditch and Chesterton ward their candidate increased their vote by 2.6 per cent to 12.3 per cent.

Meanwhile in Essex, Anne Marie Waters’ fledgling For Britain Movement fielded a candidate in Southend’s Milton ward and polled a respectable 5.3 per cent.

None of the aforementioned candidates came anywhere near winning, but the percentages achieved can make all the difference to other parties’ candidates winning or losing.  You don’t need to win to have influence!

Remember, these opinion polls and real polls took place while the UK Government is still supposed to be delivering the 2016 Referendum result.  If MPs overturn that result they will prove that they only believe in democracy when it suits them to do so.  They will eventually have to face the consequences of such action at the ballot box.  

Should Brexit be revoked I suspect a goodly number of those 17.4 million people who voted to leave the EU will be looking for somewhere, if they ever bother voting again, to put their X in protest.  Gerard Batten’s UKIP, Anne Marie Waters’ For Britain Movement and Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party will be there to accommodate them.  If these insurgent parties prosper at the polling booths it will be thanks to the hypocritical manoeuvrings of the Conservatives, Labour, TIGs and Liberal Democrats.

Iain Dale, broadcaster and political commentator, insults Italian tank commanders on ConservativeHome.

Iain Dale, broadcaster and political commentator, has written an article on ConservativeHome in which he opines that the courage of some Conservative Cabinet Ministers is equivalent to that of Italian tank commanders.*

Referring to recent votes in the House of Commons dealing with Brexit  he writes:

 “Let’s start with the four Cabinet Ministers, eight junior ministers and two PPSs who failed to obey a three-line whip and abstained on the No Deal amended motion.

They deserve to be named. They are Amber Rudd, Greg Clark, David Gauke, David Mundell, Stephen Hammond, Richard Harrington, Tobias Ellwood, Robert Buckland, Alistair Burt, Margot James, Anne Milton, Claire Perry, Vicky Ford and Bim Afolami.

Two others, Sarah Newton and Paul Masterton, voted against the three-line whip. At least they had the honour and courage to resign, unlike their abstaining colleagues.”  Mr Dale goes on to say: “Some weeks ago, we were told 40 ministers would resign if they were whipped to vote for a No Deal Brexit. A couple of weeks ago we were told a dozen would do so. In the event only one did. These ministers have all the courage of an Italian tank commander with one forward gear and four reverse gears.”

In my opinion such a comparison is an outrageous insult to Italian tank commanders!

*https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2019/03/iain-dale-after-all-their-bluster-about-resigning-abstaining-ministers-took-the-cowardly-way-out.html#comments

Brexit delayed or betrayed? The outcome of the House of Commons overturning the EU Referendum result.

It now seems that Brexit will be delayed, even Jacob Rees-Mogg the MP for North East Somerset and leading light of the European Research Group seems to expect a short delay after March 29.  However, some reports suggest that Brexit could be put on hold until 2021, or even later.  In such circumstances it is worth reading the article by Gerald Warner which appeared in Reaction Life on February 27 entitled “Westminster’s message to Britain.  Democracy doesn’t live here anymore.”

Below is the first paragraph of the article, the rest can be read behind a paywall.  Here is a link.

https://reaction.life/westminsters-message-britain-democracy-doesnt-live-anymore/

"After innumerable false deadlines and anti-climaxes, we are finally close to the tipping point.   Sometime within the next month it seems likely the historic compact between governors and governed that have rendered the British constitution a template for parliamentary democracy will be shattered. That fracturing of our imperfect but workable system of governance by consent will truly be a watershed in history – and a deeply ominous one."

The British political landscape fractures as Brexit approaches, what will fill the voids?

If the cracks now appearing in the unity of the two main British political parties turn into a chasm I wonder what will rush in to fill the void.  Now that moderate and Jewish MPs are abandoning the Labour party as it steers a course to the extreme left  under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell will others  amongst the more moderate  Labour MPs jump ship and join Chukka Umunna’s crew in “The Independent Group”?

Will the free marketers in the Conservative Party drag it to the right and allow unrestrained capitalism to run riot for the benefit of the rich and powerful at the expense of the less well off?

With the Greens and Liberal Democrats, according to the opinion polls, apparently unable to make progress there are several parties, some new and several long-established, which could step into the spaces created by Labour and Conservative fractious in-fighting.

The pro-Brexit SDP could revive with the assistance of politicians like prominent former UKIP member Patrick O’Flynn.  UKIP itself could make a comeback with Gerard Batten and possibly Tommy Robinson at the helm.  Anne Marie Waters and her For Britain Movement with its pro-Brexit and patriotic working-class stance could burst upon the scene.  Robin Tilbrook’s English Democrats could be of appeal to those supporting English nationhood and a parliament for England.

Meanwhile, the fissures in the British political landscape develop as Brexit approaches, but will the British Political Establishment connive to rescind the referendum result?  If it does, Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party are waiting in the wings to avenge such duplicity!

MP's ducking and weaving over Brexit. Are they liars or idiots?

Isn't it fascinating to watch the vast majority of the British Political Establishment duck and dive and dodge and weave as they attempt to avoid referendum results and manifesto pledges in their efforts to keep this country in the EU.   

Their antics have led some to wonder if MPs are liars or idiots if this letter I came across in The Week (February 9) is anything to go by.  The letter was first published in The Daily Telegraph.

MPs: liars or idiots?

To The Daily Telegraph.

We are told there is no majority in Parliament for a no-deal Brexit.

Presumably MPs, who voted by 498 to 114 in favour of invoking Article 50 with a default position of leaving the EU on 29 March 2019, with or without a deal, were either lying to us or too stupid to understand what they were voting for?

Oliver Davies, Richmond, Greater London. 

No-Deal Brexit. Keep calm and carry on!

Since the EU Referendum vote the Remainiacs in the British Political and Media Establishments have promoted apocalyptic forecasts that there will be food, water, fuel and medicine shortages if Britain leaves the European Union without a “deal”.  Now I read that the government is considering imposing martial law and a curfew if there is a no-deal Brexit.   I can only assume that such extreme measures will be in order to protect the population from 650 hysterical and frenzied MPs running amok?

Incidentally, the British Army has been reduced in numbers until it is now considerably smaller than the Police Force.  That being the case I doubt we shall see an army checkpoint on every street corner!

When the politicians panic the vast majority of the population will keep calm and carry on!

Update 16th February.
I am pleased to report that a slightly modified version of the above post was published on the 2nd of February in the letters column of the Western Daily Press. 

Brexit surrender - echoes from the Forest of Compiegne.

It seems that some people see the Government’s Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union as a surrender document akin to the armistice which the Germans were obliged to sign in order to avoid a total military collapse as The First World War reached its climax.

The signing took place in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiegne.

The letter below appeared in The Daily Telegraph on November 12.

SIR – I wonder if the EU will provide Mrs May with a railway carriage in which to sign the withdrawal agreement.

JJ Hawkins, Nottingham.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP for North-East Somerset, has been quoted as saying the Withdrawal Agreement would mean this country becoming a “vassal state” under the control of the European Union.  I could not possibly comment!