Brexit

Denster wrote:

Tineash wrote:At the very top of the blame list is David Cameron, for whom this was all a jolly way to win a general election.

He’d won the election. It was to pacify the europhobic parts of his own party. He gambled that he’d win and didn’t.

Backfired on him and cost him his job.

Poor Dave.

Denster wrote:

Tineash wrote:At the very top of the blame list is David Cameron, for whom this was all a jolly way to win a general election.

He’d won the election. It was to pacify the europhobic parts of his own party. He gambled that he’d win and didn’t.

Backfired on him and cost him his job.

Poor Dave.

romeo G. Detlev Jr. wrote:

Denster wrote:

Tineash wrote:At the very top of the blame list is David Cameron, for whom this was all a jolly way to win a general election.

He’d won the election. It was to pacify the europhobic parts of his own party. He gambled that he’d win and didn’t.

Backfired on him and cost him his job.

Poor Dave.

I think you may be alone in your judgement of him as "poor Dave" - both in sentimentality terms AND personal wealth.

I would wager the only poor thing about David Cameron is his political legacy. I can't see how he will go down as anything other than a weak PM. Equal marriage is all he has.

Hexx wrote:Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung then

Squinty wrote:

Hexx wrote:Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung then

I'm going to pretend I know what that is, and nod to appear cultured.

Theresa May appeared “tormented” and “begged” for help in Brexit talks, Jean-Claude Juncker reportedly told aides after dining with the Prime Minister last week.

The highly personal comments about the private meeting in Brussels came after the pair issued a joint statement after the dinner pledging to accelerate the Brexit negotiations.

But an account of the meeting – published by the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) - claimed that Ms May looked like she could not sleep and seemed “anxious” and “tormented” as well as “despondent and discouraged” with progress so far.

The newspaper report said: “She indicated that back home friend and foe are at her back plotting to bring her down. May said she had no room left to manoeuvre.

“The Europeans have to create it for her. May's face and appearance spoke volumes," Mr Juncker is said to have later told his colleagues.

“She has deep rings under her eyes. She looks like someone who can't sleep a wink.”

The apparent leak comes as senior UK officials admitted at last week’s European Council summit that the Prime Minister was operating in a difficult domestic political backdrop. Ms May admitted to EU leaders over dinner for the first time on Thursday evening that Brexit had faced “difficulty”.

Downing Street claimed the unannounced dinner had been long-scheduled, but the leak claims it was arranged at the last minute. The Commission at the time said it had only been formally scheduled at the end of the previous week but both leaders had been keen to have dinner for some time.

Mrs May met chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker for dinner last Monday. In a joint statement following the meeting, the pair described it as “constructive and friendly”.

However, a report from German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) claimed Mr Claude Juncker had described Mrs May as “a woman who trusts hardly anyone but is also not ready for a clear-out to free herself".

The paper stated: “She indicated that back home friend and foe are at her back plotting to bring her down.

“May said she had no room left to manoeuvre. The Europeans have to create it for her."

"May's face and appearance spoke volumes, Juncker later told his colleagues," the paper added. "She has deep rings under her eyes. She looks like someone who can't sleep a wink."

This follows previous leaked reports from an April meeting, in which Mr Claude Juncker was said to have remarked: “I leave Downing Street ten times as sceptical as I was before.”

The comment sparked further tensions between Westminster and the EU, with Mrs May accusing “bureaucrats in Brussels” of trying to interfere in the UK’s general election by undermining the Conservatives.

Mr Claude Juncker later described the leak as a “serious mistake”.

DML wrote:

Lucien wrote:

DML wrote:That said, all that shrinks into comparison to people who actually voted for the damn thing. Voting UKIP makes more sense than voting for this Wonderland politics.

I'd put the main blame on EU immigration policy. People reacted to that and it's likely, imo, we'd not have left the EU if that aspect was different. At the very least I think we'd have stayed in it a lot longer.

I don't think theres any real problem with EU immigration policy though. Sorry. An important trade off in a more international world. An absolutely inevitable requirement.

Hexx wrote:

Squinty wrote:

Hexx wrote:Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung then

I'm going to pretend I know what that is, and nod to appear cultured.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 14741.html

Theresa May appeared “tormented” and “begged” for help in Brexit talks, Jean-Claude Juncker reportedly told aides after dining with the Prime Minister last week.

The highly personal comments about the private meeting in Brussels came after the pair issued a joint statement after the dinner pledging to accelerate the Brexit negotiations.

But an account of the meeting – published by the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) - claimed that Ms May looked like she could not sleep and seemed “anxious” and “tormented” as well as “despondent and discouraged” with progress so far.

The newspaper report said: “She indicated that back home friend and foe are at her back plotting to bring her down. May said she had no room left to manoeuvre.

“The Europeans have to create it for her. May's face and appearance spoke volumes," Mr Juncker is said to have later told his colleagues.

“She has deep rings under her eyes. She looks like someone who can't sleep a wink.”

The apparent leak comes as senior UK officials admitted at last week’s European Council summit that the Prime Minister was operating in a difficult domestic political backdrop. Ms May admitted to EU leaders over dinner for the first time on Thursday evening that Brexit had faced “difficulty”.

Downing Street claimed the unannounced dinner had been long-scheduled, but the leak claims it was arranged at the last minute. The Commission at the time said it had only been formally scheduled at the end of the previous week but both leaders had been keen to have dinner for some time.

Mrs May met chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker for dinner last Monday. In a joint statement following the meeting, the pair described it as “constructive and friendly”.

However, a report from German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) claimed Mr Claude Juncker had described Mrs May as “a woman who trusts hardly anyone but is also not ready for a clear-out to free herself".

The paper stated: “She indicated that back home friend and foe are at her back plotting to bring her down.

“May said she had no room left to manoeuvre. The Europeans have to create it for her."

"May's face and appearance spoke volumes, Juncker later told his colleagues," the paper added. "She has deep rings under her eyes. She looks like someone who can't sleep a wink."

This follows previous leaked reports from an April meeting, in which Mr Claude Juncker was said to have remarked: “I leave Downing Street ten times as sceptical as I was before.”

The comment sparked further tensions between Westminster and the EU, with Mrs May accusing “bureaucrats in Brussels” of trying to interfere in the UK’s general election by undermining the Conservatives.

Mr Claude Juncker later described the leak as a “serious mistake”.

It's by the same reporter who briefed on the Downing Street dinner earlier in year

Parksey wrote:

Denster wrote:

Tineash wrote:At the very top of the blame list is David Cameron, for whom this was all a jolly way to win a general election.

He’d won the election. It was to pacify the europhobic parts of his own party. He gambled that he’d win and didn’t.

Backfired on him and cost him his job.

Poor Dave.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when he made the promise of a referendum, it was as an election promise. And the 2015 GE was a fairly tight race, with no-one at the time predicting an increased Tory majority. Most had them and Labour neck and neck, or thereabouts.

The referendum was an election pledge to get the right wingers onboard and to avoid bleeding voters to the likes of UKIP, who were seen as more of a danger to the Tory party when it came to stealing voters.

At the time the referendum was seen as a token gesture and one Cameron would win. He used it as a stick to beat Labour with ("they aren't even offering you a choice" etc) back in the days when saying your party wanted to Remain and that was simply their stance was quaint and something to be criticised.

Denster wrote:

Parksey wrote:

Denster wrote:

Tineash wrote:At the very top of the blame list is David Cameron, for whom this was all a jolly way to win a general election.

He’d won the election. It was to pacify the europhobic parts of his own party. He gambled that he’d win and didn’t.

Backfired on him and cost him his job.

Poor Dave.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when he made the promise of a referendum, it was as an election promise. And the 2015 GE was a fairly tight race, with no-one at the time predicting an increased Tory majority. Most had them and Labour neck and neck, or thereabouts.

The referendum was an election pledge to get the right wingers onboard and to avoid bleeding voters to the likes of UKIP, who were seen as more of a danger to the Tory party when it came to stealing voters.

At the time the referendum was seen as a token gesture and one Cameron would win. He used it as a stick to beat Labour with ("they aren't even offering you a choice" etc) back in the days when saying your party wanted to Remain and that was simply their stance was quaint and something to be criticised.

I know it was in the manifesto. But it was there as a caveat to his own eurosceptics. It had the added bonus of being attractive to some UKIP voters but - the main attack point of our campaign was highlighting ed milibands likelihood of a coalition with the SNP and the disastrous consequences of that.

Rex Kramer wrote:

Denster wrote:

Parksey wrote:

Denster wrote:

Tineash wrote:At the very top of the blame list is David Cameron, for whom this was all a jolly way to win a general election.

He’d won the election. It was to pacify the europhobic parts of his own party. He gambled that he’d win and didn’t.

Backfired on him and cost him his job.

Poor Dave.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when he made the promise of a referendum, it was as an election promise. And the 2015 GE was a fairly tight race, with no-one at the time predicting an increased Tory majority. Most had them and Labour neck and neck, or thereabouts.

The referendum was an election pledge to get the right wingers onboard and to avoid bleeding voters to the likes of UKIP, who were seen as more of a danger to the Tory party when it came to stealing voters.

At the time the referendum was seen as a token gesture and one Cameron would win. He used it as a stick to beat Labour with ("they aren't even offering you a choice" etc) back in the days when saying your party wanted to Remain and that was simply their stance was quaint and something to be criticised.

I know it was in the manifesto. But it was there as a caveat to his own eurosceptics. It had the added bonus of being attractive to some UKIP voters but - the main attack point of our campaign was highlighting ed milibands likelihood of a coalition with the SNP and the disastrous consequences of that.

Yep, glad we avoided those disastrous consequences because it's gone swimmingly since then.

Rex Kramer wrote:

Denster wrote:

Parksey wrote:

Denster wrote:

Tineash wrote:At the very top of the blame list is David Cameron, for whom this was all a jolly way to win a general election.

He’d won the election. It was to pacify the europhobic parts of his own party. He gambled that he’d win and didn’t.

Backfired on him and cost him his job.

Poor Dave.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when he made the promise of a referendum, it was as an election promise. And the 2015 GE was a fairly tight race, with no-one at the time predicting an increased Tory majority. Most had them and Labour neck and neck, or thereabouts.

The referendum was an election pledge to get the right wingers onboard and to avoid bleeding voters to the likes of UKIP, who were seen as more of a danger to the Tory party when it came to stealing voters.

At the time the referendum was seen as a token gesture and one Cameron would win. He used it as a stick to beat Labour with ("they aren't even offering you a choice" etc) back in the days when saying your party wanted to Remain and that was simply their stance was quaint and something to be criticised.

I know it was in the manifesto. But it was there as a caveat to his own eurosceptics. It had the added bonus of being attractive to some UKIP voters but - the main attack point of our campaign was highlighting ed milibands likelihood of a coalition with the SNP and the disastrous consequences of that.

Yep, glad we avoided those disastrous consequences because it's gone swimmingly since then.

Camp Freddie wrote:Oh, and hi everyone. Just another NeoGAF refugee here. I hope your attitude to asylum seekers and freedom of movement is better than the government's!

Hexx wrote:How long was Brown PM for? I'd half expect May just to last longer than him (so avoid the "honour" of the shortest record) and naff off.

twitter.com/adamfleming/status/922467907464040449