Enough. It’s time for Britain to pull the plug on withdrawal agreements, honour the 2016 referendum result, and get the hell out of the EU with no deal.

But first the plug is going to have to be pulled on the Conservative PM, Theresa May. She is surely the worst Conservative British PM since Stanley Baldwin, and likely to exceed Tony Blair as the worst overall of the modern era if she manages to stick around much longer.

Setting aside conspiracy theories that as a secret Remainer she’s simply throwing sand in the Brexit gears in the hope of wearing them down and staying in the EU, she should be given the boot for sheer incompetence across the board. Given my prior low opinion of her, because of her approaches to civil liberties when she was Home Secretary, none of her uselessness comes as a surprise.

It’s not uncommon for political leaders, even bright ones, to become obsessive about a policy that everybody else can see is a loser: Thatcher and the poll tax, Bush and Iraq, LBJ and Vietnam, Merkel and mass refugees,  Key and the NZ flag, Adern and Kiwibuild.

And now we have May and her godforsaken Withdrawal Agreement, where obsession is the only explanation now that it’s failed in Parliament three times, losing by huge margins. Even the third vote could only be held when the Speaker allowed minor modifications to it, allowing it to be a “different” bill. I doubt he’s going to accommodate a fourth vote. May’s latest wheeze is a new term called a “customs arrangement”, which is such pitiful spin that she didn’t even try and explain it herself but sent out spinners who might still be believed.

Rational option analysis won’t work anymore. She’s gone in the head.

It could be argued that it does not matter. Nobody – not the PM, not Cabinet, not the Tories, not Labour, not even the whole of Parliament – seem to be in charge. Parliament tried taking control and ended up voting down eight ideas, without even the pressure of them being real law; indicative votes only.

But that’s simply a symptom of her shit leadership. 

The departure date was supposed to have been March 29. Then April 12. Now it’s October 31st: Halloween – how appropriate. The Remainers assume that the passage of time will do the job for them, but it appears the opposite is happening. And all this extra time will gain May nothing, except the additional humiliation of the new Brexit Party killing the Conservatives in the EU elections on May 23-26. Another blind-side hit, rather like that of 2016. Farage is back.  


And this was before the Conservatives got pasted in Local Council elections. That was expected because although we’re talking about pothole maintenance and the local Tory folk have nothing to do with the nation’s parliament, the anger and hatred against May and company was going to have an effect.

Did it ever: more than 1300 Tory Councillors booted. The worst such result since 1995! The ballot paper shown here being a classic example of the mood. There were many with worse language, but “traitors” was a common word.

The European Parliament elections will likely be worse. This whole episode is a repeat of her decision to call a general election in 2017. Strategic stupidity.

May has to be removed, otherwise the next few months will look like the last few. Pulling the plug on her will not be easy, as she’s already survived a vote of confidence and cannot be challenged again until December of this year. However, in the world of the unwritten constitution all is malleable and there are already discussions happening about the Conservative’s “1922 Committee” changing its old rules to allow an earlier challenge. Or she may just be bluntly told to quit or face having no Cabinet.

Once she’s gone the new Conservative PM must execute a No-Deal Brexit. A year ago it could have been argued that it would cause damage, with companies and government departments scrambling to cope with instant changes. But the fact is that a lot of work has been done to obviate those problems and in any case, much of the fear-mongering by Remainers has proved to be wrong, but those are arguments for another piece.