Sheryl Mcintosh's Blog: Illuminated by Flashes of Artillery

As the inevitable constitutional crisis starts to develop in earnest and battle is joined, several intriguing possibilities emerge: seen as it were in silhouette, against the backdrop of flashes of artillery as the night-attack commences. Who knows what the details will be when sun rises over the battlefield?

Tusk seems to be saying there will only be an extension if Parliament has first passed May's Deal. Not sure if he has the authority to pronounce on that: but it'd be a pretty remarkable result for Selmayr/May (and would surely pass Bercow's test - if indeed that needs doing). Almost as if there is some choreography ...
Could the EC really add further conditions to an extension? Well of course they could in terms of their limitless willingness to play silly-buggers: but in practical terms if they chuck in too much by way of conditions (e.g. R2) they can't be at all sure what the response / outcome will be
There is only one 'unilateral' action** left for anyone on the UK side to take: revocation of A50. Contriving a vote on this must be seriously attractive for Bercow in his bid for posterity, and I guess it will happen in the remaining days before 29th March (pardon the pun)
Knackered old Corbyn again pipes up with his plea for a GE. I'd previously assumed there was no realistic chance of that. But seeing Grieve in full spate yesterday (and what a piece of work he is) I start to think the latter might actually prefer Corbyn-as-PM to Brexit, and that a No Confidence vote might see some Tories on that side. (Does Grieve know that Corbyn recently said he'd vote for Brexit + Customs Union?) The thing is, I reckon there would be even more Labour MPs who see things the other way around
Just what is the state of readiness for a 29th March crashout? On the UK side it is culpably poorer than it should have been (for which I blame Hammond as much as May): but it ain't zero. There is an interesting possibility of crashout followed by Not Very Much, Initially - a phoney war, if you will, similar to 1939. Rather like how nothing much happened the day after R1 (aside from Cameron quitting, of course). And NVMI might have the effect of making some important players think: hmm, this No Deal isn't as bad as it's been painted. Of course, it wouldn't guarantee the ship stayed on an even keel indefinitely. And it may not even be NVMI at all. But if it were ... it might change the political dynamics quite a lot.

But, hey: flashes of artillery at night are not an ideal form of illumination. Especially when the sense are reeling from the noise of it all.

ND
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** I feel I've read somewhere that even this comes with qualifications