I’ll keep this short, because this is unfolding faster than I can type. Theresa May, PM of the UK presented her new Brexit deal to her cabinet. Their response was to resign en masse. While many are pro-Brexit, others clearly are not, per the BBC’s Norman Smith:
Tory minister tells me if Brexiteers vote down Deal -he and others will openly campaign for a second referendum and to stay in EU.
You may recall that this entire Brexit mess has at least some of its origins in Russian subversion:
LONDON — More than 150,000 Russian-language Twitter accounts posted tens of thousands of messages in English urging Britain to leave the European Union in the days before last year’s referendum on the issue, a team of researchers disclosed on Wednesday.
More than 400 of the accounts that Twitter has already identified to congressional investigators as tools of the Kremlin, other researchers said, also posted divisive messages about Britain’s decision on withdrawing from the bloc, or Brexit, both before and after the vote.
You may also recall that our current President was able to seize power thanks to the aid of this hostile foreign power. Are all of Putin’s schemes coming undone? Once a Russian autocrat shows signs of weakness, he usually, ahem, “caught a cold.”
For those of you old enough to remember, this was the usual excuse given when a Soviet leader failed to turn up at public events. He was usually cold, alright. Very cold, indeed. If this is Putin’s fate, it couldn’t happen to a nicer apparatchik.
Thursday, Nov 15, 2018 · 3:22:05 PM +00:00
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Otto the Mild
This just in from Scotland:
MSPs at Holyrood will vote on the Brexit deal before the UK Parliament does, Scottish Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell has said.
He said that while the withdrawal agreement was "essentially dead", the Scottish Parliament would have a symbolic vote on it.
In a statement to Holyrood, Mr Russell said: "The Scottish Government will bring the deal, if agreed at the Brussels Summit on November 25, to this chamber for a vote, before a vote takes place in the House of Commons."
But, he added: "Brexit isn't a better future - it is a backward step into an imagined past.
"We must acknowledge that this deal is unacceptable to Scotland and her citizens. It therefore cannot be supported by this Government.
"This deal is the inevitable result of a series of self-imposed draconian red lines. It is now essentially dead.
"We must find a way to work together and ensure that our country is not failed by a disastrous Brexit, but enabled to flourish by choosing a different way forward.
Thursday, Nov 15, 2018 · 4:05:03 PM +00:00
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Otto the Mild
The EU is sending some firm signals that they’re done with negotiating.
A (very) senior EU official has suggested that the draft Withdrawal Agreement cannot be reopened, either by Westminster or the member states, saying: "We think we've exhausted our margin for manoeuvre."
"People who want changes will also have to take responsibility for the effect on the process."
Thursday, Nov 15, 2018 · 4:52:54 PM +00:00
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Otto the Mild
A Russian asset who will hopefully one day have to worry about a drone strike had this to say:
Asked by BBC News whether the Leave campaign told lies, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage said there had been "50 years of lies" from the EU over it being a common market, then a political union and then having a European army.
"We are used to lies," he said.
"What we argued for in the referendum is the United Kingdom should become an independent country, and independent countries make their own laws, control their own borders and choose their own friends in the world, and nothing about that has changed."
He said Brexit "must not be seen to be tarnished by a prime minister who simply never believed in it".
"There is only one thing to do with this, the worst deal in history, and that is to put it in the bin."
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Nigel Farage admits to BBC News that he has not read the full withdrawal agreement.
He says his lawyers have read it and of others claiming they have, "they are probably a liar".
Our Reality Check team have taken a look...