Brexit

Friday October 21, 2022

By Graeme MacKay – The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 21, 2022

Hasta la Vista? This Time, Boris Johnson May Say, ‘I’m Back.’

It seemed at once incredible and inevitable.

September 7, 2022

No sooner had Prime Minister Liz Truss of Britain announced her sudden resignation on Thursday afternoon than a familiar name surfaced as a candidate to succeed her: Boris Johnson, the prime minister she replaced a mere 45 ‘ days ago.

Mr. Johnson, who is vacationing in the Caribbean, has said nothing publicly about a bid for his old job. But the prospect of Boris redux has riveted Conservative Party lawmakers and cabinet ministers — delighting some, repelling others, and dominating the conversation in a way that Mr. Johnson has for his entire political career.

Nor is the idea of his return merely notional: Among those who are keeping tallies of the voting intentions of lawmakers, including some London news organizations, Mr. Johnson is only slightly behind his chief rival, Rishi Sunak. On Friday morning, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is currently the business secretary and served under Mr. Johnson, became the first cabinet minister to endorse his former boss.

September 6, 2019

Mr. Johnson received both endorsement and criticism as the contest to succeed Ms. Truss gathered pace on Friday. Penny Mordaunt, now a senior minister, became the first to publicly declare her candidacy. She is considered one of the leading contenders along with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Sunak.

The prospect of Mr. Johnson back in 10 Downing Street appalls many Conservatives, who argue that voters would never forgive the party for rehabilitating him after the scandals that brought him down in July, including illicit parties held during the pandemic and misconduct allegations against a lawmaker he promoted. Embracing such a polarizing figure, they say, would splinter the Tory ranks, perhaps irrevocably.

“Only a nation which was gripped by pessimistic despair and no longer believed that there could be a serious response to its unfolding tragedies would want to take refuge in the leadership of a clown,” Rory Stewart, who ran unsuccessfully against Mr. Johnson in 2019, wrote on Friday on Twitter. (NYT)

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro …

 

Friday October 25, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 25, 2019

Wexit and Brexit

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party was re-elected Monday night and that has some Alberta residents calling for separation.

October 23, 2019

The Liberals were elected as a minority government but did not win a single seat in Alberta or Saskatchewan and lost the popular vote 34 to 33 per cent to the Conservative Party.

Alberta proved once again to be a Conservative stronghold with all but one of the province’s ridings going blue — NDP candidate Heather McPherson won in Edmonton-Strathcona — and the party capturing 70 per cent of the vote.

As it became evident on Monday evening the Liberals would be re-elected, #Wexit and “separation” began trending on Twitter.

Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt said he expects Alberta’s separation movement to heat up.

May 3, 2019

“You have this large cohort of Conservative MPs. How does the government function? How does the Trudeau government function? What is (Alberta Premier Jason) Kenney’s response?” Bratt said. “I think this is a real danger to national unity.”

On Oct. 20, the Facebook group VoteWexit.com had just over 2,000 members. By Tuesday evening, the group’s membership had skyrocketed to more than 165,000 members. According to Storyful, the group’s membership grew over 8,000 per cent in a 36-hour period.

The group is calling for the separation of western Canada from the rest of the country.

“We’re going to be free from the blood-sucking, parasitic relationship we have with eastern Canada right now,” Wexit Alberta founder Peter Downing said. (Global News) 

Meanwhile, Under normal circumstances, Boris Johnson would be celebrating. But nothing is normal in Brexit Britain.

July 24, 2019

Despite not having a parliamentary majority, his brand new legislative agenda has just been approved by the House of Commons. Instead of popping open the champagne and getting ready to crack on with governing, Johnson is gearing up for an early general election.

On Thursday afternoon, the Prime Minister said that he would give lawmakers more time to scrutinize his Brexit deal, but only if they agreed to an election on December 12. “If they genuinely want more time to study this excellent deal they can have it — but they have to agree to a general election on December 12,” he said in an interview with the BBC.

A formal motion requesting the vote will be placed before Parliament on Monday. It will be Johnson’s third request for an election, and it stands considerably more chance of being granted than the previous two. 

Much has happened in Brexitland of late. Having failed to get his deal approved by Parliament on Saturday, Johnson was forced to ask the EU for an extension to the Brexit process beyond October 31, to avoid the UK leaving without a formal deal. (CNN) 

 

Wednesday July 24, 2019

July 24, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 24, 2019

Boris Johnson prepares to take the reins of power as U.K.’s next PM

June 27, 2016

Boris Johnson takes office on Wednesday as U.K. prime minister, and will unveil the names of the team he has tasked with delivering Brexit by the end of October, with or without a deal.

Johnson enters Downing Street at one of the most perilous junctures in post-World War British history — the United Kingdom is divided over Brexit and weakened by a three-year political crisis since the Brexit referendum.

His pledge to energize the country and deliver Brexit — do or die — on Oct. 31 sets the United Kingdom up for a showdown with the European Union and thrusts it towards a potential constitutional crisis, or election, at home.

June 22, 2016

“Like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and ping off the guy-ropes of self-doubt and negativity,” Johnson, 55, said on Tuesday after he was elected by Conservative Party members.

“We are going to energize the country. We are going to get Brexit done on Oct. 31 and we are going to take advantage of all the opportunities it will bring in a new spirit of can do.”

Wednesday will combine arcane British political choreography with the realpolitik of appointing a new government — likely to be heavy on Brexit supporters.

January 18, 2019

Prime Minister Theresa May will leave Downing Street after a three-year premiership that was mired by crises over Brexit. She will travel to Buckingham Palace to formally tender her resignation to the Queen.

Johnson will then have an audience with the Queen, who will request he form an administration. His formal title will be prime minister and first lord of the Treasury.”

He will enter Downing Street in the afternoon and is expected to give a speech before appointing key members of the government — names that could give a hint of how he will handle Brexit, the U.K.’s most significant decision in decades.

June 25, 2016

“Boris will build a cabinet showcasing all the talents within the party that truly reflect modern Britain,” a source close to Johnson said.

But Johnson — known for his ambition, mop of blonde hair, flowery oratory and a cursory command of detail — must solve a series of riddles if he is to succeed where May failed.

The 2016 Brexit referendum showed a United Kingdom divided about much more than the European Union, and has fuelled soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and modern Britishness.

The pound is weak, the economy is at risk of recession, allies are in despair at the Brexit crisis and foes are testing the the U.K.’s vulnerability.

March 30, 2017

His party has no majority in Parliament, so the Conservatives only govern with the support of 10 lawmakers from the Brexit-backing Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland.

While Johnson said he does not want an early election, some lawmakers have vowed to thwart any attempt to leave the EU without a divorce deal. Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage said he was open to an electoral pact with Johnson.

Investors are braced to see who will be handed the top jobs such as finance minister, foreign secretary and Brexit minister. (CBC) 

 

Thursday March 14, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 14, 2019

‘Trudeau? Scandal? I don’t believe it’: As controversy rocks Canada’s PM, the world winces — then shrugs

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s political crisis has shaken Ottawa — and now, the tremors are starting to register abroad.

December 21, 2017

Outside the white-marble Newseum building in Washington on Thursday, the morning’s copy of the Globe and Mail sat behind glass, displayed alongside the front pages of newspapers from all 50 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia.

Janet McCarty, a retired civil servant living in Washington, perused the headlines. Only one publication — the Globe — led with the latest on the SNC-Lavalin scandal, in which the Prime Minister’s Office stands accused of meddling in a criminal prosecution case against the Quebec engineering giant.

McCarty grimaced. Like many others on the political left, she’s always considered Trudeau an unimpeachable moral authority and darling of the international left.

“If this is true, then Justin is not the person that we thought he was,” she said.

McCarty lamented that another world leader with a global outlook, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has decided not to seek re-election. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May, a Conservative, has faced at least eight cabinet resignations in less than two years over her controversial Brexit deal.

January 18, 2019

“Justin. I mean, they’re all — Angela Merkel, Theresa May — everybody’s going down the toilet,” McCarty said.

Trudeau’s brand as a global liberal icon is strong in some parts of the U.S., which might explain why Manuel Macias, 36, was so shocked to hear about the SNC-Lavalin affair when he stopped to scan the Newseum headlines this week.

“Trudeau? A scandal? I don’t believe it.

“In this day and age, we don’t really have a lot of shining light all across the world,” said Macias, who identifies as a liberal. “Unless something really comes out that’s proven facts, why throw dirt on him when we’ve got such a good positive role model?”

March 2, 2019

If the SNC-Lavalin debacle has been slow to gain traction outside of Canada, it may also have to do with domestic-scandal fatigue, at least in Britain and the U.S.

In London, John Prideaux, the U.S. editor for The Economist, cited Washington’s woes, as well as Britain’s mismanagement of a plan to withdraw from the European Union, as reasons why some Britons and Americans might not be tuning in.

“What’s happening in Canada looks to me like a more conventional political scandal that you get in a healthy political culture, where people are really held accountable for what they’ve done,” Prideaux said.

That said, the SNC-Lavalin affair has “broken through” the British press — no easy feat. (Continued: CBC) 

 

Friday January 18, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 18, 2019

Theresa May survives vote, but Britain remains in Brexit deadlock

Theresa May has survived as prime minister after weathering a dramatic no-confidence vote in her government, but was left scrambling to strike a Brexit compromise that could secure the backing of parliament.

In a statement in Downing Street on Wednesday night, the prime minister exhorted politicians from all parties to “put aside self-interest”, and promised to consult with MPs with “the widest possible range of views” in the coming days.

It followed her announcement that she would invite Jeremy Corbyn and other party leaders for immediate talks on how to secure a Brexit deal, something she had declined to do earlier in the day, although Labour later said Corbyn would decline the invitation unless no-deal was taken off the table.

A day after overwhelmingly rejecting her Brexit deal, rebel Conservatives and Democratic Unionist party (DUP) MPs swung behind the prime minister to defeat Labour’s motion of no confidence by 325 votes to 306 – a majority of 19.

In her late-night statement, the prime minister said: “I am disappointed that the leader of the Labour party has not so far chosen to take part – but our door remains open … It will not be an easy task, but MPs know they have a duty to act in the national interest, reach a consensus and get this done.” (Source: The Guardian)