#i had no idea this was mark rowley

[dedicatednotobsessed]

Hi there, if your requests are still open I have one for Ewan Mitchell. It’s a bit of a funny one, but since Ewan is obviously so private and apparently doesn’t speak about his personal life at all. My idea was that him and his wife both work on hotd playing a husband and wife, and no one knows that they’re married at all, like no clue because they met on TLK set and have been married for years. Until the dinner scene when the whole cast is at the table, they’re just all chatting between takes. Someone mentions something about a wedding and Ewan turns to his wife and says “didn’t that happen at our wedding.” Dead silence, until everyone freaks out (in a good way) about it, it would be hilarious, especially if he was the one that blew it haha

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Of course! For more HOTD requests, just submit a strong snack to Vhagar through my ask box 💚 {I will be opening my ask box soon for The Last Kingdom and Game of Thrones requests, so keep an eye out for that announcement! 💕}

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Secret Lovers [Ewan Mitchell x Reader]

Other HOTD stories [requests open]

Summary: You are an actress on the set of House of the Dragon, playing the role of Adryana Targaryen aka Aemond Targaryen’s wife. You met your husband on the set of The Last Kingdom and it quickly blossomed into a relationship. The two of you ended up eloping and have been happily married in secret for a while now….

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You hummed lightly while you laid in bed hugging the sheets to your chest. You felt as though you were on cloud nine; you and your boyfriend of a couple of years decided to elope when you were on vacation from filming. It was a rushed decision, but you knew it was the right one.

“What’s taking you forever!” You called with a giggle and smirked lightly when he walked out from the hotel bathroom. “What took you so long?”

“I was brushing my teeth,” Ewan replied with a chuckle while he made his way over to you.

“You were in there for like ten minutes,” You pointed out, smiling when he climbed over you.

“Well, I had to brush my teeth among other things,” Ewan corrected himself causing you to giggle.

He leaned down giving you a gentle kiss on the lips, his hands on either side of your head that rested on the pillow. You returned his kiss lovingly, smiling as he released to trail his kisses down your neck.

“What are we going to tell everyone when we get back to set?” You questioned with furrowed brows.

Ewan hummed lightly against your skin, his lips trailing down your shoulder. “Do they have to know?” He asked after a moment.

You laughed a bit. “Well, Mark would certainly want to know why we went on break earlier,” You replied, talking about your fellow The Last Kingdom costar, Mark Rowley.

You played the role of Fianna, Finan the Agile’s younger sister who had fallen for the baby monk. It was an unlikely romance between a whore and a monk turned warrior, yet it ended up being an insatiable love.

“Hm.” Ewan pulled away, his blue eyes connecting with yours and a small boyish smile upon his features. “They can keep on guessing what we did,” He said with a slight teasing tone to his voice.

“You are so evil,” You said with furrowed brows while laughing.

Your laughs only grew as Ewan pulled you close to his body. “I’m the evilest person ever,” He whispered before his lips found yours once more.

You kissed him back eagerly, your arms moving to wrap around his neck. Your fingers danced lightly at the hairs on the nape of his neck, feeling his hands move down your bare sides. You already had one round earlier and you just haven’t gotten dressed. There was no real point of putting on clothes if they were going to be on the floor by the end of the night.

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You smiled while standing in the kitchen of your flat in Derby, singing along to a song stuck in your head as the bacon sizzled in the pan. You had been happily married for close to four years now and you knew you made the right choice when you said yes to Ewan’s proposal, then eloping a week later.

You felt arms snake around your waist, your smile widening a bit as you leaned back into your husband. “Did you hear back yet from the casting director?”

Ewan rubbed your sides gently through the oversized shirt you were wearing- it was his shirt- before he leaned down and kissed you on the cheek gently. “Not yet.”

You frowned a bit hearing the slight sad tone to his voice. You had found out a couple of days ago that you got the role of Adryana Targaryen on an upcoming Game of Thrones spin-off and Ewan auditioned as well to play your husband and twin brother, Aemond.

“You know, it takes some time, love,” You said softly moving the bacon off the hot stove top onto a paper plate.

“I know.” Ewan sighed while he got the kettle to brew some morning tea. “I just worked really hard for this role.”

“I know, love. I know. But hey.” You placed your hands on either side of Ewan’s face so he would look down at you and you offered him a soft smile. “It’s going to be okay in the end. Everything works out for a reason, right?”

Ewan nodded with furrowed brows. “Right.”

“So cheer up.” You giggled while leaning up to give him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

He chuckled lightly and turned away with furrowed brows as he began to boil the water. He leaned against the counter while watching you with a slight hum.

“But it would be really fun to play your husband,” He spoke up after a moment.

“You play my husband every day,” You reminded him reaching up to get two plates.

“I know, but we’re not twins and we don’t live in a fantasy world,” Ewan said jokingly.

“Well, I hope you’re not my brother. That would be a little creepy.” You scrunched up your nose at the thought before you giggled.

You yelped when Ewan suddenly grabbed you by the waist and lifted you up. You smiled while he placed you on the counter and looked lovingly into his eyes.

“I’m glad we’re not siblings either,” He said after a moment and chuckled, lightly hooking his fingers under your chin to pull you closer for a kiss.

You hummed against his lips smiling as you slowly pulled away. “I know you’ll get the role,” She told him quietly with a soft smile.

Ewan returned your smile while he reached up and pushed your hair back lightly. “What would I do without you, Y/N?”

You pretended to think while tilting your head. “I don’t know,” You replied and giggled kissing him once more.

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You looked around the hotel room in London, a content smile on your face. It was about a two and a half hour drive between Derby and London so it was rare when you really got to go. You were to be staying in a hotel for a few months before heading out to Spain for the exterior Capital scenes.

You set your bag down on the bed and turned hearing the door shut, smiling lovingly at Ewan as he drug the luggage in.

“Are you excited to begin filming soon?” You asked while plopping down on the bed with a sigh.

Ewan chuckled at you as he set the suitcases down before he laid on the bed beside you. “Of course I am. I get to not only be your husband, but I also get to be your twin brother,” He said teasingly.

You giggled and leaned over kissing him gently on the lips. It was a dream come true that you were to be part of the realm of A Song of Ice and Fire. You were a huge fan of the Game of Thrones series and had read Fire and Blood in full twice already.

Ewan returned your kiss, wrapping both of his arms around you. That night you had a cast dinner to attend to meet everyone formally then you began working on the show. You and your husband were only in three episodes near the end of the season, your formal title being the twin green dragons.

“I think you love playing my brother more than my husband,” You teased.

“Hm.” Ewan smirked as he leaned his head against yours. “Maybe I am,” He replied clearly joking.

You scrunched up your nose. “Although I am the prettier twin. I don’t know how we can be related.”

Ewan laughed at that before he leaned over kissing you once more. Your husband made you feel as though you were on cloud nine; always treating you as though you were a Queen and he was your King. You just could not wait for the day you started to try for a family.

“How much time do we have until the cast dinner?” Ewan asked suddenly with furrowed brows, his hands lightly playing with the hem of your shirt.

You smirked lightly and giggled. “Enough time,” You replied, connecting your lips with his after you helped him get your shirt off.

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You stood by Phia while they prepared the feasting hall for the family dinner scene, your fingers lightly fiddling with the fabric of your blue sapphire-colored dress. You were beyond giddy to find out they incorporated the blue sapphire for Adryana as it stated in the book she was often seen wearing the color of the gem along with the gem necklace her husband gave her on their sixteenth name day to show her love and admiration for him.

“How did your bedroom scene go earlier with Ewan?” Phia teased you.

You laughed a bit at that. “It wasn’t too bad. Just awkward for a bunch of people to watch while you pretend to….” You trailed off causing you and your costar to laugh.

You had done one other bedroom scene with Ewan before on the set of The Last Kingdom but it was certainly different than the one for House of the Dragon. The scene in the former was more sweet and intimate whereas the one in the latter was a bit more aggressive and it included a prop knife. Ewan was a bit shy at first, but it wasn’t because of the exposure the two of you had to do. It was for the fact that he had to pretend to hurt you.

“You know, you and Ewan have some really good chemistry,” Phia stated while scrunching up her nose. “Both on and off set.”

You smiled lightly. “I guess it was meant to be to play each other’s love interests again.”

Phia was also an actress on The Last Kingdom although you sadly weren’t able to get to work with her. Your character’s death happened in season four and she did not come until season five, yet you loved her acting and was excited to work with her on this show.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say you guys were a couple in real life,” Phia teased with a giggle.

You laughed a bit and shook her head. “We are just really good at playing husband and wife.”

You smiled lightly when you were told to get into your place and you moved to sit beside Ewan. You looked over at him and smiled more. It seemed a bit odd to see him with an eyepatch and with long hair, yet you were still glad that he got the role. You knew how hard he worked for it and it paid off in the end.

Ewan took your hand under the table while returning your smile. “Did I ever tell you how beautiful you looked today?” He whispered to you.

You nodded a bit. “Five times now if I remember correctly.”

He chuckled a bit and looked down at the empty plate in front of him before sitting up straight as they finished setting everything up.

You smiled and laughed leaning back in your seat as they set up for the third take. You loved working with everyone on the set even if you met them not too long ago- especially with Tom and Phia where you seemed to have a real sibling bond with them.

You took a sip of the fake wine in your cup furrowing your brows a bit as everyone began talking about what they did before they began filming.

“I went to a wedding and they had a DJ do their first wedding song. It was Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran. I told them I could write and perform them a wedding song with my band but they wanted to do their own thing,” Tom explained with a hint of jesting to his voice.

“Wasn’t that our wedding song?” Ewan asked furrowing his brows as he looked down at you.

The whole table fell quiet, everyone looking towards you. You couldn’t help but feel your cheeks heat up at the attention. It was in fact your wedding song, having danced to it in your hotel room.

“When did you guys get married!” Harry spoke up.

You laughed and looked down with a sheepish smile. “We’ve been married for about four years now,” You admitted.

You smiled more when the table erupted into cheers and excited chatter. You laughed and looked up at your husband who had his head down, his own shy smile on his face.

“I guess the secret is out now,” You teased leaning up to kiss Ewan on the cheek.

He laughed a bit and nodded squeezing your hand lightly under the table. You had kept it secret for so long, but now it felt almost a relief to not have to hide your marriage anymore. Now all that was left to do was announce it to your fans on social media.

Every time you posted pictures of you and Ewan though everyone seemed so accepting so you know they wouldn’t mind you as a married couple.

It was the last weight on your shoulders and later that night, you announced it posting the few pictures you and Ewan had from when you eloped. Everyone seemed to accept you and shortly after filming was over you had a nice real wedding ceremony with family and friends. You never regretted the rushed decision to marry, always knowing ever since you first began filming with him for The Last Kingdom that he was meant to be yours and you were his.

[beardedmrbean]

Police have released an image of a suspect with "distinctive" injuries wanted in connection with an alkali attack in south London.

Abdul Shakoor Ezedi, 35, was last seen at a Tesco store on Caledonian Road, north London, at 20:48 GMT on Wednesday.

Police have warned the public not to approach him, but to call 999 if they see him.

Mr Ezedi had travelled to London from the Newcastle area, the force said.

The image is taken from the Tesco store, where the suspect is believed to have purchased a bottle of water.

"He left the shop and turned right," the Met said.

"The image shows Ezedi with what appears to be significant injuries to the right side of his face. This makes him distinctive."

A mother and daughter hurt by the corrosive substance could have suffered "life-changing" injuries in the attack.

The 31-year-old and her daughter, three, remain in hospital, along with her older daughter, eight.

The suspect fled the scene in Clapham on Wednesday evening.

He attempted to escape in a car but crashed into a stationary vehicle, then ran.

Police believe the suspect is known to the family, but said they were not yet clear on their exact relationship.

Supt Gabriel Cameron told reporters on Thursday he had "no idea" what Mr Ezedi's motivation may have been, but that he was "wholeheartedly confident" he would be caught.

He said Mr Ezedi is believed to be from the Newcastle area, and the car left at the scene, a Hyundai, belonged to him.

He may have been known to police, Supt Cameron added.

"While this appears to be a targeted attack, he is a dangerous individual, and we urgently need to find him," the Metropolitan Police said earlier on Thursday.

Supt Cameron said the suspect was last seen in the north London area, in Caledonian Road, and if people see him they should not approach him, but call 999.

There was a heightened police presence in Caledonian Road on Thursday afternoon, including unmarked cars with blue sirens and police vans.

Twelve people in total were hurt in the attack. Out of four members of the public who tried to help, three went to hospital with injuries - two women in their 30s and one in her 50s. Police say they "bravely came to the aid of the family" and have now been discharged from hospital.

The London Ambulance Service said it sent a response team, including three ambulance crews, to the scene after receiving a call about an incident near Clapham Common just before 19:30 GMT on Thursday.

A man in his 50s declined medical treatment for minor injuries he suffered at the scene.

Five officers who were injured as they responded to the attack have left hospital after receiving treatment.

Some of the burns the mother and her daughters suffered in the attack were "quite substantial", Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley told the BBC on Thursday, but added he did not have a full picture of their injuries yet.

They were attacked on Lessar Avenue, near Clapham Common, at 19:25 GMT on Wednesday evening. Police were called following reports of an attack with a suspected "corrosive substance".

One witness told the BBC that the mother cried "I can't see, I can't see" as he tried to help.

Police have urged any members of the public who saw what happened to call 101 quoting reference CAD 7790/31Jan.

Officers have also asked local residents and drivers to check their doorbell and dash cameras for any footage that might have captured a man fleeing the area.

A crime scene is now in place and is likely to remain there for some time, police say.

[itsrattysworld]

Without Prejudice Mervelee Myers Record South London Maudsley NHS Exposed For Their Role With Adult Social Care, Housing For Women, Mimi Owusu, Start LEYF 1/9/2009 Training Understanding Statutory Assessment As EYFS Coordinator, SENCO, Multigen Working Approach Facilitator I Was Endorsed Professors Chris Pascal LinkedIn Meet Big Childcare Conversation Middlesex University 19/9/2015 Facebook Gave Neil King Access To Account Had Print Out When Called To CO Trick Me To Write Resignation Done To Karen Walker Am Not Bothered About Samantha Gibbs Witness Statement Started Job April Invite ASB May 2022 I Will Get Tenants To Start Revolt Against Landlords Threaten Us Unlawful Injunction Threats Imprisonment Possession Eviction Customer Portal Wiped Data 2000 Narin Masera Mr Bond Michael Lewis Slippery Slope To Jail Perverting Course Of Justice With Deborah Agnes Gilchrist Ask Metropolitan Police To Support With Changes In Behaviour Broke Glass To Communal Door Claim I Locked Her Out Partner Kicking Door Barbara Tony Verbal Abuse A New Met For London Nigel Pearce Trending On YouTube In Creations As Is Sir Mark Rowley Thought Disorder, Pressure Of Speech, Flight Of Ideas Paranoid Thoughts, Don't Apply To Me, Symptoms Of Low Mood Paranoia Due Anxiety Depression Caused By Being Pushed Over Edge To Be HCT Group Impact Report 2016 1 In 5 Of All Suicides Associated With Unemployment Husband 600,000 Older People In UK Say They Leave Home Once Per Week Or Less MAPS BRAINS Philosophy Change Early Years Education MIC Abusers Advisor Mayor Of London Ofsted June O'Sullivan Expose 31/12/23

Without Prejudice Mervelee Myers Name Dr Datta, Dr Nicole Evans- Byron, Jane Tsiga South London Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, County Court At Clerkenwell Shoreditch DJ Sterlini, Richard Hayes, DJ Bell, DJ Naidoo Have Been Con By Housing For Women, Devonshires Solicitors Michael Lewis, Mr Monk, Narin Masera Via Samantha Gibbs Start With H4W, Coerced Deborah Agnes Gilchrist To Target Me Asked If I…

[bakubabes-tatakae]

Can you do a breeding kink with shikamaru or shikaku

I will write for Shikamaru any chance that I get. 😌

TW: smut, unprotected sex, 18+ content, breeding, degradation, dirty talk, offensive language (swearing), pet names (baby girl, baby, princess, doll), choking, hair pulling, biting, hickeys, minors dni

Your back pressed against the wall as he pinned you to it, his body weight pressing into you. Shikamaru's rough and calloused hands rested on the back of your thighs, holding you up as he rolled his hips up over and over, dropping you down onto his cock repeatedly at the same time. "S'good Shika. Fucking hell."

A smirk pulled on his lips as your hands ran through his long black hair, the rare occurrence when it was down giving you that opportunity. You tugged on the ends and a growl sounded in his chest. "Only the best for my good girl." He nipped at your neck and attached his lips to it, sucking harshly.

If Shikamaru didn't leave at least a few marks on you every time that the two of you were together, then he wasn't doing his job. You could feel the pressure under his grip already, knowing that it wouldn't be long until there were bruises there.

Shikamaru's hips moved impossible quicker, thriving off the way you couldn't hold back a single sound. From the screams to something as small as your breathless panting he was a sucker for all of it. "I know you're close, squeezing me so good, princess." He licked his lips as he took one hand away from your thighs and tilted your chin up to meet his eyes. "Gonna see how good you look as you fall apart on my thick cock."

The intensity and lust behind his voice made your head spin, a shockwave running through you as you fell apart around him. The feeling of your cunt clenching makes you scream out. Spews of curses followed by his name made him chuckle maliciously. "That's right, just like that baby girl. Fuck..." He was close, he knew he didn't have much longer before he would completely fall apart. "Almost there, baby."

You wrapped your arms around his neck and shook your head quickly. "N-no, Shika. No." Your love drunk brain had no idea what you were doing until the words left your mouth. "Inside. P-please."

It took him a second before he realized it, his pace slowing from the fogginess in his head. That's when he realizes it and it hits him like a truck. Were you serious? Shikamaru placed his hand on your neck and tightened his fingers. "Inside?"

You nodded this time, your voice needier than it had ever been before. "Inside. Need you to fill me."

Shikamaru's eyes were now filled with determination, a new sense of calling for him. "You've got it doll. Gonna stuff that greedy cunt full of my seed. Gonna stuff you 'til you're dripping and then do it again."

Your hands tugged at his hair again, your lips just next to his ear as you coaxed him on more. "B-breed me, Shika. All yours."

Taglist: @monic00l @strangeinternetwasteland @rowley-with-ackerman @kyu-pine @kaissimpparks @nikiniki743 @saudade-mayari @mykuronekome @inu1gf @dark-pinku @altogetherweathered @tiny93soo @undead-nyx @ari-hatake15 @taliyahvermillion @animepickle7 @rokudaddie @albino-otaku @xiaratxiams @ventislatte @strawberrydynamight @gonuclear @jodrawssmut

©️2022 bakubabes-tatakae, please do not repost/modify without my permission, please do not use my work as ASMR without my permission

[fortunatelylori]

Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love now and then

Thoughts on Sanditon finale

It is a truth universally acknowledged that you should never blog in anger. Last night’s Sanditon episode left the entire fandom in a state of uproar. Cancelations have been issued. Curses have been cast and tears have been shed … those were mostly mine, to be fair.

For once I decided not to start furiously typing just as the episode ended but wait out the inevitable momentary fury and return to the episode tonight for a second viewing. I have to thank @and-holly-goes-lightly and @kitten1618x for putting up with my temper tantrums late last night on private chat so all of you nice people wouldn’t have to endure my more volcanic outbursts. Being far more reasonable people than I, they pointed out the grayness in a sea of black and white and made me reconsider the episode.

In addition I would advise anyone to do a second viewing of the episode if you haven’t done so yet. Reason being that your first viewing of something that you are so deeply invested in will always be heated. I could hardly pay attention last night to the scenes I was watching because I was so desperate to get to the ending. On top of that, the reality of what you see on screen will fight with the theory you’ve already made in your head and more often than not you end up disliking canon not because it’s bad but because it’s not what you thought you were going to see.

That being said, after a thorough rewatch, I have to declare this episode as one of the finest finales to a season I’ve seen. I say finale to the season, not the series because as a series finale it would be more than a little disappointing. But if there is one silver lining to take from this episode is that we are getting a season 2. I just can’t see how we wouldn’t.

Now, nothing in life, has any business being perfect and this episode wasn’t either. So I will quickly list what I felt were the major flaws so we can proceed to the good stuff of which there is plenty.

Not sparkers of joy

The pacing and structure

It was somewhat rushed. Scenes jumped from one to the other without much preparation (particularly in the first half) and several things were not addressed. People have pointed to the fact that they did not include a Charlotte/Georgiana good-bye scene which I agree was a mistake. In addition, we were presented with a Georgiana and Arthur that were the best of friends even though in episode 7, Georgiana couldn’t stand him. That’s not to say they couldn’t reach this point but I expected to see that journey, not skip it.

Georgiana, on the whole, was odd. Aside from her rebuke of Sidney and conversation with Charlotte which were keeping in line with what she did in episode 7, the rest of her time on screen was perplexing. She was lively, dancing with everyone, huge smile on her face … this being the girl that refused to leave her bedroom a few days before. Again, not saying she couldn’t get to this stage but where did I see how she did that?!?

The whole Sidney/Eliza situation was resolved off screen which … why?!? First we weren’t given the scene of him sending her packing in ep 7 and now we have no idea how he turned that around to the extent that he got himself engaged to her and with the money to save Sanditon, all in a week.

I mean ok, I get that he’s got but ... OK, OK! He’s THAT hot!

There were other examples of shoddy storytelling but those stick out in my mind the most.

The sudden tone shift

The reason why I reacted so badly to the episode to start with was because for 7 hours I was led to believe this was a fluffy, cozy regency romance in the vein of Northanger Abbey or Emma. Sure, things happen to cause momentary sadness but it all gets resolved in the best way by the end of the episode.

Instead the Sanditon finale marked the tone shift from the fluffy to the angst. We are now firmly in Persuasion/Sense&Sensibility territory. It’s still Austen as I will explain below in more detail but I would have appreciated some warning that this is where we were heading.

The specifics of the cliffhanger

Now this is obviously personal preferences but I do have some issues with the manner in which they chose to separate Sidney and Charlotte. Having Sidney propose to Eliza in order to get the money to save Tom from prison does resolve several issues in a very expedient way: it forces the two young lovers apart; it creates angst and anticipation for the next season; it also allows for Charlotte and Sidney to both be victims of the separation and still desperately in love with each other and wanting to get married.

However, the cost is that Sidney is now in the position of doing to Charlotte exactly what Willoughby did to Marianne in Sense and Sensibility. Sidney is obviously not Willoughby and his motives are selfless. But his actions are a play by play of Willoughby’s betrayal: he pursues Charlotte, kisses her on the cliffs (substitute that for Willoughby taking a lock of Marianne’s hair), means to propose to her and then disappears, only to return engaged when a lack of money force him to choose between love and a fortune. 

He even makes a “I don’t love her” confession, similar to Willoughby’s scene with Eleanor. Of course, Sidney tells Charlotte that not to victimize himself like Willoughby but rather because he can’t bare the thought that Charlotte might think he’s done this because he doesn’t love her. But you can see how this kind of narrative choice can really negatively impact Sidney’s character. 

It’s sad that they chose this cliffhanger, particularly since they didn’t need to. I firmly believe that had they ended on a more hopefully note for Charlotte and Sidney we would have tuned in anyway for season 2. I wish they had had more confidence in their story and in their viewers.

But enough of the negative!

Sparks joy

Theme

I have to say that thematically, they hit this finale out of the park. The most important piece of dialogue in this whole episode occurs between Esther and Lady Denham:

Lady Denham: It is infinitely better to be loved than to love. Especially in a marriage.

Esther: You’re speaking from your own experience or someone else’s?

Lady Denham: My own. Not with my husband, of course. It was long before that. A man called Rowley. Some people said he was the handsomest man in all of Somerset. But to me he was the handsomest in the world. And he knew it!

Esther: What happened?

Lady Denham: He kept me dangling for a while. Trembling. Waiting for a look, for a smile, for a tender word … like one of his dogs. And then he up and married a girl from Gloucestershire, with 50.000. He had debts, of course. Couldn’t have afforded to marry me. Should have been obvious to me at the time but … you know what girls are.

May I just say that Anne Ried’s performance in this scene is a treasure trove of skill and emotion? You can just feel the longing and the sadness this story can still elicit from this seemingly cold matriarch. Lady Denham, like all our characters, is more than she seems. She starts off as a Lady Catherine de Bourgh clone and develops into one of the wisest, mot rational people in the show.

She gives Esther excellent advice and is compassionate when she realizes what Edward has been doing to her.

She also gives us our theme for the finale of Sanditon and perhaps of the whole show. Because her speech doesn’t just apply to Esther and her relationship to Edward. It applies to Georgiana’s heartbreak over Otis and Charlotte’s impeding heartbreak at the hands of Sidney. In even more general terms, it speaks to the heartbreak most Austen heroines experience at some point during her novels: 

Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then. It is something to think of, and gives her a sort of distinction among her companions - Pride and Prejudice

Her whole speech reminded me of what my mother told me the first time I broke up with someone I loved. She said: “No girl can pass through life without having her heart broken”.

The show telegraphs this home by having the Sidney/Charlotte cliff walk follow immediately after this scene.

We are so distracted by the innocent beauty of Sidney and Charlotte being in love and so mesmerized by their first kiss:

That we fail to take Lady Denham’s warning seriously. And, just like Charlotte, we end up paying the price for it

The Austenverse

Lady Denham also clues us in to where exactly we are within the Austenverse. Many people have claimed that episode 8 marked the moment this stopped being an Austen story because Austen novels always have happy endings:

My characters shall have, after a little trouble, all that they desire.

Did you think we were just going to skip the “little trouble”part? Sweet summer children! We’re at the moment where Elizabeth finds out Lydia has run off with Wickham and thinks she’s lost Darcy for good. We’re at the moment where Knightly reprimands Emma for treating Miss Bates poorly and leaves for London. We’re at the moment where Anne is forced to join her father in Bath and believes Fredrick will soon marry Louisa Musgrove.

And finally, and most pertinently since this is what Sanditon is trying to emulate, we’re at the moment where Edward’s engagement to Lucy Steele is made public and he and Eleanor say their final good-byes (supposedly).

Austen heroines are never spared heartache. But it is a depiction of heartache that is not gratuitous. It allows the characters to grow, to understand the true depth of their feelings and eventually to value the good fortune they have when it all turns out for the best in the end.

And no novel drives that point home more than Sense and Sensibility and Austen’s Eleanor character, the suffer in silence heroine who pretends she is fine, all the meanwhile dying on the inside. Kind of like this:

Honestly it shouldn’t surprise me that we’ve ended the season on this somber note. Sanditon visually owes a great deal to Davies’ Sense and Sensibility 2008 adaptation. That mini-series had a somewhat different feel to usual Austen productions, particularly in comparison to the 1995 Ang Lee film. It was darker, grittier and had a bit of a western feel to it than Sanditon reproduces to great effect, I think.

So it’s quite understandable, in retrospect, that Charlotte’s character arc would see her start off as a Marianne type character (open, romantic and impulsive) and slowly turn her into Eleanor by the end of the season.

In order to make that transition complete, a lot was asked of Rose Williams and she manages to convey the transformation in one breathtaking shot:

I am deeply, deeply impressed with her acting in this episode, and particularly in this scene. You can literally feel her heart breaking and see the mask that will dominate in the church scene fall into place.

Which brings us to Sidney …

I’ve said it a million times and I can’t help but say it again: Theo James OWNS this character. I don’t know if he simply hasn’t gotten the proper material in his career until now or if there’s something special about Sidney that resonates with him but his acting is so spot on that even when Sidney breaks Charlotte’s heart, behaving like Willoughby as I’ve said, you can’t hate him.

Not when he is the same man who gets chocked up as he tries to propose to Charlotte:

Not when he’s the man who tells her this:

Sidney: I have never wanted to put myself in someone else’s power before. I never wanted to care for anyone but myself.

And not when, with just one look, Theo James is able to convey Sidney’s despair and pain. How can you hate him when he’s clearly breaking himself into tiny pieces over giving Charlotte up?

And how the hell can you hate him when you can hate … this clown instead?

Oh, sorry I meant …

Words cannot describe how much I loathe Tom Parker. Well actually, my new fictional mum comes close to enunciating our common and general distaste:

Lady Denham: I will see you in the debtors prison! I will see you in the poor house! Where are your promises now? Dust and ashes! You might as well have lost my money at the gaming tables! You despicable man!

If only Lady D would have been allowed to go forth with her threat and hand Tom over to the debt collectors. How much happier everyone would be right now!

Unfortunately the Parkers are far too nice for their own good. They all jump in head first, trying to save this sorry excuse for a man. Arthur even offers up his entire inheritance. Tom refuses … Not because he thinks it’s not right for his youngest brother to risk his entire life’s comfort for his unworthy clown’s ass but because … IT’S NOT ENOUGH MONEY!

Tom Parker has amassed 80.000 pounds worth of debts. Luckily Google allows me to illustrate to you exactly what 80.000 pounds meant in 1820s era England:

80.000 pounds could have paid the wages of an immortal skilled worker in perpetuity!!!! And this MORON decided not to ensure it … Apparently, Kris Marshall has said that Tom is the Regency’s version of Steve Jobs … I assume Steve Jobs too let his younger brother prostitute himself for his benefit, after already taking a 3000 pounds “loan” from him and thinking up ways of spending his baby  brother’s inheritance on top of that … Oh, wait! Steve Jobs was a visionary who died a billionaire. Take several sits, Kris!

What really irritates me is that everyone is very quick to absolve Tom of any blame, jump to his defense and in due course Tom, himself, decides he should not be so hard on himself, which is why he is ecstatic when Sidney returns to Sanditon, with the news of his engagement. This is what comes out of Tom Parker’s mouth:

Tom Parker: This is excellent news! Oh, Charlotte, glorious news! Sanditon is saved!

So he knows full well that Sidney has asked Mrs. Campion to marry him in order to save him and he is perfectly willing to let him go through with ruining his life. The saddest part is that the rest of the Parker family goes along with this lunacy.

That includes Mary who already knows that Sidney and Charlotte are in love. Kind and sensible as she might be, Mary decides to turn a blind eye to Sidney’s sacrifice and Charlotte’s pain in order to have her husband safe. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise since she’s the one that told Sidney this back in episode 1:

Sidney: And tomorrow is the famous ball, is it not?

Mary: Tom has been in such a state about it! You will do all you can to help him, won’t you?

I thought I’d mention this since everyone seems to be under the impression that Sidney sacrificing himself for Tom now is a sign of the growth of character Charlotte inspired in him. But it actually isn’t.

Both Tom and Mary make it very clear early on that they relay on Sidney’s help. He’s sort of the third member of their marriage (they do have a painting of him in their entryway) who is there to ensure Tom’s ass is saved from the fire of his own making. And both Tom and Mary are complacent in this.

Sidney choosing to marry Mrs. Campion over Charlotte isn’t a new development in his dedication to his family. It is the end result of years of emotional blackmail and dependency Tom has dished out, and Mary has, most likely unconsciously, supported.

And all of that spells disaster for Sidney who is left closing the door to the coach that will take the love of his life away from him:

I know we are all commiserating with Charlotte over what happened. But I think we should spare Sidney a thought as well. He is ruining his life, his integrity and his happiness for someone who will most likely waste his sacrifice in a matter of months. Add to that Eliza’s behavior at the wedding and it’s pretty safe to say Sidney will pay for the money he will give Tom in every which way possible.

The only glimmer of light in all this unbearable darkness is that Lord Babington (he still doesn’t have a first name … :( ) and Esther are now married. Their wedding is actually very much a visual representation of Austen type country weddings, down to everyone smiling and throwing petals at them:

However even in their case, there are still clouds on the horizon since Esther was pretty clear about not being in love with her husband. She took Lady D’s advice that “ being loved is better than loving: and season 2 will show us if that is enough for her or indeed her husband.

Unfortunately, our two protagonists weren’t as lucky as Lord and Lady Babington. The road ahead for them is hard and filled with angst. There’s bound to be a lot of darkness before the dawn. However, do not despair and listen to the only voice that matters:

Lady Denham: Well, Miss Heywood? You’re still proclaiming your independence? Or is it that none of our young men have taken your fancy? I’ll wager we’ll see you walk down the aisle very soon. What do you say, Mr. Parker?

My fictional mummy is never wrong!

[mediaeval-muse]

Book Review... Gwen Rowley, “Knights of the Round Table: Gawain”

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: fantasy romance

Part of a Series? Yes, Knights of the Round Table #3 (of 3)

Summary: Loyal Sir Gawain pledges to marry a hideous crone in exchange for the answer to a riddle that will save King Arthur's life. But the loathly lady is actually the lovely Aislyn, former sorceress, in disguise, who is out to make Gawain pay for rejecting her in the past. Then Aislyn finds herself enchanted by the gallant knight.

***Full review under the cut.***

Overview: I’m currently reading a bunch of romance novels with a friend of mine as a way of getting more familiar with the genre, and I remember seeing this book recommended by another medieval enthusiast, so the two of us decided to give it a whirl. While the idea of retelling the story of Gawain and Ragnelle isn’t inherently a bad one, I felt like this book missed the mark in so many ways. There were some saving graces; the relationship between Arthur and Gawain was very well done, in my opinion. It just wasn’t enough to make up for the things that bothered me.

Trigger Warnings: violence, misogyny, rape

Writing: Rowley writes with a fairly straightforward prose style, but one that tells a lot rather than shows. It wasn’t the most irritating style I’ve encountered; it just made the book more skimmable, which I guess could be a good thing if you’re a reader who likes to get through books quickly. Some of the dialogue was humorous (by design), which made for a more light-hearted reading experience; it did feel very modern than what I would expect of medieval characters, aside from a few stray “yons” and “lemans” thrown in to make it feel more archaic. Honestly, I preferred the more modern style rather than the fake medieval-speak, since the medievalisms made the dialogue feel more wooden than natural. But overall, the I didn’t find the style unbearable - it just wasn’t interesting. The major flaw in the writing, for me, was the random insertion of characters’ memories and flashbacks. They occurred at random moments that interrupted the flow of the story - they sometimes interrupted a sentence that continued on after the memory was over! I would have preferred flashbacks be handled more deliberately, not thrown in whenever something in the plot vaguely reminded a character of something from their past.

Plot: As I mentioned above, the idea of retelling the story of Gawain and Ragnelle isn’t a bad one. I love authors who try to rework medieval tales to give women more agency and character. Unfortunately, Rowley decided to do so in a way that cut out a lot of the most interesting stuff from the original tale. We start with the end of the story, when Aislyn, disguised as a crone named Ragnelle, agrees to give Arthur the answer to his quest in exchange for Gawain’s hand in marriage. Rather than the curse being inflicted on her before the marriage, as it is in the medieval tale, the curse is inflicted after, when a character is trying to punish Aislyn for messing with Gawain (in the form of her using her crone form to torture him for a past slight). For me, this killed all the excitement and shifted the focus away from the original message of the tale (about female agency and sexual dynamics) to one about how love can overcome barriers. It would have been a good shift, but I didn’t get the sense that love was overcoming barriers by the end of the book - Gawain doesn’t seem to actually learn the lesson from the original tale, and Aislyn mostly struggles with whether or not to be obedient to Gawain. While I can understand wanting to make female characters more agentive from the beginning, I found this book’s reworking of the plot less interesting than the original medieval tale. The change in focus also made the plot drag a little bit. In the first 80 pages, all of the focus was on Gawain’s disgust at Ragnelle’s form or Aislyn’s/Ragnelle’s desire for revenge. We follow Gawain and Ragnelle as they explore married life, which isn’t as exciting as it sounds since Gawain is forever struggling with Ragnelle’s ugliness and Ragnelle/Aisling is always looking for ways to torment him. After Aislyn is formally cursed on pages 85-86, the plot has a goal, but nothing in the structure of the narrative seems to work towards that goal in a very efficient way. Events don’t seem to build on one another, so the plot didn’t feel like it had shape. There are also a few events that seem to be inserted to show conflict between Gawain and Lancelot, and some that showcase Gawain’s anguish over his past. While some of these things bring Ragnelle and Gawain closer together, the conflict with Lancelot and Gawain’s emotional pain definitely overshadowed the moments of tenderness between the characters. What I disliked the most, however, was that everyone - main characters and side characters alike - seemed to be in petty conflict with one another. There’s obvious tension between Gawain and Lancelot, and Aislyn’s inner thoughts about Guinevere and the other ladies of the court disappointed me (why can’t we have more medievaly stories in which women band together, I ask). Aside from these conflicts, everyone got on my nerves for treating Ragnelle as subhuman. While their treatment of her could have been the moral lesson of the book, it didn’t come through consistently; I did get the sense that the book was supposed to showcase how Camelot isn’t the paradise it is made out to be, but a lot of the mistreatment felt like drama or humor rather than a teaching tool. I did like, however, that Ragnelle’s purpose seemed to change so that she was at the center of a lot of conflicts between men - in this way, I think she exposed a lot of the underlying problems in a male homosocial society. However, as much as she pointed to a lot of the problems, she also perpetuated them.

Characters: I had an extremely hard time liking either Aislyn or Gawain for a large portion of this book. Aislyn, our heroine, is constantly thinking ill of other women or thinking herself better than them, except in incidents. She’s out for revenge, and while I get that being left by a man you loved is devastating, I personally find seeking revenge for that a little petty, especially when you can just use your words and clear up any misconceptions. She got better as the book progressed, standing up for other women and calling out injustice, but I still had a hard time with her, since she seemed to waver between being a strong-willed character and being a bully. Gawain, despite being one of the best knights in Arthurian lore, starts out as kind of a sexist jerk with a lot of emotional turmoil from his past. His sense of honor was admirable, and I want to make clear that I do think that aspect of him was well done, but he was so angsty that his main purpose was to be a wet blanket for most of the book. I also wasn’t wholly convinced he had changed in his ways by the end of the book. The villains of the piece weren’t even that interesting. Morgause is completely one-dimensional: a power-hungry seductress whose motives aren’t exactly clear and, based on her actions, poses next to no real threat to anyone. Somer Gromer Jour (or Launfal), Aislyn’s brother, could have been interesting if Morgause herself wasn’t so over-the-top and Launfal had more of a purpose other than to be Morgause’s victim. Lancelot and Guinevere are also turned into antagonists by the way they blatantly disrespect not only Ragnelle, but other knights of the Round Table. It was kind of a mess. But despite all that, I did like the relationship between Arthur and Gawain. They had some nice exchanges that showed how complex their dynamic was, with Arthur being both Gawain’s king and uncle. Gawain and Ragnelle also had some nice moments where they were honest with one another, and those bits were well done.

Other Romance: I honestly didn’t see much romantic chemistry between Aislyn and Gawain, perhaps because Aislyn was so antagonistic towards him for so long. Don’t get me wrong - I’m a fan of enemies-to-lovers tropes, but this novel didn’t really feel like it was really getting to the heart of the angst and pain between the characters and working on unraveling it. Instead, the conflict was easily cleared up by just talking (even if the characters didn’t act on it for a long time). Instead, their relationship felt more platonic, which wouldn’t be a problem if this book was marketed as a genre other than romance. Misogyny: I understand that a lot of authors writing about the Middle Ages will embed some sexism in their books, but I am still irritated when I see it. Rowley has Gawain start out as holding very misogynistic views, despite his medieval counterpart being one of the most courteous knights to women (and even in the book, Gawain wavers back and forth). The book also makes use of various tropes which  I dislike: Morgause is a seductress who (I think) rapes Launfal regularly, characters use words like “bitch” and “slut,” a male character views his wife as worthless for not bearing a son, etc. Poor Guinevere couldn’t catch a break since she was being portrayed as a cheating harlot the whole time, and Morgana popped in for all of 10 seconds to serve her part in the plot before moving on. Rowley also writes an episode where the Saxons blame the women for the peaceweaver system failing, which was utterly baffling to me. And Gawain still seems to hold his view that a wife should be obedient to her husband until the very last second - around page 307 of the book.

Moving on to Other Books in the Series? No.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re a romance reader or interested in Arthurian retellings.

[gyrlversion]

Boy found wandering the streets could be missing Timmothy Pitzen

A 14-year-old boy found wandering the streets in Newport, Kentucky has told police that he’s Timmothy Pitzen, an Aurora, Illinois, boy who disappeared without a trace in 2011 following his mother’s suicide. 

According to a police report filed on Wednesday, the boy told officers that he’d managed to flee ‘from two kidnappers that have been holding him for 7 years’.

The teen said that his abductors had most recently been keeping him in a Red Roof Inn, thought to be in Cincinnati, Ohio. When he saw his chance to escape, he took it and fled, and and ‘kept running across a bridge’ – the state line – and into Newport, Kentucky. 

Residents who live near where the 14-year-old boy was found said the his face was bruised and he appeared to be ‘very scared and agitated’. 

Pitzen vanished without a trace on May 11, 2011, shortly after being dropped off at Greenman Elementary School by his father

Timmothy, originally from Aurora, Illinois, was last seen at a water park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin in 2011. The teen told police he had been held by captors ever since and was most recently being held at a Red Roof Inn, thought to be in Cincinnati, Ohio, until he escaped and kept running until he crossed a bridge over the river which acts as a state line and passed into Newport, Kentucky.

One woman revealed to CBS Chicago that the boy told her he’d been running for two hours and that he had ‘been passed around for seven years’.

Pitzen vanished without a trace on May 11, 2011, shortly after being dropped off at Greenman Elementary School, in Aurora, Illinois, by his father.

The boy, just 6-years-old at the time, was later picked-up by his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, who told the school she needed to take her son home because of a family emergency.

Fry-Pitzen, 43, then took her son on a three-day holiday, visiting the zoo and several water-parks before she was found dead inside a motel room, in Rockford.

Police reports at the time say Fry-Pitzen checked into the motel alone, without her son. An autopsy confirmed she had committed suicide with a series of slashes to her wrists. 

A note left behind by the mother stated her son was safe and in the care of others, but added: ‘You’ll never find him’.

His mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen (left), 43, took him on a three-day holiday, visiting the zoo and several water-parks before she was found dead inside a Rockford motel room, having committed suicide

Residents who live near where the 14-year-old boy was found in Newport, Kentucky, have said the his face was bruised and was ‘very scared and agitated’ (pictured: a photo submitted to CBS Chicago allegedly depicts the boy who claims to be Pitzen)

The boy found in Newport gave police a detailed description of his alleged kidnappers, who he says have held him for more than seven years.

‘Timmothy described the two kidnappers as two male, whites, body-builder type build,’ the police report details. 

‘One had black curly hair, Mt. Dew shirt and jeans & has a spider web tattoo on his neck. The other was short in stature and had a snake tattoo on his arms.’ 

He then described his captor’s vehicle as a new white Ford SUV, with yellow transfer paint and a dent on the rear left bumper, and a Wisconsin licence plate.    

After speaking with police, the boy was taken to a local hospital and later transferred to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where he remains with authorities.

On Wednesday afternoon Aurora Police Sgt. Bill Rowley said that the department knows there is a boy involved but they don’t know who he is or if he has any connection to Timmothy Pitzen.

‘We have no idea if this is Timmothy Pitzen,’ Rowley said. ‘We don’t know if it’s a hoax. Obviously, everyone’s hopeful, but we have to be super judicious.’

Timmothy was described as a four-foot two-inches, 70-pound boy with brown hair and brown eyes in missing persons reports at the time. A age processed image (right) predicts what he may look like now

The last known images of Pitzen and his mother were captured on CCTV, checking out of the Kalahari Resort, in Wisconsin Dells

The last known images of Pitzen and his mother were captured on CCTV, checking out of the Kalahari Resort, in Wisconsin Dells.

He was described as a four-foot two-inches, 70-pound boy with brown hair and brown eyes in missing persons reports at the time. This year would mark his 14th birthday.

Timmothy’s grandmother, Alana Anderson, says she hopes the boy found by police in Kentucky turns out to be missing Pitzen, but admits she isn’t getting her hopes up.

‘Don’t want to say anything until I know for sure. I just don’t want to comment until I know for sure, praying it’s him and he’s okay,’ she said to CBS.   

Anderson, later added that she’s ‘cautiously optimistic’ to ABC 7, having heard reports that the boy has identified himself as Timmothy.

‘We never stopped looking for him, thinking about him and we love him, and we’ll do everything to get him back to a good life,’ she added.  

Timmothy (shown aged 6) vanished without a trace on May 11, 2011, after his mother picked him up from Greenman Elementary School and took him on a three day holiday and was found to have committed suicide

Timmothy’s grandmother, Alana Anderson (pictured), says she’s ‘quietly optimistic’ that the boy found in Kentucky is her grandson

Shortly before her daughter’s suicide, Anderson received a note from Fry-Pitzen, that read: ‘Ive taken him somewhere safe. He will be well cared for and he says that he loves you. Please know that there is nothing you could have said or done that would have changed my mind.’ 

The last breakthrough in the disappearance of Pitzen came in 2014, when a woman hosting a garage sale in northern Illinois dialed 911 to tell police a boy matching his description had been standing in the front-yard of her home.

The call came shortly after police released an aged processing image, speculating what Pitzen may have looked like aged 9.

In an interview with Crime Watch Daily, James Pitzen described the fateful day he dropped his son off at school and never saw him again.

‘I dropped Timmothy off at school and he hopped out of the back seat and ran off to school,’ he recalled in 2017. ‘And I said ‘I love you buddy,’ and he said ‘I love you too, dad, and I’ll see you later,’ and I’m like ‘OK.’ And I watched him run off to class.’

James says both he and Timmothy’s mother were struggling in their marriage at the time, but insists he was stunned when he was told of Amy’s suicide.

In an interview with People in 2015, Timmothy’s dad, James Pitzen (left), described his son as a ‘little mini-me’ and vowed to never give up searching for him

‘I was in total shock at the time,’ said James. ‘They told me where she was found, in a cheap little motel. She had a razorblade knife and she cut herself.

He said just hours before she committed suicide he received a call from Amy, telling him: ‘Timmothy is fine. Timmothy belongs to me. Timmothy and I will be fine. Timmothy is safe.’

‘She was definitely wrestling with the demons,’ James said. ‘And the demons were winning, and they eventually won.’

He added that he knew Timmothy was alive somewhere, as his wife would never do anything to harm their son. 

‘Every day I get up and check my phone and wait for the detectives to say ‘Hey, we found Timmothy here,’ he said. ‘It’s going to be a glorious day when he comes home. Just can’t wait. It’s going to be happy. I’m going to cry a lot. I’m going to cry a lot when he comes home.’

James Pitzen didn’t immediately respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment on Wednesday. 

Anyone with information is asked to call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or Aurora Police at 630-256-5500. 

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[365footballorg-blog]

Arteta the frontrunner but is Allegri still in mix? Latest on Arsenal manager hunt

Arsenal’s hunt for a new manager goes on.

The Gunners’ former captain Mikel Arteta has been heavily linked and Arsene Wenger says he has “all of the qualities” needed to replace him.

The Spaniard is one of the candidates the club is looking at. Former skipper Patrick Vieira has been contacted, while ex-Barcelona coach Luis Enrique and Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri have also been linked.

So what is the latest situation in the search for a new boss at Emirates Stadium?

Lots of talk – but is the job Arteta’s for the taking?

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Arsenal’s priority from the moment Wenger announced he would be leaving at the end of the season after nearly 22 years in charge has been to lead a comprehensive recruitment process.

Wenger came close to departing a year ago and Arsenal’s subsequent travails made it increasingly likely he would go this summer, so they are sure to have been surveying the managerial market for some time.

In the interim period that market has changed – and so has the make-up of the Gunners’ hierarchy – but they would have had a clear idea of who they wanted to talk with.

While it is possible that discreet scouting, due diligence and enquiries to establish potential interest and availability may have been conducted while Wenger’s future was undecided, out of respect I do not think any significant moves took place behind his back.

That meant the club missed the chance to pursue a coach they admire in Thomas Tuchel. The German viewed Arsenal as his perfect destination but could not afford to wait until the Wenger situation was resolved and potentially lose the opportunity to join Paris St-Germain.

The problems between Tuchel and Arsenal’s head of recruitment Sven Mislintat from their time together at Borussia Dortmund were repairable, but Tuchel accepted PSG’s offer to replace Unai Emery to end any idea of him joining the Gunners.

Whether or not the reported interest in Germany boss Joachim Low was genuine, it would never have materialised because he was always planning to sign a new contract with the national team.

Meanwhile, and for various reasons, the likes of Diego Simeone of Atletico Madrid, former Barcelona manager Luis Enrique, three-time Champions League winner Carlo Ancelotti and Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers were never seriously considered.

There is, though, said to have been enormous interest in the vacancy and after a long list was reduced to a shortlist, Juventus coach Allegri, Manchester City assistant Arteta and New York City boss Patrick Vieira emerged as the leading contenders.

Arteta and Vieira were definitely spoken to and – whether directly or indirectly – Allegri was too.

In this tightly guarded process it is unclear if – and to what extent – there was contact with Julian Nagelsmann of Hoffenheim, Belgium assistant Thierry Henry, outgoing PSG boss Emery and Monaco’s Leonardo Jardim.

What we do know is that Arsenal have held formal interviews and in-depth negotiations.

Their hope is to make the right decision, rather than a quick one. They insist the new man will continue the values instilled by Wenger, play exciting and progressive football, represent Arsenal well and integrate young players.

Arteta is the frontrunner – he wants the job and there is a feeling among staff that he is set to get it – but while it would seem Vieira has drifted out of contention, whispers persist that Allegri remains in the mix.

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How has the club’s new structure impacted the manager search?

Chief executive Ivan Gazidis is overseeing a major overhaul of Arsenal’s sporting operation.

In the past year, Mislintat has arrived as head of recruitment, Raul Sanllehi as head of football relations, Huss Fahmy as contract negotiator and Darren Burgess as director of high performance.

Former captain Per Mertesacker will take over as academy manager this summer, joined there by ex-Gunners midfielder Freddie Ljungberg in a role still to be decided.

So a framework has been created to prepare for life after Wenger – and now the Frenchman is gone, many of his longest-serving lieutenants have followed.

Contract and transfer negotiator Dick Law and chief scout Steve Rowley had already moved on before Wenger’s sidekick Boro Primorac, first-team coach Neil Banfield, goalkeeping coach Gerry Peyton, fitness coach Tony Colbert, equipment manager Paul Johnson and head of medical services Colin Lewin were all released.

There have also been major structural and intellectual developments at the youth training base at Hale End and the senior one at London Colney as the hierarchy attempt to transform Arsenal back into a competitive force.

Contrary to popular opinion, it is consistently reiterated by the club that American owner Stan Kroenke is desperate for success and it might not be coincidental that a lot of the changes have come as his son, Josh – a fellow director – has spent a greater amount of time around Arsenal, become a more visible presence and exerted increasing influence.

In a divergence from the previous regime – Wenger retained total power over football matters and built the surrounding structure around himself – Arsenal will now adopt a continental model. The day-to-day power will be held by the leadership group, they will define the structure and a head coach must slot into it.

The search for Wenger’s successor is the responsibility of Gazidis, aided by Sanllehi and Mislintat, and they will present their recommendation to the board for approval; Fahmy is handling all contract matters; and Burgess is carrying out most of the technical changes, particular on the medical side.

Are fans and the club on the same page?

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In addition to the criteria Arsenal are seeking from their next manager, Gazidis said the club need to be “open-minded” and “brave”.

He pointed out that Wenger was hardly a household name when he joined in 1996, adding: “That doesn’t mean we have to make another appointment that not everybody is thinking and talking about, but it does mean we need to be bold and get the person we believe is the right person.”

The implication is that the Gunners are not averse to taking a gamble, which theoretically is what somebody of Arteta’s minimal experience represents compared to the likes of a proven Allegri.

Gazidis is known to rate Arteta extremely highly and you sense the chief executive would have no hesitation about placing him at the helm.

This contrasts with the feeling among sections of the Arsenal support, where the reaction to the Spaniard’s candidacy has been mixed.

There would be fewer reservations over an Allegri-type appointment, which would undoubtedly generate more initial excitement and help galvanise a fanbase that became divided and apathetic towards the end of Wenger’s reign.

That said, of those who have emerged as the most credible options, none would receive a hostile reception. There was sufficient clamour for change so the new man will be given a fair crack.

A prospective concern for Arsenal’s hierarchy is that with power comes accountability and the removal of Wenger strips them of a shield that had provided such robust protection for so long.

That is one of several reasons why it is so important to get this appointment right.

The relationship between the fans and hierarchy is not good. If this goes badly and the supporters are further angered and alienated, then trouble looms.

Au revoir, Arsene – Arsenal fan Dermot O’Leary says goodbye

‘The brilliant revolutionary who refused to change’

The other big question – how much will the new boss have to spend?

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We are told Arsenal have a budget for the summer transfer window of around £50m.

Of course, that can be bolstered by the proceeds of any sales but, if true, it is meagre in comparison to their rivals.

So ‘big-name’ signings are unrealistic and they will have to be creative and maximise the connections and experience that Mislintat and Sanllehi bring.

There is a perception that a lack of finance is among the factors contributing to an apparent struggle to lure a manager of Allegri’s calibre, though Arsenal reject this and are adamant their job is one of the most attractive in world football.

It is understood player recruitment was an area discussed with interviewed candidates and therefore any signings made before or after the appointment will supposedly have the incoming manager’s blessing.

As per the continental model, Arsenal’s new head coach will contribute to recruitment decisions and retain the power of veto, but unlike in the past he will not be the only voice that matters.

Mislintat will lead the search and pursue agreed targets, with Sanllehi charged with closing the deals.

The acquisition of centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos and forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January was largely the work of Mislintat, a sign of things to come.

Arsenal are reportedly in the hunt for a new goalkeeper, centre-back and holding midfielder.

Among those they have been linked with are Bayer Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno, Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Nice midfielder Jean-Michael Seri.

In the effort to raise additional funding, exit speculation has focused on defender Hector Bellerin and midfielder Aaron Ramsey.

What about Wenger? Is he enjoying the time off?

<!–

Wenger said his goodbyes when they squad returned to London from Huddersfield following Sunday’s last game of the Premier League season.

He travelled to France on Monday to fulfil some media commitments and will return to London Colney only to tie up some loose ends and clear his office, although most items have already been given away by the 68-year-old outgoing boss.

Some colleagues are expecting to see him for one final time on Monday, but that may be difficult considering it is highly possible the new manager could be announced next week.

Wenger was flooded with gifts and mementos to mark the end of his 22-year tenure. However, what meant more to him than any of them was an invitation from the players to join them at their end-of-season dinner.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

BBC Sport – Football

Arteta the frontrunner but is Allegri still in mix? Latest on Arsenal manager hunt was originally published on 365 Football

[takebackthedream]

The Resistance Needs Better Heroes by Richard Eskow

A movement without memory is adrift. And a movement that picks the wrong heroes is lost.

Two milestones should serve as reminders to self-styled members of the Resistance. One marks a turning point in the life of an ill-chosen hero. The other is a reminder that true heroism calls for self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-sacrifice.

Hugh Thompson, Jr., Photo credit: Wikipedia

We’ll get to those milestones. But first there’s the matter of torture.

The Nominee

Donald Trump has nominated Gina Haspel to run the Central Intelligence Agency. Haspel, a career intelligence operative, led torture operations and ran a CIA “black site” in Thailand which was used to interrogate suspected Al Quaeda members after 9/11.  She also signed the order to destroy the videotaped evidence of the agency’s illegal acts, which itself appears to have been illegal.

Haspel was apparently present for the torture of a detainee named Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, (It was incorrectly reported that she was also present for the torture of Abu Zubaydah, a more famous prisoner.) There have even been calls for Haspel’s arrest.

As CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou wrote in a Washington Post op-ed:

“The message this sends to the CIA workforce is simple: Engage in war crimes, in crimes against humanity, and you’ll get promoted. Don’t worry about the law. Don’t worry about ethics. Don’t worry about morality or the fact that torture doesn’t even work. Go ahead and do it anyway. We’ll cover for you. And you can destroy the evidence, too.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, notes that Haspel “was involved in one of the darkest chapters in American history’ and has called on the CIA to declassify documents regarding her role in overseeing torture.

The Operative

And yet, in their understandable zeal to remove Donald Trump from the presidency, some liberals and Democrats are treating Haspel’s moral peers like heroes. Consider this tweet from Samantha Power, Barack Obama’s U.N. Ambassador, which reads: “Not a good idea to piss off John Brennan.”

Power was reacting to a tweet from Brennan, a former CIA Director, which addressed Trump after the brutal mistreatment and firing of FBI Associate Director Andrew McCabe, a day or two before he was due to retire with a pension. Brennan wrote:

When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America…America will triumph over you.

Brennan’s anger toward Trump may be welcome, but it should also raise questions about the proper role of the intelligence community in political affairs. (On a more positive note, Rep. Mark Pocan has offered to hire McCabe so that he can collect his pension — and it may work.)

Brennan’s tweet was widely praised by some liberals, presumably including many who were appalled by Haspel’s nomination. But Brennan, who replaced Haspel as head of the CIA’s clandestine division, defended the CIA’s use of torture in 2013. He agreed that some agents had gone too far, but disagreed with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s conclusion, backed by other experts, that torture had not yielded “useful” information.

Brennan also attacked the democratic principle of transparency.  “I think there’s been more than enough transparency that’s happened over the last couple days,” he said of the Intelligence Committee’s report. “I think it’s over the top.”

A year later, the CIA’s inspector general confirmed that the agency had spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee itself. The CIA then attempted to elide its own guilt in the matter, drawing Feinstein’s ire.

But even when taken at face value, the inspector general’s report showed that the CIA acted in defiance of the principle that intelligence and law enforcement agencies should be subject to democratic, civilian oversight. And who was the CIA’s director when it spied on that “over the top” Senate committee?

John Brennan.

The Director

Among Democrats, James Comey has gone from hero to villain and back so many times that it’s hard to keep track. He was a hero to Democrats when Obama appointed him to lead the FBI in 2013, because he had blocked George W. Bush’s attempt to get then-Attorney General James Ashcroft to reauthorize a domestic spying program while he was in a hospital intensive care unit.

The American Civil Liberties Union wasn’t quite as fond of Comey. “As the second-highest ranked Justice Department official under John Ashcroft, Comey approved some of the worst abuses committed by the Bush administration,” ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said at the time. “Specifically, the publicly available evidence indicates Comey signed off on enhanced interrogation techniques that constitute torture, including waterboarding.”

Comey became a villain to Democrats when, as FBI Director, he spoke publicly about the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email servers shortly before the election. But he became a hero again when he defied Trump over the Russia investigation, an act that led to his firing.

Comey continues to be lionized by many Democrats, despite his decidedly mixed record. He’s been playing to them, too, in social media and elsewhere. (After Comey quoted from Martin Luther King, Jr’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” writer Ben Schwartz tweeted: “Oh look, FBI agents are still reading Dr. King’s mail.” Schwartz was referring to the FBI’s infamous, years-long campaign of spying on and harassing Dr. King.)

Trump’s attack on Comey’s character have made his upcoming book a bestseller. That, too, is a sign of liberal enthusiasm.

The Prosecutor

Then there’s Mueller himself. Fawning comments like this one, comparing Mueller to Thomas Jefferson, are commonplace on social media. That comment drew responses like this one:

“Amen: Father guide Mueller & his team in the (right) direction.”

And this one:

“…the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.” -A Hamilton

“Perimeter defense may not matter if the enemy is inside the gates.”  -R Mueller, III

Then there’s this poem, which was accompanied by a video clip of Dr. King:

Mueller is coming Lady Justice is coming with him.

I Salute the Men and Women of the FBI! I Salute the Men and Women of Muellers Team.

I Salute all those People Defending America! IC, CIA, NSA, Police, Firemen, Teachers, Drs and Nurses.

I Salute You! For America!

These commenters may not know that Mueller was criticized for supporting the rush to war in Iraq by stating, incorrectly, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He was challenged in 2003 by whistleblowing special agent Colleen Rowley for implying a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, and for reportedly allowing the FBI to state incorrectly that there were 5,000 Al Qaeda terrorists in the US.

(Rowley, who has since left the FBI, wrote an essay in June 2017 entitled “No, Robert Mueller And James Comey Aren’t Heroes.”)

The Operation

The FBI’s moves against peaceful protestors did not die with Dr. King.  After filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the ACLU revealed that the FBI spied on anti-Iraq war protestors, including Quakers and student groups, during George W. Bush’s presidency.

Documents obtained by DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy showed that the FBI misused a counter-terrorism program known as “Operation Tripwire” to spy on peaceful Occupy protestors, in concert with private-sector informants.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund obtained documents showing that the FBI was coordinating nationwide efforts against the Occupy movement as early as August 2011, before the occupation of Zuccotti Park in New York City.

The FBI Director who oversaw all of these these covert programs was Robert Mueller.

The Liar

Then there’s James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, who’s also being celebrated for his attacks on Trump. Since retiring in January, Clapper has taken the lead in alleging that Russia aided Trump – a right-wing president – get elected. He has also used these allegations to stigmatize and demonize the Left.

But before he made his outlandish claims against progressive groups and publications, Clapper was known for something else. As law professor Jonathan Turley writes, Clapper lied to the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2013 when he denied that the government was collecting data on “millions, or hundreds of millions of Americans.”

“Even in a city with a notoriously fluid notion of truth,” writes Turley, “Clapper’s false testimony was a standout.”

And yet, Clapper’s report on Russian spying – a report which inexplicably placed much of the blame for the election of a right-wing president on left-wing websites – was treated as gospel by many Democrats and liberals.

We promised two milestones. Here’s the first. On March 12, the five-year statute of limitations ran out on Clapper’s Senate lie. He can no longer be prosecuted for perjury. That’s good news for Clapper, but bad news for the rule of law.

The Forgetters

Donald Trump is both corrupt and unstable. I share the hope Mueller succeeds in bringing him to justice, although a President Pence could conceivably do more legislative damage than Trump has done thus far. Trump’s escalating war of words against Mueller, even as his lawyer argues that Mueller’s investigation should be shut down, is deeply worrisome.

But the Democrats who idealize figures like Mueller, Clapper, Brennan, and the others are sacrificing the long-term needs of justice – the “moral arc of the universe” that Dr. King talked about – for short-term expediency.

Some of the people currently being lionized, like Comey, probably acted according to their own moral lights. But theirs aren’t necessarily the morals this country needs. It’s possible to hope they succeed without turning them into heroes.

Choosing the wrong heroes only makes it easier to be misled into another war, or more torture, or another campaign of illegal spying.

In fact, it’s already happening. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was asked if he was urging Senate Democrats to oppose Haspel’s nomination or that of Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo. Pompeo signaled his openness to resuming torture operations and has described agents who conducted torture as “patriots.”

“At this point, I am not,” Schumer replied.

Sen. Feinstein also seems to be equivocating on the Haspel nomination. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the White House is using intelligence channels, rather than the State Department, to communicate with North Korea.

We tell the stories of heroes so that we can remember. But when we choose the wrong heroes, we forget.

The Hero

Here’s the other milestone we mentioned: March 16, 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of the massacre of Vietnamese civilians by US troops in the village of My Lai.

As America waged war in Vietnam, the FBI was engaged in a massive, covert program of spying on antiwar individuals and groups. A Senate panel led by Sen. Frank Church found that the FBI broke the law repeatedly while carrying out this program, which became known as COINTELPRO. From the panel’s report:

“The (FBI’s) techniques … ranged from the trivial (mailing reprints of Reader’s Digest articles to college administrators) to the degrading (sending anonymous poison-pen letters intended to break up marriages) and the dangerous …”

In Vietnam, the CIA was leading the Phoenix program, which engaged in kidnapping, torture, and murder. CIA Director William Colby told a Congressional subcommittee that the program killed 20,587 people.

But when the My Lai massacre was underway, someone resisted. Hugh Thompson, Jr. was piloting an observation helicopter. He and his crew saw dead bodies around the village, but had encountered no hostile fire and had seen no sign of Viet Cong combatants.

To commemorate the anniversary of his actions, Jon Wiener wrote about Thompson for the Los Angeles Times.  “They were not combatants,” Thompson told Wiener years later. “They were old women, old men, children, kids, babies.” So Thompson did something extraordinary. Wiener writes:

“Thompson told the American troops that, if they opened fire on the Vietnamese civilians in the bunker, he and his crew would open fire on them.”

Thompson reported the massacre, and later testified about it on Capitol Hill.

According to the book “Four Hours in My Lai,” Thompson was bitterly attacked by members of Congress like Rep. Mendel Rivers (D-SC).  Thompson told 60 Minutes that he “received death threats over the phone…Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up.”

It took years for Thompson to be recognized for his actions, but he and his crew received the Soldier’s Medal for bravery in 1998, thirty years after the massacre.

“Self-trust is the essence of heroism,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Hugh Thompson, Jr. died in 2006. In My Lai and afterwards, he trusted his own sense of right and wrong. He faced down the entire military and political might of the US government because he knew it was the right thing to do.

A movement is defined by its heroes. The Resistance can find better heroes than the ones some of its members have chosen – and it should. It can start with Hugh Thompson, Jr.

[shg11]

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionFootage shows a burning bag on board the Tube carriage at Parsons Green station

An "improvised explosive device" was detonated on a Tube train in south-west London during Friday's morning rush hour, injuring 29 people.

The blast, at Parsons Green station on a District Line train from Wimbledon, is being treated as terrorism.

So-called Islamic State says it carried out the attack, which Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as "cowardly".

A hunt is under way for the person who placed the device and the area around the station has been evacuated.

Specialist officers there securing the remains of the improvised device and ensuring it is stable.

'Cowardly attack'

Mrs May said the attack had been "intended to cause significant harm".

She said the UK's terror threat level would remain at severe - the second highest - but would be under review.

Speaking in Downing Street after chairing a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee, she said there would be an increased armed police presence on the transport network in London.

Hundreds of detectives and MI5 are investigating the attack, which took place at 08:20 BST on an eastbound train.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley earlier refused to say whether anyone had been arrested.

Image copyright PA

Image caption One commuter took a picture of the device, which appeared to have wires protruding from a white canister

Pictures taken of the train show a white bucket on fire inside a supermarket bag, with wires trailing on to the carriage floor. The BBC understands the device had a timer.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said the bomb appeared not to have gone off.

Had it worked as intended, it would have killed everyone around it and maimed everyone in the train carriage for life, he said.

Latest updates: Incident at Parsons Green

May rebukes Trump for terror tweets

Witnesses describe what happened

What powers do police have to deal with terrorism?

In pictures: Parsons Green blast

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionPM: Trump speculation "not helpful"

US President Donald Trump has spoken to Prime Minister Theresa May to convey his sympathies for those injured in the terrorist attack, the White House has said.

President Trump pledged to continue close collaboration with the UK to stop attacks and combat extremism, the statement added.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "President Trump called the prime minister earlier today to offer his condolences over this morning's cowardly attack in London."

US President Donald Trump had earlier tweeted that the "sick and demented" people behind the attack had been in the sights of the Metropolitan Police, prompting Mrs May to say it was not helpful to "speculate" on an ongoing investigation.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionAssistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has been treating 14 people, with a "small number" of them being taken to its specialist burns unit.

Four people are being treated by Imperial College Healthcare and three at St George's Hospital.

St Thomas' Hospital in London said it had treated eight patients but they had now been discharged.

Mr Rowley asked the public to remain "vigilant", but said they should "not be alarmed".

He said anyone who took pictures or videos at the scene could upload them to ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan appealed for calm, saying the city would "never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism".

Witnesses speak of 'panic'

Witnesses to the incident have described seeing at least one passenger with facial injuries, while others spoke of "panic" as alarmed passengers left the train at the station, which is above ground.

Anna Gorniak, who was in the same Tube carriage as the explosion, said: "I could see a fireball filling the carriage and coming our way. At that moment, I started to run.

"In my mind I was praying, I probably thought for a second, 'That's it, my life is over.'"

Image caption Anna Gorniak said she could see a fireball "filling the carriage"

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionPeter Crowley: "There was a fireball above my head"

Passenger Peter Crowley was sitting in the carriage, travelling from Wimbledon, when the explosion happened.

He said his head was burned by a "really hot intense fireball above my head" and added: "There were people a lot worse than me."

Chris Wildish told BBC Radio 5 live he saw a bucket in a supermarket bag with "low-level flames coming out of it" by the door of the rear carriage.

Analysis

Image copyright AFP

Image caption The blast happened at 08:20 BST at Parsons Green District Line station

By Dominic Casciani, BBC home affairs correspondent

The bomb at Parsons Green was an improvised explosive device (IED) and, like those on 21/7, it didn't work as planned.

The device's initiator appears to have worked - but the main charge did not detonate. This could be because the bomb-maker had got the recipe wrong.

In the case of the 21/7 attacks, the attackers tried to create TATP, an explosive compound made from hydrogen peroxide, commonly sold as hair bleach, and other chemicals.

They added chapatti flour to make the explosion more powerful still. But their chemistry was incompetent - in fact so incompetent that the ringleader had no idea, when he strapped on his rucksack, whether his device was capable of detonating or not.

TATP was used in the Manchester Arena attack earlier this year - and it was also the chemical of choice for some of the Paris 2015 attackers and the men behind the Brussels Airport bombing the following year.

Read more

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption There have been a "number of people" injured, police said

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionWitnesses describe the explosion at Parsons Green

Emma Stevie, 27, who was on the train when the explosion happened, said she was caught in a "human stampede" and crush on the station steps as people rushed away from the train.

"I wedged myself in next to a railing, I put myself in the foetal position," she said.

"There was a pregnant woman underneath me, and I was trying really hard not to crush her.

"I saw a poor little boy with a smashed-in head and other injuries. It was horrible."

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionBBC presenter Sophie Raworth was near Parsons Green station minutes after the incident happened

At Parsons Green

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Witnesses have described seeing at least one passenger with facial injuries

By Jennifer Scott, BBC News

London has again fallen victim to a terror attack, targeting commuters on their way to work and visitors venturing out into the city.

With 22 people treated in hospital, this bustling part of zone two was left confused and shocked, waiting anxiously for an explanation.

Olaniyi Shokumai was riding the Tube on the way to a training course, with his headphones plugged in and listening to music - just as he would on any other journey.

After the train pulled into Parsons Green station, however, things became far from ordinary.

"I looked to my left and I saw lots of people running out. There were a lot of people just stamping on each other and I saw someone jumping over [them].

"There was a woman on the floor and she couldn't breathe. I thought, 'This has got to be serious for people to do that.'"

Ladders used to evacuate train

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41278545

[mavwrekmarketing]

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionFootage shows a burning bag on board the Tube carriage at Parsons Green station

An “improvised explosive device” was detonated on a Tube train in south-west London during Friday’s morning rush hour, injuring 29 people.

The blast, at Parsons Green station on a District Line train from Wimbledon, is being treated as terrorism.

So-called Islamic State says it carried out the attack, which Prime Minister Theresa May condemned as “cowardly”.

A hunt is under way for the person who placed the device and the area around the station has been evacuated.

Specialist officers there securing the remains of the improvised device and ensuring it is stable.

‘Cowardly attack’

Mrs May said the attack had been “intended to cause significant harm”.

She said the UK’s terror threat level would remain at severe – the second highest – but would be under review.

Speaking in Downing Street after chairing a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee, she said there would be an increased armed police presence on the transport network in London.

Hundreds of detectives and MI5 are investigating the attack, which took place at 08:20 BST on an eastbound train.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley earlier refused to say whether anyone had been arrested.

Image copyright PA

Image caption One commuter took a picture of the device, which appeared to have wires protruding from a white canister

Pictures taken of the train show a white bucket on fire inside a supermarket bag, with wires trailing on to the carriage floor. The BBC understands the device had a timer.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said the bomb appeared not to have gone off.

Had it worked as intended, it would have killed everyone around it and maimed everyone in the train carriage for life, he said.

Latest updates: Incident at Parsons Green

May rebukes Trump for terror tweets

Witnesses describe what happened

What powers do police have to deal with terrorism?

In pictures: Parsons Green blast

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionPM: Trump speculation “not helpful”

US President Donald Trump has spoken to Prime Minister Theresa May to convey his sympathies for those injured in the terrorist attack, the White House has said.

President Trump pledged to continue close collaboration with the UK to stop attacks and combat extremism, the statement added.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “President Trump called the prime minister earlier today to offer his condolences over this morning’s cowardly attack in London.”

US President Donald Trump had earlier tweeted that the “sick and demented” people behind the attack had been in the sights of the Metropolitan Police, prompting Mrs May to say it was not helpful to “speculate” on an ongoing investigation.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionAssistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has been treating 14 people, with a “small number” of them being taken to its specialist burns unit.

Four people are being treated by Imperial College Healthcare and three at St George’s Hospital.

St Thomas’ Hospital in London said it had treated eight patients but they had now been discharged.

Mr Rowley asked the public to remain “vigilant”, but said they should “not be alarmed”.

He said anyone who took pictures or videos at the scene could upload them to ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan appealed for calm, saying the city would “never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism”.

Witnesses speak of ‘panic’

Witnesses to the incident have described seeing at least one passenger with facial injuries, while others spoke of “panic” as alarmed passengers left the train at the station, which is above ground.

Anna Gorniak, who was in the same Tube carriage as the explosion, said: “I could see a fireball filling the carriage and coming our way. At that moment, I started to run.

“In my mind I was praying, I probably thought for a second, ‘That’s it, my life is over.'”

Image caption Anna Gorniak said she could see a fireball “filling the carriage”

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionPeter Crowley: “There was a fireball above my head”

Passenger Peter Crowley was sitting in the carriage, travelling from Wimbledon, when the explosion happened.

He said his head was burned by a “really hot intense fireball above my head” and added: “There were people a lot worse than me.”

Chris Wildish told BBC Radio 5 live he saw a bucket in a supermarket bag with “low-level flames coming out of it” by the door of the rear carriage.

Analysis

Image copyright AFP

Image caption The blast happened at 08:20 BST at Parsons Green District Line station

By Dominic Casciani, BBC home affairs correspondent

The bomb at Parsons Green was an improvised explosive device (IED) and, like those on 21/7, it didn’t work as planned.

The device’s initiator appears to have worked – but the main charge did not detonate. This could be because the bomb-maker had got the recipe wrong.

In the case of the 21/7 attacks, the attackers tried to create TATP, an explosive compound made from hydrogen peroxide, commonly sold as hair bleach, and other chemicals.

They added chapatti flour to make the explosion more powerful still. But their chemistry was incompetent – in fact so incompetent that the ringleader had no idea, when he strapped on his rucksack, whether his device was capable of detonating or not.

TATP was used in the Manchester Arena attack earlier this year – and it was also the chemical of choice for some of the Paris 2015 attackers and the men behind the Brussels Airport bombing the following year.

Read more

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption There have been a “number of people” injured, police said

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionWitnesses describe the explosion at Parsons Green

Emma Stevie, 27, who was on the train when the explosion happened, said she was caught in a “human stampede” and crush on the station steps as people rushed away from the train.

“I wedged myself in next to a railing, I put myself in the foetal position,” she said.

“There was a pregnant woman underneath me, and I was trying really hard not to crush her.

“I saw a poor little boy with a smashed-in head and other injuries. It was horrible.”

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionBBC presenter Sophie Raworth was near Parsons Green station minutes after the incident happened

At Parsons Green

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Witnesses have described seeing at least one passenger with facial injuries

By Jennifer Scott, BBC News

London has again fallen victim to a terror attack, targeting commuters on their way to work and visitors venturing out into the city.

With 22 people treated in hospital, this bustling part of zone two was left confused and shocked, waiting anxiously for an explanation.

Olaniyi Shokumai was riding the Tube on the way to a training course, with his headphones plugged in and listening to music – just as he would on any other journey.

After the train pulled into Parsons Green station, however, things became far from ordinary.

“I looked to my left and I saw lots of people running out. There were a lot of people just stamping on each other and I saw someone jumping over [them].

“There was a woman on the floor and she couldn’t breathe. I thought, ‘This has got to be serious for people to do that.'”

Ladders used to evacuate train

Read more: http://ift.tt/2x6vUTd

The post Tube blast is terror incident, say police appeared first on MavWrek Marketing by Jason

http://ift.tt/2xag8H6

[mayawanelik-blog]

PEP160 Reflective Log

1) My first editorial idea is to re-create a selection of iconic old paintings of women. I’ve carefully selected my models to identify people who best resemble the women in the paintings. For each of the selected paintings, I'll try re-create the model's pose, the lighting situation and the painting's emotional mood because they constitute the most essential components by which a given painting can be identified. I’ve decided to take all my photos against the black background to make them look more like a consistent series. The only thing that I’ll be changing is clothing and accessories. I’m going to use the clothing of similar size, texture and colour, but my clothing will be streetwear of the present times. I’m going to shoot this project in a studio in order to have full control of the lighting.

Being interested in streetwear myself, I observe the hype around the streetwear brands like Nike, Supreme, Burberry, North Face, and other sportswear brands, and I'd therefore like to make a photographic comment on this current social phenomenon.

For my research, I looked at Nina Katchadourian, who re-created old-fashioned Flemish-style paintings in lavatories of 200 flights:

http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/photography/sa-flemish.php

I like the creativity of these self-portraits and their comedic nature. Her work made me think about whether I'd like my photos to be humorous or serious. I decided to create (semi-)serious pastiches rather than parodies.

I also looked at Maisie Broadhead's exceptional-quality work:

http://www.maisiebroadhead.com/

She re-interprets old paintings and historical images. She uses complex set designs and lavish costumes which add a theatrical quality to her work. Her images mix contemporary and historical components that link the past and present by identifying enduring social and aesthetic narratives.

Other photographers that I looked at for inspiration were: Annie Leibovitz, Steven Meisel, Mark Borthwick and Tyrone Lebon. I found many painterly-like features in their work (some of their work references actual paintings) and tried to find inspiration for how to make a photograph remind the viewer of a painting. In particular, Meisel’s work inspired me to use a black backdrop for all my photos as this should help the viewer to fully concentrate on the model’s pose, facial expression and clothing.

It took me some time scouting my models and styling each portrait. I managed this task by picking profile pictures of several people and then placing them next to the relevant painting, and finally selecting the best match.

I can imagine these portraits being published in the PYLOT magazine as they have a strong fashion narrative but are also artistic and quirky. PYLOT promotes alternative fashion and art, so my images would fit there rather well.

One thing I regret is not photographing men as well for this project as it would be even more thought-provoking to reflect on aspects of gender-fluidity in 'Mona Lisa' or 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'. However, I intend to pursue this idea in the future.

2) For my second double spread, I decided to use some of the work I did during London Fashion Week (LFW) in February this year. I was commissioned to shoot for one of the world's leading manufacturers of colour cosmetics, INGLOT:

http://inglotcosmetics.com/

This was INGLOT's debut in LFW with Kristian Aadnevik:

http://www.kristianaadnevik.com/

Apart from photographing models on the catwalk, I decided to photograph life behind the scenes too. I wanted to capture the intense atmosphere before every catwalk and the raw experience of all people contributing to their success. I accomplished this aim by shooting from low angles and using unconventional perspectives. I tried to create an honest representation of what is going behind the scenes.

I selected the most striking and telling LFW photos for this double-spread series. I also wrote a piece on how models' well-being can be compromised by their career in the fashion industry to accompany my series of photos.

I’m using the Huck magazine as reference for the layout as I find that this particular magazine draws attention to many social issues and therefore they may be interested in publishing my series as a documentary piece. I've pitched my idea to their News Editor, Michael Segalov, and he came back with a positive reply, remarking however that he wasn’t sure if people would be very interested as LFW was a while ago. I intend to e-mail him back explaining that my series contains a more universal message and, if desirable, I'll take more photos during the upcoming fashion shows to expand this work.

As an inspiration for this project, I looked at the following LFW photographers: Ella. H, Jean-Luc Brouard, Lillie Eiger. Also, I read many articles about LFW and the fashion scene in London in general.

I’m happy with my photos in this series, but I wish I had more time to speak to the models and perhaps to get some quotes from them about how they felt in that moment in time. It seems fair to say that some of them looked vulnerable or stressed, and therefore having quotes from them would add to the impact of my photos.

3) For my third double spread, I decided to look at streetwear in the context of the female audience. A great deal has already been said on guys and their attitude to streetwear, so I thought it would be interesting to shoot a streetwear project on girls as this would show the scene from the female perspective.

I decided to look for a female model on a Facebook website, called Wavey Garms. This is a retail company which sells items of clothing with their logo on it. They also discuss fashion and promote fashion photography. Everyone who is part of this group has a unique way of dressing, which is often described as alternative streetwear. This style is very much focused on labels and finding good ‘steals’.

I found my model, Maddie, by talking to people in the Wavey Garms group and eventually messaging her directly on Depop. I’d like to photograph Maddie in her own clothing as this will help capture her unique style and personality.

I decided to photograph her in an arcade as she usually wears very bright and vibrant clothes which should blend in well with the vending machines and bright colours found in arcades. I also thought this location would make the shoot feel even more urban.

I was very happy with my shoot with Maddie in the arcade. However, I should have taken a flash light with me as I had to spend a lot of my time on post-processing, lightening my photos in Lightroom as the originals were rather dark.

I can imagine my images being published in the i-D magazine, so I’ll be using their double spreads for reference. i-D includes a lot of streetwear fashion and alternative styles, so my photo-series with Maddie is a perfect match for this magazine's audience.

When planning this shoot and deciding on my styling choices, I looked at the following photographers for inspiration: Vicky Grout, Terry Richardson, Ciesay of Places+Faces, and many Instagram accounts.

4) For my fourth double spread, I decided to continue my interest with branding and the question of why people are drawn to brands and fashion labels. To carry out this project, I bought a set of temporary transfer tattoos to put them on my model’s face and body. These tattoos featured the logos of some well-known fashion brands. These logos were all black, and I hoped that this would help create a strong contrast with the pale skin of my model and the white backdrop in the studio. I anticipated that I might convert my photos to black-and-white images to emphasize the contrast. Also, I opted for using natural light in the studio. However, after doing my 24-hour shoot in London for PEP 140, I was so happy with my London photographs that I decided to use them for this brief instead of my fashion-labels photos.

For the London shoot, I photographed a friend of mine, Devante. I thought that this would be a refreshing change as I usually photograph young women, and therefore I wanted to expand my portfolio.

I decided to shoot at Rowley Way in London as I really like the architecture and the abstract shapes these buildings convey to the viewer. It was very sunny on the day of my Rowley-House shoot, and I really like the way the shadows came out in the final shots.

However, I must admit it was hard to shoot in the bright sunlight, but I regularly checked both my camera settings and the photos I took to make sure that they were not too over-exposed.

After editing my pictures, I could really see them being published in the HYPEBEAST magazine as Devante is a very gifted stylist himself and he styled his looks really well with various different brands, shapes and colours. In fact, he has developed his own brand, called Envism

https://www.instagram.com/envism/

and, since HYPEBEAST likes to promote new upcoming designers, this magazine is a perfect match for my photo-series. I thought it would be a shame not to do more with my London images so I decided to use them for my 4th double-spread and my fashion-labels photos for my 24-hour shoot.

For inspiration for this shoot, I looked at Tyrone Lebone, Oliver Hadlee Pearch, Diane Abapo, Fucking Young! Magazine and Mike Key.

When selecting my final images for the layout, I chose photos featuring different outfits and colours. Also, I selected two portraits and one landscape image to make the series more engaging and varied. I particularly like the abstract geometric patterns found in the background architecture as they amplify the modern-urban aesthetics of my images without distracting the viewer from the principal content.    

One thing I could have done better is to interview with Devante about his new brand Envism to provide more context for my photos. However, I intend to do it next time I work with him.

[omcik-blog]

New Post has been published on OmCik

New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/white-house-discusses-changes-to-ryan-aca-de-funding-plan/

White House discusses changes to Ryan ACA de-funding plan

Mark Meadows, who speaks for conservative House Republicans, says he thinks he’s making progress on efforts to improve the AHCA draft. (Photo: Meadows)

Bloomberg) — House Speaker Paul Ryan doesn’t plan to make major changes to Republicans’ plan to de-funding the Affordable Care Act, according to a GOP aide, but the White House says it’s talking with members of Congress who want to amend the legislation.

“We’ve always stated a willingness,” Sean Spicer, White House spokesman, told reporters Tuesday in Washington. “Part of the reason we’re engaging with these individuals is to hear their ideas.”

Related: AARP says GOP plan burdens older, lower-income Americans

Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus and an opponent of Ryan’s plan, said, “I think we’re making real good progress with the White House and leadership, and I’m optimistic that we’ll see some good results in less than a week.”

Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy are speaking with President Donald Trump by telephone Tuesday afternoon to discuss the next steps.

House Republicans are in a bind following a Congressional Budget Office estimate showing that 14 million Americans could lose their insurance next year under the GOP ACA de-funding plan. The CBO gave a dire picture of the bill’s effects heading into the 2018 congressional elections.

Related: CBO sees AHCA cutting $337 billion from the deficit

At the same time, insurance premiums will continue to rise in the near term, especially for older Americans. Starting in 2020, older, poorer Americans will have far less help from Republican tax credits than they get through Obamacare subsidies.

Rethinking the plan

Even as the Trump administration challenged the CBO estimate, concern is growing that the analysis suggests the party may need to rethink its plan.

Senators have largely focused on concerns that Medicaid provisions in the bill will limit states that expanded or want to expand the shared federal-state program, though with the CBO estimate they’re also expressing worry about what will happen to the older and poorer people in their states who must purchase insurance on their own. Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, told reporters Tuesday he will seek changes to tax credits in House Republicans’ plan to to help poor people.

“I do think we can tailor the tax credit in a way that makes it more attractive to people and more helpful to people on the lower end and with a phaseout that is a little less steep than what the House has,” Thune said.

Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, told reporters he expects the bill will be changed considerably “not just to suit the Senate, it’s to finally get to final passage and to help people.”

The number of Americans without coverage would rise to 24 million in 2026 under Ryan’s plan, bringing the U.S. uninsured rate to a record 19 percent, according to the nonpartisan CBO.

Older, poorer people will face the steepest decreases in financial help under Ryan’s plan.

A 64-year-old earning $26,500 a year would have a $19,500 premium for health insurance and get a tax credit of $4,900, leaving a bill to pay of $14,600, the CBO estimated. That compares to a $15,300 premium under the ACA with a $13,600 subsidy, leaving the cost to the individual at $1,700.

“It is clear that this bill is not consistent with the repeal and replace principles for which I stand,” Rep. Rob Wittman, a Virginia Republican, said in a statement Monday after the CBO estimate was released. “I do not think this bill will do what is necessary for the short and long-term best interests of Virginians and therefore, I must oppose it.”

Wittman said he supports repealing the health law and will work with colleagues “on legislation that expands choices, increases access, and reduces costs.”

HHS Secretary Tom Price says the CBO left out the effects of the changes HHS can make through the regulatory process. (Photo: Price) 

‘Take a pause’

Insurance premiums will be 15 percent to 20 percent higher over the next couple of years, before the GOP replacement plan goes fully into effect, the CBO estimated. They’d fall after that, thanks to more young people signing up and insurers offering skimpier coverage, the CBO says. In a decade, premiums are estimated to be 10 percent lower than they would have been under Obamacare, the CBO estimated.

“I suspect that the political consequences of those near-term changes mean that the long term will never actually arrive,” Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said Tuesday on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show. “That’s why I believe it’s so important that the House take a pause and try to fix some of these fixable problems in their committees, which is the easiest place in Congress to fix them, whereas the Senate floor is the hardest place to fix them.”

Sen. Roy Blunt said Tuesday that he thinks the House will alter the bill before it gets sent to Senate.

“And the plan will be open to change here,” the Missouri Republican said as he headed into a lunch with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

McCarthy of California said Tuesday on Fox News that he believes the plan will pass in the House. “This is Obamacare gone — we repeal it, we repeal the taxes, and we actually make a system that works,” he said.

Entire plan

House Republican leaders and White House officials, who had been attacking the CBO even before it released its findings, immediately rejected the latest estimates. They said the legislation is only the first of three phases of their health care plan.

Price told reporters that the CBO didn’t analyze the entire plan for health care, including regulatory changes that can be made by HHS.

“We disagree strenuously with the report that was put out,” said Price, who was involved in picking the current CBO director in his previous role as House Budget chairman. “We believe that our plan will cover more individuals at a lower cost and give them the choices that they want, the coverage that they want for themselves and their families.”

But several Senate Republicans said the new estimate shouldn’t be dismissed.

“Rather than attacking the CBO as a way of moving forward, I think the prudent thing for the party to do is to look at the CBO report and see if we can address some of the concerns raised,” South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham said.

Republicans trying to pass the legislation without Democratic support argued that any reduction in the rolls of the insured isn’t as important as what they say will be cheaper coverage. Ryan said there will be a stable transition if the bill is passed so “no one has the rug pulled out from under them.”

Ryan ‘encouraged’

House leadership is “working on getting that consensus” with Republicans in both chambers, Ryan said on Fox News Monday evening. Ryan said he expected the score to show fewer people covered under a plan that doesn’t include a mandate to buy insurance, and he highlighted the deficit reduction and lower premiums in the long term.

“Actually, I think if you read this entire report, I’m pretty encouraged by it, it actually exceeded my expectations,” Ryan told Fox’s Bret Baier Monday.

The legislation, called the American Health Care Act, repeals the ACA mandate that requires many individuals to have insurance or pay a penalty, and the mandate that requires many employers to offer health coverage. It also provides age-based tax credits to help people purchase coverage, though they’re lower than the income-based subsidies offered under current law. The bill will also wind down the ACA expansion of Medicaid. About 12 million people gained coverage in the 31 states that expanded Medicaid.

Two House committees approved the act last Thursday after marathon sessions in which Democrats offered amendments rejected by Republicans. The bill will head next to the Budget Committee on Thursday before being considered by the full House of Representatives.

—With assistance from Steven T. Dennis, Arit John, Toluse Olorunnipa, Erik Wasson, Billy House, James Rowley, Laura Curtis and Terrence Dopp. 

Related:

Cruz pushes ACA repeal gambit that could roil U.S. Senate

House panels approve ACA de-funder drafts

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Brexiteer fury as Jeremy Corbyn reveals his soft Brexit shopping list

Jeremy Corbyn demanded ‘a customs union with the European Union’ in his face-to-face Brexit showdown with Theresa May today, he said after a meeting that has threatened to tear apart the Conservative Party.

The hard Left Labour leader emerged from his first meeting with the Prime Minister to pronounce it ‘useful but inconclusive’, and complained that there ‘hasn’t been as much change as I expected’.

The opposition leader confirmed that he raised the idea of a second referendum and that technical talks on finding an end to the Brexit impasse would continue on Thursday morning.

As well as a customs union he said they had discussed ‘dynamic regulatory alignment’ with the trade block that would see Britain retain minimum standards on ‘the environment as well as consumer and employment rights’.  

Mr Corbyn said he raised the issue of a confirmatory public vote on any Brexit deal with Mrs May.

‘I said this is the policy of our party, that we would want to pursue the option of a public vote to prevent crashing out or to prevent leaving with a bad deal,’ he said.

‘There was no agreement reached on that, we just put it there as one of the issues that the Labour Party conference voted on last year.’

The meeting came late on a day which saw two two Tory ministers resign in disgust, with MPs demanding a new secret ballot on Theresa May’s leadership today after she chose to hatch a Brexit deal with Jeremy Corbyn rather than leave the EU with No Deal on April 12.

The Prime Minister has enraged her party by abandoning hopes of persuading hardline Brexiteers and the DUP to back her deal and instead offering talks with the Labour leader on delivering a softer Brexit.

Mrs May and Mr Corbyn were locked in talks for around two hours this afternoon amid fevered speculation they could agree on a customs union plan that would end hopes of post-Brexit trade deals. Mr Corbyn left saying the talks went ‘well’ and Labour said there was an agreement to hold more talks.

Downing Street said the meeting was ‘constructive’. Aides will meet further later before intensive negotiations tomorrow.

Since the meeting was called dozens of irate grassroots Tory members have been cutting up their memberships in protest and posting pictures of their destroyed cards on social media.

Today Mrs May was bombarded with hostile questions from her own side at Prime Minister’s Questions and as she met with the Labour leader this afternoon junior Brexit minister Chris Heaton-Harris, who was tasked with planning for No Deal, resigned.

The Daventry MP said: ‘You don’t want to quit the EU without a deal, and that makes my job irrelevant’.

Tonight Mrs May said he had done ‘crucial work’ to prepare the country for No Deal and thanked Mr Heaton-Harris for his service. 

This morning Nigel Adams, the junior Wales Office minister, became the first to quit over the concessions to Mr Corbyn and told Mrs May: ‘It now seems that you have decided a deal – cooked up by a Marxist who has never put British interests first – is better than No Deal’.

Ahead of a meeting of the 1922 Committee at 5pm, Tory MPs are understood to be bombarding chairman Sir Graham Brady with demands for a new secret ballot on her leadership despite party rules protecting her from an official challenge until December. 

Theresa May suffered attack-after-attack in the Commons today for choosing to reach out to Jeremy Corbyn to help deliver Brexit

Sir Graham called a formal vote of no confidence in Mrs May’s leadership in December, which Mrs May won – a victory which should have protected her for 12 months.

But there are fast moving demands for new action this afternoon, MailOnline has been told by a source close to the committee. Despite party rules, the committee could act if demands from MPs continue to mount.

How can Tory MPs oust Theresa May?

Westminster is rife with rumours Tory MPs are so angry with Theresa May’s Brexit pivot they want a new vote to remove her.

The Prime Minister fought and won a vote of no confidence in her party leadership in December – meaning she cannot be forced out by party rules.

But demands are mounting this afternoon for the party’s backbench 1922 Committee to call another vote anyway.

The theory is a new secret ballot would allow ministers to join a revolt and produce a landslide vote against Mrs May’s leadership. 

Success would be yet another political humiliation piled onto the ailing Prime Minister.

But she has already suffered more indignities than any leader in living memory and carried on regardless – so the plotters cannot be sure it would work.  

A senior MP said Tories could also go on a ‘vote strike’ if Mrs May refuses to stand aside immediately – making it impossible for the Government to pass any business in the Commons.

One member of the Government told MailOnline anger across the party was ‘unfocused’ and many MPs were waiting for senior members of the party to intervene.

Mrs May met Mr Corbyn in her Parliament office at 2.30pm, followed by SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at 4.15pm and Labour’s Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford at 5pm.

A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘Today’s talks were constructive, with both sides showing flexibility and a commitment to bring the current Brexit uncertainty to a close.

‘We have agreed a programme of work to ensure we deliver for the British people, protecting jobs and security.’

A Labour spokeswoman: ‘We have had constructive exploratory discussions about how to break the Brexit deadlock.

‘We have agreed a programme of work between our teams to explore the scope for agreement.’

Her official spokesman said the ‘objective is to try and work towards a resolution we can jointly bring to the House for approval’ while Mr Corbyn’s spokesman said: ‘A few insults here and there are not going to dim Jeremy’s commitment to find a way forward on Brexit’.

Before the talks, Mrs May came face-to-face with the Labour leader in the Commons this afternoon – but both swerved the subject during their cordial exchange at Prime Minister’s Questions ahead of their 2.30pm talks.

But Tory-after-Tory then hammered the Prime Minister in a series of stinging attacks with Brexiteer Caroline Johnson asking her party leader how the risk to Britain of No Deal compared to the risk of a ‘Marxist, anti-Semite-led government’.

Conservative Julian Lewis demanded to know why a PM who repeatedly said No Deal was better than a bad deal would rather speak to Labour than leave on April 12. 

And Eurosceptic backbencher Lee Rowley told Mrs May that just a week ago she said Mr Corbyn was the biggest threat to the UK and asked her: ‘What qualifies him to be involved in Brexit?’.

Each time the PM insisted she had a good deal and said she and Mr Corbyn both want to deliver on Brexit.  

Earlier Iain Duncan Smith, who urged MPs to back her deal, said: ‘I’m absolutely appalled.

‘I would simply counsel my government and party and Prime Minister to stop. Think very carefully what you are doing if you give legitimacy to a man who, I think, is genuinely not fit to run Brtain and will do it damage.’

This morning Mrs May hit back at critics with a letter to all Tory MPs saying ‘this impasse cannot go on’, and declaring: ‘With some colleagues unwilling to support the Government, this is the only way to deliver the smooth, orderly Brexit that we promised.’

She pointed the finger at Tory Brexiteers, remainer rebels and the DUP saying her deal will not pass without Labour support because ‘having tried three times, it is clear that is is unlikely to happen’.   

Her olive branch to Jeremy Corbyn has led to its first ministerial resignation and a Tory civil war with irate Brexiteers including Jacob Rees-Mogg accusing her of making the Labour leader deputy Prime Minister. 

Theresa May has written to Tory MPs and said they left her with no option but to negotiate with Jeremy Corbyn after they voted her deal down three times. Hours later junior Brexit minister Chris Heaton-Harris, who was tasked with planning for No Deal, resigned saying her decision to rule it out made his job ‘irrelevant’

Members of the Conservative Eurosceptic ERG group have openly admitted they are plotting to throw Mrs May out of No 10 because she has asked Mr Corbyn to help rescue her EU divorce.  

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WITH BREXIT?

TODAY: MPS TRY TO STOP NO DEAL AND TALKS WITH CORBYN 

MPs will try to stop No Deal by passing a law compelling May to ask for a delay to Brexit.  The MPs led by Oliver Letwin and Yvetter Cooper will try to ram the legislation through the Commons tomorrow – with the help of Speaker John Bercow. Bercow has already been accused of being a Remain sympathiser who is helpful to Remain causes but less so to Brexiteers.

Meanwhile, Theresa May is holding talks with Jeremy Corbyn about the possibility of a new cross-party consensus on Brexit.

She will also meet with SNP Leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon 

THURSDAY: CROSS PARTY TALKS CONTINUE?  

Mrs May needs to know what shape her new Brexit plan might look like. Talks with Labour and other parties must conclude.

There will probably be a need to agree some kind of motion to put to MPs on Friday so Mrs May can show the EU she finally has an agreement at home.

FRIDAY: DECISION TIME

Time is running desperately short for May to decide an alternative before the EU summit on 10 April. The government must brief EU governments on what to expect so preparations for the summit can be made.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 10: EU SUMMIT

Another summit with EU leaders – where May will ask for a new delay beyond April 12. 

May’s new plan is to strike a cross-party consensus in London and persuade EU leaders it means the deal can be delivered in time for Brexit on May 22.

She may have to accept a longer extension that means holding EU elections, as Brussels has made clear this is a red line – and will take a decision on delay without Britain and it must be unanimous. 

EU officials including Michel Barnier have warned that the risk of an accidental No Deal is increasing if May arrives with no plan.

FRIDAY APRIL 12: BREXIT DAY

Britain is due to leave the EU without a deal on this date if no delay is agreed. 

  This morning junior Welsh minister Nigel Adams quit in disgust saying the PM had made a ‘grave error’ by ‘legitimising and turning to’ Jeremy Corbyn, telling her in his resignation letter: ‘It now seems that you have decided a deal – cooked up by a Marxist who has never put British interests first – is better than No Deal’. 

At PMQs Mrs May said she was ‘sorry’ Mr Adams had resigned. 

The Prime Minister will meet the Labour leader today and reportedly plans to hammer out a deal by Friday night to avoid a long Brexit delay and dodge European elections. She will take the plan to an EU summit next Wednesday and try to get the bloc’s 27 leaders to agree. 

At Prime Minister’s Questions today Mr Corbyn welcomed Mrs May’s ‘willingness to compromise to resolve the Brexit deadlock’ but chose to grill her on benefits cuts and the TV Licence rather than leaving the EU.

His shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey has suggested that Labour’s price for backing the PM’s deal will be a customs union with the EU not a second referendum.

But Mr Corbyn will demand anything they agree will be put into law to avoid the Tories wriggling out of it when Mrs May quits, according to the Evening Standard. 

At PMQs Tory MP Caroline Johnson asked Mrs May: ‘If it comes to the point when we have to balance the risk of a no-deal Brexit versus the risk of letting down the country and ushering in a Marxist, anti-Semite led government, what does she think, at that point, is the lowest risk?’

Mrs May responded: ‘What I want to see is that we are able to deliver for her constituents and others across the country, and that we deliver Brexit and do it as soon as possible. In delivering Brexit, we need to make sure we are delivering on the result of the referendum.’ 

But Mrs May’s truce with Mr Corbyn briefly ended when Former Brexit minister David Jones asked: ‘Does it remain the position of the Prime Minister that the leader of the opposition is not fit to govern?’

The PM said: ‘I do not think the Labour Party should be in Government. It is the Conservatives that are delivering for people, and the leader of the opposition and I have different opinions on a number of issues.’

She pointed to the Salisbury terror attack, saying that ‘this Government stood up against the perpetrators of that attack’ while Mr Corbyn ‘said he preferred to believe Vladimir Putin than our own security agencies’.

Earlier Jacob Rees-Mogg accused Mrs May of planning to collaborate with ‘a known Marxist’  – but ruled out toppling her saying: ‘I have more confidence in Theresa May than in Jeremy Corbyn, though that’s not necessarily a very high bar, and Mr Corbyn – even as deputy – is still not the prime minister’.

He added: ‘Both Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May backed Remain. And the views of the 52 per cent who voted to leave the European Union are not being represented in this attempt at a coalition’.

Jeremy Corbyn WON’T ask May for a second referendum

Jeremy Corbyn will not demand a second referendum and will agree to end freedom of movement from the EU in Brexit talks with the Prime Minister, his official spokesman revealed today.

The Labour leader is expected to ask for a customs union with the EU as his price to support the PM’s deal.

Mr Corbyn is under huge pressure to demand second referendum to support Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement after she begged him for help to get it through the Commons.

But ahead of their first meeting today the party said he will not demand a new public vote on leaving the EU.

His official spokesman said Mr Corbyn only backs a referendum ‘to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit or a No Deal outcome’ – which will be out of the picture if he agrees to a cross-party Brexit deal.

And confirming that he will not demand a major change to Mrs May’s immigration police the spokesman added: ‘Freedom of movement ends when we leave the EU and we will replace it with fair management of migration’. 

Before meeting the PM he met with SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon who said afterwards she would be ‘surprised and very disappointed if Labour sold out’ for the ‘bad deal’ likely to be available from Theresa May.

It came as his Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, who is attended the May/Corbyn summit, also ruled out a second referendum. 

She said: ‘If we get exactly what we want – a good strong deal, then I would struggle to find a reason to put that to a public vote.’

Fellow Brexiteer Priti Patel tweeted: ‘A man who sides with terrorists and socialist dictators, would surrender our nuclear deterrent, has let anti-Semitism run rife in his Party and would bankrupt Britain has now been given the keys to Brexit’ while fellow rebel Andrew Bridgen said: ‘For the good of our country, our democracy, and the Conservative Party, she needs to go now’.

Mrs May sparked rebellion in her party after she used a humbling TV address following a seven-hour cabinet meeting to ask Mr Corbyn to help her ‘break the logjam’, offering him the chance of a customs union or a second referendum.

But Labour MPs have already warned him it is a ‘trap’ to leave him with ‘blood on his hands’ if Britain now leaves the EU with a softer deal or not at all. Labour’s price for backing Theresa May‘s deal will be a customs union with the not a second referendum, shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey suggested today.

Tory infighting increased today Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said Mrs May’s offer of talks with Mr Corbyn was based on ‘remorseless logic’ because the ERG and other Tory MPs had abandoned her.

He said: ‘The Prime Minister’s deal won’t go through and No Deal in law is taken off the table, then the consequence of that is either a soft Brexit or no Brexit at all.  The alternative is to have to seek votes from the opposition benches because 35 of my own colleagues would not support the Prime Minister’s deal’.

Tory Brexiteer MP Andrea Jenkyns, who has voted against the PM’s deal three times, said she is pondering whether she would back the Prime Minister if a confidence vote is called by Labour if Brexit talks collapse.

She said: ‘Would I vote against her in a no confidence, that takes a lot of thinking about’ and added: ‘I know that if the Withdrawal Agreement comes back I will still vote against it’.   

Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured today) is deeply unhappy with Mrs May’s compromise and said Jeremy Corbyn is now deputy Prime Minister

Geoffrey Cox accused of ‘mansplaining’ Brexit – the Brexiteer Spartans were denounced as ‘nutters’: How May’s warring Cabinet split 

A minister called hardline Tory Brexiteers ‘nutters’ and ‘right-wing extremists’ while Attorney General Geoffrey Cox was slapped down for ‘mansplaining’ leaving the EU to a female colleague in Theresa May’s extraordinary seven-hour crisis cabinet meeting.

At the Cabinet summit, up to 14 ministers – Gavin Williamson, Liam Fox, Liz Truss, Sajid Javid, Chris Grayling, Jeremy Wright, Andrea Leadsom, Jeremy Hunt, James Brokenshire, Baroness Evans, Stephen Barclay, Alun Cairns and Brandon Lewis – spoke out against a long delay.  

Nine ministers – David Gauke, Philip Hammond, Greg Clark, David Lidington, Damian Hinds, Claire Perry, Michael Gove, Amber Rudd and Geoffrey Cox – backed a further delay.  Matt Hancock argued against No Deal but called for a short extension.   

Several sources described a clash between energy minister Claire Perry and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox after she ‘went on a rant about Right-wing extremists’ and ‘nutters’ in the Conservative Party.

A source said: ‘Geoffrey Cox boomed ‘enough of the language, that is not the way to speak’. The Prime Minister had to step in and say ‘enough’.’ Mr Cox told Ms Perry to ‘tone it down’ but was accused of ‘mansplaining’.  

Who was on which side of the Cabinet divide? 

Against a long extension (14):

Gavin Williamson

Penny Mordaunt 

Liam Fox

Liz Truss

Sajid Javid

Chris Grayling

Jeremy Wright

Andrea Leadsom

Jeremy Hunt 

James Brokenshire

Baroness Evans

Stephen Barclay

Alun Cairns 

Brandon Lewis

Against No Deal, but for short extension (one)

For a long extension (9):

David Gauke

Philip Hammond

Greg Clark

David Lidington

Damian Hinds

Claire Perry

Michael Gove

Amber Rudd

Geoffrey Cox  

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said while the Labour leader posed a ‘threat’ to the UK he could work with him on Brexit.

Surrender your sausages! The EU will force British holidaymakers to hand over home comforts like pasties, cheese and ham if they try to take them to Europe after a No Deal Brexit 

Cornish pasties could be among foods holidaymakers could be barred from taking to the continent under disease control rules if there is a No Deal Brexit

British holidaymakers could be forced to become smugglers if there is a No Deal Brexit because EU rules will block them from travelling with home comforts like Cornish pasties and pork pies.

Ham, sausages and cheese are among products that could be barred from being taken to the continent if the UK leaves without a deal under hardcore disease control rules.

It came as a senior European Commissioner warned that luggage checks would come into force at all EU borders points immediately if the UK left without a deal at any time.

If the rules were heavily policed it could mean travellers either leaving their beloved comfort snacks behind or find a way of smuggling them past border guards.

‘You will have to pick and choose what you are bringing from the UK. Any animal based product you will not want to put into your luggage. No import of any ham, sausage or other delicacies. That’s the end of that,’ a Brussels official told the Telegraph.

‘The reason for this is you can bring serious diseases into the EU by bringing these products in.’

Currently free movement rules mean that British tourists can travel with whatever food and drink they want.

But under a no-deal departure it would immediately become what is known as a ‘third country’ subject to completely different rules.

Any animal products including meat, gelatine, milk and honey would be subject to stringent rules designed to halt the spread of diseases across the EU.

He admitted that a customs union and a second referendum were on the table but said the talks are not a ‘blank cheque. 

He said: ‘I still think Jeremy Corbyn is a threat to our economy, I think he is someone who poses a serious risk in terms of his economic policy.

‘But his manifesto on Brexit said he wanted to respect the votes of many of his own voters in Labour leave constituencies who voted to leave.

‘So we need to test that because the numbers of the House of Commons dictate that that’s the only way at present we can find a way forward.’

Mr Barclay added that Mr Corbyn had initially refused to meet the Prime Minister and also refused to attend a meeting because former Labour MP Chuka Umunna was there.

Speaking outside her home this morning, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said: ‘The only way to leave is with the Withdrawal Agreement. The Prime Minister is trying to get it through on Conservative votes and has not been able to, she’s now trying to do it with Labour votes.

‘I would say to colleagues who want a truer Brexit, I still hope we can do this with Conservative and DUP votes.

‘But above all else, the public are fed-up of the limbo and business needs certainty.’  

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said he backed the talks with Labour because he wants to leave the EU.

He told BBC Two’s Newsnight: ‘One of my concerns has been that there are people within the House of Commons who want to frustrate that referendum mandate – there are people who want to do everything possible to prevent us leaving – and I wanted to ensure that minds are concentrated so that we do leave.’

Today MPs will start the process of changing the law to prevent No Deal on April 12, with a bill set to be put to the Commons this afternoon and the House of Lords tonight.

Remainer ringleader Sir Oliver Letwin welcomed Mrs May’s offer of talks with Jeremy Corbyn and said the Labour leader is ‘somebody we can do business with’ 

But showing the rift in the party Brexiteer Tory Marcus Fysh: ‘Oliver Letwin shows he does not have the first understanding that a customs union with the EU would not be frictionless, and that such would give EU complete control of our trading conditions. Not fit to be an MP, let alone one destroying our constitution’,

Theresa May appears to have ignored up to 14 cabinet ministers who backed No Deal if her deal dies and pivoted towards a soft Brexit.

More than a dozen senior Tories including Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and Liam Fox spoke out against a long delay to Brexit in a seven-hour ministerial marathon at Downing Street and are now on resignation watch.

The Prime Minister went with the minority – a group of 10 ministers including Amber Rudd and Michael Gove who backed a further delay – in a move which enraged Brexiteers and could trigger a Cabinet walkout as critics said she is ‘tearing the Tory party apart’. 

In an extraordinary intervention of the those remainers, Energy Minister Claire Perry, blasted a cabinet colleague ‘behaving reprehensibly’ for leaking the figures.

She tweeted: ‘There were only FOUR cabinet members who spoke explicitly in favour of no extension and No Deal’.

In a bombshell speech to the nation, Mrs May vowed to ‘break the logjam’ in Westminster by offering talks with Mr Corbyn – who favours a customs union – in a last-ditch bid to find a compromise, saying she would ask Brussels for more time to reach a deal. 

She faced a furious backlash from Brexiteers as Jacob Rees-Mogg declared she was working with a ‘known Marxist’ and said: ‘People did not vote for a Corbyn-May coalition government’. Boris Johnson accused her of betraying voters and the DUP said she was ‘sub-contracting the future of Brexit to Jeremy Corbyn’. 

Mr Corbyn accepted the offer of talks but some Labour MPs voiced suspicions that the PM was trying to ‘dip Mr Corbyn’s hands in the mess’ of Brexit. 

Mrs May’s dramatic move reduces the chance of a No Deal exit on April 12, but leaves little time for a deal if Britain is to leave before May 22 and avoid voting in European Parliament elections. 

At the Cabinet summit, 14 ministers – Gavin Williamson, Liam Fox, Liz Truss, Sajid Javid, Chris Grayling, Jeremy Wright, Andrea Leadsom, Jeremy Hunt, James Brokenshire, Baroness Evans, Stephen Barclay, Alun Cairns and Brandon Lewis – spoke out against a long delay. 

But one source told the BBC that it was actually only four. 

Amid tense exchanges in Downing Street, Mr Williamson called it ‘completely ridiculous’ to seek help from a Labour leader he said was ‘unfit to govern’. 

On the other side, nine ministers – David Gauke, Philip Hammond, Greg Clark, David Lidington, Damian Hinds, Claire Perry, Michael Gove, Amber Rudd and Geoffrey Cox – backed a further delay. 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock appears to have argued against No Deal but called for a short extension

Junior Welsh minister Nigel Adams quit saying in his resignation letter (pictured) the PM had made a ‘grave error’ by ‘legitimising and turning to’ Jeremy Corbyn

A general election was ‘discussed’ by the Cabinet yesterday morning but there was little enthusiasm and ministers ruled it out. 

Juncker throws May a lifeline as he says Britain CAN leave on May 22 and avoid EU elections if she passes the deal by April 12

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured today in Brussels) will spell out the bloc’s position in a speech this afternoon amid rising frustration with Britain’s political deadlock

Jean-Claude Juncker threw Theresa May a lifeline today as he said Britain could still leave the EU on May 22 without holding EU elections if she passes the deal next week.

The EU Commission President said Mrs May’s new strategy would work if her decision to accept cross party talks and pivot to soft Brexit pays off.

The PM is meeting Jeremy Corbyn this afternoon in a desperate final scramble to get her battered divorce deal over the line.

If the two can agree a basis to renegotiate the political declaration on the final UK-EU relationship, Mrs May hopes to use it to pass her deal at the 11th hour. 

Mrs May is in a race against time to set out her demands for an extension at next week’s emergency EU summit. Whatever Mrs May asks for, EU leaders must agree unanimously on the terms – and she will not be in the room as they decide.

Mr Juncker’s intervention stands in contrast to a hardline response from EU leaders led by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Mr Juncker told the Commission today: ‘If the UK is in a position of approving the Withdrawal deal with a viable majority by the 12th April then the… European Union would also accept an extension until the 22nd May.

‘The 12th April is the final date for possible approval. If the House of Commons does not adopt a stance before that date no short-term extension will be possible.’

But Mr Juncker also warned a no-deal Brexit on April 12 was becoming ‘more and more likely’.

‘The European Council has given all necessary time and space to the UK to take its decision. I believe a no-deal on the 12th April at midnight has become a scenario which looks more and more likely.

‘It’s not what I want but we have made sure that the EU is ready to face up to that situation. We’ve been preparing since December 2017. We’ve always known that the logic of Article 50 makes no-deal a default option’.

Ministers had their phones taken away to avoid leaks, were only allowed a sandwich and a stroll around the garden in a short break and were then locked inside Downing Street sipping Chilean red wine while Mrs May prepared her speech.  

In her statement the PM said it was a ‘decisive moment in the story of these islands’ and called for ‘national unity to deliver the national interest’ as she appealed to Mr Corbyn for a compromise. 

Mrs May said the current divorce deal with Brussels could not be changed but promised to renegotiate a new political deal on what Britain’s future relations with the EU might look like.  

She said: ‘Today I’m taking action to break the logjam. I’m offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition and try to agree a plan that we would both stick to to ensure we leave the EU and we do so with a deal.

‘Any plan would have to agree the current Withdrawal Agreement – it has already been negotiated with the 27 other members and the EU has repeatedly said it cannot and will not be re-opened.’

Mrs May said if she and Mr Corbyn could not agree a way forward she would present ‘a number of options for the future relationship that we could put to the house in a series of votes to determine which course to pursue’.

‘Crucially, the Government stands ready to abide by the decision of the House. But to make this process work the opposition would need to agree to this too,’ she added.  

Mrs May went on: ‘This debate, this division, cannot drag on much longer.

‘It is putting Members of Parliament and everyone else under immense pressure – and it is doing damage to our politics.

‘Despite the best efforts of MPs, the process that the House of Commons has tried to lead has not come up with an answer.’  

However Mrs May has promised to step down before the next phase of negotiations, which could complicate her attempts to reach a deal with Labour. 

The Tories have promised to leave the Single Market and Customs Union so they can end free movement of people and strike new trade deals after Brexit but Labour’s policy is to keep a customs union.  

Mrs May made clear she wanted to save the prospect of leaving on May 22 – despite the EU making clear the deal had to be agreed last week to lock in this date.

Failure to persuade the EU to agree that schedule would mean taking part in European Parliament elections next month, which the PM has repeatedly said she does not want.   

Donald Tusk hinted that the EU could approve a further Brexit delay after Theresa May once again asked for more time. 

The president of the European Council called for ‘patience’ as Mrs May seeks to agree a Brexit plan with Labour which can win Parliament’s backing.

Tusk said that ‘we don’t know what the end result will be’, with Britain’s future still uncertain just 10 days before a possible cliff-edge exit.  

The foreign ministers of Germany and France called for more clarity from London on Tuesday.

‘I’m tempted to say let us know if something changes,’ said France’s Jean-Yves Le Drian at a joint press conference the two held in New York. 

‘Three years after their decision, the British must come up with a clear line because otherwise, sadly, it’ll be a hard Brexit in coming days.’

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay has today backed Mrs May’s plan to concede to delay Brexit again and talk to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in order to try and break the deadlock

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas declined to comment on the request for an extension but urged London to move swiftly: ‘That we’re long past five after midnight – they must know that in London, too. 

Finishing her statement, Mrs May said:  ‘This is a difficult time for everyone. Passions are running high on all sides of the argument.

‘But we can and must find the compromises that will deliver what the British people voted for. This is a decisive moment in the story of these islands. And it requires national unity to deliver the national interest.’

In response, Mr Corbyn said: ‘We will meet the Prime Minister. We recognise that she has made a move, I recognise my responsibility to represent the people that supported Labour in the last election and the people who didn’t support Labour but nevertheless want certainty and security for their own future and that’s the basis on which we will meet her and we will have those discussions.’ 

In a furious backlash Boris Johnson said the decision to hand control to Mr Corbyn meant the Cabinet had concluded ‘any deal is better than No Deal’.  

He said: ‘It is very disappointing that the cabinet has decided to entrust the final handling of Brexit to Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party.

‘It now seems all too likely that British trade policy and key law making powers will be handed over to Brussels – with no say for the UK.    

‘As it is, we now face the ridiculous possibility of being forced to contest the European elections more than three years after leaving the EU and having to agree to exit terms that in no way resemble what the people were promised when they voted to leave.

‘The PM and cabinet have concluded that any deal is better than no deal, and this is truly a very bad deal indeed – one that leaves us being run by the EU. I can under no circumstances vote for a deal involving a customs union as I believe that does not deliver on the referendum.’ 

The PM’s DUP allies in Northern Ireland said: ‘The Prime Minister’s lamentable handling of the negotiations with the EU means she has failed to deliver a sensible Brexit deal that works for all parts of the United Kingdom. That is why she has not been able to get it through Parliament.

‘Her announcement therefore comes as little surprise. Though it remains to be seen if sub-contracting out the future of Brexit to Jeremy Corbyn, someone whom the Conservatives have demonised for four years, will end happily.

‘We want the result of the referendum respected, and just as we joined the Common Market as one country we must leave the EU as one country.

‘We will continue to use our position within Parliament and with the Government to argue strongly the case for Northern Ireland and the integrity of the United Kingdom.

‘We remain consistent in judging all Brexit outcomes against our clear unionist principles.’ 

The Commons had failed to find a majority for any alternative Brexit plan in a series of indicative votes on Monday night.  

MPs rejected staying in the customs union or the single market, as well as holding a second referendum or cancelling Brexit altogether. 

Brexiteers blast ‘reprehensible’ plan to push laws to block No Deal through the Commons in a single day as John Bercow rules it IS allowed 

John Bercow (pictured yesterday in the Commons) ruled rebel MPs can try to push through laws to block No Deal in a single day despite Brexiteer fury at the ‘reprehensible’ plot

John Bercow ruled rebel MPs can try to push through laws to block No Deal in a single day despite Brexiteer fury at the ‘reprehensible’ plot.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper has published draft laws that would oblige the Government to seek a long deal to Brexit next week if there is not a deal by April 10. 

She wants to use Commons time grabbed by Tory rebel Oliver Letwin tomorrow to ram the law through the Commons in a matter of hours.

Veteran Brexiteer Sir Bill Cash complained the idea was ‘unconstitutional’ and urged the Commons Speaker to block it.

But Mr Bercow told him pushing through laws in a single day was ‘not particularly unusual’ in itself, pointing out the Government does so in an emergency.

The Speaker has repeatedly been accused of helping Remainers to frustrate Brexit and has threatened to block any further votes on Mrs May’s Brexit deal.

The procedure has been used in recent months to pass laws relating to Northern Ireland, which does not currently have functioning devolution.

The rebels will only be able to push through their draft law in a day if they have a majority of MPs on their side. The House of Lords can still block the law even if they pass it in the Commons. 

After Ms Cooper published her two-clause Bill, Sir Bill, chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, said he had ‘grave concerns’ about the idea of a bill ‘effectively being rammed through in one day’.

Sir Bill said: ‘This is a reprehensible procedure in the context of this vitally important issue of our leaving the European Union. It is unconstitutional.

‘It is inconceivable that we should be presented with a bill which could be rammed through in one day.’

Tory MP Nick Boles, who had put forward plans for a soft Brexit compromise, dramatically quit the Tories in the Commons chamber moments after the votes.  

The possible breakthrough yesterday came as rebel MPs led by Conservative Sir Oliver Letwin and Labour’s Yvette Cooper plotted to seize control of Parliament again today. 

The MPs will try to change the law today to force the PM to stick to her plan to ask Brussels for another Brexit delay.  

Letwin and Cooper will launch their plot to stop No Deal by passing a law compelling Theresa May to ask for a long delay to Brexit.  

If it passes the Remainers intend to force their bill to delay Brexit through the Commons and the Lords on Thursday.

Sir Oliver said: ‘This is a last-ditch attempt to prevent our country being exposed to the risks inherent in a No Deal exit’.

Ms Cooper added: ‘We are now in a really dangerous situation with a serious and growing risk of No Deal in 10 days’ time. The UK needs an extension beyond April 12′.  

Emmanuel Macron had earlier also lashed out at the crisis in Westminster warning that the EU could not ‘be held hostage’ to the Brexit crisis and suggested that the UK might not get an Article 50 extension – unless they soften Brexit.

Speaking as Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar visited Paris, the French president warned that Brussels would be ‘open’ to a further extension to Article 50 only if it was accompanied by firm plans for its use.

He said credible justifications for an Article 50 extension could include an election, second referendum or alternative proposals for the future relationship, such as a customs union.      

But he warned: ‘A long extension involving the participation of the UK in European elections and European institutions is far from evident and certainly not (to be taken) for granted.

‘Our priority shall be the good functioning of the EU and the single market. The EU cannot sustainably be the hostage to the solution to a political crisis in the UK.’

He added: ‘We cannot spend the coming months sorting out yet again the terms of our divorce and dealing with the past.’

The Mail yesterday saw leaked extracts of a bombshell letter from Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill warning ministers how disastrous No Deal could be. 

It warned the Cabinet that No Deal would make Britain ‘less safe’, lead to a recession, a hike in food prices and even risk the break-up of the kingdom. 

But former Brexit Secretary David Davis said it was simply a ‘nonsense Whitehall scare story’. 

Mr Davis warned the Tories are now in a ‘much worse’ state than before Tony Blair’s 1997 Labour landslide and it risks becoming ‘a ruin’ if Mrs May demands a snap poll.  

What does May have to do to get her new Brexit delay? The PM will meet Corbyn TODAY as she starts race against time to strike a cross-party deal ahead of showdown EU summit next week 

Theresa May will sit down for Brexit talks with Jeremy Corbyn today after she enraged her party by offering to find a consensus with the Labour leader.

Mr Corbyn and his senior aides will sit down with the Prime Minister in her Commons office this afternoon and see if they can finally find a compromise that allows the divorce deal to pass.

Mrs May appears to have thrown out the political declaration she agreed with the EU on what the final UK-EU trade deal might look like – signalling she will accept a softer Brexit in the end to get Britain out of the bloc within weeks.

Mr Corbyn has agreed to the talks ‘without limits’ but few in Westminster see how the Tory and Labour positions can be successfully brought together.  

The Tories have promised to leave the Single Market and Customs Union so they can end free movement of people and strike new trade deals after Brexit but Labour’s policy is to keep a customs union.

If the talks fail, Mrs May has promised to put options to Parliament and agreed to be bound by the result. In a second round of indicative votes on Monday night a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit and second referendum were the leading options – but none got a majority of MPs.

The Prime Minister is in a race against time after deciding to avoid No Deal next Friday, April 12.

A new extension must be agreed with the EU at an emergency summit on Wednesday – with Britain’s demands needing to be set out in a letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk early next week.

Mrs May’s speech suggest she will ask for a new extension running at least for several months – but with a break clause if the deal can be passed in the next couple of weeks so Britain could avoid holding EU elections in May.

EU leaders must agree the terms of any extension unanimously and Mrs May will get no say in what is actually decided after she has made her request. 

  What did Mrs May announce last night? 

The Prime Minister said the divorce deal could not be changed but announced she would seek a new consensus with Jeremy Corbyn on the political declaration about the final UK-EU agreement.

She has effectively thrown out the second document and wants a new basis to renegotiate it with the EU. To make progress with Labour, it is inevitable this will for a softer Brexit than her current plan. 

What is the first step? 

Mrs May is due to meet Mr Corbyn later today in her Commons office. There is a race against time to see if there can be a new cross party agreement in time for an EU summit next week.  

What does Mrs May’s shift mean?  

It suggests Mrs May has abandoned all hope of winning over remaining Tory Brexiteers and the DUP on the terms of her current deal.

Striking a cross-party deal on the future relationship will require Mrs May to abandon many of her red lines – including potentially on free movement and striking trade deals.

To get an agreement with Labour, Mrs May will need to agree the political declaration should spell out a much softer Brexit than her current plans do. This might mean a permanent UK-EU customs union or even staying in the EU Single Market.

What if Mr Corbyn says No? 

Mrs May said if she cannot cut a deal with Corbyn, she would ask Parliament to come up with options – and promised to follow orders from MPs.

In a second round of indicative votes on Monday night a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit and second referendum were the leading options – but none got a majority of MPs.

They would probably pass if the Tories whipped for them – but it would almost certainly mean ministers quitting the Government. 

When will Brexit be? 

It is hard to say – but it is unlikely to be next week on April 12. Mrs May said she would ask the EU for a new extension to Article 50 that is as ‘short as possible’ and ends when a deal is passed.

The PM clearly still wants to get out of the EU before European Parliament elections have to be held on May 22 but this is ultimately up to Brussels.

Will the EU agree to this? 

It is hard to say. The EU has said it is open to further extension if there is a clear purpose and plan. Open ended talks on the future framework are unlikely to qualify.

A clear, negotiable goal for the future framework probably would do. The EU has always said it is open to Britain staying in the Single Market and Customs Union.

When does it need to be sorted out? 

Mrs May must have a new plan in her pocket by the time she sees EU leaders next Wednesday. In practice, talks with Mr Corbyn must have concluded today or tomorrow to give time for MPs to have their say if she is to make demand to the EU ahead of next week’s summit. 

What are rebel MPs doing today?  

Oliver Letwin secured control of the Commons agenda today, a third day after he staged indicative votes on Brexit yesterday and last Wednesday.

Today the MPs have a different plan – to pass a draft law requiring the Government to seek a delay to Brexit if there is No Deal.

How do they do it?

Before they can use the time in the Commons they have secured, the MPs must win a vote on the rules known as a Business of the House motion.

Today’s motions says the principle of the new law would be debated until 7pm. After this there is until 10pm to debate any proposed amendments to the law before another vote to finalise it at 10pm.

Is it allowed? 

Yes, in principle and if a majority of MPs vote for the Business of the House motion. Laws have been passed by the Government in a single day before though it remains unorthodox for backbench MPs to have control of the Commons at all.

Can it be stopped? 

Yes, if opponents of the idea can win votes on the issue and block the Business of the House motion. This seems unlikely as Sir Oliver has won his previous votes with a majority of around 40.

What will the Lords do?

Unclear. Forcing the Bill through would require the cooperation of the Lords as there are no timetabling rules in the Upper House. Brexiteers would have a better chance of blocking it in the Lords.

In practice, Labour signalled in January the Lords would be unlikely to outright block a draft law passed by MPs in the Commons.  

Will May resign? 

Nodbody knows for sure. Last week, Mrs May announced she would go if and when her divorce deal passed so a new Tory leader could take charge of the trade talks phase.

In practice, it drained Mrs May of all remaining political capital. Most in Westminster think her Premiership is over within weeks at the latest. 

As her deal folded for a third time on Friday, she faced immediate calls from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn so stand down with instant effect. 

What is clear is there is already a fight underway for the Tory leadership.  

Does is all mean there will be an election?

Probably, at some point though the immediate chances probably fell slightly tonight. The Commons is deadlocked and the Government has no functional majority. While the Fixed Term Parliaments Act means the Government can stumble on, it will become increasingly powerless.

Mrs May could try to call one herself or, assuming she stands down, her successor could do so.  

Would May lead the Tories into an early election? 

Unlikely. Having admitted to her party she would go if the deal passes, Mrs May’s political career is doomed.

While there is no procedural way to remove her, a withdrawal of political support from the Cabinet or Tory HQ would probably finish her even if she wanted to stay.    

How is an election called? When would it be? 

Because of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act passed by the coalition, the Prime Minister can no longer simply ask the Queen to dissolve the Commons and call an election. There are two procedures instead.

First – and this is what happened in 2017 – the Government can table a motion in the Commons calling for an early election. Crucially, this can only pass with a two-thirds majority of MPs – meaning either of the main parties can block it.

Second an election is called if the Government loses a vote of no confidence and no new administration can be built within 14 days.

In practice, this is can only happen if Tory rebels vote with Mr Corbyn – a move that would end the career of any Conservative MP who took the step. 

An election takes a bare minimum of five weeks from start to finish and it would take a week or two to get to the shut down of Parliament, known as dissolution – putting the earliest possible polling day around mid to late May. 

If the Tories hold a leadership election first it probably pushes any election out to late June at the earliest.  

Why do people say there has to be an election? 

The question of whether to call an election finally reached the Cabinet last week.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned the rejection of Mrs May’s deal would set in train a series of events that will lead to a softer Brexit – meaning an election because so many MPs will have to break manifesto promises. 

MPs voting to seize control of Brexit from ministers has only fuelldd the demands.   

Labour has been calling for a new vote for months, insisting the Government has failed to deliver Brexit.

Mr Corbyn called a vote of no confidence in the Government in January insisting the failure of the first meaningful vote showed Mrs May’s administration was doomed. He lost but the calls did not go away. 

Brexiteers have joined the demands in recent days as Parliament wrestles with Brexit and amid fears among hardliners promises made by both main parties at the last election will be broken – specifically on leaving the Customs Union and Single Market. 

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen wants Mrs May replaced with a Brexiteer. He believes it would push Remain Tories out of the party and then allow a snap election with more Eurosceptic candidates wearing blue rosettes.

What might happen? 

Both main parties will have to write a manifesto – including a position on Brexit. Both parties are deeply split – in many cases between individual MPs and their local activists.

Under Mrs May, the Tories presumably try to start with the deal. But it is loathed by dozens of current Tory MPs who want a harder Brexit and hated even more by grassroots Tory members. 

Shifting Tory policy on Brexit to the right would alienate the majority of current MPs who voted to Remain.

Labour has similar splits. Many of Labour’s MPs and activists want Mr Corbyn to commit to putting Brexit to a second referendum – most with a view to cancelling it. 

Mr Corbyn is a veteran Eurosceptic and millions of people who voted Leave in 2016 backed Labour in 2017. 

The splits set the stage for a bitter and chaotic election. The outcome is highly unpredictable – the Tories start in front but are probably more divided on the main question facing the country.

Labour is behind but knows it made dramatic gains in the polls in the last election with its promises of vastly higher public spending. 

Neither side can forecast what impact new political forces might wield over the election or how any public anger over the Brexit stalemate could play out.

It could swing the result in favour of one of the main parties or a new force. 

Or an election campaign that takes months, costs millions of pounds could still end up in a hung Parliament and continued stalemate. This is the current forecast by polling expert Sir John Curtice. 

Geoffrey Cox was furiously accused of ‘mansplaining’ Brexit, the Brexiteer Spartans were denounced as ‘nutters’ and Philip Hammond berated Liz Truss: How May’s warring Cabinet split in mammoth SEVEN-HOUR meeting

A minister called hardline Tory Brexiteers ‘nutters’ and ‘right-wing extremists’ while Attorney General Geoffrey Cox was slapped down for ‘mansplaining’ leaving the EU to a female colleague in Theresa May’s extraordinary seven-hour crisis cabinet meeting, it was revealed today.

Mrs May lurched towards a softer Brexit after her summit yesterday which saw 14 ministers oppose a Brexit delay while 10 spoke up in favour. 

Remainer ministers including Amber Rudd and Philip Hammond joined Brexiteer colleague Michael Gove in speaking up for a long extension. 

But they were outnumbered by ministers including Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and Liam Fox who preferred a short delay or none at all.  

Michael Gove made the critical intervention yesterday in the marathon Cabinet meeting that led to the Prime Minister’s dramatic offer to Jeremy Corbyn last night.

Energy Minister Claire Perry reportedly ‘went on a rant about Right-wing extremists’ and ‘nutters’ in the Conservative Party. Geoffrey Cox told Ms Perry to ‘tone it down’ but was in turn accused of ‘mansplaining’

Despite several Cabinet ministers pushing hard for Theresa May to sanction a No Deal departure, the Environment Secretary was one of the key voices to call for a compromise approach.

‘We have to change the way we do this,’ he told her. ‘We have to deal with the facts as we find them, not as we wish them to be.’ 

At the Cabinet summit, up to 14 ministers – Gavin Williamson, Liam Fox, Liz Truss, Sajid Javid, Chris Grayling, Jeremy Wright, Andrea Leadsom, Jeremy Hunt, James Brokenshire, Baroness Evans, Stephen Barclay, Alun Cairns and Brandon Lewis – spoke out against a long delay. 

Amid tense exchanges in Downing Street, Mr Williamson called it ‘completely ridiculous’ to seek help from a Labour leader he said was ‘unfit to govern’. 

On the other side, nine ministers – David Gauke, Philip Hammond, Greg Clark, David Lidington, Damian Hinds, Claire Perry, Michael Gove, Amber Rudd and Geoffrey Cox – backed a further delay. 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock appears to have argued against No Deal but called for a short extension.

A general election was ‘discussed’ by the Cabinet yesterday morning but there was little enthusiasm and ministers ruled it out.  

There were also two significant flash points. Several sources described a clash between energy minister Claire Perry and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox after she ‘went on a rant about Right-wing extremists’ and ‘nutters’ in the Conservative Party.

A source said: ‘Geoffrey Cox boomed from the other end of the Cabinet table ‘enough of the language, that is not the way to speak’. The Prime Minister had to step in and say ‘enough’.’ 

According to The Times, Mr Cox told Ms Perry to ‘tone it down’ but was in turn accused of ‘mansplaining’.  

Ms Perry – who was among those supporting a long delay – also voiced support for a national unity government involving Labour. 

However Gavin Williamson, who was among the 14 to reject a long extension, said Labour could not be trusted because they were too ‘tribal’. 

In a second clash, Treasury chief secretary Liz Truss asked for an economic and societal impact assessment of not leaving the EU. Her boss, Chancellor Philip Hammond, snapped ‘we know all the economic facts’.

Leaving Downing Street, from left Liz Truss, James Brokenshire, Matt Hancock and Liam Fox

Sajid Javid, left, and Jeremy Wright and Caroline Nokes, right, leave No 10 after the meeting

Despite the meeting starting at 9.30am yesterday, it didn’t break up until after 5pm after an extraordinary showdown on Britain’s Brexit strategy.

And although there were no immediate resignations after the PM’s statement last night, Mrs May’s decision to reach out to the Labour leader was met with fierce resistance from many. One source claimed the proposal ‘didn’t go down well’ and accused the PM of ‘not listening’. The source said: ‘There weren’t the numbers to support what the PM said. MPs are not happy.’

One minister predicted resignations within days. ‘It’s hard to tell the calculations that ministers will make, but there’s a lot of anger.’

Mrs May opened yesterday’s meeting with a clear statement of intent. The first stage was the political Cabinet, at which no officials were present. She firmly ruled out No Deal, warning it would lead to a border poll in Northern Ireland, and possibly a Scottish independence referendum.

‘I do not want to be the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,’ she told ministers.

Just before the meeting began, ministers were handed a nine-page document written by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill, which set out the painful steps the UK would have to take to pursue No Deal, including imposing direct rule in Northern Ireland.

No-one was left in any doubt about Mrs May’s determination to avoid the No Deal cliff edge.

Then ministers listened to a lengthy presentation from Tory Party chairman Brandon Lewis and Sir Mick Davis, the chief executive of the Conservative Party, on General Election planning.

Penny Mourdant, left, and Claire Perry and Amber Rudd, right, leaving Downing Street 

They listed a series of ‘scary’ facts about the party’s position in the country, including polling, focus groups, details of target seats, and party fundraising. Ministers, one source said, have ‘never appeared more united as they were against the prospect of a General Election’. Having ruled out an election, they turned to discussing the Brexit alternatives.

Despite Mrs May’s clear intention to avoid No Deal, Brexiteers combined with the ‘born again’ Brexiteers – Remainers who have converted to Brexit – to urge the PM to push ahead with the idea in an attempt to make the Commons choose between it and her original agreement.

But Chief Whip Julian Smith argued that the Commons would not allow it, and Parliament would – one way or another – ensure there was always a Remain option, whether to Revoke Article 50 or ensure a second referendum. In the afternoon, after a lunch of sandwiches, discussion turned to whether to seek another extension of Article 50, meaning Brexit would be delayed and, most toxically, whether to speak to Jeremy Corbyn to try to attract Labour votes. This met with fierce opposition.

Advocates for a long extensionwere outnumbered by ministers including Sajid Javid (left), Jeremy Hunt (right) and Liam Fox who preferred a short delay or none at all

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson spoke out forcefully. He said: ‘Our whole strategy is that Corbyn is completely unfit to govern. But when we’re dealing with the biggest issue facing the country we’re now asking him to help. It’s completely ridiculous.’

The argument of the hard line Brexiteers was that Mrs May should push ahead with No Deal next week and see if the EU cracked. Trade Secretary Liam Fox, whose job could become redundant if the UK ends up in a Customs Union, told the meeting that if Parliament took control of the process it would lead to a long Brexit delay, extending further the distance between the referendum and Brexit happening.

Sources described two critical interventions from leading Brexiteers, Mr Cox and Mr Gove.

Mr Cox told the meeting: ‘I want to leave. I’m passionate about leaving. I campaigned to leave. But Prime Minister, we have to do this differently.’ He was backed by Mr Gove.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock also opposed No Deal, saying: ‘Whether we like it or not Parliament is going to block it. This is the only way to deliver Brexit.’

Damian Hinds is said to have attempted a compromise by suggesting a single transferable vote system for Brexit alternatives but was told it would end in ‘chaos’, the Telegraph reported.  

There was no formal vote, but one source claimed 14 ministers spoke out against extending Article 50, with ten in favour. These numbers were disputed.

The meeting wound up shortly after 5pm, but ministers were kept in No10 while Mrs May prepared her statement, and to stop them from briefing the media. Officials served Chilean red wine as Mrs May walked to the podium to announce her last roll of the dice.  

A Cabinet source said: ‘This is a pragmatic way forward. PM clear that we won’t leave with no deal in April.’

Sources close to Chancellor Philip Hammond rejected claims that he suggested a general election or second referendum could be required to break the Brexit deadlock.

A Number 10 source confirmed the option of a general election was discussed at the meeting but ‘there was not a great deal of enthusiasm’ and ‘it was agreed it wouldn’t be the right thing to do’.   

Proposals discussed during the political session were then formalised in the full Cabinet on the basis of collective agreement. The source said there was no vote or show of hands on the plan. 

Rebel MPs will try to decide on a soft Brexit AGAIN on Wednesday – setting up a fourth vote on May’s deal before the end of the week – but what happens after that?

Brexit rebels are set to make a third fresh attempt to wrestle control away from the Government tomorrow despite Monday night’s disaster in the Commons.

MPs failed for a second time to make their minds up on a way out of the EU impasse as the bitterly divided political parties could not find a majority for any of four options they had themselves come up with.

The results were a severe blow for de-facto backbench leader Sir Oliver Letwin, who led the charge to circumvent the Prime Minister and hold the so-called indicative votes.

What power there is in a bitterly divided Westminster seems to be moving back towards the Prime Minister and her Government.

But former Cabinet minister Sir Oliver will tomorrow make a third attempt to discover if the seemingly entrenched MPs on all sides of Brexit are prepared to go over the top in search of a compromise.

What actually happens will depend on what is likely to be a fraught day of horse trading by MPs as they attempt to build consensus.

Expectations that a third round of indicative votes will come up with any viable plan, so divided are MPs. 

What is decided – if anything – could determine whether the Prime Minister brings back her meaningful vote for a fourth attempt this week. 

It is thought she could seek a straight vote on her deal if MPs remain deadlocked, or seek to run it off against any rival plan – like a customs union – if the Commons manages to present a united front.

What happens next:  

Wednesday: Sir Oliver Letwin has control of the Commons agenda for a third day. After Monday’s inconclusive results, the rebels are trying to pass a Bill to block No Deal instead. If their plans are approved, there will be a second reading vote on the principle of the draft law at 7pm followed by more debate on the detail and a vote to approve it at 10pm.

Thursday: Allies of the PM have the day pencilled in for a possible fourth attempt to get her deal through the Commons. They believe that, with the majority against her coming down from 230 to 149 then to 58 last week, they have momentum on their side. Ministers are considering an unprecedented parliamentary ‘run off’ pitting Mrs May’s deal against the soft Brexit option chosen by MPs in the hope of focusing the minds of Tory eurosceptics.

What happens next? 

What are the rebel MPs doing tomorrow? 

Oliver Letwin secured control of the Commons agenda tomorrow, a third day after he staged indicative votes on Brexit yesterday and last Wednesday.

Tomorrow, the MPs have a different plan – to pass a draft law requiring the Government to seek a delay to Brexit if there is No Deal.

How do they do it?

Before they can use the time in the Commons they have secured, the MPs must win a vote on the rules known as a Business of the House motion.

Tomorrow’s motions says the principle of the new law would be debated until 7pm. After this there is until 10pm to debate any proposed amendments to the law before another vote to finalise it at 10pm.

Is it allowed? 

Yes, in principle and if a majority of MPs vote for the Business of the House motion. Laws have been passed by the Government in a single day before though it remains unorthodox for backbench MPs to have control of the Commons at all.

Can it be stopped? 

Yes, if opponents of the idea can win votes on the issue and block the Business of the House motion. This seems unlikely as Sir Oliver has won his previous votes with a majority of around 40.

What will the Lords do?

Unclear. Forcing the Bill through would require the cooperation of the Lords as there are no timetabling rules in the Upper House. Brexiteers would have a better chance of blocking it in the Lords.

In practice, Labour signalled in January the Lords would be unlikely to outright block a draft law passed by MPs in the Commons. 

What will the EU do next?  

An emergency summit will be held on April 10. Britain can use this to ask for a longer delay to Brexit – perhaps to the end of the year or even longer.

Mrs May has told MPs a long delay will mean holding European Parliament elections on May 22.  

What is No 10’s plan? 

Mrs May is ploughing on for now. Downing Street is insistent the deal remains the best way of securing an orderly Brexit and appears set on another vote at some point.  

No 10 may now consider whether to call a snap general election if MPs try to pass laws to force May to pursue their option next week. 

Will May go for a long extension or No Deal? 

Nobody knows for certain. The Prime Minister has publicly ruled out personally going for a long extension but also admitted Parliament will rule out No Deal.

Will May resign now her deal has failed again? 

Again, nobody knows for sure. Her announcement on Wednesday night that she would stand down was contingent on the deal passing.

In practice, it drained Mrs May of all remaining political capital. Most in Westminster think her Premiership is over within weeks at the latest. 

As her deal folded for a third time on Friday, she faced immediate calls from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn so stand down with instant effect. 

What is clear is there is already a fight underway for the Tory leadership.  

Does is all mean there will be an election?

Probably, at some point. The Commons is deadlocked and the Government has no functional majority. While the Fixed Term Parliaments Act means the Government can stumble on, it will become increasingly powerless.

Mrs May could try to call one herself or, assuming she stands down, her successor could do so.  

Would May lead the Tories into an early election? 

Unlikely. Having admitted to her party she would go if the deal passes, Mrs May’s political career is doomed.

While there is no procedural way to remove her, a withdrawal of political support from the Cabinet or Tory HQ would probably finish her even if she wanted to stay.    

How is an election called? When would it be? 

Because of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act passed by the coalition, the Prime Minister can no longer simply ask the Queen to dissolve the Commons and call an election. There are two procedures instead.

First – and this is what happened in 2017 – the Government can table a motion in the Commons calling for an early election. Crucially, this can only pass with a two-thirds majority of MPs – meaning either of the main parties can block it.

Second an election is called if the Government loses a vote of no confidence and no new administration can be built within 14 days.

In practice, this is can only happen if Tory rebels vote with Mr Corbyn – a move that would end the career of any Conservative MP who took the step. 

An election takes a bare minimum of five weeks from start to finish and it would take a week or two to get to the shut down of Parliament, known as dissolution – putting the earliest possible polling day around mid to late May. 

If the Tories hold a leadership election first it probably pushes any election out to late June at the earliest.  

Why do people say there has to be an election? 

The question of whether to call an election finally reached the Cabinet last week.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned the rejection of Mrs May’s deal would set in train a series of events that will lead to a softer Brexit – meaning an election because so many MPs will have to break manifesto promises. 

MPs voting to seize control of Brexit from ministers has only fuelldd the demands.   

Labour has been calling for a new vote for months, insisting the Government has failed to deliver Brexit.

Mr Corbyn called a vote of no confidence in the Government in January insisting the failure of the first meaningful vote showed Mrs May’s administration was doomed. He lost but the calls did not go away. 

Brexiteers have joined the demands in recent days as Parliament wrestles with Brexit and amid fears among hardliners promises made by both main parties at the last election will be broken – specifically on leaving the Customs Union and Single Market. 

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen wants Mrs May replaced with a Brexiteer. He believes it would push Remain Tories out of the party and then allow a snap election with more Eurosceptic candidates wearing blue rosettes.

What might happen? 

Both main parties will have to write a manifesto – including a position on Brexit. Both parties are deeply split – in many cases between individual MPs and their local activists.

Under Mrs May, the Tories presumably try to start with the deal. But it is loathed by dozens of current Tory MPs who want a harder Brexit and hated even more by grassroots Tory members. 

Shifting Tory policy on Brexit to the right would alienate the majority of current MPs who voted to Remain.

Labour has similar splits. Many of Labour’s MPs and activists want Mr Corbyn to commit to putting Brexit to a second referendum – most with a view to cancelling it. 

Mr Corbyn is a veteran Eurosceptic and millions of people who voted Leave in 2016 backed Labour in 2017. 

The splits set the stage for a bitter and chaotic election. The outcome is highly unpredictable – the Tories start in front but are probably more divided on the main question facing the country.

Labour is behind but knows it made dramatic gains in the polls in the last election with its promises of vastly higher public spending. 

Neither side can forecast what impact new political forces might wield over the election or how any public anger over the Brexit stalemate could play out.

It could swing the result in favour of one of the main parties or a new force. 

Or an election campaign that takes months, costs millions of pounds could still end up in a hung Parliament and continued stalemate. This is the current forecast by polling expert Sir John Curtice. 

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