Re: Utter Humiliation for Theresa May!
Originally Posted by
AnnieS
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I would not have held a referendum without having a plan B for leaving. But if you make a decision like that then you should be able to back it up and not run away and hide.
He fought the case for remaining. Why should he have prepared an outcome for losing? As an analogy, if you decided to have some friends over for a steak dinner, would you also have a chicken pie in the oven as a back up??
Originally Posted by
AnnieS
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If he wasn't strong enough to lead the government without giving in to extremists in his own party then he should have stepped down as leader rather than being elected for the second time on a condition.
But it wasn't about extremists in his own party. It was about the will of the electorate.
Five things to bear in mind (IMHO):
1/. If he hadn't conceded to hold a referendum, then there'd no doubt still be an ongoing and increasing outcry for one, with the usual outcry of "not listening" to the populace.
2/. The manifesto, on which he was elected, promised one. If this was considered to be grotesquely unpopular, then his party would surely have been voted out of office.
3/. He was confident that the referendum result would be to remain in the EU, and the result no doubt came as a surprise.
4/. Evidence for the rising passion for the democratic right of the populace in their demand for a referendum was clear, by the number of people who "gave enough of a toss to bother to vote"
5/. Since he was a clear remainer, then any subsequent negotiations would have been blighted and called half hearted at best.
As I've posted in debate with twink, there was never any need for him to have devised an alternative plan due to a potential unnecessary cost and the fact that the timescale of invoking Article 50 was up to "us". Personally, I think his decision to resign was the right one given his own views on the matter.
If the result had gone the other way, then it's highly likely he'd still have his job.