So, as there's now (in theory) going to be a delay........

Rasczak

Don't blame the referee just because the players are so poor!

IronGiant

Don't blame the home team because the referee is on the side of the opposition

richp007

Like he said in his reply to Jenkins, he's also been on the side of the home team many times too.

But that is of course all conveniently forgotten.

ZedMarcus

Absolutely right, Bercow should just say "bugger it" to the parliamentary rules and procedures and let the Tories do whatever they want just so they can "get Brexit done". After all they'll try any old dirty tactic to get their own way.

Bl4ckGryph0n

And sometimes as a referee you need to let the games continue to not interrupt the momentum.

pinnocchio

What's actually happened is the Speaker hasn't allowed a straight vote on the 'whole deal' being agreed, this is because Boris pulled that on Saturday after the Letwin amendment was passed (this was a decision by BoJo to pull it, he wasn't forced to do so).

Instead what will happen this week and is already happening today, is the individual requirements of the bill will be debated and voted on.  As long as they pass then there's no longer a requirement for a 'top level' vote on the whole deal.

The rational behind this is that lets say the 'whole deal' had been agreed, then Boris withdraws the letter of extension, then during the passing of the individual legislation someone (could be remainers or could even be the ERG) 'trip up' a specific part of the legislation then we hit the 31st and crash out with no deal.

This way the letter stays in place while the legislation gets passed, so as long as there's no hiccups we can't crash out, in my view it's an insurance letter purely against the crash out.

IronGiant

Over Brexit?   when?

EarthRod

Would this be the unsigned letter?

pinnocchio

While I personally think that sending the letter in unsigned was just petty, the letter got sent and that's the important thing.

If Boris feels that he needs to do petulant little things to show his side 'little victories' I'm not going to lose sleep over that.

We've all done things in our lives, that, looking back, we would do differently if given the chance again.

EUarmy

True: but when you act like a spoilt brat when you as the PM  are required to act in a statesman  like manner that's a different matter