Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Syt]

I mentioned the latest China espionage scandal that a Labour MP's husband had been arrested on suspicion of spying for China. FT now reporting that the captain of one of the nuclear submarines has stepped back from his role after being investigated for a "relationship" with the MP.

The relationship was investigated last year but while it was inappropriate there was no rule breaking or discipline for the captain.  MoD say they've done security checks again I assume because the husband of the MP has been arrested on espionage charges. The MoD say they are confident there's no security risk, including no blackmail risk. Hopefully it was a different vetting team than we had on Lord Mandelson

Sounds like the setup for a great drama. Or rom com.

[HVC]

So starmer is looking at "closer economic cooperation and closer security cooperation" with the continental countries. If only there was some kind of union that made it simpler.

If Trump wasn't such a shit show the uk would be a contender for the worst politically run country in the last few decades

[Sheilbh]

I can't understand what went wrong with our vetting teams; these are all top people who did PPE at Oxford, who could have anticipated any problems?

The Times had a similar story about the MP behaving inappropriately to a Royal Navy nuclear submarine captain at Faslane.

I had assumed it was the same captain as the FT story but it turns out these are different incidents. I feel like being married to an alleged Chinese spy and having (or trying to have) inappropriate relations with one captain of a nuclear submarine could be unfortunate, with two captains of nuclear submarines...

[Tonitrus]

I can't understand what went wrong with our vetting teams; these are all top people who did PPE at Oxford, who could have anticipated any problems?

"But he was one of us!"

[Sheilbh]

"On the one hand, our American friends are concerned that the DC Embassy head of MI6 is an intemperate homosexual drunk prone to telling anyone how much he admires Stalin. On the other, I played rugby with his uncle, so probably nothing to worry about."

[Valmy]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/31/nigel-farage-snub-us-conservative-conference-cpac-uk-liz-truss

So here we are in 2026 and Donald Trump is completely destroying the United States and the world and Liz Truss is all: THIS IS WHAT WE NEED IN BRITAIN.

Truss has boasted she will be "bringing together conservatives from all parties" in order to save "woke" Britain from "terminal decline" for the event in London on 16-18 July, with tickets on sale from Wednesday 1 April.

She will be hoping she can emulate the US success of CPAC, which was founded in 1974 and hosted Donald Trump in 2011, an appearance said to have kickstarted his popularity with the Republican party.

While Farage has attended the US CPAC in the past, he appears to have no intention of going to Truss's version. He has attempted to distance himself from the unpopular and short-lived prime minister, despite recently eating a discreet lunch with her in a private Mayfair club.

Photographs of the lunch posted on social media by Lois Perry, a former leader of the far-right Ukip party who is now the Europe director of the Heartland Institute, were swiftly deleted. A Reform spokesperson said at the time: "Liz Truss would not be welcome in Reform UK."

She appears undeterred by this, and said: "What I'm now working on is how do we build the infrastructure. How do we build the equivalent of a a Maga movement – a Mega movement. Make England great again."

She just looks over and sees us committing mass murder, threatening everybody, and stealing everything and is like "Just like England during the good old days!"

[garbon]

I think the lettuce would be more successful at starting a British version, but it would never.

[Sheilbh]

I think the lettuce would be more successful at starting a British version, but it would never.

Yeah. The lettuce is more popular, more credible and has a more successful podcast than Truss.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Astounding that she was PM...still keep on expecting to wake up and find that I dreamt it 

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Astounding that she was PM...still keep on expecting to wake up and find that I dreamt it 

Nope, she's in the history books.

Together with the lettuce

[Sheilbh]

She's now the measure of short catastrophic reigns too. I saw football journalists noting Igor Tudor had been Spurs manager for one day less than Truss was PM

[HVC]

She's not pretty enough to be this crazy.

[Duque de Bragança]

She's now the measure of short catastrophic reigns too. I saw football journalists noting Igor Tudor had been Spurs manager for one day less than Truss was PM

Unfair comparison for Tudor. 
Tudor has been punished enough for and/or by being Marseille coach. 

[Sheilbh]

I think there's something psychological about her. I think the sheer scale and publicity of her failure has had an effect. She keeps on bringing up the lettuce herself for example. And I know I've mentioned it before, but I will never not find the Liz Truss line on charts of public opinion very, very funny:

[HVC]

She's doesn't have another revenue stream, right?