Iain Dale Blasts 'Stupid Parliament' And 'Hoodwinking' MPs

19 October 2019, 17:53

Iain Dale told his listeners that Parliament has reach "the end of its natural life" and strongly criticised MPs who "hoodwink" the electorate.

Iain Dale said: "Now when I walked into the building, around 11 o'clock this morning, I thought we were going to have a Super Saturday. I thought we were going to have a Meaningful Vote and we would finally know that the end of the beginning was nigh. That the Brexit process would be well and truly underway.

"As I sit here at five o'clock in the afternoon, it hasn't quite panned out like that because MPs decided to support Oliver Letwin's Amendment, which means that there will be a three month extension and MPs can basically rip apart the government's Withdrawal Agreement Bill which is now going to be tabled on Tuesday because they will amend it to death.

"They've got three months to do so not just till the 31st of October.

"Oliver Letwin says 'well, I've only done this to give MPs full chance to scrutinise the legislation but I do support Boris Johnson's bill.

"Well, they all say that, don't they? And we've had this for the last three and a half years, where MPs of all parties say 'no, of course, we respect the vote of the British people. We understand that Brexit has got to be implemented.'

"And then they have spent the last three and a half years voting every which way they can to avoid that happening. And I don't think anything is going to change. We are in a Brexit Groundhog Day at the moment.

"And I think everybody who's followed these parliamentary shenanigans, and they are shenanigans, over the last three and a half years is utterly sick of it.

"I think most people whether you voted remain or Brexit, Remain or Leave, you just want it to be done.

"I increasingly hear, not just on this programme, but just people who randomly stop me in the street, saying, 'well, I am a Remainer, I voted remain, but I do recognise that this needs to be done because how can how can you look Leave voters in the eye and ask them to vote again?'

"Now, I respect the view of the Liberal Democrats in a in a perverse sort of way, even though on this I think they're neither liberal nor democratic, because they have a clear position. They want to Remain at all costs. Well, I can respect that. I respect arguments of Remainers who put that forward?

"I don't agree with them, but I can respect their argument. I get scant little respect back the other way, I have to I have to say.

"But the Labour Party. I mean, how can you respect that Brexit position which seems to change virtually every week, and Theo was telling us earlier on the programme that Jeremy Corbyn seems to have been persuaded around to the position that there should be a second referendum before a general election.

"Well, I don't see how this Parliament can continue to function in the way that it is. I think it's reached the end of its natural life. We've had the Long Parliament, I think we've now got the Stupid Parliament, and it's full of MPs who think that they can hoodwink the electorate into believing that they only have the best interest of the country at heart.

And of course they want to leave the European Union but then that only scrutinising, and they want a lot longer to do that. They've had a long time to do that. In terms of the withdrawal agreement."

He went on: "There are only two or three main changes big ones, though they are. It doesn't take long to scrutinise those paragraphs of withdrawal agreement. It certainly doesn't take another three months does it?"

Iain Dale then said: "I know what the agenda of these people is. They will use every piece of parliamentary chicanery to thwart Brexit that they can and then they have the absolute cheek to complain that Boris Johnson indulges in the same tactics."

He said all people is call Boris Johnson "a liar, a con man" and he is fed up of hearing it.

He continued: "And, as I said before, I completely respect the reasons why people voted to Remain, they're perfectly legitimate, I understand them, but I do kind of want a bit of understanding in the reverse."

He concluded: "There is sometimes the thought that people voted leave because they deliberately wanted to make the country poorer, that they deliberately wanted to do things that weren't in their minds at all when they decided to vote to leave.

So let's have a bit of mutual respect one way or the other to both sides."