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Two-speed politics

Pay particular attention to the slow stuff

will be the drumbeat of repeated crises

British politics in 2018 will have only two speeds: prestissimo (very fast) and lento (slow).

But the most significant politics will take place at a much slower tempo

loses key votes

grinding out difficult decisions

pushing through complicated legislation

The Brexit negotiations will demand difficult decisions which will generate political crises.

There is a strong likelihood that

leave the single market quickly

shadow it for as long as possible

Even if newspapers do not get the satisfaction of a spectacular resignation they will be fed a rich diet of stories about cabinet feuds.

agitated the music of politics

Yet the negotiations will be slow, painstaking and above all dull. 

will spend much of their time locked in glacial struggles over details that look small to most people but which have huge long-term consequences. 

There will be a chasm between what the press focuses on and what actually matters.

the outward frenzy

Meanwhile the results of vital but dreary diplomatic wars will be ignored.

breaking the intention of

Thanks to her disastrous election performance she now has to rely on the small Democratic Unionist Party from Northern Ireland to govern.

after a long period in

weak hold on power

will have to work overtime to keep their MPs in line

grinding out majorities, pushing through bills and laboriously preparing the legislative ground for

crashing out of the EU

impose discipline on

hurly-burly-n. 吵闹;骚动

All governments become pressure-cookers if they stay in power for a long time. 

One reason is that people who are passed over for jobs lose patience.

grown tired of languishing on the back benches

have made a mess of things. 

produce periodic explosions

But the thing that really explains the eruptions is the slow build-up of steam

’s preparation for power.

consolidate his control over

decision-making organisations

establish an iron grip on

being in the grip of

capture the mainstream.

has been cultivating the far-left fringe of

attending mind-numbingly dull meetings,

waiting for the inevitable crisis of

If anybody is prepared to deal with a politics played in lento and prestissimo, it is him.