Politics is not chess, or even poker, but dancing. Tony Blair danced beautifully but was never faced with a challenge like this. Boris has to do something terribly hard, to dance us out of the EU.
The boss of Aston Martin that makes the cars that James Bond drives, Andy Palmer, says he prefers Great Britain leaving the EU without a deal to continued uncertainty, even though the car industry will be very badly affected by leaving the Single Market.
Still a decision of some sort has to be taken.
It has been three years since the referendum, the event that an Independent writer said
meant the UK ceasing to be a liberal country. I do not know why being outside the EU is incompatible with liberalism (think Norway) or why being a liberal, as opposed to a conservative, country is a good thing.
I see no signs whatever that Britain will be any less liberal for the time being. I see even Nigel Farage as in some respects a nineteenth century liberal, but in the future I think liberalism will be destroyed by its internal contradictions.
It is a relief to know we shall shortly have a politician taking power with energy, new ideas and who knows how to seduce the right-wing half of the electorate. In these respects, though but not in many others, he resembles Donald Trump.
Theresa May submitting the same proposal over and over again to the House of Commons, while making speeches that no human being could bear to listen to, had a strange nightmarish quality. We cannot go back to that. Let's hope that Boris will finesse things and pull off a conjuring trick.
Boris Johnson told a hustings organised by the Sun newspaper last night when asked if he would accept a time limit on the Irish backstop.
I had thought he would make a deal with the EU about the backstop and still think it possible. But the backstop is not the main problem with the withdrawal agreement Mrs May tried to foist on her country. In fact the backstop itself has certain advantages, like staying in the customs union without paying.
Mr Johnson has other red lines — Great Britain leaves on October 31; no second referendum; and no general election before Britain has left the EU.
Leaving without a deal looks very possible. Not the 1000 to 1 chance Boris said.
The Times reports a meeting last week between the Secretary of State for Brexit and Boris ally Stephen Barclay and Michel Barnier. According to an EU panjandrum who was present, it
This is what Queen Victoria called taking a high tone and of which she approved, somewhere between high-handed and high horse. I wonder what Michel Barnier thought. Perhaps that the Withdrawal Agreement, that seemed his great achievement, will hang round his neck for the rest of his life as a disastrous failure if we leave without a deal.
The boss of Aston Martin that makes the cars that James Bond drives, Andy Palmer, says he prefers Great Britain leaving the EU without a deal to continued uncertainty, even though the car industry will be very badly affected by leaving the Single Market.
“Every time we have to prepare to leave it ties up working capital and brains on something that may or may not happen. First and foremost, I think we now need certainty. I think business was pretty clear that it would prefer a deal with free trade with Europe, and it is true we are looking at a cliff edge without one but at this stage a decision is better than no decision.”Unfortunately uncertainty will continue for many years whatever the UK does.
Still a decision of some sort has to be taken.
It has been three years since the referendum, the event that an Independent writer said
meant the UK ceasing to be a liberal country. I do not know why being outside the EU is incompatible with liberalism (think Norway) or why being a liberal, as opposed to a conservative, country is a good thing.
I see no signs whatever that Britain will be any less liberal for the time being. I see even Nigel Farage as in some respects a nineteenth century liberal, but in the future I think liberalism will be destroyed by its internal contradictions.
It is a relief to know we shall shortly have a politician taking power with energy, new ideas and who knows how to seduce the right-wing half of the electorate. In these respects, though but not in many others, he resembles Donald Trump.
Theresa May submitting the same proposal over and over again to the House of Commons, while making speeches that no human being could bear to listen to, had a strange nightmarish quality. We cannot go back to that. Let's hope that Boris will finesse things and pull off a conjuring trick.
Boris Johnson told a hustings organised by the Sun newspaper last night when asked if he would accept a time limit on the Irish backstop.
“No, is the answer. No to time limits, or universal escape hatches, or all these kind of elaborate devices, glosses, codicils and so on that you could apply to the backstop. I think the problem is very fundamental.”
I had thought he would make a deal with the EU about the backstop and still think it possible. But the backstop is not the main problem with the withdrawal agreement Mrs May tried to foist on her country. In fact the backstop itself has certain advantages, like staying in the customs union without paying.
Mr Johnson has other red lines — Great Britain leaves on October 31; no second referendum; and no general election before Britain has left the EU.
Leaving without a deal looks very possible. Not the 1000 to 1 chance Boris said.
The Times reports a meeting last week between the Secretary of State for Brexit and Boris ally Stephen Barclay and Michel Barnier. According to an EU panjandrum who was present, it
"left Mr Barnier, the EU’s lead negotiator, astonished and dismayed. He told Barnier that the withdrawal agreement was dead — not once but five times. If this is what is coming then we will be heading for no deal very quickly.
Mr Barclay held the private talks … without the usual team of British negotiators and — according to various sources — took an approach described as brutal, bullying, bad tempered and confrontational. One senior diplomat close to the negotiations said it was the most hostile encounter in three years since the Brexit referendum, adding that Mr Barclay had seemed to ‘tear up the previously constructive approach taken by Theresa May.'”
This is what Queen Victoria called taking a high tone and of which she approved, somewhere between high-handed and high horse. I wonder what Michel Barnier thought. Perhaps that the Withdrawal Agreement, that seemed his great achievement, will hang round his neck for the rest of his life as a disastrous failure if we leave without a deal.
'Mr Barclay... took an approach described as brutal, bullying, bad tempered and confrontational.'
ReplyDeleteNot a moment too soon. I love it.
Three years late, but better late than never.
Delete"A conjuring trick?" A grown man hopes for magic. This will end well.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I have no idea how it will end. I know, however, that the experts are little good as guides. I just hope we see a resurgence of nation states, less international law and - though this seems unlikely - fewer immigrants into Europe from other continents.
DeleteConjuring tricks are legerdemain but magic is important too in politics. Some people have it.
Delete