Saturday 7 July 2018

Soft-boiled eggs with pink lines

News of the meeting of the Cabinet to discuss a Brexit deal in all the news media today, with predictable variations in what it all means.

The main coverage in the Gudrian offers a section which just reports the main proposals in the 'Explainer' ( the Graun is so infantile these days), with comment confined to a brief para at the end. Of course, this is preceded by a classic 'textual shifter' to claim authority:

What it will really mean

Beyond whatever objections and modifications the EU might present, the statement is broad enough to be open to significant interpretation by ministers of various Brexit hues, not to mention backbench Conservative MPs.
While the plan states it has not breached any of May’s stated red lines, it is a distinctly soft variant of the proposed Brexits on offer and, even if it is not amended or ditched, outside pressure could place different interpretations on the terms stated. This is version one.

And the subheading for the whole 'explainer' is:

PM secures approval from cabinet to negotiate soft Brexit

The main article at the top of the website is slightly more curious. Under the same headline:

Theresa May secures approval from cabinet to negotiate soft Brexit 

the report concentrates on the reaction of various factions in the Tory party -- hard and soft brexiteers, but also a 'hardline MP' and a 'hardline Brexiter' (there are never any hardline Remainers, as we know). If anything, Brexiteers are quoted at more length, especially Rees-Mogg and Grayling, both of whom express reservations. However, there is some contexting or shifting material which helps to discredit them as having plotted before the meeting (there are never any plotter remainers either). May is reported as insisting on collective cabinet reponsibility and threatening 'discipline' against any backsliders.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, appeared to react warmly to the proposals....The CBI and the Institute of Directors (IoD) business groups also voiced relief.

Their director general said:

“News that an agreement has been reached is very welcome. Our members have wanted cabinet to come together and put the interest of the country first [sic!], so firms across the UK will see this as a positive step forward.”

The usual Guardian shouting on Brexit has been softened itself --  perhaps they think they have won.

 

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