A last hurrah (if only) for Graun Remainers as the clock ticks down (© M Barnier)
First R 'Brexit broke my heart' Behr with impeccably tortuous Graun logic to cheer himself up. Hope alternates with despair as the poor chap muses on:
Time is running out [fancy that!] to complete the free-trade deal that might enact those compromises. Even with a deal there is a shock coming when transitional arrangements expire on 1 January. The shock is double if negotiations collapse.
There is a straw to clutch:
Through incompetence and supercilious neglect, Johnson has alienated so many of his MPs that even an 80-seat majority is no cushion against Commons defeat.
But the cad might turn that to his advantage -- or not:
That vulnerability could tempt him to embrace an almighty row with Brussels...But that path looks less attractive in light of Donald Trump’s defeat in the US presidential election
So let's wobble a bit longer between hope and despair:
Much of the transatlantic partnership happens on the level of security policy, mediated by agencies and institutions that carry on regardless of personalities in the White House and Downing Street.Still, there is an immediate problem in the dim view Biden takes of Johnson’s disregard for international law, as advertised in a bill repudiating the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. ...Washington would take Dublin’s side as the underdog, being bullied by Britain turned rogue.
If only European sophistication could save us:
But there is also a risk that the EU side reads too much into Trump’s defeat [as P Toynbee does, below?] and, presuming a chastened, friendless Britain has no room left for manoeuvre, fails to choreograph some face-saving concession for Johnson.
It's not liberal confusion and indecision or EC bloody-mindedness, though, it is Johnson's
That leaves Britain without any meaningful policy for a future relationship with the rest of Europe. Expressing one would require some admission of diplomatic and economic gravity, and denial of those forces is too fundamental to Eurosceptic mythology. That will not change, regardless of whether the current negotiations result in compromise or collapse in acrimony. There are two very different speeches forming in Johnson’s mind right now. Neither of them contains the truth.
Ah yes -- the truth. But that no longer seems so obvious to R Behr, except as a residue, having eliminated all the Johnson policies, like a Grauniad Sherlock Holmes.
Not so much quiet despair as continuing denial from the legendary P Toynbee:
[after] a monumental [!] rebellion from its own side [in the Lords] ...with Donald Trump the loser – for now, a spent force. Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Dominic Raab, Rishi Sunak, Dominic Cummings, Nigel Farage and their Brexiter band now look like abandoned passengers on a flimsy life-raft cut loose from a sinking mothership.... If the old monster []R Murdoch] turns towards Labour as he did in 1996 (only once Tony Blair’s imminent victory was certain), the failure of Brexit will be one reason why.
Biden says “Ireland will be written on my soul” when he dies. [He meant it as total support, most sincerely, of course. He's not one of those compromising politicians trying to get votes]. He was a key player in the peace process: inviting Gerry Adams to the US, against British wishes, proved to be a pivotal point in the IRA turning away from violence [not successful UK military infiltration of the IRA then?] Reneging on the Northern Ireland protocol now would make the UK a pariah.'''So it won’t happen. There will be a deal
Sweet reason will finally prevail and Toynbee will be chaired through the streets
The coming humiliation will be eye-watering: the unresolved questions go right to the heart of Brexit itself. Disagreements over fisheries may be fixed with a five-year transition, but the other issues are fundamental. Irate Brexiters are right to protest that there’s no point in giving up our EU place if signing a trade deal means obeying their food, environment, work and animal welfare standards. No point at all. Ditto, why submit ourselves to their refereeing courts ensuring a level playing field for business subsidies without a voice in those rules? Why indeed....The killer for the Tories will be if a widespread view takes hold that their Brexit was a terrible error.
To add to the terrible list of delayed Italian trousers and Polish wine glasses (this blog passim):
Portsmouth’s leader, Gerald Vernon-Jackson, tells me his anxieties. His council owns the thriving port, which imports 65% of Britain’s bananas, 9,000 racehorses and turbine blades from the Isle of Wight, and sees hundreds of lorries a day. But there’s only room for 15 trucks between the motorway and the dock, and the government has warned him that up to 70% of companies aren’t ready. “We know 50% don’t speak English, so explaining is hard.”
This is a total nightmare. What on earth will we do after those punishing delays for turbine blades and racehorses? Why did we not halt trading until all foreign lorry drivers spoke English? Why is there no-one in Portsmouth who can speak a foreign language? Who knew we imported so many racehorses anyway? Since when has the Isle of Wight been a major entrepot, a kind of Singapore of the Channel? Is there to be a trade barrier in the Solent?
We should be told before it is too late so we can vote the right way in a referendum?
No comments:
Post a Comment