BREXIT FIASCO

I suppose there have been other hideously mismanaged episodes in our British history – I have in mind the American War of Independence, the Crimean War or the policy of Appeasement – but the Brexit negotiations are down there in the rancid depths, as a prime example of incompetence, posturing, pussy-footing, lack of clarity, intellectual dishonesty, incoherence, a failure to connect with the public and a glaring absence of committed political leadership on a matter of supreme national importance.

Lord North, who lost America

Neville Chamberlain, who misread Hitler

It would be simplistic to place all the blame on Theresa May, though she heads the government and should be in ultimate control. She is not a Brexiteer and seems indifferent to EU shenanigans and incivility. She is a poor speaker and does not connect with the electorate, but she has the talent of persistency. Her elevation to the Premiership was in retrospect a mistake, though it was a relief at the time. Her decision to call a snap election in 2017 proved disastrous and her weak parliamentary position has made her timid, unable to face down her many antagonists.

Theresa May, who inspires nobody

The team surrounding her has been pretty weak. She over-ruled staunch David Davis, ignored harrumphing Boris Johnson, side-lined cerebral Michael Gove, relying instead on cataleptic doom-merchant Philip Hammond and entrusting current negotiations not to her bright new withdrawal secretary Dominic Raab but to an unaccountable civil servant Olly Robbins. Behind him stands a civil service strongly hostile to Brexit and drenched in the old complacency “Whitehall knows best”, but it never does.

Olly Robbins, the power behind Theresa

The issues to negotiate were sequenced by Brussels. Firstly, the divorce bill was finally agreed at £39bn (payable only if a deal is done, says the UK). Then came very technical talks about the relationship between the EU and the UK, with the Geiger counter fluctuating between the Norway option, Canada +++, an EU free trade arrangement or a hard Brexit (on WTO terms). Wrangles about the jurisdiction of the ECJ (a red rag to Brexiteers), alleged “Cherry-picking” by the UK were over-shadowed by furious disagreements on the status of Northern Ireland and the border with the Irish Republic, coupled with a so-called “backstop” arrangement. This issue has stalled the talks, rather surprisingly, as it was not initially such a big problem – I suspect there is mischief-making emanating from Dublin and Brussels, where “Green” Brit-bashing always plays well.

Confusion was twice confounded by Theresa’s so-called Chequers Proposal, an attempt to rail-road the Tories into a close relationship with the EU. It was never going to fly, upsetting the Brexiteers, the DUP, and many who merely wanted the referendum result to be honoured. A fruitful dialogue with the EU seems doomed. The UK simply want to withdraw from a commercial agreement – the EU are defending their imagined dogmas with theological intensity like members of the Inquisition. Any UK waverer must now see that Brussels harbours Anglophobic fanatics with strong absolutist tendencies, a dangerous breed.

EU Fanatics - Tusk, Juncker and Verhofstadt

It is indicative of the unreal world Brussels inhabits that it takes seriously the current views of Tony Blair, Lord Heseltine and Nick Clegg (sic), a trio of has-been Remoaners whose words hold no sway in the UK, and hope they will deliver a Brexiteer surrender, a second referendum and abject kow-towing to the will of Brussels.

Yet, the UK cannot blame the EU for fighting its own corner as it sees fit. The original Brexit campaigners were in truth taken aback when they won the referendum. The fundamental issues were well understood – the necessity of regaining sovereignty; the need to wrest back from Europe the supremacy of our courts and our laws; the rejection of enforced political, economic and fiscal integration with the rest the EU; the refusal to trade in a protectionist bloc and the deep respect for democratic practices. The UK government machine was ill-prepared for the complexity of unravelling the UK’s links with the intransigent EU. Even at this 11^th hour a deal can be done, but if it cannot the UK must walk with confidence and determination through the exit door.

That exit door leads to our liberation and fulfilment. Seize our destiny!

SMD

21.10.18

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2018