“BREXIT BRIEF” – ISSUE 79, 9 August 2019

The Prime Minister speaks

We’re now well into August and what’s traditionally regarded as the “silly season” in Westminster. This normally includes the serving Prime Minister going on holiday and leaving the running of our once great country in the hands of someone totally inappropriate such as John Prescott. However, despite Boris Johnson’s insistence on staying here for a bit longer before heading off possibly to America where he was born, control of the UK Government is already in the hands of someone else. 

Dominic Cummings, the real Prime Minister and former head of the Vote Leave campaign, addressed the nation for the first time on Wednesday morning.  Speaking to Sky News, he reported that the UK’s no-deal preparations were going “great.” This despite there being no such evidence even after ￡6.3 billion of taxpayers’ money has been thrown at the impending catastrophe this year alone.  

His broadcast moved on to an observation from Conservative MP Dominic Grieve who described Cummings’ claim that Parliament could not stop a no-deal Brexit on 31 October as "characteristic arrogance and ignorance." Cummings barked: “I don't think I am arrogant. I don't know very much about very much.” Then he added: "Mr Grieve will see what he's right about." So, to clarify, here we have Boris Johnson’s Special Adviser - Cummings’ official title - saying that he knows more about the law and Parliamentary procedure than a Queen’s Counsel and former Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland. Arrogant? Surely not.

For good measure, Cummings chucked in another zinger, saying: “The most simple thing is the Prime Minister believes that politicians don't get to choose which votes they respect.” As it happens, this week a Number 10 spokesman – who reports to Cummings - refused to confirm if Boris Johnson would respect any Commons vote to stop no-deal. When it was pointed out that MPs had previously voted against exiting the EU with no agreement, the spokesman floundered. 

I hereby predict that Dominic Cummings’ Downing Street career will not end well. I just hope it happens before he destroys the country we’re paying him to serve.     

A good man gone

The Conservative Party in Yorkshire lost another long-standing member this week when my former colleague David Herdson resigned. He joined in 1995, was elected to Bradford Council in 1999 and later served as Chairman of Shipley Conservative Association and then Wakefield District Conservative Association. In common with my own decision to resign last month, David has expressed sadness at the path he’s felt compelled to take. He believes that the outcome of the 2016 referendum should be respected. That’s a perfectly honourable stance, although I disagree with it because the Leave campaign was rooted in a bed of lies. 

In a thought-provoking article explaining his departure, David observes: “Brexit has become for the Conservatives what nationalisation is for the Corbynite Labour Party: an end in itself, to be achieved irrespective of cost and with any practical benefits as an incidental bonus. It is a revolutionary ideology unworthy of the Conservative Party.” That is indeed a point with which I wholeheartedly concur. I wish David well in his future endeavours. 

Meanwhile in America…

New UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab arrived in Washington this week to talk trade with the US Government. Raab makes up for his lack of self-awareness with a powerful self-belief, as proven when he stood for the Conservative Party leadership before being eliminated in the second round after securing just 30 votes from the 313 on offer. He resigned as Brexit Secretary last November in protest at the Draft Withdrawal Agreement with the EU which he negotiated himself. He is a fierce opponent of the Irish backstop which is place to protect the Good Friday Agreement, a document Raab publicly admitted he had not read in full. Oh, and he also told a Commons Select Committee that he "hadn't quite understood" how reliant UK trade in goods is on the Dover-Calais crossing. All of these attributes convinced Boris Johnson that Raab was the obvious candidate to be the UK’s chief diplomat (and de facto Deputy Prime Minister).

Whilst in DC, he popped into the Oval Office for a “preliminary chat” with his fellow right-wing lunatic Donald Trump. Rabb said afterwards: “It's amazing to hear an American president talk about our country in such warm terms. He expressed his high regard for Boris Johnson as a Prime Minister.” How nice. Of course, a post-Brexit trade deal with the US is what the Foreign Secretary is really after. Indeed, the Leave campaign promised the country numerous times that negotiating such an agreement would be “easy.” But not so, according to ex-US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. He said this week: “Britain has no leverage, Britain is desperate…it needs an agreement very soon. When you have a desperate partner, that’s when you strike the hardest bargain.” Mr Summers added: “Britain has much less to give than Europe as a whole did, therefore less reason for the United States to make concessions. You make more concessions dealing with a wealthy man than you do dealing with a poor man.” And in terms of political nouse, they don’t come much poorer than Dominic Raab.

Enjoy your weekend!   

Jason

Dr Jason Aldiss BEM

Managing Director, Eville & Jones

You can follow me on Twitter @JasonAldiss