Jeremy Hunt is reported in The Times (behind a paywall but you can read it (HERE) advises the Danes not to copy Brexit. It is, he says, a "very challenging and divisive and difficult process". He can say that again - although he probably won't because the Brexiteers will have got to him.
Having said earlier during a trip to the Netherlands on Thursday (HERE) that a no deal Brexit would be a “mistake we would regret for generations” the Foreign Secretary on Friday morning tried to dampen down his comments by tweeting that Britain would “survive and prosper” without a deal with the EU. This was after he had been nobbled by anti-EU MPs.
In Denmark he was more conciliatory:
“I would not seek to tell Denmark what they should do,” he told the country’s TV2 network. However, he added: “You can see from the kind of debates that we have had in the UK that this is a very challenging and divisive and difficult process . . . The UK wants the EU to be successful. We want stability and prosperity next door to us. We want to find an outcome that works for the EU and keeps the EU together. We have no strategic desire for ‘Dexit’ or for any outcome that sees other countries leave the EU.”
This is how it works isn't it? You go over to Europe and after a day or two of speaking and listening to rational people discussing Brexit honestly, you accidentally blurt out something so true and obvious that nobody in the EU bats an eyelid. You then return to the poisonous atmosphere of Westminster and a row and find yourself having to deny what you said during the trip was actually what you meant to say. This was his tweet:
Important not to misrepresent my words: Britain WOULD survive and prosper without a deal...but it would be a big mistake for Europe because of inevitable impact on long term partnership with UK. We will only sign up to deal that respects referendum result— Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) 17 August 2018
What have we come to? 222 days to go.
