DOUBLE THINK

I listened to some of the Withdrawal Agreement debate in parliament yesterday and pretty poor stuff it was. Steve Double, Tory MP for St Austell and Newquay delivered what I can only describe as a rant. He came across as a bar room loudmouth. He said, "Thousands who had never before voted in any election voted to leave. Despite “Project Fear” and their being told continuously that this decision would be terrible for them, they voted courageously for us to leave the European Union because they wanted their voice to be heard and they wanted to know that their vote mattered" (HERE 6:47 pm)

I imagine he was probably one of those MPs like Nigel Adams, who told his constituents that 'project fear' was just scaremongering. So, it was no wonder they voted to leave, not because they were courageous as he now claims, or prepared or even happy to see themselves impoverished, but because they didn't believe there would be any economic consequences at all. And this in no small part was due to the Brexiteer MPs like him who assured them it was all nonsense.

He says he can't support the deal because:

"It puts this country in a worse place in terms of negotiating than we are now. I do not understand those who say that what we failed to achieve in the past two years when we have had cards to play will somehow will be better achieved when we have removed all our cards. We have had the £39 billion to bargain with. We have had the ability to walk away from the table to bargain with. How we think we are going to get a better deal from the EU once we no longer have those cards to play, I fail to understand".

He says he doesn't want to leave without a deal, that May has to go back to Brussels and tell them there are "elements in the withdrawal agreement that are not acceptable to the House and need to be removed". If they refuse, then no-deal is the default position he suggests.

One wonders where he's been for the past couple of years.

I assume if he was in charge of the negotiations he would have threatened to withhold the money, but the EU were wise to that. The divorce bill had to be agreed before any trade talks could even begin, as we know. Refusing to pay would have brought the talks to a shuddering halt. The pound would have sunk like a stone and he would have scuttled back to Brussels to restart a dialogue. The same with walking away from the table. He would have been back within 48 hours.

It puzzled me how a sentient human being could think like Mr Double so I checked on his career on Wikipedia (HERE) to see if it gave a clue. I note from May 2001, he was Director of Bay Direct Media Ltd, a direct marketing company. This went into liquidation (HERE) in 2017 owing £70,000 to its creditors. In May 2011, he became Director of Phoenix Corporate Ltd, a company selling branded merchandise; although he remained a Director and primary shareholder of both companies. 

Phoenix Corporate (HERE) in 2017 had net assets of £750 (i.e. less than a thousand pounds).

In 2009 he was elected onto St Austell town council.  In 2015 he became an MP and now has a voice and a vote in the most important decision likely to be taken in my lifetime. This is the kind of man we are relying on for the future of our nation.  He has experience in business but all bad. God help us all.

He ended his contribution with this:

"We need to believe in the future of our country—not just our right to be free and independent of the EU, but our ability to deliver a proper Brexit and enable this country to flourish outside the EU".

In 2017 Bay Direct Media went into liquidation. With Double in The House I hope the nation doesn't end up the same way in a few years time although it wouldn't surprise me. When the day of reckoning comes for delivering a 'proper Brexit' (whatever that is) it is to men like Steve Double and Nigel Adams that we should look.  They talk the language of globalism but they are in fact small-minded, short-sighted and completely parochial - not to mention plain stupid.