Oliver Letwin came in for some stick in The Mail on Sunday yesterday from people commenting on reports of a speech he made to his own constituency association. He said he never believed that part of the 2017 party manifesto which proclaimed no deal was better than a bad deal (HERE). It's not clear what Letwin's own association thought but Mail readers are up in arms about it. They actually believe no deal is better than a bad one.
This was the manifesto written by Nick Timothy, the PM's former aide, since sacked. I suspect this was always his phrase. No sane person could think leaving our largest trading partner and entering a legal and commercial limbo was anything other that reckless suicide.
If Theresa May eventually has to make the decision to delay or revoke Article 50, and I'm convinced she will, she is going to have a hell of a job explaining it to rank and file members and Conservative leave voters who by a considerable margin actually think no deal is an option and the best one at that.
Liam Fox suggested a no deal Brexit would be 'survivable' (HERE). Another blogger points that scurvy is also survivable but you wouldn't want to catch it. Ebola as well. Many serious road accidents are survivable but how many would volunteer to test their own vehicle's air bags in a head-on collision?
Every time Fox or some other Brexiteer open their mouth a bit more of the gloss comes off Brexit. Soon every leave voter is going to admit it has all been a fantasy. It's gone from being a cross between Utopia and Nirvana where happiness reigns all the year round, to not many people are going to die. Soon, it will be brace yourself for the worst, with armed men on the street and A & E departments on a war footing.
The government and Mrs May need to be very careful. All the threats of leaving without a deal are not designed to foster better relations. They are going to poison the well of goodwill.
Brexit is causing governments across Europe to spend money and time planning and trying to mitigate the decision we made in 2016. Nowhere is this more true than Ireland. A report on the BBC (HERE) suggests a no deal Brexit would be the biggest threat to Northern Ireland's economy in a generation. The same will be true south of the border.
Sooner or later we will have to start trade negotiations with the EU27 and far from it being the easiest in history and finished after ten minutes it will be unique for starting in an atmosphere of rancour, mutual recrimination, ill-will and a barely concealed search for revenge. Unlike the WA, the trade deal will need the unanimous approval of all 27 member states, including regional parliaments like Wallonia in Belgium.
Brexiteers, when they want something, frequently claim that in the EU politics gets in the way of economics. The plank in their own eyes prevents them seeing a very mild version of their own faults in others. Brexit surely being the ultimate expression of politics overriding economics - but they may soon find out just how political the EU is.
Brexiteers, when they want something, frequently claim that in the EU politics gets in the way of economics. The plank in their own eyes prevents them seeing a very mild version of their own faults in others. Brexit surely being the ultimate expression of politics overriding economics - but they may soon find out just how political the EU is.
