There is a growing amount of ever more desperate straw clutching from the pro-Brexit side as my earlier post about Guido Fawkes shows (HERE). Over at Brexit Central there is an article HERE which is is worth preserving - at least for a couple of months. It's a measure of how far the Brexiteers and leavers are prepared to argue the unarguable as Brexit staggers onward to an inevitable and farcical disaster. The writer is a Helen Davies who operates a website called Thelist (HERE) which is also fascinating - in its naive certainty and simplicity.
But before looking at her website I want to focus on Ms Davies' article. The title is: There is nothing to fear from leaving the EU and trading with them under WTO rules. This is palpable nonsense as we know but it comes as Anna Soubry MP is discussing with the government the release of the hitherto secret no deal impact assessment that the government has carried out. Parts of it and perhaps most of it will come out in the next few days and we will then see if there is 'nothing to fear' from trading with the EU on WTO terms.
She speaks about members of her 'list'.
"Members come from different political persuasions but are united in ensuring respect for the democratic result of the 2016 referendum. We firmly believe in leaving the EU in its entirety and also believe that our sovereignty and powers were given away illegally and unconstitutionally.
"The List has also found that most of our members extensively researched the issues and knew the applicable treaties, as well as WTO principles, prior to voting in the referendum – and even after all the Project Fear, we still decided to vote Leave".
If there was a single member of her 'list' or indeed a single one of the 17,410,742 leave voters who did any research at all let alone on WTO principles, I would be staggered. I have never met or read of a leave voter who had the slightest understanding of any of the myriad issues thrown up by Brexit.
Her website looks like the work of someone who is normally under sedation or seen through a sliding panel inside a padded cell, drooling and using specially blunted crayons on the walls. She has an 'open letter's to the PM with a list of demands for Brexit - including that as part of the WA we get a share of "EU profits for which the UK handsomely contributed over the years".
God alone knows where she thinks these 'profits' come from.
Anyway, Ms Davies has a thing about open letters. She sent one to Theresa May last March and a more recent one to parliament (HERE). This states that The List members have no confidence in parliament and want them to agree a no-deal Brexit immediately and then negotiate a trade deal afterwards. They obviously like cliff edges so much they want two - the first where we fall off and the second where we have a slow climb back.
"We will no longer accept the arrogance and petulant behaviour of MPs plotting to negate the decision made by the People. This shows to us their loss of national pride, civil duty, integrity, respect and understanding of democracy. Combining two separate issues – the result of the 2016 Referendum to Leave the EU and a Trade Deal. These are two separate issues and neither should impact on the other. A trade deal is just that a trade deal. Any trade deal negotiated must be on the basis that we have left the EU entirely as voted for in 2016".
Why do they do it?
Partly, I believe through fear. Fear that the Brexit dream is coming to a sticky end. Not that we will remain in the EU; I am afraid we will not. At some point this year we are bound to leave I think, but that Brexit will not be the panacea to all our ills as they hoped and believed.
I find all this desperate straw clutching strangely comforting.
