Dominic Raab has an article in The Telegraph (HERE no £) warning: "Wreckers on both sides of the Channel must not stand in the way of a deal". The use of the term 'wreckers' is instructive. It's the crime that anyone thought to be guilty of undermining the communist revolution under Stalin was accused of. Article 58.7 of the old Soviet criminal code set out the catch-all conditions, always generously interpreted by the KGB, to cover almost anything that might deflect blame away from the Communist party.
Millions of people, known as 58 'ers, were executed, imprisoned or exiled for the flimsiest of reasons. Five year plan not met? It was the wreckers' fault. Food shortages? Nothing to do with the party or the communist ideal, blame the wreckers. Even if you suggested something to raise output you were a hero of the Soviet Union, but if it later went wrong you would be shot as a 'wrecker'. Hence nobody suggested anything.
From Wikipedia (HERE) Article 58-7 was:
"Undermining of state industry, transport, monetary circulation or credit system, as well as of cooperative societies and organisations, with counter-revolutionary purpose (as defined by 58-1) by means of the corresponding usage of the state institutions, as well as by opposing their normal functioning: same as 58-2. Note: the offence according to this article was known as wrecking and the offenders were called "wreckers".
So it will be with Brexit.
It is the shining symbol of the cause. It cannot be criticised simply because it's beyond criticism. If Brexit is going wrong it must be due to those undermining it - the wreckers, the saboteurs and cynics and the unbelievers. Yes, it's all our fault.
We are living in strange and perhaps dangerous times.
Raab claims that "as the EU drags negotiations out for several more weeks" MPs will try and frustrate Brexit. These are his 'wreckers'. And note he genuinely thinks it's the EU which is dragging things out! Stunning!
And in a common tactic for Brexiteers he says Tusk's comments last week showed "disrespect to the 17 million who voted Leave". The comments weren't aimed at the voters but at men like Raab who led them to the edge of disaster - without even the sketch of a plan.
The House of Commons spoke with a "clear voice" and "backed the Prime Minister to secure legally binding changes to the backstop". It didn't unfortunately say what those changes should be and many don't want changes, they want the entire backstop removed and replaced. So, the voice was more rusty falsetto.
The wreckers, according to him, would "give succour to those in Brussels who stubbornly refuse to compromise, in the hope that the UK will give in to their demands" - err, what demands? The EU simply want the UK government to get the agreement it negotiated in good faith ratified. And with the backstop, which the prime minister herself insisted should cover the entire country, included.
He seems to see it as an ultimatum when others expect our government to do what it has agreed to do.
Strange and dangerous times indeed.
