I want to step back a little today and look at the wider picture. Last week's G20 meeting in Japan was a stark reminder of what is at stake with Brexit. In a pre-meeting interview with the FT, President Putin said liberalism has 'become obsolete' as he hailed the rise in populists and nationalism. Of all the countries in the world who should be wary of nationalism, it's Russia. Later, President Trump joked with him that we should 'get rid of journalists' - this is at a summit attended by Saudi Arabia's Mohammad Bin Salman, who did exactly that in October last year.
Trump's own CIA have concluded that Bin Salman ordered the killing of Jamal Kashoggi in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istanbul. Trump described the Saudi Crown Prince as a 'friend of mine' according to CBS.
Putin don't forget has been accused of ordering the murders of Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Scripal in England as well as a number of journalists at home, including Anna Politkovskaya. Theresa May is pictured at the summit shaking Putin's hand with a stony face. Counsel for Litvinenko's family at the inquiry in 2016 described Putin as a 'common criminal' masquerading as the head of state and this is the man our PM is forced to meet with.
Trump meanwhile is threatening China with yet more tariffs as he destabilises the WTO and warns he could even pull out of it altogether.
When the leader of the most powerful nation is a 'moron' according to his own former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, the world is an increasingly uncertain place for small countries.
The picture of the Salvadoran father and daughter who drowned in the Rio Grande trying to reach the US was so heart breaking I could not bear to look at it. Yet it seemed to have no effect on Trump who blamed the Democrats for it. Migrant flows all over the world are a huge issue that we have to face up to, as ordinary decent people flee violent autocratic regimes under which their lives are blighted. Seeking refuge is not a crime.
This week Europe roasted with several countries reaching record highs. A temperature of 45.9 degrees was recorded not far from Montpelier in Southern France. Climate change is unfolding exactly as predicted but Trump and many Republicans, with close ties to big oil interests, still deny it even exists.
What do these things have in common with Brexit?
They are linked because we cannot hope to defend against constant attacks on liberal western democratic values, face up to climate change and resolve the migrant crisis by working alone. They are all cross-border, world-wide issues. Europe was and still is the cradle of civilisation and if we don't defeat Brexit, which is itself the work populists and nationalists, and work together with our friends and partners as a full member of the EU we will fail and be rightly condemned by history.
Fraser Nelson, the editor of The Spectator, had an article in The Telegraph this week (HERE) where he argued that the EU might be ready to do a deal because it needs friends on the world stage and Britain's plan post-Brexit, was to become the EU's 'most powerful ally', adding 'diplomatic heft' whenever it was needed. But if anything Brexit has shown how difficult it is to get agreement on matters of common interest between different countries. You cannot make Europe stronger by undermining the EU.
Brexiteers want Britain not just to add diplomatic heft but become the equal of the EU. They want to leave the club but still be consulted on issues that matter to us and to have our opinion given the weight of all the rest of the 27 put together. This is pure hubris and a point Brussels is already well aware of, certainly in the field of European defence cooperation. I posted about it in August last year (HERE).
Membership of the EU is not all about trade. It's something deeper and more fundamental than that and perhaps last week's events should give us the spur we need to convince leavers that we really are Stronger Together. The world can be a very cruel place as we may be about to find out.
