At the weekend some newspapers were reporting that Johnson was going to Luxembourg to give Jean Claude Juncker a "tongue-lashing." In the event he was on the receiving end of one from Xavier Bettel, the prime minister of Luxembourg (Luxembourg!), after the self-styled 'Hulk' was too frightened to attend his own press conference. Bettel empty lecterned him, pictures of which are now all over the world's press.
I am sorry to say Johnson looked exactly like what he was, an empty vessel, buffeted by events out of his control, bereft of ideas and living on hope. The British pro-Brexit media are using the humiliation to attack the EU. The Telegraph, in a not altogether helpful headline, says Johnson took his begging bowl to Luxembourg and they laughed in his face. One is tempted to suggest they ain't seen nuthin' yet. It wasn't a Salzburg moment for Johnson, that is still a few weeks away and it will be far more humiliating than yesterday.
Luxembourg comes only days after his meeting with Leo Varadkar in Dublin, following which Fintan O'Toole wrote in the Irish Times that not since 1171 has Ireland been in a more powerful position than Britain. These are irrefutable signs of our reduced standing in the world, something that will only get worse after Brexit - assuming it ever happens. If Britain can be humiliated by Luxembourg (pop: 600 thousand) what will the USA do to us?
During the referendum campaign many remainers said we would be a supplicant in any negotiations. The idea was immediately dismissed as ridiculous by the leave campaign but now sadly it is all too true.
Xavier Bettel's frustration had obviously boiled over and the interview Johnson gave afterwards to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg showed why. He is easily the most infuriating idiot you could meet. His absolute insistence that we will leave at the end of October with or without a deal, despite bringing no details of how such a deal could be brokered and no deal being illegal under British law, would drive the mildest of men mad.
Jonathan Sumption, former Supreme Court judge told Newsnight Johnson was describing a square circle, a totally absurd notion but which I thought amply summed up our current position - if not Brexit entirely.
The Commission's press release after the visit once again demanded not just the shape of the hint of something that might be an idea, but real, detailed, "legally operational solutions" to replace the 175 pages of the Withdrawal Agreement that deals with the Irish border. With just 44 days to go (a period Johnson described as 'just the right amount of time') after two and a half years of negotiation and only a vague idea on the table instead of legally 'scrubbed' text that can be signed off by the EU27, it is no wonder the patience of the EU has run out.
The FT said Johnson 'frustrates EU with dearth of fresh Brexit ideas' .
At the weekend, The Mail on Sunday claimed our chief negotiator David Frost had written to the PM saying, "We have preliminary worked-up legal texts needed to replace checks otherwise required at the Irish border, and will feed these in at the right moment."
According to Peter Foster at The Telegraph:
At the weekend, The Mail on Sunday claimed our chief negotiator David Frost had written to the PM saying, "We have preliminary worked-up legal texts needed to replace checks otherwise required at the Irish border, and will feed these in at the right moment."
According to Peter Foster at The Telegraph:
I just asked senior source on this who is across detail. Response? 😂😂😂— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) September 2, 2019
Apparently there is, technically a 'legal text', but it's just the old backstop "with all the important bits crossed out"...it "took about half an hour". #Brexit https://t.co/xRZj14PSWl
And if yesterday was not the 'right moment' when is? It seems they are running away from the hard truth that there is no alternative.
Robert Peston thinks the one thing that Juncker took from yesterday's visit was:
It would be a terrible irony if the man who told Ireland in February 2016 that Brexit would leave the border 'absolutely unchanged' was the man who changed it and re-ignited the troubles. Of course such abrupt policy gyrations are routine for Boris Johnson who has built an entire career on misunderstanding the problem as well as dishonesty and lies.
Eleven Supreme Couty judges begin hearing the case this morning to decide if Johnson acted unlawfully in proroguing parliament. It should be very interesting and for Johnson perhaps, career ending. Fingers crossed.
Robert Peston thinks the one thing that Juncker took from yesterday's visit was:
"In the words of one of his colleagues there was 'confirmation that the UK (under Johnson) wants more of a border on the island of Ireland than the previous government'.
"Which is the nutshell of the whole of what the PM seeks qua [sic] new deal
and what the EU’s 27 leaders need to evaluate either as deft compromise
or as brutal betrayal of Dublin and the Good Friday Agreement."
It would be a terrible irony if the man who told Ireland in February 2016 that Brexit would leave the border 'absolutely unchanged' was the man who changed it and re-ignited the troubles. Of course such abrupt policy gyrations are routine for Boris Johnson who has built an entire career on misunderstanding the problem as well as dishonesty and lies.
Eleven Supreme Couty judges begin hearing the case this morning to decide if Johnson acted unlawfully in proroguing parliament. It should be very interesting and for Johnson perhaps, career ending. Fingers crossed.
