Johnson will travel to Brussels for dinner with Ursula Von Der Leyen who is, whatever her seniority, a civil servant and not one of the EU27 heads of government, either Macron or Merkel. He had apparently asked for both those leaders to be in on the conversation he had with Von Der Leyen on Monday but this was refused. It's asign of Britain's reduced status in Europe. The PM will go to the Berlaymont under incredible pressure.
The BBC this morning were reporting that a cabinet minister (unnamed for fear of reprisals presumably) says they all want a deal but nobody will tell the PM to his face and nobody knows what he's going to do today. So much for taking back control, the nation is in the hands of a mercurial psychopath.
Apparently not satisfied with crippling the country with red tape he may well add tariffs and create an even deeper rupture with our largest overseas market, although I personally doubt it.
Johnson will face an EU from which he has, by his own strategy of belligerence, intransigence and sheer stupidity, drained every drop of goodwill. Tony Connelly, the RTE reporter, tweeted that attitudes have hardened:
"I'm not sure London has grasped the extent to which a number of member states, even ones normally sympathetic to the UK, are now looking at no deal. There's quite a bit of momentum to no deal," says the source
— Tony Connelly (@tconnellyRTE) December 8, 2020
Sir Roger Gale MP, speaking on Newsnight last night, and who has always opposed the UKIM Bill, said Downing Street has never understood the degree of antipathy towards Britain in Europe, especially in the upper echelons of the EU. They are not about to bend now.
So, if he thought the EU would offer him the slightest hope of some concessions, he is wrong. The decision to tip the nation over the cliff will be his alone. To use an old FDR quote, if he does so his name will live in infamy for years. I suspect he knows it and will himself fold - albeit not for another day or two and he will try to pile all the blame on Brussels.
The government has withdrawn the illegal clause in the UKIM Bill and the Taxation Bill and has reached an agreement with the EU about all the remaining details of how the NI protocol will be implemented. It's a good sign that a deal I in the offing.
Connelly says the EU Commission is being pressed to bring forward no deal contingency plans and there is some suggestion - not confirmed - that these measures will go before the College of Commissioners as early as his morning, perhaps to ratchet things up a bit for Johnson.
It does not look as if the EU is in any mood to compromise. Either the nation must go under the bus or he does. You can tell the Brexiteers are starting to get nervous, as well they might, for they are soon to be betrayed.
Richard Tice, multi-millionaire backer and former director of UKIP and The Brexit Party, has written an article for The Conservative Woman (I know, don't ask me why) where he pleads with Johnson not to "bottle it." It is the usual delusional piece about "unleashing Britain from the shackles of European Union membership" as you might expect but he is clearly nervous.
I also listened to IDS on Radio 4 this morning just after seven o'clock talking the most incredible rubbish. He castigates the EU for not making the decision on "equivalence" on financial services and almost in the same breath says we can't be tied to Brussels rules and we must be free to diverge. What does he think the EU should make of that on financial services? He also doesn't know what Johnson will do but was 'confident' he wouldn't back down. I must admit to being amazed how often you can dupe a man like IDS.
Questioned about the impact of tariffs if we get a no deal Brexit, he also said the car industry was "only a small part of our exports" - something they were glad to hear in Sunderland I'm sure. In fact the car industry is about 14 percent of our total exports and is worth about £40 billion a year. It is the UK's most valuable goods export and generates trade worth over £100 billion in total.
Starmer has cleverly increased the pressure on Johnson by indicating he and Labour will back any deal which means the PM doesn't need the ERG at all under any circumstances, this must be a worry to them.
I think Fr von der Leyen wants to look Johnson in the eye this evening over dinner and understand what kind of man is prepared to damage his own country's reputation and economy to such an extent over something which he himself has never believed.
Incidentally, some people on Twitter are suggesting the agreement reached over the NI protocol came after US pressure on the UK and this wouldn't surprise me in the least.
Lisa O'Carroll at The Guardian tweets the DUP are very unhappy because it means Ireland will have a say over the laws applying in NI while he and the DUP will not:
Northern Ireland MPs currently expressing rage over Brexit clauses being dropped by govt.DUP's Sam Wilson - says EU, Republic of Ireland will have input on laws applying in NI but local assembly won't.NI "at mercy" of them.— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) December 8, 2020
If there was a world prize for shooting yourself in the foot the DUP would win it. Gove has welcomed the fact that all the outstanding NIP issues have been resolved and he sold the whole thing as NI getting the advantage of being in the EU single market. That's the one he has spent the last year getting us out of.
Nobody asked him about it though.
