The idiot Lord Frost seems determined to make a bad situation worse. The Telegraph carries an article by him this morning which is characterised by the newspaper as him telling the EU to "stop sulking over the UK’s decision to leave the European Union and work to make Brexit a success." This of course a charge the EU could have made to British Eurosceptics at almost any point in the last 45 years about the EU, and over the last two months about the NI protocol. It is bound to inflame things in Brussels. Charging others with having your own faults is never a good thing, especially when they clearly don't have them.
I read the other day that EU Vice President Maroš Šefčovič had his head in his hands when told of the UK's decision to unilaterally extend the grace period and relax EU rules on phytosanitary checks. It was claimed he had just about faced down the hardliners in the Commission and MS capitals who wanted tougher action against the UK when this happened.
Not only was it a provocation but it was an insult to those who were friendly towards the UK. Brandon Lewis made the announcement but it has Frost's fingerprints all over it.
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In his Telegraph article he puts all the blame on the EU and the article 16 mistake. He, as the main architect of the deal, is naturally absolved completely:
"Unfortunately, the action taken by the EU in late January on their vaccines regulation, and the improper invocation of Article 16, has significantly undermined cross-community confidence in the Protocol. As the government of the whole of our country we have to deal with that situation – one that remains fragile. That is why we have had to take some temporary operational steps to minimise disruption in Northern Ireland."
Apart from it appearing to be a deliberate attempt to worsen relations there are a number of things in his article which are suspect. He begins with a claim that he voted to leave the EU which I am not convinced he did. As CEO of the Scotch Whisky Association he wrote a piece pro-EU piece for a Portland Communications pamphlet and appeared on 7 June 2016 to be a remainer under the headline: Whisky boss urges UK not to turn back on EU.
Next he claims:
"Sovereignty is meaningful because it enables us to set our own rules democratically for our own benefit, and thereby become more prosperous. It is a conviction that we, the British people, will make better decisions for ourselves than others will on our behalf."
Where is the evidence that setting our own rules democratically makes us more prosperous? We were setting our own rules before the EU single market but apart from BSP pipe threads, I can't think of any other rule that has been adopted anywhere else. Having our own set of rules is going to make the chemical industry less prosperous by at least £1 billion.
Then he returns to the vaccination programme with this:
"I have always believed that the gains of controlling our own affairs outweigh the short-term adjustments. That is what Britain has chosen. And we are already seeing the results of that choice. Opting out of EU vaccine procurement has had extraordinary results."
We could (and did) implement the programme under EU rules as any other member state could have done.
On the NI protocol itself he says:
"Unfortunately, the consequences of applying laws which do not fully enjoy consent have been all too clear in Northern Ireland in recent weeks. Northern Ireland is still subject to the provisions of the Ireland Protocol, which we agreed in order to protect the gains of the peace process and the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all its aspects."
I wonder who agreed that? One might imagine we were forced into it. Frost again:
"Finally, this country now has a huge opportunity to shape the international scene for the better. In recent years it was too often claimed that Britain was no longer interested in playing a major international role. I never believed that. The British people are internationalist and want to make a difference in the world. Dominic Raab has now proven in practice that the ability to speak clearly and to act decisively is more important than being part of a large and inflexible bloc."
Are the British people really internationalist? Is the average leave voter a multilingual globe trotter? Not in my experience. They tend to live in their own world harking back to the past. And Frost seems to think China is quaking in its boots about the UK condemning its actions against Hong Kong and the Uyghurs:
"When we left the EU, we gained the ability – for the first time in 50 years – to enact independent national sanctions as part of a nimble, values-driven foreign policy. We have stood up for Hong Kong against the violations of the Joint Declaration by China. We are driving vigorous action in the G7 on Pandemic Preparedness. And we are bolstering our armed forces with the biggest increase in our defence budget since the Cold War, comfortably exceeding the Nato pledge of 2 per cent of GDP."
And don't read this next paragraph if you are a confirmed anti-Brexit and think the PM is a disaster:
"With Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, our agenda is one of an outward-looking country, confident we can work with others towards common goals. That is our hope for our ties with our European friends and allies too. I hope they will shake off any remaining ill will towards us for leaving, and instead build a friendly relationship, between sovereign equals."
This parting shot is straight out of the Joseph Goebbels playbook, the kind of thing the Nazis excelled at and from which the Soviet Communists learned so much. This is from Goebbels himself:
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
If Brexit has taught us anything it is that we can't "work with others." The Conservatives can't work with the EU nor with the devolved administrations. This is a sad fact. The truth is we want to have our cake and eat it all the time.
I am afraid we are being governed by delusional madmen and Frost is not even an elected one.
