It would be bad enough to find that the entire machinery of government is being micro-managed by one man, but to find that the man at the centre of it all is the utterly useless and manically disorganised Johnson should be deeply worrying.
The Times adds a bit of background to Laura Kuenssberg's scoop by claiming Johnson last year rejected the cabinet secretary’s advice to change his mobile phone number because of concerns about him being contacted by people who could potentially influence policy decisions, but:
"However Johnson, who has had the same phone number for more than a decade, was reluctant to change it and rejected the advice. A Whitehall source said the extent of the contact was a consistent cause for concern among officials."
You can see how it works. Can't get what you want? Text Boris - and amazingly he actually replies!! What does he do all day?
"Dyson, whose company is now based in Singapore, wrote to the Treasury asking for a commitment that his staff would not have to pay additional tax if they came to the UK to work on the project. Text messages obtained by the BBC reveal that when he failed to receive a reply, he appealed directly to the prime minister."
The same story is in The Telegraph so I assume it either came out at a lobby briefing or they both got the same leak,
All this comes after some of Cameron's text messages to Sunak were released amid the Greensill affair which now has seven investigations going on. Last night, Johnny Mercer, the junior defence minister says he was "forced" to resign over the treatment of veterans who served in Northern Ireland. He says the government is "untrustworthy" adding that "almost nobody" tells truth in it. Well, that's a surprise.
It is all beginning to go sour, One begins to wonder who the beneficiary is. Gove is remarkably quiet at the moment.
Liz Truss looks even dafter than usual with comments in a Telegraph article earlier this week in which she appears to be critical of Australian trade minister Dan Tehan with whom she is supposed to be holding talks this week in London. An 'ally' of hers told The Telegraph:
"The ally said that Mr Tehan and Ms Truss have struck up a good rapport, but added: “He is inexperienced compared to Liz. He needs to show that he can play at this level.
“Australia need to show us the colour of their money. They’re great friends of ours and talk a good game about free trade and wanting a deal, but they need to match those words with action.”
"It is thought that there is pressure on Mr Tehan to make a substantial breakthrough before flying back to Australia on Friday night, given the rare exception made for him to leave the country amid its strict closure of the borders due to Covid."
This has been widely ridiculed in Australia since Tehan actually has years of trade experience while Truss has only rolled over a few EU negotiated deals. The Sydney Morning Herald says the deal was close to completion and the comments are being seen as an attempt to portray Truss as getting things done but may backfire and have the opposite effect, delaying the signing by several weeks, the SMH say.
Nobody seems to think it's a good idea to personally disrespect and even insult your opposite number, especially when you're in the weaker position. An earlier report in the SMH said:
"While Australia is happy to work on a trade deal with Britain, it is not seen as a vital boost to the economy whereas the British government is desperate to sign new deals to justify Brexit."
Tehan comes to London after meeting Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU trade commissioner in Brussels where talks on an EU-Australia deal are also taking place. I assume they were being conducted calmly, professionally and respectfully - but toughly:
🇦🇺 🇪🇺 A pleasure to meet Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan today.
— Valdis Dombrovskis (@VDombrovskis) April 20, 2021
We took stock of our FTA negotiations - which we’re eager to advance - & global cooperation on #vaccines.
Australia is a like-minded partner. Working together, we can strengthen rules-based trade & WTO reform pic.twitter.com/Ojobtf0F1l
It's clear that Truss and Johnson desperately want to beat the EU to sign a trade deal with the Aussies for political reasons and if I was Mr Tehan I would up my ask - now is the time to strike.
Last week Farmer's Weekly in New Zealand also reported what they call 'dirty tricks' in their talks with the DIT, claiming we are trying to bounce them into a quick deal:
"The Sun newspaper recently published a story headlined: Kiwi Go! Britain close to securing huge free trade deal with NZ – bringing cheaper wine and meat.
"It claimed rapid progress in the talks and said negotiators had agreed the text of an outline agreement to slash tariffs on NZ produce entering the UK, including Marlborough wine, lamb and beef.
"But the tabloid’s most recent report was so wide off the mark that NZ officials are said to have immediately smelled a rat.
"A highly-placed source says the UK’s most recent offer on access for NZ agricultural exports ahead of the start of the fourth round of negotiations on Monday had once again fallen well short of what NZ officials could accept – something British negotiators would be well aware of.
“They are playing games with Australia and NZ … that we will somehow be pressured into dropping our fundamental positions and accepting their rubbish deals for the sake of a deal ahead of the other,” they said. The source says the timing of the latest article had added to those suspicions.
Bad mouthing and playing dirty tricks on our friends in Europe has now spread to insulting the Australia and New Zealand. Where will it end - and when?
