I regard Digby Jones, former trade minister and one time Director General of the CBI, as a bit of an opinionated fool. He is one of the rent-a-quote brigade, always ready to appear on camera and give us the benefit of his ignorance on any topic you like. In July last year he told us, "There isn't going to be any economic pain from Brexit". This was after the pound plummeted on the foreign exchange markets and why we are now seeing prices outstrip wage growth, making us poorer than we otherwise would be.
I think most people will see that his assertion is nonsense. Even prominent Brexiteers say there will be some short term problems while most economists think we will be permanently worse off. However, one can see how Mr Jones will explain the economic pain that we will certainly go through.
I believe he is a non-executive chairman of Triumph motorcycles. When he made his claim, just after the referendum in 2016, he went on to say (HERE):
"One of our customers was thinking last week that they might not do a certain deal. Today they've said they won't and the reason is Brexit. It's got nothing to do with Brexit - but it's a very convenient thing to blame."
See how it works? You simply deny reality. In his case you publicly accuse your potential customer of lying to you - not something one would recommend as a way of improving future relations. This is why there cannot be any economic pain from Brexit because whatever pain we suffer, in the Digby Jones philosophy, will always be due to something entirely unrelated.
