Our old friend John "idiot" Longworth has an article in The Guardian (HERE) claiming that Brexit will be a success but at the moment, he says, our leaders have "lost the plot". Nobody in the whole country is more qualified to speak about losing plots than John himself. He is co-chairman of Leave Means Leave and wants to leave the EU, among other reasons, to escape the never implemented ergonomics directive and curved cucumbers (HERE).
But back to John's article. During the campaign he was so pro Brexit as DG of the studiously impartial British Chambers of Commerce that he started giving his own totally biased opinions and they fired him. I don't remember him being even slightly circumspect about Brexit - it would be a success, full stop. Now however he is giving the caveats:
- The government has "lost the plot" but never mind, that's only temporary.
- Brexit will be a success "provided the government adopts the right policies."
- It will also be a success if we take "full advantage of the economic freedoms."
- We must not put the "narrow self-interest of multinationals" ahead of our citizens.
- Mrs May must "grasp the nettle" and announce we are leaving on WTO terms.
He is clearly getting his excuses in before the disaster engulfs us. When it does he will be saying they didn't implement Brexit properly, nothing to do with me. Now by an odd quirk of fate on the day his article appeared, the House of Lords EU Committee released a report with the rather naff title, Brexit: deal or no deal. This is a lengthy report (58 pages - HERE) gathered after evidence was collected from a range of sources - including none other than a Mr J Longworth! How strange.
But let us look at who else gave evidence. There was City UK a lobby group for the banking industry, PIMFA the Personal Investment Management Association, The Loan Market Association, Lloyds, The Association of British Insurers, The British Food Importers Association, The Wine & Spirit Trade Association, The Fresh Produce Consortium, The British Retail Consortium, The NFU, Dairy UK, The Freight Transport Association, The US Chambers of Commerce, The IOG, Johnson & Johnson, ADS Group, The London Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Million Plus, The Russel Group, The BHF, British in Europe and various academics. Plus of course, our John.
What did the committee have to say? Well paragraph 20 is as far as you need to read:
"With the exception of Mr Longworth, the clear consensus view of witnesses to this inquiry (including some who supported Brexit) was that ‘no deal’ would be economically damaging for the UK."
That's it. He was the only one who thought no deal was a positive thing! Over the cliff we go, come on, this way, women and children first and then the poor and the disabled!
The summary conclusion was:
This report explores the consequences of ‘no deal’—the failure of the UK and the EU to reach agreement on either withdrawal or future relations. The overwhelming view of witnesses was that ‘no deal’ would be deeply damaging for the UK. It would not just be economically disruptive, but would bring UKEU cooperation on issues such as counter-terrorism, nuclear safeguards, data exchange and aviation to a sudden halt.
Surrounded by experts and academics, men with years of experience and knowledge behind them poor old John swam against the tide of received wisdom as he has always done. He knows nothing, reads nothing, understands nothing but is prepared to give us the benefit of all his accumulated ignorance and stupidity and make a total idiot of himself in front of a Select Committee. For a man who doesn't know his a**e from his elbow you have to admire his chutzpah if not his intellect.
