If we go back to 2014 or 2015, when Cameron first proposed the referendum it all seemed so straightforward for the Brexiteers. In the intervening period there must have been millions of words written about Brexit. And yet here we are three years on and no nearer resolving the central question of what it is. This should indeed tell us something about the complexity of what is being undertaken. And not only do we not understand where we are off to, we are still finding new things to worry about.
David Lidington, the minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, writing in The Telegraph this morning claims the SNP (HERE), by demanding the return of some powers now held by Brussels to the devolved administrations, is putting in danger the government's ability to sign new trade deals. Nobody mentioned that one on the side of a bus.
And it is claimed in The Observer that a group of Labour MPs are trying to force Jeremy Corbyn to adopt a policy of remaining in the EEA (HERE).
It has taken all this time and there is no clear answer to any of the really basic questions let alone understanding what Brexit actually means.
What I think we can be grateful for is the sheer unalloyed incompetence of the cabinet, the prime minister and the House of Commons. Not all of them of course, but certainly a big majority. And we remainers have been aided every step of the way by the Brexiteers themselves, always pushing to leave the EU by the quickest and most suicidal route possible. This is what has brought us to the present mess. And I for one am grateful.
Had we leaders with an ounce of intelligence and not burdened with ideology, we might even have got Brexit. As it is I think it gets less likely by the day.
At the Chequers away day last week, (HERE) during eight hours of talks only three were spent on agreeing our position and none at all on what would happen if the EU rejected it - as they had already done the night before! It is all quite amateurish and farcical.
The position could not have been worse. With days to go before the EU adopt their negotiating guidelines we have yet to set out a clear position and the one that Mrs May seems to be slowly moving towards is completely unacceptable to the EU and probably to a majority in parliament. A major constitutional crisis is coming along to add an extra layer of difficulty to an already massively intractable problem. I do not think it is now at all unthinkable that we will have a general election or another referendum with the potential to stop Brexit altogether. In fact it is now the most likely outcome.
This might stop Brexit but the divisions would just go on and on. If ever we needed a real leader it is now. But I don't see him or her, do you?
