In total contrast to what Sir Ivan Rogers said yesterday, the dangerous simpleton John Longworth on Sunday told Brexit Central readers (HERE) that it was his organisation, Leave means Leave, who coined the "no deal is better than a bad deal" slogan and he seemed quite proud of it. But whereas Sir Ivan explained this was not credible and "both sides" know it (HERE), Longworth says it's our "best and last hope".
Longworth says, "The revelation that we are now apparently prepared to remain in the customs after 2021 and until we can find an alternative to a hard border in Ireland is just the latest example of how our defeatist establishment, working hand in glove with Brussels, is humiliating the British people for their temerity in voting for Brexit".
He goes on:
"Week after week, since referendum day, our Sir Humphries in Whitehall and our leaders in Parliament have abjectly capitulated to every demand an arrogant and overweening EU has put forward, while the Eurocrats and some of their willing proxies, like the Irish Taoiseach, poke fun and twist the lion’s tail".
Longworth doesn't understand yet, this is the reality of the "taking back control" and "restoring sovereignty" mantras his campaign used to persuade 17 million people to vote against their own best interests. As a small country outside the EU, we will have less influence and we should get used to other countries "twisting" our tail.
An earlier post on Brexit Central by Patrick Minford, claims the civil service has misled us on the costs of Brexit and leaving the customs union. This is before the head of HMRC suggested the Max-Fac customs union option will cost businesses £20 billion a year (HERE) in extra costs or Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England said the leave vote has already had a £40 billion a year negative impact on the UK economy (HERE) in lower growth.
So Brexiteers like John Baron are attacking the prime minister (HERE) and Jacob Rees-Mogg does the same (HERE). Longworth heaps blame on our defeatist establishment while talking about the illusory "massive gains" from new free trade deals and Minford thinks the whole civil service is wrong! They are all the fantasists of which Sir Ivan speaks.
But among this I also noted that Suella Braverman (formerly Suella Fernandez) was a strident Brexiteer who would have been expected to take the same position - but she is now in government as a junior minister at DEXEU. She gave evidence yesterday to a Select Committee (HERE) and was forced to admit we are legally bound to pay the £39 billion Brexit "divorce" bill before any trade deal would be ready to sign.
So, whereas Brexiteers talked about withholding the money unless the EU gives us a good trade deal Mrs Braverman had to concede this wasn't the case but she relied on the clause in The Withdrawal agreement about both sides acting in "good faith". Bit by bit we are being forced to look reality in the face, and whenever we do, reality always wins.
One day, when every reality has been confronted, people will be entitled to ask who was responsible for the humiliating debacle that has cause so much trouble, at enormous cost to the nation's wealth and standing in the world, for no gain whatsoever, only fewer jobs, less influence, poorer infrastructure and public services. Step forward the Brexiteers.
