The bumbling imbecile Johnson actually thinks he has some greatness of mind that qualifies him to become prime minister. In truth he's what we used to call a bit of a prat. His column for today's Telegraph (HERE) is a perfect demonstration of how spectacularly unfit he is - even to run a small whelk stall under close supervision. He actually believed the no-deal-was-better-than-a-bad-deal mantra and now thinks we should walk away this Friday without a deal.
He writes:
"For almost three years every Tory MP has chirruped the mantra that no deal would be better than a bad deal. That assertion was repeated in the Tory manifesto. I believed that the government was sincere in making that claim, and I believed that the PM genuinely had the 29th of March inscribed in her heart. She repeated her commitment to coming out – deal or no deal – so often that I trustingly assumed that she meant it".
It wasn't all Tory MPs who 'chirruped the mantra' - only those with bird brains like him. These are his other 'assumptions':
- If she could not persuade the House of Commons to support the withdrawal treaty on which the EU insisted – She would take us out.
- That the Treasury was serious in allocating billions to No Deal preparations, and that we would be ready – after three years – to cope with any disruption.
- That the disruption would be minimal or non-existent, because both sides would show common sense, and that there would be no immediate tariffs or quotas or barriers to trade, and that we would come out with an agreement to protract the existing arrangements until we could finalise a new Free Trade Deal.
- That we would leave not exactly with “no deal” – but not with this deal.
This is how he concludes the article, saying we must:
"Extend the implementation period to the end of 2021 if necessary; use it to negotiate a free trade deal; pay the fee; but come out of the EU now – without the backstop. It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels – LET MY PEOPLE GO".
If he thinks for a second that (a) this is workable or (b) the EU would agree to any of it he is another one who hasn't been paying attention. As for 'let my people go': this is head shakingly ridiculous. Our problem is not being prevented from leaving but strenuously trying to retain the benefits of what we had when we were in!
He is no Moses, just an idiot. If he ever got into No 10 we can look forward to the terror of government by assumption. We shall not see the promised land but a dystopian world as far away from the one we were assured we would get, as is possible. God help us all.
David Davis is another idiot (HERE) with a Telegraph article sub-titled: "Today, the WTO exit looks much better than the other options in front of us"
The WTO option is rather like peering over a cliff and spotting a ledge 90% of the way down and concluding it's safe the throw yourself off. The WTO option is in fact just above the absolute floor of world trade and is certainly not 'much better' than the other options as he says. Davis is I believe one of the politicians Pascal Lamy spoke about last week (HERE) who "spout the most monstrous nonsense. Many have still not landed in a place one could call reality. The cognitive dissonance is … remarkable".
Modesty and self-doubt are not things which have ever troubled Davis and you can see this in the opening paragraphs of his latest attempt to con the voters:
"There are times in politics when you do not want to be proven right. When I voted for the Prime Minister’s deal last week it was because it was the least worst of a series of bad options. That’s not much of a recommendation, but I took the view that if it failed to pass it would unleash a catastrophic series of events, from the House of Commons taking over the negotiations through to Brexit being delayed, and eventually stopped.
"Regrettably it looks as though I was right. Yet again the EU has treated our Prime Minister with humiliating disdain, and she returns to a House where many seem intent on stopping the whole Brexit project and defying the will of the British people".
He actually thinks stopping Brexit and keeping the status quo would be 'catastrophic' as if we are like the Democratic Republic of North Korea. It defies logic.
And Davis is still quoting the utterly discredited Economists for Free Trade figures that we will be 7% better off by going to WTO rules! The fact that every other nation in the world is striving to get OFF the very basic WTO principles and on to a preferential FTA seems to escape him. The relentless diet of dangerous nonsense is still being fed to the faithful
Davis says 'the vast majority of companies have prepared for a departure on March 29th'
Yet the CBI says it would be a 'national emergency' and in yesterday's Sunday Times Business section, a serious report from Sussex University's UK Trade Policy Observatory estimates exports would tumble 20% in a no deal scenario. It also claimed just 30% of the estimated 240,000 companies who need to be registered with an Economic Operator Registration and Identification number have so far done so. This in spite of 10,000 businesses signing up last week alone.
Alberto Nardelli at BuzzFeed recently tweeted:
“We had meetings with David Davis when he had no idea what he was talking about” https://t.co/z0k4W1zRxb— Alberto Nardelli (@AlbertoNardelli) 21 March 2019
And it's clear he still has no idea. He says 'air and road links would be maintained for several months following a no-deal situation'. Well that's alright then?
For members of parliament to actually think leaving this Friday was possible is shocking. The Hansard Society (HERE) say as of last Friday just 332 of the 499 Statutory Instruments needed to make UK law fit for purpose after Brexit have completed their passage through parliament and 499 is by no means the final total anyway - the government say around 600 are needed. So, to leave on Friday of this week we would have had to see secondary legislation pass through parliament at a rate never before seen - and this doesn't include any major bills needed for primary legislation including the EU (Withdrawal) Act itself.
They attend parliament so rarely I'm not sure they know what's going on.
Finally, I want to refer you to an item on The Border Blog (HERE) about what many like Davis would regards as trivial. It is about the humble wooden pallet. Three million move between the UK and the EU every month. The blog says:
"Pallets are subject to ISPM (International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures) 15 which requires heat treatment to eradicate bark beetle and fungal infestations and stencil marking to show compliance. All pallets entering the EU must have compliance markings, but pallets moving between EU countries have been exempted. For UK-EU trade that exemption ends at midnight on the 29th."
"Pallets are subject to ISPM (International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures) 15 which requires heat treatment to eradicate bark beetle and fungal infestations and stencil marking to show compliance. All pallets entering the EU must have compliance markings, but pallets moving between EU countries have been exempted. For UK-EU trade that exemption ends at midnight on the 29th."
Pallets stamped with ISPM compliance are available but only about a third of pallets circulating in the UK are stamped and have been heat treated. What will happen when pallets arrive in Calais or Zeebrugge without the correct compliance measure? I suspect the EU will waive it for a while as we get ourselves ready but there's no guarantee. Just one tiny problem but how many others are about to appear?
BoJo and Davis are reckless idiots. They may be right, but given the evidence from the great majority of credible sources, I don't think they are. What they are proposing is tantamount to playing Russian roulette, but with just one empty chamber. It is madness and yet they are spoken of as possible future prime ministers.
Sometimes, one cannot help but think the nation is already as good as lost.
