I want to carry on with The Telegraph today because it seems to have lost any trace of coherence on Brexit and is suffering what I can only describe as some sort of nervous breakdown. On Saturday the front page lead story is: Barnier leaves May facing Brexit humiliation - a story which I think you can guess is about the inevitable failure that she faces on Tuesday.
One anonymous Tory Brexiteer is quoted as saying, "Barnier has just made it harder, not easier, for Geoffrey Cox to give his legal blessing to this deal".
On the inside pages, next to the Cox article I covered this morning (HERE), George Eustice the recently resigned DEFRA minister and MP for Cambourne and Redruth has an article: An alternative arragement: we are leaving the EU but not the EEA. He claims that because we haven't triggered article 127 of the EEA treaty we are still in it and therefore he asks, "What if an alternative arrangement simply [sic] consisted of asserting our existing rights as an EEA member and agreeing with the other parties that we will transfer from the EU to the EFTA pillar? We would leave on time, there would be no backstop, no customs union, no problems at the border and no more Groundhog Day of Brexit debate."
This is with 20 days to go. A former minister is proposing a 'simple' course of action that has (a) been rejected by the government (b) that is unacceptable to EFTA and the EU and (b) probably wouldn't work anyway. Plus the government has expressly said that leaving the EU means leaving the EEA regardless of what article 127 says. But at least he seems to recognise what a calamity a no-deal Brexit would be. One has to question if Eustice, like Cox, has been paying attention since 2016.
However, in the middle pages a man who sees no problems in exiting without a deal writes a regular column. Charles Moore carries on in his usual lunatic style (HERE), oblivious to the approaching reality, with an article: The deal is still bad - there is no reason for Brexiteers to compromise now.
Moore says."Besides, next week's no-deal and Article 50 votes will be indicative only. Unless a new law is passed, or an extension graciously agreed by Brussels we'll be out on March 29. The chance of the full Brexit, though diminished, remains. Those who wish to prevent Brexit must be made to do so in the clear light of day, rather than hiding behind others".
As the last funnel of HMS Full Brexit slips below the water after a terrible collision with the parliamentary iceberg, he is still dreaming of a glorious reception in New York harbour sprayed with water from tugs and followed by a ticker tape parade down Fifth Avenue. For the delusional Mr Moore even the hint of a short delay to our collective national suicide and humiliation is anathema.
But that was yesterday, today Janet Daley (HERE) writes: Mrs May’s deal is our only way out of the EU, Brexiteers have to take it. She urges Brexiteers to vote FOR the deal as the only way of escaping what she calls the 'European Leviathan' - aka the EUSSR? Ms Daley lives in London but seems to think it's more like Pyongyang.
And the editorial (HERE) on Sunday urges MPs to vote AGAINST the deal - "Unless it is drastically, miraculously rewritten in the next 48 hours, MPs should vote down the Government’s Withdrawal Agreement on Tuesday. As the Prime Minister likes to say, nothing has changed. The deal is just as terrible now as it was when Parliament defeated it by a majority of 230 in January, and it deserves the exact same short shrift. The fact that the clock is running down isn’t a reason to suddenly surrender and sign up to what would be the most humiliating treaty this country has ever agreed to".
Rest assured the deal will be defeated again next week and we will be in totally unchartered waters.
Some real decisions, the ones that Mrs May has been putting off since July 2016, will have to be made in the next two weeks. Brexiteers are going to be absolutely furious. It will be the most turbulent fortnight in recent history. Fasten your seat belts.
