Things are beginning to hot-up as we reach the moment of truth. Johnson is obviously so worried about a no-deal Brexit he is caving in all round. An utter humiliation is staring him in the face. To get a glimpse of where we are at the start of the most tumultuous political week any of us have seen for decades, have a look at this short Twitter thread from Alberto Nardelli, Europe editor at BuzzFeed who always seems well connected in Brussels. He claims to have seen or been told of a diplomatic note which has several important points:
According to Nardelli (not in the order they appear in the thread but in importance):
"Barnier also said that the agreement negotiated by PM May should be the reference point"
As anyone who has followed Brexit should have known there never was enough time to sit down and start from scratch. The WA is the ONLY fully worked up option. What comes out will look remarkably like it and will be the first of many humiliations for Johnson and the Brexiteers. Next:
"It has been made clear to the UK that any solution cannot be time limited and must be legally operative. Virtual solutions are unacceptable . Barclay understood the EU position, diplomats were told"
The idea that there can be a time limit is and always was out of the question as far as the EU is concerned but there must be an exit mechanism or some form of democratic consent in NI for what is an extraordinary proposal. The province after Brexit will be much closer to Ireland in trade terms than it is to GB. Barclay is said to have "understood" the EU position - this is mind blowing?
Julian Smith, the NI Secretary, has explicitly ruled out one side having a veto so what is the consent mechanism? The answer is we don't know. But it will be crucial to convincing the DUP, who said quite openly last night that Johnson's plan "cannot work". Nardelli's tweet tells us this:
Julian Smith, the NI Secretary, has explicitly ruled out one side having a veto so what is the consent mechanism? The answer is we don't know. But it will be crucial to convincing the DUP, who said quite openly last night that Johnson's plan "cannot work". Nardelli's tweet tells us this:
"EU's chief Brexit negotiator also said that current consent proposals ['Stormont veto'] were not acceptable, but following talks between Johnson and Varadkar other options were possible"
Intriguing eh? These 'other options' may hold the key but I wouldn't bet on it. Nobody in this world or indeed the next, does intransigence quite like the DUP.
Nardelli's full thread starts here by the way:
In an act of desperation Johnson is said this morning to be planning to call Merkel, Macron and Juncker tomorrow to urge them to support "his" Brexit deal. In fact as we can see it will not be "his" deal but their deal, as written by Michel Barnier and his team. He is urging them to back their own deal. If not he will "offer" them a "friendly version" of a no deal Brexit so we can leave by October 31st. You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh - to borrow a Wildean witticism.NEW: details of today's Brexit briefing to EU27 ambassadors — according to a diplomatic note of the meeting, diplomats were told:— Alberto Nardelli (@AlbertoNardelli) October 11, 2019
- UK proposals to date have not been the basis for a negotiation
Via The Guardian, The Sunday Times reports:
"Security chiefs have convinced Johnson a no-deal Brexit will heighten the danger of extremist attacks in Northern Ireland and on the mainland, along with sectarian violence in cities such as Glasgow, according to the report.
"As a result Johnson desperately wanted a Brexit deal, the Sunday Times reported.
" 'Any one of these risks we could cope with, but taken collectively they would be a massive challenge to the UK state and no one would choose to go down that route,'” Johnson told a senior Conservative in a private conversation, according to the newspaper."
Reality has finally knocked at the door of No 10.
Peter Foster in The Telegraph (Here £) traces all of this back to a single telephone call with Merkel last Tuesday where she finally managed to convince Johnson there was no way the EU would ever allow a customs border in Ireland. The penny dropped at that point.
Another indication of the rising panic about a growing insurrection in the ranks, is an article from Ress-Mogg in The Telegraph again, where he is urging (there's a lot of it about this morning) the Spartans to "trust" the prime minister. He says compromises will be needed (all on our side as he knows) but they can "trust" Johnson not to "concede too much". Errr ...Oh no they can't.
Who on this earth would trust Boris Johnson? I ask you.
And all that talk of taking back control of our laws? In NI we will take back control in order to pledge to continue making laws which are identical in every way to EU law - but it will be called British law instead.
It is all coming crashing down. The Brexiteers are like England football supporters, always ready to cheer on a new team and jeer the opposition. Well a new look side, with a new manager appeared at the end of July and we are now in the 85th minute of our first match. We are 8-0 down and haven't had a shot on goal. The terraces have fallen silent and very soon the adoring fans are going to turn on the team, the captain and the manager.
