The Sun is not happy with Philip Hammond. Not one bit. For his intervention in telling the nation the obvious, namely that we’ll need some sort of transitional deal after spring of 2019 in order to stave off crisis, he has been given a black mark. The most interesting aspect of the Sun article about […]
Is Brexit reality finally hitting in Northern Ireland?
“DUP vows to block Dublin bid to make Irish Sea post-Brexit border with UK” shouted a Daily Telegraph headline yesterday, above a story about how the Irish government thinks a seamless border between north and south will be impossible – because it will be, and that has always been obvious to any objective viewer – and how […]
This is what we’re in for over the next few years: Labour plays Brexit tennis
After Corbyn said his bit about single market membership equalling being in the EU and then Gardiner going full on Peter Bone on everyone, then the Carwyn Jones led uproar that contradicted all of this perfectly, we’ve now had the counter-counter-attack. Or is it the counter-counter-bluff? I don’t know, let’s try and piece it all […]
Why this latest shift in the Brexit debate could have a profound effect on UK politics
Two things inspired this article. One, Corbyn and Barry Gardiner’s suddenly fierce Euroscepticism being given a free voice (and the subsequent kickback from numerous figures within Labour as a result) and two, an article in the Spectator by Ed West entitled “I’m a Leaver who would be happy for a second referendum“. They are perfect […]
Labour’s position on Brexit is becoming extremely, unbearably tiresome
I’ve written a lot about this already, I realise. Yet the problem not only persists, it is getting much, much worse by the day. It is hard for me to rationalise how a lot of Labour supporters are rationalising this all themselves; harder still for me to understand how pro-EU Corbyn supporters manage to square […]
Liam Fox on Radio 4: how Brexiteers have become like bad ex-boyfriends
Liam Fox was on Today today, talking the good talk about how leaving the EU will be a piece of cake, everything will be rosy, come what may. Interestingly, he would only say that the UK could “survive” a no-deal situation – so the whole thriving outside of everything has been dropped even by Dr Fox these […]
The fact is, this isn’t a choice between May and Corbyn, and May must know that already
‘Tis summer reception season in Westminster; the time of year when magazines, newspapers and think tanks crack out the Prosecco and pray that most of the cabinet turns up. One of them this week saw the prime minister issue a stark warning to her colleagues: “No backbiting, no carping. The choice is me or Jeremy Corbyn – […]
There’s only two logical ways to do Brexit. We aren’t talking openly about either
A new drama around Brexit is now playing out, post-election. A member of the cabinet says something fairly obvious like, we’ll need to keep paying into the EU for a bit after we leave, or we’ll be under ECJ jurisdiction for awhile, at the very least in the transitional phase, and then a bunch of […]
How exactly can Brexit fail according to the belief system of the Eurosceptics?
Liam Fox, the current international trade secretary, has had a go at the BBC. This is not news – the Beeb is the go to bad guy for anyone on the hard-right and hard-left these days. In fact, your opinion of the BBC tells the world a lot about your politics at the moment: if […]
Labour won’t be able to play it both ways on Brexit forever
Angela Rayner appeared on Channel 4 news this week, alongside Vince Cable and Ken Clarke. They were all supposed to be on there essentially as Team Remain, but the cracks began to appear very quickly in this façade. Partly due to differences of opinion on how to deal with austerity, but not surprisingly it had more to do […]