ah, that’s what it means
I’m not a betting man but I am tempted to put a few quid on Boris Johnson being the most high-profile casualty when Theresa calls her first cabinet re-shuffle sometime next year. Having somehow managed to avoid causing a serious international incident in his first couple of month’s employ as the UK’s Foreign Minister, it’s as if Bumble (as I’m going to call him from hereon in) now feels he has to make up for lost time, with a litany of misplaced, ill-timed and downright ignorant outbursts.
This week’s Saudi-aimed ‘puppeteering & proxy-warmongering’ proclamations are only the icing-on-the-gaff-cake and anyway, I’m still more than a little concerned about the impact his appointment is going to have on shores closer to home.
His recent statement to an international news source that it was “b*llocks” for the EU to claim that freedom of movement was one of the founding principles highlighted his (the leading Brexiter behind Farage need I reminded you) almost complete lack of knowledge of the subject. It was always thus, and remains so. This then led to the ‘Prosecco’ confrontation with an Italian minister where his ‘Yes, we’ll sell less fish & chips but you’ll sell less Prosecco’ argument appeared to lack the most basic economic realisation that this would mean Italy selling less Prosecco to one country but the UK selling less to twenty-seven. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more childish, playground-themed spat. Boris’s dad is bigger than yours.
At least this now sheds some light on what to expect from the Government’s opening Brexit gambit – access to the single market while opting out of free movement. Thankfully, the EU have repeatedly told us that this is unacceptable, and they are not bluffing. This approach will result in the invoking of Article 50 early next year and we will be out on our ear in 2019, with no trade deal in place, and customs barriers imposed on all travel & import/export. It’s just as well we Brits don’t mind queuing as we’re going to be doing a lot more of it soon enough.
The only other option available to us is the Norway/Iceland deal where we remain within the single market by paying a huge entry & membership fee, somewhat equivalent to the current levy, whilst still accepting freedom of EU movement. No wonder Brexit means keeping her Brexit cards as close to her Brexiting chest as humanly possible. A Brexit referendum mid-2019 anyone?
I might just have found myself defending Boris’ Saudi comments if he had the stones to stand by them. Boris is the figurative broken clock, who apologises for being right twice a day.