Brexitwatch: Little England 1 Iceland 2. What now for Boris Johnson?

He told them Little England were world beaters, and that it was easy to keep out foreigners, but the fans were stunned as tiny Iceland, with a population smaller than Nether Wallop, slammed in two goals and dumped Boris Johnson’s team out of Europe without even the consolation of a trade deal.

The fans had adored his flagship argument that they could have their cake and eat it, and responded by beating up foreigners and chanting his slogan: ‘F*** off Europe, we’re all voting out.’

But after the match, those same supporters were bitter and angry. ‘He promised the rest of Europe would do whatever we told them,’ said one, ‘but instead they kept scoring goals against us. It wasn’t fair.’

Another complained: ‘He’s just a conman. After I’d eaten my cake this morning, it wasn’t there anymore.’ His friend commented: ‘Johnson’s team didn’t seem to know what they were doing. There was no plan.’

An ashen-faced Johnson, the highest paid manager in the tournament, said he did not remember making any of his promises. 

Boris has survived many scrapes and scandals, thanks to the slavish support of his friends in the press, but with the supporters who once idolised him now in open revolt and his assistant, Michael 'we've had enough of experts' Gove, plotting against him, it is hard to see Johnson surviving to lead Little England for much longer. 

Brexitwatch: Letter to David Cameron

I sent this letter to David Cameron via the No 10 Downing Street website - https://email.number10.gov.uk/

The site allows you 1,000 characters. If we want to keep Europe in the EU, it is important that as many people as possible write to him. Feel free to adapt/improve/be inspired by/ignore what is written below, but do write:

Mr Cameron, you have so far always put the interests of the Conservative Party before those of your country. If you do not want to be remembered as the worst Prime Minister this country has ever had, that needs to change now. In order to stop the dreadful damage that is already happening to our economy, you need to put a motion before Parliament, saying that the UK will be remaining a member of the EU. MPs are representatives, not delegates. They are not bound by a referendum result that was won by systematic lying from the Leave campaign. If we had been seeking approval to hold a one-day strike, the government would have refused on the grounds that the approval of less than 40% of the electorate was insufficient. And yet you consider it is enough to take us out of the EU, and inflict all manner of unnecessary horrors on us! Even Nigel Farage has admitted that a 52-48 margin is too narrow to be considered decisive. At the v least, we deserve a 2nd referendum - this time a fair one.

Brexitwatch: today's broken promise

Broken promise No. 5 by my reckoning, though I may have missed some.

Throughout referendum campaign, Brexit leadership: 'Of course we will hold informal talks with our European partners for a couple of years before giving formal notice to quit under Article 50.'

Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande today: 'Oh no, you won't!'

Brexitwatch: Lies and Broken Promises so far

The Leave Campaign in the UK's EU referendum was the most mendacious, deceitful, inflammatory and irresponsible I have ever seen, so it was clear the wheels would come off if they won. But even I am surprised how quickly it has happened. 

Broken promises so far:-

1. The economy will not be damaged. In fact, the pound crashed to its lowest level for more than 30 years, and job losses are already being announced.

2. David Cameron will stay on as Prime Minister. In fact, within a couple of hours of the result being announced, he had resigned.

3. The NHS will get an extra £350m a week if we leave the EU. Now the Brexit leadership says it will not. Their flagship promise was a ‘mistake’.

4. Leaving the EU will cut immigration. Now Brexit Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan admits this is not going to happen. They want to keep freedom of movement with Europe. In fact, as I have pointed out before, the anti-Europeans have no target for immigration, and it may well go up if we leave the EU.

It has been clear throughout the campaign that the Brexit leadership do not have a clue what to do if Britain leaves Europe, and a lot of Leave voters are already expressing their regret at the way they voted. In order to save Britain further damage, it is essential that the foolish threat to leave the EU is immediately withdrawn.

More than 3 million voters have already signed a petition demanding a second referendum https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215

And write to your MP demanding they keep Britain in the EU.

Brexitwatch: the blog that foresaw the future.

So I was proved right, though I would have preferred to be proved wrong. 

This is what I posted on 10 June 2015

WEDNESDAY, 10 JUNE 2015

David Cameron and Europe - at last the truth

Like me you probably thought you were seeing things a couple of days ago when David Cameron suddenly seemed to develop a backbone as he declared that anti-European ministers would have to, er . . . follow government policy or resign. Indeed we were seeing things, and normal service was resumed within a couple of hours as Dave caved in to the anti-European fanatics.

I did warn that if the Tories won the General Election in 2015, Britain would leave Europe. It is not what Cameron wants. He and George Osborne understand it would be a disaster, even if the rest of their party do not, but having the courage to say so is, of course, quite another matter.

It’s clear that Cameron’s plan is to follow Harold Wilson’s recipe from 1975. Lace your speeches with plenty of anti-European rhetoric and agree to a referendum to placate the extremists in your party. Carry on a ‘renegotiation’ with your European partners. Gain a couple of cosmetic changes that you sell as major concessions. Win the referendum to stay in Europe by a comfortable majority.

I covered the 1975 referendum, and here is why Cameron will fail:-

1. Harold Wilson was one of the sharpest political operators Britain has ever seen. Cameron is simply not in his class.

2. The newspapers in Wilson’s time covered Europe reasonably fairly. Now the papers with the biggest circulations spew out an unremitting stream of anti-European bile.

Brexit looms. Will the last businessman to leave the country please turn out the lights.

Brexitwatch: Project Leap in the Dark - 6

This is my final comment of the campaign. I'm off to Madrid to enjoy Freedom of Movement while I can. 

A day may come when it is in Britain's interests to leave the EU, and when a Leave campaign emerges that has a genuine vision of what we do instead. That day has not arrived. The present Leave campaign have no coherent vision. 

Brexit = Project Leap in the Dark. If you don't want to gamble your job, business, savings, pension, NHS, public services, vote Remain.

Brexitwatch: Project Leap in the Dark - 5. Northern Ireland own goal?

One of the most puzzling things about the Referendum campaign has been the support for Brexit from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party.

Northern Ireland does extraordinarily well out of the EU with billions from grants under regional aid, payments to farmers, and special peace grants. Its farmers get 87 per cent of their incomes from the EU. The UK already subsidises the Province to the tune of £11bn a year. How much more would it be prepared to stump up to replace the lost EU funds, especially if it is hit by the expected post-Brexit recession?

And then there is the border. The Breixters have blithely said it will remain completely open as it is today, but if the DUP gets its wish and the UK leaves Europe, it will become the border between the UK and the EU, and the EU may take a different view. Will they require checkpoints at every crossing when some individual roads cross the border five times or more?

And finally there is the union – presumably the most important thing for the DUP. A Leave vote could well lead to Scotland quitting the UK. How secure would Northern Ireland’s place be in a truncated union in which Little England sentiment appears to be getting ever more strident?

As usual, the Leave camp seem to have plenty of slogans but no policies.