Liz Truss was my MP for some time. I'm not sure she ever represented my views, but in South West Norfolk anyone with a blue rosette gets elected. The aim is not to rock the boat. Which is why her new found objections to Brexit, of which she has been such an advocate, are interesting.
As the Guardian notes this morning:
An extraordinary cabinet row has erupted over Brexit with Liz Truss warning that Boris Johnson's border plans risk smuggling, damage to the UK's international reputation and could face a legal challenge from the World Trade Organization.
The international trade secretary wrote to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and Michael Gove on Wednesday warning of four “key areas of concern” over their plans for the border next January.
This is no small deal. And I am quite sure Truss would not have done this without considerable pressure being brought to bear upon her by her Permanent Secretary and others. That is why I think this is significant.
In effect one of the ‘true believers' is calling out the lies, the incompetence and the haste of Brexit and saying it cannot be done this way. The idea, inherent in everything that Johnson does, that law, protocol, international convention and simple practical need can be ignored in pursuit of the vainglorious, is being challenged by Truss in her letter.
She is saying that whether we have passed laws to leave the EU or not, we still have to comply with the requirements of others. International law has to be respected. Laws on tax, smuggling, place of origin and much else have to be adhered to or we simply cannot trade. That's because what leaves the UK will not be acceptable for import elsewhere as its legal compliance cannot be assured.
And most importantly, we cannot manage to put such arrangements in practice by 31 December, after which it will be too late to remedy the error as other states will perforce have to block the passage of goods from the UK for reason of uncertainty as to their legal status.
I have to be honest and say that this is not where I thought the opposition to Brexit would come from. But it is highly effective. That's aided by the very obvious fact that it's true. What is more, it is so compellingly so that a hard right minister (and I am quite sure Truss will take no offence from me calling her that) has felt it necessary to say it.
In summary Truss is saying Brexit cannot be done. I am not sure she is quite so blunt, of course. I suspect she'd characterise it otherwise. But read the piece and that's the message. We cannot leave the EU with no deal with anyone, and no effective border or customs arrangements in place - which is what Gove has said will happen - and not expect a significant and very painful reaction as a result. Those reactions will include lawlessness, but more importantly, a simple refusal to accept goods from the UK as being legitimate - because that cannot be proven.
All of which will make the current economic crisis look like an afternoon out in the woods with some Teddy bears.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
https://twitter.com/trussliz/status/745339549132464128
“Leave cannot name one country we would get a better trade deal with if we left the EU.#BBCDebate”
This was her Tweet two days before the referendum in 2016.
Charlatan? Yes. Careerist? Absolutely. Devoid of any discernable talent? Most certainly. But a ‘true believer’? I’m not so sure.
That doesn’t take away from this crucial leak. How the right-wing press cover (or, more likely, won’t) this story will be revealing as to the mood of the disparate Leave camp(s).
How long can the facade hold?
The cliff edge was the analogy provided before Brexit. Now we are figuratively dangling, one-handed, from the crumbling edifice and the public don’t seem to care.
“Smuggling…..”?
But that’s government policy isn’t it? Isn’t that what the Freeports are all about?
Yes
It’s what happens when ideology gets hit by reality. As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. Brexiteers are finding that no one really wants to tango with them, at least not on their terms. It was always going to be like this. The key question now is will they back down – while trying to present it as a victory – or follow through to the inevitable bitter end. Their ideological pride may well dictate the latter in which case things will not be pretty. It reminds me of those public information films that use to tell us to get underneath a table if the 5 minute warning went off. It’s all so surreal. Less than 6 months before reality hits and I don’t think we have a table big enough for what’s coming.
We haven’t
Some good news at last – I think the phrase ‘the writing is on the wall’ is apt. All of this was apparent to anyone who even had a tiny bit of understanding of how the real world operates. Anyway glad Ms Truss has done a ‘Fauci’
BTW in Suffolk we have the same voting options…
And in South East Cambridgeshire too
Add SW Surrey to the list, with Jeremy Hunt. Asks the odd mildly difficult question at the Health Committee (a good place from which to cover his track record of starving the NHS…) but votes dutifully for whatever he is told.
and to remind readers the source of the quote ‘the writing on the wall’ is Belshazzar’s feast where writing appears on the wall. Mene, mene, tekel upharsin , “you are weighed in the balance and found wanting.”
And it really fits here.
Given your clear description of Liz Truss MP’s ideological politics (of which you obviously know far more than me; until quite recently I had never heard of her), it does not seem entirely clear to me whether this is her own view, or that of a Civil Service, which ha, after all just discovered – in shock and bewilderment – that the old norms have been thrown in the waste basket, and Thatcherism* has finally followed through to its disastrous logical conclusion; the conventions of the constitution they understood are not working, and as they back into the corner, they are turning toward the foe, and showing some teeth?
(* Thatcher’s bible was a really bad book, ‘The Road to Serfdom’; probably Hayek’s worst, and too deeply and personally influenced by his own experience of post-WWI Vienna, to the serious detriment of his wider economic judgement. He even admitted Thatcher didn’t seem to understand him, and that he was actually a Burkean Whig).
I suspect it’s her dawning realisation that her Permanent Secretary might be right….
Looks like some (Liz Truss, at least) are now in the business of “backside protection”. When it all goes wrong she will be able to say “I did warn you”….. but I doubt anyone will remember.
Will she survive a September Cabinet reshuffle??
If this is true and the rest of the government do wake up to the dire consequences for the economy watch out for Johnson getting a last minute “deal” which may actually be BRINO (Brexit in Name Only) that he will try to disguise as a huge victory and come back as Neville Chamberlain did in 1938 waving his piece of paper !
One can only hope.
She’ll be gone come the next cabinet reshuffle.
Yes Old Codger
I’ve always thought that Brexit wouldn’t get over the line –too many insurmountable problems in the end. A needed glimmer of hope, perhaps. Reality Rules ?
rob gray says:
“I’ve always thought that Brexit wouldn’t get over the line …..”
Hmmmm…. I’m not sure just how reckless this shower are though. It would be interesting to see how Johnson can describe business as usual as a no deal exit, but if his usual incoherence and contradictions are anything to go by he can probably do it in his sleep without so much as a blush.