Howard Reed challenged my view that No Deal was almost inevitable this week, expressed yesterday. His logic for doing so was that May will revoke Article 50 on Thursday using the Royal Prerogative if no other option but No Deal remains on the table at that time. As he suggested, she might prefer her legacy to be as the Prime Minister who tore the Conservatives apart rather than be as the Prime Minister who took us out of the EU and tore the Union apart.
I admit I had not considered this option. I think Howard might be right. She could retrieve a little of her credibility, at least in the country at large, by doing that. I think she would then have to go. But at least there would be a collective and massive sigh of relief that we had been put out of our misery.
And Howard also hints at the question of the week. I know it could be about extensions, but I think, and rather hope, the time for that is over. This week is all about revocation. It is time to admit we cannot do Brexit. An attempt was made but there is no option available that makes it work. Let's revoke, and move on now.
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Hear, hear!
Or…..? https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/apr/08/uk-more-willing-embrace-authoritarianism-warn-hansard-audit-political-engagement
That is worrying…
So, the coup d’etat cometh…..
Yes, it is. Very. And revocation may even feed into this dynamic, even though it shouldn’t.
Worrying of course but not so surprising. The chaos and divisiveness caused by Brexit provides fertile ground for proto-fascists who ‘mobilise passions of the disaffected & manipulate populist emotions with a promise of a return to more orderly times’. As our prevailing form of democracy throws up leaders of such low-quality, unable to deal with the increasing complexities of 21st century life, clearly it needs to be radically overhauled – a complex topic for another day but PR must surely be back on the agenda. However with specific regard to Brexit the horse has already bolted. One can only hope and pray that, as the débâcle further unfolds, people’s frustration and anger doesn’t give rise to organised violence. As with many other intangible aspects of life, it is all too easy to take the basic concept of democracy (however imperfect) for granted. Personally I’m not optimistic for the decades ahead.
Which union is more precious to her? So revoke it is then, for now…
There is an extraordinary irony in all this. The Brexit thesis was that the EU would negotiate hard to the very last minute; then accommodate a good deal for the UK (i.e., free trade, at zero cost and outside the EU); or to put it in simpler terms: the EU would fold.
Remember all this? It will be the easiest deal in history. This is business, and you negotiate hard. If you enter a showroom to buy a car, you have to be prepared to walk away. The German carmakers will insist on a deal. It seems like a different era.
The EU is nothing like any of that. Even negotiating a business deal requires you to understand the limits for the other side; and the EU is a much more complex and nuanced organisation than a business. We are leaving a federation, based on consent; not buying a car, or a company. If I do not buy a car, I walk away; I do not ask them to negotiate a separate deal on my car instead. I do not keep going back; as we will require to do, in our own interests.
This complete failure of Britain to understand basic principles of negotiation with the EU, or to achieve any of the Brexiteers ludicrous, far-fetched objectives has obliged the PM to accept the framework of negotiation offered by the EU (the division of the negotiations between Withdrawal first, and future Terms – separate and second). Instead of learning anything from this bruising experience of failure, the PM has now deployed the same crude tactics on her own side – on the Conseravtive Party, on MPs, on Parliament and on the British people; the bullying insistence on a binary choice between the PM’s Deal or No Deal, with MPs and Parliament now the victims of the threat of No Deal (No Deal is better than a Bad Deal). This is just crude, ruthless bullying; but exercised by a PM who has no authority over Party or Government.
Notice also that the PM always refers to “a deal” (the indefinite article) when offering MPs the illusory siren voice of ‘meetings’, ‘discussions’, ‘compromise’; but when the meetings occur, it is discovered soon enough that what the invitees are there to discuss is “the deal” (the definite article – the PM’s deal); nothing else, of substance. Success for the PM now is to do to her own side, her own people; precisely what the Conservative Party and Government thought it was going to do to the EU: negotiate as if they were buying a car – and extract a deal that allowed them to have their cake and eat it. We have abandoned irony for incongruity.
Will the PM revoke Article 50? If she does, she will finally have forced the last person who will remain for her to negotiate with, to submit to the bullying tactics; herself. It will be a fit end to Brexit …. if it happens……
Agreed John.
To me, the BREXIT fiasco indicates the lack of seriousness and commitment (antipathy) the UK has had towards the EU for far a too long.
How can she revoke Article 50 using the Royal Prerogative? Didn’t the Miller case find that Parliament would have to vote for that first?
I think the legislation allows revocation without consent
It did occur to me a while back that the break-up her ‘precious union’, and particularly to be seen as the leader on who’s watch it had been allowed and made inevitable, might be the one thing that that would force May’s hand.
The union flag will become a relic and St George’s miserable rag of separation will be celebrated on ‘May’ day perhaps, as it is elevated from a football team symbol to the flag of a residual and impoverished nation state.
Four days to go unless she can grovel deeply enough, and convincingly enough for another extension. Is this the ‘control’ and ‘sovereignty’ that Brexit was all about ?
Fucking great isn’t it ? Let’s all crawl under a stone.
” I think the legislation allows revocation without consent”
Small wonder she opposes freedom of movement !
If she does this she’ll spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder.
… all former PM’s enjoy police protection…
They do
Roger Stokes says:
“… all former PM’s enjoy police protection…”
They may get it, but ‘enjoy’….? I bet they don’t. 🙂