2/
Your regular reminder that Brexit is going badly because the UK has still to decide what the purpose of leaving the EU is
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A touchstone of dissent, if you will (h/t @PaulAdamTaggart)
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"Vote for us and everything will be dandy" is not a plan
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All very majoritarian, as per
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Cue fudging and obfuscation. And battles over dominance that were (again) more about being top dog than any sense of where the UK might be going
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However, that someone was Johnson, someone not given to strategic vision, but instead to rolling with the good times
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And maybe not even from the subjective tropes of 'taking back control'
It's a choice from various problematic options
8/
Crisis management isn't it
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But also for a less obvious reason
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So it's still there for the picking
And you might not like who is doing that picking
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More from Brexit
31 liars & hypocrites who facilitated brexit
Some are mad, some are bad
All are millionaires, some are billionaires
They’ll profit from UK companies failing, keep their money abroad to avoid UK tax and travel freely with their EU passports
#RejoinEU
https://t.co/mZRr9u1RPb
A brexit advent calendar to count down to loss of our EU rights
— European Unity #FBPE \U0001f1ea\U0001f1fa\U0001f4b6\u2b50\ufe0f (@EuropeanUnity1) December 31, 2020
Box 31: Boris Johnson told us:
\u201cI\u2019m in favour of the single market\u201d
\u201cThe cost of getting out will be virtually nil\u201d
\u201cWe have an oven ready deal\u201d
\u201cThere is no threat to the Erasmus scheme\u201d
\u201cF**k business\u201d pic.twitter.com/w8KxDJYV4x
https://t.co/BY6hKloR9d
A brexit advent calendar to count down to loss of our EU rights
— European Unity #FBPE \U0001f1ea\U0001f1fa\U0001f4b6\u2b50\ufe0f (@EuropeanUnity1) December 30, 2020
Box 30: Nigel Farage told us:
\u201cIn a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way\u201d
\u201cI never promised brexit would be a huge success\u201d
\u201cIf brexit is a disaster, I will go and live abroad\u201d pic.twitter.com/UfO9gzoUPD
https://t.co/NdC0ltLeSM
A brexit advent calendar to count down to loss of our EU rights
— European Unity #FBPE \U0001f1ea\U0001f1fa\U0001f4b6\u2b50\ufe0f (@EuropeanUnity1) December 29, 2020
Box 29: Andrea Leadsom told us:
\u201cI don\u2019t think the UK should leave the EU. It would be a disaster for our economy & lead to a decade of uncertainty\u201d
\u201cMy expectation is that there will not be an economic impact\u201d pic.twitter.com/SMSQ6ruG2h
https://t.co/BLnRLotso7
A brexit advent calendar to count down to loss of our EU rights
— European Unity #FBPE \U0001f1ea\U0001f1fa\U0001f4b6\u2b50\ufe0f (@EuropeanUnity1) December 28, 2020
Box 28: Andrew Bridgen told us:
\u201cAs an English person I have the right to go to Ireland, I believe I can ask for a passport can\u2019t I?\u201d
\u201cWe won\u2019t be crashing out, we\u2019ll be cashing in\u201d pic.twitter.com/jFINFu8xNe
The likelihood of continued trade problems for a £650 bn trade relationship is why there should be a huge cross-government effort led by the Foreign Office and Department for International Trade to put in place the necessary resources to seek best results.
There isn't.
So the UK's relationship with the EU currently consists of two not particularly good deals and no consistent effort to manage current problems or prevent future ones. Joint committees are a second order problem to putting in place the right internal structures.
But that's been the consistent UK problem in relations with the EU since 2016. Lack of focus on getting the right internal structures, people, asks, strategy, too much attention on being tough and a single leader.
News just in. This doesn't necessarily mean the right structure being put into UK-EU relations. I suspect Frost's main role is to ensure no renegotiations with the EU.
Also, wonder what this says about the PM's trust in Michael Gove?
NEW: David Frost is joining Boris Johnson\u2019s Cabinet! The peer has been appointed a minister at the Cabinet Office, effective March 1.
— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) February 17, 2021
Frost will also chair the partnership council overseeing the UK-EU trade deal and oversee reform to "maximise on the opportunities of Brexit"