As we twiddle our thumbs waiting for white smoke from Brussels, this prompted me to reflect on how badly business lost this game. Deal or not, whatever emerges, whenever it emerges, will be a million miles from what business hoped for. How did it go so badly wrong? 🧵(1/)

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been told over the last 5yrs that it’s because business wasn’t loud enough. 1st during the referendum (though post-🗳️ analysis tends to agree the economic argument was won, it just wasn’t important enough). 2nd during the negotiations (2/)
I’ve said a lot about this in the past, ultimately - yes biz could have been louder. But there are many reasons why they weren’t.
And volume really isn't everything. Any lobbyist knows that you’re only loud when you’re already losing. It’s a symptom, not a cause, of loss (3/)
So how did business start losing on Brexit? This story has 3 beginnings:
1. The decline in trust through the 00s, when respect diminished
2. #indyref where biz learned the hard way what being dragged into a polarising political furore felt like. That backlash scarred.
(4/)
3. The birth of Business for Britain

Honestly, Business for Britain were brilliant at what they did. I think they genuinely did try to woo business on side initially. But when that didn’t work, they switched strategy very rapidly and pulled every lever available to them (5/)
They (and then Vote Leave) were fantastic at making biz opinion seem divided. They leveraged the decline in institutional trust, both by attacking the institutions themselves and offering small but non-representative businesses in their place (sound famliar?) (6/)
They leveraged the fear of the Scottish referendum, sending letters with Electoral Commission guidance on campaigning to FTSE firms to make it seem more difficult to speak up during the campaign.

They were very, very good at their job (7/)
And, of course, the Remain campaign shot itself in the foot during the process. Sajid Javid telling biz to pipe down on their pro-EU sentiments through 2015’s re-negotiation confused the message. People like Stuart Rose played into Vote Leave’s hands (8/13)
Should business have adapted more quickly? Yes. Should it have foreseen and played out these tactics in advance and worked out how to respond? Yes. But... spoiler alert... being good at business doesn't make you good at politics.

And those weren't its biggest errors. (9/13)
In my view, business’ biggest mistake was in the 6months following June 2016. Everyone retreated to their bunkers to figure out WTF had just happened. By the time biz had figured out what it wanted, May had her red lines, Eurosceptics had their wins, and the field was set (10/15)
This was -of course- compounded by the fact business was operating in isolation. May didn't understand and wasn't interested in business (at that point). Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy closed the doors. Everyone was guessing at language that would work, what she was thinking (11/15)
I find it really hard to imagine how things might have gone differently from then – or certainly how business might have changed things. Couldn’t have the single market with control of immigration or 'of our laws'. Couldn’t have a CU with the new FTAs the UK was seeking (12/15)
Every FTSE350 CEO could have lined up outside Downing Street playing Ode to Joy on handmade instruments while tattooing rings of yellow stars on their foreheads, and it wouldn’t have made a difference to that reality. Gravity (as @pmdfoster often says) was in charge (13/15)
We tried anyway. Every contortion of language and best of both worlds that could, even infeasibly, exist. All while seeing off no deal. Got pretty damn far with Chequers. But we all know how that went. And there have been very few substantive wins for biz since that point (14/15)
So now we twiddle our thumbs. Let politics and gravity do their thing. And business will welcome what it can if a deal is done.

Because what's the alternative? What would be acheived by doing anything else? It lost this one a long time ago (15/15)

More from Brexit

Two excellent questions at the end of a very sensible thread summarising the post-Brexit UK FP debate. My own take at attempting to offer an answer - ahead of the IR is as follow:


1. The two versions have a converging point: a tilt to the Indo-pacific doesn’t preclude a role as a convening power on global issues;
2. On the contrary, it underwrites the credibility for leadership on global issues, by seeking to strike two points:

A. Engaging with a part of the world in which world order and global issues are central to security, prosperity, and - not least - values;
B. Propelling the UK towards a more diversified set of economic, political, and security ties;

3. The tilt towards the Indo-Pacific whilst structurally based on a realist perception of the world, it is also deeply multilateral. Central to it is the notion of a Britain that is a convening power.
4. It is as a result a notion that stands on the ability to renew diplomacy;

5. It puts in relation to this a premium on under-utilised formats such as FPDA, 5Eyes, and indeed the Commonwealth - especially South Pacific islands;
6. It equally puts a premium on exploring new bilateral and multilateral formats. On former, Japan, Australia. On latter, Quad;

You May Also Like

I think a plausible explanation is that whatever Corbyn says or does, his critics will denounce - no matter how much hypocrisy it necessitates.


Corbyn opposes the exploitation of foreign sweatshop-workers - Labour MPs complain he's like Nigel

He speaks up in defence of migrants - Labour MPs whinge that he's not listening to the public's very real concerns about immigration:

He's wrong to prioritise Labour Party members over the public:

He's wrong to prioritise the public over Labour Party
शमशान में जब महर्षि दधीचि के मांसपिंड का दाह संस्कार हो रहा था तो उनकी पत्नी अपने पति का वियोग सहन नहीं कर पायी और पास में ही स्थित विशाल पीपल वृक्ष के कोटर में अपने तीन वर्ष के बालक को रख के स्वयं चिता पे बैठ कर सती हो गयी ।इस प्रकार ऋषी दधीचि और उनकी पत्नी की मुक्ति हो गयी।


परन्तु पीपल के कोटर में रखा बालक भूख प्यास से तड़पने लगा। जब कुछ नहीं मिला तो वो कोटर में पड़े पीपल के गोदों (फल) को खाकर बड़ा होने लगा। कालान्तर में पीपल के फलों और पत्तों को खाकर बालक का जीवन किसी प्रकार सुरक्षित रहा।

एक दिन देवर्षि नारद वहां से गुजर रहे थे ।नारद ने पीपल के कोटर में बालक को देख कर उसका परिचय मांगा -
नारद बोले - बालक तुम कौन हो?
बालक - यही तो मैं भी जानना चहता हूँ ।
नारद - तुम्हारे जनक कौन हैं?
बालक - यही तो मैं भी जानना चाहता हूँ ।

तब नारद ने आँखें बन्द कर ध्यान लगाया ।


तत्पश्चात आश्चर्यचकित हो कर बालक को बताया कि 'हे बालक! तुम महान दानी महर्षि दधीचि के पुत्र हो । तुम्हारे पिता की अस्थियों का वज्रास्त्र बनाकर ही देवताओं ने असुरों पर विजय पायी थी।तुम्हारे पिता की मृत्यु मात्र 31 वर्ष की वय में ही हो गयी थी'।

बालक - मेरे पिता की अकाल मृत्यु का क्या कारण था?
नारद - तुम्हारे पिता पर शनिदेव की महादशा थी।
बालक - मेरे उपर आयी विपत्ति का कारण क्या था?
नारद - शनिदेव की महादशा।
इतना बताकर देवर्षि नारद ने पीपल के पत्तों और गोदों को खाकर बड़े हुए उस बालक का नाम पिप्पलाद रखा और उसे दीक्षित किया।