Special place in hell for no-plan Brexiteers? This is what Tusk thinks

Leading Brexiteer brands Tusk ‘devilish, trident-wielding, euro maniac’

Good for Donald Tusk. Just when Brexit renegotiations were getting a bit dull, the president of the European Council livened things up by suggesting there was “a special place in hell” for “those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan of how to carry it safely”.

That got everyone’s attention, especially in London.

Tusk was speaking at a news conference in Brussels following a morning meeting with the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. The two were discussing how to preserve an open border in Ireland after Britain leaves the European Union on March 29.

Brexit is in trouble, as the British Parliament, in a crushing humiliation, voted down the deal struck between Prime Minister Theresa May and her European counterparts.

In the news conference, Tusk said he was trying to forge ahead with the British but also warned that European leaders were preparing for the “possible fiasco” of a no-deal Brexit.

Britain is hurtling towards crashing out of the European Union with no deal — and no trade agreements, no transition period.

As the news conference was winding down, Varadkar was picked up by a hot mic telling Tusk: “They’ll give you terrible trouble, the British, for this.”

It was unclear whether he meant his words or his negotiating position.

No matter, Tusk and Varadkar both laughed.

Reaction, as they say, was swift and furious from the Brexiteers.

The Brexit chief for Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, Sammy Wilson, branded Tusk a “devilish, trident wielding, euro maniac.”

Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, whose rise was partly responsible for convincing former prime minister David Cameron to stage the June 2016 Brexit referendum, replied that Tusk was an arrogant bully and his version of hell sounded like heaven to him.