Trump cheerleads for Brexit as Boris heads to final goal
LEAVE voters are often cautious about accepting at face value claims by the Conservative Party leadership that it is committed to delivering Brexit properly and on time. Once bitten, twice shy as the old saying goes.
But Boris Johnson is at the very least giving a convincing impersonation of a prime minster who really will lead the United Kingdom out of the European Union on October 31.And that he will do so without a Withdrawal Agreement if Brussels does not give way on issues, including the notorious Irish backstop, which locks us into EU control indefinitely.
In recent days he has given heartening signals that he understands that the wellbeing of our democracy depends on the referendum verdict being implemented by that date.
Preparations for a no-deal have been very publicly stepped up. Negotiations with the Trump administration over a UK-US trade deal are far more advanced than first realised. President Trump has also been enlisted to cheerlead for Brexit, and the Prime Minister is said to have taken legal advice about suspending Parliament should MPs and proRemain Speaker John Bercow threaten to block our exit again.
AND now we have the suggestion that far from paying a £39billion “divorce bill” agreed by Theresa May and her insipid chancellor, Philip Hammond, we will withhold at least threequarters of it if we can’t reach a satisfactory deal with the EU.
All of this, especially the last point, is increasing pressure on the European Commission and leading member states – something Mrs May never managed.
The Commission has based its next seven-year budget on the understanding that a wave of British money will come washing into its coffers. If this
does not arrive the begging bowl will have to be sent around remaining members for large extra sums – a politically disastrous idea for many European governments.
So Britain is finally playing hardball rather than acting as a supplicant to the EU.
Mr Johnson is right to state that he would prefer to leave the EU with a deal but that such a deal cannot resemble the appalling surrender shaken on by Mrs May. Her document was defeated decisively three times in the Commons.
When Remainer MPs say the UK must not leave without a deal, knowing the EU is insisting that a broken Withdrawal Agreement cannot be changed, what they really mean is we cannot leave at all. Most are just too slippery to put it like that.
Worse still, by encouraging Brussels to believe a no-deal departure will be blocked by Parliament, they make it far less likely that the EU will give way.
Mr Hammond is one of the worst offenders here, with rumours he is preparing to lead a “Remainer Alliance” of MPs in talking directly to Brussels about how to force the Prime
IN THE immediate aftermath of the referendum most pro-Remain MPs said they accepted that Brexit could not and should not be stopped. The people had spoken and it was up to everyone to make the best of it.
That political mood unravelled when the dithering Mrs May held an unnecessary election and lost her majority. Despite more than 80 per cent of MPs being elected on “Leave” tickets in that contest, Remainers knew they could create havoc in a hung parliament and that is what they have done.
It is high time they started batting for Britain and not the EU.
The British public are not mugs. They can see the game being played by MPs elected on promises to respect the referendum verdict. If MPs really wish for a better Brexit deal they will call off their threats to block our autumn departure.
In the meantime, patriotic voters everywhere should get behind the Prime Minister as he sets about freeing Britain from the shackles of Brussels at long last.