US ambassador: Brexit will succeed if you hold nerve
BRITAIn needs to ‘ hold its nerve’ to make the most of Brexit, Donald Trump’s ambassador
to the UK says today.
In a rallying call, Robert ‘Woody’ Johnson insists Brexit will be a success
provided politicians are not allowed to ‘talk yourselves down’.
Writing in the Daily Mail, the billionaire
businessman urges the UK to stay the course on Brexit despite the difficulties thrown up by negotiations with Brussels. ‘This isn’t a time to panic,’
he says. ‘It isn’t a time to fall into defeatism or to talk yourselves down.
‘ Take a leaf out of the book of America’s revolutionary heroes. Hang
together. This is a big moment in British history.
‘You have a once in a lifetime opportunity to go in a different direction
and define who you want to be and what you want to accomplish.
‘That is an exciting opportunity. So hold your nerve Britain. This could be
the start of something great.’
He stresses that he takes no side in the Cabinet war over future arrangements with the EU. But his call to stay
true to the referendum result will be seen as seen as offering support to Cabinet Brexiteers pushing for the UK to make a clean break with the EU.
His intervention comes just a week before Mr Trump is due to arrive in the UK for his first visit as President.
Mr Johnson urges Britain to sum- mon up the spirit of the American pioneers who toppled their British rulers in the Revolutionary War. He cites the
Declaration of Independence, which is celebrated today – July 4 – saying in the course of
human events it can become ‘necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another’. He adds: ‘That is the attitude Britain needs now. Brexit is no Revolutionary War but it’s no picnic either. Breaking up is hard to do and make no mistake – this is as complicated as any negotiation gets. It’s going to be a long journey to agree on the way forward.’ And he says that, like America’s break with Britain in the 18th century, Brexit could eventually prove to be ‘the foundation for a much stronger and more enduring friendship long-term’ between the UK and Europe.
Mr Johnson acknowledges the UK could face ‘a difficult few years’, but says this is no reason to abandon the change voted for in the 2016 referendum.
‘I do support the British people and the decision you have taken,’ he says. ‘And I have never doubted for a moment that you are going to make it a success.’
Mr Johnson’s comments indicate growing concern in Washington about the fractious nature of the Cabinet debate over Brexit.
Last month he said he had been ‘startled’ by the ‘defeatist attitude’ he had encoun- tered since arriving in London last summer.
President Trump backed Brexit during the referendum campaign and has continued to support it since his election.
He has pledged to fast-track a free trade deal with the UK once we leave the EU.
But there is concern in Washington that the UK could remain tied to the EU so comprehensively that free trade deals become all but impossible.
Last month, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson suggested Mr Trump would have made a better job of leading the Brexit negotiations.
In leaked remarks to a private dinner, he said: ‘Imagine Trump doing Brexit. He’d go in bloody hard... There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos.
‘Everyone would think he’d gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere.’
‘Breaking up is hard to do’
THERESA May was warned last night not to revive plans for a controversial ‘customs partnership’ at this week’s Brexit showdown.
Downing Street was tight-lipped yesterday about its plans for a ‘third way’ on future customs arrangements with the EU, which is designed to break months of Cabinet deadlock.
But reports yesterday said Number 10 was planning to revive parts of the ‘customs partnership’, under which the UK continues to apply EU tariffs after Brexit. Backers of the idea, including Business Secretary Greg Clark and Chancellor Philip Hammond, claim it would minimise disruption for big corporations that move goods across the EU.
But opponents, including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam Fox, warn the plan would wreck hopes of the UK striking new trade deals and leave Britain shackled to Brussels forever.
Veteran Eurosceptic Bernard Jenkin last night urged Mrs May not to revive the plan, saying: ‘The Government would be playing into the hands of the EU. This deal would deliver Brexit but without any of its freedoms or advantages.’
Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs, warned the proposal was unacceptable, adding: ‘The third way was one of Tony Blair’s great theories. It was a muddle then and it’s a muddle now.
‘The third way is not leaving the EU. What is being proposed, which I hope is not accurate, would be a deeply unsatisfactory non-Brexit.’
Mr Rees-Mogg said the Tories had to stick to their manifesto pledges of taking the UK out of the single market and customs union, adding: ‘There is a contract with the British people and that contract needs to be fulfilled.’
The full Cabinet will gather at Chequers on Friday in a bid to thrash out an agreement on what the Government wants from Britain’s future relationship with the EU. They have not been briefed on any alternative to the ‘new customs partnership’, which would see the UK collect tariffs on involving to reduce behalf and favoured delays. of streamlined the the use EU, ‘ max of or technology fac’ the arrangements model Brexiteers’
‘ third ITV News way’ claimed would that involve Mrs May’s a rebranded ‘customs partnership’ as well as ‘alignment of product standards’ with EU rules.
This could involve a future role for the European Court of Justice – a red line for many Eurosceptics, and a line Mrs May has said she will not cross.
Mr Hammond yesterday told MPs he would be dusting down the appeals for calm. Former justice minister Phillip Lee, who resigned from the Government over the issue, accused Mr Rees-Mogg of He plotting said there a ‘coup’ was against ‘no doubt’ Mrs May. that Eurosceptics were mobilising. Referring to disputed claims that supporters of Mr Rees-Mogg have amassed a £750,000 war chest, Dr Lee said: ‘The last thing we need is a leadership challenge. But when an MP and his supporters have collected £750.000 to do just that, there is no doubt that Brexiteers are planning a coup.’ Mr Rees-Mogg denied all knowledge Treasury’s notorious assessment of the impact of Brexit on the economy, which formed the basis of the Project Fear campaign. He would brief the Cabinet on ‘the Treasury’s assessment of the implications of potential routes forward.’ The Chancellor said he shared many of the concerns of the British Chambers of Commerce about the need to ‘minimise frictions’ on trade with Europe and give business clarity about the Government’s plans. ‘We recognise that we need to make progress,’ he said. Tory divisions over Brexit continued to intensify yesterday despite of the fund and insisted that his interventions were designed to stiffen Mrs May’s resolve to stick to her own pledges. ‘I am trying to support her against the naysayers, some of whom, unfortunately, are in the Cabinet,’ he said.
Meanwhile, European leaders piled pressure on Mrs May to reveal more details of her stance in a long-awaited White Paper on Brexit. Dutch PM Mark Rutte, who held talks with Mrs May in The Hague yesterday, said: ‘We urgently need clarity about every aspect of the future relationship between the EU and the UK.’
‘The proposal is a muddle’