Billionaire BeLeavers have done a runner
ABANDONING Britain for tax-free Monaco, one of our richest people should be made to leave his knighthood at Heathrow Airport.
Brexiteer Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a petrochemicals tycoon worth an estimated £17.5billion, displays little faith in the country he’s ripping out of the EU.
The quitters’ 2016 slogan of “BeLeave in Britain” could in 2020 be “Leaving Britain in the Lurch” for the hard- bitten Ineos boss has ratted Britain out by switching his tax status from Hampshire to Monaco where he’ll join the likes of Sir Philip Green in the Med’s haven of the super-rich.
Ratcliffe’s runner is no vote of confidence in the wrecked nation he helped sailed dangerously close to the rocks.
Boris Johnson’s desperation for a late deal is the erratic behaviour of a captain who only backed “Out” in a referendum he never expected to win to help secure the Tory crown.
Battered and bruised in Downing Street by the Covid- 19 crisis, the penny is finally dropping that £672bn of trade is at risk if Britain exits the Customs Union and Single Market on New Year’s Eve without an agreement.
The ninth round of trade talks opening tomorrow between Britain and Brussels are the most crucial to date with the clock ticking down to October 15’s crunch EU summit.
Johnson’s Brextremist-partner-incrime, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, is similarly straining for a deal but passports and an internal border for lorry drivers to enter Kent is a world away from the £350million easy lie down the side of a bus.
Jittery Johnson’s relying on Brexit fatigue to avoid flak, hoping that the people believe he got it all done last January as he promised.
Labour leader Keir Starmer similarly wishes to move on, avoiding the subject whenever possible. New Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey pursues a similar line, conceding he lost the battle for Europe.
What amounts to a conspiracy of silence is alarming when the stakes remain so high. Ratcliffe jumping ship is another architect of the Brexit folly looking after himself.
The unnecessary price will be paid by millions of workers and families, deal or no-deal. Now, let’s get that knighthood back.