PM: do your very best to retain good feelings
OUR Prime Minister is facing the crossroads, which way will he turn? We, the general public, the foot soldiers have no choice. We must go the way Mr Johnson chooses to go but which way will that be?
As far as he is concerned the choice hardly matters. He has achieved his goal, Brexit, his majority in Parliament is so large he is safe whatever he decides. The successful outcome of the referendum in 2016 provided him with the democratic support of the will of the people to be followed up by the landslide of the general election which put him in an unassailable position of power.
With this behind him he is virtually fireproof, it hardly matters which road he takes as far as the final negotiations of Brexit are concerned.
Covid-19 has been a serious setback to his government, as it would have been to any government, and the past year has not been without its problems and mistakes but again, Johnson has been lucky, the successful speedy testing of the vaccine has come at the right time, co-inciding as it has with the final stages of the Brexit negotiations.
His position as Prime Minister is assured, he is firmly in the driving seat, no deal or a slightly softer Brexit will not affect his position. But there is more to it than the immediate moment. Once the dreadful pandemic is tamed there will be a lot to do to get our country back on the rails, many problems to face, some affected by Brexit, some not.
Mr Johnson is faced with a very important choice: should he pursue his vision of Brexit, take our country to the wire and then walk away, make a clean break, sever all links with those he describes as “our friends and partners” and reassert our sovereignty regardless of the consequences? And the choice? Be magnanimous, be statesmanlike, give way a little and let the “other side” know that you are reasonable and that we remain friends. This will provoke good feelings on both sides of the English Channel which will help us through the hard years ahead – go for it Mr Johnson!
Rod Slater, Lymm