So the PM proved he is, indeed, a statesman
Politics still matters, as does leadership, vision and statecraft. By sheer willpower, Mr Johnson and his advisers have delivered a radically better deal for Britain, forcing the EU’S technocratic juggernaut into a screeching U-turn. It can’t be done, we were told ad nauseam and yet he delivered, proving he is, in fact, a statesman.
His deal passes the smell test: it is a real Brexit, unlike Theresa May’s shameful ersatz. It allows us to leave the EU, really and genuinely, and govern ourselves like every other independent nation in the world. It doesn’t seek to tie us down, or to keep us entangled permanently in the EU’S legal, political and commercial orbit. It provides for a real rupture for Great Britain, and a hybrid, yet democratic, deal for the special case that is Northern Ireland, in a way that is far better than a backstop.
Crucially, Great Britain will leave the single market and the customs union and will have the ability to negotiate its own trade deals and change its rules, taxes and regulations as soon as the transition is over. It will determine its own immigration policy. A massive number of powers are being transferred back to the UK. When we leave, we will be able to negotiate a loose free-trade agreement with the EU, but we won’t be de facto in its customs union or single market. The extensive and disastrous sections forcing the UK to maintain EU rules and standards in swathes of areas – including employment and social policies – have been excised from the legally binding treaty. A version has been transferred into the political declaration but this merely means those issues will form part of the trade-offs when a trade deal is discussed, as they are in all such arrangements. This is a decent outcome for Thatcherites. Is the deal perfect? Of course not: the strategic
sick and tired of the shenanigans. Something’s got to break.” Mr Johnson said he was “very confident” of getting the deal through and appeared to suggest some Tory rebels could have the whip restored if they voted for the deal.
Writing in The Telegraph, Jacob Rees-mogg, the Leader of the House, said the deal “allows us to chart our own course” as he urged MPS to back it.
He compared Mr Johnson to Jason in search of the golden fleece, overcoming “the mightiest of obstacles”.
Parliament voted yesterday to make the vote amendable, and Labour MPS are expected to table one to make the deal subject to a second referendum.
But Mr Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: “There ain’t gonna be no second referendum. That ain’t gonna happen.”
Government sources said the vote on a second referendum would not be legally binding.
Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said the deal would “avoid the chaos and atmosphere of conflict between the EU27 and the UK”.
He added: “I will always be a Remainer and I hope our British friends decide to return one day. Our door will always be open.”
David Cameron, the former prime minster, said yesterday that he would back Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal if he were still an MP, and believes that it will be voted through Parliament.