Wrong again, John
PERSONALLY, I always got on well with John Major. He quite simply is a genuinely nice bloke and certainly not as “grey” as TV’s SpittingImage would have had us believe. John thought their habit of having his puppet unsuccessfully chase the last remaining pea around his dinner plate, on a regular basis, was hilarious. That tells us a lot about the man.
When it came to the parliamentary debates on the EU’s Maastricht Treaty I stayed loyal to him, despite my growing euro-scepticism, largely because he was intent on keeping a UK opt-out of the Single Currency (the euro). Thank God he did. He was dead right. Thanks to John, Gordon Brown was eventually able to use it.
By the time of the Brexit referendum, John’s pro-EU stance was on open display, even though, like me, he was out of mainstream politics. His anti-Brexit stance became his dominating, public characteristic. He still refuses to see the benefits that a post-Brexit Britain can seize, especially as its Covid-shattered economy tries to recover. Being free of EU bureaucracy, red tape and enterprise-stifling regulations will be an all-important advantage when compared to our EU competitors (and they know it).
According to John, the UK is a busted flush. It is “no longer a major power” and “never will be again”. Pardon? The UK is the sixth-largest economy in the world. It is the eighth-largest military power with a nuclear
capability and a global reach. We are one of only five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Our links with the Commonwealth give us a diplomatic reach no other country can match. This is no busted flush. You are a good man John, but you couldn’t be more wrong.