Brexit chaos has gone beyond a joke
If Brexit is some sort of practical joke, and someone behind a hidden camera is having a good laugh — please stop it. It was not funny to begin with, just a bad joke played on the British people and the entire European idea. We have now reached the stage where it is almost impossible to discern fact from fiction, policy from wishful thinking, and right from wrong. To make things worse, not only has the renowned British sense of humor been lost in the process, but so has Britain’s civility of debate, which used to be an example for the rest of the world. Leading these appalling trends is the British government and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In less than three months in office, he has made mistakes at every turn, leaving him a lame duck before his prime ministerial seat was even warm. Promising from the outset to activate Brexit on Oct. 31, even if a deal is not agreed, was no more than an empty threat. This was followed by the dictatorial madness of proroguing Parliament in a blunt effort to prevent the elected legislative body from having the final say on one of the most important decisions in the country’s history. As if that wasn’t enough, Johnson’s move in expelling 21 of his own MPs for not toeing the party line, and at a time when the party has no majority in the House of Commons, was an act of political suicide.
If Johnson’s ploys and plots have been completely detached from the current political realities, the Supreme Court recently handed him a much-needed reality check, ruling that it was impossible for the judges to conclude there had been any reason —
“let alone a good reason” — to advise Queen Elizabeth II to prorogue Parliament for five weeks. Accordingly, MPs rushed back to reclaim democracy and restore some common sense.
That short lull in Parliament’s debates over Brexit did nothing to cool tempers and, once back in session, it was the prime minister who fanned the flames again and enraged those who disagree with his “do or die”
Brexit plans. It is hard to tell with hardcore populists such as Johnson whether they understand that words can lead to political violence and the targeting of individuals — as was the case with the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox on the eve of the Brexit referendum in 2016 — or whether they just couldn’t care less as long as their incitements serve their political objectives.
When the British government recently presented its new proposal, apparently addressing the main stumbling block of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, it proved to be too vague to convince its European counterparts, and especially the Irish government, that it would not mean bringing back a hard border. There is a consensus that a hard border would undermine the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and threaten the peace across the island of Ireland. Furthermore, Johnson’s proposal requires a functioning administration in the North, but Stormont’s power-sharing governing body has been in deep freeze for nearly three years, with no sign of its future reactivation. Admittedly, in this proposal there is a departure from the deal reached with Theresa May’s government when it comes to treating the entire Irish island as a single market. However, the suggestion that Northern Ireland should leave the EU customs union along with the rest of the UK is unpalatable for Brussels and especially for Dublin. They smell a rat and won’t fall for it. And here we are with only a few days remaining until Oct. 19, when, in line with the so-called Benn Act, Prime Minister Johnson will have to ask for an extension of Article 50 until January 2020. In public, Johnson and his ministers maintain that, deal or no deal, the UK will leave by the current deadline of Oct. 31, but government lawyers have now pledged to a Scottish court that Johnson will obey the law and request an extension. There have been suggestions that the prime minister should not only be sacked if he violates the law, but should also go to jail if he attempts to leave without an agreement.
Just imagine the perfectly British farce of a prime minister arrested for not requesting an extension of Article 50. But no comedy scriptwriter could have imagined it, and it is doubtful whether even the staunchest remainer, let alone any leave supporter, would see the funny side of it. It is more likely that the entire country would weep for what Brexit has done to it.