The UK must not lose its nerve on Brexit
Philip Hammond has had a roller coaster of a week. On Wednesday he said he was unwilling to spend the big money now to prepare for a “no deal” Brexit. On Thursday, Lord Lawson, a prominent Eurosceptic, called for him to be sacked. The Prime Minister was forced to say that she had “full confidence” in the Chancellor. Yesterday, Mr Hammond was recorded in an interview urging unity within the Government, saying that the real “enemy” was the EU. A few minutes later, Mr Hammond tweeted an apology. His use of the “e” word was wrong, he wrote, and he regretted it: “#noenemieshere”.
The Chancellor’s misfortunes are symptomatic of political failure. The Government simply isn’t selling Brexit correctly; its message is confused. It ought to prepare seriously for a “no deal” Brexit, if only because the threat of Britain walking away from the negotiating table is one of the strongest cards it has to play. But while Theresa May promises readiness and has named Steve Baker as minister for “contingency planning”, the necessary money is not forthcoming. Likewise, Brexit is supposed to mean Brexit, which we are reassured is what the Government wants, and yet this week the Prime Minister failed to say how she would vote on Brexit now if she had to. One day, Mrs May makes concessions. The next she declares that the ball is in the EU’S court.
The EU, however, is in no rush to act. Yesterday, Jean-claude Juncker said that while Europe was grateful for Britain helping to rescue it in the Forties, it now has a bar tab to pay – and that is the way that many Eurocrats see these negotiations. Why hurry? Why move on to talking trade when they can hold their position, panic the British into overreaction and wring them for every penny they can get? No doubt Brussels is listening to the militant Remainers who are convinced that Britain doesn’t really have the political acumen or the guts to go through with Brexit. If Europe waits long enough, they calculate, the Brexit coalition will collapse and the UK will return to the fold.
If that happens, the Tories will take the blame. It was the Tories who bungled the general election and were thus returned without a majority. It is Tory rebel MPS who now threaten the EU Withdrawal Bill – necessary to avoid a legal catastrophe the day after Brexit – with death by amendment. And it is a Tory Cabinet that appears divided, with some members still ambivalent in their attitude towards the referendum result they were put in office to effect. Don’t they realise that if they bungle this, they will be defeated at the ballot box? That means Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister, a disaster that both Britain and the EU would live to regret.
Order in government comes from the top: Mrs May has to pick a side in her Cabinet dispute and back it to the hilt. The country craves a return to the kind of firm leadership shown before the general election, accompanied by parliamentary skill and compelling diplomacy. The Europeans and Remainers must be shown that the British people want Brexit – and they are going to get it.