Be Excellent To Each Other

From this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/IanDunt/status/905093817946300416

"We made important progress..." Labour benches start laughing.

— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) September 5, 2017

I think I've said this a bit earlier in the thread, but this entire farce would be genuinely top-tier entertainment, watching an absolute bunch of clueless fucking clowns three miles out of their depth and floundering magnificently - if those same clowns weren't playing fast and loose with the ENTIRE FUCKING COUNTRY and the lives of TENS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

One area not yet dealt with in position papers—it is not really a headline issue but it is of particular interest to me—is the protection of our urban trees and our woodlands from imported diseases. In this, Brexit will prove invaluable.
...
There are existing regulations governing the importation of trees into the United Kingdom, but they are far from watertight and are designed to work for countries with land borders with each other, who do much trading of trees across those borders. The regulations are not as tight or rigorously policed as they should be. We are an island, and should make the most possible use of that to protect our trees from infection. It may even be appropriate to revisit the question of a quarantine period for imported trees.

Brexit presents us with a golden opportunity to look at this matter afresh, to put biosecurity at the top of our agenda and ensure we are doing all we can to protect Britain’s trees

Historically, we happen to be rather good at free trade, too. We started as pirates in the 16th century, but have moved on from then. We have been very successful.

Guardian:Boris Johnson: we will still claw back £350m a week after Brexit

Just leaving this here for future reference.

This is a leadership bid; plain and simple.

Note that the Telegraph, with whom his article was published, also simultaneously published a whole raft of pieces about how great he is and how he is our national saviour and needs to become PM right away.

The honour and dignity of power transfer in the natural party of governance is always an inspiring privilege to behold.

The honour and dignity of power transfer in the natural party of governance is always an inspiring privilege to behold.

But Hilary!

At a separate meeting, Jaguar Land Rover boss Ralf Speth was said to have had a "heated" exchange with the Prime Minister at a Number 10 round table over summer, imploring Theresa May to avoid a "no deal" Brexit and to immediately prepare a transition arrangement with the same customs and trading arrangements.

A senior Jaguar Land Rover executive told Sky News, as part of our Brexit Forensics investigation, that its recent investment in a massive facility in Slovakia has "become a hedge" against a post-Brexit deterioration in its trading condition.

...

Jaguar Land Rover is booming on global exports but played down the positive impact of a weak sterling or even the need for independent trade deals with its key markets in China and the US.

Between 40-50% of the company's parts come from the EU, including expensive gear boxes from Germany.

The industry has watched with trepidation as the Government has downgraded reassurances, especially as businesses perceive that it does not prioritise - and in some cases even understand - its "just-in-time" manufacturing methods and its pan-European "integrated supply chains".
...

The industry is unimpressed with a proposal floating around Government that factories essentially enforce customs arrangements themselves, through a massive expansion of a current EU scheme for the accreditation of "authorised economic operators".

There is also some tension over the Government repeatedly claiming investment decisions as endorsements of its Brexit strategy.

One Cabinet minister was refused permission to conduct interviews from company premises, for this reason.

...

Last week at the Frankfurt Motor Show, a key boss at Toyota, which a few months ago invested £240m in its Derbyshire plant after assurances about zero tariffs, said the Government was "not any more" giving those assurances.

BMW also played down the extent of its investment in a new electric Mini as at an "early stage".
...

His BMW counterpart Ian Robertson, asked if he was sure of the trading environment within which his company would be operating in the UK, replied: "No, I'm not... clarity is a fundamental part of decision-making."

He also played down claims from Brexiteer politicians that German carmakers would oblige Chancellor Angela Merkel to offer a special deal to the UK to protect their exports.

"We are not likely to be lobbying in any particular direction... We're not politicians," he said.

But luckily Nissan in Sunderland will still get full, unrestricted, zero tariff and non-tarrif-barrier-free access to the Single Market, right? Like May promised?

At the Conservative Party conference a year ago, the Prime Minister promised British firms would maintain the ability to trade freely with and operate within the EU's single market.

Mrs May's words then shifted to "frictionless trade" - and are now "as frictionless as possible".

The industry has been told, however, that the UK will not apply regulations different to the EU.

Jaguar Land Rover goes further, saying the Government already accepts there will be no deviation from European standards at all.

"We made it quite clear that there is only one set of compliance in Europe - no noises from the UK Government that they (expect) any different from that," said Mr Gross.

https://twitter.com/PJTheEconomist/status/910033210981072897

Love that. I didn't identify myself as a 'citizen of nowhere' till that idiot came up with the phrase. Now I'll never forget it. I'll probably never forgive her for it, either.

Perhaps not overly wise of the Department of International Trade to show off the benefits of the CETA agreement between Canada and the EU, considering that's what we'll lose when we leave, and then unwiser to delete the tweet too.

I'm starting to think that deep down Mr Johnson is starting to realise that Brexit isn't going to produce a happy and prosperous land (at least in the short - medium term) and that the incumbent Prime Minister and party will be severely punished by the electorate as the economy worsens. Getting onto the backbenches so he can rally the faithful is probably going to be a far happier future for him than the premiership.

There's a classic line that the best thing that happened to Labour was losing in 1992: Brexit is like Black Wednesday times a million. But probably just the economic shock part, not the subsequent growth.

Boris Johnson – and goodness knows what we all did in a past life to deserve him – opportunistically backed Brexit as a career move. Despite his demonstrable buffoonery, he is astute enough to realise that Tory Brexit is spiralling into disaster. He risks going down in the history books as one of the principal architects of a national catastrophe. So now he plots and schemes, helping to plunge an already politically crippled Tory administration into further turmoil as Britain navigates through its postwar greatest crisis.

As Ken Clarke notes, in normal times Johnson would have been sacked. But these are not normal times, because the prime minister has no authority and heads a zombie administration united only by panic at the prospect of a Corbyn-led Labour government. It is speculated that Johnson wishes to be sacked, so then he can be a martyr rather than a deserter who can claim that Brexit went wrong because of May’s wrongheadedness, rather than by design. The Tory Brexiteers have already devised their alibis, the traditional “stab-in-the-back” myth of rightwing populists and nationalists, that betrayal and sabotage by opponents – “enemies of the people”, if you will – will be responsible for the process unravelling. The key Brexit strategist Dominic Cummings attempts to absolve himself of blame, too, claiming a premature triggering of Article 50 was like “putting a gun in mouth and kaboom” and the government was being “led like lambs to slaughter”.

As ever, a self-serving careerist making sure that he does okay, regardless of he outcome for everyone else.

As ever, a self-serving careerist making sure that he does okay, regardless of he outcome for everyone else.