Failure

Over the past four years, the Conservative Governments of Cameron, May and Johnson have failed to successfully negotiate with:

Its own members
The ERG
The EU
And now, the City of Manchester

Next us is the USA and China.

Liz Truss has negotiated with Japan, but the details have not been released. I am not holding my breath.

As I have said many times, a trade deal is not a thing in itself, a deal can be good or bad, and the outcome is whether you, as one of the negotiating sides, have the leverage to be able to force the other side into more concessions than you.

It is also worth bearing in mind that agreeing and sticking to any kind of deal and/or treaty with the EU would be of great benefit to the UK and its economy. Which makes the Government’s actions all the more astounding. The EU are our neighbours and political allies. The bloc is also the richest in the world and literally on our doorstep. And yet Johnson, Gove et al apparently want to sabotage the agreements already made and any future ones too.

Failure to come to an agreement would represent a monumental failure in statecraft (Johnson’s own words) as the result would leave the UK in a dire situation. Not only that, would trash the UK’s reputation around the world, or what’s left of it after four and a half years of mis-management by the Vote Leave cabal.

I am not in despair, as I know that no deal, if that is what is to come, will be the end point, forever, just a “go to jail” square in the grand game of Brexit. But in going there, whilst being cheered on by the Mail, Express and Torygraph represents much deeper questions, as if we cannot trust the press and media to hold this Government to account, then what is it actually for?

While the Brexit pantomime carries on, in the background, Cummings carries on destroying the democratic institutions it took centuries of strife and struggle to put in place. Deal or no deal, these changes will severely limit the opportunities for anyone to question the executive. And maybe that was the point all along, so kind of Poundland US where the Conservatives will be the minority Government, having gerrymandered the country so that it could never lose and election, and no one could question its actions. I have said in these posts many times that the acquisition of power was the point of Brexit, and it seems that the closer political Brexit gets, the more power is craved, though it is clear they do not have the skill to wield it.

Yet.

We will be dealing with the fallout from Brexit for years, maybe decades, but the affront on our democracy will go on longer and do more damage, as cronyism rules, money for the Old Boys Network, while the rest become fodder for the machine.

No rights, no money, no future, no hope.

Welcome to post-Brexit UK 2021.