No-deal boris: a political epitaph  | thearticle

On 30 September 2016, Boris Johnson gave an interview with the _Sun_. It was three months after the Brexit referendum and two months into his stint as Secretary of State for Foreign and

Commonwealth Affairs. Johnson was upbeat in the interview stating that the Brexit process would “…make Britain once again to be the great motor of free trade.” Johnson’s thinking was the UK

had fallen behind its competitors in global trade and, to a point, he was right. As a nation we export less than half compared to Germany. Throughout the referendum Johnson argued that the

EU blunted the Anglo Saxon entrepreneurial, free trading spirit and we needed to break free from the club to unleash the UK’s full economic potential. The Germans were using EU legislation

to help its industry while hindering other economies through red tape generated by Brussels. The dice were further loaded with the advent of the Euro. The currency artificially lowered the

price of German goods around the world thanks to the Eurozone including barely developed economies in Eastern Europe. This meant Teutonic goods sold through the euro were cheaper than

comparable UK exports traded through sterling. This was front and centre when Johnson was talking to the _Sun_, “I am confident that we can get a deal that is exhilarating for this country,

that is a massive opportunity and that liberates us to champion free trade round the world.” Asked if the was a chance that we might not get a deal and have a hard Brexit he stated “I don’t

recognise this term,” and “We are going to have a deal that works.” The Johnson Brexit, back then, was about a global, outward-facing Britain freely trading in partnership with the EU. He is

always keen to demonstrate his love for the people of Europe stating in the interview he was “Pro-secco but by no means anti-pasto’’. A deal with the EU was not just part of Johnson’s

Brexit, it was the key element to it. So how has Johnson, on the eve of leaving the European Free Market, found himself without this deal? Johnson needed to compromise his progressive world

view of Brexit as he needed the votes from the little-Englander members of the Tory Party to become leader of the Conservative Party. They have a quite different idea of what Brexit meant

and it’s certainly not about an outward-facing global Britain. This was the Brexit of Nigel Farage; stopping the unsustainable wave of immigration and kicking out all those Aids tourists.

Ending the free movement of people and winning back our fishing rights is the essential element of Brexit for the Tory grassroots. Johnson used the Little Englander card to rev up the right

of the Conservative Party to pick a fight with Theresa May. In doing this he sunk her deal, destroyed her premiership and got him the top job (although he was helped in this mission by the

hapless May). When in power, he needed to take on the soft Brexit “Gauke-ward” squad to the centre of his party. In doing this he put clear blue water between him and the May regime in the

eyes of the electorate. This made him look like a man with a plan, happy to smash through everything which was put in front of him – even if that was two ex-Conservative chancellors and

Churchill’s grandson. In the short term this worked – he could go to the country as the man with an “oven ready deal” and win an election victory with a thumping majority. However, the

gagging and then killing of softer Tory voices on the green benches got rid of people ideologically wet enough to speak up for the compromises needed when he came back from Brussels with a

trade deal: and all trade deals need compromise. When the Rory Stewarts and Alistair Burts walked out of the Commons for the last time, Johnson lost any counterbalance to the ERG. The

Parliamentary Conservative Party now prioritised fishing boats on the South Coast above the car production lines in Coventry. But the main problem for Johnson was the EU. The bureaucrats

from Brussels had the discourtesy of running rings around UK negotiating teams. We gave up £37.1 billion for a “divorce” with the EU which, when it happened on 31 January, barely even

registered with the public. It is now clear that pot of cash was the only bargaining chip we could control, and we gave it away for nothing. When it came to the real negotiation, the trade

deal, we found ourselves without a hand to play. That other “Trump” card was kicked out of the White House and there will be no quick free trade deal with Biden’s US. It also turned out

German car manufacturers did not tell Merkel to do a deal with the UK at any cost, nor did any of the 27 countries in the EU pull ranks and side with the UK during the negotiation. The

simple truth is that Johnson has left the negotiation table with the EU having lost £37.1 billion and come away with, literally, nothing. At the same time, the EU sits back, counts the money

and wags its finger at any other nation thinking about leaving the club. As a country we have been humiliated. In the name of Brexit, Johnson’s regime has gone to war and kicked out some of

the most talented members of the Conservative Party. This would have split any other party in Europe. He picked fights with the judiciary, trashed our reputation in international law,

weakened the Union and compromised the Queen. None of that, in my opinion, was worth the price of a successful Brexit. The fact he has produced the car cash Brexit now taking place makes

Johnson one of the most disastrous political figures in European post war history – and that is before we get to the mishandling of coronavirus. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only

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