It’s looking like a clean break, thank goodness! I’ve been saying for over two years that a clean break was the likeliest outcome. Indeed, as many readers will know, I was totally opposed to negotiating with the EU in the first place. There was no need to use Article 50 at all. We could and should have used the Vienna Convention, giving say 12 months’ notice, which in turn should have been used as the transitional period.
Instead, the Cabinet Office and Theresa May embarked upon one of the most pointless negotiations in history, making fools of themselves in the process. The disastrous deal was not so much May’s deal as the late Jeremy ‘von’ Heywood’s deal. Very frankly it should have died with him.
The EU was never going to agree a deal which was in our interests. Since the annual trade deficit in goods with the EU is roughly £100 billion, even before adjusting for the Rotterdam/Antwerp Fraud, free trade is actually in the interests of their exporters. They have been tossed to the wolves, however.
The May/Heywood deal was bad on many levels. In describing the Irish Protocol as a ‘backstop’, the EU acted in bad faith, indeed the EU rarely if ever does good faith. The draft treaty was clearly intended to be permanent – a Final Solution, if you like.
Thankfully the EU has ruled out renegotiation. Far too many MPs have been making noises about supporting the deal if the backstop were removed. It’s the worst feature of the deal to be sure, but there are many other objectionable features, and yes, I have read it!
Mrs May and the Cabinet Office ought now to be concentrating their energies on preparing for life outside the EU. They won’t, of course – they’re obsessed with forcing the deal down our throats.
The entire episode has been hugely damaging for the reputation of the Cabinet Office, not just Theresa May. Having a Remainer as Prime Minister was always going to be disastrous. Sir Mark Sedwill has turned out to be a poor choice as Cabinet Secretary. Installed by May, he and she should go as a package.
It’s all very well Donald Tusk banging on about us Brexiteers not having a plan. We haven’t been in power. Had we been we would have been preparing to seize the great opportunities which lie outside the sclerotic, bureaucratic EU. The present situation has come about because the Prime Minister and two Cabinet Secretaries, in turn, refused to accept the result of the referendum and tried to tie us to the EU.
Of course, a clean break will involve some disruption, but not nearly as much as when we joined what was then the EEC in 1973, without a referendum. (Theresa May, by the way, seems to be labouring under the delusion that we only joined after the rigged 1975 referendum – in the Gregorian calendar AD 1975 follows AD 1973.)
The disastrous decision to join the EEC led directly to stagflation and the economic crisis of 1976 when that nice man Denis Healey (we only met once) had to go cap in hand to the IMF. It is often forgotten, but there was a mini-crisis as soon as we joined, in 1972/73. One of the casualties was HMS Eagle, the last command of a late friend of mine. She was due to be refitted to allow her to operate Phantoms and Buccaneers but was prematurely scrapped instead. She would have been very valuable in the Falklands!
I have never come across a Remainer with the intellectual honesty to link 1973 and 1976, let alone accept that opponents of EEC entry were right. Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs were lost, and the country was reduced to the verge of bankruptcy.
It’s also a bit rich for Remainers to talk about a ‘divided Britain’. They weren’t too worried about dividing the country when they rammed the EU treaties down our throats, year after year. Unlike the decision to leave, the decision to join lacked democratic legitimacy, which the farcical 1975 referendum did nothing to remedy. (We actually voted to leave, but the regional votes were tallied up fraudulently by Phillip Allen, who was rewarded with a peerage.)
The truth is that EEC/EU membership has always been divisive. The country was sold a pup in 1972. Support for membership was boosted with fraudulent export statistics and bogus economic arguments. From the NHS to the railways the impact of EU directives on policy was minimised. No government minister dare acknowledge, for example, that the reason the NHS is forced to use so many expensive agency staff is the disastrous Working Time Directive. Rail fares are too high because train operating companies are forced to pay track access charges because community law, absurdly, prevents them from owning the track.
Leaving on WTO terms will allow us to negotiate free trade deals elsewhere, protect our industries from predatory European imports, scrap VAT and save tens of billions a year in unnecessary regulatory costs. Ending free movement should also see a sharp reduction in unemployment.
One of the hidden costs of uncontrolled mass immigration from the EU was the hundred plus billion pounds a year wasted on tax credits. Although the Treasury will never admit it, the real reason they went along with the idea was the planned eastward expansion of the EU, which was always going to depress wages. Tax credits were a way of making up the difference, in a desperate effort to shore up support for membership. In the events which happened, of course, the ploy failed. The cash could be used to boost industrial regeneration and spent on sensible things like aircraft carriers and tanks.
If the Irish government want to avoid a hard border, the remedy lies in their hands. All they have to do is serve their own Article 50 notice!
Life outside the EU is going to be wonderful. We are a great power and have a great future.
Michael – I would love to hear your views on this:
I have always felt that murder of Remainer activist Jo Cox was a false-flag event designed to incriminate the far right and thus raise support for Remain in the then imminent 2016 referendum.
It’s always been so obvious to me that I can’t believe that our intelligence services haven’t also believed this (unless of course they are the culprits!) and so started to track down those responsible for such a grievous crime, while ensuring their dastardly plan is completely foiled by engineering a complete break with the EU. Maybe May’s hopeless agreement, which will never pass, is just a cunning means to ensure that we do just that. I hope so.
The culprits actually could have been the DVD, Mossad (especially as Cox was also pro-Palestinians) or maybe the CIA. Some very big players are on the side of the EU.
Well spotted Ross! Jo Cox’s assassination was set up by GO2, the DVD’s London operation, headquartered in a secure part of MI6’s HQ at Vauxhall Cross. GO2 are the key to British membership of the EU and supply blackmail material on MPs and senior judges to to the Cabinet Office, aided by a German electronics company, which maintains a communications intercept facility in London. GCHQ know about but are penetrated by GO2.
The plan, as you have guessed, was to swing the referendum the EU’s way by laying the blame on the far right and linking the far right to the Leave campaign. The only person convicted of her murder, Thomas Mair, had no known political connections in the UK. He once had a letter published in a right wing newsletter in South Africa and that was about it. His trial was a farce, with respect, in that both prosecution and defence accepted the far right theory. Those who planned the murder, and the other attacker, were never charged.
Ah, the dreaded GO2/DVD again. It’s about time our spooks woke up.Thanks for the info’.
You’re welcome Ross, it was a good question and deserved a detailed reply! I am well aware that some readers are turned off when the talk turns to spooks and spook shops, which is a pity. Bad Guy intelligence agencies lie behind both the EU and the UN, indeed both organisations were planned in Berlin during the Nazi period, although NOT by Nazis – they weren’t bright enough.
There is as much intelligence interference with politics in Britain and the USA as there was in the USSR , but because it’s usually by covert agencies the interference isn’t visible. Politics cannot be understood without understanding intelligence. The UK is not alone. The same ploy was tried in Sweden, with the assassination of Anna Lindh.
The EU and government were complacent about the referendum partly because they thought they had enough blackmail material on a key Brexiteer, no names, no pack drill. What they didn’t know was that an informal counter-intelligence operation in which I was involved had identified a series of corrupt payments totalling £50 million, linked to a large construction contract, in an attempt to block the referendum. The money came out of Japan and because it was initially in dollars was monitored by the CIA, who were intrigued at the size of the pay-offs. The boys and I were in contact of course!
The late Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, as he then was, was one of the recipients, his share being £1m, a fairly big bung even by the standards of the Cabinet Office. The key Brexiteer was briefed in by a contact of mine in the CIty, who in turn had been briefed in by me. The person in question then had more on the Bad Guys than they had on him/her.
MI5 then started taking a closer look at the skimming of defence contracts in Whitehall.
Interesting,,, Thank you.
I agree and confirm Mr Shrimptonspoints.
However I worry about the future. The EU has reated a power structure. These do not die. Thet are used, abused etc usually for worse. HMG needs to beware. and be ready to provide an alternative which will Support national pride and still promote growth as well as friendship etc. A perfect example would be a comonwealth of europe in some form without the politics or bureaucracy to poison it.
This is one ofmany areas Mrs May has clearly shown either incompetence or secrecy’.
Ah T G Spokes somebody has mentioned the apparently dirty word “Commonwealth” at last.
I know you are not talking about the one I am thinking of, but perhaps your comment is a reminder of “our” Commonwealth which should be such a significant factor in our re-emergence onto the world stage after we achieve Brexit in March and yet virtually no mention is made at all about such a re-engagement.
It seems we are prepared to ignore the opportunity of atoning for our National shame we perpetrated when we abandoned them on entry to the EEC (Common Market) (I know they were said to have had some sort of opt-outs, but these were merely rules of exclusion – similar to the sort of thing being foisted on us in this accursed WA).
A major part of the Brexit positive message involved an enhanced future trade relationship with the Commonwealth as a whole, why not? I`m not going to quote the figures now, but I believe the population of the Commonwealth was a sizeable percentage of the total world population (up to 33 1/3% ?) and what`s more it is a flourishing organisation i.e. “growing” in that it is open to members who were not previously British colonies (I would consider favourably an application from the USA to join – particularly as they have a direct previous association).
Trade apart I believe that for the UK to function in the outside world and fulfil its duties as a permanent member (seat) of the Security Council ; our tenure of this position should be within the Aegis of the Commonwealth.
So your idea of a Commonwealth of Europe interests me, but it must be free of prescriptive control – perhaps they could call it The Common Market Commonwealth, a proper friendly free association of Nation States, some of those Nation States might be interested in joining an already existing World Wide Commonwealth ????
It`s about time UKIP got behind the Commonwealth!
I entirely agree about the Commonwealth! Commonwealth GDP is now greater than EU27 GDP. Commonwealth population is much greater – India alone is more populous than the EU27.
No Deal is nothing to be worried about.
A deal ( Another Bl**dy treaty ) is worse than the one we’re leaving. The best deals are made a bit at a time and sensibly.
The only problems are from businesses which have allowed Government interference to insinuate itself. With these the blame is immediately apparent .and the civil service can put it right ultra quickly. ( eg By cancelling bad directives etc.will actually trade
Otherwise there is a minute % of businesses which.actually export to EU and of these an even slaller % will be affected.
It’s The ignorant advising the remain.
The only ones to suffer are Government Vanity jobs like,Cars, showboat Investments, where they have no idea what they are meddling with. They are truly ignorant.
I won`t directly disagree with Michael Shrimpton`s conclusions, because he lives far closer to the centre of action than I do, but my gut instinct reinforced by Donald Tusk`s vision of hell yesterday is that he reflects the view of the EU hierarchy that we must not be permitted to leave under any circumstances, and that includes agreeing a withdrawal agreement which might appear to allow us to leave, but in fact is so loaded with EU silken ties(hawser width) that we will be tied in for eternity. I believe there will be a “down to the wire” midnight “deal” but it will still have at its base this WA loaded with traps.
Somewhere in my dim distant past 1953 to be exact, I read in a book that advocating/worshipping Communism could be likened to the sensation of following a religion such as Christianity and a faith like Islam, following that analogy the slavish adherence to EU would also qualify. Earlier I had thought Tusk`s use of the word Hell in the context of a spokesman of the EU was a bit strange as I understood the EU did not “do” religion and then the penny dropped there was one common denominator; all the aforesaid in some cases violently “HATE THE APOSTATE” of course that would explain the intemperate nature of Tusk`s outburst.
Just as it is necessary that our nation survives this attitude from sources I will not name, so should the UK avoid all the clutches of the EU and EU “speak” and EU continued withholding of our Total Sovereignty. We must not sign this agreement and probably any agreement (it`s bound to be slanted) and go for No Deal and WTO rules.
We should also learn when “to cut our losses”, “when in a hole to stop digging” – we have been in that hole for over 40 years, the money and national effort we have expended in complying with this rotten undemocratic, deadly pantomime far outweighs any temporary hiccups we will suffer in a No Deal situation
Sorry I took so long to say this, but I had to sort out the explanation in my own brain as I went along, but the message is they HATE THE APOSTATE and he must be destroyed – that`s in essence what happened to Greece it`s not pretty!
I forgot to say I feel the whole Irish situation is a put up job, being quite blatantly milked towards Northern Ireland being isolated from the UK and the only solution is an united Ireland. I assume if we come out with No Deal that means there would be a hard border
Responding to Roger’s typically thoughtful comments, yes No Deal means a hard border with Ireland. This is NOT mainly for Customs purposes – most clearances these days are electronic – but for immigration, Ireland being in the EU will have a different visa regime for third country nationals, requiring immigration checks. These would not be necessary if Ireland left the EU, due to the Common Travel Area.
This needs to be sent round for signing.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/234014
Peter Lindsay
Michael, I too agree with your synopsis of the current situation. I have never had any time whatsoever for Theresa May since her inept performance as Home Secretary. Her negotiations with the European Commission have been a cataclysmic disaster from day one. However, she seems to be hanging on in there, and must have teflon plated skin. Maybe just maybe, she is just playing for time now and will take this country out of the European Union on WTO Rules. Absolutely no point whatsoever having any more meetings with Tusk, Juncker, Barnier or Verhofstadt, as they will never move from their position. The only people she should now consider meeting are individual prime ministers and presidents of countries (including those in Europe) who we will be independently trading with post 29th March 2019. If she pulls this off, I believe she will win any following general election with a landslide victory, and will go from being the worst prime minister that we have had in a generation to being the best prime minister since Sir Winston Churchill. If however she fails in this venture and we leave the EU in name only, the Conservative Party in its present form will be finished. Even Gerard Batten thinks she may be playing a canny game here. High stakes indeed…………
Yes it is is good to read an optimistic article. A welcome change from the apocalyptic zombie wasteland predicted by our msm. I hope, like flyer, your right but i think there’s a huge swindle in the pipeline. Some people may think its all over but we need that third goal from Sir Geoff. The remainiacs are still arguing about all the goals, who won the toss and the rematch.
Michael,
Excellent article; I do hope that you are right. I didn’t know that the ’75 referendum had been fixed but no surprise there. I must try to get hold of the detail.
I hate the EU and those who favour remaining with a vengeance but could perhaps excuse some who voted remain if they were to accept that they had swallowed a lie. That is a real issue after years of indoctrination through their education and social media.
Really interesting to hear about Philip Allen and the 1975 Referendum. I thought that HMG would fix the 2016 Referendum as well, I’m amazed they didn’t, they were overconfident and got caught out. They will leave nothing to chance if there is another one, to be sure.
Dealing with the 75 referendum there is plenty of anecdotal evidence about ballot papers in No areas disappearing into hangars on deserted airfields and the result being unexpected. Most of the rigging was done centrally however, made possible by regional counting, which meant that all you had to do was to add the results up incorrectly. Phillip Allen was a long-term German agent, firstly Abwehr then DVD when the latter took over the Abwehr’s overseas organisation in July 1944. In World War II he copied the War Cabinet’s minutes for Admiral Canaris, they went out via Dublin, where the Abwehr had a large station. The DVD are rumoured to have a nearly complete set of War Cabinet minutes in their archive at Dachau. President Trump’s references to Dachau in his SOTU address cannot have been coincidental. I’m the chap who gave the NSA the coordinates of their HQ, it was the second time intel analysis from me led to a satellite being moved! All complaints about the cost fell away when NSA analysts saw fake blocks of flats with cars outside which were never moved. They would have fooled the occasional observer, but could not withstand detailed scrutiny. I knew about the main building, the NSA deserve the credit for the fake blocks of flats! The flats were built over bunkers, of course – their purpose was to disguise the bunker entrances and ventilation outlets.
So Michael you think that the DVD ran Sir Philip Allen, as well as Tom Mair who assassinated Joanne Cox MP. The BBC presented Jo Cox’s assassination as a Hate crime associated with what it said was the xenophobic and racist campaign against the EU before the EU Referendum.
But Jo’s murder could have been solely the outcome of Tom Mair’s mental illness, he was a mental patient for most of his adult life. He lived alone and spent a lot of time surfing the internet on his computer.
He would have been vulnerable to being influenced by extremists online. The police said that they were looking for evidence that far right groups like Britain First had prompted Tom Mair to murder Jo Cox.
But after that we heard nothing from the police about Tom Mair and Far Right extremists. Mair pleaded guilty so there was no trial, no witnesses and no evidence for the media to report.
My immediate thought on reading this is ‘If only!’.
With all the author’s ( self declared ) knowledge of and connections to the British Establishment I wonder why he appears confident that real, WTO Brexit will be allowed to happen ?
Real, WTO Brexit, including the possibility it contains for stopping MUI ~ Mass Uncontrolled Immigration ~, is opposed viscerally by the whole of, 100% of, the British Establishment, from the Archbishops of of Canterbury and Westminster , down through the leaderships of all the political parties ( bar UKIP and The Brexit Party ) , the BBC, almost all newspapers, almost all MPs, all the arty, luvvy Establishment, one could go on but you get the drift.
The idea that just because the present default legal position is WTO terms departure at end of March, therefore it will happen because of the EU’s self harming intransigence, is, I fear, wishful thinking.
The Establishment have various mechanisms for ‘delaying’ it; for cancelling it altogether [ the CJEU recently gave specific permission for that ] and , not least, for cobbling together a bare majority, if not a much larger majority, in favour of Mrs May’s grotesque abortion of a ‘deal’ ( with a few ‘constructively ambiguous’ phrases in a codicil to the ‘deal’ which will be offered some time in March ) .
Don’t forget that Labour’s opposition to the May W.A. is not based on the same reasoning as the opposition of the ERG ( that it potentially enslaves the country in a subordinate rôle in a Treaty from which there is no legal escape mechanism ).
Don’t forget also that there aren’t that many ERG members ~ I think around 80 odd is mentioned. The vast majority of current Tory MPs actually voted FOR Mrs May’s ‘deal’ ~don’t forget that, despite the fact that it totally contradicts the Manifesto on which they were elected in 2017.
Labour’s opposition is based on the idea that the W.A. does not go far enough in the direction of keeping the UK within the EU’s ambit. Lab MPs have persuaded themselves that only via Brussels can workers’ rights be protected . Never mind that Mr Corbyn took the directly opposite ( and more logical ) view until he became Labour Leader.
Therefore, in the end, enough Lab MPs , come a few days prior to March 29, will persuade themselves that Mrs May’s ‘deal’, Godawful as it is, IS better than ‘crashing out without a deal’ . Plus she will get some form of wording, not legally worth anything, but which will enable enough of the ERG people to get behind her ‘Deal’ and help it over the line.
Hope, I really do, that I am proved wrong.
https://independencedaily.co.uk/proposed-policies-ukips-leadership-membership-consider-part-one/
https://independencedaily.co.uk/proposed-policies-ukips-leadership-membership-consider-part-two/
rhys burriss
The pro-German/EU element are not the same as the British Establishment, Rhys! BTW I don’t claim to belong to them, although I have my contacts! There are powerful forces in favour of Brexit. WTO is the default legal position, and although some MPs are wobbling I don’t think May’s deal has anything like the numbers needed to get through. It’s nice to see the Cabinet Office panicking! I think my optimism is justified.
I think I’ll post these two videos from the Money GPS here as well, the are well worth watching and highlight why we need to be gone from the EU ASAP. Theresa May, awful, evil woman that she is, is trying to shackle us to a sinking ship.
“Italy in Recession, Will Germany Be Next? Euro Production Falls Negative Under Massive Deflation!” Part 1
https://youtu.be/nd6R1MxQSQc
“Italy in Recession, Will Germany Be Next? ECB Claims QE Made Poor People Richer?!” Part 2
https://youtu.be/csg9ItsT6Zw
Michael, this article cheers me up, I hope you’re right. The next fifty days will be the longest in my life, I hate these EU bastards.
It is actually 49 days but as we leave at 11pm it will be 23 hours longer than the countdown timer below.
https://days.to/29-march/2019
No doubt that will be a frantic 23 hours for those in government as they try to dream up a final obstacle.
You wait Flyer
.Fri 29 th March.
Saturday 30 th
Sun 31 Mar
. Mon. 1 st Apr All fools day .
A CIVIL SERVICE JOKE.?
The longest weekend in history ?
There’ll be D notices and EAW s flying around like confetti.
I really do not think we ‘ll be allowed to get there.
Even if Mrs May wants to surprise us in some way, she will not be allowed to.
You and me both, Flyer! We are winning! It’s not all over bar the shouting, but it’s the Bad Guys who are panicking!