We haven't even managed yet to leave the EU - and may not do so at all - but Whitehall is quietly preparing for the inevitable inquiry into how it all became an almighty cockup. The government have screwed up from Day One - from May's throwing away the announcement of the start of Art 50 for a minor personal political advantage, to her refusal even at this stage to allow contingency arrangements for leaving without an agreement. Plus giving away all the significant advantages before talks even started, falling into trap after trap, allowing the EU to hold the UK to ransom over our territorial borders, and the deception and mendacity around May's parallel treaty, the Robbins Treaty, which, it is suspected, the EU saw before May's own cabinet. The entire process has been one of gross incompetence, crass maladministration and indictable misconduct.
Once the documents are sequestered, long interviews under caution completed and statements collected from all the third-tier actors down (and it's always the telling, detailed evidence from these people that sinks the big fish) the senior mandarins and May and her cabinet members will face their public grilling in the witness box.
This, I'm quite sure, is the motivation behind Oliver Robbins' leaked letter. Why write to the PM to tell her that the treaty was fatally flawed when both of them know that too well already? Robbins is getting his retaliation in first - in an effort to ensure May doesn't pass the blame to him.
We need to wait for the inquiry, of course, and it will be little satisfaction to those who have warned of May's malfeasance, incompetence and unsuitability for this critical role from the start. We all want the best outcome for our nation much more than we want to see Theresa May broken, humiliated and spurned. But this will come. I cannot see how she can escape formal national excoriation and dismissal to obscurity without honours. But again, let the inquiry do its job.
29 comments:
Of course, the enquiry will be held by the people that caused all the problems.
It all goes back to our last great reforming prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, she misunderstood what actually needed to be reformed...
Trump has got it right, and it is notable that the people he is targeting are his most dangerous enemies...
They don't like it up 'em.
When Trump says, yes you can have this new competence, but you must jettison at least two by way of exchange, that is what we should be doing.
Anyway, there were two callers to Nigel's radio show last night that hit the n on the h.
We have no sensible alternative but to state unequivocally that we are going for a clean WTO exit on March 29th. If the EU whose members have more to lose than us from this, want a deal, they will come to us and talk turkey. In the meantime, we will NOT be hampered by threats or obligations that may (probably) will never be honoured, like the right conditions for a non-backstopped border between the two Irelands.
As things stand, the stupid cow, that Raedwald seems to be worrying for, has arranged a situation where we are left to hope that the most dishonourable people in our midst, politicians and bureaucrats, will play the white man, and be fair. Some effin hope!
A trial of May would be excellent.
But only if she and her co-conspirators are hanged after its done.
Now that the ECJ has ruled that Parliament can unilaterally revoke the notification of the intention to withdraw from the EU (Article 50), this inquiry is part of the plan for Parliament to cancel Brexit.
It will be used to explain to the country why Parliament did not prepare for a WTO exit which they say would cause economic Armageddon.
Note that Mrs. May has made it clear there will not be second referendum and once the UK Parliament signs up to the next EU treaty, where there will be no Article 50, that will be that.
We were being told yesterday and this morning, by someone on of LBC I think, that neither the UK nor the EU want this thing called 'The Backstop' and that's our guarantee that it won't be used ( or some such convoluted argument to convince us that we should accept Mrs May's Robbins proposals.
My question is if neither side wants this provision, why have they included it in the proposals? Take it out and we'll all be satisfied, both the EU and the UK, won't we?
Any enquiry held in Whitehall will be the usual whitewash. The same kind of whitewash that allowed Blair to walk away from HIS Malfeasance in Public Office.
Any Prime Minister who tries to force this country into a subservient position with a FOREIGN POWER powerless to determine its own destiny - possibly in perpetuity, hasn't made an unfortunate mistake. He/she is a TRAITOR.
Whitehall will take years examining process and conclude:
"the Government was ill-prepared for the result of the EU Referendum and a series of unfortunate errors meant we could not take advantage of the opportunities Brexit offered. Never mind .... we got to stay in, which is what Whitehall wanted in the first place. Move along, nothing to see here."
I seriously hope that what John Brown writes [09:16] isn't so. If it is I will probably become a non law-abiding citizen. Lawful demonstrations are ignored; perhaps the previous lies about "right-wing terrorism" being a major threat will come true.
Had to laugh yesterday when AG. Geoffrey Cox said "I cannot take a step that I believe in conscience would be against the public interest and potentially seriously harmful to a fundamental constitutional principle."
...erm, you already did.
Now that the ECJ has ruled
-John Brown
No it hasn't. Rather the Advocate General of ECJ has given his opinion, the ECJ will usually follow his recommendation ...usually, but they have NOT ruled on this yet.
You are assuming that such a trial/inquiry would be allowed under EU law!
Chapter 2 Article 100 Communications would seem to protect all the paperwork from scruitiny! Chapter 4 might protect the traitors.
I hope you are correct that such an investigation will occur, but the real question is WHY? Why is a vicars daughter from comfortable, dull Maidenhead playing this game? Who is really pulling the strings that would defy democracy? There is a Pulitzer Prise awaiting the person who can answer that.
Investigation? To what end?
No one will be 'punished, censured or fined/jailed'.
Nothing will be revoked (as if their actions illegality would counter-act the agreements made etc).
This all follows from the current lack of true democracy - even 'justice' won't right the wrongs that will be committed.
Buy your yellow jacket now. Wear it with pride. The French, Belgians etc have the right answer for it. The time for passive opposition is fast ending.
In the time of the setting sun, dwarves cast the shadows of giants (always liked that quote, can't remember who said it).
The sun is setting. The EU has failed. It's dying and I hope it takes the verminous British political class with it. They have nailed their colours firmly to it's mast.
May, Corbyn, Gove, Amber Rudd Heseltine, Blair, Clegg......And as for Cruella de squarehead and the seven dwarves. Hells teeth, what a shower!
It's like an ant colony. Individually, not one of them could lead flies to shit but together they're like some weird gestalt: a group stupidity that is quite capable of wrecking civilization. I honestly don't think they can even begin grasp the damage they are doing.
We had (and I think we still have) a chance to put some distance between the coming disaster (the train wreck - the Euro - has already happened. We're just waiting for the liquid oxygen tankers to explode).
Rather than fleeing as fast as possible as any vaguely rational being would, they want to charge towards it holding a lighted match!
No deal is us perhaps tripping up and getting a face full of pavement. Staying is dropping the match. Not really a difficult choice is it?
The brexit report, which was set up by parliament, under Sir Alfred Chiller-Cabinet, Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) Knight Commander (KCB), Knight Grand Cross (GCB, was the longest running inquiry in British history.
The report was repeatedly delayed. Started in 2021 the final conclusion was not made until 2049.
Outcome - inconclusive.
Prompting a second commission to be set up. Starting from scratch.
BQ, That's all ancient history now, nothing to see, please move along. Sir. Anyway we have a glorious future and rationing will soon be eliminated in the Euro Empire now that Jean-Claude Juncker III has taken over from the revisionist ruinning-dog Karl Merkel-Barruso.
Raedwald said: "... the Robbins Treaty, which, it is suspected, the EU saw before May's own cabinet". It's more than a suspicion. Reports in mid August about Sabine Weyand's claim of possible British spying on EU meetings confirm the EU's slide presentation was given on 5 July 2018, one day before the Cabinet even saw the Chequers deal - for example, Express (17 Aug), Telegraph (16 Aug), Mail (16 Aug), Irish Times (16 Aug), New European (16 Aug), etc.
Mark,
An apt quote for the times, sadly.
Perhaps it was Lin Yutang, whose version goes, “When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.”
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/672986-when-small-men-begin-to-cast-big-shadows-it-means
"In the time of the setting sun, dwarves cast the shadows of giants"
Are you thinking of the poem "Pastoral" by Charles Cotton, which was set by Britten in his Serenade ?
The day's grown old; the fainting sun
Has but a little way to run,
And yet his steeds, with all his skill,
Scarce lug the chariot down the hill.
The shadows now so long do grow,
That brambles like tall cedars show;
Mole hills seem mountains, and the ant
Appears a monstrous elephant.
A very little, little flock
Shades thrice the ground that it would stock;
Whilst the small stripling following them
Appears a mighty Polypheme.
And now on benches all are sat,
In the cool air to sit and chat,
Till Phoebus, dipping in the West,
Shall lead the world the way to rest.
How on earth can you label it a cockup? You'll be somewhat in and somewhat out which satisfies the will of the people 52/48. Be an optimist!
Have to confess I'm not familiar with that work, or those of Lin Yutang. I will certainly investigate both of these gentlemen.
I was very much of the impression that a no deal was always the Reich's preferred outcome as that was the means by which we could be "punished". The chaos unleashed would be such as to bring us crawling back, forced to re-enter under vastly more unfavourable conditions.
Perhaps this is a joint plan with their creatures here and perhaps it will work.
Or perhaps not. While we hear endlessly about what they will do to us I've heard very little about what we will do to them. Probably because nobody is intending anything specific.
They are threatening us with major disruption of their supply chains (tariffs on British goods would be a part of this). We are not threatening them with disruption of ours (which would be a somewhat hollow threat).
This also supposes a unity they obviously don't have. If we become a "third country" an EU country can inspect goods if they have a reason to suspect them but I don't believe that country is obliged to check everything (correct me if I'm wrong here).
What happens if a country decides to start waving British goods through (why should they not?) If France wants to "punish" and the Netherlands,say, do not, what happens then?
And all these disparate nations are confined by the Euro straitjacket (sorry golden fleece). If their "sanctions" harm them more than us (I, for one don't see how they can not be affected), or causes any sort of assymetric shock in the eurozone, would that not be the signal for the markets to attack?
Just a thought.
I think a special place will be reserved for Dominic Grieve. I have never seen a more self congratulatory expression of self important smugness in my life. He had his moment in the spotlight yesterday but I cannot believe h3 has any future in parliament after this. It was his extreme pleasure in his disloyalty that struck me. I do not care how much he upsets May, it’s how much he has wrecked Brexit that sticks in my throat.
I suspect that the AG will resign today, it’s obvious that May will throw anyone under the train to get her way, a competent and loyal man thrown to the wolves. Anyone in her cabinet who has not grasped that they are all cannon fodder, to be used and betrayed on a whim, is an idiot. I hope Gove et al now realise exactly how precarious their position is.
So, with help from Tory Remain MPs, the HoC has voted to allow Parliament to decide on a second referendum. That's what the Tory party is aiming for. They know a general election is suicide, so their first choice is a second referendum.
And despite the hoo-ha, Theresa May is not finished yet. It is not her style to give up, and she is utterly convinced she is right. Indeed her deceit has been in the cause of her belief she is right. A clearer exposition of "the end justifies the means" could not be found.
Who will end up taking the blame for this farce? Don't forget that responsibility is like water in that it tends to come to rest at the lowest possible level.
Incompetence my arse, it was deliberately designed to be a failure. Just the same as the bloody stupid unnecessary general election was designed to put us in a very bad position. Notice all the fear porn being churned out these last months, all the talking heads pushing that no deal is totally out of the discussion, only choice available is mays dogs breakfast cock up or a second referendum, spit!
Half of these arseholes wanting a second shot weren't even born when gayboy heath sold us out, they seem to think that there was no life before that. Well there bloody well was, and there may not have been all the fancy gadgets that there is now, but life was a damn sight better.
@RAC - my thoughts exactly: planned, probably within weeks of the referendum result.
@RAC - do you see anything wrong with the following statement? "Let's call an election with the aim of losing our majority". Try reading up on Prof. Calrlo Cipolla
Nearly 300 MPs voted to SUPPORT the Governments deceit to keep the legal documents out of sight.
THIS is the kind of thing we're up against. Blatant, in-your-face DECEIT and 300-ish MPs' think "that's ok".
They should hang (their heads in shame).
Dave-G, And probably another 200+ MPs only voted against the government because they wanted to bring it down, not because of the principle of the actual deceit of the government. 500 or so rotten, corrupt MPs.
If Theresa May's DWA gets passed (which I think it probably will, even if it gets a few changes, and even if there's a second HoC vote in January), there will simply be no point to Westminster.
The fixed GE thing? What sort of Conservative PM would posit a proposal such as the "dementia tax" when it was completely unnecessary and could only do harm? It jarred with me the very first moment i heard about it. I do though still (just) favour cock-up over conspiracy. Maybe the droids did it to her.
But I do not think that May has an ounce of strategic understanding in her head.
Theresa May will not give up of her own accord, unfortunately. Unless she is toppled the DWA still has life. The problem is that about 250 of Tory MPs (and 200+ of Labour MPs) want what she wants - to keep us locked into the EU. If she is pushed out, we have a chance.
That weight of Remain MPs led to the second problem. While Parliament supposedly gave us the final choice to make in 2016, since then Parliament has decided we made the wrong choice. So they are busily squabbling amongst themselves to concoct a new outcome. And essentially Chequers/DWA is Remain - out of the existing multilateral EU treaties, into new bi-lateral treaties.
Anon 7 dec - it's gone becauswe it's off-topic spam
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