THE GUARDIAN: The case for talking to Brussels and seeking improvements is undeniable – except to those like Johnson, in a world of their own
We are seeing a Conservative movement so bereft, so out of ideas, that it’s replaying its old hits. At the end of their reign, with Britain poorer, sicker and less free, it is unclear where the Tories go now. Still, idiocy does adore a vacuum, and so it’s time to talk about Boris Johnson again.
On Sunday, the disgraced former occupant of No 10 suggested Keir Starmer would be putting Britain “on the road to serfdom” if he sought improvements to the shambolic Brexit deal that Johnson struck. Even now, he and those who still laud him seem incapable of understanding the damage they have done. Where once we could travel, live and work freely across the continent, Britons now face time limits, visa fees and roaming charges. Where once our businesses could sell as easily to someone in Berlin as someone in Birmingham, they now get red tape, delays and additional charges. And pertinent to the allegation levelled by Johnson, where once the British people had a say in the rules that govern our trade with our largest market, we now have none.
Instead of “Britannia unchained” we have Britannia unanchored, our country adrift, more vulnerable to economic headwinds and the whims of bigger global players. Even accounting for Covid and Ukraine, Brexit has caused higher consumer prices and lower economic growth, and all for benefits no one can articulate without the preface : “Well, maybe in the coming decades …” Those who claim there are Brexit opportunities rarely go into the detail. When they do, they almost never explain the trade-offs.
So ignore revisionism, it’s Johnson who delivered “serfdom” for the UK. He said “fuck business” and he delivered. » | Naomi Smith | Tuesday, July 9, 2024
BoJo: the clown with tousled hair and scrambled brains. – © Mark Alexander
