The Tories’ pointless Brexit theatrics wasted months. Now for the hard part | The Guardian
[Image: Ben Jennings.]
Eighteen months of bluster, of “Brexit means Brexit”, of “red, white and blue Brexit”, of “no deal is better than a bad deal”. And for what? Brexit, it turns out, means whatever the EU27 want it to mean. The EU has conceded nothing meaningful; Theresa May’s stringent red lines turned out to be easily wiped away. “So much time has been devoted to the easier part of the task,” as the EU’s Donald Tusk puts it: now a year remains for the hard part.
To keep this mess on the road, May has, as Philip Hammond pointed out, prevented her ministers from discussing the Brexit “end state”. Negotiations over what a final Brexit deal really looks like haven’t even begun within the British government, let alone between it and the EU. This agreement paves the way for the softest, “Brexit means Brexit in name only” deal. Will those who have made a hard Brexit their defining life mission really stomach such a proposition?
May has found a pocket of air which can be construed as breathing space. After wasted months of contrived drama, her premiership will not implode in the coming days or weeks, as some had speculated. But the real battles are still to come. May remains underwater, and the sharks are circling.
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“A blowhard who collapses at the first sign of gunfire.”
– Jeremy Paxman.
We were sure he was right then. Now we KNOW he was.
Yes indeed remainer Cameron and Remainer may along with remainer osbourne and remainer hammond have a lot to answer for.
Yes – but wanting to remain in the EU isn’t among those things.