Brexit: Tory ‘divide-and-rule’ tactics won’t work in the EU

Unfocused: Theresa May has no chance of convincing European leaders that her vague Brexit is a good idea. Emmanuel Macron is clear about the EU’s position, and his own – and he is in the best position to get what he wants.

Theresa May doesn’t have a hope.

She is in France at the moment, trying to inflict the Conservative Party’s classic ‘divide-and-rule’ game on the European Union by approaching national leaders, rather than negotiating with Michel Barnier and the European Commission.

This is a strategy that was suggested last week by nascent Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who seems keen to follow his record of smashing up the National Health Service by making an even worse hash of the UK’s relations with other countries.

He said: “The probability of no deal is increasing by the day until we see a change of approach from the European Commission who have this view that they just need to wait and Britain will blink. That is just a profound misunderstanding of us as a nation.

“There is real chance of no deal by accident. Everyone is assuming, no, no, no, this will never happen. Well, actually, it could.

“France and Germany have to send a strong signal to the commission that we need to negotiate a pragmatic and sensible outcome that protects jobs on both sides of the Channel because for every job lost in the UK, there will be jobs lost in Europe as well if Brexit goes wrong.”

Mr Barnier has already gone on the record to poo-pooh Mr Hunt’s suggestion.

He said: “Anyone who wants to find a sliver of difference between my mandate and what the heads of government say they want are wasting their time, quite frankly.”

I believe him.

You see, Tory ‘divide-and-rule’ depends on ignorance. It works in the UK because, when they say something divisive – about immigrants, say – they have the support of the right-wing press and the BBC.

These media channels pump fake news at the masses, polarising opinions to receive the desired effect.

Then the Tories get what they want and can inflict all kinds of damage while blithely claiming that public opinion is on their side.

But the leaders of countries like France (and Germany, for that matter) don’t rely on biased media sources for their facts.

They gather their own information and make their own judgements. And they won’t be swayed from their opinion that Mrs May’s vague notions about relations between the UK and the EU after Brexit are utter bilge.

She might try blackmail of some kind – Mr Hunt’s comments suggested she could threaten the EU with job losses – but, again, she has the weaker hand.

She will come away from this meeting looking like a fool.

What am I saying?

I meant, she’ll come away looking like a bigger fool than she already is.

Theresa May’s hopes of prising away Emmanuel Macron from the rest of the European Union to sign up to her Chequers vision for Brexit looked tenuous on the eve of the pair’s crunch talks.

But while senior Whitehall sources warned that the French president would be tough to win over, they suggested that his influence could prove vital in swaying the rest of the EU27 member states if May were successful.

The UK has launched a diplomatic offensive, with the business secretary, Greg Clark, the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and the Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, all meeting their French counterparts in the past week. It is part of the strategy to go over the heads of the European commission and engage with national leaders directly.

Source: May prepares for talks with Macron that could make or break Brexit plan | Politics | The Guardian

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No Comments

  1. nmac064 August 4, 2018 at 12:51 pm - Reply

    I am pleased to see that EU leaders, and President Macron in particular, is not having any of the Nasty Party’s divisive, “divide & rule”. Hopefully it will show May and her evil cronies up for the clueless nasty chancers they are.

  2. John D. Ingleson August 4, 2018 at 11:39 pm - Reply

    Typo alert: ” … don’t really on biased media sources …”

    • Mike Sivier September 1, 2018 at 8:41 pm - Reply

      Fixed.

  3. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) August 5, 2018 at 7:00 am - Reply

    Theresa May is making herself look even more thick than ever if she thinks she can pull the wool over the eyes of our EU friends and neighbours like she seems to think she can over ours. There are some who are only too happy to put their heads in the sand and hope for the best but, fortunately there are more who say No. Mrs. May!

  4. Barry Davies August 5, 2018 at 7:11 am - Reply

    The EU works on divide and rule, the clueless Barmier has no understanding that it only convinces remainers who want the EU to be really nasty to us.

  5. rotzeichen August 6, 2018 at 5:11 pm - Reply

    I personally think it is a mistake to believe the Tories don’t know what they are doing, the Neo-Liberal agenda is clear, whilst they divert attention away from them dismantling the state, a failed negotiated deal will mean a race to sign up with Trump.

    It is clear by the preparations they have already put in place with regard to the 42 footprints in the NHS all deliberate catered for American health companies, who currently waiting on the sidelines ready to walk in and take over.

    Those are the visible signs of the Tories real intentions and brexit is the game being played out to distract peoples eyes from the real agenda.

    It’s what is happening at home people should concentrate on not Europe, that is just a side game.

    Europe is in fact in deep trouble itself, this table spells that problem out in detail, it also shows how our so called exports to Europe have also declined even before the Brexit negotiations.

    http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Exports_of_goods_to_other_Member_States,_2002,_2009_and_2016_(EUR_billion).png

    Guess why Britain is at the bottom of the table in more ways than one.

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