Monday 2 October 2017

Theresa May, a vacancy waiting to happen

Trevor Kavanagh has written a good piece in the Sun today from which I took my title. Here is the link. Its worth a read.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4590357/trevor-kavanagh-theresa-may-must-wake-up-jeremy-corbyn/

He had obviously watched Mrs May' s interview with Marr as I did but we seem to have been watching two different interviews

The first sentence,

"Theresa May gave a feisty, articulate and cheerful performance under hostile fire from an increasingly tetchy Andrew Marr."

I do not recognise as the same interview. I thought Mrs May was hesitant, nervous and Marr was his usual ie not very good. I thought its lucky for Mrs May its not A F Neil doing the interview. If that had been the case I am sure May would not have agreed to it.

I agree with this from Kavanagh, indeed have written much the same myself wthout the benefit of Mr  K's contacts or experience.

"But the real issue threatening to tear this Government apart is the tortured negotiation between a lame duck UK and boorish, bullying Brussels.
After months of sterile talks, Britain stands paralysed in the headlights of a tank-like European Union, dithering whether to surrender or make a run for it.
We are being sucked, deliberately and remorselessly, into a quagmire of delay and humiliation."

The last sentence describes exactly the EU tactics as Yanis the Greek spelt out. Its not only our negotiators  who seem blind to this but so called Euro experts like blogger  North. who seem to think they can out EU the EU. They can't. The game is set up so only the EU can win so the only sensible tactic is not to play it and walk away as one would do if it were a rigged horse race.

"EU leaders have made it abundantly clear they will never let Britain leave its clutches with a deal which sees us thrive and prosper alone." is another correct  observation. It is a gruesome zero sum game in which a good result for the UK is perceived as a defeat for the EU.

This is a battle to the death, either the demise of our country or the demise of the EU. The complete lack of any criticism by the EU of the anti-democratic actions of the Spanish government shows this. Worse, our chief gloom monger, the EU phile  Hammond refused this morning to condemn the actions of the Spanish government.

Its Hammond, the Lord Halifax of this government  who should be sacked! 

Britain's Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax,  at the outbreak of the Second World War, secretly met with an Old Etonian who tried to broker a peace deal with the Nazis, according to newly-declassified security files. ... But he subsequently changed tactic and tried to contact Adolf Hitler. Halifax was of course an OLd Etonian. If he had had his way we would all be speaking German today

We need to start preparing right now for no deal with the EU.

.As Kavanagh writes,

"We need better port and airport facilities, a beefed-up Border Force, new computers, and a barrage of complex legal arrangements to cope with energy, commerce and technical transfers.
It is no use just “looking at” these increasingly urgent measures. They will take months and years to put in place. And yes, they will cost billions.
But the alternative, if we crash out with no safety net in place, is economic catastrophe."

"Remainers claim any such programme will be seen by Brussels as a negotiation wrecker, a declaration of war. This is the policy of surrender. Unless Mrs May wants to be held responsible for leading us over a cliff, a start on these major works must be triggered now."
Well said Trevor but I still do not understand why you thought May's performance yesterday on Marr was good. Your final paragraph however was.
"Boris may never be leader but he is at least a cheerful siren of hope.
Remoaners such as Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Chancellor Philip Hammond are voices of despair and managed decline.
Critics are pleading with the PM to “wake up and smell the coffee”.
In fact, with Jeremy Corbyn’s Momentum army on the march, the “coffee” image does not begin to address the urgency of this crisis."



5 comments:

Niall Warry said...

We joined the CM and took part, albeit reluctantly, in its progress towards the EU. The EU is what it is, if it quacks and walks like a duck it is a duck, and having been part of this 'duck' for 45 years we should deal with it as it is especially if we don't want to seriously damage our economy.

However bad one might perceive ones wife to be one will be very unlikely to get away with no deal in the face of the law.

The EU are not bullying us they are simply playing with a very straight bat it is not thier fault the British 'team' are trying to play football on the EU's crickrt pitch.

This is the time for some realpolitik rather than some futile grandstanding.

Eric Edmond said...

Sorry to hear of your matrimonial problems. We all have them.

Stephen Harness said...

Who will stand up and call her out? Perhaps a stalking horse will appear. Sadly she did not fight the last election and that eliminates her from another go. The EU have now voiced their opinions in public on her as the leader of our country and chief Brexit negotiator. Is destiny with Boris or Jacob.

Niall Warry said...

Touchee

;-))))

Blind stoat said...

Kavanagh is right regarding the need for improved port and airport facilities.

We also need much better rail services. IF the UK - and particularly the City / London / SE - is to maintain its position as a major "services" exporter, we need to make it as easy and as attractive as possible for accountants, consultants, IT contractors etc. etc to locate themselves in London / the South East.

I would like to see far greater centralized control over both airports and railways. In my view it is a nonsense that whenever I want to use Stansted, I have to fight my way through several hundred metres of duty-free shops, just to get to departures - simply because it suits the owners. How can we expect US investment bankers based in Canary Wharf and senior Glaxo managers based in Cambridge to stay in the UK if that's how we treat them? Stansted needs to become a proper business airport with a dedicated highspeed rail link to both Canary Wharf/the City and Cambridge. If we are going to make a success of Brexit we need to take back control of our entire transport infrastructure and ensure that it is serving the needs of the UK economy as a whole.