I wish the Foreign Secretary well in her new role sorting out the Northern Ireland Protocol.
It is important she stands up to the EU. She needs to rub out the wrong  statement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland that the U.K. might need to break international law in a limited way. She needs to insist on reversing the diversion of trade from GB/NI in accordance with the Protocol and insist on upholding the Protocolâs affirmation of the importance and integrity of the U.K. internal market.
This is a much easier negotiation to win than the one Margaret Thatcher won when she secured a large U.K. rebate on EU contributions with no real leverage. There is plenty of leverage here, as we can simply impose a fair solution as NI is part of the U.K. and under  the U.K. Parliament and governmentâs control now we have left the EU. She must enforce the Manifesto promise to end ECJ jurisdiction over any part of the U.K.
January 8, 2022
Correct but is LibDim (ex President of Oxford University Liberal Democrats), devout remainer and yet another Oxford PPE person Liz Truss really right for this job? I rather doubt it. I expect a cave in over NI from Boris/Truss. The resignation of Frost was a very bad sign indeed suggesting he was not being given the support/tools for the job.
Liz Truss: Reject ‘green protectionism’ in favour of free trade to drive net zero! But Liz Net Zero is almost the direct opposite of free trade it is all about government knows best, rigged markets, expensive & unreliable energy & economic and political insanity. Driven surely largely by vested interest and corruption (certainly not by rational science). Also clearly irrelevant to the world climate.
An insane policy pushed by deluded socialists and other fools – LABOUR, SNP, LibDems & May/Carrie/Boris his Dad and siblings. It will prove to be even worse than John Majors ERM fiasco politically. We shall see in the May Elections as the energy bills drop on the mat.
January 8, 2022
Same old, same old and no doubt the first of many. Time to get a life methinks.
January 8, 2022
Do you actually disagree with anything I say? If so why not say what? I am merely pointing out reality.
January 8, 2022
LL. Excellent post today, I agree fully.
January 8, 2022
The job is politics and diplomacy, why wouldn’t a PPE be a reasonable background.
Or are you claiming only physicists should be anything and everything.
January 8, 2022
Google a list of PPE Oxon graduate politicians – about 95% of them were appalling disasters. Perhaps not the degree itself but maybe the type of people who aspire to such a degree – Ted Heath, Woy Jenkins, D Cameron, M Hancock, J Hunt, Davey, C Huhne (a British energy and climate change consultant now it seems).
It seems to be a bent, bluffer second hand car salesman degree in general.
N Lawson, A Widecombe, Tony Abbot perhaps three of the very few more sensible ones.
January 9, 2022
You Google it as you are the one with a hangup over the topic – you continually use the PPE degree as a touchstone for failure, a sure fire indication of an “appalling disaster” … except it seems for those who aren’t, so not a certain touchstone really…
January 8, 2022
L/L. Always a great post thank you.
January 8, 2022
Liz Truss is alas not remotely a Lady Thatcher and even Thatcher made many very large and rather predictable errors in failing cut the state down to size, increasing loads of red tape, failing to sort out the dire NHS/healthcare system, closing many excellent grammar schools, burying us further into the EU, falling for climate alarmism at one point, appointing the dope John Major as Chancellor and even letting him take us into the ERM fiasco… leading to Major as the disaster PM followed by the even larger disaster Blairism for three+ terms. Not a single positive from the Blair era that I can find.
January 8, 2022
Liz Truss may not be a Margaret Thatcher but, after the tank photograph, it is clear she would like to be perceived in the same way.
As for the outcome on Northern Ireland we will see. I am not optimistic though.
January 8, 2022
She’s not half the woman of Maggie.
If she capitulates to the EU her leadership chances are zero.
We should do these things but as Bozo is a silent remainer, we won’t.
January 8, 2022
Yes, her leadership chances will probably collapse if she capitulates (though she may have media-savvy spin prepared). However, things will not stay the same either in NI but also in GB.
Somebody needs to remind Ms Truss and Boris that the EU sets its regulations largely to appease/please the EU corporate lobbies – but also to exploit and or damage the UK. One recent lobby-driven change in EU regulation is to allow chicken and pig farmers to feed their animals animal remains – yes, feed them the bits that cause nasties like BSE. The reason? EU farmers are under pressure because farmers elsewhere (not the UK) have bigger profit margins, and this is one way to increase them.
January 8, 2022
Yes, Alison. I remember all the EU and Remainer ‘warnings’ that the UK would lower food standards UNLESS the UK agreed to abide by EU rules and standards. It’s been total silence about the EU lowering their standards, not only reduced feeding requirements, but they have also reduced inspections of carcases (they must need to save money there too, so health reasons can be ignored). We Brexiters know it’s the usual EU hypocrisy and double standards, but I am sure the EU sycophants will have their reasons (excuses and defences) ready.
January 8, 2022
Cattle are ruminants; chicken and pigs are omnivores like people whether they and the globalists like it or not. The civil service Arts graduates in MAFF should not have allowed the feeding of animal remains to cattle but then again how would they know (about science)?
January 8, 2022
Her Girl on a Motorcycle photo-op wasn’t up to much either.
Marianne Faithful did it sooooo much better back in the ‘6os!
January 8, 2022
That film did not have a happy ending.
January 8, 2022
But remember John was the policy advisor and today he isn’t given enough direct influence . John under advice expanded his redes sociales and gets support , but he isn’t in the cabinet.. why not?
January 8, 2022
Regardless of the “tank” photo, which may be a mandatory FO PR photoshoot now, Liz Truss has been successful in her rounds of trade negotiations. So perhaps when the negative elements of her colleagues and the blob are avoided then success is possible.
Liz Truss doesn’t need to be a Maggie Thatcher, just address issues to our benefit.
January 8, 2022
dixie,
âSo perhaps when the negative elements of her colleagues and the blob are avoided then success is possible.â
Not just colleagues though. There is also the Prime Minister to take in consideration.
Unless she manages to unseat him. Possibly as part of the 8 point plan outlined below by acorn?
January 8, 2022
Part of the art of succeeding is managing your boss.
January 8, 2022
To say that Liz Truss was successful as a trade negotiator is being rather generous. It would be more accurate to say that she was not a failure. Remember that the hard yards in the trade negotiations had already been done by her predecessor (Liam Fox) and that all that he and she did was replicate the existing trade agreements. Cutting and pasting is not so onerous.
I am not being critical, as we had a lot of deals to do in a very short space of time, and the Remain-traitors all said that this could and would not be done; all I am saying is that we should not exaggerate her achievements: she did a decent job, but no more. Remember too that all the agreements – including the Australia one, which is the only new one – have been estimated (by the government itself) to benefit the other side more than they do us in terms of trade.
January 8, 2022
Maybe that is all they did but surely we should be positive and supportive about achievements that do move us forward, to reinforce patterns of success.
Lord knows we have enough trolls and negative individuals around these parts.
January 8, 2022
Abstracted from my recent FOI request trying to establish the projected economic benefits of Boris Johnson’s “fantastic” trade deal with the EU:
https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Progress-with-trade-negotiations.pdf
“Progress with trade negotiations”
This makes five references to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, “which is the responsibility of the Cabinet Office”, but offers no information at all on its economic benefit to the UK comparable to that available for other free trade agreements, for example:
“21 The projected macroeconomic benefits from the secured and proposed FTAs with Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the US range from 0% to 0.16% of GDP (ÂŁ0 to ÂŁ3.4 billion) and will take more than a decade to be fully realised. DIT estimates that by 15 years after implementation, the UKâs agreement with Japan will add 0.07% (ÂŁ1.5 billion) to GDP each year and, if signed, the UKâs agreement with Australia will add up to 0.02% (ÂŁ500 million) to GDP, with New Zealand 0% (ÂŁ0) and with the US up to 0.16% (ÂŁ3.4 billion).”
January 8, 2022
Camilla Tominey is surely correct today in the Telegraph.
âThe Tories are the party of shirkers, not strivers. They are punishing the hard-working and aspirational while giving a free ride to the public sector unions and the lazy.â
The Tories are simply tax borrow and piss down the drain merchants with net zero insanity, very poor and declining public services and endless red tape on top for good measure. Talk of a misguided windfall tax on oil and gas companies now too. Yes more insanity.
January 8, 2022
âWe must call off these tax rises before they wreck recoveryâ
Matthew Lynn is correct in the Telegraph today.
Indeed but above all we need to stop the endless and vast waste of government that requires the tax – net zero, HS2, test and trace, pointless covid tests for health people, EV subsidies, loans/grants for worthless degrees, the waste and incompetence at the dire NHS, the endless strangling red tape⊠vast scope everywhere you care to look in this government.
January 8, 2022
@Lifelogic
One assumes that you have an online subscription to the Telegraph. Why don’t you address your agreement with the articles therein in the comments section? There is a whole community of like minded contributors with whom to agree, and some vociferous dissenters for fun. Why continually bring them to this forum?
I agree with much of what you write (with a little nuance here and there) but I am capable of finding newspaper articles by myself. I prefer the posters who post research or facts on these pages and who stick to the topic of the day.
January 8, 2022
So few in the mainstream media seem to say anything sensible that I sometimes feel the need to point out the few that do.
Allister Heath perhaps the most consistently sound.
January 8, 2022
It would be good to see a minister actually stand up for the UK for once. If she wants to be taken seriously and we are to believe she is now a Brexit supporter then a successful outcome for the UK is a must. No capitulation. We’ve done too much of that already. Leaving the ECJ would be a great result. We are supposed to be sovereign after all. Can Boris get any worse and could she show she’s a potential leader?
January 10, 2022
Ah, yes, a “supporter”, like Millwall’s.
January 8, 2022
It is odd that, having got their Brexit, Brexitists have spent the last year raging against it.
The Northern Ireland Protocol was negotiated ENTIRELY by Brexitists. Theresa May rejected any arrangement that put a border down the Irish Sea. But Brexitists Frost and Johnson put one there anyway.
The Conservatives stood for election on the basis that the deal Johnson agreed was a great deal. An oven ready deal. Most of you voted for it.
The deal was endorsed and praised by Brexitist Bill Cash and his coterie of comedy lawyers. Just about every Tory MP and every Brexit Party MEP then voted for this deal in Westminster and the European Parliament.
We told you it was a bad deal. We told you it was awful for our country. You called as traitors. You called us remoaners. You told us to go and live in our beloved EU – which we canât because you removed our right to do so.
And now you whinge about your deal. You whine about your deal. And you threaten to further embarrass, shame and humiliate our country by breaking international law to try to weasel out of the deal you agreed.
Brexitists are completely pathetic. An utter embarrassment to Britain. A stain on our formerly great country.
January 8, 2022
Your usual playground poor loser response. Blair, as your hero, indicates seriously impaired judgement making the rest of your comments, frankly valueless.
You can always move to your home in beloved France. I guess Macron is another hero.
January 8, 2022
+1 and let us hope the dire Macron is evicted in a couple of months.
January 8, 2022
Nig 1
Totally unnecessary remarks just because you disagree
January 9, 2022
Not like you at all bill.
January 8, 2022
May was also conned into rejecting the straightforward proposition that a border between sovereign entities is already a border.
January 8, 2022
Andy : Clearly you have forgotten what would have been the outcome under May’s deal. Far, far, far worse than what we have at the moment under the Protocol. All that we are lacking is strong leadership to interpret the terms of the Protocol in line with the interests of the UK. The EU is in the main interpreting just one element of the Protocol to its advantage whilst ignoring other elements of the deal that would limit the advantages they seek. Unfortunately we are dealing with an unfriendly rogue agency that wants to harm a near neighbour. On top of this it does beg the question – “Did the EU understand what they were signing up to in the Protocol”. So come on Boris start being strong because the electorate will not forgive you if you bottle this and they will see through any attempt to fudge the NI issues. Boris protect our sovereign UK.
January 8, 2022
Andy, this is fiction. The NI P was NOT NOT NOT negotiated by Brexiteers. It originated from and in the “Joint Report” of December 2017 – which was effectively drafted by Dublin/Berlin/Brussels. Brussels and Dublin refused to make any change to it. The only change that was agreed was to widen its terms to the whole of the UK (“the backstop” and Mrs May’s version of ‘the deal’), which, thankfully, was rejected.
January 8, 2022
Nonsense. The Protocol is entirely the work of Boris and David Frost. They agreed it
January 8, 2022
With a majority of eighty, who other than this Tory government could possibly be responsible, given that Parliament is supreme in the UK?
January 8, 2022
Andy :
Nonsense, we’ve never had a “Brexitist” PM , government, Parliament and civil service.
They’ve all been Remainers, including the current PM, Boreas Johnson, who has proved he is really a Remainer (like his father, bother and sister) by not pursuing Brexit policies despite winning an 80 seat majority “to get Brexit done”.
So any “embarrassment” and “stain” the country has suffered is due to a long and continuous list of Remainer PMs – John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron/Nick Clegg, Mrs. May and, now it seems, Boreas Johnson.
January 8, 2022
Andy you are wrong again This entire mess was not caused by a Brexit or the vote. It was caused by remainers after the vote who could not accept democracy. Have you forgotten the years after the vote with a remainer PM and Remainer treacherous elements in the back benches led by a remainer speaker changing precedence to thwart Brexit at every turn. Weakening our negotiations at every opportunity. Have you forgotten the remainer ex PMâ slithering off to Brussels to advice against their own country. Get your head out of the sand and stop acting like Pontius Pilate. Remainers cannot wash their hand of their awful fight against their own country.
January 8, 2022
Too right BW.
January 9, 2022
Well said, BW. I, and many others, haven’t forgotten the undemocratic Parliament of 2017-2019 and their underhand actions. I always thought that conspiring with a foreign government to control and subjugate our nation should be considered treason.
January 8, 2022
@Andy; Some of those on the Remain side of the debate are completely pathetic. An utter embarrassment to Britain. A stain on our formerly great democratic country. What do you not understand Andy, we lost, those who voted Remain, when will you grow a spin and accept that!
As for what the govt (FCO) does, whatever it is they need to remain within international law, thus to challenge the NIP we might need to implement the ‘break clause’ within the entire WA, meaning we will have to trade via WTO rules etc until such time the EU wishes to sign a proper FTA with the UK etc.
January 8, 2022
Original Richard, BW and jerry: well said.
I cannot understand why these democracy deniers are allowed to stand for election, or that those who campaigned to support Brexit, and then did the opposite, were allowed to keep their seats. This country (or should I say this government) rewards deceit. Maybe because they also use deceit, for their own purposes.
January 8, 2022
@Shirley M; “I cannot understand why these democracy deniers are allowed to stand for election, or that those who campaigned to support Brexit, and then did the opposite, were allowed to keep their seats.”
Rather arrogant but if correct, perhaps all those who could not accept the 1975 “Yes” result should never have stood (again) for election, or was Tony Benn, Enoch Powell and many others besides and since wrong to carry on their fight against our EEC/EU membership?…
Just what is “Brexit” in any case, ask 1000 people you’ll get 1001 different answers! How many times do some people need it pointed out that what they want from Brexit might not be what another wants even though both voted to leave [1], but both would still be Brexit. There might well have only been one official Leave group, one official Remain group, but that was for state funding purposes, it did not stop many other groups lawfully campaigning, publishing their own manifestos, putting them to the people -UKIP being one, as were the Socialist Party, never mind “Flexcit”, the latter a manifesto/plan often debated at the time on this site.
[1] and the same went for Remain, had they won I certainly would not have supported any calls to join the Euro, off the back of the referendum result, for example
January 8, 2022
If my memory is correct, the MP’s against the 1975 result did not misuse their powers and try to overturn the result. There is a big difference between disagreeing with the result and actively trying to reject the electorates democratic result by fair or foul means. I cannot express my disgust strongly enough when those politicians sided and conspired with the EU against the UK’s electorate. Those politicians did great harm to the UK and it’s negotiations.
reply Quite. I voted No in 1975 and accepted the verdict. Until Maastricht I did my best to assist a common market
January 8, 2022
@Shirley M; “There is a big difference between disagreeing with the result and actively trying to reject the electorates democratic result by fair or foul means.”
Some, not all, of those who wanted the UK to leave back in 1975 most certainly did misuse their powers to stifle our full and proper ongoing membership however they could, most obviously the Labour party and some trade unions during the early 1980s, UKIP standing for election as MEPs in the 1990s and beyond, whilst some within the Conservative party were not shy of using whatever democratic party or parliamentary means they could to frustrate the UK’s then current and future relationship with the EEC/EU when the chance arose, especially during and after Maastricht.
As I said, your comments come across as arrogant, only your idea of Brexit is valid, anything else is undemocratic, never mind the fact that no one knows what the democratic majority wanted (because no one was ever asked specifically) beyond a vague notion.
January 8, 2022
BW
Please move on
January 8, 2022
Jerry
Interesting perspective although I have my doubts about EU being willing to renegotiate anything?
January 8, 2022
Stop being such a pious phoney, Jerry.
January 8, 2022
@NLH; Take your own advice!
January 9, 2022
jerry – he’s not a phoney, I think he’s convinced himself about this load of baloney.
January 8, 2022
I fear that she, like the PM, lack resolve.
January 8, 2022
I am not certain that is true. We donât know the pushback from the Mandarins, we read of insubordination in the Border Force, nor the greater Elite/Establishment who treat us with contempt, nor if truth be told from within the Tory party. Sunak is a Treasury puppet and Gove thought Mays deal acceptable and did an NI sell out prior to Frost.
We need Sir JRs insight on what is holding us back. I donât think we will get it though.
January 8, 2022
I also fear, Sea_Warrior, that you’re correct
January 8, 2022
Good morning
Pardon me, but that is quite a damning statement. To say that one of our former and most revered politicians can pull off quite a successful coup, and yet, the task that lay before Foreign Secretary, a task that has been rumbling on for quite a while, should be a piece of cake by comparison.
So if Liz Truss is to convince people that she is both capable and competent she needs to win this fight. Anything less and her political aspirations are pretty much over.
He does like handing out these Poisoned Chalices to his rivals does our PM.
January 8, 2022
Yes, Johnson is indeed playing party politics with his Cabinet appointments. He certainly doesn’t appoint on the basis of merit, that’s for sure
It was heartening last night to see a Cabinet appointee exposed by an NHS Consultant on camera. The bilge pumped out by those who see Covid as a Socialist weapon of war are slowly being exposed
January 8, 2022
If we the people can see what needs to be done then so can Liz Truss. The problem is that she is burdoned with a civil service that married the EU long ago and a PM she would be asking to ackowledge the total disaster of his agreement to the NI Protocol in the first place. The NIP cannot be treated like the curates egg, it must be consigned to history via Art 16. If not it will be one of the factors consigning the conservative party to history in 2024.
January 8, 2022
Article 16 does not consign the Northern Ireland Protocol to history. The Protocol is part of your legally binding Withdrawal Agreement. A16 merely temporarily suspends a small part of the protocol whilst talks take place to deal with any issues.
You Brexitists have had five years to deal with your Brexit issues. Talking more will not help you solve your unsolvable problem. A16 – if triggered – will also allow the EU to respond in a targeted but unrelated way. For example, the EU may decide to put British fishermen out of business by banning them selling fish to the single market. Or it may choose to require Britons to have full visas to travel to Europe. Or it may suspend parts of the Brexit trade deal related to electric car batteries.
Article 16 doesnât do what you think it does. Perhaps you should have read it? But then if youâd have read stuff you wouldnât have voted Brexit in the first place.
Personally I hope the EU responds by stripping residency rights from Britons in the EU who voted for Brexit. People like you should feel the impact of your vote.
January 8, 2022
You misunderstand Lizzy’s game plan.
1 Takes on NI Protocol to use as a vehicle to her political future .
2 Demands some impossible change from the EU every day; when she doesn’t get any, shout and scream in the tabloids.
3 At a moment when Boris hits yet another PPE bung to party cronies and donors scandal; loudly demand he instigates Article 16 of the NI Protocol immediately, if not sooner.
4 Boris refuses under pressure from US and EU Catholic caucus.
5 Lizzy resigns from Cabinet, while standing on a Challenger 2 Battle Tank.
6 Boris rejected by the Brady 1922. Only needs about 54 back bench assassins.
7 Boris exits 10 Downing Street for the last time. Lizzy enters 10 Downing Street; possibly quoting St. Francis of Assisi.
8 Stormont Castle estate sold to Marriott or Hilton Hotel Groups.
January 8, 2022
Trust in this government has gone.
I wish Truss every success, but I suspect it will end in appeasement of the EU, going by past form! Boris just can’t give our country away quick enough.
The UK economy is doing well ….. despite Boris! How long will it continue? Not very long if Boris and his yes-men stay on the current trajectory.
January 8, 2022
+1 as you say despite Boris. Just Imaging how well it could be doing without net zero, cheap on demand energy, without the vast tax increases, with tax simplification and cuts in red tape and far less government. To really take real advantage of the new Brexit freedoms.
January 8, 2022
Truss isn’t the PM so she’ll be acting under direction from Johnson who as we all know will enact decisions that benefit him and his party with the interests of the British people relegated to the waste bin
January 8, 2022
I have absolutely no faith that Truss is up to the job. Leaving the jurisdiction of the ECJ should be an essential. In fact, what are we still doing in it? Oh yes, Alexander the Cautious botched the leaving process and signed May’s poisonous agreement. NI must be freed from all jurisdiction of EU or she will have failed.
January 8, 2022
What a shameful post. You are deliberately misleading your readers, and you are creating expectations that Ms Truss cannot meet. You know perfectly well that the Protocol lists hundreds of pieces of EU law that are to apply in Northern Ireland. You know perfectly well that the ECJ has jurisdiction in Northern Ireland (it’s Article 12 of the Protocol). You kmow perfectly well there have to be checks between NI and GB. The Uk agreed to all of this – it is in the Withdrawal Agreement, which you voted for. So why are you undermining Ms Truss? Is it because you are desperate to try to avoid personal blame for how very bad the terms of Brexit are?
reply Wrong on all counts. try reading the Protocol. I asked tge government to change the NI position.
January 8, 2022
Here is the Protocol
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/840230/Revised_Protocol_to_the_Withdrawal_Agreement.pdf
I suggest everyone reads it especially the 4th paragraph of its Article 12, and all its Annexes. You can judge who is right, me or J Redwood. (clue – it is not J redwood)
Reply Yes read it. It states clearly the importance of the U.K. internal market and avoidance of trade diversion.
January 8, 2022
Art.4 says no such things. It is about agreement with third part countries. The UK is a third party country for the EU => Each of the 27 countries of the EU is a third party country for the UK => the RoI is a third party country for the UK.
The UK has signed both the NI Protocol and the T&CA that are both agreements with the EU27. The T&CA includes the present configuration for the trade exchange between the UK and the EU27 including the present border in the Irish Sea. It also mentions âavoiding a hard border between NI and RoIâ, ârespecting the integrity of the EUâs single market for goodsâ, âfacilitating unfettered access for NI goods to the GB marketâ and âincluding NI goods in FTAs between the UK and third countriesâ.
Right now whatever the trade between NI and GB is, it is not impeded apart from the requirement of obtaining an Economic Operator Registration and Identification number.
It appears difficult to argue that the trade between GB and NI, and NI and RoI as presently defined is contrary to the T&CA and NIP (see investni.com, 15/02/2021, Northern Ireland: Market access to Great Britain and the European Union). (For details of the pre-pandemic exchanges, nisra.gov.uk, 22/10/2021, Overview of Northern Ireland Trade).
January 8, 2022
Hefner,
We have unfortunately seen this sort of argument from Redwood before when he is proven wrong.
January 8, 2022
An SCS4 grade Civil Servant implies to me that her bit of Brexit is a complete (expletives deleted) mess. The three border customs software systems, GVMS; CHIEF; CDS, can’t port data satisfactorily between them. Hence, a line of wagons in Calais, and diversions of wagons to the Sevington inland border facility in Kent, when they actually get across the channel.
JR assured us that such problems would not exist, everything would work by computers; as smooth as digital silk; particularly in Northern Ireland where only the CHIEF system is, sort of, working in between death threats to the personnel operating it.
Meanwhile, the lady who has moved into a new house in our street, is asking me why all the components to make her new curtains and blinds, are stuck in a container on the other side of the Channel. I suggested an MP she should write to, one who is the primary cause of her problem.
reply Lots of supply interruptions in France at the moment and they are still in the EU
January 8, 2022
Sir John writes like the other old maids demanding the restoration of the UK’s virginity.
January 8, 2022
Socialists and fellow travellers need miracles, the rest of us stick with what is practical.
January 8, 2022
Well i’m going to sip my Napolean Brandy and believe in social mobility for the many ….if that is what they want!
January 8, 2022
Good for you Margaret.
Alla vostra.
January 9, 2022
shouldn’t that be ‘alla tua?’
I prefer Armagnac but don’t buy as a protest against France.
January 8, 2022
No minister can practise actions and policies which are at odds with the permanent weakness of the PM ‘Boris’.
As long as he is PM the country will continue to decline and of course the people will get poorer and more betrayed.
January 8, 2022
I saw an accurate quote. This government is now for the shirkers (woke/public sector) and against the strivers (wealth creators)
Come back Gordon Brown.
January 8, 2022
Nig l
The utterly despicable Tories may not know it but their appeasement and embrace of woke bigotry and Neo-Marxism has laid the foundations that in decades to come will splinter and finally destroy our once great nation.
It is heartbreaking to see your country smashed from the inside by those we placed our trust in
Not one single Tory MP has attacked all that we are seeing
January 9, 2022
No to Gordon Brown – we don’t want another aircraft carrier (built in Scotland).
January 8, 2022
The time has come to call out on the whole bloody mess. With Boris doing three fifths of naff all and Macron’s only priority is to remain in power and replace Merkle Ă the top leader we are just pissing into the wind.
Truss will achieve nothing as she doesn’t have the remit to actually do anything just the same as her predecessor.
January 8, 2022
Turbo
I have to say unfortunately I tend agree with you, I live in hope but not expectation, which is a sad state of affairs, but reflects what I see from those who are supposed to be in charge, but who just seem to lack any forward thinking, common sense, management skills, fight, loyalty, or pride in our Country at all.
January 8, 2022
We cannot impose a solution unless we shut the Irish border, as ruled out by both sides. Boris Johnson put the border in the Irish sea, told us it was genius and ” Got Brexit Done “. With me so far ?
Sir John has often claimed there is an uncertainty principle for borders, which may be both open and shut at the same time. Sadly the magic disappears in a puff off gibberish when it is our border, and so here we are ..
I am surprised that Sir John wishes to accept responsibility for the resumption of of the troubles .
Seems ” bold” to me .
PS I tried to work in a geopolitical Schrödinger’s cat, but failed . I would nonetheless like to take credit for the effort .Ithenku
January 8, 2022
Ir’s either a Schroedingers border or a Hunpty Dumpty one – “when I say border, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less”.
The Brexit impossibility triangle rears its head yet again.
January 8, 2022
“We cannot impose a solution unless we shut the Irish border”
I’ve no idea how you’ve come to that conclusion. What we, the UK, cannot do is impose a solution on the EU if the EU as a whole, or just the Irish government, do not want it, for whatever reason, but even if they continue to reject a sensible collaborative solution like this proposal from Sir Jonathan Faull:
https://www.ft.com/content/6923b4b7-6e4a-41f0-a22f-70459db3cd7f
“A dual autonomy approach would help with the Northern Ireland protocol”
we could certainly do our half of it unilaterally, and tell them that we are making an effort to protect their EU Single Market and it is up to them to decide what they want to do on their side of the border.
And here I will refer to my recent letter sent in the direction of Jacob Rees-Mogg:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/01/06/getting-brexit-done-2/#comment-1289277
“I am writing to you in your capacity of Leader of the House to inquire about progress on the new UK laws to help protect the EU Single Market which were anticipated in paragraphs 43 and 62 of the July Command Paper âNorthern Ireland Protocol: the way forwardâ … ”
And I would also issue a reminder that it was Jacob Rees-Mogg who publicly condemned Theresa May’s folly in her Mansion House speech of March 2 2018 when she gratuitously accepted responsibility for ensuring that the EU and the Irish government did not fortify their side of the land border:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-on-our-future-economic-partnership-with-the-european-union
âWe have been clear all along that we donât want to go back to a hard border in Ireland. We have ruled out any physical infrastructure at the border, or any related checks and controls.
But it is not good enough to say, âWe wonât introduce a hard border; if the EU forces Ireland to do it, thatâs down to themâ. We chose to leave; we have a responsibility to help find a solution.â
Jacob Rees-Mogg on the Andrew Marr programme, page 4 here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/27051801.pdf
“The Prime Minister said in her Mansion House speech that she wasnât going to do this. I think that is a mistake. I think it is the obvious negotiating position for us to have. Bear in mind the Irish economy is heavily dependent on its trade with the United Kingdom. It is overwhelmingly in the interests of the Republic of Ireland to maintain an open border with the United Kingdom. And I think if youâre going into a negotiation you should use your strongest cards, and just to tear one of the up and set hares running on other issues is, I think, an error.”
January 8, 2022
Woah ! Newmania is the guy who gave us much hysteria about being forced back to work during the Covid crisis because of the risk to his health and then made a joke about he and his wife actually catching it !
He escaped Islington to Lewes (for reasons one can only imagine) yet blames people for voting Brexit.
January 8, 2022
I’m afraid that Lord Frost’s departure sent a clear signal that the appeaser in No.10 won’t stand up to the EU (or Biden).
I have no confidence whatsoever that the former Remainer, Liz Truss, will be allowed to do what is necessary even IF she wanted to. And I doubt she wants to anyway.
Johnson has been a massive disappointment; he seems to be completely incapable of getting anything right.
January 8, 2022
Donna,
Yes, Johnson has been a massive disappointment.
However, there is little comfort in the knowledge that if Johnson goes there is a vast pool of other failures who would probably replace him.
January 8, 2022
The NI Protocol is an EU device designed to diminish the UK by causing confusion about the relationship between NI and the rest of the UK. It has absolutely nothing to do with preserving civil harmony within NI. In fact it has every chance of destroying it. A unique relationship has existed, and has worked well, between the UK and Ireland for much longer than the EU or its earlier incarnations ever existed. It should be made clear that the EU is the newcomer and supplicant in this relationship. This puts the onus on the EU to learn to live with it when we make the decision to invoke Art 16 and rid ourselves of the Protocol completely. EU/UK trade is miniscule via Ireland, let it be dealt with in exactly the same way it is by other routes. If the EU want a physical border that is for them to sort out with Ireland, and lets see what the Southern Irish think of it. Finally sleepy Joe should be told to butt out should he decide to interfere. He has already confirmed his disdain for the UK on many occasions. I equate him with that other surrender monkey and one time bootleger Joe Kennedy whose defeatism got himself fired as US ambassador to the UK.
reply There was always a border between ROI and U.K. for customs, VAT and currency checks and differences
January 8, 2022
Well said, agricola.
January 8, 2022
Agricola Agree. We dont appear to be getting anywhere with a US trade agreement anyway with interfering Biden so why not trigger article 16? Chances are Biden won’t be there forever, fingers crossed. I hope Trump makes a comeback.
January 8, 2022
I wouldn’t bother too much about a special trade deal with the US, because it would be worth very little.
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/03/12/continuity-in-us-policy/#comment-1215624
“… the prospect of a âfantasticâ US-UK trade deal âthat will bring wealth to every corner of our nationâ … Liz Truss does not actually provide any estimate of the potential overall gain for our economy … I have to explore beyond her usual gross exaggerations … ”
âA trade agreement with the US could increase UK GDP in the long run by around 0.07% (within a range of between 0.02% and 0.15%) or 0.16% (between 0.05% and 0.36%) under scenario 1 and scenario 2 respectively.”
January 8, 2022
Reply to reply.
It was as I understand it covered by electronic exchanges of information on export/ import with no physical border to interfere with the travel of the islands citizens in either direction. Throughout the troubles there were criminal gangs operating a range of illegal money making schemes, I believe to fund their terrorist activity. If they continue today for personal gain then we have the Garda and RUC to deal with it. There is no argument to set up a hard border from the Irish, only a threat of one by the EU who have a whole set of motivations of their own, none of which enhance harmony in the island of Ireland north or south.
January 9, 2022
As noted above, you have no clue about Art 16. You havenât even read it
January 8, 2022
I suspect Thatcher would have played this straight down the line. A border between sovereign countries is a border to be respected, unless and until there’s a popular call to remove it. We can be fairly certain that the UK would vote to keep Northern Ireland as part of the UK and likewise the Irish Republic. A border down the Irish Sea wouldn’t have entered discussion. It would have been all about how we handle the pre-existing border and ultimately that is between the British and Irish governments, even if it too a generation to solve. If the EU don’t like that, stick a border in the channel between Ireland and the remainder of the EU.
January 8, 2022
Thatcher would not have encountered the problem as she would have opposed Brexit.
Reply What a lie. In her later years she came to the view that EU membership was a bad idea.
January 8, 2022
Sir John, what gives you the idea that you might know more about her view? Andy is so well qualified to tell us her opinion.
Reply Indeed! I talked to her about it but he knew better by guessing
January 8, 2022
Andy’s interpretation of fact and opinion knows no bounds. A combination of the greek oracle and Mystic Meg, delivered with the conviction of Lord Hawhaw. Should anyone wish to sell refridgerators in the Arctic, you know who to consult.
January 8, 2022
Andy. Have your kids had the Covid vaccine. And I want to know on what basis you made your decision. To protect them or the old people you hate ?
January 8, 2022
If left alone I think Truss could sort out the Protocol and get rid of the ECJ. Her main problem is her boss who has this terrible weakness of wanting to be liked by everybody on the international stage. He seems scared of EU retaliation which will be short lived as French and German industries need us as much as we need them and they won’t allow petty political point scoring from the likes of Macron to last very long.
Draw a deep breath Boris, bite the bullet and get rid of this problem before the Spring
January 8, 2022
When the backlash comes, whether over the NIA , Channel crossings, Track and Trace or Sleaze it will be no good saying Sir JR “I told you so” Its time for the back benchers to “put up” or lose their seats.
January 8, 2022
I see that the late Jack Dromey’s seat is ‘white working-class’ and strongly voted ‘Leave’. The by-election will be interesting.
January 8, 2022
Since Labour do not propose re-joining the European Union, on what in particular does your interest hinge?
January 9, 2022
which Labour are you talking about? Is that New Labour, Corbyn’s, Starmer’s OR McDonnell’s preference? Just thought you should confirm.
January 8, 2022
SW, Peter Parsons a Labour poster here, told me in a reply that in the 2019 Euros Labour was with the LibDems and Greens in the vote to remain and overturn vote again camp, yet now they claim to have pivoted to Leave in order to attempt to regain the red wall seats, but no-one believes them. Sir Keir is seen as Remain-one-way-or-another BRINO and completely sell us out. Actually their best chance I believe was with Corbyn to leave with two fingers up to the EU if heâd been allowed to run on his own belief ticket, Iâm beginning to think if he had been elected on the platform heâd wanted to run on, weâd be out of the EU now on WTO rules because he is a very stubborn man with principles, not principles I agree with in too many instances, but he reminds me of many men I know who would cut their noses off to spite their face.
January 8, 2022
Tracy, the European Union will understandably not accept the confused mess of a country that the Uk now is back in the foreseeable future.
Labour recognise this dismal but inescapable truth.
January 8, 2022
Indeed it will. As will the choice of Tory candidate.
January 8, 2022
There are a number of problems with the Protocol:
1. It HAS diverted trade away from GB-NI, which is explicitly prohibited by the Protocol itself;
2. It keeps NI under ECJ jurisdiction, against the specific promise in the Conservative manifesto;
3. It prevents the UK government from adopting UK-wide laws and standards, thus damaging the integrity of the Union.
For all these reasons, merely activating article 16 and cancelling ALL checks between GB and NI will not suffice – the entire Protocol must be repealed.
The good news is that:
1. We have the ability to do so unilaterally, and so cannot be prevented from doing so;
2. The Protocol is completely unnecessary, and its abolition will not cause any practical problems.
In these situations it is always good to go back to first principles: why was the Protocol first adopted? Because we were told that a ‘hard border’ was against the provisions of the Belfast Agreement and that this was the only way to prevent such a border. But BOTH statements were WRONG. Firstly, the Belfast Agreement makes NO reference to the border whatsoever. The desire not to have border posts is simply one of convenience. And secondly, we can avoid such border posts through the very simple method of simply choosing not to build them – which is precisely what both the UK and Irish governments decided.
So if we don’t build border posts then these won’t exist, and the problem of a ‘hard border’ has gone. The EU worshippers will object by saying that this will allow UK goods to enter the EU (Ireland) without any checks. The answer to this is very simple: ‘so what?’ Why is this a problem in the real world? After all, it will also allow EU goods to enter the UK unchecked, but we are not bleating about it, because it isn’t a problem. Free movement of goods is a GOOD THING, as it facilitates trade and increases wealth. And given that both the UK and EU are jurisdictions with extremely high standards, there is no worry about dangerous or harmful goods crossing the border. Besides, in the real world, the truth is that the amount of goods crossing that border is so small that it is simply not worth worrying about. Sometimes the solution is worse than the problem, and that is the case here.
So Liz Truss must now abolish the Protocol and simply say that UK and EU standards are EQUIVALENT, and that there is no problem with the tiny amount of unchecked trade going across the North-South border. This is all entirely within her gift acting unilaterally. So she can do so tomorrow. The only thing stopping her is her LACK OF WILL. And this betrayal of Britain is why I cannot support the treacherous Conservative Party.
January 8, 2022
I seem to remember from reading the Bible sixty years ago that a convert is more valuable than anyone and I suspect that a former LibDem turned Conservative may be just the person for the daunting prospect of negotiating with a bunch of intransigent ideologues convinced of their own infallibility.
We shall see…
January 8, 2022
I certainly join you in wishing the Foreign Secretary success in her new task.
Like others who have commented, I think there is every chance that Boris has set up Ms Truss to fail, except that it is fairly obvious that as a career politician, with a clear eye on the leadership, she must have very different degree of motivation to her predecessor, Lord Frost. Success would add significantly to her stature and prospects, and failure or fudge would kill them.
On the question of support from a wavering Prime Minister, Ms Truss has the advantage that her resignation would be a seismic event far higher on the Richter scale than that of Frost.
January 8, 2022
The ECJ should have zero – no right whatsoever – what to decide and dictate to any independent nation as it is the thin end of a wedge of worse to come allowing God knows what next.
January 8, 2022
While Northern Ireland remains subject to EU Single Market laws it will have accept the jurisdiction of the ECJ, the final arbiter on those laws. And Northern Ireland will have to remain subject to EU Single Market laws for as long as the UK holds back from setting up a system of export controls to ensure that goods crossing the land border into the Republic are fit to enter the EU Single Market, because while import controls could weed out any non-compliant goods entering the province they would not pick up non-compliant goods produced in the province. The present system is irrational, focusing on the goods being imported into the province and circulating in the province, part of the UK, rather than on the only goods in which the EU actually has a genuine legitimate interest, those entering the EU market.
January 8, 2022
EXACTLY.
Why is this so hard to do — Have the civil servants not understood or even read the agreement?
Truss would be well advised to read it well, before Boris has to shuffle her into another hot seat because he can’t rely on his ministers. She seems to be the only cabinet minister that gets things done.
January 8, 2022
Of course they have read it. They know it rules out everything JR irresponsibly suggests
January 8, 2022
No – From past experience they interpret, rather than read it – to fit in with their unwillingness to get us a decent deal.
JR knows what he is talking about here, unlike some.
January 8, 2022
+100
January 8, 2022
Understandable though the worries are about L. Truss’s capability, I draw some small comfort from her able wresting of Chevening from deputy prime minister Rabb’s firm clutches.
January 8, 2022
The problem with N.I., as with all other issues, is that we havenât had a pro-British PM since Margaret Thatcher.
To blame âBrexitistsâ is a nonsense when we have suffered pro-EU John Major (ERM fiasco), pro-EU Tony Blair (Iraq war and massive immigration âto rub their noses in itâ), pro-EU Gordon Brown (signed the Lisbon Treaty behind closed doors after refusing a referendum), pro-EU Cameron (âexpand the EU to the Urals and include Turkeyâ) and pro-EU Mrs May who shafted us with Ollie Robbins in the initial negotiations.
And now we have Boreas Johnson who appears to all intents and purposes to be little different to pro-EU Mrs. May despite being given an 80 seat majority to âget Brexit doneâ.
In addition we have a pro-EU Parliament who tried all they could to prevent the enactment of the democratic decision of the UK to leave the EU, a pro-EU civil service and an educational establishment who have been corrupted by the EU and are now falling prey to the Chinese with their 120,000 Chinese âstudentsâ.
January 8, 2022
The question is: does Boris Johnson have it within him to admit that his much-vaunted alternative to Theresa May’s Chequers deal was always ill-conceived? From September 28 2018:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45673214
“Boris Johnson sets out his ‘Super Canada’ Brexit plan”
“Boris Johnson has set out his own plan for Brexit, arguing that the UK should “chuck Chequers” and negotiate a “Super Canada” free trade deal instead.
The ex-foreign secretary, who quit over Theresa May’s Chequers Brexit plan, called her strategy “a moral and intellectual humiliation”.
He said his vision would not lead to a hard Irish border, with any checks carried out away from the crossing.”
Except, of course, the EU would not agree to that trade deal he craved unless he agreed that:
âany checks or controls anywhere on the island would constitute a hard borderâ
meaning that Northern Ireland must stay under EU Single Market rules, and all goods brought in from Great Britain must also be checked for compliance with EU Single Market rules.
It sickens me that a week before that article appeared on the BBC website this comment appeared here:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/09/21/the-eu-is-more-preoccupied-with-migration-than-with-brexit/#comment-962171
“A deal like CETA, with the UK playing the part of Canada, would:
a) Do nothing to solve the fabricated problem of the Irish land border;
b) Be only marginally better for the UK than falling back on WTO terms;
c) Put the UK in the weak position of a supplicant during the negotiation.”
January 8, 2022
Itâs worth remembering OR what that âget Brexit Doneâ included in Borisâ manifesto: We are able to deliver all the advantages of leaving the EU: making our own laws, controlling our own borders, taking back our money, and exercising all kinds of new freedoms. From freeports to free trade deals, from abolishing the cruel live shipment of animals to cutting VAT on tampons, we in the UK will be able to remain close to our European friends and partners; but where we choose, we will be able to do things differently and better.
With a new Parliament and a sensible majority Government, we can get that deal through in days. It is oven-ready – and every single Conservative candidate at this election, all 635 of them, have pledged to vote for this deal as soon as Parliament returns.
We want to move on, with our programme of investment in education, infrastructure and technology, to create a high-wage, high-skill, low-tax economy. We want to get Brexit done so that we can get on with our work of making Britain the greatest place in the world to live, to go to school, to start a family, to own a home, to start a business â with the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth. Letâs get Brexit done, and take this country forward.
Boris Johnsonâs new deal takes the whole country out of the EU as one United Kingdom. It takes us out of the customs union, allowing us to set our own tariffs and do our own trade deals. It allows us to pass our own laws and ensures that it is our courts that enforce them. Our deal is the only one on the table. It is signed, sealed and ready. It puts the whole country on a path to a new free trade agreement with the EU. This will be a new relationship based on free trade and friendly cooperation, not on the EUâs treaties or EU law. There will be no political alignment with the EU. We will keep the UK out of the single market, out of any form of customs union, and end the role of the European Court of Justice. This future relationship will be one that allows us to: } Take back control of our laws. } Take back control of our money. } Control our own trade policy. } Introduce an Australian-style points based immigration system. } Raise standards in areas like workersâ rights, animal welfare, agriculture and the environment. } Ensure we are in full control of our fishing waters. We will negotiate a trade agreement next year â one that will strengthen our Union â and we will not extend the implementation period beyond December 2020. In parallel, we will legislate to ensure high standards of workersâ rights, environmental protection and consumer rights. The only way to deliver Brexit is with a Conservative majority in Parliament. A vote for any other party or candidate is a vote for Jeremy Corbyn â and a vote for more chaos.
January 8, 2022
a-tracy.
Did the CON manifesto really promise that?
Well!
Say no more!
January 9, 2022
Yes, my source – assets-global.website-files.com get Brexit done unleash Britains Potential, the conservative and unironist party manifesto 2019.
January 8, 2022
So much simple logical truth in what you say but where are the similar views in the Cabinet ?
January 8, 2022
How much faith in Liz Truss do YOU have Sir John?
Or Boris Johnson for that matter.
January 9, 2022
The fact that he never replied, being the loyal party member he is, tells you all you need to know.
January 8, 2022
BBC Radio 2 19.00 hrs
Utter doom and terrification on the Covid crisis. You’d think there hadn’t been a vaccine.
The Colston verdict.
It is clear that the real establishment are going to make conservatism of any sort impossible.
Doubtless Nottingham Lad Himself will be here to tell us how mob rule is better than a legitimate vote.
Twisted. Utterly twisted.
(I couldn’t believe the “…best way to protect your children is to get them vaccinated.” government broadcast. This is pure EVIL. )
January 8, 2022
“Terrification” – nice bit of coinage, NLA.
The Bristol jury accepted the defence.
Rees-Mogg defended the jury’s decision.
Who am I to argue?
Do you want children to get polio, diptheria, and all the other horrible afflictions then?
January 9, 2022
The number of children dying of Covid appears to be nil except for very rare cases who already had a life-threatening condition. Once again, you need to look at the facts, lad.
January 9, 2022
Try to stay relevant.
January 9, 2022
more nonsense….do you smile to yourself when writing this tripe?
January 8, 2022
Interesting discussion over this past week on ConservativeHome about the intersection between the EU and NATO. Why do we put several thousands of our sons and daughters in the European Union’s front-line when most people in this country hate those countries so much? How many Leave voters would sacrifice their children for the European Union? I don’t understand it myself.
January 9, 2022
That’s the NATO article 5. One for all, all for one.
I’ve heard this somewhere…you can’t cherry pic.
Are you indirectly suggesting we should leave NATO as well?
January 8, 2022
When did marijuana become legalised ? Its stench is everywhere. Was it the same nod-and-a-wink agreement that the Tories made with people traffickers against the British people ? Or the squeegie gangs literally the day after Maastricht was signed ??? “C’mon over, lads !!! *wink* The deal is done !”
You’re nothing but shysters.
January 9, 2022
I have to question where you visit, I think you could tip off the Police if you smell it in business premises.