Yesterday the BBC Radio News featured a story about the appearance of one of the Brexiteers-in-Chief, Boris Johnson, on The Andrew Marr Show. On the subject of tomorrow being B-day – the day upon which the government will table the draft Brexit deal in the House of Commons for approval – the former Foreign Secretary apparently remarked that if the deal were defeated, then the Prime Minister will have a clear mandate to go back to the European Union and re-negotiate the terms.
I was left shaking my head. During the Brexit referendum two and one half years ago, Brexiteers promised that in leaving the EU, Great Britain would be much better off. The health service would be better funded by approximately £100 million per week. Trade with European countries would become more favourable. Most importantly, the UK would have more control over its borders and more autonomy in determining which immigrants would be allowed into the country. In the spirit of Labour’s David Blunket, nannies for MPs and their staff would presumably be at the top of the list. The people are still waiting to see if any of these items were agreed.
The people also do not know if any of these terms were demanded, as if the UK could ram these points down the Union’s throat. But, based on what I have heard of Mr Johnson’s appearance on The Andrew Marr Show, I am left wondering about Brexiteer’s grasp of reality as well as their naivete on how deals are agreed.
Jim Trott was a character on The Vicar of Dibley played by Trevor Peacock. Jim had an impressive vocal tic that is likely to be applicable to any attempt to renegotiate the Brexit deal. It might play out something like this:
UK PM: I have a mandate to renegotiate the Brexit deal.
EU: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
“No” is the first power word every child learns. It is an expression of autonomous thought, a rebellion against the wishes of others. In the Brexit circumstance (as well as others), it should remind us that it takes two to tango or agree a deal, and, unilateralism does not apply. One need only look to professional sports for proof.
In ice hockey, it used to be that any player having an outstanding year might demand a renegotiation of his contract, hoping to capitalise on a great season. Although this happened often in the 1970s and 1980s, it’s less common now. Team owners are more than prepared to call a player’s bluff, threaten breach of contract and/or force the player to sit out which resulted in loss of pay.
There is also the apparent Brexit myth that the EU will agree with whatever demands the UK puts forward rather than risk losing Britain as part of its Union. The flaw in this thinking, so it seems to me, is that Britain is no longer the world power it once was. Germany is the economic power. Brexiteers need to recognise that the British Empire is now the British Expire and the European Union is prepared to adapt to a lack of British participation. To paraphrase Damn Yankees, “Whatever Britain wants, Britain does not get.” Again, unilateralism does not apply here.
Finally, the UK does not appear to have accepted what is driving the European Union’s negotiating position, which involves the following three aims:
1) The deal must be good for the European Union, not for Britain;
2) Britain must be punished for the upheaval it has caused Europe; and
3) Negotiations must be tough to deter other countries from doing the same.
Of course, the other problem is that British journalists do not appear to have found the gumption to question any Brexiteers on any of these points. Or, to put it another way: Mr Johnson, how would you renegotiate the deal if the European Union refuses to do so?