Thursday, November 15, 2018

May day for May!


If for Julius Caesar the aides of March marked a grim milestone for Theresa May that milestone in political terms is set to be the aides of November. If the Chequers Agreement marked a troubled period for May and her Tories, the draft withdrawal agreement between the UK and EU is nothing short of a full-blown typhoon.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Theresa May has quite simply failed to deliver on what where some very crucial promises. Theresa May promised the UK a deal that would give the UK full sovereignty; a deal that would take all the power away from Brussels and return all the power back to London; a deal which at the same time would retain many of the perks and plusses of EU membership in terms of trade and commerce; a deal that would see the UK enjoy the best of both worlds. It was always a tall order; if not an outright impossible one.

What Theresa May has delivered instead is an agreement which basically reaches none of the above aims. The UK will still have to follow the EU’s cue if it wants to have any realistic chance of having a decent trade arrangement with the bloc. The arrangement would also not feature many of the perks and plusses of EU membership but would instead leave the UK out in the cold in the decision-making process thus reducing the UK to a mere rule accepter.

In fairness to May, the problem did not lie with Theresa May alone. It lay with the very foundations of Brexit. A Brexit that was founded on concepts of grandeur and British imperialism that in the modern-day world is quite simply no longer reality. A Brexit whose gist was the very essence of wanting the cake and wanting to eat it.

It was also a Brexit built on a Tory party that has not been deserving of government for a very long time. Indeed, the last principled Tory at Number 10 was John Major and he’s been out of politics for quite a few generations now. The Tory’s grapples with the European question have indeed now become the UK’s grapples. The volcano of the European question has now erupted and unless the Tories come to terms quickly it could quite simply be the Tories version of Pompei.

As May keeps losing minister after minister, having a majority in the Commons is looking ever less likely. May thus has only one honourable solution; resign as Prime Minister and leader of the Tory party and call a fresh General Election. A General Election which would decide once and for all whether the UK should persist in the cul-de-sac that Brexit is turning out to be or whether the UK should reverse the decision and make the best of EU membership.

I must say I don’t envy the UK voter; having to pick between the non-option that are the Tories, the disorganised shambles that is British Labour led by the unrealistic and cut off from reality Jeremy Corbyn or the impotent Lib Dems is liking asking someone whether he’d prefer to be on a sinking ship or an aeroplane set to clash.