Thread by @DmitryOpines

1/ I know we're all supposed to be gushing over Mr Oborne's heroism, but there's a part of this interview with @krishgm which frustrates me to tears.

channel4.com/news/why-i-cha…

2/ At 1:20, in describing the litany of economic reasons he's turned around on Brexit, he says:

"The economic model which depended on the World Trade Organisation has collapsed for reasons it was hard to tell in 2016; namely the rise of protectionism from Trump's and Xi's China"

3/ This is absolutely untrue.

The 'WTO Model' as Mr Oborne describes it was as an bad idea in 2016 as it is in 2019.

It would also have been a bad idea in 2019 even were President Jeb Bush and Chinese Premier Goldman Sachs PLC in charge of their respective countries.

4/ The EU CU/SM is 40+ years of the world's most advanced trade integration.

Not even in the WTO Director-General's wildest dreams could existing rules or new outcomes at the WTO have EVER come close to compensating the UK for a sudden loss of access to that integration.

5/ Brexiteers who argued the WTO would save Britain from the economic consequences of leaving the EU weren't foiled by meddling protectionist superpowers unexpectedly breaking the WTO.

They were just wrong and speaking from ignorance; willful or otherwise.

6/ I'm glad Mr Oborne recognizes 2019 does not look like the picture painted by his 2016 allies.

The next step is to recognize that isn't by chance or ill-fortune.

7/ A whole class of well heeled men with posh accents and Brexit-proof income streams spun fables from things they did not know or pretended not to know.

Their talk of a WTO oasis stranded the UK on a fading mirage in a desert with no horizon... and the sun burns hot. /end

If you're interested in a wordier version of the above seven tweets, check out:

huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/peter-ob…