To keep their Brexit coalition together, Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings’ main task is not to deliver Brexit, but to keep on ‘owning the Remainers’. (2/x)
Jan 26, 2020 • 26 tweets • 8 min read
‘Taking back control’ of our waters has become a totemic rallying cry for Brexiteers, but what really lies behind the decline of coastal fishing communities, and is the EU just a convenient scapegoat?
Modern fishing trawlers were first developed in the Devon village of Brixham, and were sold to ports such as Scarborough, Hull, Grimsby, Harwich and Yarmouth, enabling Grimsby to become the largest fishing port in the world by the mid-19th century. (2/x)
Dec 27, 2019 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
In 1992, the Queen addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg in a speech which praised the European Union for realising Churchill’s vision of a united Europe. She wore a broach representing the 12 stars of the EU flag.
Thread (1/x)
The Queen praised the founders of the EU and noted that “their aims were much more ambitious than a materialistic vision”, quoting from Jean Monnet’s memoirs where he described the unification of European industry as a guarantee of peace. (2/x)
Sep 20, 2019 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Some extraordinary passages in Cameron’s book. Imagine the cringe factor of this: he tried to deliver a presentation to Angela Merkel in German, despite the fact that he could "barely speak a word of the language".
In the renegotiation Merkel warned Cameron against arguing for British exceptionalism. He later told himself: "The risks of playing with fire are now safer than watching the fire burn." Err...
Aug 15, 2019 • 7 tweets • 5 min read
Ken Clarke nailed the problem of not defining the Leave option back in 2015 when the referendum legislation was debated in parliament: "What does out mean?" (Note the incredulous head-shaking from John Redwood when Clarke talks about the WTO option.)
Clarke concluded by saying we need a question and campaign that was absolutely clear, warning that a vote to Leave would be "a fanciful escapist route into isolated nationalism which would greatly diminish our influence in the world and greatly damage our economy."
Jul 29, 2019 • 7 tweets • 6 min read
The latest transatlantic assault on European unity comes in the form of “World For Brexit”, promoted in the US last week by Nigel Farage.
Who’s behind them and what are they doing? Thread. (1/x)
“World For Brexit” is actively fundraising in the USA in order to pay for “lobbyists in Brussels”, “offices in London, Washington and Brussels”, “paid media”, “global events with high-profile international speakers”. (A cynic might say this is just jobs for the boys.) (2/x)
Jun 10, 2019 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
In 2014, Boris Johnson told @Simon_Nixon it was “vanishingly unlikely” that Britain would ever leave the EU, and implied that the threat of “walking away” was just a negotiating position.
Johnson, said that Britain needs to have a constructive and positive attitude to the EU, noting that it was Winston Churchill’s idea.
May 5, 2019 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
This is a typically insightful thread from Roland Smith about how the mythology of the 60s and 70s preconfigure many assumptions behind Brexit. But the politics of a slightly later period may loom even larger.
Much Brexit analysis (or psychoanalysis) focuses on how people acquired a sense that history took a wrong turn that denied Britain its rightful place in the world, with much written about the loss of empire and WW2, but more recent events get less attention. (2/x)
Apr 21, 2019 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
Andrew Marr says that his ill-judged remarks about migration "eroding our sense of self" were simply an "urban liberal" trying to explain the referendum, but if he wanted to talk about identity and Brexit, he ignored something that was staring him in the face.
At the beginning of Marr’s monologue about Brexit, he surveys the map of the results, characterising the Remain vote as coming from “the posher, better-educated and richer parts of Britain”, but doesn’t mention his native Scotland or Northern Ireland at all. (2/x)
Apr 14, 2019 • 16 tweets • 5 min read
Who is Ted Malloch, and how did he come to be "tipped" as US ambassador to the EU?
Thread (1/x)
In 2016, Malloch published a memoir called "Davos, Aspen, and Yale", a self-aggrandising look at his life story including such dubious claims as being 'knighted' by Queen Elizabeth and called a genius by Margaret Thatcher. (2/x)
Apr 11, 2019 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Challenge accepted. In fact Robbie's twitter history reveals rather more than he might suspect...
Which politician has Robbie Gibb tweeted about more than any other? A search on Twitter gives us the following statistics, with the clear winner being Nigel Farage. (2/x)
Apr 6, 2019 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
The strange case of Ted Malloch.
The Prime Minister’s Director of Communications Robbie Gibb was heavily implicated in one of the worst editorial decisions made by the BBC in its history.
In November 2016, Malloch was plucked from obscurity and presented by the BBC as a serious candidate for a job in the Trump administration. (2/x)
Mar 28, 2019 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
On the day Article 50 was invoked, Vote Leave’s chief executive Matthew Elliott said he was confident everything would be wrapped up within two years and that "all the problems that you traditionally have with a trade negotiation aren't there".
In the days leading up to its invocation, he wrote a piece for BrexitCentral celebrating the "50 groups behind Article 50", saying, "We can look forward to Theresa May triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty before the end of the month". brexitcentral.com/50-groups-behi…
Mar 26, 2019 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Michael Gove (March 2016): "We know that the European Union depends more on us than we do on it. The idea that when we have a free trade area extending from Iceland to the Russian border, that we're going to be outside it is nonsense." #GoveLies
Michael Gove (March 2016): "The day after [we vote Leave] nothing changes. Nothing damages Britain. In fact we're in a position to get a better deal than ever before." #GoveLies
Mar 25, 2019 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
.@DanielJHannan and @DouglasCarswell wrote a book called The Plan which proposed this process for citizens to be able to use a petition to force a referendum to veto a parliamentary bill. (1/x)
A simple binary referendum question must be offered. (2/x)
Mar 19, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
In May 2016, David Davis described the Brexit negotiations as a chessboard where the final checkmate is inevitable.
"My first trip would be to Berlin..."
David Davis imagines negotiating with Angela Merkel: "I want you, Angela, to be able to sell to us completely free and unfettered without tariffs. That's what I want, but WTO rules mean you'll face a 10% tariff, so I want your help in ensuring that we can do a deal."
Mar 8, 2019 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Thread of clips from lectures given by Sir Stephen Wall on the history of the UK's relationship with the EU.
On the UK's prevarication about whether to join:
Treasury: "If this organisation succeeds we may find it's so economically powerful we will have to join it."
Foreign Office: "We needn't worry because it won't succeed."
Mar 5, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
A bit of a myth has developed that Vote Leave didn't present any plan for Brexit before the referendum. In fact they did, but it wasn't very realistic. (1/x)
Michael Gove gave speeches in which he said we wouldn't need to use Article 50 and could just repeal the European Communities Act without it affecting our trade. (2/x)
Feb 25, 2019 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
For Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, Brexit was never meant to be about leaving the EU.
Thread. (1/x)
Back in the mid-90s, when Euroscepticism first started to take over the Tory party, Bill Cash introduced an EU referendum bill in parliament but he stressed it "was not about whether the UK should be in or out". (2/x)
Feb 21, 2019 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Ivan Rogers on the reasons why Theresa May has run out of diplomatic capital.
"There has been a hardening of attitudes in the last two to three weeks."
Ivan Rogers: The EU26 "are never going to put Leo Varadkar right up against it and say 'You simply have to move on this'. And he's in the room and she isn't."
Feb 19, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Michael Gove: “As I speak, there is no absolute guarantee that we would be able to continue to export food to the EU.”
Michael Gove: “A huge proportion of our food exports to the EU go through Calais. As I speak, there are no border inspection posts at Calais. None.”
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