* Steven Swinford, Political Editor | Oliver Wright, Policy Editor | Henry Zeffman, Associate Political Editor, May 14 2022, The Times*
Thursday’s cabinet meeting in Stoke-on-Trent was described by ministers as a “joyous” occasion. Before the meeting there was an impromptu chorus of “happy birthday” for Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, who turned 42 that day.
Ministers were so relaxed they made a joke about the lockdown parties scandal, shouting “Where’s the cake?” in reference to the fines the chancellor and Boris Johnson had been issued with for a celebration of the prime minister’s 56th birthday in the Cabinet Office.
Yet if ministers now feel able to joke about parties there was much less bonhomie this week over the two issues that will dominate this parliamentary session: Brexit and the cost of living.
The first exploded into public view this week after The Times revealed government plans to rip up the Northern Ireland Brexit deal that Johnson signed in an attempt to break the stalemate with the EU.
The government’s plans to introduce new legislation next week enabling it to override large parts of the Northern Ireland protocol were a closely kept secret intended to be carefully choreographed. Instead the leak triggered a furore comparable with the Brexit wars of old, with savage briefings from cabinet ministers against the EU — and each other — and a diplomatic firestorm.
The row completely overshadowed the Queen’s Speech, despite the fact that the offending legislation had been removed to prevent it distracting from other announcements.
In Downing Street the blame has been laid at the door of Liz Truss, the foreign secretary. She has been accused of unnecessarily antagonising Brussels to curry favour with the Tory right while allowing aides to brief journalists that some less Brexit-blooded ministers, such as Michael Gove and Sunak, were trying to stop the plan.
One source described it as “leadership feather-fluttering”, whereas others in government suggested that Truss fully deserved the nickname given to her by Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former adviser: the human hand grenade who blew up everything she touched.
“The whole thing is just very painful,” a government aide said. “The Foreign Office has gone very gung ho on it. Yes the process with the EU has been very tortuous but this was never meant to be an exercise in EU bashing. It was meant to be all about the Northern Ireland peace process.”
Another Whitehall source added: “It’s not great when you have a script, a timeline and a choreography then it is totally trashed.”
There was also anger at what was seen as a briefing campaign by Camp Truss to undermine other cabinet ministers for being weak on the protocol.
“The briefing to the press from Liz’s team was extraordinary,” one senior figure said.
“To suggest that Rishi and Michael didn’t understand the protocol was completely laughable.”
A Foreign Office source categorically denied that Truss’s team had been behind the briefing and said the tough line she had taken on the EU’s negotiating position had been sanctioned by No 10.
“It is totally unfair on Liz,” they said. “Her priority throughout this has been to prioritise the peace process and restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland.”
Others blamed David Canzini, a prominent Brexiteer who has been brought in as a senior adviser to Johnson in No 10.
“He seems to want to have a higher profile in Whitehall than the PM,” a source said.
Beyond the manner in which the policy was handled, a number of senior government figures also have wider concerns about the wisdom of it.
“I think the problem we have is that we don’t know what our end game is on this,” a minister said.
“What is [it] that we want, and what is it that we’re prepared to accept? The whole thing has been very badly handled and I’m not sure what the politics is of triggering a trade war with the EU in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
“People might rally to the flag initially — but when it starts causing supply problems or pushing up the cost of food in the shops, I’m not so sure. The problem is the Brits don’t fundamentally care about Northern Ireland.”
Another senior figure who has worked on Brexit added: “The PM has ‘religion’ on this and thinks that the ERG [ the pro-Brexit European Research Group] will love it — but I’m not so sure. What I do know is that a lot of the wider parliamentary party are horrified. Even if it’s technically legal — and there are a range of views on that — it is not going down well.”
Is she Boris’s dead cat in human form?
A hand grenade in the middle of a cow pat of a government.
Expect one would get better sense coming out of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party – Johnson’s cabinet have no clue what they are doing. It is nothing but a cheap PR machine.
e.g.
>There is, fundamentally, an issue of political expediency. While there is near universal agreement among economists that targeted support for those who most need it is the best approach, Sunak and Johnson are leaning towards a cut in income tax or VAT.
>
>They added that if the EU did retaliate by increasing checks on UK exports or using biometric checks, due to come into effect this year, to make life more difficult for holidaymakers, there could quickly be a backlash.
Pork markets!
Tbh I have always felt Truss is out of her depth. She’s only in the job because she’s a likely rival/successor to Boris as leader of the Conservatives.
> government plans to rip up the Northern Ireland Brexit deal that Johnson signed in an attempt to ~~break the stalemate with the EU~~ sound authoritative on getting Brexit done so he would be elected on that platform.
Funny that they miss that part out. Still, useful idiots and all that.
> She has been accused of unnecessarily antagonising Brussels to curry favour with the Tory right
The useful idiots again ignoring the fact that unnecessarily antagonising Brussels to curry favour with the Tory right has been the specific playbook of this government, and one which it specifically set out as its improvement from Theresa May’s handling, and the reason they should take power.
Useful idiots aren’t very good at analysis. As Putin’s Russia is finding out in its war. Corruption reduces the ability to deal with reality because it requires that you ignore things so light doesn’t shine too brightly and show up the real aims of policy – to enrich those entrusted with public office.
Still, point some more fingers at others, that’s the only solution these useful idiots have.
Yeah, it’s solely the fault of the person who is expected to do the impossible in a lose/lose situation and not of the party that created said lose/lose situation.
It’s like a hot potato, when things go to crap a minister throws it up in the air as a distraction and the media enthusiastically watches, only for said receiving minister to get burnt catching it. Their fault for avidly wanting to play the game, but to try and blame it on just one of them when they’ve all played a part in this shitshow is inaccurate.
> unnecessarily antagonising Brussels to curry favour with the Tory right
Gov really needs to get a grip on this.
Continually throwing foreign relations under the bus in favour of local politics means on day you’ve got no allies left.
Each of those makes some sense individually but hard not to notice that this doesn’t leave a lot of major players as friends. India and maybe Australia?
That headline makes her sound like a slapstick terrorist.
Hand grenade? LMAO. She’s not dangerous, deadly or even loud. She isn’t a hand grenade, she’s just a smelly fart in a confined space – unwanted, unpleasant and a breath of fresh air when she’s gone.
Liz Truss travelled to the Shankill in Belfast earlier this year (the first time that she’d ever been to Northern Ireland ) to meet the terrorist godfathers of the UVF/UDA and the Grand Wizard of the Protestant-supremacist Orange Order. She deliberately snubbed the Nationalist political parties and the cross-community Alliance Party.
Truss will have the British Army back on the streets of Northern Ireland and the return of a militarised border within weeks of becoming PM.
They let wind a lot at that age…
Whatever Truss has done to annoy Europe has only come after the likes of David Davies, Lord Frost, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson have all said and done. She is an idiot but she is hardly the first or worst the EU has had to deal with in response to post-Brexit trade. She will take the blame but she is not the one most responsible for the clusterfuck we have ended up in.
14 comments
Article contents:
* Steven Swinford, Political Editor | Oliver Wright, Policy Editor | Henry Zeffman, Associate Political Editor, May 14 2022, The Times*
Thursday’s cabinet meeting in Stoke-on-Trent was described by ministers as a “joyous” occasion. Before the meeting there was an impromptu chorus of “happy birthday” for Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, who turned 42 that day.
Ministers were so relaxed they made a joke about the lockdown parties scandal, shouting “Where’s the cake?” in reference to the fines the chancellor and Boris Johnson had been issued with for a celebration of the prime minister’s 56th birthday in the Cabinet Office.
Yet if ministers now feel able to joke about parties there was much less bonhomie this week over the two issues that will dominate this parliamentary session: Brexit and the cost of living.
The first exploded into public view this week after The Times revealed government plans to rip up the Northern Ireland Brexit deal that Johnson signed in an attempt to break the stalemate with the EU.
The government’s plans to introduce new legislation next week enabling it to override large parts of the Northern Ireland protocol were a closely kept secret intended to be carefully choreographed. Instead the leak triggered a furore comparable with the Brexit wars of old, with savage briefings from cabinet ministers against the EU — and each other — and a diplomatic firestorm.
The row completely overshadowed the Queen’s Speech, despite the fact that the offending legislation had been removed to prevent it distracting from other announcements.
In Downing Street the blame has been laid at the door of Liz Truss, the foreign secretary. She has been accused of unnecessarily antagonising Brussels to curry favour with the Tory right while allowing aides to brief journalists that some less Brexit-blooded ministers, such as Michael Gove and Sunak, were trying to stop the plan.
One source described it as “leadership feather-fluttering”, whereas others in government suggested that Truss fully deserved the nickname given to her by Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former adviser: the human hand grenade who blew up everything she touched.
“The whole thing is just very painful,” a government aide said. “The Foreign Office has gone very gung ho on it. Yes the process with the EU has been very tortuous but this was never meant to be an exercise in EU bashing. It was meant to be all about the Northern Ireland peace process.”
Another Whitehall source added: “It’s not great when you have a script, a timeline and a choreography then it is totally trashed.”
There was also anger at what was seen as a briefing campaign by Camp Truss to undermine other cabinet ministers for being weak on the protocol.
“The briefing to the press from Liz’s team was extraordinary,” one senior figure said.
“To suggest that Rishi and Michael didn’t understand the protocol was completely laughable.”
A Foreign Office source categorically denied that Truss’s team had been behind the briefing and said the tough line she had taken on the EU’s negotiating position had been sanctioned by No 10.
“It is totally unfair on Liz,” they said. “Her priority throughout this has been to prioritise the peace process and restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland.”
Others blamed David Canzini, a prominent Brexiteer who has been brought in as a senior adviser to Johnson in No 10.
“He seems to want to have a higher profile in Whitehall than the PM,” a source said.
Beyond the manner in which the policy was handled, a number of senior government figures also have wider concerns about the wisdom of it.
“I think the problem we have is that we don’t know what our end game is on this,” a minister said.
“What is [it] that we want, and what is it that we’re prepared to accept? The whole thing has been very badly handled and I’m not sure what the politics is of triggering a trade war with the EU in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
“People might rally to the flag initially — but when it starts causing supply problems or pushing up the cost of food in the shops, I’m not so sure. The problem is the Brits don’t fundamentally care about Northern Ireland.”
Another senior figure who has worked on Brexit added: “The PM has ‘religion’ on this and thinks that the ERG [ the pro-Brexit European Research Group] will love it — but I’m not so sure. What I do know is that a lot of the wider parliamentary party are horrified. Even if it’s technically legal — and there are a range of views on that — it is not going down well.”
Is she Boris’s dead cat in human form?
A hand grenade in the middle of a cow pat of a government.
Expect one would get better sense coming out of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party – Johnson’s cabinet have no clue what they are doing. It is nothing but a cheap PR machine.
e.g.
>There is, fundamentally, an issue of political expediency. While there is near universal agreement among economists that targeted support for those who most need it is the best approach, Sunak and Johnson are leaning towards a cut in income tax or VAT.
>
>They added that if the EU did retaliate by increasing checks on UK exports or using biometric checks, due to come into effect this year, to make life more difficult for holidaymakers, there could quickly be a backlash.
Pork markets!
Tbh I have always felt Truss is out of her depth. She’s only in the job because she’s a likely rival/successor to Boris as leader of the Conservatives.
> government plans to rip up the Northern Ireland Brexit deal that Johnson signed in an attempt to ~~break the stalemate with the EU~~ sound authoritative on getting Brexit done so he would be elected on that platform.
Funny that they miss that part out. Still, useful idiots and all that.
> She has been accused of unnecessarily antagonising Brussels to curry favour with the Tory right
The useful idiots again ignoring the fact that unnecessarily antagonising Brussels to curry favour with the Tory right has been the specific playbook of this government, and one which it specifically set out as its improvement from Theresa May’s handling, and the reason they should take power.
Useful idiots aren’t very good at analysis. As Putin’s Russia is finding out in its war. Corruption reduces the ability to deal with reality because it requires that you ignore things so light doesn’t shine too brightly and show up the real aims of policy – to enrich those entrusted with public office.
Still, point some more fingers at others, that’s the only solution these useful idiots have.
Yeah, it’s solely the fault of the person who is expected to do the impossible in a lose/lose situation and not of the party that created said lose/lose situation.
It’s like a hot potato, when things go to crap a minister throws it up in the air as a distraction and the media enthusiastically watches, only for said receiving minister to get burnt catching it. Their fault for avidly wanting to play the game, but to try and blame it on just one of them when they’ve all played a part in this shitshow is inaccurate.
> unnecessarily antagonising Brussels to curry favour with the Tory right
Gov really needs to get a grip on this.
Continually throwing foreign relations under the bus in favour of local politics means on day you’ve got no allies left.
EU – ✓ successfully antagonized
US – [trying hard](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10810323/Lord-Frost-criticises-President-Biden-intervention-Northern-Ireland-Brexit-row.html)
Russia – ✓ done – sanctioned & war support
China – ✓ whole [defense strategy not so subtly frames them as the enemy](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9217/)
Each of those makes some sense individually but hard not to notice that this doesn’t leave a lot of major players as friends. India and maybe Australia?
That headline makes her sound like a slapstick terrorist.
Hand grenade? LMAO. She’s not dangerous, deadly or even loud. She isn’t a hand grenade, she’s just a smelly fart in a confined space – unwanted, unpleasant and a breath of fresh air when she’s gone.
Liz Truss travelled to the Shankill in Belfast earlier this year (the first time that she’d ever been to Northern Ireland ) to meet the terrorist godfathers of the UVF/UDA and the Grand Wizard of the Protestant-supremacist Orange Order. She deliberately snubbed the Nationalist political parties and the cross-community Alliance Party.
Truss will have the British Army back on the streets of Northern Ireland and the return of a militarised border within weeks of becoming PM.
They let wind a lot at that age…
Whatever Truss has done to annoy Europe has only come after the likes of David Davies, Lord Frost, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson have all said and done. She is an idiot but she is hardly the first or worst the EU has had to deal with in response to post-Brexit trade. She will take the blame but she is not the one most responsible for the clusterfuck we have ended up in.