Timing is Everything

15 September 2017

Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Foreign Secretary Johnson Making Play for Number 10?

The only world in which Boris Johnson could be Her Majesty's Foreign Secretary is the same dystopian one in which Donald Trump is President of the United States. Mr. Johnson issued a 4,000 word diatribe in the Telegraph a few days ago in which he promised £350 million per week to be spent on the British rather than Brussels, a lie used during the referendum campaign. However, this has very little to do with Britain's departure from the EU and almost everything to do with Mr. Johnson's ambition to be Prime Minister.

Among the 4,000 words were these, "Once we have settled our accounts, we will take back control of roughly £350m per week. It would be a fine thing, as many of us have pointed out, if a lot of that money went on the NHS." What Mr. Johnson has advocated is a hard Brexit, that is, every tie between the UK and the EU that can be cut should be cut. Indeed, if Dover could be moved farther away from Calais, he would demand it be moved before the end of this parliament.

He knows in his heart that such a departure isn't in the cards. The practicalities argue against it. But by staking out a claim where he has, every compromise that Prime Minister Theresa May makes, every time she bends to reality, he will be on the side-lines calling her a sell-out. She leads a minority government engaged in a diplomatic process where she may not have a majority of public support. A mis-step or two and her premiership could be endangered. And there would be Boris Johnson.

Mr. Johnson's career demonstrates every facet of political cunning needed to rise to the very top save one -- the man has poor timing. The Tory leadership rounded on him almost as one. The Home Secretary Amber Rudd said he was "backseat driving" when it comes to Brexit. On the "Andrew Marr Show" on BBC1 she said, "I don't want him [Mr. Johnson] managing the Brexit process. What we've got is Theresa May managing that process -- and I'm going to make sure, as far as I'm concerned and the rest of the Cabinet is concerned, we help her do that. You could call it backseat driving, absolutely. But I'm very clear that the Cabinet and the Government supports Theresa May."

Had Mr. Johnson kept his mouth shut and his powder dry, he would have gone to work today with the knowledge that Oliver Robbins, the top civil servant at the Department for Exiting the European Union (Dexeu), is not doing that job anymore. He hasn't gotten along with Brexit Minister David Davis and is now in a new "coordinating" role.

The Independent noted this morning, "Mr Robbins' departure from the department is just the latest chapter in a series of chaotic movements among civil service staff dealing with Brexit at the very highest level. At the start of this year, Sir Tim Barrow[Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union] had to replace Sir Ivan Rogers as the UK's ambassador to the EU, with Sir Ivan warning that government ministers had become unwilling to listen to or accept advice and guidance from civil servants. A government spokesperson said Mr Robbins would continue to lead the UK side in the Brexit negotiations, but confirmed he would no longer work in Dexeu."

Sir Keir Starmer, Labour's Shadow Brexit secretary, told the Evening Standard, "Moving key individuals at this critical time adds a whole new dimension to the government's chaotic approach to Brexit. Deep divisions in the Cabinet and a complete lack of leadership are putting the national interest at risk."

If Mr. Johnson wants to be PM, he must let those divisions and that lack of leadership grow to crisis proportions before he goes for the top job. One presumes he cares nothing for the actual outcome of Brexit negotiations -- if he did, he wouldn't be undermining them in the Telegraph.

Patience, Boris, Patience.

© Copyright 2017 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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