Prime Minister Theresa May’s ex-chief of staff has savaged her failing Brexit strategy, Europhile fifth columnists within Government and Parliament, and the bully-boy tactics of Brussels itself.
Nick Timothy, one of the most powerful men in Westminster until his departure from Downing Street following the Tory Party’s underperformance in the 2017 snap election, used an article in The Telegraph to accuse the European Union of doing everything it warned the United Kingdom not to do heading into the Brexit negotiations: attempting to cherry-pick only those aspects of the UK/EU relationship which benefit them, using co-operation on security as leverage, and exploiting the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
“[The EU] has divided and ruled Britain’s panicking political classes. It wants us to contribute to the defence of Europe, while excluding us from its information-sharing schemes and Galileo, the satellite system.
“France is using Brexit to build its own special relationship with America. Northern Ireland is being used to tie us in to the Single Market and Customs Union. And while Britain is not ready for a ‘no deal’ Brexit, the EU is upping its own preparations for that outcome,” he pointed out.
“Britain repeatedly says we want the EU to prosper; they repeatedly say they want us to fail.”
Timothy claimed the Prime Minister had gone into the Brexit talks with a “sensible plan” – seeking a mutually beneficial deal with the EU but making it clear that she would be prepared to walk away from the bloc with no deal if she had to.
He laid much of the blame for her constant backsliding since then at the feet of EU loyalists both within Parliament and her own government, accusing Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip ‘Remainer Phil’ Hammond of having “blocked meaningful ‘No Deal’ planning, and refused point-blank to consider alternatives to EU financial regulations”.
He also accused Hammond’s underlings at the Treasury of having “produced negative economic forecasts… and leaked them to the media”.
Business Secretary Greg Clark was also singled out for pressuring the Prime Minister to do a deal on so-called “labour mobility” — a form of Free Movement of People by another name.
“This is ridiculous, and it has to stop,” Timothy lamented, urging the Prime Minister to adopt a “new approach” while it is still possible to do so.
“[T]he time for playing nice and being exploited is over,” he concluded.
“[T]he Chancellor should immediately increase spending and staffing to prepare for ‘no deal’. The time for sincere cooperation with a partner that does not want to sincerely cooperate is over: we must toughen up.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.