I am grateful to Brenda Steele for drawing my attention to a blog post by Prof Chris Grey, the title of which is:
Brexit gets more real, Brexiters get more unrealistic
The post is long, and all worth reading but I will pick out in theme. As Chris Grey notes:
Owen Paterson MP [is] listed as one of the contributing authors of a new report by the Centre for Brexit Policy (of which he is also the Chairman). Entitled ‘Replacing the Withdrawal Agreement' (WA) this is being widely publicized, with coverage in the Daily Telegraph (£) and of course The Express, and a write-up by the Centre's Director-General, John Longworth, on the Politico website. So it has the look of a concerted campaign.
He adds:
The report itself, as its title suggests, propounds the extraordinary idea that the government should unilaterally create a new ‘Sovereignty Compliant Agreement' to replace the WA and present it to the EU. If they do not agree, the UK would no longer regard itself as being bound by the WA.
And as Chris Grey notes, this is despite the fact that the WA has a number of key characteristics. It is a legally binding international agreement. It is the foundation of the ‘oven ready Brexit' on the basis of which Johnson was elected. And it survives whether we get a deal or not, with regard to Northern Ireland, for example. The idea that we can just walk away from it simply does not exist as a viable option.
That this walking away is, however, demanded provides Chris Grey with his core argument, which is:
The proposition in the CBP report, of course, is that whether or not there is a deal the WA should be ditched. It is, frankly, an insane idea — politically, legally and diplomatically - but it grows from the long-evident way that the Ultras are never satisfied with Brexit, however hard and in whatever form. This is partly because the ideas they have of what is possible are total fantasy, and so as soon as they encounter reality, as they did in the Article 50 negotiations, they are doomed to be ‘betrayed'. But the deeper issue is that there is, actually, a desire to be betrayed, a desire always to be campaigning for something even more extreme, always to be insisting that Brexit is being denied them. In the most recent example, as in the past, this extends to denouncing as betrayal even things that they themselves have supported or voted for in the past. It is a pathology which has totally deformed British politics so that, now, at the moment of their victory, they are still complaining, still unhappy, still spitting out vitriol, still blaming remainers.
This idea is fascinating, and I think true. It does not, of course, only apply to Brexit. It also explains why even when they have reached the pinnacles of power these populists portray themselves as outsiders still fighting a system that is opposed to them in all it does. Their control of that system is still not enough to make then insiders.
And likewise no Brexit will ever be Brexit enough. Because if it was Brexiteers would have no one left to blame. They would have to accept ownership of what they had done. Responsibility would be theirs, and theirs alone. Remainers could not then be to blame for what they had never wanted.
But that's not what Brexiteers want. Theirs is a politics that relies on there being someone, literally anyone, to blame for what is happening, which permits them to always say that they cannot accept responsibility for what we have because it is not what they demanded, and so has been sabotaged by others who are now to blame. And, crucially, that rejection also includes (and necessarily has to include) rejection of positions they once promoted and said they desired, and which they even celebrated achieving,
Brexit is the politics of continual disappointment in pursuit of a new despair that can be blamed on anyone but a Brexiteer. This is the politics of modern populism. And there is no point seeking to constructively engage with it, because it will deny any and every position it ever held if it suits it do so. There is no rationality in its logic. The only thing to do is offer alternatives, none of which, including any form of Brexit, will ever be acceptable to those demanding ever yet more extreme solutions.
So we might as well promote what we really need and give up any consideration of compromise, because it will never get us anywhere.
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A very good piece.
Compromise is still the path to tread: it’s just a (marginally narrower) compromise now between all of the elements of political groupings who aren’t frothing-at-the-mouth Brexiteers.
We must not descend to their level.
More insane ideas highlighted here on this week’s white paper that sings the praises of the UK single market!!
https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/uk-single-market-white-paper-irony-so-bitter-it-makes-your-eyes-bleed/
Yes – I totally get this argument about the BREXITEER mindset.
They are really extremists and have a lot in common with WWII fascists and even post war Neo-liberals (2008 was apparently so the Neo-libs said because regulation existed at all!! I kid you not! ).
But how well inculcated is BREXIT in wider society?
My preference is that those who lead opinion on BREXIT – the ERG, Farage etc., are the most culpable and the most extreme of extremists because there is personal benefit and ambition in it (plus lots of resources). There is no arguing with them.
But the rest of them?
I was having a chat not so long ago with family friend who was talking about the difficulties of voting in a progressive political party into what she said was basically a Tory country and using that to argue of the need for the Left to adopt policies of the Right.
I really objected to this and said it was as bad as the nihilism in those voting for Brexit itself. Not only did her comment give me a sense of giving up on something (her fellow Britons), but it was also ignoring the mechanics of how BREXIT got to be so ‘popular’ in the first place.
Britain as been deluged by and is still deluged with lies on a daily basis on many issues of which BREXIT was just one. In an era of mass manipulation, can we honestly say our country is this or that?
People are being told what to think all of the time.
A familiar classic Liberal trope is the ‘rational man hypothesis’ – even seen in Neo-liberal thinking and seeing economic rationality as a focus on one’s self only.
But what is a rational being? In what context is one expected to be rational? And how shared is that rationality – is rationality homogeneous? Liberals too often in my view put forward that it is. I contend that is not.
I think rationality is dependent on where you are standing – in the community, in society, economically and your sources of information.
It is important to remember with your BREXITEERING neighbours and colleagues therefore who is calling the tune. Where do the lies come from? Why might people fall for them? Cui bono?
Look not down or Left or Right for your answers.
Look upwards for your answers instead and realise that we are always being divided and conquered by the Tories. It is like breathing to them.
Thrashing around like an elephant with a painful health issue like a brain tumour is the best way to view the Brexit fanatics. They won’t stop till they’ve destroyed the eco-system that sustains them!
If the coronavirus mutates like the flu virus and continues year in and year out customs handling costs are going to be higher and the likelihood is that the savings from no longer paying the EU contribution will simply not exist but effectively result in a higher trade cost to the UK.
Brexiteers “… is a politics that relies on there being someone, literally anyone, to blame for what is happening, which permits them to always say that they cannot accept responsibility for what we have because it is not what they demanded, and so has been sabotaged by others who are now to blame. And, crucially, that rejection also includes (and necessarily has to include) rejection of positions they once promoted and said they desired, and which they even celebrated achieving,”
Brexiteerism appears to be eating itself then. Why does that sound familiar? 🙂
Yes, right wing brexiters do seem to share some of the characteristics of those on the far left. I am not here having a dig at any mainstream Labour politician but thinking particularly of the ‘tankies’ of the 60s and 70s who made excuses for Soviet tyranny on the grounds that the original Bolshevik vision of Lenin’s had been ‘corrupted’ by going in the “wrong direction”. If only it had been the right communism, it would have been utopia.
I’m a fan of Prof Grey but haven’t read his blog for a while. I will check out the essay that the author links to. It is certainly a compelling argument that the brexiters are doing this to be eternal victims. They cannot expect any international entity to accept the British government tearing up the Withdrawal Agreement that they agreed a few months ago and replacing it with another. Such a tactic would face universal international criticism and relegate Britain to pariah status if it were to carry out its threat to walk away from the WA. More likely they are proposing an alternative WA as yet another excuse for why brexit went wrong. If it has been the ‘right’ brexit, with the right WA then it would have been wonderful.
As in this?
https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2020/06/brexit-britain-risks-heading-to.html
Brexit Britain risks heading to international pariahdom
Agreed re Chris Grey – he is excellent and always worth reading
Early last year I wrote in another forum that I was worried we might end up with a Dolchstoßlegende if for some reason Brexit was thwarted. It’s going ahead but it appears the zealots and Ultras need to have one regardless. This is worrying. To what end?
I think that the Brexit intention was always for a closer alignment with the U.S.A.
Hence the diminution of the public sector, and the building up of more and more wealthy beneficiaries to the Tory party and also I think the Labour party will operate like that too.
I do wonder what those who wanted BREXIT for the independence factor think about the U.S. telling us who can build our 5G network or not?
The BREXITEERS have been misled. Sooner or later they will see this one would hope.
As for being a pariah, I think being best mates with the US bully might be quite useful for ensuing British Governments. We are bound to get some scraps from the table. But we will be a vassal of the U.S. – not Europe (and we weren’t one of those in Europe either).
I don’t think the UK could count on the US for protection from the fallout from stabbing Ireland in the back over the GFA. Trump might not care but there are 30 million Irish Americans who would. Besides Trump is a very inconstant friend so could not relied up even if he wins a second term. The US gave the UK a fairly easy ride over Northern Ireland during the Troubles, mostly because the UK could credibly present itself as defending democracy and law and order from IRA gangsterism. Should its actions compromise the GFA then it will be Westminster that is on the wrong side of the law and democracy, given the huge democratic mandate the GFA has – 95% in Ireland and 75% in Northern Ireland. Irish Americans would not stay still nor would Congress. It would be a very foolish Boris who counted on American support in that event. But he still might to curry favour with his brexit claque at home.
Democratic Indication(s).
The people of Britain should take M.T.’s advice and take the fun out politics.
She did not like referenda very much. It cut her cloth.
Use:
http://www.vote.uk
People can Propose
People can Discuss
People can Vote
Democracy seek to maximise potential for all. Not the few.
Brexit should take care of itself.
The mindset of the true Right Believer is a thing to behold. Impervious to any suggestion, ever, that they may have got anything wrong their default position is always to blame the ‘other’. It is the EU and before that political correctness, single mothers, the unions and, as a constant, foreigners ‘stealing our jobs’. It has become a system of faith that provides a rock solid bedrock of support so that the very best I can get from my Tory friends in the light of the dismal performance of the present government is ‘the other lot wouldn’t have been any better’
I’m afraid that nothing less than a massive conditional resettlement is going to bring about the necessary change in this country and lead to the likes of the ultras having to actually try to explain their case.
“The politics of continual disappointment in pursuit of a new despair” is perfect.
The real question is, will it fit on the side of a bus?
🙂